New Year's Resolutions

I don't do resolutions. What is the point....I'm going to do what I'm going to do and I don't find guilt to be a very good motivator.

However, I think I am going to jump in on a couple of group goals this New Year.

Rich's sister is organizing a Dougall family fitness challenge; an idea I just love! Our family will probably get creamed by Rich's marathon running sisters - but what the heck. I can't say I will be a very avid contender for the next 6 months, but just wait until July when I pull way ahead with a very rapid 25 pound weight loss. It will come from nowhere and our family will quickly pull into the lead, I'm sure. No seriously, I like the idea and am looking forward to getting the kids involved in it.

My other group goal that I'm going to jump in on is a challenge to do a scrapbook layout each day for the month of January. It's a goal on Big Picture Scrapbooking, that I became aware of through Becky Higgins blog. I'm mentioning it, because I'm going to hold myself accountable by making a posting here at the end of the month to report how I did. How great would it be to have 31 layouts done in the next 31 days? Hold me to it! Nothing like public humiliation to motivate me :)

Hope you all have a great New Year. It's pretty sad that I'm posting this at 9:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve when most of you are probably enjoying a party somewhere. In truth, I would be in bed in the next hour if it weren't for the 16 year old having a party and the promise I made to Rich to wait up with him for Tanner's return. Oh the joy of being boring!

Happy New Year!

Cason's Birthday

Oh boy, did we give Cason too much control today or what? By the end of the day he was all about "I can do whatever I want because it's my birthday". Yes, we created a bit of a birthday monster. Because it was Cason's birthday, and he was "in charge", we opened his presents at about 3:00, followed promptly by his pizza dinner (it's now 8:30 and I'm quite hungry!) and by 4:00 he had been sung to, blown out candles and eaten cake and ice-cream. (Not too long after that he had a time-out, despite being his birthday. Mom had to reign the birthday boy's control in just a little :) Cason's big gift was an outdoor soccer net - since soccer is the current rage at our house. The kids played out back until well after dark, despite the FREEZING temperatures!

Cason's cake was also soccer themed....

Cason had asked Rich to take him hiking at a park nearby - it's maybe a half mile hike, but at a pretty good incline. By the time the kids came in from playing soccer I had already told Rich that the hike was no longer an option due to it being dark and the wind picking up. But Cason firmly reminded Rich that "it's my birthday and you promised" so off Rich and Cason went, hiking in the dark. (Note there are no pictures because nobody other than Rich and Cason went on that birthday adventure.) I'm looking forward to returning to our routine tomorrow, when the only person in-charge is mom and dad - no newly 5 year-olds to cater to.

And yet, another birthday....

Cason turns five today and I have determined that the fifth year of life is the year of questions – you mom’s know what I am talking about. I took the challenge to write down the questions he asked over the course of one day. Well, less than 3 hours later I’d completely filled up 3 (typed) sheets of paper and had to declare defeat.

Here is just a sample… What does allergic mean? Is KK allergic to tortillas? What’s a meteor shower? Do you get food in jail? Where’s Butch? Can I just play for 3 minutes? How long is one minute? Do you know what that orange fluffy stuff is in the sky? Why don’t you? Can I have rice krispies for lunch? When it’s my birthday can I have a piniata? If a monster ate us, what would we do? If the monster burped, would we fall out? Is a headache when your head hurts and a tummy ache when your tummy hurts? Is 8:30 a long time? Why can't you look at the sun too much? What if I had a helicopter, a rocket ship and an airplane, would that be cool? Is the roast beast in the Grinch movie good? Why do you have to give money to babysitters? Why do you have to put gas in the car? Do firefighters work all night long? Where am I going tomorrow? Where am I going the next day? Do you have crayons in your room? Why don't you know everything?

Believe it or not, Cason is beginning to grow out of the questioning phase, and I can hardly believe that I am saying this, but I think I will miss it. I know that I am constantly amazed at how fast my kids are growing and before long Cason will have the answers to all his own questions and that makes me sad.

I love you Cason - never stop asking questions. Happy Birthday!

