Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving cooking day 3 (sorry a few days late)

So I forgot to take pics of all the good food I made, but lets just say it came out pretty good. Here is what the table looked like after we ate (some of the food is on the counter not in the pic). Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!


Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Cooking Day 2

Dinner rolls mmmmmm Yummy dinner rolls. It was really easy to make and it seemed to rise like it was supposed to. This recipe was nice cause it had instructions on how to make the recipe then refrigerator them for up to 24 hours. I'll take pic's of them when they are cook tomorrow and let you all know how they taste. If everything (even my apple pie) comes out good I'll post the recipes for you all.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I am so thankful this year for so many things, and very grateful to be able to cook a wonderful meal for my family tomorrow.


Here are the pics of my 24 yummmy dinner rolls.
Its days like this that make me we wish for a bigger fridge. Or the cooling drawers in the counter like what Martha Stewart has that would be nice.
Tomorrow I'll post pics of everything we have for Dinner! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving cooking Day 1

This year I decided to save us some money by making a few things for Thanksgiving dinner from scratch. I have just about everything on hand so I didn't have to spend much to get the rest of what I needed. OK and lets just face it homemade is MUCH better anyways. It might take all day to make but it sure does taste better. That and Justin is on vacation from school so I needed something to do :)

Well somethings take a few hours to make so I had to make a list of what needed to be done first and how many days before T-Day would I need to make them. Well Today was "PIE DAY" I made Pie crust from scratch for 4 Pie's!!!

1st up........Cherry Pie

I have never made a cherry pie before and after reading some recipes and comments it made me a tad nervous. Especially since my last 2 attempts at a apple pie didn't go so well. So I cheated a bit and got canned pie filling and took extra time with the crust to make it look pretty.


2nd............Apple pie (my nemesis!!!)


I have tried to make apple pie twice before and it came out like soup the first time, and the second didn't taste good at all and got tossed. This time I took my time! Wile the cherry pie was baking I cut up my apples and kept re-reading the recipe to make sure I didn't forget anything. Well it sure smells good and looks pretty good to if I do say so. On T-Day it will get topped with a Carmel pecan topping. YUMMMM! (cross your fingers for me cause if this one doesn't come out right I give up on apple pie)


3rd.......... Pumpkin Pie (by request of Justin)
Pumpkin Pie is Justin's favorite pie. I like it too so does Skyla (Mick's not a fan) but Justin could eat a whole one with no problem. SO I made him a pumpkin pie. The recipe I have for pumpkin pie make 2 pies so we gave one to our good friends the Becks. Tis the season of giving :)

Here is a pic of my 4 beauties.

O and I found something fun to do with the left over pie crust and pumpkin pie filling.........Mini pies! I have a small muffin pan and just took the leftover pumpkin pie filling (witch wasn't much) and the crust that got cut off the other pies and made these cute Pumpkin pie bit's. Hopefully this will keep the kids out of the other pies till Thanksgiving.
Tune in tomorrow I'll be making dinner rolls from scratch :)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Count your Blessings

I have been stressed, feeling over worked and just tired in general. Little things have been happening to make me stress out even more on a daily base it seems. Even with all this going on I feel I just really need to write down a few of my blessings.

** The Gospel!!! I cant tell you how many times I have been so overwhelmed lately that I had to just stop and drop to my knees in prayer, and have been uplifted and felt Heavenly Fathers love for me. My problem's didn't disappear but they where for sure made much easier for me to handle. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and knowing the things I know now. I'm grateful to have it be a part of my everyday life. I'm SO grateful that my children have the chance to grow in the church. I am VERY grateful for the plan of salvation and for Temple work and the knowledge I get to be with my family for all time and eternity.


** My Husband!! Mick is the most amazing Husband and Father. He is always so supportive me, very understanding and one of the most unselfish people I know. He works so hard to provide for us and shows his love for us everyday. I can never say I don't feel loved by him. I am so grateful I get to keep him forever!

** My Son!! Justin is just getting so big that i now tear up when I see his baby pics and remember the days of him being little. I love his sweet personality and is sweet innocence. I love watching him learn new things and get excited to try new adventures. I LOVE the fact that school is fun for him and he likes to do Math for fun when he is board. I love his goofy side, the other night he asked me to turn on his fan on high. I told him no because is was cold out and he didn't need it. He looked up at me and said "Mom you know I'm just going to get up and turn it on when you shut the door". I couldn't help but crack up at that and he had a huge grin across his face too. So I had to turn on the fan then hehehe.

** My Daughter!! This girl is growing by leaps and bounds these days it seems. I cant believe she is going to be a kindergartner is just 9 months. She is so smart and loves to learn, she understands how important friends and family are and express how much she loves them so often it just makes my heart melt. I love her love of simple things and, her love of shopping for shoes and cloths. How often do you get to hear a parents say they love to take their 4 year old cloths shopping with them hehehe. She is a strong young lady all ready and I hope she keeps that as she grows up. I also hope she keeps her goofy side, she loves to play jokes on Me, Justin and Mick and I have to admit most of the time she gets us and we all end up on the floor laughing.


** Good Friends!!! this is a BIG one for me. We don't have any family close by and some times feel very alone and over whelmed cause we don't have family to ask for help. Luckily for us we have the most amazing friends and just about all of them feel more like family then most of our really family does. With out my friends I don't know how I would make it through the day sometimes. I am very grateful for my friends, you guys mean allot to me and I hope you all know how much you are loved.


