I Heart PINTEREST!!!

K, so, if you don't know what Pinterest is, I'd be so happy to introduce you to it!!! Say, you're blog surfing or you've Googled something and you just love what you see, you can Pin it on your Pinterest board. Other people can see it and they can Pin it. There is a search engine where you can search a particular subject, for instance; cute Valentine's Decorations. It will pull up Pins that other people have pinned on Pinterest and the ideas are so conveniently scattered on the screen so that you have access to gazillions of cute ideas, right there. Each idea just takes up like a couple of inches on the screen. No searching and searching and searching the internet to find something you just simply type in your topic and it brings up so many cool choices!! When you click on it, you can go to the original place it came from, like it will take you to the blog it was originally posted on, so you can check it out to see if there are more fun ideas on that blog.  You don't post stuff like on blogger. You can add a URL to post an idea but it's just different than on here. I have posted things from my blog on Pinterest by adding the URL of the particular post. It's just such a really fun thing. One fun thing you can do is add a Pin It button to your favorites bar so that when you are on a sight and you find something you like you can just click on that Pin It button and it automatically Pins it to your board. So fun and easy!! I know that this would be absolutely perfect for so many of you, especially my friend, Tara B.!!! It's really just perfect for anyone who loves blogging or finding ideas on the internet for fun, cute, yummy things to make. So, anyhoo, just give it a try! I know you won't regret it!!!

A recipe, etc.

~Last year all of our YW classes met together for all activities. This year our Beehive class is going to do an activity each month on our own so that the girls can do some of the things the other girls have already done. A lot of the older girls have earned their Medalians already or are really close to finishing so the girls in Beehives need some activities that are focused on the value project. So last night at YW we Beehives planned our year of activities and had brownies. The Mia Maids and Laurels made cake pops. If you have never made cake pops before, they, are, delicious!!! I had the one that was made with red velvet cake. You bake a cake and crumble up the cake after it cools. Then you add either cool whip or a cup of canned or homemade frosting to the crumbles. Mix well and then form into balls. Put a sucker stick in the top of the ball. Place them on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes to help them firm up. Then you take them out and dip them in either melted white almond bark or brown almond bark. I'm sure melted chocolate chips would also work. I especially love milk chocolate chips and butterscotch chips melted together and I'm sure that would be DIVINE! The one I ate had the cool whip mixed with the crumbles. I think they just used a cup of cool whip but they may have used a bit more. Then they dipped them in the white almond bark. They were so creamy and delicious! It would be so cute to put some red food coloring in some of the almond bark and drizzle over the white dipped balls for Valentine's Day. You could do them for any occasion! I'm so excited to try making them and have my kids help out. They LOVE having food making projects! Give them a try. They are delicious, easy, and oh, so pretty! I wish I'd have thought to take a picture.  :)
~So I'm trying to figure out how my children do so well in school, they are so smart, they amaze me all the time, yet...they can't figure out how to throw things IN the garbage can, or how to put their dirty clothes in the laundry room.
~Our wonderful bishop, Bishop Manley passed away Tuesday morning. He has been battling Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Leukemia. I didn't get to know him as well as others I'm sure, but it was a wonderful thing to get to see him interacting with the youth of our ward. He LOVED them so very much and tried so hard to be a part of their lives. Their favorite time spent with him was when they did an over night Book of Mormon Read-a-thon at our church house. The best part was having him answer questions they had as they read. I wasn't in the program yet but they still talk about it all of the time. He has been a wonderful influence in their lives and such a wonderful example of faith, strength, enduring to the end, enduring it well, trusting the Lord. He has had the very best attitude I have ever seen in someone in this position. What an inspiration to us all! I loved the fact that he ADORES his wife so much! They are so cute together! I hope Brian and I can have that kind of love for each other when we've been married that long. I'm so sad to see such an amazing man leave this life, but I am so happy to know that he's not going through a physical HELL any longer. That he is free of pain and suffering. That he is being welcomed by so many loved ones on the other side. I know with all of my heart that Our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ are truly "well pleased" with this out standing man! I just pray that his sweet wife and children and grand children can find comfort as they try to live without him until they all can meet him again.    :(   If any of you know him or are interested in seeing his obituary click on this.

Not your average chore chart!

So, after my little venting post earlier today, I decided I needed to make something. When I make something, it makes me feel happy. A few years ago when we lived in Pleasant Grove, I ordered 2 magnety board things for a Relief Society Super Saturday project. I made the one that was the Family Home Evening one but I never did anything with the other one. I've wanted a chore chart for my kids for some time now but I am really not a fan of most of the chore charts where they do the same chore everyday. I've tried other ways but I'm just so inconsistent. My friend, Mysti, has a dry erase board and she just puts everyone's name on it and writes what chores they need to do that day. A much better idea if you ask me! So I made over my little board. I'll just write the chores with a dry erase marker each day. I just used letter sticker that I ordered from QVC several years ago instead of my Cricket because I need a new mat thing, some vinyl, and possibly a new blade.  Other than that it's totally great! ;)  Anyhoo, it was already painted black. I Mod Podged the paper on and then just glued chip board letters (also from QVC). I decided it would be nice to have some positive messages on it to encourage them to do their work (once again, they are letter stickers from QVC). If you've never Mod Podged before, try it! It's so great you'll want to start Mod Podging EVERYTHING!  It's kind of pricey but it lasts and lasts! I just got it at Walmart. I have used it and used it and I've let my friends use it and there is still like half a bottle. Just get a foam brush or a paint brush and brush it on fairly thick. If you do it too thick it will dry strangely but if you do it too thin the paper won't stick because it just dries so fast. Really watch for running or globs. Those dry so ugly so be sure to clean those up. Basically, I just painted on the Mod Podge, then put the paper on and made sure I pressed it down all over and tried to make sure there were no bubbles. Then I just put another layer of Mod Podge over the top of the paper, cleaned up the runny spots and globs, then I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on all of the exposed wood because I have the glossy kind and it looks best if you put a layer of it all over the wood so it all looks the same. It was SOOOO easy! Anyway, I'm so excited to start writing chores down for my kids tomorrow!!! 

