Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our long-time wonderful friends, the Darts. The turkey was awesome with all the side dishes. Chrissy made this incredible yam dish that was really delicious. She will be giving me the recipe so I will post it to share. Whenever we get together the time just flies by and before we knew it, it was ten oclock at night.

Kirk was dressed for the occasion with a top hat and a turkey leg.

Hey wait...I didn't remember seeing Chewbaca there. Actually that could have been their dog Rusty. Kaleb sat at the head of the table so Steve asked Kaleb to start the Thankful circle by asking the first person what they were thankful for. I think Victoria was first with being thankful for her pets. It was neat seeing what each individual said they were thankful for. It makes you really stop and think what you want to say. Sometimes we are just quick to answer and are thankful for our basic needs. This time I could see everyone really digging deep in their hearts and expressing what they are truely thankful for. It makes you stop and think.

Never Fail Pie Dough

I discovered this awesome pie dough in a library book last summer. I thought I would share it. It is nice and flaky...yum.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
4 Tbs vegetable shortening chilled
3-4 Tbs ice cold water


Mix flour and salt together evenly with a fork or food processor. (I used our kitchen aid) Add butter to bowl working it into the flour. Add the vegetable shortening, working it in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mixture and mix several times. Dump the entire mixture onto a work surface and finish mixing. Do not overwork the dough. Form a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface. Makes two 8" pie crusts. Of course you then bake in the oven for whatever the pie calls for.

The pumpkin pie calls for baking at 425 degrees for 15 min then at 350 degrees for about 45 min until the knife in the filling comes out clean. The two different temperatures is a key here. It works out beautifully.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah's Special Day

It is hard to believe that another year has passed since our sweet Sarah was born into heaven. She would have been 6 this year. To think that she already knows what heaven is like in it's awesome grandeur. Six years ago our lives were a mess over losing her. I remember thinking that in six years I would be able to look back and see all of the blessings that had come out all of our turmoil. This year was a significant milestone. For me. I can definately see all of the blessings. Victoria may have never been born if little Sarah were still here. I am happy to finally have peace in my heart. I will always have a special place in my heart for our baby. She made me who I am today. I know she is where we ultimately want to be. She is a treasure in heaven!

Hey Mom...

Victoria had been sick all day off and on with a fever. She had some good ol' Tylenol and her old self came back. Literally. The kids even noticed. I walked into her bedroom to help her finish getting ready for bed and this is what I found. A monkey hanging upside down on her bunk bed. She definately felt better.

A Blue Ribbon!

Kaleb won his very first "First Place" ribbon for his hand thrown teapot in the Arizona State Fair! He did this completely on his own. No help on this one. Way to go Kaleb.

New Clothes for Kaya

Daphne designed and sewed this cute outfit for her American Girl doll, Kaya. She dug to the bottom of the fabric bin and created this adorable outfit. I am glad that she is still enjoying sewing doll clothes. It will make it so much easier for her when she jumps into sewing her own clothes. Of course she always chooses the most difficult patterns to sew. A true Headley! I am really proud of her, she is doing an awesome job.

More outfits to come...we've been busy.

The Boys of the House

We have a new boy in the house. Hopefully he doesn't eat as much as the oldest one does! A friend found our new "Sam" running around their neighborhood for almost a week when she finally was able to catch him. He is a really nice dog. The vet called him a "basset-jack". He is part basset hound, jack russel terrier and maybe a little queensland healer. He is pretty mellow so we think the basset hound is more predominant. Either way, Henry absolutely loves him. Someone to play with non-stop. In fact Henry has calmed down a little because he has a better way to work off the abundance of energy that he has. Walking him isn't enough. He needs to be able to raise "you know what". They are a crack up to watch play. They really like each others company. He is thought to be only 7 months and tolerates just about anything...even Victoria's smothering. He is not too sure about the camera so it has been hard trying to get his picture. He will definitely get used to that one. He is also afraid of the cats. Good for Toby, now that he has experience from Henry as to how to handle a dog. He has the arched back and puffed up tail thing down pat. When Sammy is about to be confronted by the cats he runs and uses me for his protection. I really wanted to call him Fred but he answered pretty quickly to the name of Sam. Oh well. I guess that can be a nickname. Either way, he's cute, cuddly and ours.

Hoola Hoops

At Trunk or Treat at church the hoola hoops were a big hit. Victoria managed to do it even with her cape wrapping further around her body and flying in all directions.

We finally had to make Kirk mess up. If there was a contest for being the longest hoola hooper he would have won. He just kept going and going and going. It was starting to get boreing even though more and more people were walking up saying "Oh my gosh, look at this guy...".

Kaleb would have literally won second place. He takes after his Dad.

Happy Halloween!

The kids once again had great costumes. Can you guess who Jared is dressed as? Jared is dressed as his Dad. Anyone who knows Kirk could guess it a mile away! Between the sunglasses and the fanny pak, he played the part very well.

For the past two weeks this extra washing machine was sitting next to the laundry. I kept wanting to load it up and let it do it's thing only to remember it is just Kaleb's costume. He did a awesome job crafting it. He was quite popular everywhere we went. People were constantly taking pictures of him with their kids. It was cute. They especially liked the hole to insert the candy into, which Kirk cut with his pocket knife within the first 5 minutes out. Slight design flaw easily remedied. Daphne pulled out medeviel stuff and went as a peasant. I thought maybe a breadmaker hoping that she may bake us some bread later. She didn't like that idea. Oh well, bread sure sounds good. I am just happy that she still likes to dress up. It's fun. Victoria had to be the cutest Little Red Riding Hood we have ever seen. I am sure she will be dressing up in this quite often. It was fun sewing this. It just kept getting more cute as it was being put together. This is our neighbor's pumpkin. This guy is just really big and tall. He looks gruff but a total push over if you know him. Every year he carves the pumpkin and they just look like him. The kids always look forward to seeing Rick's pumpkin.