** My car!! OK I know that sounds silly but its so true. There has not been a day since we got my truck that I have not felt grateful for it. Mick and I went 10 years with 1 car between the 2 of us. We have never had 2 cars at one time. OK i take that back we did for 3 months one time. Anyways this car feels like such a big blessing every time I get in it. I'm grateful to have a dependable car for my family to travel in, I'm grateful for the room it has and the fact I don't have to play Tetris with the trunk every time I go to Costco hehehe.


OK so that is just a few of my blessings. I know this is a different post then what I normally put on here but I have just been feeling so blessed lately i had to share.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

A New look for Sky

The last time we cut Skyla's hair she was just about 2 years old and it was still baby hair and all uneven. Since then I have not touched her head and Mick convinced her that only Boy's have short hair. She would not let you even pretend to cut her hair she LOVED her long hair. She also HATED brushing it everyday and would fight me when I wanted to fix it all up cute (she loved going to salon to get it fixed). Well we had Amber and her family come to visit a few weeks ago and Sky and Ari became fast friends. So one day I asked Skyla if she would like her hair cut like Ari's (a chin length bob). To my surprise she said YES!

So here is her before pic............


and here is After...........


I LOVE IT!!!!!! She doesn't cry when we brush it and most of the time I don't have to fix it except to put in a cute clip and she lets me do that with out a fight. I love her new cute hair, but I do have to admit I miss her long hair (don't tell Mick I said that). The best part is we cut off 13inches and it all got donated to "Locks of Love" a place that makes wigs for sick children who have lost their hair due to kemo and such. I have tried to explain this to Sky and all she says is she is happy some little girl gets to play pretend with her old hair LOL.

Halloween fun

So we had LOTS of Halloween fun this year. The kids got to go to the Church Trunk-or-Treat, and a Party at a friends house then we went trick- or- treating Halloween night with my friend Kamie and her family. All of this fun stuff and I didn't take my camera anywhere and have no pics of the kids in their costumes. Yeah I know bad Mommy. I did how ever remember to take pics wile they carved their pumpkins so this will have to do.



This year Justin got to carve his pumpkin all by himself. He did a great job too.

We let Sky draw what she wanted her pumpkin face to look like and she wanted to put these halloween stickers on the back.

I think it cam out cute. We had such a fun halloween but I'm looking forward to the next holiday now.

Monday, October 19, 2009

BFF'S

My best friend (OK she is more like a sister :) ) and her family came down to visit us this passed weekend. We had such a blast with them here and miss them so much all ready. The kids where all BFF's right from the bat witch was really nice. The Girls (Sky and Ari) all ready made plans for when we are all going to visit again LOL. Justin misses his little shadow Enoch and I'm having baby with drawls with out Penny here.



The Kids.....Skyla, Penny, Ari, Enoch and Justin

Our Beautiful girls
Our handsome Boys
Thanks for the spontaneous trip down here Banks family We love and miss you :)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Pumpkin Patch

This year we got to go to the Pumpkin patch with our good friends/family the Ferris's. It was so much fun the kids had a blast all together.


Justin, Aidan, Skyla, Matthew and Alyssa.

Aidan was in love with the wagon and wanted to pull it himself so bad.
Mick and Sky. She is such a daddy's girl.
The rule with picking pumpkins for the kids is if they can carry it they can have it. Well here is Matthew and the pumpkin he picked. LOL I was cracking up and just waiting for him to drop it LOL.
After picking pumpkins the kids went and played on this HUGE pyramid of hay bails.
Ran through a corn maze



Then we went on a hay ride.


After that we headed to the Spirit store. Justin has been terrified of this store and last year and since it opened this year would no step foot inside. Well he decided that he would go in if I promised to take a pic of him there so he could show his class he did it (alto of the kids in his class are scared of this store).
So here it is my brave guy and his very happy for him sis......
Good job over coming your fears buddy I love you!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!

OK so its not Halloween yet but that holiday feeling is in the air and I cant wait!!! So for some fun here is some pics going down memory lane of the kids.

Justin's first Halloween 2002 7months old


Cutest Pumpkin ever!
2003
Captain feather sword form the wiggles
2004 Buzz Lightyear
2005 Darth Vader
Skylas first Halloween 2005 Another Cute Pumpkin
Carving pumpkins 2005
2006
Sleeping Beauty and the Scream guy
2007
Ghost Rider and a Fairy
2008
Pirates!!!!!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Yummy Breakfast

Justin was so sweet and got up early the other day just so he could make breakfast for Me, sky and himself. He made us Banana and Jelly sandwiches. OK not the most appealing but it was the thought that counted. He said he would have used peanut butter but he couldn't reach it LOL.

Yummy......


Look how happy and proud he is. I love this guy :)



I did eat most of mine. I felt sick the rest of the day but he never knew and that's all that matters. Who knows maybe some day he will be a famous chef.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

My little sis is ENGAGED!!!

Me and the kids headed down to my Sister Niki's place for a birthday party. Niki and Kristen (Ben's sister) are only a few days apart so they decided to have a joint birthday party. Little did Niki know it wasn't just a birthday party but a Engagement party FOR HER and BEN!!! It was so much fun to be apart of it. I'm so happy and excited for Ben and Niki!!!


The cute couple before he asked
The cute couple after he asked :)
Her gorges ring (way to go Ben!)
"hay Mom guess what!!!!!!!" giving Mom the good news and learning she all ready knew too LOL. I love it when everyone is on something except the person its going to happen to hehehe.
And of course Justin, Skyla and Jesse where there too but they were to busy playing and enjoying each other.

Niki and Ben I'm so happy for you guys and cant wait to share in all your joy to come. I love you guys :)

Here is the video I got of the big day.