Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

I picked this book because I heard that Emily Giffin was a great author. This was one of her brand new books out. I have yet to read her more popular books Love the one your with, Baby Proof, Something blue, Something borrowed. I do plan on reading them though. I really enjoyed Heart of the Matter. Heart of the matter, was another one of those books where each chapter is a different person talking. In this book it's only 2 characters, so very easy to follow along. Tessa the Wife and SAHM of 2, and Valerie the single mom of a small boy. They some how know all the same people yet not each other until Valerie meets Nick the hot doctor husband..McDreamy from what I gather!
You read to fall in sympathy and love with Valerie from chapter 1. She's a single mom. Valerie and her son go through some trauma and they are all alone. You feel sorry for her and even worse for the kid. It's hard to hate her for wanting more. This is as much as I will tell without ruining the book.
 Tessa. I feel like I could of been Tessa. She's a women who had a great career and ended it to be a stay at home mom. She has McDreamy for a husband that is never home and she feels overwhelmed. Tessa tries to be friends with the women in the neighborhood and fit in with the best schools. I went through such similar things these past few years. Back to Tessa though, she complains way to much and it annoyed me. She then becomes this forgiving wonderful person that I was happy to read she finally found happiness.
I really enjoyed the book I read most of it in 1 day.
Anyone else read this book? What did you think of it?

Happy {Halloween} Weekend

Today was full of Fall Festival aka: Halloween Parties at school today, I am so tired! We did games, crafts and watched Charlie Brown pumpkin show. "I got a rock" love it!
It did get me in the mood for this wonderful fun filled weekend though. We are sitting down with movies, popcorn and candy with the kiddos. I just love low key nights. I got invited to go out but thought this is a better way to spend my Friday night.
I wanted to share with you a few of my traditional Halloween weekend favorites first:

I haven't missed a Saw movie on Halloween in years. This year it doesn't come out for a few more weeks..cannot wait to go see it with the hubby.

Making something elaborate...no cake this year though. I made sugar cookies. Pictures to come just need the icing to dry.
I also love walking around the cold brisk evenings with a hot apple cider in a mug to warm the hands. I may have to do that this weekend on our new trail down the way.
Off to my family movie night! Happy Halloween friends!

Orange Hot Chocolate

In the spirit of Halloween, here is a great recipe for Orange Hot Chocolate! Perfect for a dessert for the kids or for a nice warm pick me up.

                                                             Orange Hot Chocolate
12 ounces white chocolate



8 cups milk


1 tsp vanilla


2 drops orange food colour


Whipped cream and sprinkles (of course)


Chop white chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat milk in saucepan over medium heat until in bubbles. Pour milk over chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts. Whisk in vanilla and food colouring, then continue to whisk until light foam forms on surface. Pour in mugs and garnish with whipped cream and sprinkles.


Enjoy!


Credit via, you can also find this on Martha Stewart

Colorado Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we headed south out of the "Ranch" with the boys to go to the Colorado pumpkin patch. We have never been to one and I thought it would be fun. I got a great deal online so it put a fire under me to take the boys and do something different. To get us more into the fall spirit.
After only a short ride (we did get lost in a neighborhood) we finally found CO PP. We arrived and it was a LOT smaller than we had expected. The boys headed straight to the straw slide, while on the slide they saw a petting zoo. This petting zoo only had 2 sheep, 2 goats, and the cutest little mini llama, along with 4 bunnies, didn't keep our attention long. They also had a snow fence maze...Yeah I was a little confused on what that was until I saw a white stick fence poorly put together in a maze. It was falling down in some places and it was short. One half of the maze you couldn't even get out of, so you had to turn around and go back the way you came..Really?
We also did a kids hay bale maze with a small tunnel, that was fun for them. We got to watch mini pumpkins being launched, hay bale pyramid to climb and a tractor ride.
We ended up being there an hour and a half. It was cold, and windy and we were ready to leave. The "pumpkin patch" was a cardboard box full of pumpkins that you picked through and paid for.
I would say that if I had paid full price to go I would of asked for a refund on the way out! The small crap pumpkins should of been included in the price and that would make it worth it. This is one place I won't be going back to. I rather drive for over an hour and have a blast that do that again. But we did get a few pictures of the boys.
Who goes to a Pumpkin Patch as an annual event each year? Which ones are your favorites?

