More family photos...

Here are a few more pictures that the lovely Asher took. I posted the first pictures we received from Asher on the Fall 2012 Family Photo blog post. 

At the house with the boys...

A picnic in the kitchen...

Making Pumpkin bread with my little helpers. I love this recipe (at bottom) b/c it makes 3 loaves. I bake one and freeze the other two batters for another day. So yummy!

 Peanut butter pie (recipe below) with an  (doubled stuffed) Oreo crust...

 A truck driving riding cowboy..

 Rocking the boat with Daddy...

 Building tall towers (high on the list of to-dos these days)...

 And playing with ladybugs...

I love experiencing these adventures with my little men. They are so full of excitement and joy for life. We are blessed!

Pumpkin Bread

2/3 c. shortening

2 2/3 c. sugar

4 eggs, beaten

2 c. pumpkin (15 oz. can)

2/3 c. water

3 1/3 c. flour

½ tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. ground cloves (or ¾ )

½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or ¾ )

2/3 c. chopped pecans (optional, I don't use)

2/3 c. chopped dates (optional, I don't use)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, pumpkin, and water; mix well. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ground cloves together. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Fold in pecans and dates. Pour into 3 greased 5 x 9 inch loaf pans. Bake 50-55 minutes (Med=45 min, large=50 min). Cool in pans for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

§  FOR CRUST

§  25 whole Oreos

§  4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

§  PEANUT BUTTER FILLING:

§  1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

§  1 package (8 Ounce) Softened Cream Cheese

§  1-1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

§  1 package (8 Ounce) Cool Whip, Thawed

Crust:
Crush the Oreos until they’re fine crumbs. Pour melted butter over the top and stir with a fork to combine. Press into pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, or until set.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling:
Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in the thawed Cool Whip and beat mixture until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.

Pour filling into crust, evening out the top with a knife or spatula. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

OSU game with the Boys

John, the boys, and I had a lot of fun at the OSU home game the other day. They boys hadn't been to an OSU football game since we traveled in the RV to the bowl game in Glendale, Az.

Before heading to Stillwater, they boys and I made some OSU cookies (it was really Halloween cake mix and icing 75% off~love sales!). So good!

Before the game we played at the RV and ate hamburgers and hot dogs.

The boys played with their trains quite a bit.

 Where is Noah?

 They loved sitting on Pop and Grammy!

 Luke was so cute wearing his sunglasses and my hat. Cutie!

 Playing with stickers or eating them...

 Playing on the stairs (no one is traveling on the stairs b/c Pop and Grammy seats are in a box where 8 seats sit. It was nice for the boys to play on so they weren't forced to be on our laps in a cramped space. Very nice!)...

Noah loved sitting on Grammy and listening to the announcers. Sweet face!

It was another fun game for the boys! Before we left, we met Sarah and Braden and the boys ran and ran. Such good buddies! Thanks Pop and Grammy for such a good time! So fun!

Fall 2012 Family Photos

One of the college students in our church family took some great pictures of us the other day. Thank you, Asher! It was not easy getting Luke interested in the pictures but she did great working with us.

OSU Homecoming 2012

Oklahoma State University Homecoming is known as one of the best college homecomings. And we love celebrating! Friday night they have what you call the walk-arounds. The sororities and fraternities spend a crazy amount of hours creating these engineering and artistic masterpieces made out of metal and tissue paper! It is neat to see how intricate some of the decks are! Neither John or I desired to be involved with that when we were in college but it is neat to see them anyway. I heard there were over 82 thousand people that attended the walk-arounds...not sure how they come up with that number? We went at 5 to beat the people-traffic so we didn't get to see all the lights but they did have the house deck pieces moving, carnival going, food for sale, and pictures with Pistol Pete. We also saw several people we know and that is always fun! Here is a family picture in front of the boot at Theta Pond. Thank Chandra Roush for taking the picture!

 After walking around to see all the deck creations (couldn't even tell you what to call them), we went to the carnival part for the kids. They had bounce houses, different kinds of obstacles, bumper cars, swings that went around, and cars to sit in that flew around and twirled around (not sure the name of all those things either). They even had camel rides. 

 We stayed the night at the Henry's (John's sister and husband) with their three kids and the boys stayed in the motor home with Pop and Grammy. The boys had a blast and enjoyed the whole week end! The new motor home is even more spacious than the last one they had. I can see why people retire and drive the country in those things! Very neat! John and Lori also watched the boys during the game so we could enjoy it! We started off in Grandpa and Grandma's seats but it was VERY hot and sunny so we ended up sitting by Danny and Marva in their private area with lots of room and in the shade. Ahh! It was nice! I wasn't a fan of 'all orange (orange helmets, pants, and jersey)' but overall is was tons of fun! Before the game we had waffles, bacon, and sausage at the RV. After the game, Danny cooked out and we enjoyed the family! I even got to visit with the parents of one of the girls who cheered with me when we were at OSU. What a fun week end!