January POTM: Valentine Pillows

At the beginning of the year when I was making some resolutions I decided I would try to accomplish one big project every month. I'm not putting any restrictions on what kind of project it has to be but I want to do something big every month this year. Thus the Project of the Month (POTM) was born. For January I wanted to sew some Valentine pillows. I bought all the stuff for this project last year and thought I might be able to get them sewn after I had Emery but before Valentines day. I was clearly smoking crack or something thinking I would get anything done with a brand new baby in the house. So the fabric has been sitting here for a year. There's nothing I hate more than a half finished project or a project that I have all the materials for but haven't done yet.

I got busy and started sewing last week and got 6 pillows made. Love them! I have always loved Valentines day so these are perfect for my house.


I have changed things up quite a bit with Valentines Decor this year and will be posting about it next week after I get through two little girly birthdays this weekend. (Why do my babies have to grow up?!)

My POTM for February is to finish my 2011 Project Life book. I have a good headstart on it so hopefully it will come together quickly. My March project isn't nearly as exciting as I will spend the month getting ready for the mom-to-mom consignment sale that I am participating in this spring. It's going to be a lot of work but I am excited to clear out more kids stuff/clothes!

Thanksgiving Recap

We had such a nice Thanksgiving weekend. It was very relaxing and fun to spend time with friends and family. I haven’t posted in forever (I have about 3 half written posts in my drafts folder – someday I will finish them!). First up a few Thanksgiving projects.

I saw this wreath post idea on Pinterest and I had Allen build me one a couple months ago. We made a few design tweaks and I LOVE it. This is actually my Halloween wreath on it and I had a cute Harvest sign on there for Thanksgiving. I loved my porch this fall!

I also made a Thankful tree with my kids at the beginning of the month that we decorated with leaves that we wrote the things we are thankful for on. The kids thought it was great and we really enjoyed discussing our abundant blessings. For the record, most of Addison’s leaves had to do with Disneyland!

Addison has been attending a once-a-week holiday preschool that a friend in my ward put together (separate from her regular PS class). She is running it October-December and has done some DARLING projects with the kids. One week they made pilgrim hats, Mayflower art and a turkey advent countdown to Thanksgiving (we pulled off a feather every day until turkey day). The next week they made these cute scarecrows and homemade pumpkin butter. Addison is having a ball with it!

The kids made these cute turkeys that we used as centerpieces for the kids table. I gave them the supplies, briefly explained the project and they did all of the work themselves. I was so impressed!

On to the main event! Adam, Laurie and Hyrum came from AZ to spend Thanksgiving with us. It was so fun to have them here. On Thanksgiving morning, the boys got up and played football for a couple hours and had a grand time. Carter loves that he is old enough to play now too! The girls stayed home to work on food preparation and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. My kids were such good helpers all day and really loved getting involved this year.

Makenna peeling sweet potatoes:

Addison scooping stuffing into muffin tins (my favorite way to make stuffing – bake in muffin tins for slightly crispy, non-soggy individual portions – yum!)

Carter helping with pies:

Laurie made SIX pies in the morning (apple, sweet potato, lemon meringue, chocolate pudding, pear and almond joy):Carter loved taking care of the babies while we worked:
I had fun setting tables this year. Adult table:


Kids table place setting:

I covered the table in brown craft paper so the kids could draw on it. The sugar cone/cornucopia was filled with some yummy trail mix that I made. This was a perfect addition because it kept the kids full and busy until we were ready to eat dinner.

Laurie, Adam & Hyrum (my only regret of the day was that I did not take a picture of my own family :(

Adult Guests:

We had 18 people at our house this year. Our family, Laurie & Adam, and two families from our ward. It was a fun group and we had an AMAZING meal. Afterwards we played games while the kids ran amok and had a grand time.

