my music change....

Notice my playlist is gone?? the project playlist changed... you had to go to a link to hear my playlist but it wouldn't automatically start- you had to click on a song, and then it wouldn't randomly shuffle. Since that happened I have discovered Pandora Radio... and I figured out how to put links of my stations as a link below at the bottom of my blog... just click on one... lately I like the Sia Station... but I go through different moods and my music taste changes with my mood...at the Pandora web sight you can type in an artist you like, and they play similar artists and it creates a station. Perfect!!  I love all kinds of music! :)

McKella's Birthday

McKella had her 4th birthday on May 16th. We had a family party on Monday night, the 14th. I got to make her a birthday cake!! She loves Tinkerbell lately, so Jennifer asked me to make something that would look like a Tinkerbell cake. Jennifer found 4 little figurines of Tinkerbell and her friends, but I didn't get to see them until the night of the party. I just thought bright colored flowers would work, and since Kella also loves lady bugs.. I made one to put on a flower and see if she could find it.....

                                    Then, Monday after work, I put on the Tinkerbell figurines...

                                            I think it turned out quite cute after all!
 Later we all went down to Mom and Dad's and had a weenie roast.... yum! I love bon fires and roasted hot dogs, and marshmallows..... Mel and Ty popped in and joined in the party, Kim and Ang came down, and there was Bri and Jen's family, Mom and Dad, and me and Jim.

                                           I was trying to get Kella to smile pretty...

                                                 she wasn't cooperating very well....

Finally!!  a hint of a cute little smile!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLA!

I think she loved her cake.... it was chocolate with raspberr;y filling. YUM! but I think Kella's fav part was eating the flowers off the top, and the frosting. We noticed that she was eating the frosting off of Bridger's piece and asked if she liked the frosting and she said, "I Lub it"..... :)

A little Mother/ Daughter time continued..........

I have been struggling lately with doing the things I normally enjoy doing, especially finding the time to do them, and the ambition... I have been wanting to blog but just havn't made myself do it....Jim is working today, so I have an afternoon to myself which is what I needed to try to get caught up.....
so back to the weekend I spent with Sarah.... Saturday morning, (Cinco de Mayo) arrived, and Sarah had promised her friend from Olive Garden a ride to the hair dressers by 9:30 am. She had really long hair and was donating her hair to Locks of Love. Sarah needed to give her a ride because her sister and friend were staying with her and wanted to go for moral support as she cut off her hair. The only mode of transportation she has is a mo-ped, so Sarah offered to give them a ride. I went too, so Sarah and I could get an egg 'mcMufflin' (as we like to call them) for Breakfast. I had a hair appointment at 12:00 anyway.
So we got up early to get her there in time for her appointment.... but  we soon found out there was a Provo Marathon going on, and on one of the main streets that we needed to cross to pick up her friend! It went on for miles!!!! and they weren't letting cars cross the road! Blast! by the time we found a spot to cross...we were a 1/2 hour late picking Sarah's friend up, which pushed all the hair appointments to later.... which made Sarah madder than a hornet... she cussed like Yosemite Sam off of the Bugs Bunny show.... but we got our Egg McMufflins.. and tried to enjoy them. We went home and showered and cooled off a bit. Then it was time to pick up Sarah's friend! Her hair was WAYYYYY short like a boys but looked way cute on her and she had 17 inches of hair for locks of love... how cute is that??? Then it was time to get my hair done

...... I was excited...  I got it colored and Mitch said he would give me a 'baby bob' that I could wear curly which is what I had been wanting for the longest time and just couldn't seem to get any hair dresser to do it!

 I LOVE my hair now... but at the time I wasn't sure I had done the right thing. Mitch likes to blow dry and straighten your hair so he can make sure the cut is even..... I was at the hairdressers from 1 to 5!!! Holy cow! He is meticulous.... but so worth it! But I was mad cuz I looked like 'Mrs. Brady' with her shag.... only I was missing the shag, so I had a bowl for a hair do... :/  I couldn't wait to play with it on my own!
But we headed back to Sarah's to begin our painting, and make Barbecue pizza and steamed asparagus...I am afraid I was a bit rude to poor Sarah, not being happy with my hair and all......

me with my 'Mrs. Brady do'

and Sarah looking cute, and excited to paint her room into a Tiffanie's room!

