Today I am Thankful.......................

Today I am thankful that my talk inSacrament meeting is done. Even though it's good experience to prepare and give a talk, it's awfully nice when it's done!
Today I am thankful for the help that a wise, kind Heavenly Father gave me. First, for the inspiration and answer to my prayer that I would be able to come up with a talk that might help someone and that would be what He would like me to talk on. (even though that help came at 4 in the morning last Monday... but maybe that is the time that I would be most receptive to it. I know that the early morning hours are the times I like best to put together a lesson... before the busy-ness of the day and the world have time to creep into my head.)
Today I am again thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the courage to give the talk.... and act like I wasn't scared when deep down inside I was nervous and felt like I was having a heart attack... and feeling like I was in a dream.....
Today I am thankful for a good friend who made a promise with me before I got up to give my talk. She knows I tend to cry sometimes when giving a talk or a lesson. I hate my crying face... and my voice when I cry. So we made a deal that everytime I felt like crying I would look at her and she would make a face at me.  I looked at her a couple of times today, and sure enough she came through on her promise and make a face at me not realizing that I would just glance at her and as soon as she started crossing her eyes or making a pig face I would hurry and look away with a smile ( or else I might have laughed! )... it helped alot... but what she didn't realize was that the Bishopric and the High council man and ward chorister sitting up on the stand with us could see her as well. She said after making faces a couple of times, the High Council man was giving her a look like 'lady... you've lost it". hahahaha....what a good good friend! I promised her that when she had to speak next I would do the same for her.
Today I am thankful for my dear husband.... who hates to speak in public as much as I do, but did a great job too.. and he even cried.(I should have told him to look at my friend!) I am grateful for his testimony... and that he was baptized and that we got sealed in the temple forever... I couldn't imagine spending eternity with anyone else!
Today I am also thankful again for my dear husband who gave me a red Dutch oven for Valentines day instead of flowers or diamonds..... despite the harassment that he took from the guys he works with who teased him about it not being a very romantic gift. To me it was the most romantic thing he could have given me (along with the dark chocolate bar and cut little card that said "yours forever!" ) He knows my heart... and my passion for cooking. And today I tried out my Dutch Oven for the first time with a spicy pork roast that I shredded for tacos with pineapple salsa on the top. YUM!! I LOVE my dutch oven... I have needed one for a looooonnnnng time.
Today I am thankful for family... both my family of brothers and sisters and the examples they are to me. And also for my ward family, and the kindness and support that they give each other. You couldn't make it through this life without love and support from family and friends.
Today I am very grateful for the gospel... I couldn't get through this life and it's challenges without it. I'm so grateful for the happiness it brings and the hope it gives us.
Today I am thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ.... I am thankful for this world and the beauty They put in it that is there if you only stop to notice it now and then.
Today... I am thankful for today! :o)

Dream a little dream..............................

Nothing exciting has happened lately in our house. Jim goes to work early, I go a little later, we come home, fix dinner and eat together. Lately we have been addicted to "The Big Bang Theory" it comes on all evening Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays. You know something? It's kind of fun being a couple again with it being just the two of us at home... although I miss my kids, and worry about them, it's nice just being me and Jim. I do need to learn to cook smaller though, It takes us all week to finish a couple of meals that I make at the first of the week, but that's okay.
Well, you know how I love cooking and catering family parties, and taking treats to the office, and making cakes for people?
A friend asked me the other day if I would think about going into the catering business with her... funny thing, she's the second friend to ask me that in the last few months!! I can't just quit my job cold turkey... with 2 kids in college and trying to help them when I can is why I work.... plus I have insurance on both of them right now too... but oh somedays it's really tempting! Don't you wish you could look into the future when you want to do something and see if it would work out?? Then you would know whether to go ahead.... I think I will though. I think me and both of those 2 friends may give it a try.... I could work at it after the job I have now and weekends. I guess that would be a little bit like giving it a shot to see if it would work before quitting all together. Maybe it will take off maybe it won't. As it is I get asked to make cakes for people I work with and family.
One day I think 'Go for it" and other days I think not. But it's one of those little dreams I have.... owning a little catering business and being able to make cakes that look professional. HMMMMM....