I'm not as good at it as my cousin is!!! But at least I tried! :)

My incredibly talented cousin, Becky, makes these AMAZING cakes. She lives in Utah County and has started a business making cakes for people. My sister Steph has asked her to make 3 different cakes. They are all masterpieces. I don't have a picture of the fabulous cake she make for my nephew, Josh, but it was so awesome!!! She made a Toy Story one and it was a moving day box and the characters were all coming out of it and there were packing peanuts and stuff. It was all edible except for a couple of the characters that she bought at the store but otherwise she made each character and everything herself. You can see it on her blog if you want.  http://thecakemama.blogspot.com/

She made this fun cake for my beautiful little niece's birthday.

She made this one for my mom's 70th birthday party. She was born in Kansas and lived there until I was 16 then we moved out here. This cake was perfect for my mom!!!

Gracie's party had a Hawaiian theme. I found this adorable Hawaiian Hula Girl cake idea online and copied it. You make it the same way you make the Barbie cake with the Pampered Chef Large Batter Bowl or you can use a Pyrex bowl. My friend Sherelle suggested to cut it in half and put some frosting in between so there isn't just a big ol' piece of cake without frosting. It was super easy and I think it turned out cute. It of course wasn't professional looking but still cute and fun! I'll post some more pics of her bday on my Word From the Zoo blog soon.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the $1 store for cheap, cute, fun decorations!!! The only reason I chose a Hawaiian theme was because the $1 store had such cute Hawaiian decorations! So much fun!

I had so much fun with these cupcakes! Aren't they cute?!

Valentiney stuff...

I have had some empty veggie cans that I intended to decorate cute for teacher's treats since before Halloween. I FINALLY decided to do something with them for Valentine's Day. I think they are cute. I know they could have been embellished more but I think they are cute, yet simple. :)  I also took some to some new girls in our YW and one to the kid's bus driver. She always gives them cute treats for each holiday. I had a plate of goodies for her for Christmas but couldn't get out there fast enough so I made her one of these cans. I made them Sunday evening. Then on Valentine's Day I made some red velvet cupcakes with white cream cheese frosting, some strawberry cupcakes with pink cream cheese frosting, and some of those little cherry cheesecakes in cupcake papers. I delivered those to friends, Brian's office, and gals I visit teach. I just love Valentine's Day! It makes me happy! Brian gave me a dozen red roses. They smell so good and are so pretty!

 This is my favorite one...

This one was my favorite...

Popcorn Popping

Our Young Women activity was extra fun this week! It started out with one of the leaders reading this Parable of the Popcorn to us.

The Parable of the Popcorn

Behold at the time of the harvest, the ears of corn did bring forth

kernels which we dried and prepared for the popper's hand.

And then it was that the popper did take the kernels, all of which

appeared alike unto him, and did apply the oil and the heat.

And it came to pass that when the heat was on, some did explode with

promise and did magnify themselves an hundred fold, and some did burst

forth with whiteness which did both gladden the eye and satisfy the taste

of the popper. And likewise, some others did pop, but not too much.

But lo, there were some that did just lie there and even though the

popper's heat was alike unto all, they did bask in the warmth of the oil

and kept everything they had for themselves.

And so it came to pass that those which had given of themselves did bring

joy and delight to many munchers, but those which kept of the warmth and

did not burst forth were fit only to be cast out into the pail and though

of with hardness and disgust.

And thus we see that in the beginning all appear alike, but when the heat

is on, some come forth and give their all, while others fail to pop and

become as chaff to be discarded and forgotten.

Which are you?

Bursting with enthusiasm, ready to give your all


OR


Content to keep to yourself, and not pop or just pop a little

Then, another leader gave some examples of ways this applies to us and stuff. It was nice. Then the fun part! All of the leaders and some of the YW brought different kinds of popcorn to share with everyone and exchanged the recipes. I LoVe getting new recipes!!! And they were absolutely delicious!!! We loaded up bags full of all the different kinds of popcorn to take to our inactive and less active girls and then we each got to load up a bag full for ourselves. So fun!!! Then we loaded up into cars and visited the girls. It was a great night! I thought I'd share in case you all needed a new yummy treat to try. Also, at Max's preschool Valentine's Party yesterday a girl brought white cheddar popcorn that her mom made. Her mom says that there are some different flavored salts at Walmart by the popcorn and she just popped the popcorn in her popper and then sprinkled the white cheddar flavor on it. It was fabulous! I don't usually like cheese popcorn but this white cheddar flavor was so salty and delicious! Good stuff! I just made some and the bottle suggests buying some sort of spray stuff to make it stick to the popcorn. I didn't read it until I was home so I sprayed some cooking spray on it and it stuck and was good. Also I salted the popcorn more with regular salt as well and that made it better.  

Sesame-Ginger Popcorn

This snack is as fun to make as it is to eat. It's popcorn with a twist. Toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, brown sugar, and fresh grated ginger give this popcorn it's unique sweet and spicy flavor. If you are looking for something tempting to serve at your next movie night, this delicious snack is the one.

Ingredients

• 6 cups popped popcorn                         
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1-1/2 cups lightly salted cashews
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove all unpopped kernels from popped popcorn. Put popcorn and cashews in a greased 17x12x2 inch baking or roasting pan.

• In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter corn syrup, ginger, and sesame oil. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Continue boiling at a moderate rate, without stirring, for 5 minutes more.

