Lights... and House

Last weekend, we went and saw the lights downtown. The Grand
America Hotel is having a Gingerbread Festival so we went and saw
the house that were up for bidding. I wanted to buy one, but with
bidding beginning at $100, I will just admire. They were gorgeous
and I wanted to come home and make one. Guess I will settle for
the graham cracker ones we make at the ward christmas party.
Everything was so beautiful. I love this tradition!!!

A Busy Weekend

My parents came out for Thanksgiving. It was quite a busy weekend. My older sister just bought a house, so we spent a few days out there painting and getting it ready to move in. In the middle of this we had Thanksgiving at my house. It turned out really well. I had to do the turkey, which I have never done before. I bought the kind that is already done you don't even have to touch. That is seriously the way to go. The dinner was great. And while we had all of the family here, my brother-in-law blessed my nephew. We got all of the food cooked and transported with no accidents, and even quite a bit of leftovers that we are still enjoying. To end the weekend, we came back to my house to watch the BYU - Utah game. BYU won!! It was a great weekend, even though it was probably more work than going to school!

Carving Pumpkins

We were debating about whether to carve pumpkins or not. Finally, we talked ourselves into doing it. We usually have a good time, but we just have to get going. Here are the results. I think they all turned out really good.


A look at all four.

Captain Crunch by PJ.

Avoid the Noid by me. (remember the Noid from the Domino's Pizza commercials? He is the dude that makes your pizza cold.)

Of course we had to do the Y logo by guess who?!

Mr. Koolaid by Em

Starting Early...

We are starting early to train a new BYU fan. The hat is a bit big
but he looks so cute in it!!! (couldn't resist adding another picture.)



His dad is a Ute fan, so Em and I had to dress him up for game day!



Not sure his dad likes it, but .... oh well!

PUMPKIN CRAZY!!!

I have decided I really love pumpkin treats. My neighbor brought
over some pumpkin cake that was super good. I don't know why
I have waited so long in the season to begin pumpkin baking, but
I decided I have waited long enough. I need those treats!

Delicious Pumpkin Cake from my neighbor.


My pumpkin roll, that I couldn't resist any longer.
The best part about the pumpkin treats.... the cream cheese frosting!!!

Welcome....

He finally decided to come after being a week late!
He is so cute looking and has a nice round face.
He comes home today and my mom is coming today. I am so
excited!!

Are you ready for some football?

I am not a huge sports fan, but I do cheer for the Cougars. I do watch a total of 30 minutes of any given game, but I am married to the biggest BYU fan that ever lived. As a result I am getting ready for game time. He has got his tickets, we got our new game shirts, we both got new hats (mine is a cute visor!) the banner is hung and the blocks are out. We are decked out and ready to go. Game time is in 94 hours and 9 minutes. It will be nationally televised, (if anyone cares to watch) and we are playing the #1 ranked team Oklahoma. We are 20 point underdogs - but a true fan will still cheer on their team. GO COUGARS!!!

The cute blocks.


The window flag.

Random

So this post is full of random things from the past month.


School starts next week. Here is my bulletin board. It is a wordle that I cut out with my cricut.


We spent a week in Twin Falls California with my whole family. It was a bit windy, but we had a great time. It was a nice summer vacation.


My new birthday banner. I used my cricut to cut it out. I love that machine!!


My birthday - my little sister gave me the movie "Three Men and a Baby" - so funny!!!!



Flowers for our anniversary.


Because she loves to be on here!!

It's a crafting kind of day...

My niece came down to spend the day with me. She has two younger siblings, and she feels like she is always left with the babies, so we had a play day. This first craft is her pink purse that she made out of pink duck tape and staples. It was really easy, with no sewing.


This is her slimy "gak." It was a great hit with her younger siblings! It had to be blue because I couldn't find the red.


She did a great job on her flipflops. It is just pieces of ribbon that she tied to the tops. There was a ribbon with pink flipflops on it, that I think was her favorite. Can you tell she likes pink?


She did all of the other projects by herself, but I had to help with this one because I don't have left handed scissors and this one required cutting. She used the hot glue gun and she thought she was pretty cool. This is out of a grocery sack. She was excited because now she has a "lucky BYU flower to wear on game days."

Summer Love

I love to wash my car. The first car I got, I washed it two to three times a week. I haven't been that bad, but I do wash my car at least once a week. I love going out in the late evening (after the sun is down) and washing my car. Plus, since it is black it is beautiful when cleaned!
(On the sad side, coming home from the reunion I got a cracked windshield. It is now halfway across the windshield. Bummer.)

I love scrapbooking. I haven't had much time this summer, but I am completely devoting next week to this obsession.

I love sewing. That is how I spent the first half of my summer - making that quilt for my mom.

I love Mimi's Cafe - Carrot Raisin Bread. It is so delicious. I tried to make some today, but it isn't the same. Maybe I will have to alter the recipe a bit and try it again.

We have been going to baseball games in the evening. They are all just community teams, but it has been fun to go watch the games in the evening and then get an ice cream. (I know this is strange of me - because I don't love watching sports.)

When it is 100 degrees outside - I love to stay inside and feel my nice air conditioning.

I love playing Mario Kart.

Good thing I have summer to enjoy all my favorite things!

Pine Wood Derby

A couple of weeks ago my family had a reunion. As part of the festivities, we had a pine wood derby. PJ spent hours on his and he wanted it to be just perfect. (He is first a BYU fan, and second an Avalanche hockey fan.) His zamboni turned out great. My sisters and I got together to make ours. We are girls and have no experience in this area. So we bought kits and made them. Needless to say we didn't win, but it was fun. PJ beat my mom but then he got beat by an 8 year old. Go Hailey!! After the races everyone got a ribbon, so PJ is displaying his at home with a blue ribbon.

Here was last weeks project - it was for my dad's birthday. Obviously, he is a huge BYU fan. I saw one of these online but it was like $60. So, I decided to go the cheaper option and make it my self. I pulled out my Cricut and had it done fairly quick. I love the way it turned out. P is now begging for one for his office.

Burgers an d Fries

For Father's Day Em and I were in charge of dessert. I found a new thing to try.... burgers and fries. They are made from cupcakes, brownies and cookies. They turned out really cute and weren't as much work as some of the other treats we've made.

Ramblin' Rose

My sister-in-law is a huge quilter and talked me into making this quilt with her. It is titled "Ramblin' Rose." It was block a month deal - for the decorated squares. The class ended a year and a half ago. So, since school has been out - I got to working on finishing this project. I am giving it to my mom for her birthday. I am just glad to be done with it.

Cake Balls

I have discovered cake balls. They are really easy and good to eat, though super sweet. I made the smiley face pops for my kids for the last day of school. They loved them. They were a little time consuming, but I think they turned out really cute. They were chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, dipped in yellow chocolate.


I made these cake balls for my nephew's baptism. They were yellow cake with yellow frosting, dipped in white chocolate with a lemon drizzle. They were a little more difficult to make, I used a different white chocolate. They aren't as perfect as I would have liked, but they still tasted really good. These were even more time consuming. They are so cute, but I need to keep practicing to find the most efficient way, but then again - who has time for that?

Strawberry Jam

I love jam - especially the homemade kind. Strawberries were on sale at one of my favorite stores Sunflower Farmers Market. I decided I was getting low, and with strawberries for only $.88 each, I couldn't go wrong. My little sister came down and we made terrific batch. I just need some home made bread to go with it. Hmm.... that sounds good. Think I will make some for dinner. YUM.