God bless the Germans and the French!!!!

So, I am pretty sure that the next time I see an individual who is truly German or truly French, I am going to hug them, uncomfortably, for several minutes! Why? you might ask. Well, it all comes down to the most important meal of the day, the one thing that gets me up every single morning instead of hitting snooze and falling back asleep, the reason I am able to do all my economics homework: BREAKFAST! I am not talking about cereal and milk (although that is one of my favorites), but I am referring to the kind of breakfast that warms you from the inside out. The one that is smothered in sugar!!! The kind that you wash down with orange juice! The kind that only Germans and French people could come up with! I am talking about German pancakes and french toast! Today was the first time that I had ever made a German pancake and I am pretty sure that the Celestial Kingdom will have German pancakes! HOLY SCHMOLY! They were so good. In fact, as you look at the pictures, I am sure that will be able to taste them! So, here is the recipe so you can enjoy the same yumminess I enjoyed!

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

Bake in the stove at 420 for 20 minutes

THEN YOU ENJOY! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Cornbelly's 2009

Last year was the first time that our little family decided to go to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. As a child, my family and I used to go, but they only had a corn maze and pony rides (I think) and it wasn't called "Cornbelly's" (which, as far as names go, is a pretty sweet name for a fall festival, I must say). Since my childhood there have been some major advancements to this particular event. Now they have slides, pedal carts, TONS of pumpkins, multiple "jumping pillows," potato cannons, a HUGE rocking chair, several wooden trains, a tractor ride, and much, much more! Basically it is the epitome of fall . . . at least as close to it as you can get in the Utah Valley, which is great for Lyndsay because fall is, by far, her most favorite season.

Now, those of you who know Micah probably already can imagine Micah's reaction to such a place! I am pretty sure if Micah could envision the Celestial Kingdom, it would look a LOT like Cornbelly's! Slides, candy, slides, toys, slides, guns, slides, outside, slides, etc. There were so many fun things to do that Micah didn't even know where to start. I have included some pictures of some of the fun things we did, but I couldn't include them all, sorry.

Happy Halloween everyone!

"Twenty minutes ago, this was the best day of my life..."

This morning I had an opportunity to go golfing with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. We were playing at Sleepy Ridge and after finishing the sixth hole, my brother-in-law (who, as you might have guessed, wasn't having the best day ever) turned to me and said, "Twenty minutes ago, this was the best day of my life. Now, it is the worst day of my life!" Anyone who is familiar with golfing knows that this phrase, or something similar, is not uncommon on the golf course. In fact, chances are that some of you reading this post are probably replaying some of those "worst days" over in your mind. Hopefully they are accompanied by a little chuckle and a shake of the head. The more I thought about this, the more I realized that maybe there were some hidden lessons in what Jonathan said today on the course.

First, I am completely confident that moments like these are not the end of the world. If they were, then I am pretty sure that the world would have ended with the first golfers! :) There are times in our lives when we feel like saying, "Yesterday was the best day of my life, but today. . . ." "Last week was the best week of my life. . . ." "Last year. . ." etc. The truth of the matter is, although the last "twenty minutes" have been pretty good, they will eventually lead to the not-so-good twenty minutes. It is during the bad times that we need to remember the good times and allow those to carry us through. And, with any luck, the slumps will only last "twenty minutes."

Secondly, I couldn't help but notice that the bad times often have a destructive effect on everything else around us. While golfing, I know if I hit a goofy shot, the next time I pull out the culprit club, my mind plays some bad tricks. I can't help but think: "I want to hit anything BUT the last shot that I hit." or "Anything other than _______ would be a 'good' outcome." The funny thing is that there is something like a 90% probability that I am going to hit the exact shot that I don't want to hit! And when that happens, all of a sudden, my bad twenty minutes turns into thirty or forty. The same happens in our day-to-day life. We start thinking that any kind of situation besides our current situation would be much better than what we are facing today. We try to avoid, to prolong, to whatever the current situation so we don't have to face what we think lies ahead. However, I can't help but think that if we take the bad situations we have and learn to accept them for what they are, we will find that our bad "twenty minutes" turns into ten. We begin to realize they weren't as bad as we thought. I mean, that's how Tiger Woods does it, right? He hits a bad shot, accepts the outcome, and goes on to win the tournament.

So, to my brother-in-law and all you other "twenty-minute" sufferers, I have learned that if you can keep your head up, accept the situation, and don't let the bad minutes dictate the new minutes ahead, you will keep going back to the golf course!