Our World

October at a glance...Seriously

2011-11-01T16:44:00.000-06:00

Whew... October is over. Seriously one of my most busy months of the year. It all starts with birthdays. Mine is first, Danica's is a week later, and Amity's is a week after that. Everyone had great birthdays this year!

Danica turned 10 this year and got her American Girl doll, and Amity turned 6 and got a lot of fun barbie stuff.
I have been busy helping at school, Young Womens and all my homework...ummm I mean my kid's homework. Amity was very excited about losing her very first tooth this month.

We also had a great time at the Pumpkin Walk. My most favorite weekend of the year. I have said it before, and I'll say it again. There is nothing like Logan in the fall.

And last, but not least, Halloween. Everyone loves Halloween weekend. We decorate pumpkins, do class parties, and get dressed up to go trick or treating. This year Landon was ummmm, I don't know again, Amity was Raggedy Ann, and Danica is a fifty's girl. I totally sewed this skirt. Can you believe it...neither can I. It turned out great, and everyone had fun! October is over...bring on the Holidays baby!

Some Random happenings

2011-09-14T14:31:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've been busy putting up all my fall decor. I have my porch done, and my house put together. I love the fall. The smells, colors, crispness of the air, and especially school. It has been cool here, and I love having my windows open to cool down my house. My house is still in the process of being what I want, so I will just share a few fall pics.

We are busy busy busy around here. The first few weeks of school are always crazy for us, trying to get used to everyone's schedules. We have added doing the garage to that list of things. We are in the process right now..so I thought I would share a picture of our mess....can't wait to show the finished product!

One last note...I cut my hair. It had grown quite long actually. To the middle of my back. I needed a change, and let me tell you, I feel like a new woman.

I bet the lyrics of the song She's so vain are running through your head right now. :)

First day of Kindergarten

2011-09-08T13:40:00.000-06:00

There she is all decked out in her school clothes, ready for her first day of kindergarten. Amity was so excited and nervous about her first day of school, but came home so happy and loved every minute of it. She loved playing with her friends on the playground, meeting her teachers, trading treats at lunch, and story time with the lights off. She said she missed me, and wondered what I did all day long without her, and was I very lonely? I told her the house was very quiet, and of course I missed her. This made her smile. I am glad she loved it and was a happy kindergartener!

First day of school 2011

2011-09-01T14:21:00.000-06:00

Today was Landon and Danica's first day of school. Landon started middle school. Different school and a totally new experience. I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack sending him. He was a little nervous, but mostly excited for this new experience. I told him he looked handsome this morning on his way out and thought to myself, when did did he grow up so big. Happened overnight, I swear. Anyways, here is the first day of school picture of my boy.

Danica started fourth grade today. Not as much anxiety about that one. She had her outfit picked, accessories bought, and backpacked packed, all ready to have a fabulous year. I am way excited about the teacher she is getting, and she is excited about the friends who are going to be in her class.

Funny story about the classroom picture. Danica was a little less than thrilled I was going to take her pic in class. So I tell her to smile and hit the timer button on my camera on accident. I had to wait while the camera was beeping to take her picture. By the time I left, I was laughing so hard people were thinking I was having an episode or something. I got the pic though. Sorry Danica, that your mom is soooooo embarrassing!

Good first day of school. Quiet house though. Oh well, I think I'll get over it!

Road Trip

2011-08-08T10:23:00.000-06:00

We took a trip as a family down to Utah a couple of weeks ago. We decided to stay in Salt Lake and visit my family for the weekend, then head down to St. George. We got tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer day program, so we took the kids and my parents to go see it. It was wonderful. We stayed the next day and visited family then took a trip to Herraman. We got to see the UP house that is going to be in the parade of homes. The kids thought it was so cool. Then we went to a splash pad that they have there and played for a while. We left the next morning to go to St. George and visited Brigham Young's house and saw the Temple. On Monday night we took the kids to see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan. So so so good! That was the reason for the trip, and we are sure glad we did it. Amity had a smile on her face the whole time it was going on. So cute. We did a lot of other fun things like swimming, and shopping, eating yummy food.... We thought it was going to be so hot there this time of year, but it really wasn't at all bad. In fact, it only got to 82 degrees the last day we were there, so we were able to walk around and enjoy the sights. It was a very fun family trip!

no. 1992

2011-08-04T16:54:00.000-06:00

We've been having a ton of fun these past few weeks. We took the kids to St. George on a little trip...but I am still trying to get my pictures off my phone...so more on that later. It is August already. Four more weeks until school starts for us. Can I hear a Whoo Hoo! We have been busy at work at our house. Jeff built a shed to store all of our yard tools. That took up a couple of weeks of our summer, but we are so glad that we can finally park all of our cars in the garage and find all our things we use for the yard.

My grass is finally greening up. When we bought the house the whole backyard was filled with dandelions, now it is finally green grass with a couple of bare spots.

So since it is August, I decided to change up my porch a little. I bought me some vinyl...used my cricut....and made me some house numbers for my door. I love a project that takes about a half hour of my time and delivers something fun and exciting to look at.

I also decided to put my wreath and letter T back on my window. My "T" was originally black, but I decided to spray it orange to add a pop of color. I also used some of my fun green fabric to make some new chair pillows. Just those few changes freshened up my porch for August.

Now that the shed is done, we can start some projects on the inside. Way Exciting!

New Family Pics

2011-07-19T15:42:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I talked Jeff into going and taking some new family pics. Seriously I haven't had new family pictures in a few years. We took our camera and found a great spot to start snapping away. I took a million and got a few good ones.

I can't believe how grown up Landon is. getting. He just got back from scout camp and had a great time. He is getting taller by the day and eating me out of house and home...I won't forget to mention the cracking voice. Junior high here we come...hope I'm ready for it.

Here's Danica age nine (almost ten). She's having a great summer hanging out with her friends, reading, swimming, and just being my friend. She is getting excited to go back to school and start fourth grade.

Miss Amity. So fun, cute, spunky, and hard to photograph. Every time the camera comes out and we say to smile, there is a very funny expression that follows. She is so excited to be going to kindergarten. She is loving reading real books now, and can't wait to learn more at school.

Here is our family. Let me tell you how hard it was to get everyone (Amity) smiling and looking at the camera. We did our best and had a "fun" afternoon taking pictures. I still need to play around with them on photoshop, but I thought I would share what I have now.

Fun Fourth

2011-07-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

We had another great fourth this year. We had Jeff's family up for a picnic and fireworks. Love the fireworks here...so beautiful. This year our neighborhood did a barbeque and bike parade to celebrate the fourth. The girls were so excited to decorate their bikes and participate in the parade. My cautious Danica rode slow and steady right in the middle, and Amity thought it was a race and was right in the lead. Funny how different each kid's personality is.

New door color

2011-07-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

I am slowly making changes around here. We finished the front yard, and I decided the door needed a new pop of color. I picked the color turquoise. Yes, turquoise. I love it! We are going to eventually replace the door, but for now, it extended it's life and made the porch a fun cheerful place to be. I also re painted the chairs black and added some fun fourth decorations. Here is the before picture...

Here is the after...nice and bright!

Slippin and Sliding

2011-07-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

We have been having a fun summer so far. I had to wait until Landon was gone to camp to get some time on the computer to blog. We have a great hill in our backyard for slip and slides. Just the other day, Jeff bought some plastic, turned on the hose and away we went. So much fun. Warning though....it does burn grass. We now have a beautiful dead strip going down our grass. I think it was worth it.

A little yard work

2011-06-20T16:22:00.000-06:00

I've been having fun in the new house. We have been working hard unpacking, and I finally got the last box unpacked this weekend. Yea! It is amazing what a great feeling it is to have everything put away and in it's place. I think I made two big loads to the DI and we made at least four trips to the dump. Everything feels good, clean, and organized and it it's place. Now on to projects! We decided that the first thing we were going to tackle was the yard. This is the yard the day we moved in...

Just lovely isn't it. My father in law chopped down that blossoming tree in the front hiding the house, and we went to town tearing out bushes and planting perennials. Here's what it looks like today.

Yea! I am so happy with our progress. The hole in the front is where the tree was. We are going to get some sod for it, and next year I am putting a flower garden there. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so the flowers can grow nice and big. My next project is painting the front door a fun color, and the chairs black. Can't wait to show!