Another Birthday!

Watch out world...

He is 16.

He will be dating.

He will be driving.

Happy Birthday Tanner!

Christmas ~ Dougall Style (Simple)

We are a simple family and my kids get really excited over simple things. And I love that. They have never even heard of a Wii and they don't know that they didn't get one. 

And I love that. Kaitlyn's "ipod" knock off was a generic brand - Kaitlyn told Conner that it didn't say ipod because the elves made it. 

And I love that. Cason has a fascination with snow globes - he received one today for Christmas and he was overwhelmed with excitement. 

And I love that. Jake's cousin Austyn gave him a simple bear that she thought he would like. It may have been the smallest gift he received but it is the one that hasn't left his side. 

And I love that. Rich had the idea to not give gifts between siblings this year - instead the kids chose "experiences" that they wanted to have over the next 12 months as a family. They each came up with ideas and ways to present them as gifts to the family. We now have 12 really great family outings planned for 2008. And I love that. We took the family to the Spring Preserve Gardens tonight to see the lights in the gardens. There were two concerts going on. We had to leave too soon because Jake got sick. The kids asked to go back this week to hear more of the concerts. And I love that. Both Kaitlyn and Cason thanked Heavenly Father tonight in their prayers that we could celebrate Jesus today. And I love that. We are a simple family. And I love that.

Christmas Eve - new traditions

When Rich and I got married Rich really fought against anything that even resembled a tradition. This year as we made our list of things we wanted to do over Christmas, he used the word "tradition" and he admitted that the kids being older has created the need for family traditions in our home. It's a Christmas miracle! We had the best Christmas Eve day yesterday. Rich may hide it, but he is very creative and he let his creative side shine. He began the day by reading Christmas stories to the kids - it seems we never get to them all, but we hit most of them over the course of the day as he slipped them in throughout the day.

Next on the agenda was decorating large 5 gallon buckets for each of the kids. It was craft day at the the Dougalls! The kids used paint, ribbons, felt, wrapping paper, construction paper and lots of glue and the results were adorable. The kids were all so creative! The buckets were left next to their stockings last night and Santa filled both stockings and buckets and then the kids continued to fill the buckets today as they opened their gifts. After buckets was the gingerbread house - a little late in the season, but at least the candy will be fresh when they begin to dismantle and eat it over the next few days. Naps were followed with our watching "Miracle on 34th Street" (the new one) together as a family while I prepared our turkey dinner. Dinner was delicious, despite my meat thermometer giving me fits and my making everyone microwave their turkey, "just to be sure..." Then to the more spiritual side of the celebration with the reading of the scriptures, singing of hymns, more Christmas stories, a FHE lesson (by Rich!) involving letters to Jesus, and the viewing of the LDS "Luke 2" short movie. We had a great day and I loved spending the entire day as a family. I really am fortunate to have a husband who wants time together as a family and plays such an active role in making it happen. Yesterday really was the result of his forethought and action.

Christmas Eve Morning at Walmart

This is a good laugh for any wife...I'm sure you all have been here.

I will preface this with the fact that I never send Rich to the store with my grocery list. I have found that if I do, one of three things will occur. #1 - He will buy the most convenient item, which is usually the most expensive. #2 - He will buy the wrong thing altogether. #3 - He will get frustrated by not finding what is on my list and just not get it, as if I don't really need it. Regardless of which of the three things occur, I generally end up having to go back to the store, so I may as well have gone in the first place :)

This morning Rich wanted to get some last minute things at the store prior to the kids waking up, since we have a busy day planned. So I gave him a handful of things from my list to pick up while he was there. One of my requests was three "blocks" of cream cheese - I specifically said block and even mentioned 8 ounces. He came home with three packages of string cheese and when confronted, actually tried to convince me that that is what I said....that is example #2 above.

I then had to ask him if he skipped any of my items, to which he answered "just one" (my eyes may have rolled at this point). Jake had the stomach flu yesterday (threw up in the driveway of our pediatricians country club home - but that is another story) and so febreeze was one of the more important items, but there were "just too many to choose from" - he actually found it at the store, but couldn't decide....that is example #3 above.

