A Day in the Life of

Present for Britney

2012-01-13T20:30:00.000-09:00

Okay, so originally I was going to get her some cute clothes (she had just gotten off an 18 month mission for our church) but she up and got engaged so I decided to give her something more useful. I did take progress pictures of most of this but that'll probably be for a different day. Today I'll just put up the finished product.
What every bride needs, hot pads, oven mitts and a flirty apron (hey, we want to look cute when we're cooking right? ;D)

I LOVE that flirty little ruffle. The apron was actually a frankenstein of about 3 or 4 different patterns, but I think it turned out amazing. Now I need to make me one!!!

And my pretty little flower (which actually hides a little mess up shhhhh!!!)

My current Project

2012-01-09T14:27:00.000-09:00

Okay, so I have lots and lots of pictures. And nothing is printed. We don't even have our wedding pictures printed. Anyway, so I'm uploading every. single. picture up to Costco. Then I'll buy 4x6's of everything, then I'll go through them all and decide what needs to be enlarged. *SIGH* Big project. I also need to get all our videos on DVD so they're safe and sound. It will be really nice to get everything into photo albums though, and to personalize our walls more. I did this huge 11x14 collage of pictures of the girls for Tyler for his birthday, but I really liked it, and I think I might do one every year, so we'll have a progression of the girls growing up. I love to see my cute little kiddos all over the place. Anyway, as I'm finding more pics, I might be posting some up here (because this blog doesn't even get a fraction of what I take) My little sister found a bunch of old pictures of her and I growing up, and I need her to send them to me, you'll get a kick out of it. :) Anyway, I'm going to go do some dishes while I'm waiting for the cell phone pics to upload (another 109 minutes!) Fun stuff. In the meantime, here are some pictures from a little before Christmas. We had a little fun with the camera.

Christmas Gift for my dad

2012-01-06T14:44:00.000-09:00

Okay, so I decided it's about time I showed my Christmas projects. They all turned out awesome. I can't even pick a favorite because they were all great. First up, a Christmas tablecloth and place settings for my parents 5ft by 5ft table. This was the only project that everything was mine. My design, my math, my pattern, ect. I didn't use anything but a piece of paper to figure it out so I am especially proud of this one because it turned out awesome (now I want to make one for me, in every season of the year, a fancy sunday one, and an everyday one ha ha!) Anyway, on to pictures!

This is 72 inches by 72 inches. It doesn't look great on my table because it's the wrong shape, but I'll bet it looked great on my parent's table.

My cuties photo bombing. :)

I loved the colors and you can't see in the picture, but there is a golden metallic highlight going through both fabrics.

This outside boarder took FOR-E-VER. And every 3 place settings I had to refill my bobbin, just to give you an idea of how much thread it too.

Place mats and tablecloth together. I had to do 12 settings so I decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas

A couple of my favorites.

I also bought champagne colored satin napkins and matching napkin rings and had them sent directly from the company so I don't have pictures of that. My sister supposedly has pictures of the whole setting together, but I haven't seen it yet. I hear it was gorgeous though. :)

Our holiday weekend....

2011-12-27T09:48:00.000-09:00

So we've had an interesting holiday. We spent the night of the 23rd in the hospital with Jillian. Her cold had turned into croup and she needed breathing treatments. She was sooo close to having to be admitted to the hospital for a day or two. Which REALLY would have stunk. Since the start of Tyler's issues over a year ago and not knowing if he was going to need brain surgery or if he had something that would kill him, I have turned into one of those crazy people that have to document everything. I have a picture of every time we've been in the hospital, every serious procedure we've had to do. This time it was for my little girl. She had to have two separate breathing treatments, chest x-rays (the thing that keeps little kids from moving looks like a torture device, I felt awful) and she had to be on "wet" oxygen (the hospital's version of a humidifier in her breathing mask). Here are some pictures of our late night adventure (we didn't get out of there until after 3:30 a.m.)

She really did like the popsicles though.

Now they're both sick, although the croup is gone, now it's just really bad coughing and lots of goop, grump and cling times 2. I hope we will all be better soon.

Eep! I actually can show you something that I've been working on!!

2011-12-22T16:54:00.000-09:00

I know right? I haven't been able to show anything since they've all been Christmas presents. But I can finally show you something! Because they're gifts for little people who don't have internet access (aka, my children and babies). So without further ado:

One of these is a Christmas gift for the 8 month old of our best Alaskan friends, and the other one is for a brand new baby girl, born on Monday morning.

Kitchen accessories set for my little chefs. Mini pot holders, oven mitts and aprons (one several inches shorter)

Christmas dresses! My first experience in making clothes with no pattern. It was a learning experience and a success.

I've been having a lot of fun! Are you all ready for Christmas?

Quick, easy Christmas gift

2011-12-13T15:32:00.001-09:00

Oh I'm so mad. I uploaded pictures, wrote out the whole blog, and then when I posted it, it kicked me out and the only thing it kept in the drafts was the title!! So I have to start again from scratch. Okay so a few months ago I picked up this chalboard menu vinyl set from www.pickyourplum.com I love that site, they have a new crafty deal everyday. But if you have a Silhouette or a Cricket, you can make the same thing. I bought 6 of them I think, because I was going to use them for Christmas gifts then decided to go in a different direction. Anyway so I had the vinyl, the 11x14 frame that I'd picked up for dirt cheap at Michael's, and the fabric from my stash and today in between laundry loads I decided to just put it together.

So first I took two of the main chalkboard pieces (if you're making your own, you can make yours bigger) and cut off one end of each so it could lay down evenly. Prepare your surface.

Then add your chalkboard vinyl

Then I added the 'menu' word on top and cut apart each day letter so I could figure out where they were going.

For the background, I just cut around the back board of the frame. Since I know I'll probably end up changing out the fabric I only used a glue stick, but you could mod podge yours.

Ta-da! A super cute and functional chalkboard menu. Maybe now the hubby will stop asking me "what's for dinner?" This would make a really cute simple gift for someone. :)

Pictures!

2011-12-06T20:18:00.001-09:00

Alrighty, I promised, and I deliver! ha ha! Okay, so here are some pictures for you. Enjoy!!

My bottom heavy Christmas tree

The reason why my tree is bottom heavy. ;)

Aaaaaaaand.......

Just kidding! This is my friend Rachel. She's due in about 2 weeks. Isn't she adorable? I took her maternity pictures, and when her little girl gets here, I'll be taking her newborn pictures too. I liked it so much, I might just have to start being an actual photographer. :)

Seriously, one of the most beautiful pregnant ladies I've ever seen. I wish I was that cute when my belly's popped. lol! :D

Kari all bundled up. :)

Poor Jilly could barely move. lol! I called her my little abominable snow baby. :)

Ready for some ice slides!!

Okay honestly, I don't remember taking this picture........but that's Tyler and Kari getting ready to go down the medium slide. :)

Kind of update, but mostly just chatting.

2011-12-06T10:49:00.000-09:00

Okay so I've been ignoring you all shamelessly. :( I really have been trying to get everything done, and I have to pick and choose, which stinketh. And I don't even have any pictures for you because my camera is in the car (oops) but we've been having fun. Last Saturday the Christmas in Ice park opened up. It's one of my favorite things about Alaska. So we bundled (although, we really didn't need to so much, it was 30 some odd degrees, I ended up taking off my outer coat) and it was really dark so I didn't get any pictures, flash ruins the look, and I don't have nor did I want to cart around a tripod to get good night pictures, next time we go, we'll go when it's light outside (all three hours of it). Anyway, we slid for a couple hours, the girls had a ton of fun, so did mom and dad. We were all a bit sore the next day though. Speaking of the next day, it warmed up to a whopping 47 degrees! I know what you're thinking, "Awesome, enjoy the warm weather!" well let me tell you a little something about Alaska, if everything melts, it WILL all freeze again, this time as solid ice instead of mostly harmless snow, and that ice will stay coated on my driveway, the roads, the sidewalks, the parking lots, ect, until everything melts finally in MAY. We had something similar last year and let me tell you, it was terrifying every time we got in the car. I had hoped that last year was a fluke, but two years in a row equals major suck. I can honestly say that I will be very happy when we finally move. Speaking of, our future is kind of in flux right now. We're trying to decide between re-enlisting for 4 years and going overseas (REAL overseas this time) which would be so awesome to live somewhere in Europe and get to go see all the incredible stuff over there, the Roman coliseum, the Louvre, the Neuschwanstien castle, all the wonderful things that I loved learning about. Another option is dropping into the reserves and going to law school, there's also this Law Clerk program in Washington that is basically you're an apprentice for 4 years with an experienced lawyer and then you can take the bar exam, law license without a degree, which would be limiting, if Tyler wanted to practice anywhere but Washington, he'd have to go to school when he's already a lawyer =suck. BUT it would let us live in the Tri-Cities, Tyler have a full time good paying job with benefits instead of being a starving student family for three years. Another option that just opened up is a reserve opening in a small post in Salt Lake, they want him now though so he's thinking about the "Palace Chase" program (don't ask me why it's called that, I have no idea) and getting out of here as soon as May, but the downside to that would be that he wouldn't have his degree yet and most schools won't accept his military credits so not only would it set him back in his bachelor's degree about 18 months but he wouldn't have a degree to be working as a paralegal, which means he'd be in some stupid menial job doing who knows what for a year and a half. I vote that we DON'T do that one. I'm trying to "go with the flow" but it goes against my personality and I'm having a hard time not being worried/frustrated/terrified/annoyed with having absolutely NO idea where we will be even 18 months from now but I'm preparing as well as I can and putting my faith in the Lord that he will help us know what the right decision is and that we'll be okay no matter what happens. Anyway, when Tyler gets home from lunch, I'll put up a couple pictures, until then, I'll be working on Christmas presents (as usual). I'm hoping to get my packages out by the end of this week though so I really have to pick things up. Later everyone! Miss you all.

Tasty Tuesday- Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli and Rice casserole

2011-11-22T16:09:00.000-09:00

Okay, this meal honestly took me about 13 minutes, and it was delish!
Ingredients:
1 can of Chicken broth
2 cans of chicken
1 bag of broccoli cuts, thawed
2 cups minute rice
6 oz Velveeta cheese, cut up into cubes

Okay, so this part is super hard, are you ready? Boil the chicken broth. When it's boiling throw in your rice, mix. Then throw in everything else. Cover, take off heat. Let it sit covered for 10 minutes, then stir until all the cheese is melted. Voila'! You're done. It's yummy, and both my husband and my kids loved it. I call that a win! Although it wasn't as saucy as I would like. I think next time I'll throw in a can of cream of chicken soup.