Birthday's and Hats

It's amazing how clean my house stays with both of my kids out of the house now... and how quiet it has been. I find myself singing full force while cooking just to make some noise in the evenings. This last couple of weeks Jim has had to work late and didn't get home until 8:30 pm. And I found myself getting scared!! Scared to be outside grilling steaks... thinking that there could be a serial killer in my pine trees, scared to walk by Andy's empty room... thinking that I would suddenly see a tall figure wearing one of his scary masks standing in the doorway, scared to walk down my dark hallway... just plain scared to be home alone, and I'm a grown woman!! So I found that if I come home and turn the lights on through out the house and sing to my favorite music at the top of my lungs the house isn't quite as scary... I even talk to myself as I walk out to grill anything. Funny how just knowing someone is home in another room makes you feel safe.
Anyway, I occupied my time crocheting hats... those slouchy beanies everyone has been wearing. They are quick and fun to make. Sarah had said that she wanted one, so I bought yarn, found patterns and got busy.

I made a cream colored one, and then I had a skein of yarn that was multicolored in blacks & grays

Sarah is supposed to be taking a picture of herself wearing them but so far I haven't gotten one.

Last weekend Andrew came home... it was his 23rd Birthday on Friday the 20th. He requested shrimp Po'boy's for dinner and a chocolate cake.... so I made an 'Amazing Chocolate Cake' recipe that I got from my niece's blog, and frosted it with my butter cream frosting, I even put 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips in about 1 cup frosting to put in between the chocolate layers, and iced the rest with the plain butter cream, then I made a chocolate ganache and poured over the top!

I hoped that was chocolaty enough for him. I also had some leftover icing from my 'Lofthouse' sugar cookies so I had enough light blue to do a trim around the bottom and write on the top!

We ate our dinner and then Mom and Dad came over for a little birthday party and cake for Andrew....

                                                        aren't my parents cute??

                        when you get to be 23 all you get are cards...and hopefully with money in them.
                                       Andy didn't do to bad...ended up raking in $100 all together!
               I always seem to have a hard time getting a good pic of me and Jim... he's either making a funny   face and I look silly

                                                              or we look really cheesy!!!

But Andy enjoyed his birthday....

 notice the one candle... it plays 'Happy birthday' when you twist it and we always try to sing along with it but end up laughing or off key... it's become a birthday tradition to have the singing candle on our cakes....

                                  And as you can see we all enjoyed the cake.........................

The weekend went by way too quick.... I sent Andy on his way home with food from my pantry, clean laundry, and the rest of his cake to share with his roomies. Then it was time to think about another week of work. I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise. The exercise part is okay... I have done pretty good, at least better than I was doing which was being a couch potato. I was trying healthier recipes too, like chicken fricassee, ratatouille, and lots of grilled meat and veggies, and soups... but I miss baking!! I get bummed when I"m not baking.... So I made sugar cookies for work, and I tried Mexican brownies and took them to work too!  How am I supposed to lose weight and still bake at the same time???

hmmmm........oh well, now I'm off to make tamales for dinner tomorrow... not too bad if you serve them with a tossed salad and black beans on the side. But I really want to try a yummy looking cake mix cookie recipe I found... ...we'll see.

Happy 2012!!!

Well New Year's Eve came and with it a feeling of what will the New Year bring to each of us?.. and man what a year this last one was.....
During the week between Christmas and New Years, we didn't do alot. We all went together to the new "Sherlock Holmes movie" and I lost half of a back molar while chewing gum... that kind of put a damper on the rest of the afternoon. ;(    Then we played or Scene it "Harry Potter" game together in the evening. It was fun. But I had to go back to work on Tuesday after Christmas. (everyone else in the family had it off)
I got my tooth fixed on Wednesday with just a filling, no crown needed this time, hooray!! :o)
We put Christmas away Saturday morning and I got my Snowmen out for the winter, and cleaned the house, it was a nice feeling. Later on New Year's Eve, we had Chinese food with Mom & Dad, Brian & Jenn and kids, and played games. Then we relaxed and watched TV until midnight. I had bought some popper things that we all let explode right as it struck midnight, and then spent a few minutes cleaning up the mess afterwards.
Dad and mom and Sarah and andy at midnight on New Year's eve.

Then it was time to head home and go to bed.

Sunday was the normal day of Church and things, but we had to start packing up Andrew to take him to BYU-I on Monday. And Sarah packed so she could head back to Provo on Monday, and get ready to go back to work.
Monday morning came and we bustled around to get Andy packed... he procrastinated a little and waited to figure out what to take at the last minute. But we did it!!

We  were all ready, the cars were packed, and we just had to get one more family photo before we all parted our separate ways. We were sad to have the Holidays end but at the same time it's nice to get things back to normal and be in a routine again.
We made it to BYU-I and got Andy checked into his apartment just in time to go to a mandatory meeting for new students and there parents. It was awesome, President Clark talked and it was held in the new auditorium which looks like a mini-conference center. Andy met a few of his roommates, and we got his books at the bookstore just in the nick of time before they closed. Then we headed back to his apartment to help him get things settled.... Jim helped Andy get his laptop hooked up to the internet and his printer while I made up his bed...

