Wow, What a Month!!!

I can not believe that this month is almost over. I have been super busy so I have neglected my blog, I am sorry. December is a busy month for everyone, but it seems to have hit me hard this year.

Grades were FINALLY posted on the 22^nd and I am happy to say I got straight A's. A Brittany first. That is not to say that there wasn't a lot of sweat and tears involved, because there was, but at least the final grades were worth it! 

So I was going into Christmas pretty excited, that is until Thomas opened three gifts and all of his stocking stuffers a week before Christmas. That was a stress beyond belief but we survived that too. On Christmas Eve we told the kids they we are having a baby and they both wanted to sit next to the baby while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Christmas was going well until I ended up in the hospital at 7 a.m. with the stomach flu. Our family was shown the true spirit of Christmas as a family in our Branch brought over Christmas dinner and several people offered to watch the children, even on Christmas. But that was only a little detour from our Christmas celebrations.

I think the cutest part of this all is when I came home from the hospital Thomas wanted to see the new baby. The next 5 months are going to be long for him. 

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know I have not disappeared. I have just been very busy and I plan to be more attentive. Thanks for reading and let me know how your holidays turned out. 

But, to end on a better note, I have been feeling the baby kick! Yippee!

Our Chocolate Fiesta!

On Friday, the 28th, we had a blast at our house. 

We pulled our our chocolate fountain and had our annual Chocolate party. 

Our guests brought food that ranged from strawberries and bananas to cheese and bacon. We played a few games and had a good time visiting with our friends. 

Next to Thanksgiving, our chocolate party is our favorite part of November. 

Chocolate, Chocloate and more Chocolate!

In Celebration of my Chocolate Fiesta on Friday I want to share a story with you that will get your taste buds salivating!

A guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a genie, and he gave him three wishes. The guy wished for a million dollars, and poof! There was a million dollars. Then he wished for a convertible, and poof! There was a convertible. And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women... poof! He turned into a box of chocolates.

What's that?

Lucy was at my feet reading books while I was cleaning today. In her animal book at every page she would say, “What’s that?” and I would respond a monkey, bear, dog, etc. She knew all of the animals, but asked anyway. So when she got to the crocodile I responded saying, “it’s a bird.” Lucy retorted, “No mama, that’s a Cayman. Caymans live in the water.” I was quite taken back; I think I was about eighteen before I knew about Caymans. What a little smarty!

It's Coming up!!!!

The thing I love most about Thanksgiving is that it is one holiday away from Christmas!!! I love everything about Christmas, especially the tree. This year I have decided to do something new. Instead of bringing out all of our normal ornaments I have decided to make my own. Now we have had a pretty tight budget this month, but I was able to make all of these ornaments for about $5 TOTAL. I bought some oranges and apples and dried those out (needless to say, our house has been smelling Fabulous!!!!) and glued a few nuts together. So now I am up to about $4. I bought a remnant of fabric for a dollar to accent the ornaments. I had the buttons and string and made a button garland (it was going to be popcorn, but could you imagine the mess.) I made the little "gingerbread men" out of cinnamon, applesauce and Elmer's glue. Finally, the giant star tree topper--I made from sticks found on the ground in the park. So now I am all ready to decorate the tree. Sadly, I won't be doing that until the 29th of November, but I will post and let you see how it turns out. The only thing I want to add are some candy canes, but I will wait until we are on next months pay check. So what do you think? Have I given you any ideas? I was even thinking of picking up some pine cones and putting those on the tree too, but I think I will wait and see how it looks. I don't want to overload  the tree. (a little side note: This is just a sampling of the ornaments I have made. I actually have a ton of each. I couldn't take a picture of all of them because the apples are still drying out.)

I finally did it!!!!

I was inspired by my friend Shaye. I have made myself six shopping bags to use while grocery shopping. I have gone to the store with them twice now and I LOVE them. I just keep the bags in my car and pull them out when it is shopping time. Once I have brought in my groceries I hang the bags on my door so I can't forget to put them in my car. I no longer have to worry about the tons of shopping bags that fill up my cleaning closet. 

