Grateful

Today I've done very little in regards to housework, or any work in general. I'm feeling sick, so aside from dropping off a package at the post office, going to the doctor, and filling my prescription, I've mostly sat on the couch. As I look around my disaster of a house, I can't help but be a bit grateful for a few somewhat odd things.

1. I'm grateful for a cluttered living room. Toys may be scattered everywhere, Savannah may have ripped a magazine to shreds, a stack of laundry is stuck in limbo on the couch half folded & just waiting to be put away, and a box of dress-up clothes is overflowing everywhere, but having a messy floor means that I have a home. I am so grateful to own our home, to have our own space & be able to fix things when they break, and to not worry about putting nails in the walls to hang pictures.

2. I'm grateful for dirty dishes. No, I haven't finished washing all my dishes from Thanksgiving leftovers. Yes, the stacks of dishes are getting perilously high. No, I don't feel like washing them today. But, I am certainly grateful for those dishes because it means we have enough food to eat. We aren't going hungry, and we can afford to splurge a little on ice cream, somewhat expensive cheese & deli meat, and a bag of chocolate every now and then.

3. I'm grateful for the cold. What?! Don't shout so loudly! I can explain! I'm grateful for the cold mainly because it means that I can finally wear my cute peacoat & hand crocheted scarf! I also like the cold because I can always put more warm clothes on to feel nice & toasty. When it's hot, you can only take off so many clothes before you get arrested.

I love this time of year, when people turn a little nicer, strangers smile & say hello, hearts are turned toward those less fortunate, and sitting on the couch with a mug of cocoa can make my day. I hope you enjoy the upcoming Christmas season. Take time to spend some lazy moments with your family. Laugh until you cry, or shoot milk out your nose. Go for a walk in the snow, or at least in the slightly chilly evening. Listen to Christmas carols as often as you'd like. And always remember the reason for the season, that Jesus Christ is our Lord & Savior.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well hi there! I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving! As for me, I'm making my very first Thanksgiving feast (of course, I've eaten many a feast, just never cooked it all by myself). I'm roasting a chicken instead of a turkey, but I'm making cranberry sauce, pumpkin and pecan pies, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, bacon wrapped asparagus, and of course a birthday cake for my sweet Savannah who is turning one on Thanksgiving!
I hope you enjoy this free printable Thanksgiving sign. Feel free to save it to your computer and print it at your favorite photo printing place. It is sized to an 8x10. You can get the high resolution image {here}.
And just so you know, I almost wasn't able to post it, because when I went to upload it, I was informed that I've maxed out my free Picasa storage space and would have to purchase more if I'd like to continue to post photos on my blog. I deleted some random photos from my account, just so I could post this! Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do? Is there any way that I can get around having to pay for more storage? Anyway, happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much!

If you download the print, could you leave a comment, just so I know the download is working properly? Thanks so much!

I'm back & have an update

Well hello my long ignored blogging friends! I've been super busy lately. Mostly I've been making crafts, sewing, & making more crafts. I was getting ready for my first craft fair. Yeah, it didn't go well. But thanks for asking.  Since this was my first fair, I really had no idea what to sell, how much to sell it for, or how many layers of clothes I should wear. Now that it's over, I can definitely look back & say that I was catering to the wrong age group. I had lots of items for children (only saw a handful of kids at the fair, and only a few younger women), and while I absolutely love all the things I had for sale, others clearly didn't share my love.
So, now that the fair is over, I decided to try selling my crafts in my Etsy shop. I'm giving Etsy another go, so hopefully I'll have a bit more success than I did at the craft fair! So here's a link to my {shop}. Please check out my listings, and maybe {if you love me} you could come back and tell me what you think. I'd love some feedback! Here are a few pictures of my favorite items! Enjoy!

The Book of Mormon App

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons. As a Mormon, I believe in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is similar to the Bible, but is written by people who were living in the Americas before and at the time of Christ. Jesus Christ visited them after his resurrection and taught them many of the same things that he taught to the Jews while he was alive. Recently, the church created a free app that contains text and audio versions of The Book of Mormon. To learn more, check it out here. To download it from the Apple store, go here.
I've read The Book of Mormon many times in my life, starting as a small child reading with my family. I first read it on my own around age 14, and have read it over again many times since. I want you to know that I know that it is a true book. In my current reading, I am in 3rd Nephi, which is when Christ visits the people called the Nephites. It is beautiful scripture, and always touches my heart. I know that I can come closer to Christ by reading The Book of Mormon, and invite you to do the same.