And for all you who don't give a rip about recipes or projects, here's a couple pictures of my kiddos doing their favorite activity :)

Don't you just love the concentration on their faces? :D

A mini update while I'm in Christmas present making mode. :)

2011-11-17T16:00:00.000-09:00

I have been ignoring this blog shamelessly. It's because I've been busy. I finally finished one whole Christmas present last night at about 9 p.m. (it had a lot of parts I'd been working on it for awhile) and so today instead of barreling into the next project, I decided to deep clean my house. When I'm working on a project, a lot of things slide. I still do the dishes that need to be done in order to eat, wash the clothes that need to be washed so we can all be decent, but I don't fold and put away any of it, in fact, most of mine and Tyler's is currently in a pile at the foot of the bed, and I don't scrub counters (and you can tell) so today I'll be cleaning all day, then I'll watch my episode of bones while I make the pattern for my next project and get back in the grind tomorrow. I feel bad for neglecting this blog so much, but I absolutely have to get out my packages by the first weekend in December or else they won't get to the recipients on time. I also just ordered my Christmas cards and I'm working on my Christmas letter, I'd like to get them out by December 1. I like to enjoy my holiday, not be stressed about cards and presents and such. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is in a week? What are you thankful for?

I'm thankful for my little girls and their daddy.

And I'm grateful for the simple things in life. :)

Wednesday whatever-Giving back

2011-11-09T15:43:00.000-09:00

Wednesday Whatever, HA! Funny right? Anyway, I wanted to share something with you all that happened to me last night.
So it's been snowing up here, a lot. And the base housing office will give you a "ticket" if you don't clear the snow off your driveway and the sidewalk within 24 hours of snowfall. More often if necessary. So Monday night I went out and shoveled 4 inches of snow off the driveway (btw, did you know that an hour of snow shoveling equals 700 calories burned?) and my neighbor across the street was shoveling with one of those all plastic crappy little shovels. I always cringe when I see one of those, sure it costs much less than a good shovel but it takes you at least 5 times as long and it doesn't really get all the snow off anyway. And if any of it is packed down, say from your car driving in and out of your garage, forget about it. It just can't get it off. Anyway, so after I finished mine, I walked across the street and offered to help the guy with the crappy plastic shovel. He said no thanks, about 3 different times. Then I offered to let him borrow my shovel, "no thanks, I'm buying one of those tomorrow" Okie-dokie dude. If you want to do everything the hard way, who am I to stand in the way of your happiness? :P So it's the next night (Tuesday) and it had snowed a little bit, not a lot so it wouldn't take that long. I get all bundled up, start up my ipod and start scraping the tire tracks (I do the hard stuff first, makes your lines easier) so as I'm going along I notice a little lady (meaning short and petite) scraping a driveway two doors down from mine...and she had one of those crappy plastic shovels (honestly people, it's Alaska, you'd think we'd all know better by now right?) so I finish up the tire tracks and I look back over at the lady and I just get one of those impulsive feelings. So I stop doing what I'm doing and walk over to where she is chipping away at over a week's worth of driven on snow. She looks up and asks, "Can I help you?" I said, "Actually I was wondering if I could help you." She says yes. I was happy because I like to help people. And we are both scraping away and I find out that she doesn't actually live there, she is the supervisor of the guy that lives there. He is deployed and his mother lives there with his kids. She's got chronic back arthritis and I met her a little later, she was also bald, which usually equals chemo and cancer in my head. I was floored. Here was my neighbor, I had no idea that she needed help, and I followed a feeling and it ended up being a blessing for this lady. So I helped the supervisor. We scraped that darn driveway in negative 10 degree weather for over an hour. I brought over my shovel and my heavy duty ice scraper. I was thanked several times by both Mary (the lady who is living there) and Dana (the supervisor) and it was nice. I like helping people but it's really nice when it's someone that really needs the help. When I was done doing that driveway I said my goodbyes and walked back to my house and finished shoveling my driveway. I was on such a high. Helping each other is what we're all here for. We're all in this together. I told Mary when she said thank you "tis the season" and it really is. November means being Thankful. For me, when I'm focusing on what I'm thankful for, I want to bless others too. Charity means more than giving money to the Salvation Army, it's being willing to be out scraping for an hour extra when I could have had mine finished and back inside in 15 minutes. I'm not trying to toot my own horn because I am far from perfect but I just wanted to say that sometimes what someone needs is so simple and easy to give, you just have to be paying attention and be willing to listen to that feeling. I hope during this season to help many more people. :)

Tasty Tuesday- Lasagna casserole

2011-11-08T18:10:00.000-09:00

Okay so this is pretty darn quick, tasty, and since I use bow-tie pasta, the kids love it. SCORE! First I wanted to show you something funny. :)

Apparently this is what happens when I boil water during the winter. That'll get old fast. :P Anyway, back on topic. The recipe. Ta-da!!
Ingredients:
1 box Farfelle (bow tie) pasta
1 lb ground turkey (the lower in fat the better)
1 26 oz can spaghetti sauce ( I used the kind that comes with meat in it, because that's the kind that I have a million of for my food storage)
Freshly grated Parmesan, you'll need the whole wedge
2 cups Mozzarella
2 cups frozen mixed veggies (because anytime I can sneak more veggies into my kiddos and hubby is a GOOD thing lol!)
2 Eggs
1 lb cottage cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Okay, cook up your meat, if you used ground turkey you shouldn't have to drain, if you used ground beef than you definitely will have to. While your meat is cooking, get your water heating up for your pasta, while you're waiting for the meat to cook and the water to boil, mix most of your grated Parmesan (I'm really wishing that I measured this but one of those little wedges you get in the refrigerated section grates down to two cups or so. I leave out about a third of it for later but throw the rest in the mix) sorry, so mix 2/3rds of your Parmesan, your cottage cheese, 2 eggs and salt and pepper. Mix well. By this time your water should be boiling so throw in your pasta. When your meat is done add it to your cottage cheese mix, then add your veggies and pasta sauce. When your pasta is done, throw it in there too (I'm sure you've figured out that you need a large bowl for this. ;D)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a 9x13 with cooking spray. Throw about half of your pasta mix on there. Toss 1 cup of your mozzarella and half of your remaining Parmesan on top, even it out. Then put the other half of the mixture on, even out, then top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Throw in the oven for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

p.s. Funny little thing about Parmesan. It took me a lot of years before I realized that the dusty stuff in the green sprinkling can is NOT real Parmesan. It's so much yummier and stringier when you use the real stuff. Especially if you're making an Alfredo sauce, mmmmmmm....yummy.

Yes, this picture was taken after hubby had already dug in. Oh well, at least he liked it! :)

Thoughts of the day, being Thankful

2011-11-07T12:14:00.002-09:00

I've been a little MIA on the ol' B-LOG, but I have a good excuse, I've been working my little behind off getting Christmas presents done. It sucks because that means I can't put them up until after Christmas since most of the people I'm making stuff for read my blog, that would be lame to ruin the surprise SO I'm going to change gears for a bit, I'll still be putting stuff up but I'd like to focus on Thanksgiving. I've noticed myself kind of skipping over Thanksgiving and just treating it like a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner, but this year I want to focus on Thanksgiving as it's own holiday, the traditions, the meanings and especially focusing on what I am thankful for in my life. Today I am grateful for my little girls. They are always giving me kisses and cuddles and I just love being a mom and I think that I have the most adorable little girls on the planet, (of course I am not biased in any way, shape or form hee hee!) I am very happy and content in this life that I have chosen, sure there are difficult days, but the rewards completely outweigh the hard things.

During my Thanksgiving research I came across this little tidbit: did you know that the original Thanksgiving meal not only had turkey but also waterfowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin and squash? Most of those have continued on in Thanksgiving tradition except the seafood. I never would have guessed except it would make sense, Plymouth colony was on the coast, it would make a lot of sense to serve seafood. I'm thinking about having crab (because I don't like lobster) on the table this year, in honor of the first Thanksgiving. :) Have a wonderful day everyone. Recipe tomorrow!!

Tasty Tuesday- Creamy Caramel Fruit Dip

2011-11-01T11:32:00.001-08:00

Oh dear heavens, thank goodness that it's November!! Yay! I'm so excited. My favorite t.v. show (Bones) is coming back on Thursday, people don't look at me like I'm crazy when I listen to Christmas music. Woo hoo! BUT it also means that there's only a few weeks before everything has to be shipped out from up here or else risk it being late. I guess it's time to get presents cranked out. I've got a lot of cool things on my list this year, I'll be taking pictures as I get them done but won't be able to share them with you until after Christmas, wouldn't want to ruin surprises. Anyway, so I threw my first Halloween party yesterday (although really, there wasn't much Halloween about it) and it was great. But can you believe that I didn't take a single picture?? Lots of yummy food and good company and zero pictures. Oh well. One of my favorite recipes is my mother-in-law's Creamy Caramel Fruit Dip, despite the name, there is no caramel in this recipe.

Creamy Caramel Dip

1 Pkg (8oz) cream cheese

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1 cup (8oz) sour cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp lemon juice

1 C cold milk

1 pkg (3.4oz) instant vanilla pudding mix

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add the sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice, milk and pudding mix, beating well after each addition. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with fruit.

Oh my YUM. This is one of those dips that you put a ton on and people say, "Hey, you want some fruit with your dip?" ha ha! I love it and it's perfect for any party. Apples and this dip is pretty much what I ate for breakfast. lol! Enjoy! I know I did. ;)

Inspirational Sunday-Jenni James

2011-10-31T10:06:00.001-08:00

Okay, I realize that it is currently Monday morning, but I had a friend over last night so I didn't get to my blog BUT Mrs. Jenni James is pretty incredible so I still have to talk about her. You'll remember from Saturday's post how I came across her from my friend Kari. Anyway so I start following her on Facebook, because I like to keep up with when books will be released, book signings, ect, ect. and I tell you what, this lady is Superwoman. She has 7 kids and fosters 3 more! And on top of that, she also cans food like crazy, not to mention coming up with healthy, yummy alternative recipes (her latest one was caramel yum!) not to mention that she writes books, as if she didn't already have plenty on her plate. ha ha! I had the opportunity to do a mini interview with her.
1. What got you into writing?
I was never going to be a writer… ever. I sort of thought it’d be boring. So imagine my surprise when the book Pride & Popularity would not leave me alone? Every free second I had this book would hound me until finally I was like—Okay! Okay! You win. I’ll write. I sat down and began writing… as you say, the rest was history.

