This is About as Good as it Gets

This really is about as good as it gets. For one, it's a great time to get together with family. And for another, this is seriously about the best picture we can take.

So here we all are from left to right.

Grandma Peacock (my dad's mother) Christian & Carter there in the back, me and Cali, Neal and Gwen (my mom and dad) Brandt (my brother), Dory (my sister), Bethany (my sister) with Tyler (her husband) behind her, Grandma Cook (my mom's mother), Jayna (my sister), and Mike (her husband). So there you have it. The whole Peacock-Pollastro-Miller-Gilson family.

Not the Best Picture Ever

So this isn't the best picture ever, but I'm still posting it. This is the only one I have of me and my bro. And since the last few weeks has been all about him, I thought I'd throw this one in.

Return from the Highlands of Scotland

Several of Brandt's missionary companions came to hear him speak on Sunday. Kilts and all. It was really fun for him to see some of his friends that have been home for a while. One of them even showed up with a girlfriend.

I didn't meet all of these guys but the one on the left is Donny Osmond's son. He was Brandt's first companion. The second one from the left is Elder Hewlitt, he was a favorite of Brandt's. Then Brandt is in the middle. The one with the white shirt is the one with the girlfriend, and I'm not sure about his name or the one on the end.

Castle Dale City Halloween Party

During our visit to Castle Dale we attended the annual Halloween party. There was music, games, food, pumpkin carving and a costume contest. Cali dressed up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.


She had so much fun stabbing this pumpkin


Dory was a nurse. Bethany was Little Red Riding Hood.

Grandma Gwennie

This past weekend we went to Castle Dale for my brother's missionary welcome home. We can never go to Grandma Gwennie's house without going outside to feed the lambs. My parents live next to a small field where their neighbor keeps a few sheep. The fence line borders my parents backyard so Cali and Carter can play in grandma's yard and feed the sheep through the fence. It is one of their favorite things to do (I've mentioned before that my kids go crazy for real animals). I snapped these pictures from the back porch on Saturday evening, and I just thought they were so sweet. My mother is the most down to earth selfless person in the entire world. She's soft and warm and very caring, and I thought that these pictures captured that perfectly.

Here's the Beef

Christian loves to grill. He grills all year long. Our neighbors have enjoyed a good laugh watching him stand outside in the rain and snow grilling his little heart out. His specialties are chicken and steak, but he can also make a pretty mean burger. So, tonight when he said he wanted to make some burgers I didn't really think anything of it. Until he strutted in the house with this......


This is a regular sized dinner plate.


He's so proud of his creation.


The half way mark


He's full.

FYI: No, the rest of us do not eat like this. Yes, we have a great life insurance policy.

We Love Him Like an Old Cat

My dear darling brother returned from his mission to Scotland yesterday. He arrived in Salt Lake at 9:00pm, which was 4:00am Scotland time. My mom, dad and two sisters (Bethany and Dory) picked him up. After he rounded up all his luggage they all came to our house. We talked all night, he has some pretty funny stories. "I love you like an old cat" is a phrase used to tell someone that you love them a lot.

I just have to say, it is so amazing that these little boys come back as men. It is incredible to see how much he has grown and changed, but how much he is still the same Brandt.

Here are a few pictures from the airport. I sent my video camera with Bethany so she could get some good footage. I can capture still frames from the video, so that's why these pictures are a little more blurry than usual.


I hope he brought me one of these stylin' hats!


Scottish wit and banter with a touch of British class.


A hug for mom and dad.


A favorite companion Elder Hewlitt. Can you imagine this pair walking along the streets of Scotland together? This kid could eat Brandt.


Some more loves for our mother.

A Good Idea Gone Terribly Terribly Wrong

A while ago my friend Natalie posted a really great idea for Halloween decorating. She got the picture from a magazine and it seemed easy enough. So I tried it. I got sticks (which my friend Adrienne and I stole from a yard) and pumpkins (which I purchased at Smith's). I poked holes in the pumpkins and inserted the sticks. I placed them around on a bale of straw and with my scare crow. And my small spooky forest was pretty cute. Until.......This......Happened......

Who is going to clean this crap up?

Cali came in the house yesterday with rotten pumpkin fingers. She poked her fingers in to"see what would happen".

