Halloween Pumpkins

I decided for the month of November that I would focus on doing crafts and spending more time with my children. I had promised Dylan we would carve pumpkins, and I figured it would be a good way to practice and prepare myself for "craft day".
Once I cut the top of the pumpkins off Dylan wrinkled his nose in disgust and said "I'm not touching that 'stuff' until I have gloves!" Alivia dug right in and was throwing pumpkin all around the kitchen.
After Dylan decided what he wanted to actually have carved out on his pumpkin, I drew the picture for him.We only had steak knives and I realized it might not be the best idea to let him actually carve it. So here's what I (I mean 'we') ended up carving.

Before
After
The night time look

Twenty Nine

This Handsome Man Turns Twenty Nine TodayTwenty nine years ago today, Lisa gave birth to a son,
and my world was forever changed for the better because she did.

I could write twenty nine reasons why I love this man, or twenty nine things you probably don't know about Derik, or twenty nine things that make him my biggest pain in the butt, or twenty nine reasons why our world wouldn't be complete without him, but I'm afraid it would embarrass him something fierce! So I'll save Derik a little embarrassment and just tell him, I'm glad I meet you and fell in love with you, I'm glad I have had the privilege of growing and loving and learning and struggling with you. You're my diamond in the ruff, and every once in a while, when you put your guard down, I catch a glimpse of your inner most beauty and worth. Thanks for being you, because it forces me to grow, thanks for always being soft and caving in when it's something I truly want or need, thanks for going to work and letting me stay at home with our terribly naughty, but oh so lovable children. Thanks for reaching into the unknown and being a good father to our children. Thanks for working hard for our dreams. Thanks for putting up with me and my inevitable break downs. Thanks for being strong and faithful.
Happy Birthday Derik!

Not Fideo, Mummy Dogs, Witchapalooza, and Another Sorry Excuse for a Cake!

I like to blog....More often than not I just don't have any thing important or exciting to blog about. I just hate staring at the same old post day after day so even though no one really cares about what we ate this week, here's another quick review of what the Giovannoni's did and ate, over the last week.

Not Fideo (Fi-Day-O)

My dear sweet friend Cynthia who is an awesome cook shared her Fideo recipe with me. I decided I was in the mood for some Fideo the other night only to discover I had no Fideo noodles. I cooked up some brown rice and threw that in instead. I thought it was almost as tasty as the original recipe. So maybe I took the Fideo out of "Fideo", it seemed to worked out alright for me.

Mummy Dogs

Oh I'm Lazy!!! I saw these cute little mummy wieners on a blog I was browsing about a week ago and I thought they would be fun to make for the kids. To bad I got all lazy and frustrated with the stupid cheap pre-made crescent roll dough, they aren't nearly as cute as they should be.

Witchapalooza

This particular witch-stop made me chuckle.

Every year Gardner Village (in West Jordan Utah), puts on a big event with everything witches. Derik the kids and I joined our good friends the Wignall's to take the kids to see all the witches.

We tried to get a new picture of Dylan and Alivia together.

Between Dylan's goose-egged head and Alivia's diaper 'shot' these pictures are only something a mother can look at and appreciate.

My Cake Wreck!

I was really excited to put my new bundt cake pan to good use and I decided to make a pumpkin chocolate chip cake. I tried mixing two different cake /cookie recipes and the poor thing came out a total mess! I love trying out new things and mixing up new recipes, but more often than not my little creations turn out to be total disasters. This cake might look ok, but it was all soggy and mushy on the inside. I should have left out the water I added (which I couldn't remember whether I should or I shouldn't) and I think it might have actually turned out ok.

A Drama that Really Made me Laugh

This was too funny not to share. Lately Alivia really loves to run away from me when ever I'm trying to dress her or change her diaper. I really am to lazy to get up and chase her around so I play my own little game with her. I pretend that something is really wrong and that she's hurt my feelings and I pretend I'm upset and crying. She usually is unphased by this immature little game I play and she'll continue on her way.
She's so clever, that tonight she decided to give me a taste of my own medicine. I couldn't help but laugh!

Breakfast Burrito's for Dinner

I have always been a little afraid of food from Beto's Mexican Restaurant, but I do love their Breakfast Burritos. The other night Derik and I decided to splurge and share one. When I saw the eggs, potato and pico de gallo Breakfast Burrito I just had to have it. They brought our burrito out to us (we were in the drive through) and sent us on our way, only for us to discover they over charged us and they forgot the pico! It got Derik and I to thinking why not just make our own? So here it is folks, eggs, cheese, potato's, ham/turkey slices, and my own fresh pico, all wrapped in a warm tortilla.