Making the bags were so easy to make that I am embarrassed that I was so intimidated about making them. I found the pattern here at the green bag lady's website. And the best part about it was I didn’t spend a penny on the bags. I used thread that I already had and the fabric was an old shower curtain (which made SIX bags, one with an extra pocket.) 

The kids love having a job to bring the bags into the grocery store and I really feel like I am helping out the environment by not wasting the many plastic bags. I have felt like I have needed to do this for a long time. I am glad that I have FINALLY taken a step to improving the environment. 

I get mixed responses from the checkers at the store. The first girl thought they were brilliant, beautiful and that I should sell them for $5 a piece. Another checker kept trying to put my groceries into a plastic bag, and I had to keep taking them out of the plastic bags and put them in my eco friendly repurposed bags. It irritated be at first but I will try to get use to impatience.

 I highly recommend everyone taking the step to make and use these FABULOUS bags. I tell you what, if you want some bags but don’t know how to make them, I will GLADLY make some for you—only if you promise to use them. I think they would make wonderful Christmas gift, too.  

The Joys of a Democracy

I don't know if there are any American Idol fans out there, but I know I watched the show religiously. This kind of reminds me of the recent elections. Sometimes we can feel this way when the one we root for doesn't prevail. I guess I am happy I was rootin' for the winners. Enjoy the drama!

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

Yum and Double yum!!!! This was a hit at my house. I have been scouring the Internet to find butternut squash recipes for more than just soup. Did you know that you can take just about any pumpkin recipe and subsitue butternut squash? So that is what I have been doing. This recipe organally called for pumpkin but I swapped it. So try it, it is worth it!  

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 ripe bananas, mashed 2 eggs 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/3 cups butternut squash puree 1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup raisins or chocolate chips(optional but make them yummy!)

DIRECTIONS:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin or line it with cupcake papers. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, squash, and sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if desired. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Add powder sugar frosting if desired. For the Powder sugar frosting, mix about ½ cup of powder sugar with about 1 tsp to 1TBSP of milk.

The First Picture!!!!

We got our first picture of our new little baby! It turns out that I am 8 weeks along, just what I wanted. The baby looks healthy and perfect, except that he/she kind of looks like a duckling. Duckling or not we are just glad that little Herkimer is growing well. I will probably get another ultrasound in about 8 weeks and hopefully that will be good news too!

What do you think? Do you see the duckling?

Believe it or Not!!!!!

Six years ago today, I was trying on my dress, having dinner with the future in-laws, and was so excited that I couldn't sleep. So much has happened in the last simple six years. We have moved from Lindon to Provo to Denton, Texas back to Orem, Utah and finally to Chadron. Who knows where we will be next year? There have been three other marriages in our family since we tied the knot: Randy and Rebbecca, Brooke and Blake, and Dad and Shirley. Not only marriages, but children came, too. Let's see if I can name all of our nieces and nephews that have been born in the last six years: Benjamin, Adam, Abby, Rachel, Sophia, Olivia, Emma, Daniel, Eden, Kyle, Brianne, and Alex. I think the best thing that has happened in these last six years is our Thomas and Lucy. They are such a blessing in our lives and we pray for them every night. We have been very blessed the last six years and we hope for the next six years are just as exciting, fun, and rewarding. I also must say how much I love James, we dated for a VERY short time and we are fortunate that we made a good decision. We are a perfect fit! James is so thoughtful and caring, and I love having him in my life. Also, I am so glad I do not have to say goodbye at the end of the day, like when we were dating. He is with me always! I love it! So I have been digging through some old files and hope you can enjoy some pictures of us the day before and the day of the wedding. I was surprised at how young we look, it hasn't been that long, has it?

You're my inspiration!

