Family Party

So I'm backtracking a little bit.

We had a family party last Sunday, October 26

We celebrated Gerrick's B-day and did our annual pumpkin carving extravaganza.

To tell you the truth, I don't carve pumpkins.

But Rob loves it and I love it as long as I don't have to scrape out the pumpkin guts or do any carving.

I love watching everybody and now we are having the next generation of Watkins join in and it's just fun.

This year we had a house full because Gerrick and Cameron invited friends and then we had Kelsey come with her friend Craig.

We were so excited that everyone could be home with us. Some didn't know the rule that all, except mom, must carve. (I take pictures.) But it was still great fun.

Kelsey was way excited to see Gerrick

Kelsey and Craig

Rob and Kelsey - The daughter he never had.

We love you Kelsey!!!

Megan and Gerrick

Cameron brought Kaylie and Shauna with him from Rexburg

??????

Abby was way excited to carve.

She showed Randon how to do it.

We're going to have to watch her with knives

We didn't think Rand carved this year, but we now have proof.

Justin hasn't always been a pumpkin carver but I think he's starting to get into it. He did a Homer Simpson pumpkin this year. My very most favorite pumpkin he ever did was when he had a skelton with a fly rod fishing.

Tiffany joined in too.

Jace's Masterpiece

Zack wandered around the room making sure everything was okay.
The end result.

Jared loved the party.
We were sooooo glad to have Micah and Joye and fam with us again.

Micah had started to go apostate on us a little bit in Maryland and would carve jack-o-lanterns without patterns, you know, just using triangles, etc.

I think we got him back in time and got him some intervention.
Well, maybe he needs a little more work.

Matt loved it.
We even found Joye doing one at the end.

Note: Joslynn was there too but somehow she escaped pictures.

Okay, so I didn't put any pictures of Rob carving but he did. And guess what right now it's 6:30 p.m. on Halloween Night and do you know what Rob is doing all by himself in the kitchen - you got it -

CARVING PUMPKINS!!!!!!

The ones we did do on Sunday kind of died so he's trying to get more out there to show.

STAY TUNED.

Our Baby is 18!!

Gerrick is 18.

I don't know how it happened.

He was just born - or so it seems.

It seems like yesterday that he and his "twin" Brooke were celebrating their first birthday!
Gerrick was the child that kept us happy and laughing.

Now he's all grown up.

We're lucky if we can even get his face in a picture.

He did come out for a short time for us to sing happy birthday.

But it was a fleeting moment.

Of course it's amazing what a good woman can do.

Megan and Gerrick

Note: The girlfriend spent more then the parents for his present!!!

Willis Family Recipes

So about two years ago I had this wonderful idea that I was going to do a family cook book. I begged, coerced, threatened the family for recipes and then being the wonderful procrastinating person that I am I never got the recipe book done. So a couple of months ago I found some of the recipes. The others, I'm sure, are on the computer that is dead in our family room. So I'm adding a new addition to my blog, WILLIS FAMILY RECIPES. I'll post them and if you want them you can have them if you don't ignore then.

ENJOY!

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD TRIFLE

Courtesy of Jason Bastian

2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix

1 (5.1 ounce) package cook and serve vanilla pudding mix

1 (30 ounce) can pumpkin pie filling

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 teaspoon cardamom or cinnamon

1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping

1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional (I like to use shaved chocolate instead)

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle on the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punchbowl.

Note: Jason brought this to Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and it's pretty yummy!

FRIDAY

Friday's at the Watkins home are pretty hectic. In the mornings we usually have six grandkids. Joye is there with hers, Randy's at work and Justin's at school and Tiffany works on Fridays. Rob has every Friday off and he is so good to help me with the kids. I even have the nerve sometimes to ask him if I can leave to get away for awhile and he's always willing to babysit while I go. Well yesterday we decided to take a field trip and go to the pumpkin patch. So Joye took her two in one car and we took four in the van and away we went.

You have to understand that you don't go to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins, you go because it's a good place to get pictures. You buy a token pumpkin or two and then you go to Maceys where pumpkins are 12 cents a pound instead of 21 cents a pound So first thing we did was to get a group shot.

