THanKsGiviNG Day!


We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with Levi and Susie and their family in their new home. It was great, there was tons and tons of food... and even more delicious desserts. On the Menu was:

A big Turkey
Veggie tray
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Deep Fried Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato Balls (new invention)
Garlic and Buttered Carrots
Autumn vegetable Medley Salad(need to do this again)
Susie's Homemade bread(our family loves this one)
Asparagus

For drinks:
wassail (never even heard of it but its part of the tradition)
apple cider
root beer

For dessert:
Homemade pumpkin pie
Homemade Apple pie
Divinity and Raspberries
Banana Bread
Chocolate Bread pudding with coconut creme anglasie....(Paula Dean recipe so you know its gotta be good)

When I got to Levi and Susie's house the bread pudding was cold so I decided to heat it up in my ceramic pot and the pot got too hot too quick, it shattered into a million pieces... so we were down one dessert!

After a big dinner we all sat down on Levi's PC and my Laptop and Skyped Jared's Aunt Linda and Granny. Luckily Jared's parents were visiting them for the holiday so we got to see them as well as Becky and Rachel.

We also got to skype with Marc and Holly. Levi and Jared's other brother and his family. They all got to see the new house by using the laptop camera and walking around the house showing it off! How great is that ?!?

Next year I am going to have to try that chocolate bread pudding again!

The Ahum sign. Its a Hindu sign for the sound Ahum..

Everyone participates as we light the Dias.
We have to light them exactly at 6pm.

Traditionally we eat all vegan foods on Diwali.
We also eat on fig leaves too.
What a treat to be able to eat good food with your hands.
Yummy!!

Curry potato (aloo) and garbanzo beans (channa).
This is traditionally what is eaten on Diwali.

Yellow dhal (west Indian style).
We put our own West Indian spin on things.

Yummy Tamarind Amchar, we eat this with the
phlorie. A match made in heaven.. and its spicy too.
So watch out!

My all time favorite food. Curry Mango.
It's wonderful and goes with anything!

Phlorie, a childhood favorite. My kids love it and
so do we, little fried balls of heaven.

Curried green beans. A lovely side to the Curry aloo and channa.

Arlene in her Indian wear!

The front of the house covered in Dias.
To guard against evil.

The ahum sign all lit up in the darkness.

Ana and Arlene all dressed up in their Indian clothes.

Diwali.....

This is a time of year (usually around October or November) where Hindus celebrate Diwali. A celebration of light over darkness and good over evil. Mostly known as the Festival of Lights.

During this time Hindus refrain from eating meat products. The name "Diwali" is a contraction of "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps".^[4] Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas or dīpas) in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.

Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama, along with Sita and Lakshman, from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps) and burst firecrackers.^[5]

In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC.^[6][7] In Sikhism, Deepavali commemorates the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating Emperor Jahangir; the people lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason Sikhs also refer to Deepavali as Bandi Chhorh Divas, "the day of release of detainees".

The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival, Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the third day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the Bali, and banished him to Patala. It is on the fourth day of Deepawali, Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to patala and took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes.

In Trinidad it is customary for everyone to celebrate this holiday, whether your Hindu or not. This was the first time that our family has celebrated Diwali since Jared and I were married. Jared celebrated along with other missionaries while he was in Trinidad. There are delicious sweets that accompany the holiday. However they were devoured before I can get a picture. Maybe next year and by then hopefully I will have a Sari or a Shalwar to wear for Diwali.

The Pink Cake!

Ok so this November, I decided to throw a double baby shower for two of my friends... Mandy and Dianna... they were both expecting their third baby and they were both expecting girls...they were also due around the same time... So why not? right?

I got everything together and asked a few friends and neighbors to help contribute to the food and decorations! I was going to bring the center piece!! The cake! It took me three whole days of searching online for the right design... if finally found it, but the cake online was for a baby shower for a little boy... so I spent another day searching for the right colors of pink for our baby shower! It was really fun to do...

Once I decided on a design, I called my friend Betsey to help me with the cake. I was going to pay her to do it all, because she makes cakes on the side, and then I thought I should try and do it myself... with her help!

I stared to bake the cakes. The first one came out OK, but for the second layer I had to bake 3 cakes just to get it right.. the others all crumbled to pieces and we needed something sturdy for the fondant to sit on!

Then Betsey came over and it took us about a hour and a half to turn white fondant to dark brown... it was hard.. my hands hurt just thinking about all the kneading we did to get it right... so around midnight we were finally done with the cake! ... what do you think?


I don't think I can do this for a living.. it was fun but alot of hard work!

all the goodies!

Meow, Meow, Meow... our mittens we have lost!


So this year the kids were not sure what they wanted to be for Halloween. They had out grown last year's costumes and were searching for a new one. The girls wanted to be princesses, I couldn't find the right costumes for them, you know they ones with the thicker fabric? Well and Jamie was going to be Belle and Lizzy was going to be Jasmine... Oh well... As for little Jared.. He wanted to be a lion... but we didn't want to pay $20 for the costume...

So, I took a costume I bought last year for myself and never wore because it didn't fit right.. and ripped it in half... each half for the girls. I turned the top half into a dress for Jamie and the bottom half into a skirt for Liz... of course I wasn't going to sew anything so I used safety pins to hold everything together! I worked like a charm.

Then off to walmart we went to find kitty ears... and we did for $5 each... we got two as I already had a set from last year. We got Little Jared to wear the bow but he didn't want to wear the ears... so I drew cat stripes (tiger stripes) all over his face.

Then we had the 3 little kitten who lost their mittens!

Mrs. Spendlove's Kindergarten class...

Halloween Party!

This year Jamie's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Spendlove, thought that she would throw her class a Halloween Party this year! It was alot of fun!

making new friends...

Jamie and her friend Sarayla.

Field Trip with the Kindergartners...

I volunteered to help out with Jamie's kindergarten class this year. I thought it would be great to help out at the pumpkin patch this year. Of course I had to take Jared along with me ... I knew he would love it. It was the best weather for picking pumpkins and Jamie had a great time searching for the best pumpkin! Cant wait for next year to see all these great pumpkins again!

apple crisp!!!!!

the Larsen kids

Dinner with the Larsen Family...

We get together with the Larsen Family about once a year to have dinner and see all the kids. Matthew Larsen served his mission with Jared, I think at one point they were companions during the end of Jared's mission! It is cool to see them and hang out, but we definitely have to do this more then once a year!