Our crazy life

2011-06-15T12:22:00.000-06:00

Seriously, has it been since April since I've posted. I can't believe how time has flown by for us. We've been doing a lot of fun end of the school year activities I have to post about, and since the kids are outside playing, I have plenty of time to do it.

I was able to attend a couple of great talent shows where the kids showed off their piano skills.

Landon graduated from the 6th grade. His class made tie die shirts to wear for the end of the year breakfast and awards assembly. I can't believe he is done with elementary school...now off to Junior high. AHHH! I was very proud of him for earning the Presidential academic fitness award..way to go Landon!

Amity graduated from preschool...now off to Kindergarten she goes. It's hard to believe my oldest is out of grade school, and my youngest is going to school. She was excited to show us everything she learned the night of graduation.

Amity had an end of the year tumbing show. She loves to tumble!

And in all the midst of activities we bought a new home. It was a long process, and we are so glad to be in it and settled. This isn't the original house we were going to buy, that one fell through. So we looked around again in our neighborhood and found this home which we think has a lot of potential. I am so excited about all of the projects, and I can see this house done in my head. Let me tell you it is going to be beautiful! :) The home has everything that was missing in our other home, and the kids still can go to the same school. I am excited to post all my upcoming many projects, and all our summertime fun!

Landon is Twelve

2011-04-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

It has been forever since I have last blogged about anything. A lot has been going on, but most importantly, it was Landon's birthday and he turned twelve. I don't know how I feel about having a twelve year old. I feel like time has snuck up on me, and it certainly isn't possible for him to have grown up so fast. It seems like yesterday when I had him, when he was my little buddy and wanted to sit on the couch and have "conversations" with me. Now I can't get him to say more than two words about his day. :) He had a great birthday this year. He got to go to school and bring treats, and is going to Outer Limits with a friend this weekend. He asked for a bar code scanner for his birthday present, and we ended up getting him a drawing tablet for the computer too. He was way excited for sure. Landon loves the computer, and is actually quite good at it. The other day he came home from school late and I was wondering what he had been doing. He said that he was helping his teacher with a computer program she had to do. He has helped a few other teachers at the school too. He loves it when he can help the teachers...maybe he knows he is earning a few extra brownie points. ha ha Here are some birthday pics of my cute twelve year old.

Now that he is twelve, he had the opportunity to get ordained to become a deacon. I am proud of his choice to follow his Heavenly Father and do what is right. He is a good boy, and I hope he always chooses to make good choices. He went to the Priesthood session of conference with his dad, and attended Young Men's last night for the first time. He certainly is growing up, and I am proud to be his mom!

Brace face

2011-03-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a very eventful week for Danica. She has become a Tweenager, I call her. She got braces on her front teeth on Monday, and has looked a lot older since. Tuesday was picture day, and she made sure to get turquoise wires to match her cute turquoise top. Pretty grown up Miss Danica.

Star student

2011-03-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

This month at preschool Amity got to be the star student. We printed out some pictures that told about some of her favorite things. She was so excited to share more about herself with her friends...and I got spring fever printing out the Disney Land pic from last year.

This was a fun project for us...made me think I need to break out the scrapbooks again and work on the kid's books.

Tents and sleepovers

2011-03-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lately it has been all about tents at our house. I took Amity shopping a few weeks ago and she decided she needed a Dora tent she saw. I do allowances once a month, so she had to wait a week to get it. Let me tell you, this girl was obsessed. The day I gave out allowances, we headed over to the store and she bought this tent...and has loved it ever since. Funny girl. I told her it looks like she is a turtle with a shell in this picture.

Just this past weekend I let the girls have a "sleep over" in the bigger tent in the guest room. They had so much fun. This was Amity's first time doing anything like this, and she told me it was the coolest night of her life.

Happy Monday

2011-02-28T08:00:00.003-07:00

Happy Monday! Hope a good weekend was had by all. Just wanted to pop in and show a sneak peak of a new project I am starting. My room needs an update something terrible, and I found myself a little inspiration with these fabrics.

They are going on these chairs, which are going to get painted. Sorry to my dear friend who is against painting them, but what is a girl to do who loves to paint and is not afraid to paint just about anything. OK, there are a couple of things in my house that are safe...one being the piano...nope, won't paint that. Anyways, I digress. I am adding the fabric to the chairs and adding more softer, neutral colors to the walls. Can't wait to show some more of my progress!

Frame it up with base molding

2011-02-25T11:00:00.001-07:00

Do you remember this project from a couple of posts back? How it started like this...

And we were working on this! Well, I finally finished the project and I love the results.

I knew when I finished the picture it needed something extra, so off to my favorite store (Lowes) we went. I decided on using base molding for the frame. I liked the chunkiness of the molding. "We" (meaning Jeff) routered the inside to fit the picture and mitered the corners together. Impressive building words I just used right. Jeff is probably laughing his head off now...hope I spelled them right. I sprayed the frame black and "we" attached it together. I displayed it in my entry above my closet. I love the way it looks up there!

Sharing and Caring

2011-02-23T08:00:00.001-07:00

First of all, my picture is sideways, and I can't figure out how to make it the right way. Is your family suffering from spring fever like mine? I think all my kids ever do lately is fight. The other day I found something that made me smile. It was a little poem that Danica wrote about sharing and caring about others. When I told her good job and asked her why she wrote it, she simply said that it is for Landon (who she just fought with) and it is something he needs to read and learn. Hmmmm....Hopefully they both will take something from this...until the next fight, that is.

A new little addiction

2011-02-22T08:00:00.002-07:00

Happy Tuesday! I decided today I was going to write about a new little addiction I have come to have. Have you tried these? Yum....addicting...and very tasty. So good when eaten with a string cheese. Completely random post, but then again, Tuesdays are completely random days aren't they.

I've been working on a project using this picture I made for enrichment, and this frame. Can't wait to show and tell!

A little bit of bead board

2011-02-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, another post from me today. I have to admit, I am going a little crazy showing my molding ideas for the CSI project today. I love using bead board to add dimension and texture to walls. I love white crisp boards against a nice color paint. For my family room I decided to add some bead board on the bottom of dark gray paint to add a nice contrast. For a twist, we laid the boards vertically give it a more modern look. I love that it is different than traditional bead board, and it adds a nice touch to the room.

I heart wainscotting

2011-02-21T08:00:00.003-07:00

Today I am posting a few posts for the CSI project. This week's challenge is molding, and I do love my molding! I have shown these pictures of my living room and entry before, but it is one of my most favorite touches we have added to this home. When my hubby and I decided to remodel the main level of our home, I knew that I wanted this in my living room. We looked around and priced a few pre made kits, and in the end, decided to just make it ourselves. My hubby and his brother took mdf boards and routered them to finish off the edges. We nailed backer board to the wall and added the routered boards. I primed and painted them white. I decided to put it up higher in the living room than in the hall. I liked the look of the piano against the white. It was a lot of work, measuring and making it all fit and look right, but in the end I totally love it.

mirror mirror on the wall

2011-02-21T08:00:00.001-07:00

Today I am linking up with the CSI project and showing off my frame project.
My girls have a jack-and-jill bathroom between their rooms. They chose the color purple to be painted in there. I was not in love with the color, so I tried to come up with some ways to make it better. They had a long mirror above their sinks that was not framed. I drew out the pattern I wanted on some wood and my husband cut it out for me. We also drew some over-sized flowers to go on it, and I painted them with all different pastel colors and dotted them with the back of a push pin. I also painted poka dots all over the frame to add whimsy and color. I found some wooden letters at the craft store that spelled out their names, and painted them to match the mirror so each girl knew which sink was hers. It was a very easy and inexpensive way to add some life and personality into that room.

Some Friday Favorites

2011-02-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

This Friday I decided to post a couple of my favorite things. I am a sucker for old doors and windows. This window is my absolute favorite. It not only is my favorite window, but I have my favorite fabric behind it. A red toile quilt pattern. I made window treatments out of this in my old home, and had just enough to put it behind my window to take with me. My second favorite is this old door I found at a local antique store. I put a wreath on it, added a painted letter, and put on a vynil saying. I love how it turned out, and it fills a long wall space perfectly. Have a great weekend!