I am so grateful for this time of year to reflect upon my many blessings and express gratitude to the Lord and my family. In no particular order, I am feeling especially grateful for: Allen, Eternal marriage, my children, motherhood, my extended family, good health for my family, forgiveness/repentance/mercy, humor, friends, good books, reliable cars, the scriptures, latter-day prophets, the temple, vacations, a comfortable home, modern conveniences (iPhone, pinterest & DVR), getting to stay at home with my kids, the Atonement, book club, cute clothes, General Conference, healthy food, Allen’s good job, my kids amazing school, modern medicine, my camera.

4th of July

We enjoyed a super low key 4th holiday this year. We drove back from CO on Sunday evening and had made no real plans for the 4th. We did attend our annual ward pancake breakfast which was delicious and fun! After the breakfast we headed out to get some much needed groceries and then hit a movie. In the late afternoon we went swimming and had a super yummy BBQ with just our family. We contemplated throwing together an impromptu party with some friends but decided just to be together since we hadn't seen Allen in 2 weeks! We headed to Allen's office which has an incredible view of the fireworks and enjoyed a spectacular show (I've decided I'm obsessed with firework production. Allen said it's all chemical engineering - maybe I missed my calling in life). The kids were crashed out by the time we got home.

There were so many fun dessert, craft and party ideas that I saw for the 4th but this just wasn't the year for me to pull it off. My mom and I did make this cute wreath that I had seen online and I love how it turned out:

It is astounding to me that our summer is already more than half-way over! We head back to school on August 8th and we have lots more fun to squeeze in before then!

A different week + a few completed projects

My, this week has NOT turned out at all like I planned. I planned on this being the week to wrap up any last minute details before baby E comes next week. But....On Monday morning I got up and got everyone going on the school morning routine. While making lunches I knocked a HUGE jar of minced garlic out of my fridge and it smashed all over the floor. Glass and garlic everywhere. It was a smelly disaster. And that has pretty much set the tone for my week - LOL. I rushed to get it cleaned up as much as possible before I had to run the morning carpool to school. Got everyone loaded in the car only to find that my car battery was DEAD. Crap. Then I realized Allen had both pairs of our jumper cables in his car (WHY?!?!). My friend who I carpool with and my friend across the street could not locate their jumper cables either. Finally, my friend down the street came to the rescue with hers (lesson learned). The kids were 20 minutes late for school and I decided to leave the car running while I ran them in, in case it died again. I ran up to Allen's office so he could check the connectivity of the battery, which was fine. I had an hour to kill before Costco opened so I decided to make a quick run to Target. He thought I'd run the car enough to charge up the battery. Wrong. I ended up having to have my car jumped in the Target parking lot and again in the Costco parking lot (Costco sells batteries but does not replace them). I finally went across the street and had Sears replace my battery but it was literally an all day ordeal.

Tuesday and Wednesday school was cancelled due to the weather. And by weather, I mean extremely cold temps, not snow or ice. I must admit, I'm not the easiest person to live with right now and having the kids home and cooped up for the past couple of days has not been particularly fun for anyone. We've baked, done crafts, watched movies, played games, read, worked on projects, etc. but it has been a looooong week. The kids are back in school today after a 2 hour delay and I feel myself returning to a more stable place emotionally. It's all about being 9 months pregnant because I typically LOVE having all my kiddos home with me.

Since the first of the year I have been Turbo charged getting things done around here. I think it has been a combination of nesting and fear that I won't have time to get anything done EVER again (probably slightly irrational but it's definitely kept me motivated). I have deep cleaned and dejunked nearly every drawer, cupboard and closet in our home. Goodwill is definitely loving me this year!

I've gotten a few crafty projects done as well!

Hair accessories for all the girlies:

(Hair accessories for 3 girls = overwhelming!)

A bit of Valentine Decor (though I have a few more projects that I was dying to do but will have to wait until next year):

I made the ruffle balls the same way I made my ruffle wreath last year. Time consuming but oh so cute!



Recipe Reorganization.