One grocery store visit and he fully illustrates the reason I don't send my husband to the grocery store.

Did I mention that I really appreciate the items that Rich did get? Thanks honey for the grocery store run. I LOVE YOU!

Jake's Party

Jake's birthday began by opening gifts and ended by opening more gifts. My parents had spent the night on their way back through from San Diego, so we had Jake open their gifts to him prior to them leaving. (Note that he enjoyed the styrofoam packing as much as the farm set) 

Then in the evening we broke out his banana cake, sang to him and he opened the rest of his gifts from everyone else. We have no messy birthday cake face pictures - he wouldn't get messy. We gave him a bite of his cake, which he liked, and then set the cake in front of him. He tried to get a bite for himself, but the minute the frosting got on his finger he cried until we cleaned it off. He did actually eat his entire piece of cake once we finally fed it to him.

Happy Birthday Jakers!

Where did the time go?

“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder, not just because

they are beautiful, but because they are fleeting.”

(Richard Paul Evans, THE GIFT) Jake turned one today. A look back at some of those fleeting moments....

Announcement, follow up...

So we're pregnant! I've been very open about the fact that after the four year gap between Cason and Jake I have had every intention of having another baby soon. I've been just as open about my husband's 40th birthday looming in the near months and wondering if we would be able to expand our family anymore before he is officially "old". But, I've learned through some tough lessons that as much as we want to be, we are not always in control of such things. So I'm really thrilled that Jake will have a sibling 18 months younger than himself.And so, to follow-up to our announcement, here are some answers to the questions being directed my way:

• To date we are 13 (ish) weeks along.
• My due date is tentatively June 24th - 30th (the Dougall reunion is still on - same dates!)
• No, we are not finding out the gender
• Yes, we do have a girl name chosen (two in fact)
• No, we don’t have a boy name chosen and are taking suggestions
• We've had two ultrasounds to date and everything looks good :)

We found out that I was pregnant on October 28th, while we were in Oregon. There was nothing intentional about that date, but after returning to Vegas I realized that October 28th was the anniversary of Rich and I being sealed in the Portland Oregon temple. So then it felt right that we received this good news in Portland and on that date. A bit of a gift on top of an already wonderful gift!

Caramel Popcorn

I cannot believe that I never even thought to pull my camera out this morning....
My parents spent the night last night on their way through to San Diego (Utes 35-32) to the Poinsettia Bowl. This morning before they continued on their way, Cason made a request of grandpa....he wanted grandpa's help making caramel popcorn to take to his preschool Christmas party. Grandpa happily obliged and they were so cute together, working in the kitchen.
At one point grandpa thought they had popped too much popcorn and so he pulled some aside in a separate bowl and said that they would put butter and salt on that portion of the popcorn. Cason asked how much butter and grandpa told him 1/2 a stick. Then grandpa and I watched as Cason unwrapped a stick of butter, grabbed it by his bare hands and broke it into two (trickier to do than you may think) and threw one half into the bowl of set aside popcorn. My little literal boy. It's amazing to just step back sometimes and watch them exhibit what their mind is thinking.
Thanks grandpa for the help - the popcorn turned out delicious and the time together with Cason was invaluable.

Same Aud Lang Syne

I owe an apology to my husband for the automatic music - one week honey!

It's "Same Aud Lang Syne" and it's in tribute to Dan Fogelberg who died earlier this week. I'm not president of his fan club or anything, but I have always loved this song. As I went to turn off Kaitlyn's radio tonight after she had fallen asleep, this song was playing and I lingered before turning it off. It's a nice song, but what has really endeared me to that song, however, is my dad...

When I was a teenager I heard this song and didn't know the name of it or who sang it. I must have mentioned it to my dad at some point, because I remember my dad calling the radio station for me to get the information about it and requesting the radio station to play it. Then, with artist name in hand, he located a copy of this song from his good friend, Tony Poloni. It was an all evening project, but dad did it for me and as a teenager it told me that I was loved!