Philly Cheese Steak pizza

2011-02-16T08:00:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love Philly Cheese Steaks? I have been making this pizza for a while now, and found a new recipe which I combined with my old recipe to make this perfect pizza.

Here's the recipe for the pizza:

1 med. onion - sliced
1 med. green bell pepper - sliced
8 oz. mushrooms - sliced
1 Tbls. olive oil
8 oz. roast beef - shaved
3 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
3 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
4 cups shredded provolone cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pizza dough of choice

-Sauté vegetables in olive oil until limp; add roast beef; sauté and additional 3 minutes.
-Add Worcestershire sauce and pepper; stir; remove from heat; set aside.
-Brush prepared dough with olive oil and spread crushed garlic over entire surface of dough.
-Top with a light layer of shredded cheese, then meat and vegetable mixture, distributing evenly.
-Top with remaining shredded cheese, then Parmesan.
-Bake in a 500 degree oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.
-Let sit 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

This is seriously the best and most delicious pizza I have had in a long time. I gave my SIL Wendi my old recipe, try this one Wendi, you'll love it for sure!

Happy V- day!

2011-02-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

Excited Danica all ready for her Valentine's party. Happy Valentine's day!

The color of the year

2011-02-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you my excitement when I went to the CSI project and discovered that the color of the year was honeysuckle. Oh my gosh, I have that color in my home...I love that color. I then realized I have done a project in that color and I can enter the challenge. My daughter's room is done in shades of honey suckle. I painted the walls the darker color, and added stripes and stencils in different shades of that color. This was of course a very fun thing to do...but the best part of the whole project was painting her armoir. I had an old black armoir that we were no longer going to use. I decided to have my hubby bring it up to her room, and in one nap time I transformed the drab black into pink fab! I took the extra paint I had used already in her room and went to work painting. I wanted it to have a very shabby chic look, kind of princessey of course. I knew I wanted it old and distressed looking, so I took a paper towel, rolled on the paint and started wiping off the excess, pretty soon I was just painting with the paper towel. She loves it, and I did the whole project for free!

Today I am linking up with the CSI project.

Craft room wrap up

2011-02-01T14:38:00.001-07:00

I am happy to report that I am finally finished with my craft room. No more craft room posts after this one. Yea! I used Saturday to finish hanging pictures and making my window treatment. The whole room was done on a budget using a lot of what I already had.

I had a whole blank wall that needed something on it. I bought some two dollar frames and spray painted them turquoise and gray, and added a framed doily my great grandma made to fill that wall. Just spraying some inexpensive frames give them a more custom look.

I took the left over fabric I used on my sewing chair and used it for my window treatments. I added a little ribbon and bling...and in my hubby's words, made it look girly. Doesn't he know by now...he married a girly girl.

Um..yea, that's the treadmill...I have to share the room with that. A constant reminder that while I am hot gluing, I should be exercising instead. Anyhow...here is the room finished. I used an old sofa table, painted it gray and it became my paper table that now holds my cricut. I bought some shelves from Ikea and filled them with all my fun crafting treasures. A glass container to hold buttons, my fun turquoise box to hold my hot glue guns, tool boxes to hold my crafting paints, and magazine holders for all my inspiration.

I have had this shelf since I was married. It was white and stored my dishes in my small apartment. I stenciled some red checks, and letters on the side, added some chicken wire on the front, and it became my craft cabinet. I bought some cute containers to store my stamps, scissors, and sewing supplies, and it has become a great place to store my crafting supplies.

Here is a pic of the whole room. It was a fun project, on that I am glad I finished. I love having a space all to myself to be creative, and it was fun to have something to do and think about in the cold month of January.

Groovy

2011-01-28T15:35:00.001-07:00

Today is groovy man. The kids got to dress up as hippies for school. This was what they came up with. I have to admit that I don't have a lot of hippie costumes, but I think they did OK. I spent the day spray painting my mirror, and painting a chair. I went turquoise with the mirror and I think I really like it.

Do you remember the chairs I had Landon put together. Well, I got one painted for my craft room.

It started as this...and ended up as this.

I painted the chair onion peel and stenciled a gray checked pattern. I took my fleur de lis pattern and used some tuquoise paint to stencil that pattern on the top.

I also got my other chair's cushion re-covered in some different fabric. Thumb tacs and a screw driver, and I had that done in about an hour.

My room is almost done, and I'm excited for the weekend. Happy Friday!

Potato Soup

2011-01-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

When it is cold and snowy outside, and there is nothing better to do, I love to make a dinner of soup and bread. Just the other day we had a snow storm and it turned frigid outside. I was totally in the mood for warm, yummy, comforting soup. I thought I would share a recipe for potato soup I have made for years.

Not the best pic, I know, but delicious soup just the same. Amity will even eat it, and that says a lot. So here it is.

Potato Soup
6 medium potatoes peeled and sliced
4 carrots peeled and diced
6 celery stalks diced
2 quarts water
Put all vegetables in a pot with water and cook until tender, then drain
Meanwhile, after vegetables are cooked take
1 chopped onion and sautee it in
6Tablespoons butter
When the onion is soft add
6 Tablespoons flour
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper...more if you like it spicy
Cook together for a minute and add
1 1/2 cups milk
Stir the milk in until thick then add the cooked vegetables
Add store bought chicken broth until soup is desired consistency
Add more salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle grated cheese on top, and enjoy!

Window window on the wall

2011-01-24T15:55:00.002-07:00

We had a great weekend this past weekend. I was able to finish a few projects, and go to a fun Jon Schmidt concert. Love his music! I love that my kids liked it too. Maybe it might motivate them to practice the piano more...you think. ha ha I got my bulletin board done for my craft room, and it turned out great...just like I envisioned it in my head. Love it when a project turns out like that. I took my old window.

Took out the screen and added chicken wire and some fabric.

And with a few staples and thumb tacs...I ended up with this!

Just need some clothes hangers and some inspiring pictures to hang from it. I am working on my window treatments next. This room is taking forever, and each time I add something, I decide I need to change something else. I am excited to finish, and see how it turns out.
I also finished my spray painting project, and put them on my shelf. Remember these?

They turned into these and now have a home on my new shelf. I am still arranging, and don't love what I've done yet. I am still looking for some cool old picture frames to add to it.

All in all, it was a really great weekend, hopefully I can finish a few more things this week. Happy Monday!

Today

2011-01-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I have been working on spraying painting some of my cool finds. Now that I look at it, they may need another coat. Today I am going to work on my other projects for my craft room. I haven't made a lot of progress yet this week. Today I am going to start thinking about my bedroom. We are going to repaint and re-do it. Exciting! Today I may make some yummy cookies. Tonight I am going on a date with Jeff. Today Amity asked me on the way to preschool what I was going to do when she was gone and if I was going to be lonely without her. She said she could stay home if I needed her to be my friend. I smiled and said, I think mommy will manage. Today is a good day!

My Girl Room

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

I am spending the week working on my craft room. I decided at Christmas time to take out the bed in that room and make it just a craft room. I repainted the walls a light green color, with one wall gray. I am still in the process of adding the final touches. I put this little table in the room to house my cricut. It was fun painting it gray. It looks old and distressed.

I am wanting to put red, yellow, and turquoise touches in the room. This mirror is screaming to become turquoise. I want the room to be fun and funky...something different than I usually do.

Some inspiration. I fell in love with the patter and color as soon as I saw this fabric. I am going to use it on the seat of my chair, and the windows.

I found this screen on one of my junking trips. I am excited to make it into my bulletin board. I am going to cut out the screen and add chicken wire and hang all my inspiration on to it with clothes hangers. So excited!

Yea, my last fabric choice. I am going to use this fabric behind my inspiration board. Can't wait to see how the room comes together!

Junking

2011-01-17T14:57:00.002-07:00

We have had a four day weekend around here, so what is more fun than a weekend full of junking. I know for a fact, it is my kid's favorite thing to do. ha ha Seriously, a little bribery doesn't hurt either. I digress, back to the subject at hand...junking. I love looking at antique stores, DI, anything second hand that can be improved and made better. I had a few things in mind I was looking for this time, and found a couple of great finds.

