What to Give

I've been looking for a cute Valentine gift to give my ladies I visit teach in church. I love this idea because it would be something they could hold on to for a while. Plus, I have left over seeds from my sister's baby shower favors. I also love how you could just use your thumb prints to make your own heart stamp. In the lesson I share with the ladies I could even tie in the seeds somehow.

I Heart You

The other day I was over at my friend Camille's home and noticed her Valentine decked out home. I usually don't end up thinking about decorating for a holiday until a week and a half before and by then I feel it is too late and don't end up doing any decorating. This year I'm hoping to break that habit. I was inspired by Camille's hearts taped up on her windows. I saw these window hangings using crayon shavings which reminded me of a kindergarten activity in grade school. Nostalgic and pretty to look at. I'm hoping this project I can do with Nora. Check out how to make them here.

Let's Discuss

My sister Darleen posted a topic of discussion the other day that I would like to share with you. She has a pet peeve of how people place the toilet paper roll. So I throw the question out to you. How do you hang the roll? With the toilet paper going over the top or the bottom. If you'd like to know my opinion I side with her and have commented on her post to help inform others of what might be the more appropriate way. Check out the post here.

My Girls

The other day I couldn't find a suitable coat for Aubrey to wear. I had to go "Ralphie" on Aubrey (her body is finally growing). It just had to do during this transition from 3-6 month to 6-9 month clothing. I thought it looked so cute and funny I had to share. Nora got in on the shoot and we got this great picture of her. Nora's goose egg bump on her forehead has disappeared and the bruising is finally going away. Can't wait till she is tall enough to see Grandma's granite overhang on her kitchen island. It still doesn't stop her from running around in her kitchen.

Our Beloved Prophet

The Testimony of a Prophet of the Lord






































Our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinkley passed away last night at 7pm Sunday the 27th of January with his family by his bedside. He was the first prophet of the church that I feel I truly knew. He will be missed. A true example of what true service of the Lord is. I hope that I may be someone who magnifies my call in that way. Prayers are going out to his family this day.

{pics and video via lds.org}

Recipe Book Find

The search for a great company to go through to make our family recipe books is still on. I just found 101 Cookbooks, a great site for recipes and for a class on how to make your own cookbook. The author shared the Taste Book site as a great publishing provider. I like the fresh look of their covers and the easy hard cover spiral book and user friendly site yet, I'm not quite sure if I'm completely sold. What do you think?
















{via tastebook.com}

Be Mine

This would be a fun gift to give out to a candy lover or receive for V-day or even better for a birthday. It's packed with such treats as Candy Buttons, Fun Dip, Wax Bottles and Candy Necklaces, this collection is sure to please anyone with fond memories of the candies of their childhood. Plus it's only $30. I would love to visit this store if ever I vacation in San Francisco. For a more sensual gift for a sweetheart they have a chocolate lovers gift set too.

{pics and description via the candy store}

Dada's Day Off

Happy Martin Luther King Jr.'s day! We love great leaders who help put things into perspective and into the light for us. To celebrate the national holiday Spencer took half the day off and we took the girls to the park. It was a little nippy from the wind but we had fun. Take a look.

Organize This

Again, there are many places in my home to organize. I'm also looking at my closet space and office space to tidy up. I would love to have a mail station like this, that would help me to stay on top of writing thank you's, notes, and birthday cards to friends and family.

I also have a serious problem with storing the magazines I can't seem to give up. I like the look of this magazine box.

In my linen closet I like to have my sheets separated from my towels and color coordinated by whites and colors. I don't have anything to separate them so they tend to get jumbled up out of place. Kangaroom Storage has some great looking collapsible boxes to help me out there.

{via real simple, ballard designs, kangaroom storage}

Personal Media Stations

Okay, one more thing that I need to get organized. All our personal media stuff.
























Here are some personal media charging units that I can put on my wish list. I love the craft/media/office organizer by Pottery Barn. Can't wait to get my own room someday. We also need a traveling bag for our personal media. I really liked this one.

{via kangaroom storage, pottery barn, brookstone}

Dirty Laundry

I'm looking to get organized for this year and have many places I want to tackle. The laundry room is one of them. We have a tri hamper station in our laundry room already but we are in need of more hamper space for all the many loads of wash we collect, (whites, colors, towels, sheets, not to mention the girls clothes as well). These are some I'm looking to buy for the girls room and for my husband in our room who can't seem to get to the hamper in our laundry room.

{via organize.com}

I Love Freezer Meals

I am a part of a freezer meal group with some of the gals from my church. Six of us get together every other month or so to put together 10 family sized meals to put in our freezer. It is such a nice feeling to know you have something on hand for those nights you don't want to make dinner or you need to make a great meal for guests but you don't want to do it all. Plus the meals are a good testing ground for recipes. There are some recipes that have been put on the 'could do this everytime' list and others where one time was enough. Although it takes us a good 3-4 hours to put the meals together it makes for good times with friends and break time for mom.

Here are some links on freezer recipes and if a freezer group isn't your thing maybe going through an awesome company is. Check out here, here, and here.