Announcement

So let's see who really reads the blog...

Holiday Mint Cookies

Last night was an annual cookie exchange that I attend each year with other ward members that live in Rhodes Ranch. We each bake 12 dozen cookies and take them and trade them with each other to come home with 12 dozen varieties of cookies. I'll admit, the baking of so many cookies is a bit overwhelming each year, but the evening out is always fun. Dinner is always served and last night it was a fondue dinner - so yummy!
Anyway, I made these cookies that I found on the Good Things Utah website. I've told my mom that she has to make them because they remind me of something we used to have at the holidays when I was a child -but I can't remember what. So Brandy and Neesha, why don't you both make some as well and feed them to your husbands. Maybe my brothers will have the same memory and be able to help me place it...

HOLIDAY MINT COOKIES

3 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 stick butter
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package mini chocolate mint patties (like York Peppermint Patties)

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In mixer, cream butter and shortening; add sugar and brown sugar and cream until mixed thoroughly. Add eggs, water and vanilla.
Blend in dry ingredients. Chill dough. Open package of chocolate mint wafers and unwrap. Enclose each wafer in cookie dough. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Once cooled, drizzle with melted chocolate chips if desired.

I Know it's Christmas...

Kaitlyn's school program was last night. The theme was "I Know it's Christmas" and they talked about the feel, smells, sights and sounds of Christmas. The songs were all fun children's songs meant to remind us what Christmas is like through the eyes of a child.

Kaitlyn was right on the front row and she sang her little heart out. I was so proud of her and I really enjoyed being there.

Tickle Me Elmo Returns...

In 2001 Kaitlyn received the, then difficult to come by, Tickle Me Elmo doll for her very first Christmas. She LOVED her Elmo doll and ended up with a couple more very shortly thereafter.

Kaitlyn now has a singing/dancing Christmas bear that sits under our Christmas tree during the holidays. Jake loves the bear and he will sit at the edge of the tree skirt (he is very good to not touch the tree!) and point at the bear and bounce until somebody will turn the bear on for him. Then he just lights up and bounces to the song. He doesn't tire of it, and truthfully, I don't either - he is just so cute!

The bear reminded me of the Elmo doll so this morning I pulled out the basket of forgotten stuffed animals out of Kaitlyn's closet and found Elmo. He worked - no new batteries even needed. Cason showed Jacob how Elmo worked and Jake responded with the bounce and the dancing arms, just as I'd hoped. So, at least for now, Elmo is back in the spotlight.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Kaitlyn and Cason had their concert for their Clark County Children's Choir last Thursday (6th). It's just taken me a while to download the photos off of my camera :) They both did such a great job - as though I would say anything else...

Cason is a good singer, but he hasn't loved the choir. I told him he needed to finish the season - through the concert. So when his group finished performing he came down and sat next to and very loudly announced, "I never have to come to choir again!" Nothing like announcing his enthusiasm mid concert from the third row back :)

Kaitlyn has liked choir a lot more than Cason. She is such a natural in anything musical so I really encourage her in that direction. Her group was made up of 5 and 6 year olds and they were very impressive. They sang an entire song in Latin, broke into groups of 2-3 to sing portions of the song in Latin and then repeated it as a round. I don't know that I could have done that.

I'm proud of both Kaitlyn and Cason for performing so well on stage with such a large crowd!

My Soccer Stars

I took the kids to Target to get some photos of them in their soccer uniforms (I initially typed "outfits" - oh, the grief I would have recieved!) Anyway, this photo of the two of them together turned out SO cute! They may be on separate teams, and in separate leagues for that matter, but other than their Saturday games they play together. All day, every day the kids are upstairs kicking balls at each other, all in the name of soccer. Thank goodness for the open loft where they can "get game on" without breaking too much :)

the RSV effects

Just over 8 months ago it was this...

This past month it has been this...

