Saturday, January 31, 2009

Splat Mat

I've wanted a drop cloth for a while to put under Molly's high chair. I looked on etsy knowing that someone would have made one and sure enough! So of course I copied the idea and viola! Here's mine. I bought some thin vinyl from Walmart as well as the fabric. So instead of costing me $40 on etsy, (seriously, that was the price!) I paid $4!




Here's a close up of the fabric. It was pretty cute I thought for cheap Walmart fabric! Anyway, it's nice to be able to just wipe the vinyl clean!


Thursday, January 29, 2009

Sweet Tooth

Yesterday we went up to help watch my nephews while their parents worked. We ended up staying later and had dinner and watched AI with them.

Nat was going to get a coke and asked if we wanted anything. Justin said he had a sweeth tooth, so he wanted a Laffy Taffy. Mitt then says, "I have a sweet tooth too. This tooth here (and he points to a tooth). So I want a Laffy Taffy too!!" It was so funny! I can't wait until Molly says words in English and we get a laugh out of it.

Monday, January 26, 2009

So Proud!

I have officially organized and put away all of my crafting supplies! It feels so good. I know you're thinking there must be more, and you're right. My sewing stuff is already put away.


Party

We had a fun time celebrating Lexie and Major's 2nd birthdays this weekend! We went to Jumpin Jacks and played on all their blow up toys. Molly enjoyed herself, but we think in another year it will be even more fun for her.

Molly and Daddy about ready to go down the slide

Molly playing hoop ball with Major

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Two More Things

As if I hadn't already posted twice already, I forgot two exciting things!

First off, and the most exciting is that my SIL, Sunny, is pregnant with TRIPLETS!! Yay and Aaahhh! I hope it's ok I'm sharing this on my blog, but it is such great news. Through the miracle of invitro, they were able to get exactly what they put in! And three for the price of one isn't too shabby, eh?

She is due at the end of July or August. I can't really remember exactly because she will most likely be early. They say triplets on average deliver at 32 weeks. So we expect sometime around there. I can't wait to see the three little ones! And thank goodness it's her and not me! ;) For the record, they are happy and I'm sure nervous. Can you imagine if that were you? She's trying to be really positive and to plan as well as possible, especially since they say they typically put you on bedrest with triplets around 20 weeks! Good thing she got herself a sewing machine for Christmas!

Alright and the other exciting news is that I am the proud owner of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7! Wahoo! I can't wait to get going on it. My pictures will be fab in no time! (at least that's the hope) So please if you have favorite things/places to go and do with this program, let me know!

Valentine Card Exchange

My lovely and talented cousin Erin suggested after seeing my love blocks that I might be interested in a card swap put on by little birdie secrets (http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentine-card-swap.html). I should have mentioned it earlier in case any of you were interested. Well I decided to get in on the swapping as I've never done cards before (a card swap that is).

After I had emailed them and agreed, I started to make some cards. Then I thought, "What was I thinking? I don't do cards!!" And I really don't do them very well. I just know that there are going to be people signed up that make AMAZING cards and they'll get one of mine and think wow, please don't let her ever be involved again!! Oh well. It's too late.

I didn't really follow the instructions that well because I was using left over materials from my blocks to create the cards. So making one card and replicating it wasn't really practical for me. So I just made all different ones! Some turned out pretty bad, no lie. I've only decided to show you some of my "better" ones. Take a peek.



This last one is my favorite I think. And I think it turned out the best in my stash. Pretty sad, huh?!
I'll post my new "swapped" cards when I get them!

The Results

I would have to say YUM! Definitely a good recipe. It was nice and moist. I think that's usually the problem with the recipes I've used in the past-the loaf dries out so soon and then you don't want any more!

I followed the directions and put in chocolate chips and no nuts (Justin wanted nuts but we didn't have any and I don't like them in banana bread anyway!). So there you go. If you want a good recipe, see the one in the post before or go to the comments where others have shared their favorite recipe.