 He seemed to be happy with everything and his new roomies and excited to start school!

Since his room was settled we took him to dinner at Winger's, and then got a few groceries.....
And then said our goodbye's and gave him a few hugs ...... He was ready to find his classes on Tuesday, and get a parking permit. All was well.
Sarah made it back to Provo and had time to unpack and get ready to work again.
Jim and I headed back home to our empty nest....................
A girl in our ward had asked me to make a John Deere cake for her husband on the 6th. She didn't care what it looked like as long as it had a tractor on it. I had been pondering just exactly how to do it for quite a few days... and finally decided to sculpt one out of rice crispy treats. Wednesday I made the tractor and covered it with homemade fondant... but I just wasn't that happy with it... it was all bumpy and stuff. So Thursday after work, and after reading up on how to cover rice crispy treats with fondant, I gave it another shot. I made sure all my edges of the tractor were smooth and the edges sharp and the bumps of crispies were filled in and gave it another layer of fondant. Awesome!! then I added the details......

I made a 2 layer sheet cake that was vanilla with vanilla pudding in the middle... then I thought I better make it look like there were crops growing on one side... you know like little potatoes just peeking through the ground?? so I made a little chocolate frosting and made some rows on my cake then covered it with oreo cookie crumbs for the dirt... then with a leaf tip on my decorator bag I made sprouts....

And here is the finished product...............

Angie said the cake was a hit!! Everyone loved it, and once the kids at the party found out the tractor was edible... it didn't last very long. I also made some chocolate cupcakes with marshmellow cream filling to go with it....

I was going to add little sprouts on the cupcakes to match the crops on the tractor cake, but Angie picked it all up on my lunch break so I didn't have time. Oh well.. they looked yummy!
That was on Friday.... then Bridger had his 8th birthday and Jennifer asked if I could do a cake for him for Saturday. He wanted a Sponge Bob cake... I just so happened to have a Sponge bob figure left over from when I had made a cake like that for one of Andrew's birthdays. He must of been too old for the toy though because it was still in with my cake stuff. So I washed it up....and then I looked high and low for a 'Patrick' figure to go with it all over town... but no luck. I had a candy mold of a large starfish and some candy melts so I tried to make one that  looked a little like Patrick, and then I made some extra seashells to go with it.

This was a way fun cake to make... it was chocolate with pudding mixed with cool whip inbetween the layers... then I iced it with with Cool Whip... the Sand was vanilla pudding and Cool whip mixed together with graham cracker crumbs on the top. Then I just colored Cool Whip to make the rest... and some clear jel that I colored to make the jelly fish, and writing...

Can you tell the white things are bubbles from Sponge Bob's bubble blower??

Anyway... those cakes were fun to make.

This week, Jim and I have just been eating healthy, trying to fit in some exercise, Jim is taking an on line class which has been keeping him busy when he's not at work, and I'm back to crocheting.... I'm making some slouchy beanie hats. I will post one when I'm done.

Andy is okay at school, he dropped a class because he was so overwhelmed with homework, but seems happy enough, other than a little homesick.

Sarah is okay, just depressed. I think being in Provo, without any really close friends or family is getting to her. Maybe we'll end up moving her back to BYU-I??. I pray really hard that things will work out for her and she'll meet the one she's supposed to marry, and figure life out. I guess the Lord will watch out for both of them, and they have to live their own lives. But it's hard being a parent. You want your kids to be happy. Do you think Heavenly Father feels this way about us at times when he sees us struggle??? I know he does, but he has great patience..... and lets us learn and grow. I seem to have a hard time with that and try to help and do things for my kids when I know they need to do things on their own. At least they know I'm here for them. Andy has called and just talked for a few nights in a row. And isn't it nice to know that Heavenly Father is there and we can 'call' him up and chat for as long as we like??? And He helps us feel better..

I like that..........

Christmas and family.....

I had the Friday off before Christmas to finish getting ready for Christmas.... I cleaned up the house a little, and we did a little bit of last minute shopping. I made Neighbor treats which consisted of Chex mix, date snowballs, and Samoa bars... yummm... then we all watched a movie.
Saturday we all got up and wrapped presents all day, and delivered neighbor gifts. We did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping. Before we left the kids had bought some "Christmas outfits".... and this is what they wore into Walmart for our last minute shopping trip... I think they were going for the "ugly Christmas sweater" theme......

 Then we made Mongolian Beef.. and watched the Christmas story.
We always give the kids Christmas ornaments... this year we bought them on our trip to Disneyland... Sarah got Ariel and Andy got the boogey man guy from "Nightmare before Christmas".