I really dislike RSV. I worry about the effects of it long term on Cason. I worry about the effects of it long term on Jake. Jake had a worse bout with it, requiring 5 days in the hospital in March. We went off his breathing treatments in June and hoped that we would make it through the winter, but we weren't so lucky. He started back on his breathing treatments about 2 weeks ago and this past week the doctor added singular (asthma med) to his regime. Jake seems to be responding well to both, and so we will continue. But I'm anxious for him to get a bit bigger/older so that I can take him to a see a specialist and try to find him for him without all the pharmaceuticals.

He's sweet despite the oxygen mask though, don't you agree?

Santa Baby

I had a friend over on Friday watching the boys so I could help at Kaitlyn's school. She took the cutest photo of Jake wearing a Santa hat. I then had to torment Jake by sticking the hat on his head over and over until I could get a couple of pictures of my own. 

Ho, Ho, Ho

Christmas Countdown

After over two years of refusing to let anything disturb our Family Fun Night, we have had some inconsistency this fall due to Kaitlyn's soccer practices. So on Friday Rich came home early so that we could have our activity prior to soccer, only to have soccer canceled due to rain. So we had the entire evening together and it was so nice to get back to our old routine and spend the evening together. Christmas countdown chains were on the calendar for the evening, along with hot cocoa and cookies. The kids made their own individual chains and hung them in their own rooms. Last year we had the kids write something that they were grateful for on each paper link as they tore it off. They then stuck their links in a little advent calendar, which we have been able to read this year. Cason is at a stage right now where he will ask me multiple times a day "how many days until _____ (fill in the blank with soccer, school, church, etc). I think this countdown chain is perfect for him because he wakes up each morning and counts for himself the number of days and then announces to me how many more days until Christmas. So, as of this morning, Merry Christmas in 23 days!

Taking the Stairs

Just last week I was updating Jake's journal and mentioned that he never approaches the stairs - from the top or the bottom. He is just very cautious. He must have caught air of my comments because he is now a stair climbing boy. A couple of days ago Rich left some things on the stairs, maybe 3-4 stairs up from the bottom. I caught him climbing to get to them, but he didn't make anymore attempts after I discovered him. Then last night we were kind of encouraging him and up the stairs he went, like he'd been doing it forever. I was at the bottom and Rich was on the landing calling him. He would go almost to Rich and then just head back down FAST! He seemed to know what he was doing coming down as well as going up, though I have no idea how! The humor is that he is totally kamikaze on his way down - it's controlled but just fast and kind of crazy. We had such a good laugh last night. Then today it was a total game. I was on the landing and he was going up to the top and then coming down. On the 3rd or 4th attempt, instead of coming down when he reached the top, he went up and over and was totally laughing as he did so. Then he popped his head back over the edge a minute later with a tub toy in his mouth and proceeded to come down the stairs with his toy. He is such a rascal! So I guess it is time to actually start using that gate on the stairs....

Daddy's Days Off

We really enjoyed our long Thanksgiving weekend and having Rich around so much. Specifically on Saturday, we took the entire day and had an all day "family fun night". We started the day by going to out to Lake Las Vegas. We ate lunch at Cafe Positano and then walked around just a little bit and tried to soak up some sun - but the sun just wasn't cooperating. Even though it was sunny and bright, it was still cold! On the lake there was a floating ice skating rink that the kids watched for a bit. They tried to convince us to go ice skating, but a few months back I wrangled Rich into ice skating as a family and I don't know that he will ever go again (unless he gets a serious case of amnesia and forgets how much he disliked it and how he swore "never again") Oh well! While eating lunch, Cason got his arm stuck in the back of the wrought iron chair he was sitting in. It took a few minutes of trying, and ended up needing a generous dose of lotion, to finally slip his hand out. It's always interesting to me how kids hold on to such experiences. Throughout the rest of the day Cason was talking about all the things that would be hard to do with a chair stuck to his hand (Rich had told him that if we couldn't get the chair off we would just take it with us) - he determined that sleeping would be hard and going to school would be hard, but that playing soccer would be the hardest. I think I agree! From Lake Las Vegas we took the kids to the Springs Preserve. We have a family annual pass and haven't gone there as frequently as we'd hoped we would. No matter how often we go, the kids put up a fight every time that we have to leave because they can never get to everything that they want to do. This was the first visit that we were able to enjoy the outdoor exhibits and play structure, because it is our first visit since the summer heat has cooled down. From Springs Preserve it was off to the library - probably our favorite weekly attraction. If I've never mentioned it, we LOVE the Las Vegas Library District. There are so many locations and they have an incredible inter library loan, so you can get anything you want. The kids frequently will ask us to "order" a movie or a book on the Internet. They will grow up not knowing how to browse a library because we are spoiled with all the books we want always waiting for us. So that was our long day together. It was hard to let Rich back out the door to work on Monday morning after enjoying having him around so much. I don't brag on my husband enough, so I owe an acknowledgment to what a great daddy he is. He loves to spend time as a family and I'm fortunate to have a husband that values his kids and his family as much as he does. Thanks Rich!