Molly was also a fan, for the record.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Banana Bread

Do you have a banana bread recipe that you love? I really don't and wish that I did. I have about 4 very sad looking bananas, so I decided today was the day to make some bread. I went to www.foodnetwork.com to find a recipe and I think I may have found "the one"!

Here is the link to the recipe I'm going to try out: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giadas-weekend-getaways/flours-famous-banana-bread-recipe/index.html
There were 81 comments/reviews for this recipe and everyone seemed to absolutely love it, so I'm going to try it out. I'll post my results when finished!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Hair Bow Holder

Can anyone think of a cuter name for this? I can't think of anything besides hair bow holder...blah! Anyway, this was supposed to be a Christmas gift for Molly, but I obviously didn't get it done by then (otherwise you would have already seen it!). It wasn't hard, I was just slow/lazy/busy, your pick. Anyway, its been sitting around and today I finally went to the store to get some ribbon to hold the hair clips. (Mostly it took me so long because I couldn't decide what ribbon to use. I had some options, but didn't really like any of them.)

So here it is, all finished! I really like the green ribbon with the white and blue polk-a-dots. I think it added a nice touch. I was planning on hanging it on the wall, but now I'm wondering if I'll just put it on an easel instead...? I'm not quite sure, but the wood alone is almost 5 lbs.

Viola! I showed my parents (it's fun having a live audience when I've finished projects to show) and my dad thinks I should sell them! Ha! I'm sure there are 500 people on etsy that already do! There's no way I am the original on this! Although, I will have you know that I actually haven't seen this exact thing in person ever...I don't think.

And Molly wanted to make sure it met her approval. It's kind of nice to have them all here and not in a box so they're all covered up and I have to dig around to find the one I want!
For those who'd like the tutorial, here's what I did. I bought the piece of wood from a cool place called Wood Connection. Actually my mom and sister picked it up one day while they were there. I think it cost me $5 and the two holes at the top were already drilled in. Then of course I sanded and painted the edges and mod podged the scrapbook paper on. Then I glue gunned the ribbon on each end, top and bottom. That's it!

Too Cute


I think the pictures speak for themselves. Her little valentine shirt says lovebirds. I couldn't resist it at Target.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Draper Temple

Justin and I went today to the open house for the Draper, UT temple. Today is the first day actually, and it was great! Today is gorgeous and sunny in Utah and in the mid 40's! That's about as good as it gets for this month!

The temple is beautiful! (no surprise there!) Make sure you get a chance to go! There are even cookies at the chapel next door where you walk through as you leave :)

A few things I found interesting: The rock/stone on the outside of the temple comes from China, the limestone inside comes from France, and the wood inside comes from Africa! I loved so many of the fabrics used in the upholstery and especially enjoyed the brides room and the celestial room (the ceiling goes up like 100 feet, it's gorgeous! The chandelier is also amazing).

The open house lasts until March 14th, I believe, so there's lots of time to go visit!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Valentines is on my mind

The "holidays" are over, as we refer to them, but there is another holiday approaching...Valentines Day! Not that I'm necessarily a huge advocate of the day or anything, but if you don't know/can't tell, I love to decorate for any and every holiday (except St. Patricks...I just don't know about all the green. I love green, but thinking of putting shamrocks and leprechauns on my walls just doesn't seem right to me)!!

I have this plate rack that is now semi-permanently on the wall. Once I took down the Christmas plates there was nothing and it was looking kind of bare. So I was on the hunt for some Valentines plates. A great place to buy seasonal items of this nature is Secret Haven at the Rock Loft up in Kaysville? Not quite sure, but it's up north. Anyway, I called and they said they had some plates that they thought might work with my plate rack. My fabulous sister who lives up that way picked them up for me and brought them today! Hooray, no more bare wall.

This picture doesn't really do them justice, but they are cute! I promise.

