Happy Holiday Wishes

It feels great to have the Christmas card done so early in the month! I have lots of new posts for you to come this week. Hope to see you back to take a look!

Making PIE memories

Last night Jessica and I spent 2 hours ceating yummy pies. I have posted both recipes for you and some pictures. The crust was easy with this wonderful trick we learned; roll dough out inbetween two sheets of plastic wrap. Remove top wrap and flip into your pie pan and take other wrap off. Simple as can be! Hope you can enjoy a homemade pie maybe for this Thanksgiving!

A new read

The book group I am in is reading this book called "The Undaunted" by Gerald Lund.

The journey was impossible. But they had no other choice. At the call of their prophet, they left well-established farms and businesses to strike out yet again into the untamed wilderness. A small band of men, women, and children formed the 1879 pioneer company. Their mission: stand as a buffer between lawlessness and civilization. Their road: only what they created themselves, blasting out a perilous trail over slick rock and through desolate cliffs. Their hearts: UNDAUNTED.

In The Undaunted, readers first go to the coal mines of Yorkshire, then across the ocean and the plains to the territory of Utah, where, even in 1879, there is pioneering to be done. A little- known and perhaps even less- appreciated chapter in the Church s history comes to life in this gripping story of a stalwart group of Saints called to create a settlement to serve as a buffer between the established communities of Utah and the lawless frontier of the Four Corners area. Their challenge will be enormous but the biggest part of it just may be getting there in the first place. Skillfully interweaving historical figures and events with fictional characters, Gerald Lund takes us through the Hole in the Rock and over miles of uncharted country that even today is impassable without all- terrain vehicles. His account of the adventure, romance, and sacrifices of these undaunted pioneers will resonate with readers who love a good story as well as those who want to better understand the incomparable legacy and unconquerable faith of those valiant Saints. Taken from Amazon review

I can't wait to get started. I think I will go start right now!

Jacob is seven

Jacobs 7th birthday started two days earlier at Pirate Island Pizza with his buddies! Everyone had a blast!

I went to his class today and Jacob gave everyone in his classroom a donut

To end the birthday celebrating we went to " Texas Roadhouse" to ride the saddle. Our waiter was so nice he took Jacob around the resturant for a real ride!
As you can see from my pictures I had no camera with me this whole time! Thank heavens for the Iphone!

Dads Gone for a week...time to PARTY!

Okay, how does the saying go..."When the cat is away, the mice will play". Well, our cat is away for a full week (Joe) and I have decided to let the kids play, play, play. Who cares about house work, laundry and a balanced meal. Not us! We are leaving the housework for later, eating as much junk as we can, satying up late and just right out celebrating the last few days of our summer break. Before we know it Joe will be home and things will go back to normal, school starts her on August 13. But for now, here is a few things we've been up to...

Went to see G-Force and spent more money on the snacks then the movie!

Kids slept in the guest house, but did not make it to sleep until way past midnight

Swimming

Driving range to hit severl bucket of balls

friends over for late night

AND.... today is only Tuesday! 4 more days to go, lots more fun things to do. I think I might just have icecream for dinner...hope your enjoying your summer!

Pay it forward...Winners

Not the best pics.Taken from my Iphone, all our cameras are dead!

It has been a few months from the "Pay it Forward" post I did, and I had 2 people play (posting the idea on their blog or facebook account to keep the game going as in the rules). Thank you Tracy and Natalie. I had fun trying to think of what to make and decided on bookmarks (as you all know I love to read). Hope you will love them and love the books you read over the summer. Thanks again for playing!

Swim Meet

Jessica had a fun trial run of what a swim meet will be like for her swim team. Everyone that had not been on the swim team before was invited to race in 3 races. She did the : relay free style, individual back stroke, and the 50 meter free style. It was amazing to see what a great swimmer she is! 

Weekend at our cabin

School ended for us on Friday so we headed up to our cabin for some fun in the mountains. A few of our highlights were: 

firecrackers, four wheeling, river watching, flowers on grandpa Reeds grave, roasting marshmallows, seeing friends from our old ward in Syracuse, Utah, at the church house in Freedom, Wy. (that was crazy!) and last but not least, roasting doughnuts in the fire-pit. Joey's idea and we must say it was a big hit! 

So we are now going full swing into our summer activities. Pool time, golfing, tennis, and late nights to name a few. I'm tired all ready!

A lost tooth!

Jacob was so excited to have his first loose tooth! On sunday he told me it was loose and a short four days later it was out! The tooth fairy is reported to be very busy and missed our house last night...hopefully she will come/remember tonight! (I can't believe I forgot!)

A Quick update

I've been slaking on the blog! I have no real excuse of why, but here is a quick update.

