Purple Patch Update

Well, after a very hectic week, I got another few blocks done last night. I have 24 done, halfway there! I love the way this pinwheel is turning out. I want to stay up tonight and work on it more, but I really should go to bed...decisions, decisions! Here are a couple of photos. Brena is funny because every time she sees me sewing she says "you sew princess blankie for me?" I promised her my next blankie would be for her. I haven't even had hardly a minute to check blogs, so I promise to check them and do some posting...after I do some sewing :)

Geocaching!

We have started geocaching and it's really fun! We went on our first outing yesterday, but we never found the cache. We went back today looking again but didn't find it, I really don't think that one is there anymore. So, we looked up another cache and went on our way and we found this one! It was lots of fun and the kids like "looking for treasures." Here are some pics from yesterday, I forgot the camera today so we don't have a picture of our very first cache. I think our family is going to really enjoy doing this new hobby together :) For more info go to http://www.geocaching.com/ Have a nice day!

A day at the park

We are having beautiful weather here so we got a minute to take the kids to the park today. They had a great time running around playing. It is always amazing to me how kids make friends instantly, it doesn't matter that they have never met each other, doesn't matter their station in life, they just instantly play together. I told TJ the next time we move we need to move into a neighborhood with lots of kids, Tyler is really missing not having anyone around to play with.

My Dad

Ok, so my dad is a normal guy. He LOVES his grandkids, and he loves to take pictures of them. So it is only natural that I got him to start scrapbooking all those pictures he takes :) He likes to email me pictures of his pages when he is done, and I loved this one of the little boys. Dad, you are amazing! Working full-time in a VERY stressful job, being Stake President, taking care of an acre orchard, picking all that fruit, then drying it, making it into fruit leather and canning it, keeping up with an acre lawn/vegetation and everything else that you have to do in life, and yet he still finds time to scrapbook! Amazing I tell you! He does have his limits, however. The ladies at church wanted to him to teach a scrapbooking class, he wouldn't go for that! Now I just gotta get my mom to like scrapbooking...

Camera?

I really, really need a new camera. I have been doing a little research, but I thought I would poll you guys and see what camera's you recommend. I am not doing anything professional, but I would like a good camera that will last and that will take nice, clear pictures. I don't like the Sony we have now and it is not even a year old, I think the pictures it takes are awful and it can't take pictures in low light at all, no matter what setting I turn it to. Our first digital camera was a Cannon, we bought that one like 6 years ago and I was pretty happy with it. So, what kind of camera do you have, and do you like it? What camera's can you recommend to me? Thanks!

More Cookies!

We baked sugar cookies last night, but I didn't get any of those cookies and I have to have cookies to deliver to our friends, so I stayed up last night making dough. We rolled and baked and decorated this afternoon and then we went delivering to our friends and neighbors. I LOVE sugar cookies. This recipe is the recipe my grandma would make with my mom when she was little, but instead of going to the store and buying the sour cream, they used sour cream from the cows' milk, she grew up on a cattle ranch. So we have been making these cookies for a very long time. Here are some pictures of my little valentine's and I am quite proud of myself I let them decorate a few cookies :) Of course we ate way too many, but that's what you do on days like this. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Sugar Cookies:

2 cups shortening

2 cups sugar

2 cups sour cream

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

6 cups flour

Mix first 5 ingredients until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out and bake at 350 for 10 minutes (that makes pretty soft cookies, if you don't like that that soft, bake them longer).

Icing:

1 cups shortening

1 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 lb bag of powdered sugar

4 Tbs water

In Kitchen Aid whip first 3 ingredients until smooth, add powdered sugar slowly and mix until it looks dry. Add your water and whip on high for 3-4 minutes - yummy!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some pictures from last night. I had my church girls over and we baked and decorated sugar cookies. It was lots of fun and I hope they all had a good time!

Stick Family

I have been wanting to make this little picture of our family since November and just got a chance to sit and do it. I love it! Yes, I realize my arm is not attached to my right side, but that was as good as I was going to get us all lined up. And yes, I copied it straight from the last SU! catalog, but that is why I love Stampin' Up! catalogs the best, for all the awesome ideas! Click here if you want to see the catalog.