I couldn't pass these up. Not for the color, but for the shape. I am going to spray them this color, and put them on the new shelf Jeff made. Yea so excited!

You know what they say...a family who sprays together stays together. Ha ha funny I know. I think these days off with the kids is making me a little loopy.

I don't know where I am going to put this lunch box, but I love it. I was thinking of my shelf as well, but we'll have to see how it works. Maybe in my craft room with my thread and scissors in it. We'll see.

Lastly, my cute kids...no, I didn't find them at an antique store, but I had to show my cute boy building a chair for the desk in his room. I love that I now have two handsome men who can do my honey dos. See kids what happens when you say you're bored too many times. Way fun weekend...but glad to send the kids back to school tomorrow!

A homemade shelf

2011-01-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

For Christmas this year, Jeff surprised me with this shelf he made. While we were in Paris this last summer, we took pictures in the architecture museum of letters of our last name. I have wanted to do something with these pictures forever. I didn't know what exactly what I wanted to do, so when I saw this shelf, I thought it looked perfect. I was excited to paint it and hang it in our entry. I decided to paint it white instead of my usual black. The molding on it reminded me of all the molding you'd see in the old castles, so that decided the color for me. I still need to find some fun things to put on top...I am thinking of old picture frames and colorful vases, we'll see. I was so excited to receive this gift, it is fun to have something that brings back great memories every time I see it.

Christmas happenings

2011-01-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

Here it is, Christmas in a post. We had a great Christmas and wonderful break this past two weeks. The kids were off school, and Jeff was off of work. Wonderfully, relaxing two weeks! The week before Christmas we took a mini trip down to Salt Lake. We stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights and played in the city. I love the city at Christmas time. We went to a movie, shopping, the planetarium, ate yummy food, saw window displays, and looked at the lights on Temple Square. My very favorite thing to do. I was in a Christmas funk this year, and this helped pull me right out of it. I had no trouble getting into the spirit of Christmas after this. We had a fun Christmas party at my parent's house, and then spent Christmas eve at Jeff's parent's house. Such a fun week!

We had a great Christmas, nice and quiet. The kids all got everything they wanted, and had a great day playing with their toys. All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas, but I am glad to move on and get things back to normal.

Gingerbread Cake...YUMMY!

2010-12-22T08:00:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite Christmas recipes is Gingerbread cake. I love gingerbread cookies, but this is even better...you get the gingerbread taste without all the rolling and cutting out. It is simple, moist and delicious. Try it, you'll love it for sure!

Gingerbread Cake

1/2 cup shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup hot water
1 cup molasses
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Beat in water and molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 33-37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Serve with Applesauce and whip cream on top!

Jolly Old St. Nick

2010-12-20T08:00:00.002-07:00

I found the funnest blog (House of Smiths) a while back and started stalking... I mean following it. I love reading her posts and I absolutely love here style and vinyl. She sells her vinyl here and had great ideas for Christmas decorations and gifts. I saw these Santa Silhouettes and knew I had to get them to use for Christmas gifts. In the true spirit of giving, I made sure to make me one too.

I smile at how simple this craft was, and how great it looks in my family room.

Reflections

2010-12-17T08:00:00.002-07:00

It's reflections time at school again. Both of my kids are lucky this year to be going on to district. Landon made a funny video about comedy using animation, Danica's story and art also won. They were both excited, and as a mom I was glad that both of them got to go on. I took a picture of Danica's artwork, since she may not get it back. She was very proud of her picture. Good job Landon and Danica!

Getting Crafty

2010-12-15T08:00:00.003-07:00

I was so lucky to have my mom come up a couple of weeks ago while Jeff was gone to the Phillipines. While she was here we made Christmas table runners to give away as neighbor and friend gifts. They were so easy and fun to make! Measure and cut the strips of fabric, hem the sides, fold the fabric together length wise with the outside patterns touching, and sew the top to make the point. When you are done you have a cute, inexpensive gift you can give any of your friends. Pair it with a set of cooking utensils from Ikea, some white chocolate popcorn, and you have yourself a great gift!

Some Christmas happenings

2010-12-13T15:07:00.001-07:00

We've had some pretty fun Christmas going ons at our house the past week. Landon had his sixth grade band concert, and Danica did her third grade choir performance. Both kids did great, and I loved listening to all the Christmas music. Put me right in the mood for Christmas!

Last night we made our annual gingerbread house. It's fun to see each of my kid's creative personalities. Danica wanted everything perfect, placed in just the right place...Amity wanted to be just like Danica, and Landon wanted to eat all the candy. :) Afterwards, we hopped in the car and went to see Christmas lights around town. Fun Sunday night!

White chocolate popcorn...yum!

2010-12-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

Who doesn't like popcorn? One of my favorite treats is a recipe my mom shared with me last year. White chocolate popcorn with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Seriously so addicting. The kids had an AR party a few days ago, and they needed a treat...I whipped up a batch of this yummy popcorn in no time flat. D'lish! I am embarrassed to say, the kids each got a sandwich size bag full, and I ate the rest..a full freezer bag full. Yep, the treadmill is screaming my name..but oh well, it's the holidays right. ha ha So I thought I would share my mom's recipe for white chocolate popcorn, but beware, it can be addicting!

White chocolate popcorn with cinnamon

Two bags of regular microwave popcorn popped
One package white chocolate chips, melted
Cinnamon
Pop the popcorn (yes the butter and salt kind). Pour the bags of popcorn onto a cookie sheet. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and pour on top. This is when it gets messy. You have to use your hands to coat all the popcorn in the chocolate. When the popcorn is coated, sprinkle a desired amount of cinnamon on top and mix around. Enjoy....So so good!

Playing in the snow

2010-12-08T08:00:00.002-07:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, must be playing at my house because that has been what it has been doing the past few weeks. I can't believe the amount of snow we have gotten this past little while. The kids were so excited to have a snow day the week of Thanksgiving. Me, not so much. While I think the snow is pretty, it is so hard to drive in, dress the kids, and keep the floors clean. I would love one pretty snow storm a year, then it could snow in the mountains, and rain in the valley. Yea, it sounds like I should move to Oregon. As much as I dislike it, the kids love it. I went outside and took some pictures of the kids playing and having fun. Thought I would share. Let it snow!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2010-12-06T08:00:00.003-07:00

Christmas, my favorite time of year! Except the snow, I love everything about it. We start breaking out the Christmas music before Thanksgiving...and my Christmas trees may make it out before then too. We have been busy around here adding Christmas touches. I love our Christmas traditions. Every year we buy Christmas ornaments on our vacations, so everyone is excited to get into the box, pull out the ornaments, and remember all the fun times we had throughout the years. It is a fun way to preserve a memory. The house is sparkling, my scentsy smells like cinnamon, and I am ready for the season to begin!

Some Before and After

2010-12-04T14:20:00.001-07:00

Time flies, and I am finally getting around to the before and after pictures of my latest project. We are finished, Yea, and I love how it turned out. I can't believe that the before and after are the same room. Here is the family room before I re-did it.

Here it is now...new color, carpet, and furnitures. Way fun project, but I am relieved it is done. Now on to Christmas!

A fun day project

2010-11-19T15:47:00.002-07:00

I have been working on changing the color of my wood furniture to match my new room. I decided that my screen which was painted green defiantly didn't match anymore. I had the idea to paint it the light blue gray and stencil letters in the center in brown to mimic the letters on the chair. Easy peesy fun project. I love paint. I love how quickly things can be transformed. I say be creative with paint, colors and design. If you don't like it, you can always paint over it later.

The power of paint

2010-11-18T15:19:00.002-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have been working on a pretty big project. We got new carpet for our home, so in true Erin style I began a total re- model. Well, a total re-paint. I never loved how I did the basement family room before, so I decided it would be a great time to paint before the new carpet went in. I decided to go totally different than my usual color and style. I wanted to try some gray. This little baby was my inspiration. Once I saw it, I had to have it.

This chair screams total inspiration! I decided to take the gray from the letters and put it on the walls. I put v board on the bottom of the walls and painted it white. Instead of hanging it vertical, we decided to hang it with the lines laying horisontal. I love it...unusual and way fun!