2. How do you juggle everything (canning, mothering, writing, general supermom-ing)?
Erm… juggle? Lol! I don’t think I’d make a good juggler. I just do it. I have to be doing something or I’ll go mad. So I have a bunch of kids (5 at home/5 at school) always around my legs and feet. To guarantee they don’t make huge messes somewhere, I tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. If I’m in there, I might as well be baking or canning. When they’re asleep is my best writing time. It’s when I finally have a moment to myself and can just write. As to the supermom comment… er, I’ll let you know when I get to that status! Lol!

3. What made you want to modernize Jane Austen?
It was my mom, actually. We were hashing out what to call this book, when I told her it was a lot like Pride and Prejudice. She instantly said, “well, why don’t you call it Pride & Popularity?” I LOVED the idea. We were both huge Jane Austen fans and it would be something super easy for me to tweak and work the storyline into Pride and Prejudice. After I went back to working on the book, I realized I had several other characters already in the first one to inspire the others. It was a no brainer after that to rewrite the whole series.

4. Who inspires you?
My mom! She’s amazing! No, really. Like, crazy awesome! She can run circles around what I do every day. One day I hope to be just like her. Thank you for having me!

When I grow up I want to be as cool as Jenni. :D She inspires me, and makes me want to accomplish more in my life. If she can do everything she does with 10 kids, I should be able to do a whole lot with my 2 right? ;) Thanks so much Jenni for letting me feature you and keep being amazing! :)

Something that I love Saturdays-Pride and Popularity

2011-10-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, I LOVE this book. Mostly because I adore Jane Austen, good clean books, and a whitty author, all of which is in this book. I discovered Jenni through my friend Kari. They are sisters. So about a year or so back I get an e-mail from my friend Kari saying something to the effect of, "Hey, my sister is rewriting the Jane Austen books and she'd like some people to read what she's got and give feedback," well I'm never one to say no to THAT. lol! So I read her book, which was Northanger Alibi (coming out in November by the way) and it was FUN. I've read a couple other stories written by her and loved them all. So Pride and Popularity comes out, and I buy it, in fact I bought the kindle version too because it would take too long to get here. And it was great. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Austen book, so I had high hopes. I wasn't disappointed. I will say, if you're looking for heavy cuss filled, naked scenes, ect, ect, LOOK ELSEWHERE. This book is about as squeeky clean as you can get. It IS written for teenagers, it takes place in a high school. However it doesn't make the writing sloppy, it is very well written, and when my girls get a bit older, I'm sure I'll be reading this series to them. If you love Jane Austen, and a quick, fun read, give this one a try. :)
Book Description:
Chloe Elizabeth Hart despises the conceited antics of the popular crowd, or more importantly, one very annoying self-possessed guy, Taylor Anderson, who seems determined to make her the president of his fan club! As if! Every girl in the whole city of Farmington, New Mexico, is in love with him, but he seems to be only interested in Chloe. This modern high school adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is a battle of wits as Chloe desperately tries to remain the only girl who can avoid the inevitable falling for Taylor.

About the Author

Jenni James is a busy mom of seven children who is married to a totally hot Air Force recruiter. When she isn't busy chasing her kids around the house, she's dreaming of new romantic books to write. Pride & Popularity is the first book in Jenni's series, The Jane Austen Diaries. The second book in the series, Northanger Alibi, will be released by Inkberry Press in November 2011.

To find out more about The Jane Austen Diaries or Jenni's other projects, please visit her website, authorjennijames.com, or her Facebook page, The Jane Austen Diaries. Jenni loves to hear from her readers and may be contacted at jenni@authorjennijames.com.

Tutu dresses

2011-10-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've made a bunch of tutus in my life as mother of girls, these I made much the same way except I measured the length from right under their armpits. Jill was 21 inches long. I added an extra 2 inches because as it poofs it raises a bit, plus you need to compensate about an inch for your knot. Kari's ended up being about 32 inches or so.. I used a whole 50 yrd spool of 6 inch tulle plus a little bit for each because I doubled my layers to add volume. Also for the final result they wore their regular tutus under the dresses. Remember that really cool trick to make tutu making easier from this post? Well thanks to Pinterest, I discovered another trick that made making these a breeze!

Find a piece of cardboard (or a book, foam board, ect) that is the right size that you're looking for in this case, about 23 inches.

Start your tulle on one end (I folded down the corner of this side so I knew which side I started on.)

Wrap, and wrap, keep going!

I used the whole roll.

Then make ONE cut on the side that you started on.

Viola! You've got strips that are all exactly the same length. Now continue on with my other little trick with a jug or vase.

I should note in here, that for a tutu that goes around the waist I only take about three inches off the elastic, but since I needed it to stay nice and tight on their chests, I took about 5 inches off the measurement. Then I took an extra strip, folded it in half, then looped it through and tied at the back for the shoulder strap. Then do another one. then I took a satin ribbon and just tied it a couple inches down when they were wearing the dresses so that it had a little bit of a shape. And you're done! :)

Some pictures from our church Harvest Festival

2011-10-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

Ack guys!! I have been so frantic the last few days getting ready for the Harvest Festival. I had to finish costumes, research costumes (for me) and yesterday I was cooking pretty much the whole day. *big sigh of relief* so the party was great (we got there late though, I was doing Tyler's make up ha ha!!) Now I just need to worry about MY party on Monday and then Halloween will officially be OVER. Thank goodness. I'm ready for some holiday baking and CHRISTMAS. (Yes I know that Thanksgiving is in between Halloween and Christmas) anyway, so be ready for a blogging overload today, I've got some cute, yummy, and crafty things for you that made last night a success (and then I need to crack down on my menu plan for Monday) First up, my adorable girlies!!!

Hee hee! I just couldn't resist this one.

Showing me her candy

The back of the dress

Her hair (took forever but was so worth it)

My little Jilly bean

It was really hard to get a picture with all the PUFF and still be able to see their cute faces.

Kari's fake smile

I don't know what she's looking at but I love the tongue! lol!

Top of Jill's hair

The backs of their dresses

Playing with their friend

Hugs!

More hugs!

Okay so there's a mini story behind my costume. I came across this gorgeous fabric several years ago at the thrift store, I would say I've had this in my "stash" for 6 or 7 years now. Loved it, but it's something that you can't cut up. It's got a silver boarder on the top and bottom and a section that is more decorated. I always thought it looked like a sarong or a saree. So yesterday I've spent the whole day cooking or getting things for the girl's outfits so I don't have much time, so I pull out this fabric and do a youtube search on how to tie a saree. Seriously beautiful, I love it. And I looked up the mark on the forehead thing, and learned that it's more a cultural thing to signify marriage and not a religious thing (I didn't want to be mocking someone else's religion) but my "mark" is actually a blue stick on gem, but you can't tell in the picture. I wanted Tyler to be an Indian man, but I couldn't figure out the turban wrap, even when watching a how to video, he was happier being a pirate anyway. His favorite thing was all the comments he got from people saying that they couldn't figure out who he was. lol! I guess a wig and some eye makeup go a long way. :D I'll get another picture of him at our party on Monday.

Someone said I looked like a "Goddess of the Sky" lol! I'll take it people!! :)

P.S. Want to know how I made the girl's dresses? That's coming up next! ;)

Crafty Thursday-fabric flower

2011-10-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

Remember my poor ruined shirt from this post?

Well I decided I'm going to turn it into something more useful. You know that lovely interlock knit is wonderful for many thing.

Cut all the seams off

Then I cut off the damaged shoulder.

Cut a strip going up

Stitched down the middle

(My little helper. :D)

Gather, then fold in half so both sides of the ruffle face the same direction. Start to roll.

This is the bottom of the flower. Secure it with a few stitches through the base of the flower

Size up the base of your flower on another piece of fabric

cut a circle

Use fabric-tac to clue the circle to the base

Finished flower. Now to make a lined clip for it...

4.25 inches of matching grosgrain ribbon (and you'll be using hot glue for lining your clip)

heat seal the ends to prevent fraying

Glue along the whole backside of the top

Then along the whole topside

This is what it looks like with the top glued

put a dot of glue on both inside parts of the clip.

Pinch your ribbon in there (don't worry, it won't mess with the hinge)

then glue the last little bit onto the backside

Here's your finished clip!

Glue along the whole top

Attach your flower

Enjoy!

(I love it in her hair too. :D)

I still have a bunch of t-shirt leftover. I think I'll go make some more. :D

My kids not wanting to settle down for bed. :)

2011-10-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

Tackling daddy

Jill being cute

Kari cheesing it up. :)

Today is all about my wonderful family. The video and pictures were from last night. My crazy kids getting all riled up before bed. Love them so much. :)

Tasty Tuesday-Easy roll up Calzones

2011-10-18T17:59:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I get that there are a LOT of ways to do this out there. This is my way, and it's a big hit. YUM!

Ingredients:
2 Pillsbury french bread dough (you know, in the refrigerated section.)
1/2 lb ham
1/2 lb turkey (actually, you can use pastrami, salami, ect, whatever you like)
a couple handfuls of various sliced cheese (I think it evens out to between a cup or two per loaf)
Marinara sauce

First start with a clean and food safe sanitized surface. You don't want to be feeding your family harmful chemicals. If nothing else vinegar, water and lemon will do the trick nicely.

Roll out (actually, pry open, then roll even) your dough.

Layer your meats

Then sprinkle your cheese

Fold in the small ends, then pull one side of the dough over the filling, then fold in half and roll up like a cinnamon roll.

Pinch it closed

Place both rolls seam down on a greased sheet. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Slice them up and serve with marinara sauce

Yum!
*edit: oops! I put 275, it's 375. Sorry folks

Just for you Mondays-Sweet and Spicy Sugar Scrub

2011-10-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

Ugghh! Seriously, after trying to figure out this stupid blog I NEEDED a little pick me up, and a break from my computer, which was lovely. Apparently it was just a little glitch that fixed itself but I literally tried EVERYTHING to fix it. Yikes, apparently I need to learn a little bit more about the technical stuff. When I was in high school I took a class on html and web design, but that was a good 6 or 7 years ago and even if I did remember (I don't) what I was taught is practically dinosaur compared to today. Such is life right? Oh well. Anyway, today this recipe is from Our Best Bites (love them!) but you can find these all over the place. All sugar scrubs are basically the same, at least in base form, sugar and oil. What you add to it changes color, smell, even benefits to your skin. There are literally hundreds out there. This one I like because it smells like Christmas. Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and brown sugar. Yum!! The first time I tried this, my 3 year old was in my room playing with my iTouch waiting for me and I started using this and I actually literally forgot that she was there in the next room waiting for me to be done. That's how amazing a sugar scrub is. Enough advertising;) to the recipe!