And hey, if you read it and don't like it, you won't be out anything, as it's totally free!

Cloth Diapering

When my older sister told me that she was planning on using cloth diapers for her first baby, I finally convinced myself that I wanted to give it a shot, also. I've thought about using them for awhile, and just never wanted to take that leap. A friend of mine also uses cloth diapers and told me that the ones she uses are so much more affordable than some of the more popular cloth diaper brands. So, I checked it out. I looked at a lot of different brands, read many articles & blogs with advice & experiences, and in the end, while other brands may be better quality, or more absorbent, I opted for a good product for a great price.
I ordered from Sun Baby Diapers. For my first order, I didn't want to order a bunch of diapers without knowing whether I would like them, or not, so I opted to buy the pack of 6 diapers with 12 microfiber inserts. These are pocket diapers, so they have the waterproof outer shell and a fleece lining that creates a pocket, into which you stuff an absorbent liner. They also have tons of snaps (instead of Velcro) to accommodate many sizes. I was so excited when the diapers finally arrived! The shipping did take awhile as they shipped from China, where the seller lives, but it was also free shipping.

I have been so impressed with these diapers. I've had them for a few weeks now & have never had a problem with leaking. They are simple to snap on, even with my 10 month old squirming all around. They seem super comfortable & I haven't noticed any squeezing on my daughter's legs. As for the "what do I do with the poop" issue, it really hasn't been bad. I give it a quick dunk & swish in the toilet, and then just put the soiled diapers into my washing machine. I don't do laundry every day, so the diapers can sit there until I have enough to do a load. Six diapers is just enough to get me through the day, but I definitely wanted to have more, so I don't have to wash them every day. I recently placed another order, this time for 12 diapers with just 12 microfiber inserts. My two orders totaled $105. So, I've ordered 18 diapers with 24 inserts, which works out to about $5.85 per diaper, with a few extra inserts. That's a whole lot better than between $10 and $20 a diaper!
With cloth diapering, it kind of made sense to just use cloth wipes. Again, I researched a lot to find out the best way. If you want to pay tons of money, there are certainly organic wipes & special sprays you can use. For me, I like to just use a spray bottle filled with water to get her bum clean. I made some wipes by cutting squares of flannel & serging the edges & these work great. I also really like the wipes that I made by just cutting up some thrift-store-bound t-shirts into handy squares. I just stuff them all into a disposable wipes container for easy access.
I did buy a wetbag to use for dirty diapers while on the go, and it works perfectly. We are definitely cloth diaper fans & it certainly doesn't hurt to see those chubby baby legs sticking out of a big, fluffy cloth diaper.
I'm sure if you asked someone else about cloth diapers, you would get completely different advice, but I just wanted to share my experience with this seller because it has been so positive.
I wasn't compensated in any way for this post, I just wanted to share a good product with which I've been very impressed.

And the page of Christmas Day

Christmas 2011 pages

I'm playing a little bit of catch-up on my scrapbook pages, since I never got around to scrapbooking photos from around Christmas, due to have a newborn at the time. Here are the photos from our Christmas Eve dinner of Scottish food.

A scrapbook page of iPod photos

Savannah is 10 months old

General Conference is October 6th-7th

 

Sharon's 1st Dance Class

What we've been up to lately

It's been awhile since I just did a normal blog post. I haven't really had much time or space to do any crafting lately. My craft room is a disaster as it has kind of become a general dumping ground for things that don't have a designated spot. I'm working on cleaning it off so that I can get back to my creative ways. We do stay busy around here, though, so I thought I would share some pictures of what we've been up to lately. Savannah has started standing up all on her own. The bottom left picture shows her first attempt outside. She thankfully didn't stand up, because I'm sure she would have fallen right onto her face.