I painted the rest of the basement a lighter blue gray and the ceiling the same light color. I love playing with ceilings and treating them like walls. It gives the room a great pop of unexpected color. I like the way the entertainment center still goes in the room. It is still one of my favorite pieces Jeff made. I found some lighter accessories to go in it, and sprayed a lot of my old accessories cream. I love spray paint!
Well, Here is the room so far. Can't wait to show more projects and the completed project!

snow days

2010-11-17T15:18:00.001-07:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I am excited! It snowed here the other day and the girls went right out to build a snowman. Here is their creation. Made me want to sing frosty the snowman.

Halloween Fun

2010-11-08T14:34:00.001-07:00

So it is only the second week of November and I decided I might want to post my Halloween pictures. We have had a fun fall this year. We got to go to Logan to the pumpkin walk...my favorite activity of the year. I love Logan, especially Logan in the fall. The kids had a lot of fun walking around seeing the displays and staying at a hotel.

We had a great time painting pumpkins this year. Thanks mom for bringing up some pumpkins for us to paint! I am not a very ambitious mom, I never can talk myself into actually carving the pumpkins. My kids like painting them, and the turn out great, so I won't feel too bad.

We had a great Halloween this year. Amity got to celebrate it at preschool and decided to be Dorothy for that party. On Halloween night, she decided to she wanted to be Belle instead. Good thing for extra dress up dresses, plenty of options for the fussy dresser.

Landon...oh Landon was something. I guess when they get to be in sixth grade the costumes start becoming more individual and creative. His teacher said he looked like his sister's dress up box.

Finally Miss Danica decided that she wanted to dress up as an 80's girl. I actually had so much fun with her costume. Talk about a flash of the past. Leg warmers, blue eyeshadow, leggings, jelly bands....seriously so much fun! I remember it all. She had a great time getting ready and dressing up like her mom did in the olden days. All in all a great Halloween this year!

Fall at our house

2010-10-20T13:55:00.001-06:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. We have been having a great time decorating the house for fall. All the decorations stay out so much longer than Christmas, so it is my favorite season to decorate for. I love the colors, smells, food, and weather. Happy Fall Y'all!

Project time!

2010-10-19T14:08:00.003-06:00

I am excited to say that my lack of blogging has been the result of some projects I have going on around here. We are in the process of getting new carpet in our house. So of course before the carpet goes in, I better make sure I have the right colors on the walls. It just so happens that I wanted to change the look of the family room in my basement. We are still in the process of finishing, but it looks a lot different that it did before. I love it! Here is a picture with my favorite little helper of the before. The after will be coming soon!

Happy Birthday Amity

2010-10-19T13:53:00.001-06:00

Amity turned five on October 10th and I am finally posting about it. She had a great day that day. Getting sung to in primary was the highlight of her day. She keeps telling me that she doesn't feel like she is five...and I tell her I can't believe she is already five. Happy birthday to Amity!

This Fall

2010-10-08T09:00:00.002-06:00

I am loving fall this year. It has been unusually warm and beautiful here. The colors on the trees are always beautiful, and I love the crunch of the leaves on the sidewalk. A few weeks back we went up to Cherry Springs for a walk. It is one of our favorite places to enjoy all the fall colors. Happy Fall!

Happy Birthday Danica

2010-10-06T14:35:00.002-06:00

Saturday was Miss Danica's birthday. The big number nine. This year she had a group of friends over and we had a pizza party, did nails, made hair flowers, and broke a pinata. She had so much fun with all her friends! She was excited to turn nine, but told me all day that she didn't feel any different. By the way, on Saturday afternoon Danica got to run through the sprinklers. It has been so warm here lately, I told her to remember the year she could play in the water outside on her birthday. I don't think it is going to happen again. The last few years we have had snow on her birthday. Happy Birthday Danica, I can't believe it has been nine years. What a fun nine years it has been!

Flashback

2010-09-22T14:37:00.001-06:00

I've been looking through some old pictures this afternoon and came across one of my favorites. Danica, age four wearing her favorite glasses, earrings slid through the side, ring on finger, totally blinged out. Totally Danica...made me smile!

Ali's Wedding

2010-09-17T16:40:00.001-06:00

My way younger and way prettier sister Ali got married last Friday. We were able to go down and have fun enjoying the day with her. The weather was beautiful, and the reception was a blast. My girls had so much fun dancing the night away. I got Landon and Jeff on the dance floor once, and I felt way successful about that! Congratulations Ali, you were a beautiful bride!

First day of Preschool

2010-09-17T16:16:00.000-06:00

I am way behind on my pictures. I thought I would start catching up once school started, but it seems like I am only more busy. Amity has one more year of preschool then it is off to Kindergarten for her. She is going to a fun three day a week preschool this year. She loves her teacher, painting, and reading books. She says she is still looking forward to jumping on the tramp her teacher has in her back yard. This is my favorite age, and I am loving watching her learn fun new things. I am also enjoying a little time to myself.

First day of school

2010-09-03T14:07:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the kids first day of school. Landon is starting 6th grade, last year of elementary school. It just seems like he just started kindergarten. He is very excited about getting to know his new teacher this year, and learning many fun new things. Did I mention the highlight of Landon's day is the fact that the sixth graders get the biggest desks in the school. Pretty important stuff!

Miss Danica Wray is way excited to be a third grader. Learning her times tables, and cursive handwriting are defiantly high on her want to do list. She has become very fashion concious, and very concerned about having a lot of friends. She loves her teacher, and is excited that she likes art just like her. The highlight of Danica's day was the fact that the teacher called on her every time she raised her hand, and didn't tell her to put her hand down. (Danica loves to answer the teacher's questions, and always knows the answers).

Amity had a long day with mom. She was asking when the kids were going to be home at nine in the morning. She is getting excited for her new preschool and had a fun day with mom painting her finger nails.

My happy diva...playing with her sister!

A new hair do

2010-08-26T15:34:00.002-06:00

We have been spending the week getting ready for school. Only one more week. YEA! This year Amity gets to go to a new preschool that is three days a week. She is so excited about that. As part of getting things ready, we took Amity to the little girl salon and got her hair cut. She wanted it shorter with bangs. I think it frames her face way cute. She lets me curl it every morning and doesn't want anyone to touch it in case it gets messed up. Funny girl.

Ali's Bridal Shower

2010-08-25T15:32:00.001-06:00

I had the funnest Saturday a couple of weeks ago. I was able to go down to Salt Lake to a family bridal shower for my best sister Ali. She is getting married in September, and we are way excited. It was so fun visiting with all my relatives I don't get a chance to see that often. We threw her a kitchen shower, so now she has plenty of supplies and recipes to cook Andres a wonderful gourmet meal. I'm sure she is so excited about that! I'll have to ask her how the cooking is going.

Summertime fun!

2010-08-06T15:07:00.001-06:00

Just this past week, we took off a few days and headed to Boise. We had a great time there relaxing and enjoying the water. Just the thing to do on a VERY hot day!

One of our favorite places to go while visiting Boise is the Children's discovery center. The kids have a blast experimenting and playing with everything there.

We also went to the zoo. It was a fast trip, but everyone had fun! We also did a little school shopping and mom shopping. I have to balance all the fun activities with the shopping, and everyone stays happy. It was another great summer time memory.

Growing up

2010-07-20T09:00:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that is my oldest boy mowing my lawn. When did he grow old enough to do that? I don't know why that is a milestone to me, but it is. The other day he came to us all excited to learn to mow, and actually did a great job for his first time. He loved it, but I don't know how much he will still love it when it becomes his new chore.

Learning how to ride a bike, another big milestone. We just taught our last child to ride a bike. She was bound and determined to ride just as good as her brother and sister. It took her two days. I went outside today and she had her bike and was riding it all over the driveway. I am glad she caught on so fast, but I was hoping to drag it out...keep her young for just a little longer. She loves riding her bike everywhere now. She rides it fast and with a purpose. I always make sure she has a helmet on her head. Great job Amity!

Summer festivities

2010-07-16T14:17:00.001-06:00

The Saturday before the fourth of July we decided to go up to our favorite spot and have a cook out. Little did we know it was going to be cold, and I mean cold up there. I think there was frost on the ground the next morning. I am so glad we weren't camping. :) We always have fun grilling hamburgers and cooking smores. It is an activity that all of us look forward to every summer.

