January 2012

2012!
Already!!
The end of January already!!!

Seriously.....where does the time keep going?

Is the dryer eating it like the socks?

Regardless, it has been a pretty good month for us!
We spent the fist day waking up with some of our favorite people in the world and dancing and sweatin' like crazy to Just Dance 3 on the Wii with them!
It was way too much fun......and I kicked all those kids' bums!!
Yup.....I still got it! ;)
It ain't pretty, but I still got it!

We were able to go to my nephew's baptism! So excited for him!! Joe loved it....especially because he knows he'll get to do the same thing soon!

I also got "sucked" into Pinterest!!! Now I can't get out of there!
Can we say "Addicted"?!
Yes we can.....but it has inspired me to do new things!
Like this completely awesome chore chart!!
I saw it and loved! I was able to find everything and put it together for $11!
And it works!! The kids actually do what I put on there for them to get done!!
It amazes me!!
Who knew something so simple would work so well?!
Not I.....or I would have done this a LONG time ago!

There has also been a lot of basketball! I'm helping coach Joe's team this year. So we have a practice and a game every week......4 weeks down and 4 more to go! I love it! We have such a fun team. I'm so proud of them!
It's just so entertaining watching them play!

We've really been working as a family on getting things prioritized!
Trying to keep focus on all the things that are REALLY important!
Gary has made some big commitments this year! Just before the beginning of the year he decided it was time to clean up his act and quit smoking and drinking!!
I was/am SO excited!!
We've been visiting with the missionaries once a week, working through the repentance process and helping him any and every way we can to quit.
This Sunday, the day his son turns 8, is the day he's chosen to be completely and totally done smoking and drinking! He really wants to get himself worthy to be able to baptize his son. I'm so proud of him! We are also really working on being able to go through the temple and become an eternal family this year! My heart is so full of joy that some days it just feels like it's going to burst!! I am SO blessed!

Back to the baking.....I got to make these fun basketball cookies for our local varsity girls basketball team! They loved them!
I'll be making some more later this week for my team too!

The dance season has begun!! Emma had her first performance this last weekend and will get to perform at the boy's JV game for half time tomorrow night. There are many more scheduled between her and Grace for the next couple of months.

Thanks to Pinterest, I had to try these! Of course I had to tweak them a little....but they turned out pretty good. Our basketball team really like them. Sierra loves them.....the other kids are torn. I am too.....They are okay....not my favorite......next time I think I'll try just baking the brownies with cookie dough bits inside the brownie.

I HAD to try these!! These are Hot Cocoa Cookies....again, I tweaked them a little bit. I tried them with semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, mint chocolate, caramel and caramel milk chocolate!! Whew!
I know the ladies we visit taught that day were happy for all of the extras I had to spare! These will definitely be on my "to do" list again soon!

Today I made play dough to make a volcano. Yup, it's that time......our first Blue/Gold banquet is this coming Thursday.
Scouts.....here we come!
Both my boys are so excited for it!
I'm so excited for them!!
It's the beginning of more busy.....but a good busy!

So bring it February!!! There's even an extra day in there for me to get it all done!!

New Year, New Post!

Happy 2012!! It's a new year and as such, I am going to try to start blogging again! I need to get into more of a routine.....manage my time wiser and make the best of every minute I have. These are a few of my goals this year. I would like to lose weight and all that other junk, but that is not going to be a goal. I just want to work on me.....making myself a better me, a better mom, a better friend, a better neighbor. I want to be more in tune with my Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. I think that by doing that, I will be able to improve all other aspects of my life. I need to start within though....everything else will follow.
I would also like to wish the LOVE of my LIFE a Happy Anniversary! 14 years ago today we were married! I'm so lucky to have such a generous, amazing man to stand beside. We've learned and grown so much together. I would be lost without him.

Wow! Where did the time go?

So a few highlights from mid-November to mid-December...........I got this amazing vinyl put on my van thanks to my cousin Brandi! You should check out her stuff here......she makes some of the cutest things and loves a challenge with special orders. I love it.....I just smile every time I see it on my van!

I got this really cool clock for my birthday! I'm doing roosters and sunflowers in my kitchen and I totally fell in love with this clock. Thanks to Nadia and Noelle for giving it to me. They are some of the kindest, sweetest girls ever!