Sweet and Spicy Sugar Scrub

1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground cloves
Oil: olive oil*, almond oil, grape seed oil, apricot oil, jojoba, etc.
optional: a few drops of essential oil, such as cinnamon

(As a note from me, I also used 1/2 t nutmeg and 1/2 t allspice)

Directions: Combine everything but oil in a bowl and then add in oil and stir to combine. I suggest starting with just part of the oil and adding it until it’s the consistency you want it. Store in a container with a lid. I suggest keeping it in the fridge if you have left overs, it should last quite a while. Stop using it if it smells gross :)

For Use: Soap off in the shower so you have clean skin. Stir the sugar scrub and then massage into skin in circular motions for several minutes. I use it from my neck all the way down to my toes. After rinsing, if your skin feels too oily you can use a little bit of soap to wash it off. I personally leave it. By the time I finish my shower it doesn’t feel too oily anymore and it adds to the benefits of a sugar scrub. It will trap in the moisture and make your skin so soft and smooth. After you get out of the shower, slather on some lotion and try to keep everyone from touching you!

Seriously, this is my favorite thing in the world. I use it once a week (or on a particularly hard day) just make sure you get all the nutmeg off. ;) It also would make a nice little Christmas gift. Enjoy!!

For some reason...

2011-10-13T21:38:00.002-08:00

For a reason that I have yet to figure out, my new blog posts are not showing up on friend's blog lists. Are you guys seeing them on your dashboards? Does anyone have an idea of what is wrong and how to fix it? I've changed the template three times, changed the editing tool, I'm not sure what else to try. Any help would be awesome thanks!

Thursday Craftiness-a little fall decor

2011-10-13T10:47:00.007-08:00

Alright, I'm sure you've seen these allllllll over the blog and Pinterest world BUT, I made mine in a fake pumpkin, for two reasons, one, I don't like spending money on something that will die and two, because with how cold it gets up here at night, the poor mums would die the first night and look ugly anyway SO, I picked up this stuff at Michael's during a huge fall decor sale. *score* So it's the easiest thing in the world, you're going to love it.
Cut a hole in the top

Add a cute little bunch of flowers
Voila'! Your very own super cute pumpkin flower arrangement. Total cost if you bought it at the craft store pre-made, between 15-40 depending on size, my cost, 5 bucks. Yep. Live it, love it, spread it. lol! I am a cheapskate. Now, for a little tour of my fall decor:

Our little scarecrow lady and pumpkin trio
My door. I got the caution tape in the dollar section at JoAnn's. Score!
Unfortunately the lighting isn't great for the window. It's best at night.
Our entry way table. Because all those little pumpkins and things were so cheap (like 99 cents) I let the girls pick a bunch. They really like pumpkins apparently.
My little fall witch hat I made a couple years ago.

One of those cornucopia horns with fall flowers above my piano.
Not much else. I do have plans to make more bats for windows and cut out little mice for the baseboards, it's one of those times when I wish I had a Silhouette. Someday! :)

Tasty Tuesday-Cinnamon Rolls!

2011-10-11T07:38:00.004-08:00

Okay so on Sunday I wanted to make cinnamon rolls, not too big of a jump, my dad used to make them all the time when I was growing up, and try as I might, I was never able to make mine as good as his. So I was trying to find my recipe, gone. So I go through several of my 30 some odd cookbooks (yes, I collect them, and there's only one I haven't used and that's because it's massive and I feel tired just looking at it) anyway, so I get to the Mormon cookbook. It's a cookbook that some young women put together in a ward from my area when I was also a young women. Bingo! There's like 4 different recipes for cinnamon rolls in there. You can always count on the Mormon cookbook. ;) lol! Anyway, I haven't made cinnamon rolls for a while but I should have realized when it called for 4 Cups of scalded milk that it was going to be a MASSIVE hunk of dough. But I just follow along until the dough is literally falling out of my kitchen aid and I have to pull it out and put it on the counter and knead it old school style. This thing was as big as Garfield, I wish I'd taken a picture. It was massive. So I cut two chunks of it off and stuck them in bread pans. Bonus! That bread was super delish too. And then of course the filling was too much so everytime I cut my sloppy roll (because it was sliding all over the place) it started bleeding sugar, butter and cinnamon all over the counter. That was fun to scrape off. (On a side note, there isn't much difference between the filling and a sugar scrub, weird huh?) Anyway, popped them in the oven and 18 minutes later gorgeous golden, yummy cinnamon rolls as big as my three year old's head. lol! I loved it. Dare I say they were as good as Dad's?

This recipe is by Andy Bleazard from the "Columbia Basin Ward Creations" cookbook.
*Note: Unless you're trying to feed your entire church, I would half or even fourth the recipe. Seriously, no one needs 30 cinnamon rolls. :)

4 C. Scalded milk
1 C. sugar
1 C. oil
4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 C. warm water
4 Tbsp. yeast
About 14 c. flour

Put milk, sugar, oil and salt in mixer. Add egss and water. Mix yeast and 1 cup flour in small bowl. Add. Add enough flour to make a soft dough; let rise. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes (because mine were so massive, I had to let them cook for 5 minutes longer)
Filling: 2 1/2 cups sugar, 2 cubes butter, 31/2 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 1/2 cups raisens (optional). Melt butter and add other ingredients.

Cream cheese frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 C. margarine
2 tsp. vanilla
2 lb. powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients together.
*note: I used half the butter and it was perfect. Just for you folks that want to cut some fat out of something already super unhealthy. ;) lol!

Just for you Mondays

2011-10-10T10:54:00.005-08:00

Alright, this is my last post for the day. Today I'm going to show you something super simple. Bath salts. Seriously, you want something super simple but very spa like? Here's your answer. Go to the pharmacy area of any food and drug store (I go to Walmart) and pick up some Epson Salt. It usually comes in a carton or a bag. It's good for all kinds of stuff, but soothing aches and pains is what we're going to use it for. Then go wherever you can find essencial oils OR fragrance for soaps and candles (aka, craft stores) then you get a cute little jar to hold it in. (I like the little squat canning jars from Better Homes and Gardens) So find how much to fill your jar (or several) and put it in a big bowl. Then you add 3-5 drops (or more, it's really about your prefrence) and mix it all in really well. Pour it in your jar, label and add a cute bow and voila! You've got not only something relaxing and wonderful for you, but it's so easy to make two or 4 or however many for your girlfriends or your mom, or for Christmas presents, whatever. Enjoy and I hope you take a little time for yourself on this Columbus Day Monday. :D

(psst! That little guy in the middle, is a yummy sugar scrub, I'll share that one next week. ;D)

Inspirational Sunday

2011-10-10T10:44:00.004-08:00

I found this story on Pinterest and it was so inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. Posted on Pinterest from thebusinessofheartbreaking.tumblr.com

"Katie 21, and husband Nick 23, knew before the wedding that Katie had terminal cancer but Nick vouched to marry the love of his life. With all her complications Katie planned every part of her wedding and her dressed had to be altered many times due to the constant weight loss Katie died 5 days after her wedding. To see a fragile woman dress as bride with a beautiful smile makes you think… Happiness is always there within reach, no matter how long it lasts. Lets enjoy life and don’t live a complicated life. Life is too short. Work as if it was your first day. Forgive as soon as possible. Love without boundaries. Laugh without control and never stop smiling. Please pray for those suffering from cancer. "
As most of you know, my sister-in-law's niece Olivia was diagnosed with stage 5 eye cancer and she had to have her eye removed. She's two. This is by no means the end of the road for them. It breaks my heart to have someone so young suffer so much. But the strength that they and their families show are so inspiring to me.

Something that I love Saturdays

2011-10-10T10:05:00.004-08:00

It's going to be a post overload today. This weekend we've just been enjoying having daddy back.
Something that I love is the Dolly Parton's "Imagination Library" It's a free program for kids newborn to 5, every month your child gets a book in the library. We get two. One for Kari, and one for Jill. They're different every month and they are books at the level of your child's development. I know both Kari and Jill love getting new books. So today, I'm grateful for Dolly Parton's idea. Because it lets my kids love books and reading. And I especially love when daddy can read to them.

Anything goes Friday

2011-10-07T20:18:00.003-08:00

Okay so I've been trying to think about what I wanted to blog about all day. A quick craft? An organizing or cleaning tip? Maybe a budgeting or money saving tip? But what it all boils down to, is my husband is coming home tonight at 12:20, I've spent all day doing nothing but cleaning my house to pass the time so aha! What do you do when you're waiting for 11:30 so you can go pick up your husband?

You wash your dishes

Wash and fold your laundry

Sweep and mop your floor

Spend time on Pinterest

And maybe, just maybe, curl up with your favorite book:

..............X a million more......

Hmmm......I don't think I can decide what to read. Guess I'll go back to pinning. ;)

Thursday Tinkering

2011-10-06T19:59:00.002-08:00

Eh, I'll find a title that works. I didn't do a post yesterday because wednesday is about my family but Tyler's gone and the girls and I haven't been doing much so NEXT WEEK. :) Anyway so this year I want the girls to be involved with holiday decorating. I think it'll help them feel like they are contributing and that it's "their" house too. So we made jack-o-lanterns to put up on the wall (ask me how long they stayed that way. lol!) It was fun! I cut out the general shape of a pumpkin, drew lines down in dark orange and drew the faces on, then the girls scribbled all over them and we taped them to the wall. Kept them busy and happy for a good 15 minutes. Score! (oops, got to talking with my beautiful sister in law and completely spaced posting this. Sorry!)

Tasty Tuesday

2011-10-04T20:45:00.004-08:00

Hey everyone! (All 13 of you ha ha!) Sorry this post is on the latter end of the day BUT I spent the whole day with my cuties shopping the fall decoration sales. I seriously got a TON for under 50 bucks. SCORE! Anyway, so I'm going to post one of my recipes from my failed crafty crap blog. lol!! But it's seriously one of my absolute favorites and I know you'll love it too.

