Happy Halloween!!!

Scarecrow necklaces

Hot Glue, Raffia, Candy.... We cut the sucker sticks in half and glued them onto the nerds boxes. Hot glued all of the other candy right on to the box, and then tied the raffia around the necks of the suckers. Candace wanted to use beads instead of googly eyes for the eyes...definately much more Scarecrowey

Make sure to tie a raffia bow around the neck to make sure it looks cute instead of like a noose.

Maybe they do look a little like Blair Witch Voodoo dolls...

But they definately taste good!

Jeff"s 40th Birthday

Jeff's 40th birthday went like this: I got pizza from Papa Murphys. I called Derek from Target and he told me to get the Harry Potter Cake. I bought party hats, giant balloons with the rubber bands on them so you can bob them back and forth, I got oreo cookie ice cream.

Garrett, Preston, Kooyman, Clint, and Derek looked around the house for Harry Potter stuff. The broomstick, and the Quidditch snitch. We sang happy birthday while Jeff tried to blow out the trick candles. Perfect magic candles for the Harry Potter theme.

I secretely took the boys into the living room and handed them each a cold Bundeberg Ginger beer and told them to think of something they liked about Jeff. Each one said what they liked while they handed them his bottle. Derek: Your really Fun, Garrett : You're nice, Preston: you're funny, Kooy: Deer Hunting (?) Clint: Glad you're my Dad.

Then we ate Pizza and the kids told Jeff about letterboxing at Wheeler Farm earlier today and not being able to find any but one letterbox...Then Jeff said something about leaving the gold plates on the farm alone but looking under the golden plates for the letterbox and I realized again how much I love him.

He had all the little boys laughing so hard rootbeer was coming out their noses.

I spun the cake around and had the boys close their eyes and grab a ring from the top of the cake where ever it stopped. Jeff and Derek cheated and got Griffindor.

I think I ended up with Ravenclaw. Clint wasn't happy at all about getting Slytherin. But we all know he is a real Griffindor boy. Jeff got all the Bunderberg Ginger Beer he could drink for about 2 weeks. Not a bad birthday at all.

The next night we went to Jeff's favorite restaurant with the grown-ups at The Gateway downtown. It was a lovely evening...but I didn't laugh even half as much. I love my family, and I love being home. And I love Jeff. Happy Birthday!

A New View

Last week was bad. One of those weeks where absolutely nothing goes right. I felt completely alone and so depressed. So many things in my life were wrong and beyond my control. I have always struggled with depression. I have hang-ups about medication and have never taken anti-depressants, but was thinking last week that it may be my only option for survival this winter. Of course I haven't been exercising. My schedule has changed again this year, and getting up at 5:30 am every morning again is just too hard. It was hard last year. amidst my feelings of self-pity and self-loathing, I gathered my wits about me to ask for a blessing. It helped. Then my sweet sister suggested we fast and pray. I felt guilty having her fast for me. It has been a long time since I have done a 24 hour fast. By Sunday afternoon I felt better. My calling in our ward right now is compassionate service leader. A sweet older man in our neighborhood passed away and I was in charge of the Funeral. I went through the motions of calling the neighbors and ward members to make food assignments for the lunch. I was touched by each persons response when I asked them to help. Not the slightest hesitation to help and do whatever was necessary to serve this family in some small way. By the time I called the 6th person, I think I was just so overwhelmed by the kindness of my community that when Kathy saw my name on her caller ID and answered the phone by saying "Rachel...what do you need?" I just started crying. I was so filled with the spirit of love that comes from service and felt so grateful to have the opportunity to do something useful and not in any way for myself. Service in itself is it's own reward. The best anti-depressant there is. After the funeral preparations yesterday I was driving home and just caught a glimpse of the mountains right behind me in my rear view mirror in my car. I have seen those mountains a million times. But for some reason, the way the sun was shining, and the view from my mirror was so much more beautiful than usual, I just started crying again. Out of gratitude, love, feeling close to Heavenly Father, all of it. Sometimes it just takes looking at things in a new way to re-discover the beauty and greatness of it all. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find peace in this life. Gods laws are not open for discussion or interpretation. He is the truth, the light, and the way. We need to love everyone, serve everyone, stand for what is right, be unmovable in the gospel. Be committed when we need to get through the hard times. Pray about things we are unsure of. We can't know and understand everything now. But we need to just focus on the positive aspects of life and look for ways to serve. It is funny how in the new book/movie/mantra of Eat, Pray, Love she goes through this journey of self-discovery that no real life person could ever possibly experience for themselves to find out what we already know. Through service and a love of others is the only way to deep, profound and true happiness. So I am temporarily on a spiritual high. I know it won't last. And I am not discounting in anyway medication for depression...in fact if my winter this year is as bad as last year, it is one of my options for myself. I just needed to write all of this down before I forgot so I can help myself to try to remember how I am feeling right now. I am so grateful for my life. I wouldn't change a thing.