I can't believe I am posting pictures from the fourth this late in the month. That's what happens when you combine kids and summer. We had a great fourth of July celebrating with Jeff's family. Some cousins came up and we lit fireworks and watched the big show in our front yard. The show our town puts on is fantastic and defiantly a highlight to our summer!

A couple of Dorks

2010-07-14T16:42:00.001-06:00

So I am finally posting about another one of my summer highlights. Here is me and my sister Ali before going to see Eclipse. Ali took the day off of work and came up so we could see it opening day. We got together, went to the mall, and got some t-shirts printed. We are seriously a couple of nerds, but we have fun. My shirt said and I quote..."What do you mean Edward isn't real?" Jeff of course didn't get it...so we texted Ali's fiance Andres and he didn't get it. Well, we thought it was funny. Are we the only ones? We both loved the movie, and I am once again a fan of Edwards. (I really liked Jacob in the last movie). We both thought Jasper was a little cheesy though. All in all it was a way fun night as always when my sis comes up to visit.

More Trip Pics

2010-07-12T16:34:00.001-06:00

My SIL Tricia asked me to put some more trip pics on here so she could see them. That was last Sunday, and I am finally getting around to it. Crazy week! I picked some of my favs...I only took 900...not joking.

Notre Dame

Napolean's Tomb

The Palace of Versaille

The gardens of Versaille

Marie Antionette's french cottage

The beautiful colorful buildings in Brugge

The windmills in Belgium

The Grand Place in Brussels

i lOvE PaRiS

2010-07-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

Jeff and I just got back from a two week trip to Paris and Belgium. So much fun! I have wanted to go to France since I started taking French in the ninth grade. We had so much fun, and saw so many beautiful buildings. The architecture is amazing, I came home very inspired! We tried some yummy treats, the breads are delicious, but my favorite treat was Belgium waffles for sure. I even understood the language...ok...enough to order food. :) It was an amazing trip, and I am glad that I was able to spend that time with Jeff. The kids had a great time at my parents, and I don't think they wanted to come home. I have been suffering from trip hang - over this week trying to get back into the swing of things. I am excited for a nice calm fourth of July weekend. Have a great Holiday!

What made me laugh

2010-06-10T16:21:00.000-06:00

Do you ever wonder how much your little ones get out their primary lesson? Lately, we have been able to tell what Amity is learning in Primary by the prayers she is giving. Things are listed and go on and on such as, thank you for repentance, the God Head, The Gospel of the Church. I know she is listening, but it is just getting jumbled up inside her head. The other night she was doing the dinner prayer being thankful for everything. Out of the blue she says, "Thank you for Book of Mormon Stories, the book." I seriously laughed out loud and knew I would defiantly have to write that one down.

Bird's nests

2010-06-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

I use to love summer vacation as a kid. I remember the feeling of the last day of school, waking up with nothing to do except play with friends, eating popsicles, swimming in the backyard. A lot of fun memories. It is summer vacation here. I know my kids are excited. They have been having fun playing with friends, going to movies, going to the library,and riding bikes. I have only hear "I'm bored" a few times. I think they know that if they say it too much, there will be some work that follows. I have been doing job and behavior charts this summer. If they do a good job on all their work, then they get to choose a prize from the prize box. I seriously stole this idea from Danica's teacher at school, and I have to say so far it is working great! We'll see if they stay motivated the whole summer.

The other day we were out on the deck and discovered a bird's nest on our deck and one in the tree above. My kids thought this was so cool, and have had fun watching for the birds to come visit their nests.

End of school activities

2010-05-24T14:39:00.000-06:00

It is the end of the school year and that means all kind of fun school activities. Danica had a class program for the parents last week about our country. It was a cute program with a lot of fun songs. Danica's favorite part was the song they used sign language in. She was so excited to show us what they learned, and I loved having a small program in her classroom with just her class. It was easy to hear and see, and they all did a great job!

Last Thursday was Amity's preschool graduation. She had a great time at preschool this year. She learned a lot of fun songs, her letters, her numbers, and made many great friends. She was so excited to wear her cap and gown, and show us everything she learned. I think her cap was was bugging her, because every time I went to take a picture, she was squinting and pulling funny faces. I can't believe a year has passed so quickly. One more year of preschool, then it is off to kindergarten for Miss Amity.

Doesn't the boy next to her look like is so happy to be there.

Weekend Happenings

2010-05-18T15:51:00.000-06:00

We had such a good Saturday this past weekend. Landon signed up to be in a school play so we spent some of the day at the High School where he was performing. He was in King Arthur's Quest and was the Red Squire. He had a lot of fun acting with his friends. Who knew that shy quiet Landon liked to be in front of people and act. He did a great job, and knew all of his lines.

Spring finally made an appearance. It was such a beautiful day on Saturday. The weather was so warm, and all the blossoms were popping on all the trees. The perfect May day.

Landon has his first scout camp out this next weekend. Jeff decided to get out the tent and help Landon learn how to set it up. The kids had so much fun playing in it while we did yard work. I can't believe Landon is old enough to start going on over night camping trips. He is excited, and it should be a lot of fun. I am just grateful that the Dads have to go with, and not the moms. :)

It was a fun Saturday with great weather, and lots of fun, beautiful outside time!

Reflections

2010-05-12T14:25:00.000-06:00

On Thursday night me and Danica were able to go to a reflections program honoring all the region winners. Danica's picture of her eye made it all the way through to the region division. I was so excited for her. She loves art, and has found that she is pretty good at it. It is fun to watch your kids grow and develop their individual talents, and figure out what they are good at and what they like to do. I was defiantly proud of Danica, and of all her hard work.

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-05-10T16:27:00.000-06:00

We had a great weekend. Jeff got home safe and sound from the Philippines and we are happy to have our Dad back. Mother's day was great this year. The kids got me a cute skirt I could wear to church. It is so much fun to wear a new outfit! Later that day I made the best cinnamon rolls ever! The recipe is here. Let me just say, I have never made such yummy ooey gooey cinnamon rolls before. I ate one and put the rest promptly in the freezer before I ate the whole batch. Jeff made me a delicious dinner of Lasagna and salad, I love it when I don't have to cook! We went to the park where the kids played and Dad napped/ snored. I had to laugh when Danica came up to me asking me what the noise was. When I told her dad was snoring, she looked at me and said how embarrassing...can we walk over to the other playground. She is such a mini teenager. It was a good weekend and a very happy Mother's day.

Grandma's here!

2010-05-06T14:27:00.000-06:00

Jeff has been gone to the Phillipines for a couple of weeks, and my mom decided it would be a perfect time to come up for a visit. Everyone loves it when Grandma comes to town! We had a great time playing, shopping, and hanging out. It made my week go faster, and it was great to have the company! Thanks mom for coming!

This is what it looked like when the kids walked to school today. Seriously, in May...come on...give me a break! Amity looked outside and started singing Once there was a snowman....I felt like putting on Christmas music. The funny thing about it, is that just the night before I was mowing the lawn. Crazy spring weather!

Random Ramblings

2010-04-30T15:17:00.000-06:00

I don't know where the month of April went. We were busy with a birthday, the yard, we stained the deck on the one weekend that was warm and nice. Amity and I have been doing a lot of hanging out and baking...Amity's favorite past time. Every time I ask what she wants to do she always says cook something. Just this Monday it was nice enough to eat lunch outside on the deck. Since then, it has been cold and very windy. Mr. sun where are you? My trees are starting to bloom, I can't wait until they are in full bloom. I am excited to get my flowers planted, and the kids are getting excited to be out of school. Only one more month. AHHH I don't know if I'm ready. We have lived in this house six years tomorrow. When we moved in it was hot and the trees were in full bloom. I remember we had to turn on the air conditioner. It has been a fun six years in this house with many fun memories! I can't believe how quickly time flies by.

Happy Birthay Landon!

2010-04-08T11:53:00.000-06:00

I can't hardly believe that Landon is eleven. Time goes by so quickly. I really don't think I'm old enough to have a kid who is eleven. He had a great day on Tuesday. I had to laugh at the gift he wanted. He has wanted an open closed sign for his room since Christmas. A total Landon thing. We found this one where you can put messages on it. He went nuts. I swear he is going to be a great business owner someday. He also got a banana chair to read in his room. Another great hit. The Friday before he had one of his friends over for dinner and a sleepover. They flew kites, and went and saw The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and had a great time. It seems like yesterday when he was born and we were living in Logan. We moved to Pocatello when he was two weeks old. It has been a fast eleven years, and I am proud of what a good boy he is growing up to be.