Okay, so back home there was this little family owned restaraunt called "Mongolian Buffet". What you did was put all sorts of meet and veggies, then noodles and sauces in a bowl and they grilled it over a flat round hot plate with sticks (it goes back to the guys in the Mongolian army cooking their food on their shields with their swords) or so the story says. Anyway, it's delish and I must've eaten there at least once a week since it was very close to where I worked right out of high school. Then I move up here and I haven't found anything remotely like it SO I kind of came up with my own version. So bear with me, I kinda just threw stuff in, and there are no measurments for the sauces, I just covered whatever I was cooking. I did take lots of pictures though so hopefully that will help. So enjoy my all original Mongolian Grill Yumminess (and yes, that's the official name lol! :P)

What you need:
Fresh carrots, sliced
Fresh celery, also sliced
I like snow peas
and a green bell pepper, diced
I used 2 lbs of thinly sliced beef
4 packet ramen noodles, no broth
teryaki sauce
soy sauce
lemon juice (optional)
worsheshire sauce (optional)

Chop up your veggies, this takes the most amount of time and you don't want to be worrying about burning your meat so just do it first.

This is the meat, it's a thinly sliced beef.

Close up on the type of meat. It just makes a nice meat for your dish. Cut the strips of meat into about 2 inch strips.

Put about a tablespoon or two of oil in a pan (I use a flat bottomed wok, I got it at IKEA) when your pan is hot, cook your meat. Drain juices.

Add your fresh veggies, then pour in some teriyaki sauce and some soy sauce. The meat and veggies will suck up the juices so you're going to end up adding more as things look dry. You want a lot of juice for when you add noodles so don't be afraid to just dump it on. I also add lemon juice, but that's just me. :D

Let your veggies cook down so they're softer.

As your veggies are cooking down, prepare your noodles (I used 4 packs of ramen noodle WITHOUT the broth) The noodles with absorb your sauce in the wok so you don't need the broth.

Add your noodles, I also added a can of that oriental baby corn and water chestnuts. They don't need to cook long since they're canned. Add more soy and teriyaki sauce. I also put another dash of lemon juice and some worschershire sauce. Add sauces that you think will make it taste good. Remember, if it smells good, chances are it will taste good.

Eat and enjoy! Yum!

Just for you Mondays

2011-10-03T08:59:00.003-08:00

Everyone hates Mondays right? It takes more effort for me to roll out of bed on Monday than any other day of the week (probably because I spend Sunday "resting" if you count church, big Sunday meal and trying to keep cranky kids happy resting haha!). So I figure, why not a pick me up for Monday? A little something to make you happy. Now I don't know about you, but finding time for myself is kind of hard. I usually am in "mommy mode" and thinking about Alexis is hard sometimes. That's why I wake up early enough in the morning that I have time to read my scriptures (a must so I am more patient with my kids) workout (a must so I don't feel like such a blob) and shower (a must for obvious reasons). And I do everything I possibly can in the shower. I wash my face, and even brush my teeth because I know that as soon as I turn off that water and I can hear one or both of my girls talking, singing, yelling, ect in their rooms, that I will automatically stop thinking about me and automatically go back into "mommy mode". So here's a little spa type trick that you can do in the shower (most of my spa tricks are shower things since I don't find time anyother timein the day usually). This is going to sound gross but once a week I use a vinegar and water mix in my hair to strip out all product and such residue. It leaves my hair so soft and smooth. (I do end up spritzing it with some type of body spay or perfume because ew, vinegar) I do use apple cider vinegar though so it smells a little better (but not much ha ha!)

(When I was looking for an apple cider vinegar image all kinds of weird things popped up like weight loss, dandruff cure, resetting pH balences, moisturizing skin (?) ect, might have to look more into that lol!)
Okay, so take about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and mix it with a cup of water. Shampoo your hair as usual then pour on all over your hair. Leave in for a few minutes, I clip mine up with a claw clip so I can soap up without getting soap in my hair. So soap, shave, use a srub, whatever. Then rinse out. Don't condition, you don't need to and it kind of defeats the purpose. Then blow dry and style your hair as usual (mine usually ends up in a wet bun ;D) and enjoy the silky soft feel of your hair. Ahh, something about having nice silky hair just makes you feel better about life. So off you go, and enjoy! :D

Inspirational Sunday

2011-10-02T18:28:00.002-08:00

My inspirational/thought provoking Sunday thought is:

Gotta love Audrey Hepburn, she had style, class and wisdom. You can succeed at anything you set your mind to. Want to run a marathon? Train for it and just do it. Want to learn how to speak Chinese? Study the language and learn. Want to be a person that people look up to? Constantly work to better yourself but remember, no one is perfect and you have to be okay with that. God knows that you aren't perfect, and He knows that the people that you think are perfect aren't either. Cut yourself some slack, but at the same time strive to become a better person one task at a time. Don't try to change 50 things at once, work on one goal at a time. Good luck!! :D

This was supposed to be October 1st's post lol!

2011-10-02T18:15:00.003-08:00

Okay so I'm trying something new. I want to have a different focus for each day of the week. I've decided that I'm not just interested in cooking, or crafting, or any other number of things, I'm into all of it. Some days it will be tips, some days it will be recipes, some days will be something thought provoking for your brain to chew on for the week, of course I do still need to have some things about my family since that's the reason I do everything I do. Anyway, so this was supposed to be Saturday's post but I spent all of yesterday with my little family grocery shopping and getting Hubby ready to go TDY for his job, so I didn't get around to it. But Saturday's theme is something that I love. It could be a product, a book, a musical artist, a website, whatever it is that I'm loving at that time. And Today (well, really yesterday, today and forever lol!) is Pinterest. I just joined about a month ago or so and I've quickly become addicted (sound familiar? ha ha!) It's like the world wide web brainstorming party. There are so many good ideas on there. I'm inspired out of my nugget. :D And I just found out today that I've been Pinned!!!! Eeeeep!! And it wasn't me or a family member or a close friend, just some random person. Ack! There may be hope for this little blog after all. I'm on the map people. So yes, if you would like to pin any of my projects, feel free. ;) I'm tickled pink. :)

An Update on Us

2011-09-26T16:59:00.003-08:00

I realized the other day that some people might have taken the title of my last entry the wrong way, but maybe not. Just to clarify though, no, I am not pregnant. I would love to be, but it's just not the right time yet. In the meantime, I'm working hard on getting back to my high school bod (or at least my high school weight, let's be real, those hips aren't going away lol!) And I need to do a little update. Lots of people have been asking me about Tyler and stuff so here goes:

As of last August, Tyler has pretty much had a constant migraine for a year. No one knows why, and our current way of dealing with it is trying a new medication every couple months. I've been trying to talk Tyler into seeing a naturepathic doctor, but he doesn't think it would do any good. I've seen how my Aunt, who has breast cancer, looks healthy, feels great, has all her hair and has energy when her regular oncologist says she should be not able to move because of pain or dead. I'm a believer people. And I don't really care for doctors anyway, I'm of the opinion that God gave us this beautiful earth and everything in it for our benefit so why don't we use it. I also want Tyler to see a chiropractor and get realigned and see if that helps, but I haven't found a chiropractor that I really like yet. In the meantime, not much has changed except his pain tolerance has gone way up. A couple of months ago we spent another lovely evening in the ER because Tyler just about broke his knee. But luckily, he ended up just spraining it. He's been working like crazy on the defense side of the legal office and football just started back up so he's doing the second job reffing gig, so we barely get to see him, which is hard on the kids but we know this won't be forever.

Kari has finally hit her growth spurt. I had to move her up to 4T in everything. She's just a little over 3, this is the girl that was in newborn clothes until she was 3 months old because she was always so tiny. She's getting really tall though, I think she may take after her daddy after all. She's really into princesses, ballerina's, Barbies, and Mickey Mouse. She can count to 8, knows most of her alphabet and knows the titles to every single kid movie we own. lol! Bad right? Anyway, she's got an attitude sometimes, but I'm guessing a lot of that is just because she's 3 and a little diva. We love her anyway. ;)

Jillian is 18 months old today! I can't believe how fast she's growing up. She had her checkup last friday. She's 21 lbs and 1oz, which is in the 11th percentile, but she's 31 inches long and in the 36th percentile. So she's super skinny and tallish. She's still bigger than Kari was at that age. I guess I just have small kids. The doctor said she was perfect (which I already knew ;D) She's super smart, she repeats everything you say, she loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse (or as she says "Ma Mouse") Her favorite person in the whole wide world is Kari.

As for me, I'm currently working on things to donate to Olivia DeCoria's auction, she's my sister-in-law's niece, she's got stage 5 cancer in her eye and it's already spread elsewhere. The poor thing will lose her eye and have to have chemotherapy, she just turned 2 the end of August. It just breaks my heart and I want to help. She's practically family and I think about how I would feel if it were one of my precious girls. I can't even imagine. If you want to read Livi's story go to http://13pavements.blogspot.com/ And if you've ever wanted to buy anything I make, the auction is a good time to do so. I've made sugar scrubs, bath salts, bows, tutus, and I'm working on puff quilts right now. After the auction things are submitted on the 1st of October, I have to shift focus to helping with costumes for a play my church is putting on. lol! How do I get myself into these messes? :) Oh well, sure keeps me busy. That's all for now. Miss you all!

a few pictures from Washington, and a new member of the family.

2011-09-21T11:33:00.002-08:00

My adorable new nephew Caden

One of the pictures that were taken when we were home in the Tri-Cities

The Haueter family

The original Haueter's

They're not all edited and sent out yet. This is just a little peek. My brother-in-law has other jobs and then they just had their little boy a couple week ago. He's got a lot on his plate. :) But I got these and they're cute! So here you go.

Our fun fall pictures. ;)

2011-09-21T09:56:00.008-08:00

Hey everyone. Well, fall is coming to a close, snow is on the forecast (at least for Fairbanks Alaska) which is sad because fall is my favorite season. I love all the colors and fun that comes with it, and the cool crisp days. Ah, heaven, all too soon it will be snowy and cold and yucky. Blech. Anyway, so we took our annual fall family pictures last sunday, and it's a good thing we did because I don't think we have another weekend of fall. So without further ado:

I took a bunch of pictures of the trees and the fog on the lake. This one is one of my absolute favorites.

Playing with the leaves

Walking on water? ;)

She spent most of the photo shoot running around all over the place.

Same with this one. But she was slower so I ended up with more pictures of Jill

"Mom, what is that weird metal dude doing there?"

Loves

tackle loves lol!

Look at how looooooong her hair is.

Kisses for Daddy

hugs for daddy

first attempt at a family picture

walking with daddy

awe.....love

see? I've still got some of that darn red in my hair from TWO years ago.

I like these last ones best.

My favorite

and off she goes again

I liked this shot with the airplane in the background, she is, after all, an Air Force brat. :D

Some family pictures in front of the temple.