Remove pan from heat. Stir in sesame seeds, vanilla, and baking soda. Pour mixture over popcorn mixture. Stir gently to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown, stirring twice. Spread popcorn mixture on a large piece of buttered foil to cool. Store tightly covered. Makes 8&1/2 cups.

Cinnamon Popcorn

• 2-3 quarts popped corn in a large bowl
• 4 Tablespoons butter-melt in a small saucepan.
• Add: 3 Tablespoons water, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Increase heat. Boil 3-4 minutes. Stir into popcorn. Stir while cooling.

White Chocolate Popcorn Crunch

• 5 cups popped popcorn
• 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 12 ounces white chocolate baking chips, chopped white chocolate or white candy coating
• 1-2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Here's how:

Cover a baking pan with foil or wax paper; set aside. Place popcorn, cranberries and almonds in a large bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth OR melt according to package directions. (If chocolate in not smooth after melting, stir in 1-2 tablespoons shortening until mixture is smooth and loose enough to coat popcorn).  Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn mixture and stir to coat.  Spread onto prepared pan; allow to cool completely. When chocolate is cooled and set, brerak into chunks for serving. Sotre in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Variation: White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Crunch: Omit cranberries and almonds. Stir in 1 cup crushed hard candy peppermint after chocolate is melted.

Marshmallow Pink Popcorn

1/4 cup plus 2 Tblsp. light corn syrup

2 Tblsp. butter

 1/4 cup water

3 cups mini marshmallows, divided

2 cups powdered sugar

6 drops red food coloring

4 quarts popped corn

1 cup salted peanuts

In heavy saucepan blend syrup, butter & water. Cook over low heat until mixture thickens. Add 1 cup of the marshmallows and stir until they melt. Add powdered sugar and coloring. Stir and cook until bubbling. Pour over corn and salted nuts and the rest of the marshmallows.

Jello Popcorn

1 c. unpopped corn (24 c. popped popcorn)
Salt, optional

3 oz. pkg. Jello

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

Put popcorn in large bowl. Salt to taste. Put Jello powder, sugar and syrup into saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve. Bring to boil. Pour over popcorn. Stir to coat well.

One of our girls brought raspberry flavored Jello popcorn and one of the leaders brought strawberry flavor and grape flavor. All delicious!!!

Gummy Bear Popcorn

I took this one. It's my ex-sister-in-law, Anna's recipe. LOVE IT!!!

1 cup butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups marshmallows

Pop 2 or 3 bags of buttered popcorn. Pour onto cookie sheets and gently pick up popcorn and put into large mixing bowl so that the unpopped kernals fall to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle gummy bears over popcorn and gently toss. Melt butter-add sugar and syrup. Bring to boil, stir and simmer for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and stir in marshmallows. Pour over popcorn and gummy bears. It will melt the gummi bears if you it this way otherwise you have chewy gummy bears mixed in and trust me it isn't so yummy! Just stir and stir until gummy bears are nicely melted and eveything is mixed well. Then poor out onto  cookie sheets and ENJOY!!! Anna insists that Kraft marshmallows and real butter are necessary for the recipe. I am cheap and use Great Value marshmallows and it works out well but I totally agree on the butter!!!

Dana's here! Stupid Medicine! Fun weekend! Blessed! Making stuff...

 I really try to be positive and remember the many wonderful blessings our loving Heavenly Father has given us. But sometimes I have a bad day. Today is one of those days. I really hate feeling like this. I hate thinking of the things we don't have and really facing the disappointment of unrealized dreams, wishes, hopes, as meaningless and trivial as they may be. I hate feeling like I know my joy is there somewhere I just need to try harder to find it today than most days. I changed medicine last weekend and it made me weird. Well, I'm already weird so I guess I should say it made me weirder. :)  I went off the first medicine too quickly which caused CRAZY withdrawals. I was a MESS!!! My mom came and helped me Monday and Tuesday and left Wednesday morning. I appreciated her help so much! I just hate having something wrong with me! I really hate medicine and all that goes along with it! I just hope this one actually helps and then I can start appreciating medicine in my life instead of resenting it! Every time I add a pill or switch medicines I am just plain weird for days. I added one Friday morning and I was still weird from changing the medicine in the first place and now I'm definitely weird!!! It was fun spending time with my mom! I have missed having her come and stay and the kids were THRILLED about her staying!!! Zack thought she had gone home Tuesday because Brian had her car and when he came in the house after school and saw her he dropped to the ground and said YES!!! You're still here!!! Cracked me up! I said, Hey, no one ever reacts like that when they see me! :) 

My sister Dana came Friday for a visit from Colorado. She stopped by on her way to my parents' town. Then we went up Friday and stayed until Sunday night. Brian gets paid monthly now instead of twice a month. It started in January. We only had 1 of his 2 week paychecks to last the entire month of January during the lovely transition. I only mention it because it was truly a miracle that we survived the month! We were so truly blessed! We didn't have to beg, steal, or borrow or anything we just...made it through. I know we made it because we pay our tithing!!! If it weren't for that who knows what the month would have been like. It wasn't an easy month at all!! It stressed me out so much I just can't tell you! We had some touch and go moments. Syphoning gas from one of our cars to the other was involved but we made it! LOL!! Definitely a low point! But it all ended up well and when the month ended and we evaluated the situation we just truly felt blessed! We felt like marathon runners crossing the finish line! When payday hit it was like a drowning person finally getting water! We were so happy!!! We had run out of EVERYTHING!!!! We had plenty of food and clothing and gas (just not in the right car LOL). I ran out of laundry soap on Thursday or Friday and payday was Tuesday so that was kind of hairy but I had planned my last soap well so that we had everything we needed to last til payday. The laundry room just became a VERY scary place! HAHA All in all it worked out! I just mention it because I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father who always takes good care of us and makes sure we have everything we NEED. I am grateful to be His daughter and to know that He loves me and my little family and that He is mindful of us and our needs. My testimony of His love for us and my love for Him grew during that month. It was difficult going through the month but looking back it was such a blessing. I know He loves all of us and looks out for us! See there, I'm already feeling happier just remembering His love for me! The best gift!!!

