DC Sniper

Tonight the DC Sniper was put to death by lethal injection (which, if you ask me, is too good for him). I guess I just wanted to write something because it was such a big deal to me since I was right there during those weeks of terror. It is hard to put into words how I felt while the DC Sniper thing was going on. Sometimes we tried to joke about it, sometimes we expressed our fear.

"Terror" really is the only way to describe those weeks. Everyone was scared just to walk outside. There were people taking their kids out of school and the ones that were there were on lock-down. I was a missionary at the time and we were put on lock-down every time we heard of a new shooting. I was on exchanges when the first one happened and had to spend the day at other people's apartment without my own things.

I remember going running on p-day with another missionary and at this time the reports were that the people doing the shooting were driving a white van. We would freak out a little every time a white van drove past us. One van drove past and the driver did something to make a gun shot noise to scare us. It totally worked and wasn't a funny joke.

The thing that was scary was that everything was so random. The last killing was right by the apartment complex I was at when the first one happened. Others happened all over the DC area, in both Maryland and Virginia.

Lori, one of the people that was killed, was at the nearest gas station to the temple. She was LDS and helped us out with an investigator one day. I don't remember a lot about her, just that she was helpful. She drove us from our area to the visitors' center so the investigator could get a tour. When she was killed, two sister missionaries were in the grocery store parking lot next door and were the first ones to run to her. When they got to the visitors' center, Sister J (to not disclose the true identity) told me that she watched the life drain out of the woman.

Another thing I remember was when the freeway was shut down from the beltway to Germantown because they were looking for the shooter. It turns out (from what I remember) that the the snipers were on the freeway but the police were looking for the white van still.

Anyway, lethal injection was too easy in my opinion. I know that I'm stepping down a spiritual law when I want an eye for an eye... but I'll advance in other ways.

Little Bee and More Halloween Stuff

For her first Halloween, Morgan was a bee. I think she's the cutest bee in the entire world.

Maybe next year we'll take the candy out of the wrapper for her.

Tom and Morgan at the ward Trunk or Treat

Me getting a big bee kiss

We weren't able to get this done before the party so we made a Rice Crispy Treat brain on Halloween day.
The last surprise Halloween dessert was this kitty litter cake with Tootsie Rolls for poo.We found it to be really clever and good so I'm putting instructions on my blog for anyone that wants to do it.

Ingredients:
1 spice or German chocolate cake mix

1 white cake mix

2 large packages vanilla instant pudding mix, prepared

1 large package vanilla sandwich cookies

green food coloring

12 small Tootsie Roll candies

1 new kitty litter pan

1 new kitty litter pan liner

1 new pooper scooper

Instructions:
Prepare cake mixes and bake according to directions (any size pans).
Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble.
Crumble white sandwich cookies in small batches in food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but about 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops green food coloring and mix until completely colored.
When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl. Toss with half the remaining white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding. Important: mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don't want it too soggy. Combine gently.
Line a new, clean kitty litter box. Put the cake/pudding/cookie mixture into the litter box.
Put 3 unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Repeat with 3 more Tootsie rolls bury them in the mixture. Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top. Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top of everything -- this is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter.
Heat 3 Tootsie Rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake; sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Spread remaining Tootsie Rolls over the top. For the coup de gras take one Tootsie Roll and heat until pliable, hang it over the side of the kitty litter box, sprinkling it lightly with cookie crumbs. Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around for a truly disgusting effect!

Bluuuuuuh (in Dracula accent)

Have I mentioned that I love hosting parties? Because I do! This is the end result of our JELLO man. Doesn't it look creepy! I couldn't have been more satisfied with how the skin turned out. We made the blood with berry jam. The picture on the right is just after the Baby Ruth was dissected from out of the colon area-- I know it's disgusting... but so great.

The girls that planned the party with me came over to decorate before the party. We put up the tables and chairs, then as part of the party games we put random kitchen items that could be used as bowls, spoons and forks in paper bags so our guests could choose what they would be eating with.

My mom helped me decorate the stairway while she was here. We hung this giant spider from the light. I vehemently dislike spiders and this one creeped me out every day. (Picture below)

When the guests started to arrive, one couple brought this poster of me and two other gals dressed as KISS delivering the invitations. They taped it to the wall in the enterance.

I took Morgan to a babysitter who was also babysitting some of our guests' kids. I told her to call if Morgan wouldn't stop crying. After about 45 minutes I got a phone call and ran and picked her up.