If you can overlook the rotten oozing, it had potential to be pretty cute.

A Strange Time of Year

We woke up Sunday morning to a little bit of snow. Not enough to shovel, but just enough to play in. This is a picture of our back yard on Sunday afternoon. Cali and Carter were begging to go outside, so we ventured out in the afternoon.

Carter hated wearing gloves, but he also hated getting his hands cold.


He wasn't exactly sure what to do in the snow, so he grabbed his bike.


This is the giant snowball that Cali and I took turns rolling until almost all of the snow was gone.

Grandpa Cook

My grandpa Cook was such and incredible man. My memories of him are so precious to me. He taught me many things. He coined silly phrases and terms that I often find myself using. Today is the one year anniversary of his death. I've been thinking a lot about him today. The day he passed away is one of the most poignant days I've ever experienced in my life. My grandpa taught me that it's not how long you live, but how you live.

Oh Yes It's Ladies Night....

On Saturday night we had our monthly card club meeting. We met at Heather's for some delicious treats (the pumpkin roll was to die for) and to exchange our cards. All of the cards were great. We are a talented bunch of witches! Then we headed over to Gardner Village for the annual Witches Night Out. We browsed the shops and blended in with all of the other witches roaming around.

At Heather's getting ready to get our witch on.


Scary spooky grainy night vision witches.

Super sexy, and I mean the huge monster in the background.

Also super sexy.

By this point it was getting pretty cold.

Mom Don't be Mad or Frustrated with Me

It's never good when a converstation with Cali starts this way. It means one of two things. 1) She did something that she knows she shouldn't be doing. 2) She knows that all too often my response is one of anger or frustration. Something that I have to work on every single day.

In this case she told me that she was coloring in her coloring book and "slipped" and the pen wrote on her hands. I was born at night, but not last night. Seriously. I picked right up on the flaw in her story because her left hand clearly says "Cali".

I explained to her that I wasn't mad at her, but I would appreciate her telling me the truth. She didn't argue, she just told me that she was really sad that we don't have any hand stamps like they do at gymnastics. Thus, her sadness warranted her drawing some of her own hand stamps. Where does she come up with this stuff?

The blue smeared all over her mouth area, is just her normal chapstick...I mean lipstick application that must be applied all day everyday.

Could You Eat This?

Kitty Litter Cake!

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 box of white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mixA few drops green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent
SERVING "DISHES AND UTENSILS"
1 NEW cat-litter box1 NEW cat-litter box liner
1 NEW pooper scooper
1) Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill. Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs. Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside.
2) When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.
3) Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shapethe blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.
4) Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box. Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!

Thanks to Bethany for this funny recipe.

My Lawn Boy(s)

I may have mentioned that my husband LOVES yard work. I don't quite understand it. Give this guy a lawn mower, a shovel and some gloves; and he'll be happy for hours. This year he received a leaf blower for his birthday. It was love at first sight. So I guess he's passed his love of all things yard to our son. Carter loves to "help" push the lawn mower. It only lasts for a couple of passes across the lawn before he gets distracted by something shiny or sharp and runs off.

He's been "helping" all summer, but I didn't grab my camera until I saw them with their matching hats on. Plus it was such a beautiful day, and we all know, those are coming to an end fast.

Turbo Jam

I mentioned in a post earlier this week that Carter had yelled out "It time to party" at a very inopportune time. So I thought I would share the source of his partying. Turbo Jam! The opening beats of the Cardio Party dvd say, "It's time to party...come on and move your body".

My sister Bethany introduced me to this great work out system last year. She's been doing it religiously (and I mean religiously) for two years. She has completely transformed her body. As a disclaimer I have to say that there is nothing big about Bethany. She's 4' 11'' and as mini as they come, and even she dropped sizes. I don't have a before and after picture, because the change has been very gradual and very constant. However, I will say that she lost her freshman 15 back fat plus some. She does this as her primary work out and has nearly every dvd.

It is a great cardio work out. I use it to supplement my work out routine. I have (well they're Bethany's) Learn and Burn and Cardio Party, as well as the exercise band one (that one's mine). I use them on days when I need some stress relief and an energy boost. It's a great way to mix up the day-to-day work out routines. The music is great and the instructor, Chalene Johnson, is full of energy. I was sceptical at first because I'm not a good dancer, and I thought that the program was too dancey for me. I was wrong. The steps and combos are easy to learn and you can make more dancey modifications if you really want to shake your butt.