2011-09-06T14:52:00.013-08:00

So these next few posts are going to be out of order. I was waiting for family pictures that my brother in law took, but I'm not sure how long it will take him to edit and send them so I'll just start putting up our trip home pictures. These next ones were taken by Britney, my wonderful sister in law, at the Columbia River Temple where my husband and I were married 5 years ago. I always think of that Temple as the start of my wonderful family. Anyway, enough talk, here's some pictures. :D

It was really sunny that day and unfortunately the Temple and it's beautiful grounds were closed for the semi-annual deep cleaning and repairing.

See the ones in the shade are nicer. :D
Everyone looking in the same direction!

Kari's new thing is rocks. :)

She wasn't smiling soooooo.........
I started ticking her. Works everytime. :D

I absolutely LOVE this one. :D

Getting there..

2011-08-21T18:17:00.005-08:00

Okay, so Tyler was planning on taking a flight down to Sacramento, then grab a flight from there to Pasco, so we were planning on only Tyler going. Then Sunday, the day before he's leaving, we call the PAX terminal again and there's a flight going to McChord. That is about 4 hours away from our families. We'd have to be at the airport 12 hours from when we found out about the flight. So we spend about 6 of it debating on whether the kids and I should go to. There were many factors, our final inspection being the biggest one, Kari's ear infection was another, plus the fact that she will only sleep in HER bed. Anyway, a dear angel of a friend said she'd do the inspection for us with a power of attorney (sometimes it's REALLY helpful to have a paralegal for a husband). So we decide to go for it. We were thinking that it's such a good opportunity, we'd be an idiot not to go home. I felt like God was kicking me in the pants, "Hey Alexis! Wake up! You need to go!" And so we frantically packed, then cleaned up the dirty dishes, took out the garbage, ect. We didn't get to bed until after 11. Then we had to wake up at 3 to shower, load the car, pack the carry on stuff. We woke the kids up at 4, changed diapers but kept them in jammies then headed off to the airport. Waited around, they took us to the plane at about 7:30, then there was a delay so we ended up taking off at 9:30. We get to McChord at about 1 and Tyler's parents are there to get us and take us to the Tri-Cities. We got into town about 8 something.

Slept most of the way to McChord

Same with Kari

One of the Jets in our company. We were on the refueler and we had 4 jets with us.

One of the jets refueling mid air. Seriously, I think this was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in my life.

The two waiting for their turn

The one that already refueled.

Day after getting there we hung out with Tasha and family. The girls hit it off.

We went to Chuck E Cheese. Lots of fun for the girls.

lol! Love the glare girlie

We're Alive!!

2011-08-20T16:36:00.003-08:00

Okay, so we went home for a bit. Remind me NEVER to fly space A military again. NIGHTMARE. I'll tell you all the story in a bit, I'm actually in the middle of trying to unpack my new house (Yeah, what sucks worse that getting home from vacation and having to unpack not only your suitcases, but your entire house?) but I wanted to tell you all that I'm alive and well and only slightly more crazy than I already was. I'm going through a ton of pictures and so on. Be prepared my friends for many posts. :D

The fair and some other cute pictures.

2011-08-06T21:04:00.005-08:00

Hey all! So despite Kari's ear infection, we decided to go to the fair anyway. Unfortunately the fair doesn't open until noon so by the time we got home (at 4) it was WAAAAAY past naptime and they were both super grumpy BUT we had fun anyway.

Kari petting the bunnies

Jill petting a goat

Kari's turn

Sheep

Another goat

"Wait, come back!"

They didn't like the pigs so much.

They both LOVED the horses

Kari's first pony ride

She loved it

Jillian's first pony ride. (Her horse was bigger, I'm not THAT much shorter than Tyler)

Kari wanted to pet the ducks, but they kept running away.

That little pony wasn't very interested in anything other than food.

Kari's first ride all by herself. She was perfectly fine and happy, until the fair guy came and checked her seatbelt. She then screamed for the whole rest of the wait and ride. Annoying!

Jill taking a cat nap

The Japanese Dragon boat

I love her face here

yuck, the spinning apples. *puke*

The big slide, which Kari insisted on going down twice

The little train. We weren't allowed to go with them, but when Jill was with Kari, they were both fine. Ah loving sisters.

Our current favorite Elder keeping Jill happy. :D

Jill's new favorite spot

Trying to get down.

I have so much cupboard space I don't know what to do with it all!

Daddy and Kari being cute.

How I found Jill a few mornings ago.

Priceless. Maybe the bumper needs to go back up? :P

Our fun filled saturday

2011-07-25T08:33:00.008-08:00

Hey guys! So I may not be doing crafty stuff right now because I'm packing up my life and moving around the corner (and will get my very own craft room Woot!) but that doesn't mean I don't pick up inspiration from random places. I have a list my friends, and one of these days I will get to everything on it. Anyway, so on Saturday, Fairbanks had it's "Golden Days" celebration. Now two years ago when we moved up here and we went to the parade, I thought Golden days was just a one year thing because that year also happened to be the 50th anniversary of Alaska joining the United States of Alaska, this year it hit me, NOPE, it's "Golden days" because Alaska was the 50th state to join. Ahhhh, it all makes sense now...... Anyway, so we love parades, not because you get a ton of junk, but the we adults like the classic cars, and the kids love the dogs and horses. So off we go Saturday morning. We had a fun day! The parade and street fair, then we came home for naptime, when we were off again to celebrate the Pioneers at our church. (I didn't get many pictures of that) Kari got hit with her first water balloon (that was soooooo not cool) and poor Jill got her first scraped up knee. So I took a few (like 700) pictures. :P The hubby thinks I'm crazy, I think I have a really nice camera that has a succession picture feature (is that right?) Anyway, here are a few favorites. :D

Girls waiting for the parade to start

My favorite one I think. The whole thing was so rusted it looked like it would fall apart. :P

We sat right next to this car, and while we were all waiting for the parade they were posing. :D

It was so cool, we started a trend. Tyler and I stood up and put our hands over our hearts. Then like a wave everyone else started to as well. I wonder how far down it went.

These guys were awesome (you know I love a good marching band) but they were from Oklahoma. Wonder who decided "hey, lets go up to Fairbanks, Alaska and march in their dinky parade"? lol!

There were a lot of firetrucks, this one was my favorite because of the tribute to 9-11

Bagpipes, always a favorite.

I loved this one. This funky eclectic hunk of junk on wheels, but it was honoring a couple that'd been married for like 60 years.

super sweet

Okay, so I saw this little girl's dress before the parade when she was walking with her mom to the float. SO CUTE. I will make a few.

and the little one had a matching one. So adorable!

This little cheerleader was so adorable. What a cutie!!

I love these guys, always fun to watch

Queen Elizabeth waved to me. Sa-weet!

This wins the "Alexis' Favorite float" award.

Complete with a pilot!

my favorite goodie from the parade

And what parade would be complete without Uncle Sam?? :D

I hope you had fun. I've got to get back to packing. Ta-ta for now!!

My new house!!

2011-07-22T16:01:00.002-08:00

Our new house!!!!! We move in next friday. Eep! So much to do!!

My new front door

about two thirds of the kitchen. It also has a big pantry, with a DOOR to keep certain little ones from throwing pasta and cans all over the floor all day. :D

Going up the stairs. I don't have any more pictures because Tyler said that we needed to hurry up because he had a meeting starting soon. But the house is 4 bedrooms 2.5 bath, an extra bonus room. It's big and gorgeous and I love it. It is stuck in the middle, we've got a B unit again. Oh well. Still better than what we've got now!!! :D

Good news!!!!

2011-07-21T20:17:00.002-08:00

EEEEP!!! Okay, so I have some fantabulous news!!!!!!

No, I'm not pregnant.

WE GOT A NEW HOUSE!!!

Don't have the address for ya yet because the meeting is tomorrow morning but I was too excited to keep it all to myself. I'll take a picture for you all when we go look at it tomorrow. A bathroom on the same level as me *sigh* heaven. I'll update you all tomorrow!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!

(Maybe) going home!

2011-07-20T10:03:00.002-08:00

Some of you know that we "might" be able to get a hop home on the 8th of August. There are 6 planes flying to McChord that day. The problem was that the travel guy didn't know what KIND of planes they were. They might be ones that can take passengers, they might not. We'll find out on the 25th. I'm trying not to get too excited, especially since I know the sleeping who knows where, driving who knows how and getting home who knows when is going to be a big pain in the you-know-what. Being able to go home and see family and some friends will definitely be worth it. If we can go, we'd like to spend a day around Seattle maybe seeing some friends (Anna? Kate?) my sister, going to RAM (root beer!!!!) and taking the kids around Seattle, most especially the Science Center. I think they'd both have so much fun. :D I'm super excited. I just can't wait to be in a "city" that has more than a Walmart and Freddies. :D Then heading to the Tri-Cities. I'm excited to (hopefully) see everyone!! Joy, we need to get together, it's been YEARS. Anyway, I'll let you all know when we know if they're passenger planes or not. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!! :D

We passed 5 years!!

2011-07-18T09:22:00.003-08:00

I didn't want this to be overshadowed by Kari's birthday (want to read about it, go here), but last Friday my wonderful husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We've come a long way and I'm happy and lucky to have such a wonderful man as my life partner. Love you so much sweetheart.

The long awaited for Ballerina party!!!!

2011-07-18T08:11:00.007-08:00

The long awaited for Nutcracker Ballerina party!! It had a lot of twirling..

Tutu's

Let's not forget my PINK and silver Christmas tree (yes, I did put up my tree for 24 hours, so sue me. :P)

Each guests tutu was on the tree labeled

The candy for decorating gingerbread houses, and the white chocolate dipped marshmellows (with pink sprinkles of course!)

Some of those big tissue flowers

A few more...

The cakes on those fabulous cake platters. :D

I didn't get a good picture but the crepe paper roses are on the tablecloth and the tree.

Kiddos playing by the tree before guests arrive

Finishing up Kari's ballerina hair

Jill's adorable tutu

First thing we did was get girls in their tutu, then put glitter all over them!!

Kari's little tiara

And the back of her hair

Decorating gingerbread houses (and see at the bottom of the table, there's a bit of those roses.)

Kari licking her gingerbread. lol!!

Ballerinas watching the DVD of the real Nutcracker Ballet

Which of course leads to dancing!!!

Jill chewing on a book. :P

Girls dancing together

And generally there was a lot of twirling...

whirling...

and good clean fun. Happy birthday little Karielle. Momma loves you so much.

Crepe paper roses

2011-07-14T13:44:00.006-08:00

Okay, this is a quick one because I am currently baking EVERYTHING. So. Take those party streamers (also known as crepe paper) rip them into 24 inch strips.