Well, now that Brian is only getting paid once a month and we have 6 people in our family and a limited budget we decided while we were in Utah County we would make a trip to Sam's. I so miss living in Pleasant Grove where I could go to Costco every paycheck and load up. I'm learning to be more organized. I have always made up a menu for the entire 2 weeks and shopped right on payday for everything we might need during that 2 weeks. I don't ever want to find ourselves at the end of the pay period, out of food to eat and out of money so we always cover that base first thing!! I guess I am pretty organized already but now that I have to do it for an entire month at once I have to kick up the organization a few notches. Life happens and things come up and if I don't do it up front we won't have it at the end. I bought 2 things of laundry soap this time I can tell you that! And I bought Ziplocs at Sam's because we ran out of those and I use those for EVERYTHING!!! And flour lots of flour! I'm learning as I go. We love a good trip to Sam's or Costco so it will be fun for us to make a monthly grocery shopping trip up there and to some of my favorite grocery stores like Macey's and I have heard wonderful things about Winco. Can't wait to check them out!

I got a pedicure while I was up there too. I used a gift certificate Nathan and Heidi gave me for my birthday. It was nice! I was going to get my hair done there but chickened out and a pedicure was just what I needed! So relaxing! My friend Sherelle taught me to make those cute little flower clips for little girls' hair so I took all my supplies up with me and we all made cute little flower clips! It was really fun! It was fun spending lots of time with my sisters! I love them all so much! Dana, Stephanie, KayTee, and Heidi (Nathan's wife) are all different, beautiful, talented, wonderful women! We laughed and had a great time! I wish we all lived close and could just spend time together like that all the time!!! I think about all the times we spent singing into our hairbrush microphones, dancing, watching chick flicks, braiding each other's hair, talking, playing games, and just being silly when we were kids and I miss that time. Now we enjoy each other in different ways. Instead of Prom dress shopping we went grocery shopping. We're more tired and poop out sooner than we used to. We have little kiddos to care for and to put to bed early. But we savor the moments we can spend together and I'm so grateful to have them in my life!!!  Last night we went to Steph and J.J.'s for a fun Super Bowl Party. It's always fun to go to their parties! The food was divine! It was a fun weekend! Dana will be here until Friday. Maybe that's what I'm most upset about today. She's in UTAH and I'm HERE! Not fun! Whatchya gonna do?!

I am going to embellish the middles of some of these differently. I just put a brad in for now til I find what I'm looking for. They were fun to make! Remember if you click on the picture you can see them bigger.  :)

Better late than never...I hope!!

I was finally taking my friend Tara B's advice and labeling my blog posts since I REALLY needed to sit down and ran across a couple of posts I was going to make over the holidays but for some reason forgot to actually push PUBLISH POST. Yes I'm a goofball! Here they are...

 11/28/10

So, I totally love the prices of Black Friday! I'm not a big fan of the crouds but I do enjoy getting in on all the sweet deals! My Mom and I decided to avoid most of the crazy loons by leaving around 7:00. No offense to any of you crazy loons! I am usually one of them but just wasn't up to it this year. Most of what we were interested in was gone but I got some super cute brown dress boots at Penney's for 30 bucks. We got a few other things but the best deal this year for us HAS to be the ladder we got!!! They had these 6 ft ladders that are usually $50 on for $19 at Lowe's. We haven't ever really needed a ladder much before. But since we've lived here we've needed one lots of times but they are so stinking expensive. So this was like HUGE for us!!! I wanted Christmas lights up and that was just NOT happening without a ladder. So we went on over to Lowe's and to our HUGE disappointment they were OUT of them!!! Brian used to work at Lowe's and he knew that they price match so we decided to check out Home Depot and see if they had the ladder and if they price matched and sure enough they DID!!! Not only do they price match but they also give you 10% off of the purchase as well!! We got a $50 ladder for $17.10!! So cool!!! It was so fun having our Christmas lights on the house and I'm sure we'll use it lots! I LOVE a great deal!!!

12/23/10

~Today I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I am so excited to have it all done and hopefully everyone is happy with what they get. I used to have all my shopping finished by October so having to wait until two days before Christmas to finish things up made me hyperventilate often but it was actually kind of fun being at the stores today. Walmart totally rocked today too! They had someone there to help the cashier bag groceries and put them in the cart and there was even an employee in the parking lot who offered to help me put my groceries into the car. It was the best customer service I've ever had there!!
~I checked over my list of all the things we have bought for the kids for Christmas and can you believe that somehow we managed to buy only gifts that don't require any batteries. Usually we spend between $20-$40 on batteries alone at Christmas time so I was so excited not to have to buy any!!!
~I made some projects at Super Saturday last month that were so cute. I made a cute, big, brown bracelt. 7 sets of blocks that say Family for me, my mom, and each of my siblings. One of the things I made was one of those fancy big watches that everyone is wearing. It has black, silver, and clear beads. I love it! I debated over giving it as a gift or making it for myself. I've wanted one for myself so bad for a long time and I rarely get anything for myself so I decided to make it for myself.  SO EXCITED!!! Today at Walmart while I loaded up the conveyerbelt I accidentally smacked it on the little metal edge and broke the cute little crystal cover. :(  Oh well. It was fun having something cute and fun while it lasted!
~I finally finished everyone's Family blocks on Christmas Eve. Yes I'm a procrastinator! They ended up cute and I was so sad I couldn't give them to my sisters and brothers and parents right that moment! I can't send them to Dana and Rob until February but hopefully they think it's better late than never!! :)

This one is mine and the others were a variety of dark reds, cream/tan, and navy blue or green. I have fun making them and learning to use Mod Podge and can't wait to find something else to mod podge!! I made a sign for Matty and Max's room using the technique that says I hope they call me on a mission. I need to make one for Zack now and I want to make one for Gracie's room that says I love to see the temple, I'm going there some day.