So check it out! If you want to try it, and you live in the Herriman area. You can borrow my (actually Bethany's) Learn and Burn or Cardio Party. Then your kids can yell, "It time to party". when they should be quiet!

Brandty Boy

How would you like to be the only brother in a family of all sisters? Well, my brother has handled it very well. There is not ONE thing that a girl could say or do that would even phase him. He has seen it all. He has three older sisters and one younger, so he's got estrogen coming at him from all angles. He is a great guy and he is going to be home from his mission next week. It's hard to believe that he was even old enough to go in the first place!

I thought I would share a little bit of his personality by posting some of a letter he sent to my mom. When asked by my mom how he had changed Brandt replied.....and I paraphrase his direct quote, "You will find I am the same boy that I have always been, only more mature with Scottish wit and banter and a touch of British class."

Seriously, what more could you want in a brother!

Reverence is More Than Just Quietly Sitting.....But I Would be Happy with Some Quiet Sitting

While we were at Temple Square for Dory's concert we made a stop at the Temple Square Visitor's Center. Well, technically, had to excuse ourselves from the concert. The concert was being taped so they asked all wild meowzers to go into the cry room in the Tabernacle. By the time Carter got really wild, the cry room was already full, so we wondered around outside until it was over. However, before we exited, Carter managed to throw Craisins all over the newly remodeled Tabernacle. Not to mention squirrelling under the benches and getting kicked (on purpose) by a 65 year old lady. I guess she'd had enough of his irreverence.

Cali wanted to visit the Cristus statue. Which brings us to wandering into the visitor's center. Cali was very impressed and sat quietly on the bench. Carter was mildly impressed for a split second. He was much more impressed with the intense echo sound his voice was making. He yelled out ahh ahh ahh over and over just to hear his own voice. When the narrative started I thought that Carter would quiet down and listen. Not so, as soon as the music started he screamed at the top of his lungs "It time to party". (which I know he got from the Turbo Jam work out dvd) Don't forget the echo.....So we excused ourselves from there as well.

Come on Ride the Train

We got brave last night and went on a great adventure. My sister Dory was singing in a State Honor Choir at the Tabernacle on Temple Square so we went to hear the beautiful music. We took it to the next level when we decided to ride the Traxx. Downtown SLC is torn to shreds with all the new Downtown Rising construction projects, so we thought the train would be fun and easier than parking. It was so fun!


Buying tickets


Waiting for the ride to start


On our way there. Carter held onto his ticket the whole time, and Cali chewed on a huge wad of gum.


On our way home. I think the picture says it all.


Carter found a twin friend and watched him all the way home.

A Shout Out to the Hobby Lobby

At first I thought the name sounded pretty lame. But I have come to love the Hobby Lobby. My mother-in-law and I took a trip there (it's at the District by movie theaters) last Monday. I was not disappointed. There was tons of crafty stuff plus home decor. I thought of about 20 new hobbies that I should take up, in my dreams and spare time. The highlight were these huge coloring books that I snagged for Cali and Carter, Disney of course. Carter got Cars and Cali got the Princess one. The book opens up and the pages fold out into enormous coloring pages. Well worth the hours of entertainment.

Let There Be Light???

One last "new job" related post. Apparently if you work for the U of U hospital you have to have a tetanus booster. I hadn't had a tetanus shot since 1994 (you're supposed to have one every 10 years) so I was over due. I went to the employee health clinic and a very elderly, rectangular shaped woman shot me up. After I was done she told me that I was very brave (which I was). She also told me that as a reward I should have someone take me out to dinner. I laughed and finished my paperwork.

It was about then that she looked at my very seriously and said that I DESERVE to have someone take me out to dinner, and if anyone has a PROBLEM with it they can take it up with her. She was serious. Then she finished off the conversation with this little gem (and I quote), "I am so old and have been working at this hospital for so long that when the Lord said 'let there be light'......this b*tch flipped the switch." And she was dead serious. I didn't know if I should laugh or run. So I combined the two and chuckled to myself as I walked very quickly out of there.