Easter Day

2010-04-08T11:38:00.003-06:00

Easter morning was fun at our house. We didn't have church because of General Conference so the kids enjoyed the slow morning and had a great time finding their Easter baskets. We had fun dying Easter eggs and doing an Easter egg hunt. It was a great day!

The Ocean

2010-03-26T08:00:00.001-06:00

On the last day of our trip to California we decided to rent a car and go see the ocean. This was my idea since none of my kids have seen the ocean before, and I wanted them to experience it. It was such a beautiful day! We drove to Santa Monica beach and gathered sea shells along the water. Right when we got there Jeff took the kids to the water and a big wave came in. Amity's pants got soaked so they had to walk back to the car to change since she couldn't stand the way the wet pants felt. We walked along the pier and had lunch at Bubba Gumps. So fun! My kids loved being at the ocean and I loved sharing that experience with them.

By the way, Landon got the lovely blue lips from eating a delicious blue raspberry snow cone.

Seeing the Princesses

2010-03-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

I have finally gotten around to doing the Princess post. The Princesses in Disney Land were Amity's absolute favorite. Danica's too, but don't mention that to her friends. All the lines for the rides weren't too bad until we got to the line to see the princesses. Holy crow was that ever a line. I kept thinking, I hope this is worth it. Landon was thrilled to say the least, to first be standing in a long line, and second, to be seeing princesses. (I'm being sarcastic in case he is reading this right now), but he really was a good sport about the whole thing. It really was worth it. The girls had so much fun seeing and talking to Tiana, Ariel, and Belle. Belle was Amity's favorite! I think they got a little shy. I kept asking them if there was something they wanted to say to them, and neither of them could think of anything. It was quite the magical place for little girls.

Disney Land

2010-03-17T14:48:00.001-06:00

It has been FOREVER since I have last posted. February was like a whirlwind for me. I had scouts, the pinewood derby, box tops for the school and a huge decorating class I had to teach for Stake Women's conference. That took up my whole month, and there was no time to take pics and blog. Just this last week we took the family to Disney Land for a trip. We had such a great time! It was SO warm and green there. I couldn't believe how beautiful California is in March. It was hard to come home to brown.

Amity was so excited to see all the characters. We walked in on the first day and she screamed oh my gosh it is goofy! She couldn't believe her eyes.

We rode a lot of fun rides and the kids loved it! The teacups were Amity's favorite ride.

A trip to Disney Land isn't complete without a picture with Mickey Mouse. (I'll have to do a seperate Princess post of course...since that was the main attraction for Amity).

We also went to California Adventure. Soaring over California was my by far favorite ride of all. Everyone went on that one and loved it! The kids thought it would be fun to take their pictures by the letters...L for Landon...A for Amity....Sorry Danica, no D....she just had to share with Amity.

We had a great time...the kids were a perfect age, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! I was trying to talk Jeff into getting a job and moving there. Don't think that will happen...oh well.

A few random changes

2010-01-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

The month of January always makes me itch for a project. Every year I take Christmas down, I look around and want to change something. This family room change was actually Jeff's idea. He had time off over the Christmas break and decided that he wanted to take the mirror down that was in front of the TV. He did not like the picture quality, not to mention you couldn't see the picture if it was light in the room. He decided to make an extension of our fireplace instead. I love how it turned out, and it was a perfect couple of days project.
I have just gotten a new calling. Weblo's leader. Don't worry, I'm sure you're not laughing as hard as I was. So in the midst of learning all about this, I decided I needed a little project to take my mind off of scouts. I switched the girl's rooms a couple of months ago and decided to rearrange Amity's room. I moved the bed and things on the wall, Amity helped me pick out where things should go. Then I painted her bulletin board and made some letters that spelled read on her wall. She loves the change, and just that much helped her feel like it was her own room.

Once there was a snowman

2010-01-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun January so far. It has been cold, but sunny and pretty. The kids got to make a snowman for the first time this year a couple of weeks ago. The snow was perfect, and they had so much fun playing in it. It hasn't snowed a whole lot since then, and I'm not complaining...Ms. snowman was made, and as far as I'm concerned it doesn't need to snow the rest of the winter!

Some December highlights

2010-01-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Warning...extra long post....a lot of pictures. I can't believe I am doing my whole month of December in one post. It has been forever since I have posted anything. Time has just gotten away from me. We had a great month doing a lot of fun things. The kids had so much fun making our gingerbread house this year.

Danica had her school program and was able to sing a part in it. I had no idea that she was singing, and couldn't see anything until Jeff said stand up, Danica's singing. There were a lot of kids, and a lot of parents, so I was glad that Jeff noticed her.

My favorite sister Ali came up and spent a few days with us. We had so much fun shopping, going to a movie, and out to dinner. I think the only reason she comes up to see us is to go to Grecian Key for dinner. ha ha We all had a great time with her!

We got to go down to Salt Lake and see Grandma and Grandpa. The kids LOVE it at Grandma and Grandpa Bee's, and it was fun spending time with my family.

The kids were happy to wear new pajamas to be on Christmas Eve. They were all excited for Santa to come!

Everyone had a great Christmas and a great Christmas break. I have to say, I am glad it is January now and everything is back to normal.

Deck the halls

2009-12-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

We've had a fun and busy December so far. Last weekend we went to the Festival of the Trees up here. The kids loved it, even though none of them wanted to see Santa. Landon, because he is too old...sniff...Danica because she saw a friend and was embarrassed (too old)...sniff again....and Amity was just plain shy. She was trying to talk herself into it the whole time, but just couldn't get up close enough to actually talk to him. The trees were beautiful, and it was for our school district, which is a great cause. We finished up our Christmas cards on Saturday, YEA! and I finished up my shopping on Friday. I am done! Yesterday me and Amity cooked some yummy peppermint brownies to kick off the baking season. Since it was so cold outside, I needed to turn on my oven to warm the house up right. I am feeling I will need to make friends with my treadmill again in January. ha ha There is a lot of snow on the ground, and it is defiantly feeling a lot like Christmas around here!

Trim up the Tree!

2009-12-03T16:59:00.002-07:00

Nothing says Christmas like Christmas trees and lights. We got our trees up, and I love having the lights shine at night when it gets so dark so early. We all love taking out the ornaments remembering where we got each one. I let my kids pick one out each year and we date it. Also, whenever we go on a family trip we buy an ornament and date it. It is a fun tradition that I did when I was growing up.

I usually put up around twelve trees. Gasp....but I toned it WAY down this year and only did the two inside trees. I like it, and had more fun focusing on the two trees. We made the peppermints and candy canes out of wood last year, and I love having the big chunky ornaments on the tree. The kids love it because it looks like the Santa tree. Last year we had a tree disaster when my big tree fell down all done and decorated...hopefully they will both stay upright this year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2009-12-01T10:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of great food and fun with family! I love Thanksgiving weekend, it is the kick-off to my favorite month...December. We spent the week getting lights up and trees decorated. The kids all get excited when I start taking out the Christmas decorations. The girl's love helping decorate the trees. One of our favorite traditions is the Christmas fireworks. We can see them from our front yard, so we run outside right as they start which keeps us from getting too cold. Yea It's December! Let the festivities begin!

Danica was so excited last week to tell me that she won the reflections contest at her school in her grade division. She loves art, and was very proud of this picture. Her picture is going on to district, and she is plenty excited about that. Good job Danica!

Snow much Fun!

2009-11-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a snow day here for us. The girl's were so excited to have some snow to play in. I don't know if I am quite ready for winter...but I guess I have no choice in the matter. We spent most of the day switching the girl's rooms. Danica wanted a more "grown up room." Since Amity's room was a little more grown up than hers, it worked well to just switch them instead of repainting everything. I am almost done, and can't wait to post some pictures of the changes. The girl's love their "new" rooms, so everyone is happy.