Can you see the broken crystal?  :(

Exhausted, even crazier than before, and more than just a little bit sparkly...

~I told the kids that we'd go to the $1 store sometime and let them buy gifts for each other. I got a wild hair Sunday and suggested they make each other gifts. I thought it would be more fun to make some bacelets and book marks with my jewelry making stuff than it would be to fold laundry so I joined in the fun. I was completely unprepared for the glittery explosion that I was unleashing but it's all good. Who doesn't need a little sparkle in their lives, huh?! Zack made God's Eye's for each of us and his teacher. Matthew made God's Eye's for Zack and his teacher and the teacher's aide, a bracelet for me, a pencil can for his dad out of an empty vegetable can that I hot glued around the inner edge to avoid cuts, I hot glued popcicle sticks around the outside and had him paint it and decorate it. He also made a gold star out of popcicle sticks and glitter. Max painted a star salt dough ornament for my mom, and he put LOTS of gold glitter on it. LOTS!!! Then he made a paper weight for his dad. He painted the biggest rock he could find in their "rock collection", then covered it in LOTS of glitter. LOTS!!! Then he drew a picture and made a picture frame for it out of popcicle sticks and suprisingly he chose to COVER it with LOTS of glitter!!! The boy loves glitter!!! I made like 14 little girl bracelets and 6 book marks just for fun! Gracie just enjoyed stringing items from each of our projects all over the place. She LOVES glitter too!! AND beads! By the time I finally packed up all the supplies at dinner time Monday night I was seriously SPENT!!! And very sparkly. I looked like a character out of Twilight standing in the sun. Brian has been making each of the kids a hat with our hat making looms. Matthew still has to make something for Max and Gracie. Max still has to make something for Gracie, Matthew, and Zacky. I may have to take a valuum to be able to survive our next little craft making extravaganza!!! Any suggestions for cheap, cute, little homemade gifts for a little girl that little boys can make? I'll be finding glitter in nooks and crannies for the next 2 years! At least we had a lot of fun together, eh?! I didn't think to take pictures of our creations until after they had wrapped all their creations but here are some pics of the bracelets I made, the bracelet Matty made me, and the book marks.

Here are some random pics just for fun and to save me from having to do more posts since I'm finding it hard to find time to lately...

This is of us at Rodizio Grill. Yes I'm fat! I told it to rotate the picture but it didn't. Nobody ever listens to me anyway so I'm used to it! ;)  Steph and her adorable kids (Josh is the cute little blonde in the striped shirt. His head is turned but trust me...ADORABLE. Emily isn't in the pic but she was there. What a cutie!!! Love them!) and KayTee came with us. It was fun. Zack ate himself sick for a minute but we all loved it! And we even have one of the $50 gift certificates left so we can go again some time!

We also made a trip to the mall to see Santa. I am so glad they let you take one snapshot with your own camera. Obviously Gracie was less than thrilled with Santa. That is until he gave her a coloring book. Then smiled at him and I said Santa is nice,isn't he?! She nodded yes really big and even gave him a quick wave goodbye.

 Thanks Grandma Irvine for the super cute outfit you gave Gracie! LOVE IT!!! Once again, it didn't listen and didn't flip. Oh well!

While we were up there we also got to go to Ikea! HOORAY!!! I've missed Ikea so much!!! It was a fun weekend! We came back Saturday.

Also, I went to the High School Choir Concert last night with the young women and young men to support the young women and young women who were performing. It was a wonderful experience! I am so glad I was able to go! The last song was so lovely it made me cry! Most of the songs were actually about the Saviors birth. What a novel idea huh?! Way to go Mr. Pinedo!!! It was awesome! All the school concerts I've attended in past years all have goofy Christmas songs about Santa and the commercial side of Christmas. It was refreshing to actually go to a Christmas concert that focused on CHRISTmas!!! Very uplifting! Can't say enough good things about it! I may have to take my little family with me next year so they can experience the beauty of it! Rarely have I felt the spirit at a school related activity but it was definitely there. Especially during that last song! So good! I hope you all are having a wonderful month!!!

Putting Christ back in Christmas, Part 2...

At Shani's request, here are the things I wrote on my papers in my jar.  Hope this helps!

Sing  I Know That My Redeemer Lives  Hymn 136
Sing  The Lord Is My Light  Hymn 89
Sing  I Feel My Savior's Love  Page 74 (childrens' songbook)
Sing  A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief   Hymn 29  
John 9:1-11
John 11:1-45
Mark 7:33-37
3 Nephi 17:11-25
Matthew 9:1-8
Luke 8:41-56
John 13:34-35
Matthew 14:14-21
Read "None Were With Him" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  ( I found this on lds.org it was from the May 2009 Conference Issue
Ether Chapter 3
READ  How Great Thou Art  Hymn 86  (I decided reading it would be better because I cry when I read it or sing it so I can just have someone else read it and cry without sounding like a freak. Such a beautiful song!)
Matthew 3:13-17
Luke 17:12-19
Sing  I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus  Page 78
Matthew 6:1-4
Matthew 14:22-33
3 Nephi 17:4-10
Read "The Certainty of the Ressurrection" by President Spencer W. Kimball ( I will just read the first part of this talk. Found it on lds.org)
Sing  I Stand All Amazed   Hymn 193
Christmas Eve: Read Luke 2    Sing Jesus, Once of Humble Birth (Remember to put this one on a different kind of paper so that it stands out as the one to save until Christmas Eve)


You can certainly mix this up and change things to what you like better or whatever. Maybe you'd rather sing a song about Resurrection or read a different article that means a lot to you. You can personalize it however you want but this is what worked for our little family.  