The first year I was married my mom put together a recipe box FILLED with the recipes she made while I was growing up. She included recipes that have been in the family for several generations. It is one of my prized possessions and I have added to the collection over the years. But the recipe box was STUFFED full and was getting unmanageable. I cannot part with my mom's handwritten recipe cards so I decided to reorganize the way I store my recipes. I also find that I'm always printing new recipes to try off the internet and always had a stack of papers I didn't know what to do with. So I put together a binder that now stores all of my favorite recipes with 3x5 page protectors and then I can 3 hole punch anything I print off the internet.

Project 365 Book:

Waiting VERY impatiently for it to arrive any day now. This remains my proudest accomplishment from last year and I'm more determined than ever to keep my blog and book up to date this year so I'm not scrambling putting it together at the end of this year. I've already downloaded all my pictures and journaling into my 2011 book. Hooray!

Pumpkin Garland

If you know me at all, you know that as soon as the fall hits I get the crafting bug in a BAD way. I have quite a few projects in the works this fall and finally got one finished and put up this morning when I put out my Halloween decor.

I saw an idea to use those Mellow Pumpkin candies to make a Halloween bracelet. I decided to expand the idea and create a banner to go across my mantle using the same idea. This was actually a really fun family project and came together quickly. Allen used a tiny drill bit and drilled holes through all the pumpkins (about 1.5 bags) and the kids strung them on 8 strands of embroidery floss we used for the project. The longest part of the project was waiting for the acrylic coating that I used on the pumpkins to dry for the recommended 24 hours. I gathered all my Halloween colored ribbon and tied pieces randomly throughout the garland.

Here's the finished product hung on the mantle (yes, I know the tile is hideous and would be the first thing to go if this house was ours!!)

Close up:

Makenna saw the original bracelet idea and begged me to make her a bracelet so I will be whipping up a couple more on a much smaller scale for the girlies.

Stay tuned, lots more fun crafting to come!!

Fall Project #1

Every fall I get the urge to craft up a storm. This is my first project of the year and I love how it turned out!! It's hard to capture the sparkeliness of it with a picture but everything is VERY glittery. My only regret is that I did not use black glitter on the cat and witch instead of the clear. It is also quite a bit larger than you would expect. The tallest letter is 15 inches tall. It's going to look spectacular displayed this October! {Ahem, despite having a great camera, good natural light and some basic photoshop skills, this pic still looks like crap. I cannot get to my photography workshop in a couple weeks soon enough. Colors are wonky and the entire thing looks TONS better in real life}

Speaking of fall, I have a new favorite scent. It is called Leaves and is from Bath & Body Works. It smells out of this world. I have been burning the scented oil for a couple weeks now and cannot get enough. Check it out!

Bootiful & Spooktackular!

Do you like my cheesy title?

I finally finished up my Halloween decorating this morning! Something about this time of year makes me want to craft, craft, craft! And I have been up to my eyeballs in projects this last week. Here's a little peek around my house today. This isn't all my Halloween decor but it's most of my new stuff.
I don't really do scary Halloween around here so the spider webs are as crazy as we get. I did get some mums, even though I have to water them twice a day! (I change this planter box out every season):On my front door. This is the only new thing this year that isn't hand made. Thanks to Jan for pointing out this cutie from Cracker Barrel:In the living room: I'd like one more super tall candle stick but haven't been able to find one yet.Here's a closeup of the Halloween scrapbook I made. It's all my kids' Halloweens and I'll add to it each year. Cost to make $0 - I had everything for this project on hand!You know that banners are all the rage right now. My mom and I made this one last week while she was here. This picture does not do it justice as the fabrics are SO cute on this. It's all fabric and sewn perfectly by my mama! Cost $0 - my mom brought all the fabric/supplies from her huge stashAnother sewing project is this AWESOME witches stocking that I made yesterday (yep, the entire thing during nap time and after the kids were in bed). Again, the details on this are SO cute, I should take a closeup picture of the cute laces up the front of the boot. Cost of project - about $1 for the cheesecloth - I had everything else on hand. I even pulled the berries out of an unused garland and spray painted them black and orange (another detail you can't really see here) Here's a picture of my buffet as it is right now. Next to that lantern is the CUTEST witch that I've had for a few years.Close up of the star. I LOVE how this turned out. The paper details are adorable and Halloweeny. I made this the night before my mom got here. Metal star, patterned paper, Mod Podge and ribbon. So easy to make! Cost of project - about $3 for patterned paper. I had the star, ribbon and some paper on hand. I just painted the star black and went to town.