I made these chocolate covered brownie bites. The green ones have mint and the white is just a white chocolate. I made them for Y.W. Evening of Excellence. They were a big hit, but also a big pain in the butt to make!

I made this cute skirt for Miss Em and the matching barrette. She had a Fancy Nancy birthday party to go to, so we made a different skirt for her little friend and made this one for her. Those were the colors that she wanted and she loves it.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with most of the family. It was a great day and we all really enjoyed being together.
I went and had my hair colored, cut and highlighted for my birthday.....also thanks to Nadia!
I then went out to dinner and to see Michael McLean's The Forgotten Carols with my really good friend Jenn and my mom. It was an amazing night! There were a lot of tears, but it was SO amazing! If you've never been, I highly recommend it! They come every year to I.F.
I also had the pleasure of making this cool Polar Express Train for some friends of mine. They had a fun Polar Express Party and this got to be their fun cake. It was a lot of fun making it!
Just a few things that happened......hopefully I'll catch up with Christmas and more highlights soon!

November Thankful #16

I am grateful for kids and their enthusiasm for life and for sharing it with me! You can't help but get excited when your child is so happy to be doing something and to be able to share it with you is the best thing ever, according to them. This is how my son was yesterday at his 1st Grad Thanksgiving Program.

But first I gotta show you some Emma shots......Emmalee and her good friend that lives 2 doors down from us!

I like this picture just because it really shows off her crimped hair, which she insisted that I do today. She got it out and plugged it in for me and everything!

She was confident all day that because her hair was crimped she now looked just like Taylor Swift! She is gonna be a handful!

So on to Joe's program. There are, according to one of the teachers, 140 1st graders at our elementary school! They are the biggest class in the school(thank goodness!). We have 6, 1st grade classes....that's crazy! But they are all just so cute and enthusiastic about everything!
Here is Joe saying his first little part about the Pilgrims....too bad his pilgrim hat is covering most of his cute pilgrim face!
He's singing about a sad turkey here I think......
This was them telling us something to go with every letter in Thanksgiving.....
He's flashing me the "I Love You" sign! Man I love this kid!
And this is my favorite.....my kids' new thing is to show a heart to one another and he made sure he showed it to me! He is so sweet and so passionate about life......some days I just want to strangle him....but most days I could hug and love on him all day!
And here is a little bit of Joe's program for you to enjoy!

November Thankful #15

I am thankful for a sunshiny Monday! It makes it so much easier to be happy about it being Monday and the piles of dishes and laundry that are waiting for me to do!

I'm also grateful for my baby sister! She was born this day many, many years ago! She is such a wonderful person and I love her to pieces!

Doesn't this picture just make you want to hug the sun and kiss it and tell it Thank You?!

November Thankful #14

I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful ward! One that is full of amazing youth that I have the priveledge to be involved with! They are such a wonderful example to me and to my husband. A couple of the girls helped me get my husband to church yesterday and I was able to drag him to Sunday school too....even if he was sort of my hostage and blocked in by his father and myself.....I'll take what I can get! There were a couple of the teens really excited to see him there. He really made a good impression on them at the Trek and just think he's the greatest! (Which he is!) So I just wanted to tell them Thank You for being such amazing people and for getting into my husband's heart and being a great friend and example for him!

November Thankful #13

For my Saturday Thankful, I am so grateful for friends and family that I can call and drag out of bed to run to my aide and help me! I am so lucky to have such supportive people in my life!

This booth was very last minute and it took all I had to put it together....with some help! I found out at 8 am Friday morning that I had a spot. So I had to run to I.F., grab a couple of things, hand in my registration and money for the booth spot and run home to start baking!
My nephew Noah sure enjoyed my peanut butter cookies!

I baked all day and night! I crawled into bed at 1 am and the alarm went off at 4:30 am! It was a lot of work, but it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined! I was able to make Peanut Butter cookies, Peanut Butter Kiss cookies, 3-in-1 cookies, Cheesecake Brownies, S'more Brownies, Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies, Hot Fudge Bars, Pink Lemonade Pie, Pumpkin Crisp, Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls and a Cheesecake with Triple Berry topping!

Thanks to Jenn, my mom, my sister Amanda and my husband Gary for being there to help me through the day! I don't think that I could have done it without you guys!

After this one, I am very excited to do the one in Rexburg on Black Friday! But I have more prep time.....a lot more! It was such a great experience and I met so many great people! Thank you to my support team! You are the best!