Crumble them up to make them look for like fabric, smooth them back out.

Start from one end and roll in a few times. Put a dot of hot glue (I like to use my cool setting on mine because then you don't burn your fingers)

Then start twisting as you roll so that it looks like a flower, not a pink cinnamon roll, I fold towards me, like this (but with two hands, this was hard to get a picture of.)

every couple of rolls, glue to keep it from falling apart. Just keep rollin', just keep rollin', just keep rollin', rollin'. :D

This is what your back should look like.

Done backside. lol!

Ta da!! Now make a million more because you're crazy like me. Muah hahaha!!

I'll bet you're as excited as me to see everything put together huh? Just TWO MORE DAYS!!! :D

Visiting cousin pictures

2011-07-12T19:28:00.004-08:00

My view from the back seat. :D

Jill sitting in Santa's chair at the Santa House

And yes, this WILL be on next year's calendar.

I love her expression. :D

Loving sisters

Family picture with the bear in front of the Knotty Shop in Salcha

I love me some candid pictures heehee!

Jill walked around and had to touch every single carved animal in the whole place.

Me and my cousin Thomas. It's been 9 years since we've seen each other. And yes, I AM on my tippie toes and no I didn't purposely match my shirt to those flowers.

Jill with her super sweet shades

Family picture with the REAL Santa Clause. He even autographed a copy of "'Twas the night before Christmas" for us. It was awesome!

J'Lynne (seriously, one of the coolest ladies ever, I want to adopt her), Thomas and Tyler swinging the girls. They LOVED it.

Kari taller than Daddy!

Thomas and me in front of the Trans-Atlantic Alaskan Pipeline (no the stance was not planned, we're just both super awesome like that. ;D)

Tyler and I. Coming up on 5 years this friday. Love you so much sweetie!!

Giant tissue flowers

2011-07-12T16:44:00.004-08:00

So I wanted to do these gorgeous Rose balls here BUT didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on the foam balls so, I decided to do these big tissue flower balls instead. Thank you Martha.

Take 8 sheets of tissue (a little pack usually comes in 9, so just pull one out) and start folding it up accordion style. About an inch and a half or so.

Find the middle..

Use floral wire to secure the middle.

Cut the tips to make a "petal" shape

Start pulling up (GENTLY) the sheets, one at a time, we'll fluff in a minute.

Make sure you're doing both sides.

I usually pull one from one side, then one from the other side like so.

Fluff it and play with it to give it the right flower like shape

On one side, I leave more open. This will be the side that you either glue tulle or ribbon from to hang from the ceiling so you can get away with it or you'll be pinning it to the wall and need that flat side.

Make a few more. :D

Ballerina Invites

2011-07-06T12:43:00.004-08:00

SO....I should've done these awhile ago. Oh well. A friend of mine was sweet enough to bring her Silhouette over so we could cut out the ballerinas. I got some thick pink cardstock, the fancy damask paper, some dark grey sparkly paper and some ballerina slipper stickers (the ONLY ballerina thing I could find that I actually liked) and cut and layered. Then I took some of the left over sparkly tulle from Kari's tutu, cut it down the middle, making it 3 inches wide, and cut the strip in half, making it about 11 inches, ran my needle and thread through the middle, bunched it up and glued it on the ballerina. Super cute! I think I spent a total of 3 dollars on these. LOVE.

Tyler Promoted!

2011-07-05T16:20:00.003-08:00

As of July 1st, Tyler is officially a Staff Sergeant! I'm so proud of him (and the extra money he'll be earning every month doesn't hurt either). Anyway, due to the holiday weekend (which we all spent sick at home, fun fun) the promotion ceremony was on the 30th. It was pretty nifty. I called him at work today and giggled when he said his new rank. :P

No Sew Tutus

2011-06-28T08:01:00.007-08:00

Okay, so I realize that pretty much everyone knows how to do this. BUT since I'm slowly getting stuff together for Kari's birthday party in a few weeks, I'm just putting stuff up as I make it. (Cake platters anyone? ;D) Today: Sugarplum tutus!! :) As you know we're doing a Nutcracker Ballet theme for her party so tutus are a MUST. I gathered waist sizes of the other little girls coming, then I decided how long I wanted them and got to work!

Okay, so for this particular tutu, the waist size was 20, make it a few inches shorter because it will get stretched a bit as you're tying the knots. Sew the ends together securely. I went along all four sides of the overlap. This is the only sewing you'll be doing.

I used white and light pink. If you roll them out together, you can make sure they're all the same length.

I cut this one at 23 inches. You'll need to double your length, in my case I wanted 12 inches, just below the knee for Kari, so you double it, 22, then add an inch for the knot. 23

I used all 25 yards of each roll for this one.

Put your elastic on a jug (it helps make sure everything is uniform) Fold your tulle in half, stick the loop up under the elastic

Pull the tails through..

tighten, move to the next knot. Keep them tight, but not so tight that you make it huge.

Finished tutu

Ta da!!

This one is Kari's. It's all glittery and sparkly, she LOVES it. :D

Quick little craft

2011-06-22T14:53:00.007-08:00

You've probably all seen this project before, but it was my first time and I think they turned out fabulous! So next month is my DD Kari's 3rd birthday. And we're doing Nutcracker Ballerina for her theme (what can I say? She's a fan of the classics. ;D) Anyway, so I want to have mini cakes for everyone. Almost like petit fours but maybe times 4. Around the size of a cupcake. Anyway, so I wanted some cake platters, in different heights for serving them, and I was looking online. Holy moly! Those things are expensive! So I ran to the thrift store, and I picked up two platters, for 5 bucks each, and a candlestick and a vase, 2 and 1 dollars. And gorilla glue (make sure you use gorilla glue or something like it that will bond glass or else your platters will fall apart)

Put a thin ring of glue on the top of the candlestick, adhere to the platter. Wipe up excess with a wet wipe of some sort.

Put something heavy on it to help it bond tighter. I used my scriptures. ;)

For this one, I used a vase because I couldn't find a candlestick that was the height or color that I wanted. This vase had that yucky dried dead plant crap on the bottom, but was too narrow to get to with a brush (or really, anything else) so here's a little trick I used to clean this vase. I let it soak in soapy water overnight. The next morning I put some water, and some vinegar in it, then threw in some uncooked rice. Swirl it around until it's clean. The rice acts as an abrasive and will get all that yucky stuff off of there. Make sure you let it dry completely before gluing to your platter or you'll end up with mildew growing inside it. EW.

Then let them sit overnight.

Ah! Perfection. It looks like it was always meant to be like this. And I LOVE the etching on this platter. Who would give it away??

And this one is gorgeous.

With sweet hand painted daisy's.

Perfection all for about 13 bucks total. Score!!

Don't you think they will look so sweet with these beauties on them? ;)

Tyler trying to steal my camera! And why he can't.

2011-06-21T20:40:00.006-08:00

So DH moved over to the defense side of military law today. He came home and asked me if I saw any horns growing yet. lol!! You know, since he's gone to the dark side and his whole job will be trying to help people who've done varying degrees of "bad" things get out of trouble (i.e. illegal, in-ethical, inappropriate behavior, disgracing the military, the President and the US of A) :P I asked him if it would bother him to be defending people like in one of our recent cases who raped his 7 month along pregnant wife. He was pretty vague on the answer. I know he's excited to see things from the other side, but he wants justice and bad people to go away just as much as the next guy so I think he might be a bit conflicted, especially if it's one of his friends that he has to help out. Can you say AWK-ward! Anyway, this isn't really about all that, this is more about Tyler wanting to take MY gorgeous Nikon D3100 to work with him to take evidence pictures during the day. I said NO. He can take the snapshot one, but not my baby, or else I couldn't take pictures like THESE:

I am so happy she's back into tutus :D

Look at that form! Little Jillian has her toes pointed. Born dancers I tell you. ;)

I love how much fun they're having.

Looking at the ballerinas on the t.v for inspiration.

Jill doing her Princess Kate wave. lol!

Apparently the cupboards are fun again. And I absolutely adore her expression.

Here's a shot of both of them. Love it!

Now wouldn't it have been sad if Tyler had had my camera and I wasn't able to get these shots? Yeah, I thought you'd all say that. :D

Ode to Melaleuca

2011-06-15T16:35:00.004-08:00

Okay, so I was practically raised on the stuff. Then when we got married, we were poor newly weds and we couldn't barely afford food, let alone a monthly shipment of Melaleuca. And I fall into the routine of stuff that doesn't work as well, but I get used to it. Anyway, so mom was up here last year when I had Jill. And I signed up under her, but not as a business type thing, I just want the products. And holy moley, I don't know how I survived almost 4 years without it. My dishes didn't have spots anymore regardless of what fancy, expensive no spot formula dish cleaner I'd been using, my laundry stopped getting greyish, not to mention all those food stains from kid number 1, my floors were clean, my bathrooms sparkled and I didn't have to have a heart attack whenever one of my darling children gets under the sink and tries to eat everything (JILL). I see it so differently now that it's me paying for it, me doing all the laundry and cleaning and me worrying over chemicals and such. Pre-spot though, I think is my favorite. It takes out the daily messes like chocolate milk, juice, spaghetti sauce, ect. Plus it got out the impossible stuff. (Remember the fruit snack vomit MaryAnn?) Anyway, last Easter remember Kari eating the blue dye? Yeah that was fun. I didn't have faith in Melaleuca, and I put a ton of pre-spot on it, in addition to bleach. Yeah, when that thing came out, all the blue dye was gone, but the bleach had also taken the pink out of the little rosettes on the dress. Because I hadn't had faith in the product, the dress was ruined anyway. I bought her a new one. Well last night, I wasn't going to make the same mistake so when I opened the dryer last night and saw pink splotched/spots all over the ENTIRE load. I'm not gonna lie, I about had a heart attack, but then I pulled the whole thing out on the floor and sat there for an hour spraying every single spot, when I'd gotten to the bottom of the pile, I finally figured out what had happened. It seems a certain "someone" had forgotten about one of those single serve juice packets in his pocket. It had been washed with the clothes, then in the dryer had exploded due to the heat. So I'm sitting there shaking my head adding up replacement costs in my head, most of it was Air Force uniform stuff. It's not cheap. And praying that Melaleuca would pull a miracle for me once again since the stuff had been cooked in because of the dryer. The next morning, I open up the washer and behold!!! Not a single speck of pink in sight. I was so grateful. I already loved Melaleuca, but that just cinches my "never buy another brand" resolve. Anyway, just wanted to share.