While outside staining our pool deck the kids discovered two owls hanging around our sports court. They are  about 4-6 weeks old and very interesting to watch. The whole head turning around thing was a little creepy. Jacob loved the yellow eyes and the clicking sounds they keep making (he now thinks he can talk owl). Animal control came and rescued them off our cliff and into safety. 

My laptop has decided to give me keyboarding fits. If I am not careful I send off some crazy emails with lots of missing letters. I thought I could fix this myself by cleaning the keyboard, but I ended up breaking the zero key completely and now need to take it in to get repaired.  

Jessica played in her first "Skills" golf game Saturday. She took second place! Way to go sis! 

(Joey got second in his bracket also, but did not want to take a picture with a second place trophy...he was upset with his performance to say the least!)

Mother's Day was great. Breakfast in bed, home-made cards and books, church and a new cell phone. We went over to Joe's mom and meet my parents over there for pie. I have to admit that it is so nice to have a mother-in-law and my mom right here in town. The two of them get a long great and makes it easy to celebrate every holiday together. 

To all the moms out there...enjoy motherhood, enjoy your children, enjoy your divine calling. It only takes one mother to care, listen and love one child to create generations of faithful followers!  

I Highly Recommend...

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR HEART TO A BOOK? Well, look no further. Diana Gabaldon has created the ultimate escape in The Outlander. Don't let the 850 pages dissuade you. You wont want to put it down. 

I must admit, the synopsis on the back of this massive book threw me off. I didn't think I would be much interested in a romance novel based on time travel -- it just seemed way too implausible. I said the same thing about "Twilight" and I loved that series too! However, at the persistence of several friends, I gave this novel a try. I am certainly grateful that I did. I am on book 5, "The Fiery Cross".

This is not merely a romance novel. It involves a romance, to be sure, but this romance is not one you'd find again. This is an original romance, which so completely describes love and what it will cost you,  that I found myself better understanding love. It is also filled with adventure, religion, and human conscience. A historical novel rarely has the ability to make me understand things about my own presence, and yet, Outlander simply did. I was unable to put this book down, as captivated as I was by the compelling writing. 

The character development is beyond any I have lately read. Dianna Gabaldon has a true gift for understanding human emotion and translating it for the rest of us to understand. Each book is great in itself, but I highly recommend you start with "Outlander" the first book and work your way through them all. I know the second book:  "Dragonfly in Amber",  is well over 1000 pages, don't let that stop you. I will tell you this, I cried for the people and what they went through. You can really get a feeling of what times were like before our modern conveniences. The love between Clair and Jamie is amazing. What they accomplish is even more amazing!

Hope you take the time to read at least book one. 

F.Y.I. Adult situations...

A Quick Get-A-Way

San Fransisco skyline 

Joe and I have never been to San Fransisco, so we decided it would be fun to run a way for the weekend and check it out without kids! The weather was a little cool but the sun was out. We did all the typical touristy stuff...

rode the trolly tour to see the city, walked the pier, ate clam chowder out of a bread bowl, checked out the Saturday's Farmers Marker, and shopped, shopped, shopped! Our feet are tired but we are happy we got to go. It was a fun get a way!

The fog was neat and coverd the bridge most of the day

Easter Pictures

Not that they are much to look at, but the tradition goes on...Easter Pictures! Joey thinks he can get out of them now but I made him take them anyways.  Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Welcome to the family

Please welcome A.J. Bennett to the world. He was born on April 1, 2009 and shares that day with his big brother Brandon. We all had a wonderful time visiting him in Seattle and look forward to seeing him grow. 

Taking a Trip

  Seattle Space Needle 2007

We are  heading off to Seattle to see my baby brothers newest addition to his family. A new baby boy! We are only going over night, but we will get there in 3.5 hours! I just love my pilot husband...I hate the flying part though!

Pay it forward...

Once again I have a fun challenge, this one coming from my creative friend Natalie! Read on to see how to play this fun challenge game and receive a gift created just for you from me!

"In order to experience some of the awesomeness of creativity...the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me! .... This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully.

1) I make no guarantee that you will like what I make ; )
2) What I create will be just for you, with love ♥♥♥
3) It will be done this year (2009)
4) I will not give you any clue what it's going to be, but it will be something tangible not a cyber gift.
5) I reserve the right to do something completely strange.
6) No two gifts will be alike, and they may not be of equal value.
7) In return, all you need to do is post this text into a blog/note of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 people to respond to your post. I will not send your gift if you do not pay it forward (exp: in your blog, on Facebook, on Cafemom, send out a bulk e-mail)
8) Send me your mailing address if you don't live in the same town as me.