Girls Trip

Ok, so you remember back in September I went to Vegas with some girlfriends...I finally have a disc with our pictures. Not many of them turned out but here are my favorites I wanted to share.

 Claudia and I on our way out night #1 (we liked each other at this point)

 First stop Bellagio fountains to meet my dad. This was awesome!

 Nancy and I outside our hotel, 2nd day, we were out shopping and site seeing.

 View from our walk along the strip

 M & M World, we got lots of candy for the kiddos. This sign was made with all M & M's it was amazing.

 Night 2, Gardens and Dinner at the Bellagio. This picture was taken after watching a drunk person fall into the flowers twice. (Claudia is getting a little on my nerves now)

 Fremont street/Vegas Blvd. This place would be great at night. It was hot and I needed a drink!

 Ceaser's Palace shopping, show and lots of walking

 Fremont Experience...I was so ready to go home at this point!!!

Our final walk down the strip from Cesar's to Luxor. Of course one last look at the fountains.
Update: I have still not talked to Claudia since we got home from the trip. I have talked to my husband about going back to Vegas in the near future but this time with him. I will stay on the opposite end of the strip and I will attend some shows and maybe a nightclub. I want to have a totally different experience! But I do love Vegas!

Song of the Week: "Only You" w/ Matthew Perryman Jones

I don't watch to much TV, but I do have a select few that I do LOVE. One being on Sunday night called Brothers and Sisters, it's on right after Desperate Housewives. When I do watch TV I listen to all the songs and rarely do I end up finding out what the song is. But last night at the end of B & S I heard this amazing song. After doing a bit of googling I found Only You by Matthew and Lindsey Jones. This song played when Luc proposed to Sarah. I shed a few tears with this one...It just Fit!

Just an update

I'm inside on a fall crisp afternoon relaxing after a long week. We are still on Fall break and it really has been a nice week off with my boys. I've come down with the sore throat and nauseous feeling so on Monday and Tuesday all I did was grocery shop and clean around the house. That's really all my energy allowed me to do, I even napped! OK only for an hour, on the couch, and while my kids were playing Wii next to me. But still I felt a little better after.
Wednesday we headed to the lovely, expensive Chuck E' Cheese with the neighbor boys. It was nice for me to chit chat with my friend and the boys had fun. We came home and I set up some educational games for the boys, we liked that. I did more organizing and cleaning of the basement. I sold our train table which will free up more room in the basement.
Thursday we went to one of the Rec centers with the neighbor boys again. We ended up being there for 4 hours! We raced home to shower and go to Soccer practice. Then for a nice treat we went to the Avalanche Hockey game last night. We took T's friend with us. It was so much fun. We arrived to find out we Section 1, 3rd row! We walk down to our seat and we are facing the goal and next to the camera crew. We got to see up close fights, guys smacking into the glass..and the 2 goals the Av's made. We also ended up knowing the camera guy so he filmed us on all the breaks. We saw ourselves on the big screen several times. T was so excited! After all that fun we then had T and friend sleepover in the living room while watching Diary of a wimpy kid.
When we got up this morning we did muffins and headed back to the pool. Today I only lasted 2 hours, then told the boys it was relaxing time. It's been super quiet now for over an hour. I should be napping :) I coughed a lot last night which gave me a headache, but today I feel better.
Tomorrow is T's last soccer game for the fall season. I'm glad and I'm sad at the same time. He is getting so good, the breaks in between seasons aren't good for him. He looses focus and skill.
After the game, awards and lunch we are headed to Colorado Springs. Colorado Pumpkin Patch has lots of kids activities and we will pick our pumpkins to carve. Looking forward to a family weekend of fun.
Be sure to stop by for the pictures. I've so many on my camera I just need to download them. I should even be getting my Vegas pictures up in the next day too.