I'm so thrilled to have added this to my decor this year:
Cost to me $0!!! Yep, you read that right. Last year, one of my friends purchased the advent calendar from PBK. When she got it, the dowel had broken so PBK sent her a brand new one. There was nothing else wrong with it so she gave it to me. I just had to fix the dowel, which I did by replacing it with a cheapy curtain rod that I had from one of my previous houses that I spray painted black. My kids are going to be so excited to get treats and activities out of this all season long!

I LOVE that it's October because I consider it the beginning of the holiday season!

Back to School: Idea 2

There are tons of books out there to prepare kids for school. My absolute favorite is The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. This book is a must have if you have a child entering school! It is so sweet and touching!

We've been reading the book for the last few days and then we made some "hugs" for each other that the kids will have in their bags in case they ever feel sad or miss home. I laminated their hugs and attached them to their bags (no worries, Carter' s is on the inside of his bag so as to not take away from the toughness of his Batman backpack).

Here's Makenna's attached to her backpack. It says, "1 hug for Makenna".

The kids also made hugs for me and Allen that we can refer to when we are sad and missing them. It's not a big thing but I hope they will remember they are loved and missed when they are away from me.

A couple other books that we've enjoyed in prep for school this year:

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

Kindergarten Rocks! by Katie Davis

Have fun!

Sharing an AWESOME idea!!

This idea is just too great to not pass on to everyone out there.

Last month a gal in my ward organized a Book of Mormon exchange. She chose 37 topics/stories from the BoM and had women in the ward sign up for one of the topics. Then, our job was to summarize the story on a 1/2 sheet of paper (including the scripture references), have it laminated and include some kind of visual representation of the story. We made 37 copies of our story/visual aid packet and turned them in to her.

Last night a few of us got together to put the packets together. I am giddy with excitement over the awesome things I came away with. This is much, much easier and less time consuming than the Family Home Evening packets I have done in the past. The BoM stories can be used for FHE or family scripture time or even in lessons.

People used a variety of resources: some made homemade items, others were store purchased, some elaborate and some very simple. In any case, I cannot wait to use this resource with my family. I also love that she chose some lesser known stories so our kids can get to know ALL the stories in the BoM. Here are a few pictures I took to give you a better idea:

The entire haul (minus the two packets I could not pry from M's hands)

Pictures of a few of my favorite packets:

Ammon:The brass plates (my friend and her husband cut out and routed all the wood and even put metal rings in it and ancient writing on each one - a lot of work and so awesome):The people of Ammon (this included a baggie with a plastic indian, plastic sword and dirt to "bury" the sword in):

Anyway, I just wanted to share this idea so others can give it a try in their wards. This was EASY to put together (maybe 2 hours of my time total) and inexpensive. If you'd like a list of topics, leave a comment or shoot me an email. This could easily be adapted for Bible stories too and I'm hoping we do another round of packets to do some Bible stories.

Happy Teaching the Gospel!

Craftin' Kids

In an attempt to keep my kids busy this summer we have been up to our eyeballs in glue, markers, paints... you name it. Carter has really taken to crafts and drawing this summer and a pad of paper and some markers can keep him busy for 2 hours at a time (it's so nice!!). So here are a few of our recent projects:

Crazy Man with his toilet paper roll super heroes (forgive the half dressed boy, we were on our way to the pool yesterday):

Up close and personal:Yesterday we made Halloween gingerbread houses with some friends. Look how cute it turned out!! (Kits can be purchased for $6 at Joann's if you have a coupon. The cans were to hold up the roof while the frosting was drying)Queen Orange Frosting:Carter with his Paper Maiche volcano we made last week. He had a ball with this and especially loved when we exploded the volcano. I see another, bigger one in our near future (it got ruined fast with the baking soda/vinegar explosion).