We spent a week in Phoenix with my family last week, and while we were there I got my hair cut (it's finally the cut that I've been dreaming of, since the last guy kind of did a hack job on the stacking in the back), I went wedding dress shopping with my sister for her upcoming wedding (she was able to get the perfect dress for an amazing price! Score!), I took the girls to the Children's Museum of Phoenix with my Mom & sister, Janelle. Sharon had such a great time at the museum! I would definitely recommend it to those of you with smaller children. There were things to explore everywhere! She loved the 3 and under area, where they have a little house, with a little kitchen & a monster mom! Savannah enjoyed all the baby areas, and I loved how she looked holding on to the little ballet bar. My favorite thing at the museum was the interactive cactus next to the noodle forest. The cactus has a crank on one side, a belt that goes vertically up the trunk and has little squares of velcro attached to it, little critters that also have velcro that you stick to the belt, and a fan at the top that whacks the little critters all the way across the room when you wind the crank & move the belt. So fun!
While there we went swimming a few times, I found some great clearance clothes, including my favorite shirt from Target for only $3 (I bought one in every color), went out to eat with my sister and her fiance, and just hung out with the family.
I also entered a few things into the Mohave County fair. I won a first place ribbon for this picture of Sharon with the fish she sort of helped catch.

And got a second place ribbon for this photo of Savannah.

I also won a first place ribbon for my prickly pear jelly, second place for grape jelly & an honorable mention for my bottled chicken.
Sharon loved seeing all the animals at the fair, and even Savannah got pretty excited to see some of the little critters! She would start kicking her legs and waving her arms and making all sorts of squealing noises. They liked seeing all the lights once it got dark, but definitely didn't like all the noise from the rides and the people.
One of the most hilarious things I've seen was the chicken wearing the sweater! It was on display with all the other animals at the fair! On the tag it said, "Chicken sweaters for sale (xxx)xxx-xxxx." So hilarious! I'm glad Ammon thought to take a picture of it!
I've been making lots of yogurt, trying to catch up on laundry, chasing two munchkins around, enjoying our homegrown veggies, playing out on the back lawn in the evenings, getting rid of clutter around the house, and just enjoying life.

Updated Yogurt Recipe

Someone recently asked for the recipe I use to make my Greek yogurt, so I thought I would type it up to share with everyone. I orginally followed a tutorial found {here}, but I've changed a few things since first making it.

 I like to use a thermometer to get the yogurt to the right temperatures and like to strain the yogurt after letting it sit overnight to make it thicker like Greek yogurt. It turns out nice and thick and tangy. So, here is my recipe.

Homemade Greek Yogurt
1/2 gallon of milk (I've used whole or 2%)
6-8 oz container of plain yogurt (I like to use the Dannon Greek Yogurt)

Set out your starter yogurt so that it can get to room temperature.
Heat the milk in a large pot until it doesn't quite boil and starts to get a little frothy (if you have a thermometer, heat it to 185 degrees).
Remove from heat & let cool until you can hold your finger in it for 10 seconds without screaming (about 110 degrees, definitely not above 120 degrees, but not cooler than 110).
Stir, or whisk, the starter yogurt into the milk. Pour into a bowl or pot that has a lid, or canning jars. Put on the lid(s) and wrap in towels (or you can use a wonderbox, which is what I do. I've also seen recipes that use a crock pot, or just a sunny window. You just want to keep the yogurt warm, around 100 degrees).
Let sit overnight. You want to leave it at least 7 hours, but the longer you leave it, the thicker it will get. After it sits overnight, I like to strain it a little bit to make it thicker like the greek yogurt. Line a colander with cheese cloth & pour in the thickened yogurt. You can place a bowl underneath and put it all in the fridge. I just left mine in the sink. Let strain for up to two hours for very thick yogurt. I've also started hanging the yogurt filled cheese cloth, by just grabbing each corner & using a clothes pin to pin it the side of my dish drainer at the edge of my sink.
I love to eat it with honey drizzled over the top. If I'm sharing with my baby, I omit the honey & use sugar & vanilla instead, since babies shouldn't have honey. I love to add fresh fruit, or a swirl of jam, and some granola. I usually do this by the bowl, not to the whole batch at once. Be creative. The unsweetened yogurt can also be used like sour cream. I've used it in burritos, potato salad & to top enchiladas.
Be sure to give it a stir each time you take it out of the fridge, just in case more liquid has separated. Also, be sure to save about a cup of it to use as a starter for your next batch. Enjoy!