P.S.  Make sure the mouth of your jar is big enough to put your hand in. Mine barely is I just discovered. Brian would never be able to fit his hand in there. HEHEHE  Might want to check that detail out before decorating up your pretty jar. Course maybe kids' hands would fit or you could shake the papers out. Remember that I printed the references on the white, back side of  pretty Christmas paper to make the jar look prettier. Hope you have fun with it! :)

Putting Christ back in Christmas...

So when I think of last Christmas it is just a big ol' blur of craziness! Lots happening, not living in our own home, I was in pain, it went by SO fast, I just don't remember much of anything except that at the end of it all I really felt like we hadn't focused on the Savior through the month like we always have in the past and I was really sad and felt ashamed that we hadn't tried to stop and really focus. Well, I decided this year is going to be different. The kids are fully aware that they won't be getting as much as they did last year. I asked each of them if they care if we don't have pj's to open on Christmas Eve. Zack and Matty were cool with it. I was honestly quite suprised that Matty was cool with it. Zack has given us a very small, modest list of things he would like to have. It was like pulling teeth to get Max to tell us ANYTHING at all to get him. Even after a special trip this weekend to Toys R Us, walking up and down each aisle, he still only said he wanted a skateboard. What 4 year old doesn't usually say he wants EVERYTHING at Toys R Us! It's awesome in some ways but hard when you're trying to buy him something for Christmas! Then there's Matthew who wants

EVERYTHING!!!

I was SHOCKED when he said he didn't care about the pj's and Max was the one that was upset about it. Turns out he just want SOMETHING to open that night so I'll just make a trip to the $1 store and wrap a little something up for them that night and all will be right in his little world.

Back to the focus...our Savior! I decided it would be nice to dress up an old pickle jar and fill it with little pieces of paper (I printed them on the backside of pretty Christmas scrapbook paper so that it makes the jar look pretty) with scripture references written on them that have to do with miracles he performed or teachings of his or just special moments like when he blessed the Nephite children. Some of the papers had the title of a song about Him that we could sing. Some were from the primary song book others were from the hymn book. None of them were Christmas songs or scriptures about his birth. As I studied the scriptures, looking for just the right ones that our children could appreciate and understand, and as I read the words of the songs as I searched for just the right ones, I was so filled with the spirit and so grateful for my Savior and His love for us and His atonement and sacrifice and example and life. I felt that I should add something about his atonement and about the resurrection and I decided to search for talks on LDS.org. I found the one by Elder Holland a year ago in May that was so beautiful about the atonement and decided to use that one. I just put Read, None Were With Him by Elder Holland, on the piece of paper and printed the talk. I'll highlight parts to read that night. I also found one by President Kimball about the resurrection that I thought I'd read the first part of. We will have a little prayer, sing a lovely Christmas song. No Santa ones! And pull a paper out each night of December and follow it's instructions. I put the Christmas Eve one on a different piece of paper so we know not to take it out til last and it tells us to read Luke 2, which we do each year and it will be a nice end to our little Christ centered Christmas. I really enjoyed this project! It really brought me closer to the Savior just preparing it and I hope it will help bring our family closer to Him as we return the focus back to Him again this year. I just used what little things I had in my scrapbook stuff to decorate the jar and I thought the Merry Christmas sticker was just right because I want the kids to relate the whole Christmas holiday with Jesus and it's decorated festively and stuff and I'm hoping they "get" that the true gift of Christmas is our Savior. I know we've talked about this before with them and in years past we have always tried to focus on Him in some way the whole season, as I'm sure you all do too. I just thought this was a neat little way of doing it that hopefully helps us have a truly meaningful Christmas season! Just thought I'd share in case any of you were looking for something different to do.

Great news!

NO TUMOR!!!

I do have trigeminal neuralgia but for who knows what reason. They don't know. But it's not caused by a tumor or M.S. in my case thankfully!  Basically I will have excruciating pain the rest of my life because of a nerve in my head that for some reason has been causing me excruciating pain for about 3 years off and on and especially for the last year. I have to start taking anti-seizure medicine in an attempt to control the pain. I will have to take it the rest of my life. So, I know that this pain will not be easy to deal with as the doctor told me but I am just glad I don't have anything life threatening!!! This has been a very scary few days I must say! I just kept looking at my babies thinking how hard it would be to not be here to raise them and watch them grow. I am so grateful for my life and for the lives of my family! Among about a million thoughts I had during the past few days, I started thinking about all the things I wanted them to know about me if something were to happen to me. My testimony. Testimony building experiences I have had in my life. Little fun tidbits about me and my siblings and parents as I grew up and stuff. The things I like. The things I don't like. I wanted them to know the details of Brian and my courtship. EVERYTHING! I started realizing that my journal is very factual I guess you'd say. Like a travel log. I want them to know about me as if I was having a conversation with them telling them the stories and such. You can learn so much from other people's experiences, how they got through the challenges in their lives, and how the celebrated the great blessings in their lives. And I LoVe hearing stories from my parents and grandparents from their childhoods!!! I decided whether I was ok or not I wanted to start telling my story in a more meaningful way so that it is documented for them. I hope it will be fun for them to read some day. That my grandchildren will read it someday and enjoy it too. I wish my grandmothers and parents would have done this! One time Stan set up a video camera up in my Grandma Irvine's living room without her knowing it and got her talking about her life. She had such interesting stories to tell. Anyway, I think everyone should start a little history book about themselves for their posterity. I think Tara H. would especially love doing this and hers would be so clever and fun to read!!! Not just a journal where you sit down and write what happened that day. Get a big ol' 5 subject notebook and start writing about yourself. I started writing where I was born and on what day. Who my family members were when I was born. Then I just started writing about things like my parents divorcing when I was 1, my mom joining the church when I was 2, my mom meeting and marrying Stan when I was 3, my younger siblings' births, and then things just started to flow. Stories and tidbits my mom told me about that time. Things I remember from my childhood. Pals I had. It is rather random but it's written down anyway. I have written about my fear of drowning when I was baptized because I was so scared of the water and how I prayed really hard and can you imagine, I didn't drown! Or about times I received priesthood blessings or fun holiday memories and such. It is fun and I write it like I would tell it to someone else, dramatically and full of fun and silliness. It is just a fun project. You should try it! I even decorated my notebook really cute so it makes it even more fun to write in. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts! I appreciate it so much!!! So blessed!!!