I don't know if you have ever been to the Grosgrain blog, but I love it. I always feel so inadequate when I see the amazing stuff Kathleen does, but she has inspired me this Halloween. I got the kid's Halloween costumes last year when they all go on sale after the holiday. Sadly, the only costume I could find for Lucy was a bride's dress, talk about creepy! So after seeing the wonderful dresses on Grosgrain I got a little ambitious and attempted the impossible. There were some heartaches and frustrations but I pulled through. Now it's not all that great compared to what Kathleen does, but we all learn on our own levels of knowledge. I added a pink layer under the tulle and the flowers. There also was a pink trim, but I had to please Lucy and she was not a fan of the pink trim. So this year Lucy is going to be a princess/fairy. I guess I am doing fine if she gets to wear a pretty dress. 

Thomas this year is going to be a vampire and when we were trying on his costume he wanted to go up to James' work to "scare" all the students. So he ran up to the library and when he reached James he said, "I didn't scare ANYONE." What a cute boy and if you see him in his costume please tell him how scary he is--he will love it.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So I have been slacking a bit on the blog, but my life has been pretty busy. This week is midterms, so I am studying and writing essays for that. Thomas started preschool today (where has the time gone?), so I have had TONS of paper work with that. I have also been trying really hard to keep up with my scrapbook, so maybe I can give an update on that soon. And don't forget, James is still healing and he is about as helpful around the house as a 4 year-old. So between my studying, writing, worrying, scrapping, and taking out the garbage I have not been able to upload pictures, or write the things I would like to on my blog. So unless you want me to post a blog about Roman civilizations and Feudalism, you have to be patient. Thanks. Oh, and by the way, that essay I wrote about the the '89 earthquake, I got an A. Yippee! You can read it here. Did I mention that I am pregnant and that takes a toll on a mother too? You know someday my life will calm down, I just fear that it won't be until about February, YIKES!

Book Birthday Party!

Today we had Thomas' birthday party. Thomas had a really fun time and we hope all the other kids did too. The theme was kind of Dr. Seuss kind of book party, but it was just a good ol' fashion party. We played lion cub, pass the parcel, I love..., ring around the rosies, and duck, duck, goose. This party was a bit different in that everyone brought a book and we swapped them. So the kids were all able to go home with a new book. Kids can never have enough books. Anyway, it was lots of fun! enjoy the pictures!

My New Glasses

So here is a picture of me with my new glasses. Nice huh? I have had a hard time getting use to them but at least I can see. What do you think? 

It Finally Happened!!!

Today is a red letter day, a day that will go down in the history books, a day that I will look back at with fond esteem. It is the day I beat James at chess! 

Don’t get me wrong, I have beaten him in chess before, but it wasn’t the same. Before, when I would win, I captured all his guys and I just had to pin down his king—which I ALWAYS need help with. Tonight was monumental because not only did I put him in checkmate but I completely caught him of guard. I said “checkmate” and his response was “no, wait, it’s not checkmate; I can get out of it.” And yet he couldn’t! James is now saying that he will not play chess with me ever again—I doubt that. Anyway, for 6 years I have been losing at chess and still playing. I guess it’s because “I is now a college student.” 

Canning: a new found passion!

I know that I am new to the game, but I absolutely love canning. I use to think it was old-fashioned and pointless--why can something when you can buy it? With our extremely large garden we have found ourselves not eating our tomatoes fast enough. So I made salsa, Yum!!! I would say that I made up a really fancy salsa, but really it is just the recipe in the Better Home and Garden Cookbook.  I love a good cookbook, especially one that makes me look good! Not only did I make salsa but I made some more crab apple jelly, as if I didn't already have enough.  So now I am looking to tackle something else, maybe I will can butternut squash soup. Who knows? Any pointers?