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay it forward.

I can't wait to see who the first 5 people are going to be. Natalie I am looking forward to my creative gift form you!

I've been tagged!

Okay so I've been tagged to pull my fourth folder and my fourth picture from it to blog about. Here it is....

 

Christmas gingerbread cookies 2008 taken by Jessica

Cookies for Santa. We, along with most everyone else in the world, make cookies for Santa.  I bet you can guess which ones Jacob decorated. All though Joey has outgrown this stage, I found this cute picture of him helping clean out the leftover batter. He use to love baking for every holiday! 

Joey age 2.5 where did all the time go?

So, now it is your turn. I tag anyone who looks at my blog! 

My best savings so far!

I went to Smiths grocery store and purchased 90...yes 90..."PowerZeros" 

(the Power-Aid sports drink that has zero calories)  for a huge price of ....get ready for this...are you sitting down? Okay I'll stop the suspense... $11.25!  I know...crazy deal! They are usually on sale for .99 but normal price is 1.49 so I feel like I've won the lottery! That made each drink 12 and a half cents each. A savings of $80 bucks!!!!  Any one need a drink? I think I can spare one or two...LOL! I feel like I deserve to go out and get me a new pair of shoes with all the money I saved.

HUMMMMMM......not a bad idea. 

Cookies and Coupons

This month for my cooking group we had a guest speaker come and teach us all the ins and outs of using coupons! Of course we had to have food, its cooking group, so we munched on yummy homemade cookies. Here is my yummy treat for you enjoy. 

After listening to her teach us all the ways to save, I left excited to get started. I also wanted to share the web-sight she gave us so you guys can all start saving too! Hope everyone takes a look! Let me know if you want more info and I can send it your way. 

www.pinchingyourpennies.com

Scrap-booking Retreat!

I went away for another four days to my cabin in the mountains to scrap-book, eat yummy food, watch chick-flicks and laugh until my tummy hurt. I know it seems like I just went, but we were all ready to head back up there. I love being-able to run away like that and spend all my days and nights creating beautiful pages of all our family memories. Here are a few of my favorite layouts  I finished. Italics written is the journaling.

Not to far in the distant future there will come a day when the boys mean more to you then "Crazy hair Day" and these fun memories will become a thing of the past.

I've never seen a person get lost so much in a sport like you do with golf. You don't care if there is only 20 minutes to hit a bucket of balls or I leave you for the day to hit 18 holes. You ask to go to the driving range daily and will even enjoy spending time in a golf simulator. Watching you play for the school team was a great moment for us. It is fun to see you enjoy something so fully! I never dreamed I would be a mom of a golf addict. 

You came home in december one day and told us you were having trouble reading the wipe off board at school. Of course that gave us a red flag  to go and get your eyes checked. I took you to "Lens Crafters" for your eye exam and a pair of new glasses. It was fun to see all the different styles on your sweet face. I love the pair you decided on. I think you look adorable and smart with them.

You and airplanes have been a pair un-separated by time. We can find them almost any where. The church bag, my purse, several in the car, all throughout the house, there is a plane for you to have. You absoloutly love them. You can name all of them, tell us how fast they go and how many passangers can fly in them. Your fascination over airplanes makes your daddy so happy because his love for flight is almost as large as yours. I love the way you line them up in your room or catalog them on the ottomen in the family room. Enjoy your love of winged machines Jacob, maybe some day you will be a great pilot just like your daddy!

It seemed too early in the school year for you to be bringing a book home to read on your own. I was thrilled to see your enthusiasm as you read each word to me and looked at the pictures. Your growing up so fast and with each ne w milestone you accomplish makes me so proud to be your mommy. 

TBM Preflight with Jessica and Jacob

Jessica playing "Reporter" just before Joe takes her and Jacob up sight seeing in our TBM last weekend. She has a lot of fun interviewing Jacob. Listen to what he knows about the airplane. 

Where have we been???

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Where have I been? 

Basketball games! 

Cleaning my house

PTA

Parent Teacher meetings

HBA Dinners

swimming

tennis lessons

Piano lessons

Library 

Park

Feeding the ducks

rec centers

Cooking Group meetings

Luncheons with old friends up North!

Church functions

Reading

working on our food storage

Helping with a "Safety Fair" again

More basketball

and lots lots more that makes my head spin!

@#$#**(&^%@^&#*@^)$%#^&!!!!

That's all I have to say! Life! Keeps on going! Without it I would be very bored! 

Snow In the Desert

As you probably heard on the news, we got snow! It was a few weeks ago while I was in the Bahamas with my family. My neighbor was kind enough to take some pictures of my house. Can you believe they cancelled school for this tiny bit of snow????