.... but we painted and painted... and had fun doing it. Sarah got a little 'high' on the paint fumes I think... she got the giggles at everything I said

... while I got quieter and quieter..... (we had to shut the door so 'Boogie', Sarah's roommate's dog, wouldn't come in and get into the paint) but we did have the window open...... we finished the first coat, cleaned up and watched TV with Boogie until we fell asleep.
Sunday Morning came way too fast.... we had to add another coat of paint, and put together furniture, and put Sarah's room back together and I was supposed to head for home because I needed to work Monday....so we got busy. We finished the painting and it looked good if I do say so myself... We showered and got ready for the day,

and looked too cute to stay inside and work so we grabbed lunch at Red Robin... Sarah played peek a boo with a child across the aisle from us and pretended to be scared by them and screamed out loud ( a little louder than she had planned) and we both got the giggles again!! LOL
then we had to head back to Sarah's house to assemble her room!

We put up drapes for a closet door, and curtains on the window, then put together Sarah's new bed frame........

she LOVED it.. she has never had an officially nice bed frame before...

                                                      and assembled the book case.....

 we did a pretty good job, only got a couple of the shelves mixed up, but you don't notice unless you lie on the floor and look up at it...

and we also assembled the little night stand we found... we were quite industrious girls!!...

Next we put Sarah's bed together,

                                                                       hung pictures....   

                                                        put  her dresser in her closet

and put her vanity back in her room.....

 and by this time it was 7 pm... So it would be up to Sarah to put things back on shelves, and hang up clothes! Sarah's old room mate Jamie came over to see our handy work and was impressed... but wanted to help make my lemon curd cupcakes..... and Sarah and Jamie said I should call my boss and see if I could come in late to work so I could stay over one more night.... and that is what I did and my boss was fine with it (I love having an understanding boss... she told me to do what I needed to do and they would see me when I got there) Woo hoo!!! So we were off to take a break and make cupcakes.... Yum!!!

Sarah offered to lick the beaters... I took this pic below without telling Sarah the reason (look close at her nose) then I showed her the pic... LOL

She really loves licking the beaters!! LOL

Monday morning came and I had to pack and head back to work....I took one last pic of Sarah in bed...

                                                  She looks comfy doesn't she??
she loves her 'Tiffany's'  room... I like it too! And Sarah has big plans to re-invent herself and I have a few re-invention plans of my own.
Sarah is going to do what she needs to do to get residency so her school tuition is cheaper, she's going to get things paid off... and try to save up money. I told her rather than be tempted to go shopping to call me or go work out at Gold's...exercise is good and releases those same endorphins of pleasure that shopping does. Then she could put aside a little money each week for a 'Treat Sarah Day' at the end of the month for a new shirt, room decor, or what ever little splurge she wants to spend it on... it would give her something to look forward to.
I am going to enjoy my new hair cut, and try to exercise each day, I need those same endorphins for my 'happy' self .... I started walking around Jensen's Grove on my lunch break when it's not too windy and it has seem to help my moods.... not sure about losing any weight, but it helps my mood. I want to grow the top of my hair out so it's like this...

                                                             .... love this hair cut.
I also want to start playing the piano more, craft more, blog more... eat healthy.... and I'll see where that gets me by the end of summer. :)
I made it back to work by 2 in the afternoon... everyone seemed to like my hair and loved my curls... a few might even be a little envious.... so far so good...I highly reccomend a mother/daughter weekend once in a while. :) and to take a step back from life, and re-invent your room or yourself ...just a little bit! :D

A little Mother/ Daughter time

I can't believe how fast time goes by!! I'm so behind in my blogging. Last month exactly to the day just about, I guess I did leave on Thursday night (May 3rd) after work, I took a little vacation to Provo to spend some time with my daughter Sarah. We had both needed a little "refresher" time?? or 're-invent' your self time?? Sarah had been wanting to clean out her room or move or something to add a little spice in her life, and she needed to take care of things, like paying bills, talking to UVU about going to school, and stuff like that, and I needed to do something with my hair... and she has a friend that's a hairdresser! So off I went...
Thursday when I got to Provo, I picked up Sarah and we went to dinner at Apple Bee's, got groceries so we'd have something for breakfast, then back to her apartment to relax and watch TV.
Friday morning, I woke up early and decided to become a plumber, Sarah's bathroom sink was soooo clogged it almost overflowed by the time you got done washing your face. So after making a few phone calls for plumbing tips from my hubby and my mom,  I was brave enough to get a wrench, a wire hanger, and a cleaning bucket to put under the drain... and Viola!! I pulled out a chunk of hair and gunk that would have normally made me hurl, but I controlled myself because I was being a handy man, and handy men don't hurl. And surprisingly enough I got things all put back together good and tight , and the drain worked and there were no leaks!! woo hoo!!!
After that, Sarah and I got ready to take care of business....

Isn't my daughter cute??