GAK Mastry

Tricks for making the very best Gak...

Step one: Mix 1C. glue with 3/4 C. water. Mix it very well. Then add a few drops of food coloring. Any color is good for Gak.

Next mix 1 T. of Borax in 1/2 C. HOT water. Make sure it is dissolved if you want nice and smooth Gak.

Then add the Borax mixture to the glue mixture all at once and stir. The Gak will start to form immediately.

Kooy used Elmer's school glue and got monster brains.

Derek used Elmer's All Purpose Glue and got a nice smooth and stretchy Gak.

But monster brains are still cool too.

Aiden made his red.

The mix is runny at first and needs to be worked on a hard surface until it dries slightly giving the Gak the consistency desired.

Kooy showing his monster brains.

Beautiful stretchy Gak.

Perfection!

(Gak will store nicely in zip-lock bags for a few weeks.)

*Borax can be found on the Laundry aisle, and costs about $4 for a box I have had for 5 years.

Mini-treehouses

Branches, Popsicle sticks, twigs and a glue gun.... The possibilities are endless.....

What Real Men Look Like...

When I was a little girl, I had in mind the kind of man I wanted to marry. He was going to be a cross between Prince Phillip, from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Han Solo from Star Wars, and John Wayne...

Lucky for me, Jeff grew up reading Louis L'Amour books, watching lots of John Wayne movies, and playing in the woods outside in whatever state he happened to be living in at the time. He usually grew up in the country, and took being a Boy Scout very seriously. He and his brother Scott even put all of their survival skills to good use when they decided to leave home and live in the woods when they got mad at their grandmother for making them help clean out the attic. They headed off to Turkey Creek and took their sleeping bags, some carrots and their fishing poles. They took their BB guns too and knew they could live on rabbits they would catch with traps made of string.

They lasted one night, but only because they fire they build wasn't big enough to keep them warm. They headed back home and their Dad found them walking along the road back from Turkey Creek. Dad didn't scold preach. He just told them how worried he and Mom were, and was glad that they had decided to come back home.

But I have no doubt that Jeff and his brother Scott could have gotten along just fine in the wilderness by the age of 10 with everything they learned from their father, and by discovering all the skills they would ever need by themselves.
I feel like the world has changed, and that I can't just send my boys off into the mountains by themselves to shoot rabbits with BB guns, or to head off to the local river to fish by themselves all day while they float down the stream on inner tubes. Life is more complicated now, and dangerous.So I am even more appreciative for a Father-in-law, and a husband who are willing to take my boys and teach them how to be men. A Grandfather to my boys, who has done so well not only by teaching his own sons to appreciate nature and the world, but also to survive in it.

And not only in nature. But in the real world as well. His sons love their families and their wives. They work hard and know how mechanical things work. They fix things. They are street wise. They can take care of their families. They are dependable and help others. They are strong, brave, capable, problem-solvers.

They are real men. They live it. They define it.

And my boys will grow up knowing what an amazing thing it is in this world to be one of those Bingham Boys, too.

(More Photos from the Reunion on Facebook Here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254991&id=592617316&saved#!/album.php?aid=254991&id=592617316_)