After dinner everyone played Bunco (except me because

I was taking care of Morgan). I had never heard of Bunco until I moved into this ward. I think it it suggested for almost every group activity. Anyway, that's what was played and I think everyone had fun.

At the end of the night everyone voted on their favorite costumes. We took 2nd place! Here are pictures of the guests and their costumes.

Nacho Libre and Sister Encarnación (1st place)

Vampire and Vampiress (2nd place) Pregnant Nun and a Priest Obama and his Nobel Peace Prize (3rd place) Whoopi Goldberg (I think but maybe just a black chick) and King Bling

Holy Sheet and Sheet Head
(I didn't know that is what they were until after the party. At first I thought they were ghosts but now that I know, I think it's way cooler) Lady and Her Cat
Dora and Diego
Ketchup and Mustard

J-E-L-L-O

Have I ever mentioned how clever Tom is? Well, he thought of something to be the highlight of the Halloween party. To do it successfully we had to purchase two mannequin torsos and a whole bunch of JELLO.

First, we made a bunch of peach and mixed it with milk then dumped it in one torso. Next we put the other torso on top and took it outside in the cold air to harden over night.


The next day I made a JELLO heart out of a mold that we got.

Then we mixed a jillion boxes of raspberry JELLO and dumped it in the torso on top of the peach "skin." Next, we put the heart in and added gummy worms and Baby Ruth candy bars.

I'll post the results next...

Grandma's Visit

Tom was away on business again last week so we flew my mom out to stay with me and Morgan so we weren't scared. We had a great time preparing for our Halloween party. I think we made ten trips to various stores to buy seasonal merchandise.

Tom and I decided to be vampires for our party and we needed to make a dickey for Tom's costume to make it look real. My mom helped me do it and it turned out to be just what I wanted.

Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin (I don't know the real name) was on one night and I turned it on to watch with Morgan. I used to watch it and Garfield's Halloween Special every year when I was growing up so lucky Morgan gets to join in the tradition.

We're so glad that grandma was here for the week. We had so much fun and she was so helpful. We can't wait to see her again for Thanksgiving.

6 Month Stats

Morgan turned six months on Saturday. We had her doctor appointment yesterday to see how she's doing.

She weighs 13.11 pounds and is 24 1/4 inches long. Both weight and height are in the 10-25 percentile for her age so she is just a little thing. Her head circumference is in the 75th percentile. We know she's our kid because we both have big heads too. A lot of space is needed for our gi-normous brains, right?

She sits up really well. She can sit by herself without falling for at least a half hour.

She likes to watch Baby Signing Time. I had high hopes to not let the TV be her babysitter but sometimes I just need 20 minutes for a shower or to clean up and that is seriously the best way.


Morgan is such a mommy's girl. I take her to the gym and let her stay in daycare there for about an hour a few times a week. She seems to do pretty well but if I leave in the evening, she cries and cries, even with Tom. We have had one of the girls in our ward babysit a couple of times. I feel so bad for her (the babysitter) to have to stay with a crying baby. We pay her very well.

She sleeps in her crib now until around 2am. When she wakes up I am usually too tired to feed her and put her back in her crib so I just take her to my bed and sleep with my shirt off so she can eat when she wants. Sometimes a girl just needs her sleep.

This picture is one morning after Tom and I woke up- little girl in a big bed.

She can't quite roll over all the way. Her arm on the bottom still gets in the way. She is eating all kinds of food now. She really likes everything she's tried. I guess her favorites (or at least what I feed her the most) are bananas (real, mashed by mom), cereal and carrots. She loves being outside. The other day she let me run 6 miles while she was content in her jogging stroller.

I CAN Do It!

If you've been keeping up on my blog you would have noticed that four or five months ago I made a goal to lose the baby weight. I blogged my weight and planned on updating weekly on that feat. Well, it didn't go so well for quite a while so instead of being all Bridget Jones like and writing pretty much the same weight and what had gone wrong, I didn't write anything.

I am happy to say though that about a month ago I refocused and went to town eating clean, healthy foods and exercising regularly (which is never my problem). In one month I have dropped almost 12 pounds! I can wear all my size 8 pants now. Hip, hip, hooray! I'm not quite in the 6's, but hopefully by Thanksgiving... although I am not giving myself that deadline.