Mini Homemade Apple Pies

2011-06-14T12:23:00.009-08:00

Hey everyone. I don't have a Work in Progress Tuesday this week. Been busy with other things, like my hubby trying to break his knee playing ultimate frisbee. It's been a fun week I tell you. ANYWAY, the point of this post is that I have a wonderful, delicious surprise for you all!

Have you ever wanted a delicious homemade pie, but don't want to only have a few slices eaten by everyone? Then what happens? You get stuck with it. And if you're like me, you'll keep eating it so it doesn't go to waste. You guys do that too right? My solution? Mini pies!! All the yummy deliciousness of homemade pie, in a single serving size. You can serve them at a dinner party, or make a batch and freeze them for emergencies (you know the ones I'm talking about ladies) or, you can give them away to a bunch of your friends and only keep a couple for yourself thus ensuring that you don't end up gaining 20 lbs.

Okay, so first thing's first, I Googled "Perfect pie crust" because let's be real, store bough pie crusts are gross! And one of the top recipes was a Paula Dean recipe. I hear good things about her, so I click and print. Then I do a search for perfect apple pie filling, and guess who pops up? Yup, the southern cooking queen herself. But the apple pie filling recipe had the crust recipe attached to it. You can find them both here

Alright, pie crust first. You'll need to double your recipe for all your little crusts. This recipe is not doubled.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold

12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

Mix all your dry stuff together in a big mixing bowl

Mix in your shortening, by hand.

Cube up your butter.

(And no, I DIDN'T use my utu to cut my frozen butter because it was too hard....)

Throw in your butter.

Use your hand, or a pastry cutter (or if it's frozen like mine, use an ulu, it worked AWESOME) to work the butter into the flour. You'll have to be quick, you don't want the butter to start melting.

This is what it should look like, crumbly, like a very coarse cornmeal.

Add your water until it's just mixed in. Do not over work it or it will get tough. Roll it into a ball.

Flatten and divide in half (or for us, into quarters)

Turn them into little disks, wrap each in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll out your dough and use a small bowl, (mine is about 4.5 inches across) to cut little circles. Lightly grease your muffin pan, line each cup with a circle of dough.

Now, the filling. I used 7 apples, 2 granny smith, 2 red, and 3 Brayburn, just for different flavors, it's not a must though. cut up your apples, sprinkle them with lemon juice. This is for two reasons, one, it helps keep the apples from oxidating, and two, it adds a little extra something to your flavors. In a separate bowl mix 3/4 cup of light brown sugar 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Add mixture to apples and toss until it's evenly coated. *Edit: According to my dad, and he's a genius when it comes to cooking, so I believe him, he says to let the apple, sugar and spices sit for a little bit, as it will cause the apples to sweat and convert the sugar and spices to a spiced syrup and makes for a more moist pie. Yum!

Fill you little pie crusts.

Make more circles, and put your top on. Make sure you pinch them together really well or they will fall apart as you're trying to take them out of the pan. Cut a slit for steam to escape. Brush each top with egg white. Then stick in a 350 oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Quality control ;)

Then go make someone smile! :D

cute pics of kids

2011-06-14T11:35:00.004-08:00

This picture is so cute of Jill. :P

Kari decided that

she wanted to dance with Jill. It was super cute.

Oops!!

Jill had a blast with her sister paying attention to her.

Mommy, Jill and the two finger sucking.

lol! Playing with Jill's hair.

Pioneer Park with daddy!

2011-06-14T11:12:00.003-08:00

We went back to Pioneer Park with daddy this time! It was fun. Jill got her own horse.

Lol!! This picture cracks me up!! :D

Being a good daddy.

lol! Kari: Hey look!

Jill: Ew..

First Pioneer Park visit for 2011

2011-06-04T20:44:00.006-08:00

Hey everyone! Have I got a treat for you. First of, Jill's adorable mug. Ahh, how much I love that little girl. lol!

My friend Emily, and her son Daniel and the girls and I went to Pioneer Park. It's my favorite thing about the warm weather. It's this cute little throwback park. With one of the last working super old, old, old carousel. Seriously, they don't even have belts on the thing, hence me holding little Daniel to his seat. :D

Kari absolutely LOVES the carousel.

Emily came and stood by me to hold Daniel, so I put Jill up behind Kari. She liked it too. :D

I love this picture, I think it's frame worthy.

There was some of this....

When Kari gets a kiss, she give hugs back. :D There was a lot of this.

(poor kiddo drove his little buzz lightyear car off the front porch right before getting loaded up into the car. Poor kid's face is going to be hurting for a while.)

Hey look! Three faces!

And of course, the swings!!

Lol!! This one cracks me up.

Same with this one.

:D :D :D

Nope, I'm definitely not above taking blackmail pictures for later on... hee hee hee hee

I *heart* this picture

lol!

Jill: Get off me!

Daniel: Get out of my way, I'm going again!

Secrets....

Hey look mom, a rock!! I'm going to eat it!

Train ride around the park. It was a big hit.

Emily and myself.

Love Kari's expression

And more hugging...

If looks could kill....

Everybody....JUMP!!

Well, I should probably get back to work. I hope you enjoyed our trip to the park!! :D

So I know this is super early but.....

2011-06-01T09:15:00.003-08:00

Eeep! I'm excited. So I know that most of you are going to think this is weird, but I start thinking about Christmas presents WAAAAAAY early. I do this for several reasons; 1. because Christmas is exciting 2. because it's easier to get good deals and really find something that really suits the person when you're not rushing about and 3. so I don't have to pay for all of Christmas out of one or two paychecks. Ouch! That's why the song "The Twelve things at Christmas that's such a pain to me" has "FIVE MONTHS OF BILLS!!" Yeah, that's not me. SO I've been thinking, and brainstorming, and I've figured out the perfect thing for most of the people on my list. And I've been slowly buying up the materials I'll need for them. And I discovered this awesome fabric shop a month ago, everything there is made in the USA, which I love because I like to support our own economy, AND, everything is really high quality and much cheaper than where I used to get fabrics. The only thing I DON"T like is that it caters to quilting (which is fine by me) so there are not very many big prints (for good reason) so I was searching quite a bit to find what I wanted. Obviously I can't write about it on here until after Christmas but, I"M EXCITED!! Oh, I meant to give you the address of this company. It's www.connectingthreads.com They have organic batting for 4 something for a crib size quilt! To compare, you can get something comparable for about 25 bucks at JoAnn's. Even the regular cheapy bags of batting is 17 regular price. Wow, I'm in love. :D

Work in Progress Tuesday...kinda

2011-05-31T10:03:00.004-08:00

Okay, so I told you all that we got approved for a bigger house right? Yeah, I thought so, I'm pretty excited about it. Anyway, so this last week we had a 4 day weekend due to Memorial day, and since the next three weekends will be spent with Tyler spending 6-9 on Friday and 8-6 Saturday and Sunday in a seminar version of a class for school, we spend most of it hanging out, going to our favorite places and packing, everything. So I didn't get to do any craft stuff whatsoever. Which is a bummer but what are you going to do, so THIS is my work in progress. Along with other fun stuff from the weekend. :D

Yep, that is stacked boxes from carpet to ceiling filled with books and games. I've also been working on boxing up my craft stuff. That's hard because I'm not sure when I'll be able to unpack my stuff. :( SO I figure I'll pack everything BUT the stuff I need for the strip quilt. Yeah, that's the plan ;) But of course most of the house can't be packed up because it's stuff we use all the time and, like I said before, we don't know when we're moving. So I feel like I'm not actually getting anything done. BUT the pre-inspection is next monday, so hopefully we'll be moving by the end of June! :D

We walked down to the Airplane park. Kari is big into the planes right now.

This is the "unknown hero" monument.

I love this, and it was perfect for the weekend.

On friday the base held a safety event. They had stuff about DUI's, and safety around trains, proper use of car seats, and they also had firetrucks and planes opened up for people to see. Kari LOVED the airplanes. I think we've got a future pilot on our hands! You go girl! :D

She was completely fascinated. :)

Work in Progress Tuesday and a new favorite toy

2011-05-24T15:03:00.003-08:00

After a week, this is what I have for you. I've got two squares done. Still have 46 to go. It's a lot more involved than I originally thought. Sew a seam, iron, sew another seam, iron, so on sew forth. ;) lol! I think it'll take me awhile.

My kids have had mild fevers for about a week now. I've taken temperatures enough that they think that it's a fun game...

We nurture a love of reading early. ;)

2011-05-20T22:44:00.003-08:00

I just loved this. Today she laid down on her belly, kicked her feet in the air and read her little Belle book. :D

"Mom, leave me alone, I'm reading!"

Win! And Epic FAIL....

2011-05-20T22:22:00.004-08:00

So I have a fail, and a win! Since I don't like that I failed, I'll talk about my success first. Plus, we ate it first so it just naturally goes in that order. ;) Okay, so we were having the missionaries over for dinner tonight. I love having the missionaries over. They will eat anything and still compliment you. ;) So I usually try new things when they come over. And we've got one that wants to be a health freak. Works for me! Last time I made a weight watchers chicken fettuccine recipe, YUM. So tonight I was in the mood for Italian. And not just any Italian, Olive Garden Italian. Yummy!! So I know I've mentioned that you can find some of their recipes online, well I tried their Venetian Apricot Chicken. Don't let the name put you off! It was fabulous! And, very, very healthy. We even had asparagus. I've been married to Tyler for almost 5 years and I just now found out that he LOVES asparagus. You got it babe! And I gotta say, when it's cooked right, it's fabulous. The trick is not to boil it for more than a minute, and once you take it out, literally put it on ice to stop it cooking. If asparagus cooks for too long it gets all squishy and bitter, yuck. Then you throw it in a saute pan with some light virgin olive oil and salt. Make it hot, and voila, yummy deliciousness. Okay, so that was my total success. It was absolutely fabulous, I recommend that recipe to everyone.

Alright, so I failed.......badly. I was trying to make this yummy looking chocolate cake from Ourbestbites.com (seriously, I love every single thing about that blog)

Yeah, I don't know what happened. I followed the directions to the letter, or at least, I'd thought I had. My cake overflowed into the oven, and fell in. It was more like a giant brownie. The missionaries still wanted to eat it. And it tasted good, it just was not pretty. And no, I didn't take a picture. I really don't want to share my failure with the blog world. :( The frosting however, was amazing and I have the left over frosting in the fridge just waiting for some nilla wafers to dip in. Yum. Well, at least something good came out of that train wreck. Maybe if you tried it, it would work, I'm not sure what I did wrong. I'll have to go through the recipe again. Ah well, you can't win them all right?