Then we loaded them up. Zack was less then thrilled.

So we reloaded and all was well.

Zack then spent some time doing his Harry Potter imitation and tried to levitate the pumpkins.

They searched high and low and Joslynn and Jared were good enough to help Grandpa Rob by pushing the wagon. Actually they never got out of the wagon to look for pumpkins Grandpa Rob just pulled and Grandma Mary found the pumpkins.

Then it was time for more photo's first Zack and Jace

Joslynn and Abby

Abby and Jace wanted to have pictures with their sister and brother. But Joslynn and Zack were less then enthused.

I cheated, this is actually a picture that Joye took of her kids when they went a couple of days before. But look how good they cooperate.

PLEASEEEEEEE GRANDMA, get me out of here!!!!!!!

Well I think all in all Zack was the most thrilled with the whole adventure.

When we got home the decorating began.

Later that night Rand and the girls went to a Halloween party. It's appropriate that Rand's dressed as a cereal box because he eats so much cereal and then leaves his bowls everywhere.

CAMERON'S HOME!!!!!

Cameron came home that night for a weekend visit.

The kids were so excited to see him.

At times this summer we had 12 people in our house at once living here. At times it's been a little chaotic, but for the most part it has been a wonderful experience. Micah and Joye are leaving us next weekend and we'll be down to six when the girls come to stay. That may still sound like a house full to some but I'm thinking it feels a little empty. So to Micah, Joye, Matt, Jared, Cameron and Kelsey thanks for the ride. We loved having you here. You are always welcomed back.

I HATE COMPUTERS, NO, I LOVE COMPUTERS, NO I HATE COMPUTERS

Okay, so I'm having a love, hate relationship with my computer, the internet, VISTA, whatever, it's all the same. I do transcription for insurance companies and for weeks I have not been able to download WAV files because of studid VISTA. This has been a concern because I can make more money with the WAV files then my other files. I've been using Micah and Joye's computer because they have XP, but you probably know what happened to theirs - VIRUS - but it's fixed, anyway.....

THEN I try to do this blog thing and it's working fairly well [okay actually I have to bug Joye about everything] but other then that I've felt pretty good about that. So then I been saving this email from my friend, Margo, inviting me to FACEBOOK, so today thinking I'm all that with the blog I think to myself, self ,I bet you could actually figure out how to look at her Facebook, but NOOOOOOO, to look at her Facebook you have to JOIN Facebook so I think, okay, to look at Margo's Facebook I'll just join. So then it comes up with all these names, names of my friends, family, complete strangers that I should put down as my friends. So I think, okay, what the heck, I'll say they're my friends. All the sudden I'm getting all this email saying they accept the invitation to be my friend. I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALREADY MY FRIENDS. In the meantime, I can't figure out how to get to Margo's page because she isn't showing up. Then I finally get to her page and MARGO, you have nothing there!!!!! So all of you who have been so kind to accept me or whatever you do in Facebook, I'm sorry, I'm NEVER GOING THERE AGAIN!!!! It's TOO MUCH for my little brain to handle!!!!

Oh, by the way, my boss, in Seattle, finally came up with a solution for me and I can now do WAV files, I know, you were so concerned weren't you?!? But then I turn back on the computer and it looked like I had lost everything else. So I restart again and there everything is. Then, I go to my blog because I think, I can vent on my BLOG, but, no, my blog is not there. Well, to make a long story short Rob helped me. I'm back on. I can now sleep, hopefully not about computers.

OUR SPOOKY GOBLINS

Every October we have pictures of our grandkids taken in their very scary Halloween

Costumes and display them on our mantle.

It's become a great tradition and a great Halloween Decoration

I thought I'd share.

Jace as Spiderman

Our Very Own Snow White aka Abby

Argh me mateys! It's Captain Hook otherwise known as Matt

And our Princess Pirate - Joslynn

Now is he scary or what! Our very own Zack

Jared the Monkey Boy.

Aren't they the cutest things ever!! I'm not prejudice or anything