Sharon learning to crawl

New Scrapbook pages

I posted some new scrapbook pages on my Scrapbook page. You can find the link in the right sidebar along with "home" and "digital scrapbooking info." Or you can just click on this link & then scroll down a bit.

Praying for inanimate objects

We take a lot of pictures, have a lot of music, & I have tons of digital scrapbook supplies...which I keep on an external harddrive, rather than on the computer, so that they don't slow the computer down. I've learned my lesson. When we came home from vacation & I tried to save my newest pictures onto the external harddrive it wouldn't show up on the computer, & would make an ominous clicking noise when trying to boot up. After a few more unsuccessful tries I decided to call someone. So, our harddrive is at Bits & Bytes & they are trying to save it. I called yesterday & the guy said they are still working on it. Either that could mean we are in some serious trouble, or they hadn't been working on it but will start just because I called. I'm hoping it's the latter! You have no idea how much the stuff on that small electronic device means to me. I could never put a price on it! All the pictures are worth more to me than my home, I think. I'm pretty sure if they tell me it's beyond all hope I will just break down in tears. Thankfully I do have a number of those pictures on the internet, & I just printed most of those scrapbook pages. The others are on my blog, even though they are saved at a much smaller resolution. So, in the future I will definitely have a second (possibly third) copy of all my pictures, music & supplies. Needless to say, we are definitely praying for this inanimate object & the techs working on it.

Homemade Yogurt

I'm sure that some of you are a little concerned after reading this post's title, but let me just tell you, this stuff is so good & so easy to make! I couldn't believe it was so easy after reading this tutorial at JCasaHandmade, so I decided to give it a try. I did use the greek plain yogurt, mainly because it was one of the only plain yogurts in a smaller size that I could find yesterday. I just used the regular old 2% milk, not organic like she suggests, because that stuff is expensive, & regular was only $1.68 a gallon.
When I heated the milk it didn't really get a skin on it because I didn't want to leave it without stirring for too long so that it wouldn't get burned. I just heated it until it was getting close to boiling. I was so excited this morning when I remembered that I had fresh yogurt in the fridge.

I don't know about you, but eating plain yogurt plain isn't very appealing to me, so I added a little bit of sugar and cut up fresh strawberries with just some instant oats to go in it. It was so good! For my second bowl (I told you it was good) I just added a few spoonfuls of homemade blackberry jam. I'm sure you could add any fresh fruit or jam that you want, I just happened to have those on hand. I am really excited about being able to make my own yogurt because it is so much cheaper to do it this way, and it is so thick and creamy! I can't wait for Ammon to try it!

Enjoying Vacation

 Well, we are enjoying our sort-of-vacation. Ammon has to spend his days in boring meetings for work, but it sure is nice getting paid to visit family. Today my mom & I went to the Restaurant Depot to get some bulk chicken. No that doesn't mean the chickens were fat, hardy-har-har. We bought 120 pounds of chicken breasts & thighs & are planning on canning them tomorrow once they've thawed. I'm so excited to have canned chicken again, as I used my last jar last week. It is so tasty & tender!
I ran 2 miles on Monday & should have run today, but woke up a little too late & didn't have time. So, I am going to go running tomorrow even if it means that I have to push Sharon in the jogging stroller.
Jack is enjoying playing with my parents' dog, the weather has been pretty nice, my family is crazy, we watched the season finale of Survivor the other day, & we're just having a great time hanging out together.
I'll be adding some more items to my Etsy shop when we get back home, & I bought some new flowers to make into clips. I am really excited about these because the flowers are so bright and summery! See you when I get back home!

Last Day

Hi all! I just want to let you know that I am going to try to choose a winner of the photo shoot giveaway tomorrow. So, head on over to enter!

Homemade Pizza

I had a craving for some good homemade pizza the other day, especially since my new Pampered Chef flat stone had just been delivered & I really wanted to try it out. So, I used a quick & easy pizza dough recipe & made my own pizza sauce & covered it with wonderful toppings. Here are the recipes I used:

Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups flour

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees (I might have lowered it to 425). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, salt & oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface & pat or roll into a round (I just brought it over to my baking stone that I'd sprinkled corn meal on & rolled it & stretched it until it fit to the edges). Spread with desired toppings & bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Pizza Sauce (if your pizza is larger like mine, go ahead & double the recipe)

1 can tomato paste

water

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic (or 1 Tbsp garlic powder)

salt & pepper

1/2 Tbsp oregano

1/2 Tbsp basil

(the recipe calls for 1/2 Tbsp rosemary but I didn't like the flavor of it when we ate the pizza, so I would leave it out)

Mix all the ingredients except the water. Then, add a bit of water at a time, stirring until mixed in, until the sauce is smooth & spreadable but not too runny (basically however you like it).

Spread on your pizza dough, add cheese, & whatever toppings you want. I did sausage, olives, mushrooms, & chopped tomato. I would have put pepperoni on also but it was pretty full with everything else. I'll just have to make another pizza this week.

P.S. You can still enter my photo shoot giveaway over at Becky's Blog, so if you live in or near Kingman, feel free to enter!

Mother's Day Post

There is so much I could say today about what an amazing mom I have, but I don't think words can truly convey what I really feel about my mom. In thinking about all the time, effort, energy, love, tears, & prom dresses my mom has put into raising me & my siblings, I can only describe it as a labor of love. One way I can think of to thank my mom is by trying my best to be as wonderful a mom as she is! I am so thankful to be a part of a church that puts so much importance on families & mothers. I am so thankful to be a mother, for the amazing experience it has already proven to be. So I want to say, on this mother's day, thank you Mom! You are amazing & you inspire me to be a better person & mother! I love you!

New Item for Sale

I just finished a receiving blanket & burp cloths set & they are now available in my Etsy shop. Go check it out! I will have more colors & fabrics for sale soon (as fast as I can with a teething infant), so let me know if you want something specific. These would make a great gift for a new mommy!

Ouch

Today I went for a run for the first time in about 5 years...and my body can tell already. We went for a run together as a family, even Jack & Sharon came, to start training for a 5 & 10 K in July. I'm doing the 5k & Ammon's doing the 10k. I ran for exactly 11 minutes & ran 1 mile. I'm fairly sure I will be really sore tomorrow, but I know that once we get over the first few runs & the pain, things will go a whole lot more smoothly. So, here we go.

Shake those Booties

For any of you who want to make your own cloth shoes, I used this free pattern.

It's Giveaway Day

Today is my photo shoot giveaway on Becky Higgins blog! If you want to enter to win just go & enter a comment!

Sharon's 8 month page

8 months

Sharon is now 8 months! I know, I can hardly believe it too! She is as cute as ever & is more fun every day. She likes to jabber to herself, is rolling over all the time, trying to sit up by herself (though not quite there yet), she likes to grab her feet now, I think she's started teething, & she loves to smile at Mom & Dad, & even Jack when he walks by. I wanted to take her 8 month pictures & also practice taking some outdoor pictures in anticipation of the upcoming photo shoot giveaway, so we headed to a town park this evening. It was pretty windy & a little chilly, so we weren't able to stay as long as I would have liked, but I did get some good pictures. Tell me what you think. Which ones are your favorites. I love this first one! It is how she is most of the time & I think it really shows her beautiful eyes well! I love her toothless grin!