Amy's Shower

We had fun putting on Amy's baby shower this past weekend. A huge thanks has to go out to Melissa for helping with the shower and providing the chocolate fountain and vibrant pink chocolate to go with the party theme. A big thanks to my honey for helping with the shower and putting up with me the days prior and another thank you for Bethany and again Melissa hanging out at my house a couple of times to make the pom poms for the shower. All in All I would say it was a success.

Party colors were pink and white. Decorations consisted of the hanging pom poms, the pink and white tree (can't wait to take that one down), and the light pink roses.

For the food we had ham and cream cheese wraps, veggie bars, fruit salad, pink grapefruit, mini tortilla cups with artichoke dip, and chicken strips on a stick with almond sauce. The dessert was the pink chocolate fountain with fun goodies to dip in like rice crispy treats, angle food cake, strawberries, cream puffs, etc. We had a warm mulling spice drink and lemon water for liquids. Many who came appreciated what we had and took some home to their families.

For a game we played gift bingo while Amy opened her gifts and had some great candles and spa gifts.

The party favors had a little handmade glass magnet and poem (that you can read when you enlarge the collage picture), that went with the lullaby theme.

The guest of honor Amy and baby Ava in utero. Check out the awesome blanket her neighbor made for her with her baby's name on it. Click on the collage.

Super Why! Hip Hip Hooray

Nora and I look forward most mornings to watch our new favorite show, Super Why! When it comes on we jump up and try to dance like the characters on it. I actually think it has motivated Nora to try to sound out words when we are reading her books. Mind you, my child is only two!

To premise before you watch, Super Why! has four main characters that try to tackle problems in Story Book Villiage. To solve their problems they look to books that play off of popular fairy tales. We never get tired of our reading adventures with this one. Hope you enjoy as much as us.

The Chart

A few have asked for the method to my cleaning madness. Here it is. You may notice that 'sweep kitchen floor' is on my bi-weekly schedule (although it's actually done as needed). This is the beauty of having your own cleaning schedule. You get to be the one to decide if something is done daily, yearly or sometime in between. It's your choice.

You may also notice my poor practical chart is bound together with a lone key ring I found in our desk drawer. This was in despiration to get going with the whole cleaning schedule thing before I wimped out of it. So here it is in all it's glory. I hope you like.

Remember, your things to clean and pick up or organize will be different from mine. So take a few minutes out of your day if you haven't already and think what might be on your list to keep your home clean. Then break the tasks up over a period of time. That simple.

Some say cleaning house is a waste of life but I say a dirty home and frazzled homemaker is a waste of life.

Clean House

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of house work that needs to be done? Well, I do and if I think about it too hard and too long it gets to be too much and nothing will end up getting cleaned or done in the house. One of my resolutions for the year was to have a stress free cleaning schedule to aid me in my problem of cleaning house. So, I made a list of all the things that need to get cleaned or organized within a week or two week period and then broke those things up between Mon.-Sat. for a two week period. Each day ended up with two tasks a day. Doable, right? I just started my second week putting this schedule to the test and I love it. In the future I may have to adjust what I do and when I do it but so far so good and that's the beauty of having your own schedule, it's yours and can be flexible for change. For those of you who feel there is no hope, there is. I found a great cleaning chart to help you know how often things should be cleaned or changed, check it out here. May your days be stress free and your home be clean and tidy.




{photos via Real Simple}

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a very happy birthday this year with family. Instead of cake I chose coconut cream pie and sourcream blueberry pie from Marie Calendars. Spencer thought it might be funny to use trick candles. You can't tell in the pictures but the poor pie had ashes all over it and people were still willing to eat it. Not the most appitizing thing to look at let alone eat. Good thing the coconut cream (my favorite), was unharmed. We had lots of laughs and fun. Next...off to a new year of life.

Springs Preserve

We have had the pleasure of having my brother Nathan's family in town for the past week and thought it might be nice to stop into the Springs Preserve's Winter Festival of lights. Although they didn't have the best festival of lights we had fun watching a cute puppet show for the kids, sipping hot cocoa, and listening to a youth orchestra. Nora was loving the music played by the youth orchestra so much that she got up and danced the whole time. That was the best part of the night watching our two year old get down to classical sonnets and Christmas songs. The youth orchestra was playing to raise money for a Europe trip (which they truly deserve because they were so good) but I think Nora stole the show with her awesome dance moves. Fun times.

They've Broke!

The teeth have finally broke and for this short period of time (before more come in), my baby is back to normal. Still drooling like crazy but her temperment is way more enjoyable. Thanks for all the great tips and support.

Happy New Year!

Since family was in town we opted not to put on a party like what I posted about before and decided to hang out with my side of the family. Well, since my family only celebrated until 8 pm we went home and had Spencer's sister come over and our friends, the Hale's, come over at the last minute. We played Ticket to Ride Europe the board game and Guitar Hero and toasted with some Martinellis to ring in the new year. Although it was not the party I had talked about it was a fun way to celebrate the new year. Happy New Year all!

One I'll be Missing

This Christmas Pyramid will be missed when I put it away till next year. It was the first year we had it out since being married. Spencer got this while on his mission for our church and it has been hiding in his parents storage. Nora, has loved to watch the Nativity scene turn around and around endlessly by the candles. Don't you love the oversized candles. It has been a fun center piece to display. Until next year Christmas pyramid.