I feel the need, the need for Clean

It seems that when my house is messy my life seems more chaotic than it needs to be. The other day Lucy dumped out the itty bitty rubber bands for hair, and when I say dumped out I mean they were EVERYWHERE in our family room. I didn’t clean the room up right away because the rubber bands were mixed with toys dirty socks, pillows, blankets and snack rubbish. You know all those things that end up in the TV room. So today I finally cleaned the room. It is like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I have had a really stressful and crappy weekend and if I would of just cleaned up I think I would have felt tons better. I hope I can remember this for the next time I am stressing out. Do you stress out when your house is messy? Or am I just ranting?

It's a Crop Party

So the picture isn't fabulous but I got it done. So On October 3rd I will not be blogging, but scrapbooking my heart out. Hope to see you there! 

Popcorn Balls

I just made the yummiest Halloween treat. I know that Halloween is a month and an half away but I got a craving. Theses popcorn balls are the perfect balance of sweet and salty plus they are super easy to make. Try them out, it's good. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag of microwave popcorn Some candy corn and peanuts

6 tablespoons butter 5 cups miniature marshmallows

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Set aside.
2.	Pop the popcorn in the microwave. Put popcorn in prepared pan. Add some candy corn and peanuts.
3.	Melt butter In a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in marshmallows and cook until melted, stirring constantly. Pour marshmallow mixture over popcorn and mix with spoon to coat evenly.
4.	Let mixture cool slightly. Smear butter on your hands or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Mix popcorn with your hands so that it is evenly coated.
5.	Form popcorn into 8-12 balls.

 

I’m very Self Reliant!

We got a GINORMAS crabapple crop this year. Last year the blossoms froze so we didn’t get any apples. But this year, look out! 

Lucy loved picking the apples!

We filled our five gallon bucket and only found three worms. 

I made six quarts of crab apple jelly.

 The picture doesn't do the color justice. It's a deep red but in the light it almost has an orange color to it, it's really pretty! I changed the recipe a bit, it’s more like spiced apple jelly.  The jelly tastes like Christmas- if Christmas has a flavor. The last time I made it I gave away most of it. Big mistake! So if you want to come over for homemade bread and jelly just give me a call.

Ingredients:

Fresh crabapples

Water

White Sugar

Cinnamon stick or Spice Sachet

1.    1.  Remove leaves and blossom ends from crabapples and rinse well. If you soak them in water the worms float right to the top. Place them in a large stainless steel or other non-reactive pot or saucepan. Add enough water to be able to see, but no so much that the crabapples are floating. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. The apples should soften and change color. I like to boil them in an old pillowcase, because it will save you time later.

2.    2.  Strain the apples and juice through 2 or 3 layers of cheese cloth. Do not press. Discard pulp.

3.   3.   Pour one cup of juice to every one cup of sugar back into the pan. Bring to a simmer, and watch carefully because it could boil over. It happened TWICE to me. Skim off any foam that comes to the top. Add cinnamon stick or sachet. Continue cooking at a low boil until the temperature reaches 220 to 222 degrees F (108 to 110 C). Remove from heat.

4.    4.  Pour the jelly into sterile small decorative jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Process the jars in a hot water bath to seal.

For the Spice Sachet: I sewed a little pocket with some fabric scraps. I then put in about 1-2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, some ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and some pumpkin spice. (Basically whatever I could find in my spice cabinet.) I sewed up the pocket, making sure that the stitch was really tight. 

Practice makes perfect!

This is my attempt at a “chain link fence.” Lucy’s hair is too fine to do it so I did Thomas’ friend, Malia’s hair. I am still a work in progress.

Problem Solved!

I have solved the crab problem. He no longer tries to get out of the fish tank, ‘cause he died. I am starting a foundation for the research of sudden fish death syndrome. All across the world, fish keepers struggle with the loss of fish and crustaceans for no apparent reason. With my new foundation, people can know why that 28 cent fish never stood a chance against a 4 year-olds feeding schedule. To contribute to my fishing foundation, contact your local bank and tell them you would like to donate to the Personal Fisheries of America Foundation, and then tell me what they do. 

Slippery When Wet!

