Happy 9th!

This girl woke up HAPPY about her birthday even though it was on a Sunday (not a bad thing it just kind of limits what we can do to celebrate).

She was ready for a day about her. At dinner she asked if everyone would go around the table and say something they love about her. Hilarious. Of course we were happy to but pretty funny.

She mostly wanted clothes and more decor for her room. My niece-in-law made two awesome prints for her to hang on her wall. Check it out. Her stuff is awesome.

Elise doesn't care about cake so my mom saved the birthday (again) and made this chocolate chip cookie. Perfect.

And did you see who came to visit this weekend. We loved it. Campbell the Squish, Jen and Kristine. We were sad to see them leave.

Reasons I LOVE Elise:

      E - Enthusiastic

      L - Great laugh and so loving

      I  - intelligent and interested in all the details

      S  - Soccer his one of her loves, she is quite sassy, and she is sweet when the sassy side calms down                              

      E - Entertaining - she had us all laughing last night. She was definitely on a birthday high and looking             for some attention. Favorite quote of the night "Here comes the glam."

Happy 9th!

This girl woke up HAPPY about her birthday even though it was on a Sunday (not a bad thing it just kind of limits what we can do to celebrate).

She was ready for a day about her. At dinner she asked if everyone would go around the table and say something they love about her. Hilarious. Of course we were happy to but pretty funny.

She mostly wanted clothes and more decor for her room. My niece-in-law made two awesome prints for her to hang on her wall. Check it out at A Vintage Poster. Her stuff is awesome.

Elise doesn't care about cake so my mom saved the birthday (again) and made this chocolate chip cookie. Perfect.

And did you see who came to visit this weekend. We loved it. Campbell the Squish, Jen and Kristine. We were sad to see them leave.

Reasons I LOVE Elise:
      E - Enthusiastic
      L - Great laugh and so loving
      I  - intelligent and interested in all the details
      S  - Soccer his one of her loves, she is quite sassy, and she is sweet when the sassy side calms down                              
      E - Entertaining - she had us all laughing last night. She was definitely on a birthday high and looking             for some attention. Favorite quote of the night "Here comes the glam."

Money Burning a Hole in Your Pockets?

So Gavin was given a $10 Target gift card by a friend. I took him to Target today.

This is what he bought. No lie. And I had NOTHING to do with it.

Happy Birthday Gavin Crew

It is hard to believe that the ONE and ONLY Gavin Crew is 7 years old today.

He has been SO EXCITED about his birthday. And I have been so nervous that I would not be able to pull off what he wanted. I didn't really know what he wanted to have happen today. And it is family party year so it isn't quite as fun as a friend party. 

Gavin only asked for one thing. And of course it was something that ONLY Gavin would ask for. And he knew exactly what it should be like.

A filing cabinet with wheels and a lock. A for real filing cabinet. I don't even know if his friends know what a filing cabinet is but he does. He said he saw it IKEA and knew he needed it for his important papers. 

Here is the expression when I brought it to him. Seriously crazy happy.

In past years for birthdays or Christmas he has asked for (and received):
vacuum
wheelbarrow
hand-truck/dolly
music stand
real tools
venus fly trap (the plant)

I really can't think of any toys he asked for. Although he does play with toys too. 

He loves to create and dream up projects. Especially when his Grandpa is around. He is guaranteed a trip to Home Depot. His favorite!

I love Gavin. He he is full of life and energy. He keeps things at our house going. He is persistent and curious. He is very helpful and a great little buddy to have around. He is always up for a good time. And he loves being with family. And he is a talker. Never a quiet moment with that kid.

Funny Girl and my new guests

So we have two new house guests. And we love them. My mom and her sister (my aunt) Carla moved in. It is actually sad. But tonight was a good night. My cute aunt Carla (who is the favorite aunt) and I watched Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand. Have you seen it? I think you should. Carla taught me to appreciate old movies. And this is a good one.

How do you like that sassy picture of me? What? And I am wearing a Seattle Super Sonics shirt. But isn't Carla just gorgeous?

My aunt Carla was diagnosed last week with a bad news brain tumor called a glioblastoma. Google it. Not good. It is a very aggressive cancer. It happens to be the same brain tumor that her old brother (my uncle) died of about 10 years ago. We are all so sad about it. Have I ever told you that cancer is lame?

But we are so happy to have Carla living with us. She is sweet. And she is being a good patient. My Mom is awesome (as if you didn't know that already). She is the ultimate caregiver. And she is tireless. And we all think it is pretty great to have her here even though it is for sad reasons.

Move that Bus!

My kids ask for interesting things. (just wait till you see what Gavin is asking for on his birthday - the kids is UNIQUE). But this year for Christmas, Elise wanted a room make over (thus the title of this post - if you want Extreme Home Makeover).
She knew that it wouldn't be totally ready on Christmas Morning - Santa can't be painting all night long - he has places to be. But she wanted all the parts to be ready to go.
I asked her if she wanted to give any input or pick anything out. She said, "I want it to be a total surprise."
OK.
So, I start planning, sewing, ordering, etc. A week before Christmas we are in the car and Teague is asking random questions. "What is your favorite...?" And one of them is "What is your favorite color?" Elise pipes up, "Definitely not pink." To which I say, "Really? That's a bummer." And Elise says, "Why? Like pink is ok for a shirt, I guess. But not a room." And I say, "Oh wow. That is a real suprise."