The trade off...

Today, while I made this for one of my Beehives' birthday gift....

 

Gracie was busy making

this.....

 

I asked Max 3 times to put it in the sink when he was done with it. He's very obedient as you can see... Don't you love how there is always a trade off when you make something fun or do anything besides clean. Oh well! At least she's cute!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Halloween!!!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Fall!! I love the food, the smells, the holidays, the slight chill in the air (usually but so far not so much this year but I'm sure it will happen eventually), and the super fun decorations!!! Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine to decorate for. We used to have an entertainment center to use for surfaces to decorate and we usually have fun, wide window sills or counters or drop cabinets to decorate. Here we don't have ANY surfaces! I was so sad when I got out the decorations and couldn't decorate because we don't have anywhere to put our cute things. There are 6 plant hook things in our living room ceiling. I decided to Google homemade Halloween decorations. I found a couple of fun things to make and saw this adorable idea where you paint B-O-O on 3 white pumpkins. We broke out the egg cartons, black craft paint, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners and I let the kids go to town. Then we hung their creations from the plant hooks (at least their good for something).They LOVE making craft projects so they loved making these. I think it's cute and helps the house feel a bit more festive. Some day I hope to have another entertainment center and some more fun places to decorate but at least for now this does the trick!

My mom gave me this black table cloth a few years ago

 and it really makes the white pumpkins stand out on my kitchen table!
Kind of fun!

Kind of hard to take pictures of these bats since the window is right there making it so bright.

I made this next one out of some old decorations I had. I saw my friend, Jenn make some similar decorations before so I decided to turn the old decorations into a new fun one.

Show and Tell

 I saw this advent calendar idea on a blog a while back and have wanted to make one. I just needed a cookie sheet. I have tons of magnets and all of these cute little chip board pieces and letters from a kit I bought on QVC about 5 years ago. They have been collecting dust so when I saw this idea I figured this would be the perfect project to use them for. I figure, use what you have when you can, right?! I would have liked to use all red letters but I didn't have enough red letters and I was too lazy to cut any out so I just used green and red together. I still need to get some ribbon to make a bow for the top of it and then it will be complete but I thought I'd share it really quickly now since it may be New Years before I remember the ribbon. :) You can see the original idea here. 



Things that make you go hmmmmm...

When my mom (I use her as an example because I have never personally purchased carpet, or chosen paint for any place we have ever lived in seeing as how we have always rented) buys carpet, paints a wall, or buys new furniture she goes through this big process. She might find a picture in a magazine or see an idea at someone else's house. She ponders. She plans. She looks at lots of furniture stores and many, many swatches of carpet. Many, many paint sample cards. She brings them home and ponders and plans some more until she finds JUST.the.right.one! My mom would NEVER just walk into a store and buy the first carpet she came across. So you might understand why the "unique" interior of the house we are in might cause me to wonder WHAT was going on in the mind of the dear, sweet woman that lived here. Were these conscious decisions? Or did she swing by the carpet and wall store on her way home from having cataract surgery and make her choices with her eyes covered in bandages, clearly obstructing her vision. Or did her colorblind husband decide to "surprise" her with these decorating wonders? It truly makes you go hmmmm...

They thought this formica counter top was so fantastic that they decided to use the same material on parts of 3 of their walls in the kitchen.

They liked these paneling front cabinets so much that they decided to...

Put the same paneling on one of the sections of one of the walls...

And, while the paneling and formica are lovely wall options, it's true, I might like this fancy sparkly, pink and gold snowflake patterned wallpaper better. It's a toss up really!

I think the floor is the best feature in the kitchen, really. I mean, what mother of 4 wouldn't dream of having carpet in their kitchen. And not just ANY carpet. But this carpet. The carpet that SOMEONE presumably put a lot of time and contemplation into before actually purchasing it. It's obviously very "special" carpet! I know you're jealous!!

I know that this green carpet didn't have holes in it when it was purchased, I just thought I'd throw that in so you can see the super fun carpet we have here, but seriously, this may be the ugliest green carpet ever! Even the parts that are still in one piece. 

This carpet is Matty's dream carpet! He was so mad at us when we didn't let him have the room with the orange carpet. He says it's lava and he likes to play with his dinosaurs on the lava floor. That room is smaller and we wanted him and Max to share a room and Zack to have his own room and Gracie has the room closest to us so we can hear her at night and that left poor Matty without the lava room. Poor guy! He still complains every couple weeks that he wishes HE had the room with the orange carpet instead of Zack. Zack doesn't know how lucky he is! It is pretty SaWeeT!!!

The paneling in Gracie's bedroom is especially nice since it has a nice scallop border. FAAncy!

Her carpet is just beautiful. If you are blind or colorblind or your taste is all in your mouth then it.is.bEaUtiFUL!!!