It didn't exactly taste like Beto's Breakfast Burrito, there's something I missing, but they were yummy just the same.

A Week In Review

Dylan lost tooth number two.

Ignore the huge goose-egg on his forehead that's the next subject of our weekly review.

Dylan's super giant and painful looking goose-egg
Once upon a time Dylan was running home from church
and tripped over the sidewalk

I didn't see blood spurting so I figured he was ok
he's always been a little dramatic

Poor kid, it looks like it really hurts!


I always thought my head of natural curls were a pain in the butt,
but this week I realized just how much I love natural curls
and here's why
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these curls
each and every one is a perfect little ringlet and I don't have to do an ounce of work.


I ran six miles!
My mom took me to the Provo River Trail and we ran from Vivian Park to the parking lot at the mouth of the canyon. I was slow as cold tar but I ran the entire six miles without having to stop or walk. I did it in one hour and 26 minutes. I haven't ran that kind of distance in at least seven years, so even though I was slow it was good to know I could still go the distance.

Derik and I were able to make it to our friend Shauna's wedding reception.

The best event of the week by far was....
My Grandma Benson finally accomplished her goal of going through the temple
and receiving her endowments
We are so happy for you grandma!

Fried Green Tomato's

I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to be making fried green tomato's for dinner. I have so many eggplants and green tomato's that need to be used that I fried some up and we had greasy goodness for dinner.

I really think fried green tomato's are refreshing
and fun to have once or twice a year.
I made a remoulade sauce to dip them in
d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!


This is my Eggplant Parmesan
It might look horrible, but man was it tasty. I even made my own whole wheat bread crumbs which I coated the eggplants with (thats why they are so dark looking).

Dinner is served.

We may all die in our sleep tonight thanks to all the fried greasy goodness, but at least we'll have died after having a scrumptiously delectable dinner.

Saying Goodbye

In apprehension of tonights forcasted hard freeze, I plucked everything in my garden and took some farewell shots. I'm sure going to miss it!!!

In the beginning
(Notice how the grass is neat and trim and everything is weeded)

In the end
(Weeds running wild and the weed whacking apparently forgotten)

This are my Nasturtiums and Spaghetti Squash I planted along the house

Out of two spaghetti squash plants this is the only squash I got
and it isn't any where near being mature

Nasturtiums, these are really fun and they are totally edible, some were peppery tasting and some were bitter. I think I'll plant some more next year, all over the place.

And here's the last of this years bounty.

It looks like I'll be making a lot of Eggplant Parmesan and Fried Green Tomato's. Last year I just kept my green tomato's and when ever I needed some I just threw them in a bag with an apple. Wha-la, two days later I'd have red juicy tomato's. I guess a gas from the apples speeds up the tomato ripening process. This way I kept using my tomato's for salsa well after the last freeze.

I'm going to miss eating all my garden treats for another six months or so, but now I have six months to plot and dream up next years garden.

And The Parent of the Year Award Goes to....

Derik and Michelle Giovannoni.
We ROCK as parents!!! Here's the proof.
Dylan brought his art work home from school this last month and I was quite interested in what he would choose to draw. So I'll spare you some of the details and the descriptions and I'll just post his work.

Exhibit Number One
Dylan in front of the TV playing the X-Box with Mom in the corner

(Notice the game paddle it has such loving detail)

Exhibit Number Two
Dylan in front of the TV playing the X-Box
while Mom sits in the corner on the computer

Exhibit Number Three
Dylan in front of the TV playing the X-Box with friends
while mom is in the corner on the computer

Thats right Folks, out of twelve art work assignments 3 of them depict what an awesome mother I am, doddling away on the computer while Dylan plays the X-Box!
Now it's dads turn. Last night I ask Derik to change Alivia's Diaper and tuck her into bed since I was in the middle of ripping apart our basement for fall cleaning.

Diaper changed (Check)
From there I'm not sure what happened....
Derik came downstairs as proud as a peacock with these pictures
and said "Look how cute".

Apparently Alivia found Dylan's Leapster and begged her
Dad to play. He caved cause he's a sap for this little Techno nerd
(she just loves anything that's electronic).
We like to start our kids out early on the road to gaming.

So forget about all the time we spend doing constructive and uplifting activities, our poor kids have outed us. The proof is in the pudding.

Homemade Pizza

In an effort to start expanding my cooking skills and eat a little less pre-packaged foods I decided I would try and set aside one meal a week (at least) and make our meals from scratch.

Now that I have a fabulous oven I'm having so much fun experimenting with dough.

I made this traditional pizza as well as a chicken alfredo pizza
I thought they turned out delicious