Then I spend the next week worrying because as you can see - pink is kind of the main color in the room. Yikes.

Good news is - she was happy Christmas morning.

Her room used to be yellow. Now it is a light grey. And we are happy with most of her room but her walls need some art work or pictures. I would really like those blankets to not be at the end of her bed. And someday I would like to make a quilt to be there. Someday. Her desk needs a few little accessories. It might even need to be a different color. Something is just not right. And maybe a little something else. We are working on those things.

The ruffle pillow was easy to make and fun to use a variety of fabrics. Pillow forms are cheap at IKEA so that was not a big project. The framed picture of Elise's silhouette was done by my super-talented sister Egan. She also has really long dark grey curtains hanging and I love how they look but I couldn't get a good picture of them with my camera.

Pure Silly

Here is our silly little girl trying to win at Minute to Win It on New Year's Ever. (yes she does look like an orphan but come one. I can't compete when I am with another darling little girl who has her own blog and stylish mother. so I didn't even try. :)

She wanted to shake it all night long. 

A Healthy Recipe to Try

I pretty much love granola and trail mix type food. LOVE. And I am always trying new recipes. If you really want good granola - check out Supernova Granola. But, here is a SUPER EASY recipe for some very healthy trail mix. I am not exactly sure how I ran across this recipe on the food network. But, I tried it today. And so far, everyone who I have shared it with says - WINNER WINNER!

Pumpkin Seed Dried Cherry Trail Mix (Or Craisins -whatever you prefer)

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 6 tablespoons pure Grade B maple syrup
• Coarse salt
• 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a large bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds, almonds, and sunflower seeds and the syrup until evenly coated. Spread the nuts and seeds out, in an even single layer, on the lined baking sheets and season with salt to taste. Bake the nuts, stirring several times with spatula or wooden spoon, until just golden, about 20 minutes.

Cool the nuts completely on the pan, then add the cherries and toss to combine. Store cooled trail mix in an airtight container at room temperature.

I will attempt a picture of it tomorrow when I have natural lighting. But my indoor lighting does not make any food look good. (or my camera but that is another problem)

Check this out - Your New Guide

Have you been thinking about the way you and your family eat? Are you interested in making changes but you aren't sure how and it seems totally overwhelming?

I think about this stuff constantly and have made little changes but I am very aware that it is time to be serious about the health of my family. And truthfully - I like my treats, snacks, junk food more than most, I'm afraid.

Check out this blog  (image from the blog)


I have been so excited about the ideas that this blog author is writing about. And each week for the next year, he issues a new health challenge. Can you do it? I am kind of scared but it should be good.

And BTW - he it the father of one of my favorite bloggers Brooke over at - Inchmark.

Christmas Morning

Happiness!

One more and then on to healthy

This post is very late. I meant to do it right after our holiday food drive. And I got distracted.

So the good news is that we collected over 900 POUNDS of food for the Utah Food Bank. Awesome. And so grateful for all the contributions and lots of help that night.

Usually we serve assorted Christmas cookies but this year (thanks to my friend Sunni's suggestion), I decided to be brave and fry up homemade scones in the garage. I think they were a hit because I fried for 2 hours straight and it was all gobbled up. Too bad nobody took any pictures. I was too busy to even think of it.

A few people asked for the recipe - it is from my great-grandmother Minnie. Enjoy. But not too much because we are changing our eating ways. Right?

We call these - Lake Hebgen Scones

2 cups buttermilk

1 pkg yeast

1 T sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbs oil

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

Soften yeast in a half cup of warm buttermilk (warm in microwave for 30-40 sec then add yeast). Let sit for 5 minutes. Gradually add other ingredients and half the flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour and knead for 5 minutes (in your mixer). Roll out on a floured counter, cut into squares. Let rise for 15 minutes. Stretch a little and fry in oil at 365.

I actually made my dough 2 hours early and let it rise in a big bowl until I was ready to cut it up and fry it. I made 6 batches for the neighborhood thing. Yikes.

Next recipe - I think it should be a healthy one.

Kickin off the New Year Right

So I have a lot of thoughts about last year and the coming year. I am not really a New Years Resolution person. They don't work for me very well. But I do like to think about what I need to do to be better and what I can change and improve on. I do, however, set a lot of goals all year long and I have a pretty good system for accomplishing those goals. I love it.

One of the things I really want and need to improve on is our family diet. We do well in some areas but we have a lot of room for improvement. And luckily I have family members who know their stuff. Check out Jane's blog here.

But before you do that. And before I make any big diet changes - try this recipe.

You know these little goodies?

Don't we all love them. Well now you can make your own. I am not even kidding. My sister-in-law taught us. There isn't much to know. So easy she even taught her 8 year old activity day girls.

Homemade Girl Scout Thin Mints
Ritz Crackers
Package of Andes Thin Mints (is that what they are called? You know what I mean.)

Melt chocolate (in double broiler or microwave if you are careful)
Dip crackers in chocolate using a little pair of tongs or get creative. Let it drip off a little - you don't want too much excess. Then lay cookie/cracker on a piece of parchment. Let set or put outside in the frigid air for a few minutes.

Seriously? You can't eat only one. Try it.

But then let's really get it together people. We don't need so much sugar and junk in our diet.