Now I next was thinking that it would be fun to do some blocks. How I didn't copy this idea earlier is beyond me. I went over to Home Depot, picked up a 2x4 and had a guy cut it for me there into 4 inch blocks. I paid just under $2 for that! I was so happy with myself! Then I found some cute paper and embellishments. I would say for my four blocks it cost me under $10 to make them. Feel free to copy my copied idea!!










Monday, January 5, 2009

Tucson AZ

Here's a recap of our trip to Tucson. I'm already missing the nice 70 degree weather! I hear it's supposed to snow 1-5 inches here today :(


We did a lot of shopping with the girls. When the boys went golfing (four days were spent golfing, although Justin only went twice) the girls went to the shops.

Desert Museum

The Desert Museum was a lot of fun. Right by the entrance were these sculptures of javenilas. They look like wart hogs and Molly loved them! She got so excited when she saw them. She'd walk up to them and look at them, then walk to the other little sculptures.



There were tons of little exhibits here. We went through a little cave and they showed all sorts of minerals and gems. Here's Mark, Justin, Scott and Kyle sitting on the little train.

There were lots of animals as well. Here is a mountain lion. Molly loved the mountain lion! She would say oooh and woo woo.

Coyote. We saw two of them.


Another coyote.

There was a bird show as well. This is a great horned owl. They showed about 6 or 7 raptor birds. We spent several hours there, including lunch. Molly had a little kids cup with her kids meal and learned to drink for a straw for the first time! I was extremely excited about this. Life will be that much easier!
Bisbee, AZ

Bisbee was one of the first towns west of the Mississippi. They had a copper mine, which is why it was such a happening place. We drove clear out here one morning (it was a 2 hour drive) and checked out the town. It's a cute little town with houses kind of built to the side of the mountains. We had breakfast here and then went on the copper mine tour. It was really interesting. The mine was open over a hundred years, then closed in 1973.
Saguaro National Park



Kyle, me and Justin

Can you see all the cactus? This was the most I had seen in my life all in one place!
Cousins and gifts
Uncle Mark is the greatest! He was so helpful with both babies, it was nice to have him around. Molly totally loves him, he's so entertaining.

Little Laners. She's such a cutie and such a good baby. Molly would walk up to her and say hi, hi, hi. Of course Laney never answered.

Grandma bought this for Molly at the store one day. Molly loves it! She especially loves the little horse that comes out. She hasn't quite figured out how to manuever the little suitcase part, but soon she will and I can picture her walking through the airport with it!


Dinner
Here's all of us at dinner one night. We had Mexican (of course), italian, chinese, you name it over the course of the week.
Tombstone, AZ



They had a bunch of little shops and even these stage coaches that you could ride in. We were there on New Year's day, so a few of the shops were closed, but it was fun to be there.

Tombstone is known for a shootout where several people were killed. Wyatt Earp was the mayor of the town at the time. We saw the shoot out where they re-enacted what happened.


The graveyard.

We had a really good time. Justin's younger brother Mark served his mission here, so it was nice to have him as our tour guide. He knew where everything was and the quickest way to get there (usually). Molly did great considering we dragged her here and there and she took naps in the car, etc. When we got back home she took a three hour nap in her crib! She was so happy to be home.

Molly also became obsessed with telling everyone 'hi' on the trip. We were in TJ Maxx one day and she said hi to every person she saw. If they didn't say hi back, she would keep saying it! It was almost kind of embarassing! But when people would tell her hi first she wouldn't say anything! Silly girl.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Some pics

Starting off with the wedding...
Mr. and Mrs. Zack Pugh!!

Molly and the bride


The cake was not just beautiful to look at but very tasty too!

Molly and cousins

The happy couple
Christmas
"Einstein" hair

Christmas day. Notice Justin is thinking of warmer weather--

Molly's gift from grandma and grandpa. We weren't going to get it out of the box because we thought it would pack better staying in the box. So Molly decided she would just sit in or on the box so she could still play with it.
We just got back from Tucson where we enjoyed 70+ degree weather! And it's about 30 here...at least we had a week of sun! More to come from the trip once I get my pictures loaded.