We looked like we were ready to take care of business...First off it was off to Gold's Gym to take care a bill, then came UVU, we had to wait in a few lines to talk to a Financial Counselor, then a Class Counselor, and last but not least a residency counselor. Goodness there was a lot of things to think about.. but we did it. At UVU the mascot is a Wolverine... but Sarah said it was a 'Honey Badger' ...

You should go to You Tube and look up the "honey Badger" video and you'll understand why we had to get a picture, and got the giggles!!  Another funny thing happened, you know in most schools there are designated visitor parking areas, and UVU has one too, but it has a little toll booth kind of thing to let you in and out, and on the way out there is a traffic bar covered by what looks like a 'water noodle' that goes up when you can leave after paying your fee. Well, Sarah and I paid our dollar and the attendant lifted the bar, then when I had started to drive away it came down again, and I looked at the attendant like "what the?" and he looked at me the same way, and then it went up again and Sarah and I drove off in a fit of giggles.
After all that it was about 2:30 in the afternoon, so we went to Olive Garden to get lunch, because Sarah works there so we get a discount! Woo hoo!
We got a yummy shrimp appetiser, salads and bread sticks, and then I got my favorite thing, Portabella mushroom ravioli, and Sarah got one of her favs, Braised Beef and Tortelloni. YUM!!

 I don't know why Sarah and I have to take a picture of ourselves and hold part of our dinner up to show to everyone. LOL. Again we got the giggles.... Dinner was delicious!

After eating and chatting with a few friends of Sarah's we were off to IKEA, Sarah wanted to re-do her room. Jessica, her roomie, had said it was okay to paint her room, and Sarah wanted to make it look like a Tiffany's room... you know the colors and stuff? and we had also planned to go to the City Creek Mall in SLC. But we spent too much time at IKEA, we found a book shelf on sale, and a bed frame and headboard, and an end table! Then we had to go buy paint! It was a busy evening emptying out Sarah's room, and getting ready to paint! and before we knew it the day was over!!
This post will be continued... I just seem to run out of time or days or something when it comes to blogging... and I have to keep up with my recipe blog too..... But this day was was fun....and there will be more soon!

my yard in the Spring....

I love my yard in the springtime when things start getting green.... and we mow the yard and plant the garden. Sometimes I just love to sit on my deck and look at it, or while I"m doing the dishes it's lovely to look out the window.....

I love that I can see my favorite mountain...... and this year there are a lot of robins out and about. We have nests in 2 of our pine trees, and there is always a fat robin out getting worms for it's babies that I can see while I'm doing the dishes.
One Saturday afternoon I had Makella come over and help me clean out the flower beds so mom could rest. She's soooo cute! We had a lovely time with her digging up the weeds, and giving us both a shower of dirt occasionally, she screamed when she found worms and scooted down to a different spot, she made lady bug houses while singing a little song, I miss having little kids around sometimes. She even made me laugh, I was proud of my shrubbery trimming and said I think my middle names is "edward" meaning "Edward Scissor Hands" (of course she wouldn't know what I meant) and she said "oh, my middle name is Bonnie"  Ha!! cute! she probably thinks my middle name is Edward for real!! Hahahaha!

They did look nice though... since then, we have put down weed mat and bark in the flower beds and they look really nice. Now I just need to get some flowers to plant here and there to brighten it up and it's good.
Kella and I decided to take a break and watch some Sponge Bob...

While we were watching T.V. a Kraft macaroni commercial came on and Kella said "mmm that looks good' and I said 'hmmm... maybe it's time to take you home for supper" and she said " Don't you have any food here?" hahahaha! I guess she didn't want to go home! I do have food... just not kraft macaroni and cheese...Andy took it all to school with him.
A few days later while I was getting ready for work, I looked out the window to the most beautiful sunrise!!!
I just had to take some pics....

Don't the clouds look like pink cotton candy??

They were so big and pink and close....

It was a gorgeous morning, and the clouds looked like cotton candy that reminded me of when I was little and we would go to Tautphaus park and ride the carnival rides and go to the zoo! Then we would always get snow cones and cotton candy. I remember riding home in the back of the car with my Grandma Lucy, and she saw me eating the cotton candy, and say "mmm that looks good" in her cute little voice. I let her taste some and she said she had never eaten cotton candy before... so we shared it together and got sticky together the way cotton candy always seems to get you. :)
Then another lovely afternoon, I walked over to the side of my house to see if I was getting any Lilacs on my lilac bushes... and noticed just how much my pear tree resembled the "Whomping Willow" on the Harry Potter movies......hahahaha!

I would rather be outside doing yard work than inside doing housework... sometimes I let the house go with a spit shine and head outside..... Don't you just love warm weather and sunshine??? I love summer!

Happy Birthday to me!!