All this summer we really tried to be outside. I made it a goal that at least twice a week we would fill the pool up or walk down to the city pool. As a result we found that Lucy is a little fish, fearless when it comes to water and Thomas has yet to get a sun burn. Thomas was really funny, he didn't like being in the pool too much. He was really happy if he could just ride his bike all afternoon, with out the sprinklers on. I think these times really helped me keep my sanity in check. I made sure to take pictures at least once before the weather started to turn. Enjoy!

Crop Night Party!

I am in the process of planing a crop. A Crop is where we get together and scrapbook, eat, and get more ideas for our scrapbooks. I was thinking of having six crops in a year, every two months. I want to do it on Fridays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight. The first party would be October 3rd. I feel that to really make it worth the time we need to take the time. I was thinking that we have a table for each scraper or two to a round table. Also, if everyone brings a snack to share it won't make the time seem so long. At six when it starts there will be a short (20-30 minutes) instruction session about new techniques and then the rest of the night you can crop, scrapbook, look at books and magazines for ideas, work on any other project you are working on (sewing, cross-stitch, or homework) or you can just eat and visit. Talking and scrap-booking go hand in hand. So what do you think? Are you game? Any ideas? Should I have an R.S.V.P. to make set up easier? I need lots of input because I don't want to plan this thing and then end up being the only one who shows up.

I have a happy librarian!

Do you want to know how to make a librarian happy? (Or really anyone who likes to read.) James has a new favorite author, Bernard Cornwell. Well, for a very belated Valentine's Day present I sent the 5 books that James owns, and Mr. Cornwell signed them for free. All I did was pay the postage, it was really easy. So if a loved one has a book or author that they like, see if you can get them signed, it's not hard. You just have to make sure that the author is still alive, that is kind of essential.

Are you My Mother?

I am a little worried about this and would appreciate some input. Thomas has an imaginary friend, well not really a friend. He has an imaginary Mom. Her name is Memo and she lives in a yellow house very far away. Memo tucks Thomas into bed every night. I tell you what, if I ever catch Memo I am going to kick her trash. Both James and I tuck both the kids in every night, unless one of us is out (which is rare). Why would my son imagine another mother to tuck him in at night? I know kids are imaginative, and I am fine with that. But he could have imagined a pet, a friend, even a new dad. I am the one who gave him life, cleaned up diarrhea, caught throw up in my hands and rocked him when he cried. I don't deserve to be replaced, no fair. And to top it off, when Lucy wants something she always calls for James, 'cause he generally caves. What are my kids thinking? Am I really that hard nosed? "I'm cool, I'm hip!"

Crab Quandry

I don't know what to do. I set up my fish tank again. This time I am trying something new, cold water fish. You know like koi and goldfish. Well, I also put in a fiddler crab. I have had those in my fish tank before and they never gave me a problem, until now! I have one in there and I can't keep him in the fish tank. Someday I am going to be playing with the kids on the floor and I am going to get a painful pinch in the tush. Ouch! So what do I do now? He's not big enough for crabs legs. Any ideas?

Yoga Class

I love doing yoga, I love it so much that I even got my nieces (Dani and Anna) and nephew (Josh) to join me. I know it isn't the best picture but I thought it was pretty cute. Lucy even joined in on the action, but she was eating a cookie at the time.

I feel so Martha!

As if I am not already super busy, I have to go make more work for myself. A few weeks ago I bought a pillow for James. Well he tried the pillow on and off for a few days and decided it wasn’t working. Well, I had long since thrown away the packaging, labels, and receipt, oops. What do you do with a new pillow that no one wants and you can’t return? I turned it into a lounging pillow for our family room. I bought a yard of fabric and made a pillow case for it. Then I got a bit carried away with accent pillows and a new curtain. So what do you think? The pillows obviously won’t be on the floor, they go on my tan couch, and this was just for the picture.