Looks like strep throat, acts like strep throat, must be strep throat

Well, it wasn't. That is good and bad. Tyler threw up last night (it was awful!) and all day yesterday just laid on the couch. He had a fever this morning of 102. He wouldn't eat, he said his throat hurt, he said all day yesterday and today that he had a headache. I called my sister, the nurse, and she said it sounded like strep throat. Oh, and he had a bunch of white stuff on the back of his throat. I called to get an appointment, no appointments until Wednesday they said, but the guy told me not to wait till then to get him in today to the ER, he said don't be scared of the ER, it is really good and fast - RIGHT!! I was in the ER for 5 HOURS!! Tyler just slept on a chair, but Brena was a different story, running around like a lunatic, opening the fire extinguisher box, opening the door to set of the alarm, I was ready to strangle her. I tried to hold her down at one point and she let out a very high glass breaking scream and pinched my arm at the same time, I have a lovely bruise from that. I am still mad at her, but you can't really blame the kid for sitting around in a small area for 3 hours. I finally got a hold of TJ and he came to my rescue and picked Brena up and took her home. I stayed with Tyler. We finally got back into a room after being in the waiting room for 3 hours. We sat in the ER room for 2 hours before anyone came in. The rapid test for strep was negative?????!!! I couldn't believe it. They handed me a prescription for motrin and tylenol and sent me home. I threw it in the trash, no way was I going over to the pharmacy and waiting another 1 1/2 hours for a motrin and tylenol prescription, I can get my own thank you very much! In one way I am obviously very relieved he didn't have strep, but on the other hand I wasted 6 hours of my day driving and sitting at the ER for nothing, except I guess the peace of mind that Tyler is ok. And the doctor saw the white stuff on his throat too. So, I did not feel like cooking dinner after I got home from all of that, so we had pancakes. I LOVE wheat pancakes and this is the best recipe I have found. We eat it a lot, well the kids and I do, TJ isn't much on pancakes for dinner. We had homemade strawberry jam with them - yummy!

Here is the recipe for The Best Wheat Pancakes Ever:

Sift 1 1/4 cups freshly ground white wheat flour with 3 tsp baking powder, 3 TBS brown sugar and 3/4 tsp salt.

In separate mixing bowl beat 3 egg yolks with 1 1/4 cups milk and 3 TBS oil

In separate bowl beat your 3 egg whites until stiff.

Add your egg yolk mixture to your flour mix and stir. Add your fluffy egg whites to the mix and stir until blended. Drop on hot griddle and enjoy! It is best if you do beat your egg whites separate, so take the little bit of extra time to do this and you will have nice and fluffy pancakes.

Valentine's Day

I have been working on Valentine stuff all night. I wish I wasn't OCD and could let Tyler stamp his own, but I just have to have all the ants, snakes and everything in the "right" place, it's bad I know, but I can't help it. I really need to try and let go... Anyways... here is my progress from tonight. The bugs are for Tyler's class and the pretty pink ones are for my girls at church. I couldn't just let Tyler take a little Spiderman Valentine and give it to his friends, so we compromised and I got to make it a little cuter.

Pretty Flowers

I am a big copy cat when it comes to stampin' and I love to copy stuff from Jenn because she is so creative. I am having my first Stampin' Up! workshop tomorrow since moving to Florida and I have been trying to figure out what to give my hostess. I logged on to Jenn's blog and saw this and that was it, this is what I am giving my hostess tomorrow. Thanks Jenn for the great ideas :)

Look at my Top Gun!

WHOOO!!! I have a hottie for a hubby :) TJ just passed all the hard tests, not seeing him for 4 weeks was worth it I guess. He just brought home all of his new flight suits and jackets and he is excited to be wearing them. He looks so good! He has a couple of easy weeks coming up where he goes into the tank without oxygen and plays patty cake with other guys to keep themselves awake and some other fun things, but then in a few weeks he will have to be studying again, and flying at the same time. 14 weeks of that and then who knows what.

McDonalds????

I was raised without eating at McDonalds because my mom hated it, she calls it Mcgagburgers. So I really haven't eaten much McD's in my life. For some very strange reason I have been CRAVING (no, not pregnant!) McD's fries since Saturday. I have tried to ignore the craving, but to no avail. I have also taught Tyler and Brena that McD's is bad, Tyler knows we don't eat at McD's. He has had it a few times, his preschool had it for their Christmas party - weird but whatever. So after I picked up Tyler from school today I was right by the McD's and couldn't stop myself - I went thru their drive thru!!! I have NEVER gone thru the McD's drive thru before, I don't believe Brena has ever eaten McD's. I ate all my fries, the kids gobbled up their kids meals and I got my fill of fries for the next few years. I went to enter my receipt into Quicken and I had to type out McDonalds, so I know we have not eaten there in at least 3 years. I actually feel a little gross right now having eaten all my fries plus some of the kids! Now, I am not saying we don't eat fast food, because we are big fans of Wendy's, but for some reason I have this thing against McDonalds...I guess being told my whole childhood it was bad rubbed off on me!