Tonight we carved pumpkins and I found this recipe for Toasted Pumpkin Seeds with sugar and spice. These are honestly the best pumpkin seeds I have ever had, Doug even likes them.

1 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
6 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp oil

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread seeds in a single layer on baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted.
2. In a large bowl stir together 2 Tbsp sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

This week we got a package in the mail from Doug's sister. It was the consolation prize for not winning her contest. In it was the supplies to make some Halloween cupcakes. So last night James "helped" me make these cupcakes.

For the past month James will only wear his sandals when we go places. I get his shoes and he yells "sandals" and runs and gets his sandals. So today I decided to take him to get new shoes, deciding that the reason he will only wear his sandals is because everything is too small, and at least when he wears his sandals his toes can stick out the end. They measured his feet and just as I expected his shoes were a size too small. So I started showing him some of the shoes I liked and he kept saying "No, No, No." to all of them. Finally he saw the pair he wanted on the shelf, just at eye level. "Buz Lightyear!" he said. I really think kids have a sixth sense about these things. He had to choose the 1. ulgyest 2. most expensive and 3. wont match anything, pair of shoes in the store. And they light up, which when he found that out I couldn't get them off of him! I thought maybe I would just buy a pair that I liked and once we got out of the store he wouldn't have a choice. But I am tired of having him wear his sandals everywhere. So I gave in, spent the extra $5 so that he would have a pair of shoes that he would wear. And really he's two, so who cares if his shoes don't match. At least they're not pink!


Funny story of the week: James just had a lesson in Nursery about saying prayers. So for the past week he has been saying prayers a lot. (Never mind that we have been teaching him about praying for two years with little success.) Yesterday he wanted to play Dodge Ball on the Wii. He brought me the game, and we sat down on the couch to play. I looked over at him and he had his arms folded. "Heavenly Father, Thank you..(for) Dodge Ball."

There were so many pictures that I decided to just do a video/slideshow of our trip to Logan. We had a lot of fun visiting family and James loved playing with his cousins.

I love this picture. I am the clown and my brother is the Dinosaur. I love his face, it is perfect. I think I was a clown most of the time.

1. What is your all time best Halloween costume? Doug also remembers the Dinosaurs. One year my Mom spent a long time making me an Angel costume, then of course on Halloween it snowed and I had to wear my snow pants and coat. I was so disappointed.
2. What is your favorite Halloween tradition? We didn't really have many traditions, but I loved carving pumpkins and then baking the seeds after.
3. What is your favorite Fall tradition? We don't really have any fall traditions yet, but this year I picked apples and made applesauce. Don't really know if this will become a tradition, but I would love to do it every year. Also we are going to go to a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins.
4. What is your favorite book? I love so many books that this one is hard. Doug of course loves Ender's Game, which I really like too. I also love Jane Eyre. Doug wonders how I can read the same book so many times.
5. Name 3 great things that happened to you today. (this is going to be yesterday since it is too early in the morning) 1. James asked to go potty at nap time. Although he didn't really go in the the toilet at least he asked right? 2. We had Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) which is James' favorite so he ate really well. 3. I finally got all the laundry put away.
6. What is your all time favorite dessert? I don't really know what my favorite dessert is, I know Doug's is Cheesecake. We had this really yummy fried Cheesecake for our anniversary. I love Apple Crisp, and I really love how it makes my house smell (like fall, which is my favorite season).
7. Tell me something you look forward to doing in the next month. Going to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, and baking the seeds. Also trick or treating with James for the first time. Also shopping for Doug's birthday. I have a lot of great ideas this year.
8. Tell me something you are going to give someone else for Christmas (I need ideas!) We signed James up for the Disney Movie Club (if anyone wants to do this let me know, I have a coupon for 4 movies for $1 and the next 2 movies for $20) also Doug is getting Lasik next year. He says that is his Christmas present, but he will also get some other things. I can't think of anything for Michael, but I thought of making them a beanbag, or getting an art easel, or a play workbench. Also James needs new books (Doug is getting tired of the books he has) and I am working on a list of books that I want to get for them.

Fall is probably my favorite season of the year. I love summer because we get to play outside, but when the fall weather hits I just feel different. I really love how clean and fresh the air feels during the fall. This year fall brought apples from my apple tree. I was so excited about these apples all summer then when it came time to pick them I had no idea what I was going to do with this many apples. I am the only one who eats them in my family, Doug doesn't even like apple desserts. So I came up with this brilliant plan to make applesauce. The only problem was I had all the apples, but none of the equipment to make applesauce. Then in church two weeks ago they announced they were going to have an applesauce making class, and they also needed apples. So I volunteered my apples and Tuesday I went over to my neighbours to make applesauce. I was the only one to show up so I learned to make applesauce. We only did about half of my apples and got 30 pints! Next year I think I will borrow the equipment and do all of my apples. James likes eating "pink" as he calls it because it turned out pink.

Fall also brings stray cats to our door, wanting to get in from the cold. James was really excited about this cat because it looks just like Mittens from Bolt, and the first thing he said when he saw it was, "You kidding me!".