New Family Photos

I am so excited - our family photos that we had taken while we were in Oregon last month just came in the mail yesterday. I can't post any "family shots" since we are using them for our Christmas Card, but here are some of our other favorites...

the Dougall boys...

the Dougall girls...

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I thought I better at least make mention of it. Our actual celebration was very nontraditional and I hesitate to mention it for fear of retribution I may receive. So let's just get it out of the way...without having family in town, and not having Tanner and Conner this year, we chose to go to a buffet on Thanksgiving. I can hear the moans already! It made sense for us and in the end it worked out very well - it was a very relaxed day, very much enjoyed as our little family, and when the meal ended we had all had our fill regardless of the fill being pizza (in the case of Kaitlyn and Cason) or turkey and stuffing :) 

On a more traditional note, I have to mention how proud I am of Kaitlyn and Cason. At the beginning of the month I gave each of them a list to write things they were grateful for - there were 105 lines on this "Gratitude List". Kaitlyn has completely filled hers and Cason has filled 87 lines - and they have both done it all on their own. It seems every time there was a free moment this past month they have been at the kitchen table working on their lists together. When we weren't at home with the lists in front of us, they would be discussing what they needed to add to their list when they did get home. This past Monday we went through some of their lists and they gave ideas of how they could show gratitude for the specific things they had written. Then we played a game of pictionary with them drawing pictures of things on their list and we had to guess what they were drawing. I had no idea Cason could draw such a great Church! So I had to mention this and just say how grateful I am for my kids and the gratitude in their hearts for so many things. I love them dearly! 

So fast forward 24 hours from our nontraditional Thanksgiving and we did have a more traditional kick-off to our holiday season. We invited Carter and Erin Buck over to our home, along with their 3 kids, and we had hot cocoa and pie and we watched the holiday movie ELF. We had such a great evening and hope to follow it up again very soon. I made my three favorite pies (recipes to follow) and Erin brought an amazing cherry pie ordered online from Grand Traverse Pie Company (I would highly recommend it!) 

Great Friends + Great Food = Great Night! 

So here are the pie recipes: This first is for the only pumpkin pie I make and the only pumpkin pie I eat. It is my mom's recipe and it's heaven! 

PUMPKIN CHIFFON PIE 

1 envelope Knox gelatin 

1/2 cup sugar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp allspice 

1/4 tsp ginger 

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

Combine the above in a saucepan and stir until well blended. Add: 

3/4 cup milk 

2 egg yolks, beaten 

1 cup canned pumpkin 

Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat and chill until partially set. 

2 egg whites 

1/4 cup sugar 

1/2 cup whipping cream, chilled 

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating to form stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Fold both the eggs whites and the cream into the cooled pumpkin mixture. Spoon into a prebaked 9-inch crust (or a graham cracker crust which is my preference) and chill until firm. Serve with additional whipped cream. 

 

 The second pie I made was chocolate - a little nontraditional, but Rich isn't a pumpkin pie kind of guy and ever since I made this pie a few years ago it has become as traditional as the pumpkin pie. In fact, grandpa was trying to get Kaitlyn to mail him a piece of it when he found out I was in the midst of making it while he was talking to KK on the phone. I found the recipe in a magazine in an ad for jello pudding - I was at the blood bank donating blood and tore out the ad. I have felt guilty enough for tearing their magazine that I still remember it all these years later, but I've never been sorry! 