I have gotten a bit behind when it comes to blogging. I have just been kind of busy and with warmer weather I've been outside. But I did have my 35th birthday on April 19 (just kidding, I wish I was 35 again, I'm actually 48) When I realized how old I was I was sad... 2 years and I'll be 50. But you can't turn back time, all you can do is enjoy each day you're given. I didn't do much on my birthday other than work. Usually we get a half day off on our birthday, but the other girl I work with was running a marathon in SLC that weekend, so I ended up working all day. I did get a half day on Tuesday and went to the doc for my yearly checkup. Nothing better to do to celebrate your birthday than go to the OB GYN..hahahaha, but it's good to get a check-up. I didn't realize just how bad I had been suffering with depression!! I even cried at the doctor.... she gave me something to help, and man... I found my old  happy self again!! I didn't realize that the real me had disappeared.... kind of... at least my happy self. But after the doctor, I was going to go to the temple, but Andrew had gone back to BYU-I for his new semester, so I thought I would go visit him, help him get groceries, and take him out to dinner. I enjoyed my time with my son, we visited, and I showed him a cute little sandwich shop that is yummo, and has delicious frozen yogurt!! Couldn't think of anything better than spending the afternoon with Andrew. Don't you love the friendship that develops with your kids as they grow older??
On my actual birthday, I worked, but work gave me a cute card, and then my lovely daughter surprised me with a bouquet of flowers!!

 They arrived in the afternoon, and boy was I surprised! I LOVE flowers... just wish they lasted a little longer. Gorgeous! I was the envy of all the ladies I work with!!
After work, Jim and I got Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner, and then took cupcakes and ice cream to Mom and Dad's to celebrate. I had made a coconut-lemon cupcake with lemon curd filling that were to die for!

I even had to make more to take to work the next day they were so yummy! I will post the recipe on my food blog soon...
Mom had said the MaKella was so excited to have me come down because Mom told her I always bring my 'singing' candle for our birthday cakes. It's just a little candle that has a holder you twist that plays 'Happy Birthday' and we always try to sing along with it which is quite funny to hear. It doesn't feel like a birthday unless you have the singing candle on your cake!  But  I bet Kella thought it was going to be something like Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast....hope she wasn't disappointed... or in shock after hearing us all try to sing along with it. :)

me and Kella posing so it looks like we're blowing out the candles

oh well.. we didn't really get a good shot...

my birthday was nice though, I got lots of cute cards from everyone. Jim bought the outfit (my birthday suit!) that I'm wearing when we went to Salt Lake City together. All in all it wasn't too bad turning 48............

Easter Sunday

Easter morning came and it was a beautiful day.... I woke up early, like at 5:30 in the morning so I could get our turkey on the smoker and let it cook all morning for our Easter dinner. I love Spring, and in the early morning when the sun is just coming up it's awesome, and you can hear the birds chirping happily. And to me Spring is re-birth... the trees start blossoming, the flowers start coming up, and the grass is green! I always feel re-newed... and while I was cleaning up the kitchen after having my turkey soaking in the sink, I had beautiful music playing softly and I looked up and out my kitchen window and there was this cute, fat robin, who had landed on my whiskey barrel planter and he looked at me for about 5 minutes......

he looked right at me... I could even see his eyebrows... yes, some robins have eyebrows. :) But it was if he was there to say 'Good Morning and Happy Easter'.....
and that brings up what Easter is all about, the death and resurrection of Christ and the fact that we will all live again, kind of in a re-born or re-newed body, it's so awesome that Easter is in the Spring... I really liked the article in the April Ensign by Elder Bednar called "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality"... it was all about the atonement and what it means to each of us. I read it in the early morning and REALLY read it ... it just hit me, and I almost cried. Here is a quote I really liked from it....
"I suspect that many Church members are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming and cleansing power of the Atonement than they are with the strengthening and enabling power. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us."
I LOVED this article... and that quote is just a hint of what it's about, I encourage you to read the whole thing, I would like to copy it here but since that would be a copyright infringement, just read it, it's amazing. In our daily struggles, and I know we all have different struggles in this life, emotionally or physically, and it's awesome that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ give us the strength and endurance to carry on because of the Atonement.
I love this scripture...
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

That is what we need sometimes in this world, rest unto our souls, I think. I'm very grateful for the Savior and the sacrifice he paid for me, and the pain and suffering he went through so he would know what it was like to go through what we go through so he can ease our pain and suffering, and empower us to get through it.
We had a lovely Easter together as a family, eating our smoked turkey, scalloped potatoes, and steamed asparagus with plenty of Reese's Peanut Butter eggs for dessert. And at the end of the day when my kids had to go back to there homes away from  home, I take comfort in knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be with them and me.