Midnight Sun

I feel like such a nerd! When I first heard about the Twilight Saga, I thought, “I am so glad that I am not a slave to those silly books.” Well James, I blame you for all of this. James got the MP3 of Twilight and we listened to it on the way to Utah and Las Vegas. That was all it took. Now, not only did I devour the books but now I am hanging off of ever bit of drivel that Stephenie Meyer throws at me. I come to find out that she is writing Midnight Sun, a companion book to Twilight from Edward Cullen’s voice. I just spent the last hour reading the first 20 pages online. I am not sure if the book will be good enough to stand on its own, but I bet I will be out with the masses buying the book. GROAN!!! The funniest part of all of this is that I am hosting book group on Friday and the book is…The Twilight Series. To see Midnight Sun: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

School starts today!!!!

I am just going to warn everyone now, I am going to be a bit busy this week. I will try to keep up on my postings but school starts today. So I will be keeping my nose in lots of books. I am hoping that I can soon figure how to balance my schedule.

Harvest time, already?

We had quite a harvest today! This last month we would get a squash or two every so often and we would get tomatoes, if we could get them before the critters. But that was about the extent of our produce. We decided that we were tired of waiting for our carrots and what a surprise we found. We got about six carrots. I don’t know if it is the uranium mine that we live near or just our inexperience, but I have NEVER seen carrots quite like this. What do you think? We also harvested our first pumpkin, yippee! If you know of any good pumpkin recipes, let me know. I think I am going to try dinner in a pumpkin (anyone ever make that before?). I will try to post a picture of what I finally do with our mutant carrots. And just a side note, our peanut plant is doing surprisingly well. Does anyone know anything about peanut plants? We are just a little too new at this. Next year will be better but this gardening thing is still pretty fun!

Talk about a good job!

Well, I tried it again. For church this Sunday I did a lattice hairstyle. I feel very proud of myself. What do you think?

Steak Kabobs

My friend,Ashlee Hyer made this recipe for my family when I was in the hospital and James has been begging me to get the recipe from her. I got it and made it last night and it is so yummy we didn’t have any leftovers:( The best part of it was I had almost all of the ingredients already. So now I feel like I have to share it with everyone. Please try them out, they are out of this world. Enjoy!



Steak Kabobs
Marinate beef chunks for about an hour in:
¼ c. A1 sauce
1TB. Vegetable oil or sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp fresh)
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds
Pan fry the meat in the marinade until cooked then put meat on skewers with: green pepper, red pepper, onion, pineapple, mushrooms, and or mango. Place in oven at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Serve with rice and sauce.
Sauce:
¾ c. orange juice
¼ c. honey
the juice of one lime
1 Tb. Soy sauce
1 tsp garlic
½ tsp black pepper
Cook in a sauce pan until reduced. If you are impatient you can thicken it with a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Is it wrong to pat yourself on the back?

When I found out I was have a baby girl two and a half years ago I was very excited. But there was something in the back of my mind that really bothered me. I am all thumbs when it comes to braiding, curling and making hair look cute. My sisters always did that type of thing when we were young, so I never learned. Now Lucy’s hair is long and thick enough to do something with it. I always said that she refused to sit still long enough for me to do anything cute. That was just an excuse. I received an email today from my friend, Millie, her daughter always has adorable hair. She showed me where she got her inspirations and I decided to take a leap of faith. Be gentle on me this is my first attempt and I can’t wait until tomorrow so I can try a new style. Thank you Millie for the encouragement. Let me know what you think.

Children Strongly Oppose Healthcare

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children's Healthcare

I knew we were paying too much for our healthcare. I am with the kids, let's cut all healthcare. What do you think?

Las Vegas

So we are back from our vacation and I promised to post some of our pictures. So here they are: I just love this picture of Lucy at the Shark Reef

This is us in front of Mt. Rushmore at the Bellagio. How odd that we go to Vegas and will never escape Mt. Rushmore.
Again we are at the Bellagio, in front of the fountians.

This is when we were on the strip at night. We saw the pirate show at Treasure Island.

We had so much Fun in Veags and were were so glad that Ashley could show us around.