DECADENT TRIPLE LAYER MUD PIE 

 3 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted 

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk 

1 oreo pie crust 

1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans (I generally leave the nuts out) 

2 cups cold milk 

2 packages (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding 

8 ounce tub cool whip 

 Mix melted chocolate and sweetened condensed milk until well blended. Pour into the oreo crust and sprinkle with toasted pecans. 

Pour milk into a large bowl and add both packages of pudding. Beat with a whisk until well blended. Spoon 1 1/2 cup of the pudding over the pecans in the crust. 

Add 1/2 of the cool whip to the remaining pudding; stir until well blended. Spread this pudding/cool whip mixture over the pudding in the crust. 

At this point the recipe says to top the pie with the remaining 1/2 container of cool whip - I don't, but we generally put a dallop of cool whip on the individual slices as we serve it up. 

Refrigerate at least 3 hours prior to serving. 

The third pie is a lemon pie - made for no other reason than I had the time and I LOVE anything lemon. I got the recipe from Good Things Utah last spring, which I think is a hint that it is supposed to be an Easter Brunch pie. But, again, I'm okay with nontraditional - especially when it tastes this good! 

KNEADERS’ CREAM CHEESE LEMON TRUFFLE PIE 

 Baked 9’ pie shell 

½ cup water 

3 Tbs. sugar 

Zest of 1/2 lemon 

1 egg 

1 Tbs. cornstarch 

1 ½ Tbs. fresh lemon juice 

2 tsp. butter 

1 cup vanilla chocolate chips or coins 

8 oz. cream cheese 

1 cup whipped cream, sweetened with powdered sugar 

1 Tbs. toasted almonds 

Toast almonds on parchment covered cookie sheet at 350 degrees until golden brown. Set aside to cool. Put water, sugar, lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix egg and corn starch. Slowly add hot water to egg mixture in the bowl, and then pour entire mixture back into the pan. Stir continually until thickened. 

Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and butter. Stir until mixture has cooled to 100 degrees. 

Pour ½ of the hot filling in a bowl. This will be used as the second layer of the pie. Add vanilla chips to the filling remaining in the pan. Stir until chips are melted. In a second bowl, place softened cream cheese. Add the hot vanilla chip mixture to the cream cheese and beat together. Spread this mixture in the bottom of the pie shell. 

Spread the remaining lemon filling on top. Chill for 2 hours. Top with sweetened whipped cream and garnish with toasted almonds (if desired). 

Keep refrigerated until time to serve.

Our November Outing

You have to love 70+ degree weather two days before Thanksgiving! That is what we had yesterday when I took the kids to a new shopping area in Las Vegas called Town Square. Most of you know that shopper, I am not, but there is one main reason to hit Town Square and to return often....

Yes, that's right, H&M. A moment of silence. The first H&M store in Vegas opened 6 weeks ago, but it's in one of the casino's and there is not a children section and despite my H&M infatuation, I just haven't braved the strip to get there. This second store is heaven. It's a perfect locale and it's in a very nice, brand new, outdoor shopping area. So, anyone looking for a reason to come to Vegas (outside of the weather and the Dougalls) has one more now!

Now, the second reason for going to Town Square was that both Cason and Kaitlyn are out of school for the entire week and we needed an outing. This shopping center has a small park area in the center and within that park is a kids area. So I got the kids to agree to shop with me by promising them a visit to this new park. 

Okay, and how cute is this park?  

There is a tree house (built in a real tree),

a hedge maze, a large two-story playhouse and in the summer there is a water feature.

After the kids had their fill in the play area they went next door to Santa's HOUSE and sat on Santa's lap, then they got their caramel suckers from the Sees candy lady, and then we went to an outdoor cafe that had art easels for the kids to make their own pictures.

When we left, the kids were already asking to return. Kaitlyn's comment was "even the shopping is fun here". I couldn't agree more - being my non shopper self and all :)