The bathroom HAS to be our favorite part of the entire house! It is just lovely. And everything is very conveniently placed within arms length of each other. It is really nice! Not sure if you can see the baby blue tiles on the wall. So super pretty! Occasionally you do bruise your knees on the gargantuan cabinet when sitting on or standing from the toilet but that is just all part of the 'charm' of living in an old house.

This is the beautiful floor in the laundry room that is right next to the kitchen. I would rather have this ugly floor in the kitchen than the ugly carpet in there. At least it can be swept and mopped! UGH!!!

I'm sorry ladies but I don't think they make this front door anymore. It is a beaut but I think they bought the last one. Shucks!!!

On a cute note, I finally found Gracie's little purse I made for her. And I found my camera so I thought I'd post it, too. It's straps are skeewompus but I learned my lesson and the next one I made had perfectly placed straps. She didn't notice.  :) 

A calling and show and tell...

A Calling



I have served in Nursery and Sunbeams and other Primary callings for the better part of the past 15 years. I LOVE Primary! It is awesome! Exhausting! But awesome!!! However, this part of my life has become much like most other parts of my life. Rather monotonous and repetitive. The Relief Society president in our ward asked me a few weeks ago if I had received my new calling yet. I said, no. She said she wanted me in Relief Society but someone else had already requested me. I have been SO nervous ever since then wondering what my new calling would be. Honestly, just the mere thought of serving in Nursery or Sunbeams again brought tears to my eyes. Brian and I taught Max in Nursery and in Sunbeams and he is still in Sunbeams. Max is the child that causes me the most stress and frustration these days for many reasons, one main reason being the fact that he almost NEVER listens to me. You might imagine how much fun it is for me to be his Primary teacher. When the member of the Bishopric called me in FINALLY on Wednesday I could hardly stand the suspense. I was dieing to know what my calling was. I was THRILLED when he said they wanted me to be the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency!!! This is EXACTLY what I need right now in so many ways. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's guidance and direction in my life. I have been thrilled ever since Wednesday and look forward to all the fun activities and getting to know the wonderful young women in our ward. I am more than just a little bit scared. As I mentioned it has been 15 years since I served in Young Women and my life has revolved around little boys for the last 10 years so I'm scared but also thrilled. If you have seen Groundhog Day the movie, the day he finally wakes up and realizes that something is different he is like ANYTHING different is good. That is how I am feeling. It is like FINALLY... SOMETHING in my life is different!!! I am really, really excited for this change and just really, really happy. I haven't been this excited about a calling since I was in the Primary presidency in Cedar. Once again it was different than teaching nursery or Sunbeams but so much fun and I LOVED that, too! The Young Women's president is AMAZING so I am beyond thrilled to be working with her too!!! I was so anxious to be set apart after church today. I have such a strong testimony of being set apart for your callings. What a wonderful gift the priesthood is in so many aspects of our lives!!! Anyway, I think it will be great fun!

Show and Tell

Sewing usually really hates my guts! I have tried to like it many, many times and always come to the same conclusion...I HATE IT!!! Well, I've been really wanting some sort of hobby lately. Some sort of creative outlet for me. Scrap booking doesn't really work for me at this time in my life. I just don't have the space for it. I decided to try sewing again. I bought the fabric to make Gracie a quilt last year around the time she was born. I started to sew it together but we moved and I never finished it. Well, my first project was to finish sewing that together. I only finished the top. I need to get more fabric to make it a bit bigger and I need to buy fabric for the back. She won't be in a big girl bed for quite some time so that project will be on hold for a while. The top's cute though. :)  I made a quilt for my sister, Stephanie's baby, Emily. Yes, she's 6 months old but better late than never, right?  :)  I totally loved it! It's very bright and a bit crazy but I like it. I finished another baby quilt yesterday. I fell in love with the fabrics Tara B. used in her quilt she recently posted about. I HAD to use a couple of them. It is the CUTEST fabric!!! I'm not very good at sewing so there are tons of mistakes but oh well. Practice makes perfect. I'll just have to keep practicing!!! I had been promising Brian I would make him a denim quilt for about 15 years or so. I had saved the old jeans and we have lugged them around every time we have moved. I bought 2 bolts of flannel about 10 years ago for $1 a yard. I decided to finally break down and make his quilt. It turned out great and I was pleasantly surprised that my sewing machine had such an easy time sewing denim. I tried to avoid using the parts of the jeans that had big seams just in case so it made it easy. I wanted to buy Gracie a purse for her birthday in May but couldn't find one. I started thinking about some of the bags I've owned in the past and decided to just try to make up a pattern and go for it using the scraps from Emily's quilt. It turned out really cute and it was so easy to make. I can't find it right now to post a picture of it so I'll post a picture later.  Matthew's teacher sent home canvas bags for the parents to decorate with whatever subject the kids wanted us to and then we send them back and he uses them to put things in that pertain to that subject. I made up a dinosaur themed bag. He'll put puzzles, books, games, stuff like that and then the kids get to bring them home sometimes for a couple days. Well, I decided it turned out cute enough that I would make one for Steph's son, Josh's bday in October. He LoVeS dinosaurs!!! I had decided to make Matthew and Max each a little bag for church. They had chosen some fabric from my scrap box. After I made the ones for the school and Josh, Max wants one like theirs now but Matty still wanted the one out of scrap material and canvas letters. I haven't made Max's yet. I have been having so much fun sewing stuff and haven't had to spend money because luckily I am a HUGE procrastinator and have enough unfinished projects laying around to keep me pretty busy.

Gracie's quilt top...

Baby Emily's quilt...

The other quilt I made...

Brian's queen size denim quilt FINALLY...

Matty's class bag

Josh's bag. I forgot to put something inside the bag to keep the paint from leaking through so I had to add a tree to the other side to cover up the paint. I'm a spaz sometimes haha...

Matty's bag...