For my last few batches, I've used an entire gallon of milk & just the same size container of plain yogurt as starter & it has done just fine. It makes 2 quarts of yogurt, which makes it so that I don't have to make yogurt quite as often. We really like it, so it still tends to go pretty quickly! I also no longer put a paper towel on the yogurt when I put it in the fridge. Straining it in the cheesecloth gets enough of the extra whey out that the paper towel just isn't necessary. I have noticed that after straining, the yogurt gets a little thicker after sitting in the fridge.

The Party Details

 I made a pinata for the party this year. I was inspired by the pinata on this page. I decided to make the pinata base, as well, rather than buy one. I just did a basic paper mache on a large party balloon. If you've never done paper mache, you must have skipped grade school, all you do is mix flour & water until it's thin enough to dip strips of newspaper into (or, in my case, since we don't get the newspaper, I used the Republican voting information booklet, just the section that was in Spanish). Then, dip one inch by 4 inch strips of newspaper into the flour soup, use your fingers to scrape off most of it, and apply to your balloon. Cover the whole balloon with one layer, let dry, apply another layer, let dry...repeat until you think it's thick enough. The pinata was sturdier than I thought it would be. I only did 3 layers of paper mache, and instead of breaking when it was hit, it just got dented. Eventually it fell off of the wire hanger that I installed, so I just ripped it open for the kids. They didn't mind.

 I made tissue paper pom-poms in each color of the rainbow, just using the basic tutorial from Martha Stewart. I hung them up over our dining table light using push pins and fishing line.

 For the cake, I just used two basic Devil's Food Cake boxed cake mixes & 1 1/2 tubs of store-bought cream cheese frosting. I used 3 layers of cake & just used the cream cheese frosting between the layers. I used an offset spatula to get the outside nice and smooth (it could have been smoother, but she's 3 years old and doesn't really care). I used this recipe to make the marshmallow fondant. I did have a problem with the fondant being too dry & crumbly, and it didn't mix together well, so I squished as much of it together as I could & threw it in the microwave for about 15 seconds & it mixed perfectly after that. I divided it into 7 sections & added this food coloring to make the 7 colors. After icing the cake, I rolled out the fondant & cut out a bunch of circles & two stripes in each color. The circles went around the side & the stripes went on top in rainbow order. I made the pom pom bunting with two skewers, white yarn & leftover tissue paper circles from the pinata just stapled onto the yarn. (By the way, I made that cake stand using a dollar store plate & a thrift store goblet)

As you can see, Sharon was pretty excited about it. All in all, none of these things were really difficult, just time consuming. I love doing it, especially when I can see how happy it makes Sharon!

Sharon's 3rd Birthday page

Sharon was so excited about her birthday this year! She loved her birthday cake (though she mostly just ate the ice cream and the fondant) & kept dragging her little step stool into the kitchen so she could stare at it. She couldn't stop talking about her friends coming over for her birthday party & we had a great time celebrating her birthday this year! I can't believe how much she's grown. She sure is our little lady & is a major chatterbox! Happy birthday Sharon!

The White Dress

Savannah is 9 months

A few catch-up scrapbook pages

Savannah's 8-month page

7 Years of Marriage

I can hardly believe that it's been seven years since this day!

Ammon and I met at the Institute at NAU. I will admit that his habit of wearing tight fitting Wranglers, boots & a cowboy hat may have had some influence on my attraction to him. 

He was a little bit quiet in crowds, but tons of fun once you get to know him. He had a slightly dry sense of humor, but could definitely make me laugh. 

We went on quite a few dates, which were mostly pretty simple. I remember one of our first dates when we went grocery shopping and then went back to his apartment and made his famous green salsa (he converted me to avocados with this) and made a couple of terrible looking cherry pies. We also went ice skating at the local indoor rink for a Ward activity, but it stands out because that's the first time we held hands.

I really liked going to all the Institute dances because Ammon has a fabulous two-step and is a fun swing dancer. Always a plus if a guy can dance!
We got engaged in March of 2005 out near Lake Mary in Flagstaff, AZ. We were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple on August 13th, 2005. I can hardly believe that it's already been 7 years since I married this guy! We sure do have a lot of fun together!

I sure am loving our life right now! We have two beautiful & healthy girls, he just finished up his Master's Degree, we love our house, our Ward, Ammon really likes his job, & I love getting to stay home with our two crazy kids! Life is so good & I wouldn't want to share it with anyone else!