thanks giving

Today I am thankful for my life, my family, the opportunity to be a mother and for Love. I am thankful for faith and a Father in Heaven that loves me. I am also thankful for you!

Another year has passed- yes I am one year older! One Year away from a new Decade! It has been a great year and I look forward to an even BETTER one! Look for more on how we celebrated to come...

A Tasty Tradition

Years ago as a family we took an occasional trip to Jackson hole, WY. We have run the rapids of the Snake River and enjoyed the beauty of the Tetons as well as the shopping in the downtown area. One of our "musts" was to eat at Bubba's BBQ! Not only was the BBQ Fantastic but so was the buttermilk pie! Somewhere along the way we got the recipe and it has been a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition ever since!
Last night I whipped up a few pies- Giovanni and my tummy were very thankful I did!
If you want to try here is the recipe:

Pie crust: (2 crust)
(this is from Betty Crocker)
2 Cups all purpose Flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 Cup plus 2 TBS shortening
4-6 TBS COLD water

Mix flour &salt Cut in shortening with pastry blender
sprinkle in water 1 TBS at a time- dont add too much!Once mixed shape into two balls, wrap with plastic wrap and chill 45min- on a floured surface roll into 9inch circle and place in pie tin- Fill!

Pie Filling: (makes 2)
Mix together
7eggs
1tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 Cups Sugar
3/4 Cups Flour
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used dry and it was still great)
2/3 Cup melted margarine

Bake at 300* F (160*C) for about 1 or longer- done when golden brown and top starts almost crack(i let mine cook almost 1 hr and 30min).
Hope you love it as much as we do!

Tired

Today I am tired. I could be taking a nap while Lottie is down but instead I am going to continue planning my lesson for church on Sunday. In our church we do not have a paid clergy. The members participate in all the meetings as teachers, speakers, primary workers ect... I recently have been called to teach the Relief Society (meetings for women 18 and up) once a month. My lessons are based on talks given in the last General Conference from living apostles and prophets. This month, the lesson is on this talk.
I am very nervous, but excited for the opportunity to be taught by the women and the Spirit. Maybe Monday I will get that nap!

P.S. here is a link about temples

I never go to work

I have always loved They Might Be Giants. I remember singing many of their songs with my cousin Brian, when we were MUCH younger! So when I saw this I really wanted to share- its so cute!

last week

Last week I really wanted to post about so many things, but I got caught up in a sewing project and it sucked the life from me for 6 days! I am back and will be posting a few clips from what I wanted to share last week!

Saturday NOV 14th was my MAMMALINA's birthday! I love you Mom! I have learned many things from you, I hope you enjoyed celebrating your special day!!!

Giovanni had a great experience sharing our faith with a city offical from City of Milan. He was with a fantastic missionary couple and you can read all about it here.

Charlotte has now been in the world as long as she was growing inside me- yup she is now TEN months old!!! Some of her accomplishments are:
-waving
-clapping
-giving 5
-her version of blowing kisses
-crawling speedily
-cruising furniture
-getting down from our bed alone
- up to 5 "solo" steps
She LOVES books, hide & seek, zippers, baths, climbing, talking on the phone, blowing raspberries, & laughing. I love watching her personality develop! She is such fun at 10 months.
Thank you for all the comments on my post about her weight!I really appreciate it!

Ode to Natalie

Nat and KD last November


My sweet friend, how I will miss you living in the boot.
We had such great times together, market shopping, eating gelato, visiting new places, complaining about Italian things, meals together, laughing, driving, the language, pregnancy, mood swings, crying on each others shoulders, phone calls, text mssgs, dreaming about new places to live, book sharing and HUGS!
Move on to better things, but know you are loved by me!
Ciao Bella!!!
G-ster kissing Lottie bye, bye

Yesterday I went to say goodbye to Natalie, my friend Michelle and I met and went together. While turning up through "the forest" as I call it a short distance from Nat's house we saw 2 prostitutes and a truck stopped a little farther down the road where there were 2 more- I had to stop behind him while he picked one up. Now this is fairly common around this country. I learned from Gio that prostitution is LEGAL- but being a Pimp is illegal- also if you are caught picking one up there is a fine. ITALIANS!!!
Well, Nicole, Nat's sister had not had the chance to see a Live prostitute yet; so Nat, Nicole, Michelle and I all jumped in the car and went down the road to show her. We ended up driving by a few times and all laughing so hard! we snapped a quick picture while Nat yelled "Say Cheese"!

a Spider, a Web, and a Pig

This year we started getting into the halloween spirit by carving a pumpkin with Amanda and Zeno last week over a bowl full of chili and again this week by carving a round zucchini- Gio wanted to carve a ping-pong table and this is what we came up with (we did our best).




Little Lottie was really afraid of this huge pumpkin, she did not want to be near it!



For breakfast we had Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup YUMMY!





In the afternoon we were invited to a Halloween- Birthday party for our friend Carter, he turned 2. It was a perfect occasion to plan costumes and be creative! We had a good time!


We went as Charlotte, Wilber and the Web! It was very fitting for us! I made our costumes with things we had around the house, with the exception of Gio's nose and ears- I cut up a hand puppet from IKEA for that!





Happy Halloween to you all!!!