 We all got new PJ's which we got to open on Christmas Eve. Yes... Jim and I even got some!

We finished up wrapping presents... every year I say I"m going to wrap it when I buy it... but it never fails, I"m wrapping on Christmas Eve night.
Christmas morning I got up early to make scone dough and my Christmas Fruit salad for our traditional Christmas breakfast with Mom and Dad and Brian and Jennifer's family. I noticed some packages under the tree that I didnt' put there.... they were white paper packages tied up with twine and sealed with red wax...

                                                            hmmm that was curious...
but I knew I would have to wait until we opened presents later in the afternoon. Funny how when your kids are small they wake you up early cuz they can't wait for presents... then when you are older you have to wait for them to get up, we eat Breakfast, go to church, and then open presents. Oh well... just makes it last longer.
We all got up (finally) and made it to Mom's to start cooking scones. Kim and Angela joined us this year. When we arrived Mom was talking to Jan, Doug had felt like he was having a heart attack, but after a quick visit to his doc he was okay. Whew! We had a lovely breakfast with scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and sausage and scones.... YUMMO!

 As you can see... we had LOTS of food.... and a few Santa Hats.........

  Sarah had bought this Ariel doll for Kella (who is Sarah's best little buddy) Sarah was sooooo excited to give it to her... .I think she loved it!

                                              Scones anyone???

 yes..... more Santa hats..... isn't my dad cute... he looks like an elf...........................

 My brother kind of looks like an elf too.............................

Then after a nice visit it was back home to get ready for church. this year since Christmas was on Sunday we just had a Choir program. Kim got to be the narrator. IT was nice... then it was time for presents.

First we start off by seeing what loot is in our Christmas stockings....I had bought scratch tickets for everyone's stockings, so we spent the first 15 minutes scratching those! It's always fun, but we never win big... I think we did get $10 bucks though which is better than a sharp stick in the eye (Jim's favorite saying).

Then we got to open those "mysterious" gifts..... and guess what!! We each had personal letters from Albus Dumbledore stating that we had all been accepted into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry... and we each had wands and special quotes and gifts from Dumbledore himself... Sarah got a time turner.. (which is great because she 's late alot), Andy got a Holcrux (not sure if I spelled that right) I got an owl, and Jim got a golden snitch. How fun is that???

 (All of that was thanks to a certain little girl elf I know who has caught the Harry Potter bug a little later than everyone else, but she is addicted for sure!)

Then sticking to tradition, Jim passed out the presents (sticking with a tradition that my Dad started in my family) Then after we each have our piles, we start with the youngest and go up to the oldest, opening one present at a time (we each open one, then start over till the presents are all opened) this makes it last longer......

  Doesn't Christmas look like fun at our house?? I thought I had cut back a little this year but it still seemed to be like LOTS of presents!!

Even thougth Sarah didn't think she was getting anything this year because I had given her a little moolah earlier in the month, I did manage to surprise her with a new sweater and black boots, and of course the usual calendar, and a few other fun things!! She even got new pink bunny slippers like on "The Christmas Story" from Andrew......

Andy got stuff for school, a new laptop backpack, a printer, new shoes and clothes for school, and socks and underwear.... LOTS of socks and underwear.. and the usual calendar and fun things......

 Jim got an I-tune card and M&M's from Andy, and a Harry Potter tie and phone holder for his car from Sarah, and pants and things from me and a gift card to Best buy..........................

 I got spoiled... Andy got me a new hot pad set since I seem to catch mine on fire.. hahahaha.. and Calendar, I also got a fuzzy snowman blanket,and jeans and perfume... and Sarah spoiled me with new dinner plates and bowls (which we ate Christmas dinner on) ......

Sarah really spoiled us all with a Harry Potter Scene it game (which we had fun playing later Christmas night) and she also got us new fun ceramic popcorn bowls and popcorn. I told her not to spend to much money on you and she did the complete opposite.

While we were opening presents we had Ham and sourcream potatoes cooking in the oven. Mom and Dad joined us for Christmas dinner....

After dinner guess what time it was...............................

                                          TIME FOR A SCRABBLE GAME!!! of course!

 We have another tradition of playing scrabble with Mom and Dad whenever Sarah is home... and if it's a holiday we say if you can spell a holiday word you get double the points... so if you land on a double word score you get that doubled again! Which is way fun..............

and of course I have to consult the dictionary just in case... you have to watch Mom and Dad... sometimes they try to pull a fast one and mispell words or make up some words..........or sometimes a swear word or two....

I love Holday time............ I love spending time with family and just being together...after all isn't that what

Christmas is about Charlie Brown?????