Autumn Time

Halloween is fast approaching, and there are signs at the Allen household:

Pumpkins on the porch and little Owen playing in leaf piles in the front yard.

Mommy decided to rake the yard this morning and Owen decided that he was going to help.

First he discovered that it is fun to sit in the leaf piles that Mommy had made.

Then he found out raking is fun too.

Raking takes sooooo much concentration!!

(proven by the Royer trait of the tongue sticking out)

Owen's Family Home Evening Lesson

Tonight for Family Home Evening I put together a collection of family photos for Owen. We like to show him pictures of our family and tell him who they are with the hope that it will help him know his family when we get to visit. After he went to bed this evening I went one step further and put together a video slideshow that I can show him occasionally to help him know his family. I am going to include it with this blog post, but for all of you who get my posts by email, you will need to go to the blog site itself (click here: http://bjallen316.blogspot.com/) to see the video clip.

Owen's Piano Lesson

Owen and I take a few minutes each day for a "piano lesson." He sits at the piano and makes up a song while he sings along. Usually I sit next to him and play too, but he was so cute today that we had to record him on his own.

Birthday Party

Today is my birthday. My friend Leslie made me this birthday cake and we had a small party with a few friends. It was really nice to be able to spend the day with friends and with my little family. I am very grateful for them and for my family back home that has sent their birthday wishes in many different ways.

For my birthday party I made a hot wassail drink that was the best that I've ever made it (a combination of the recipe I got from my friend Liz and one I got from a fall cooking magazine I got a couple of years ago) so I am going to record the recipe now so I don't lose or forget it. It is a great recipe for a group of people in the fall or winter time.

Hot Wassail

1/2 gallon apple cider
1/2 gallon apple juice
1 can orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
3 cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp whole allspice
1/4 tsp whole cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix the apple cider, apple juice, orange juice concentrate, lemon juice, and maple syrup in a large crock pot. Put all of the spices in a cotton teabag, then put the bag into the crock pot. Heat the mixture on high for approximately three hours, then turn to low or warm to cool it enough to serve. You can remove the spices if you wish when it reaches a flavor that you like or leave them the entire time.

Conference Weekend

This past weekend was a beautiful weekend to stay home and watch conference with our friends, Captain, Leslie & Harvey. They came and spent the weekend with us and made the weekend seem almost like a vacation. Between conference sessions we played games and relaxed. Here are a couple of pictures of Owen and Harvey playing video games with their dads:

The weather was also really good and Owen and I spent some time playing outside in the back yard. He did some exploring and found a pile of small bricks. We made a small racetrack for him out of the bricks and he had some fun driving his car on it until he decided to tear it down.

All in all we had a great weekend and I am so very greatful for the technology that makes it possible for us to stay home and watch conference at home. It made it so much easier to contain two wiggly little boys than if we had tried to go to the church. Also, I was able to finish the afghan that I was making for my co-worker's granddaughter.