Since it was snowing outside, it put me in a Christmas mood! I thought I would post a fun and WAY easy craft I did last year. I needed a few more ornaments for my tree, and found these glass balls at Hobby Lobby. I opened the top and filled some with shredded paper. For the others I cut strips of scrapbook paper and rolled them tight. I stuffed them inside the balls and let them unwind naturally. Then I found some rub on decals at the scrapbook store. So fun, easy, and inexpensive.

In the Kitchen

2009-11-12T16:32:00.002-07:00

I was recently organizing my photos into a new program, and I couldn't help looking at the pictures I've taken since I've moved into the house five and a half years ago. I still remember the sound of the steamer getting off all the blue wallpaper that was around my main level of the home. I never want to hear that sound again! I painted the cabinets the first time, then did a whole gut job for the final project. I love my kitchen and I love to cook. The perfect combo!
I have recently discovered the perfect delicious, easy fall desert. Buy some pumpkin icecream and either make...or buy at costco some soft gingersnap cookies. You could make icecream sandwiches with them, or I just like to dip my cookies in the icecream. I thought I would share the perfect recipe for my soft gingersnaps.

1 cube softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
cream together
then add
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Mix together, roll in balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Pre- Winter Fun

2009-11-10T12:01:00.001-07:00

We had a great weekend this past weekend. We started a little early and went Christmas shopping on Friday. I am well on my way. Yea! On Saturday we spent the day working on the yard. The girl's had so much fun playing in the leaves. (Gotta love Danica's hair). We got everything cleaned up and put away, and even made a trip to the dump. Now we are ready for snow.....ummmm...almost.
I couldn't resist starting my Christmas crafts. I made a Christmas advent calendar for the kids to use this year. I took a metal cookie sheet and sprayed it cream. Then I had some vynil lettering I stuck on it. I need to make the magnets now for it. I hope my kids have fun with it this year. It was the perfect, easy, fast kind of craft I love. Only two more weeks til I can break out the Christmas decorations. Can't hardly wait!

Danica's Baptism

2009-11-03T10:00:00.006-07:00

Saturday was Danica's Baptism. We had such a nice day. She was so excited to get baptized, and we were very proud of the decision she made. We had a lot of family and friends come, and enjoyed spending such a special day with them. I hope she always remembers this day and the way she felt during her baptism. It is always bitter sweet watching my kids grow up. I love that they get to experience new things, but time goes by so fast. Congratulations Danica!

Halloween Fun!

2009-11-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Walk

2009-10-28T14:17:00.003-06:00

Last Weekend we went to Logan to go to the Pumpkin Walk. This is a tradition we do every year that started when me and Jeff were in College. All of the scenes are made out of pumpkins and it is free to the public to walk through and enjoy. It is still so fun to go down to Logan with our family and enjoy the fall, there just isn't anything on earth like Logan in the fall. Yes....I am a nerd, but I love all the big trees and the crunching sound the leaves make when you step on them. This activity is just an added bonus! It wasn't too cold, and everyone had a great time. Yes...by the way...I did spell pumpkin wrong in the picture Jeff...I closed my program and didn't want to re-open it, fix it, save it again, start another post...you get the point.

Kid's Photos

2009-10-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

This past weekend the weather was beautiful. I couldn't resist taking the family out and doing some pictures. Insert eye roll (for Jeff). Yes my husband just loves doing this. If you know him, you know what I am talking about. I got some great pictures of the kids and our family. It was fun being outside together, and taking pictures was just a bonus for me. I posted three of my favorites. I still need to play around with them, but I think these just capture the kid's personalities.

Say it with a Letter

2009-10-21T10:00:00.005-06:00

For weeks I have been buried under this pile of box tops. I have clipped and counted over 3,000 so far. Yea for the school....a little time consuming for me. So at last I am done and they are submitted. To celebrate, I decided that I needed to do a little something fun for my house. I had this gold letter T lying around I had bought at the Hobby Lobby for a while. I wanted to paint it, and had seen way cute wreaths with letters on them on other blogs. I had to do this...so I sprayed the T black and hung it on the wreath I have on the old door in my family room. I love the way it adds interest to the wreath, and it was a fun fast afternoon of fun!

A Halloween Craft? From Me!

2009-10-19T10:00:00.002-06:00

So I had to post the craft I just finished. I seriously love the fall, but for some reason I don't get into Halloween crafts and decorating that much. Anywho...I have been seeing these fun word crafts at the scrapbook store, and decided I had to make one to get into the spirit of the holiday. I love to decoupage paper onto anything, so this was just up my alley. The girl's got to help and loved it, and I have a fun new Halloween craft to display. Hmmmm.....maybe there will be more coming. We'll see!

Pumkins and porches...two of my favorite things

2009-10-16T15:59:00.002-06:00

I have made some more changes to the porch this week. I love fall. I add a touch of fall everywhere I can. The kids got to pick their pumkins, and I love putting them out on the porch. All the flowers are dying, so they add the color that is missing. I took down my hanging pots and replaced them with my lanterns. I love having them up in the winter. They add just that pop I need on my front porch. I put out some Halloween things as well....the kids had so much fun helping. I'll post some of those pictures later. Have a great weekend!

Green with Envy...some Belgium pics

2009-10-13T11:34:00.004-06:00

Jeff was able to go to Belgium on a business meeting last week. He took some pictures of some of the places he saw. The architecture on those buildings are amazing. I can't imagine having buildings and history around me that is so old. I am so jealous to say the least. I told him, at least he had to work all day and could only see things at night. ha ha. I am glad that he had a good time though. He said next time he goes I'll go with him...here's to hoping! He brought back some chocolate, the best chocolate I've ever tasted, so I am a happy wife for now!

Amity's birthday part two

2009-10-10T19:58:00.001-06:00

I had to put a few more pictures of Amity on her big day today. She had so much fun opening her presents and having cake. Jeff wasn't here today, so my parents and brother and sister in law came up for the party. Thanks for coming up and celebrating with us! We went to "Old McDonalds" for dinner, and Amity had a great time playing on the big toy.

A princess party for Amity

2009-10-09T15:44:00.005-06:00

Amity is a big four year old. Happy Birthday. For her birthday this year we did a princess party with all the little princesses in the neighborhood. We had so much fun decorating crowns with sparkles, playing princess games, and decorating cookies.

I made the yummiest sugar cookies. I have the best recipe from a cookie book that I have had for years. I found the Cinderella shoe and crown cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby, and the girls got to decorate their shoe.

Here is the recipe for the softest yummiest sugar cookies.

Puffy Sugar Cut-Outs
3 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. butter, softened
1c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix all the ingredients together and chill dough for an hour. Roll out and cut out your shapes. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Ice and enjoy! We are done with birthdays now for a while at our house. On to Halloween!

A little happiness at the end of my day

2009-10-07T21:05:00.003-06:00

Jeff is in Belgium this week and I am green with envy. I was having a crappy day. No matter what I accomplished, it seemed like my list was growing instead of shrinking. Ever had a day like that? I was busy all morning helping a neighbor with decorating ideas for her house so I had to do my shopping run after the kids got home from school. As I was standing in the Walmart isle at five o'clock, seriously, five o'clock I must admit my patience was wearing thin and my thoughts were not too charitible. I was in a hurry, jealous of my lucky husband who at the time was in Europe sleeping, onery at my kids, and just wanting to get home to make dinner. When I got home I found these beautiful flowers at my door. My sweet friend sent them to me with a nice note. My whole day changed at that moment. I am thankful for a friend who thought of me, and for her kind deed which made my day!

Crazy weather...Happy Fall

2009-10-06T14:49:00.000-06:00

Where I live, you just never know how fast the seasons will change. On Tuesday the temperature was in the nineties. I was mowing my lawn, sweating and wanting a popcicle. Not even twenty four hours later, the was freezing temperatures and snow on the ground. Crazy! Hopefully it will warm up a little bit and give us a few more weeks of fall. I went to Logan to Hobby Lobby..sigh...last weekend and got this great frame. I can't wait to find some pictures to go in it, and that perfect place to hang it.
Since it was snowing outside, I decided to put out a few more fall touches to make my home feel like fall, rather than the winter we were having outside.

My one and only Halloween decoration so far. I need to get busy with that. My kids can't wait to carve pumpkins!