Harvest evening at Schell Farms!

YES! We had lots of fun at the farm! Petting animals, playing in the corn & hay mazes, on the hay pyramid, and the slide, a hay ride, and dinner was roasted hot dogs and marshmallows at the bonfire.

Kalani's favorite was the animals, he kept trying to put his finger in their mouths. He laughed and laughed! Keanu was very shy, almost afraid of them. Especially the gobblers!

I think Keanu's fave, the little kid hay maze!

Posing in the corn - Yes we did get lost and ended up coming out the entrance instead of the exit, haha!

A very bumpy and slightly sprinkly wet hay ride - the kids loved it!

And pick your own pumpkin - oh, MORE pumpkins? As if we didn't already have too much!

My Dancing Girl

Keira's my little dancer!! We decided to put her in Jazz & she absolutely LOVES it! Her teacher is wonderful, and she's LDS and has performed at BYU. So far they've learned a lot of stretches and a few dance moves like how to point your toe and do hops and leaps, and a few steps.

Hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's

We've been hanging out at my parents house a lot lately, mostly due to the fact that my brother Cory & a very pregnant Minnie have been visiting. We got to visit with them LOTS before they go to Hong Kong for vacation and then to live in the Phillippines for 5 months or so (they've decided to have the baby in the PI). SO it was so nice to get to see them, it's been a long time!

Grandma & Kalani, he just loves it when Grandma munchies on him!

Grandpa Lar, my mom's dad, with all the great-grandkids!

The dogs (Roxie & Scooter) have been playing together quite a bit. We bring Scooter over to visit, they just love cuddling with Jeff!

More pictures to come later! We took some very nice ones of Cory with the kids too!

Birthday breakfast!

My wonderful husband made homemade pancakes for me on Sunday!! Here I am with the kids first thing in the morning for pancakes! YES, I'm 32 now (an old lady!)

After church we went to my mom & dad's house for a lovely ham dinner, pear pie & cherry cheesecake, it was all so yummy!! But the best part about it was the family and good conversation! Then yesterday my sister, Amber was nice enough to watch the boys so I could go out for a mani/pedi, full massage, and a little shopping. It was so nice to get a break from it all & relax!! So thank you everyone who remembered my birthday & helped make Sunday & Monday a wonderful couple days!

Two parties in one day!

#1, we went to Natalies in the afternoon for a great kids Halloween party! The goodies were spoooky and we had witches brew to drink. But the best part of it is, we were there with our friends and the kids played a lot and the moms had fun visiting! Lots of kids wore their costumes, and YES! We dressed up too (Keanu is a dragon, Kalani is a lion & I'm a witch this year).

#2, In the evening some friends came over for a homemade pasta night! There were 10 of us and we each made a batch of homemade pasta. We each got a chance to practice using a pasta maker, and when the pasta was all made, we ate it with the sauces people brought and a yummy salad! It was so much fun to learn a new skill - flour, an egg, salt & water? Who knew it was so easy to make your own pasta?

Last night was Sushi night!

Yes, well we get in these moods where we are SO tired of eating the same thing over and over again. That's when we break out with something different. So tonight we had sushi. The kids love it - everyone but Kalani. He prefers to pick out the goodies and toss the rice and seaweed on the floor.

As you can see, I used regular black nori seaweed rolls, which you can find at Safeway or most oriental sections of the grocery store. Cook your rice with a bit extra water to make it sticky, then add rice vinegar if you'd like. Gather together your veggies such as spinach, cooked carrots, sliced red bell peppers, green beans, green onions... Then fry your egg and slice. Then gather together whatever seafood you'd like - I used crab, shrimp, and cooked tuna (you can't find it fresh around here)

Place your nori on the bamboo wrapper, or you can use your fingers, but it's harder. Smash a thin layer of rice all over, add your veggies and seafoods (leaving 1 inch extra nori on the end). Then spray the excess nori with water. Carefully roll it up, pressing with your hands to mold it into shape as you go.

Dip a sharp serrated knife into water and slice. This is Keanu's plate. Please excuse the picture quality!

Bodine Family Bibimbap Night!

Tonight is Bibimbap night in our house. For those of you who don't know, I used to work at a Korean restaurant & have a few favorites that we make at home. Bibimbap is a family favorite, easy to make, only takes one weird ingredient that can be found at any oriental market. Here's how it's made.
Ingredients: steamed rice, whatever veggies you like, cooked/diced meat (if desired - not necessary), eggs, kim chee, soy sauce, sesame oil, cocojun sauce (a sweet pepper paste found at the oriental market (see below for picture)
Directions: Steam your rice, cook your meat and veggies (separately or together), fry your egg in sesame oil over-easy.


Then place a mound of rice in your bowl. Around the edges of your rice place small bits of your meat and different veggies. Don't forget the Kim Chee! If you have seaweed it's good in this also. (as you can see I made mine with frozen stir fry veggies, but the Koreans use meats and veggies they have on-hand). On top, place an egg. Drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce. Place a spoonful of cocojun sauce on the side.

THEN comes the fun part! Mix it all together and eat! The egg yolk, oil, and sauce mixes together to create a delicious flavor! I leave the cocojun out for the kids, it's kind of spicy.

Oh the woes.. and joys of TWO toddlers!!

Woes: This morning in the car and in my MOPS meeting, Kalani bawled almost the whole time (who knows why? Tired? Teething?) It made me sad because I really was looking forward to some time with mommies speaking actual English (instead of finding myself saying Bankie instead of Blanket... you get the idea). This isn't the first time I've found myself leaving an event early due to cranky kids, recently I had a nightmare church picnic where the boys both ended up bawling with their faces covered in snot and their clothes and shoes covered in MUD! Sooooo anywhooo, when I got home, Kalani and Keanu both slept for a couple hours (Ahhh Bliss!).

Joys: Keanu and I had LOTS of fun today playing games! He's now old enough to play preschool type games such as Hi-Ho Cheerio and this I-Spy Preschooler game we have. Then when Kalani finally got up he was in an awesome mood. The boys practiced coloring with markers (for Keanu) and crayons (for Kalani - he still eats them). Then I gave them both playdough. This was Kalani's favorite time. At first he didn't know what to do with it. He watched Keanu and soon discovered how to cut, tear, poke... and quickly discovered that it doesn't taste good! It was lots of fun just watching them explore with creativity! I took some pictures for your enjoyment (only of the joys - don't enjoy taking pics of those woes!!)



And they welcome Keira home from school! I just had to capture the group hug since the camera was so handy! That Keira is such a ham!

Happy Birthday Cory!!

Let me tell you a secret... my very first best friend, he's my brother! We're a little over 11 months apart, and today he turns 31. We'll be the same age for 17 days! This is how I remember him best when I think back to our childhood days of playing with each other, sharing (or not) our toys, eating cereal, jumping on the bed, running around in the backyard, getting into trouble... those days of innocence when nothing mattered but family, and love, and toys and naps. (I know he doesn't look happy in this pic, maybe he was ready for a nap!)

And here he is now!! A big-shot safety engineer (or something like it) for Cherne Contracting in California. He's all grown up, married, and working long hours graveyard and putting money in the bank (he's got a baby on the way - he'll need it!)

Cory has always been the brother I've felt closest to in spite of the many things that have worked to keep us apart. This is probably because of the happy childhood days, and our close age span. He's very loving, understanding, he overlooks my many faults & sees me for me. So Cory, even though you're far away, soon to be accross the ocean from us, you'll always be in my heart! I hope you have the happiest of birthdays!