Who knew Peeps could taste so good...

I love Mondays. I know wierd right? But I do. There's something wonderful about a fresh start. Yesterday we had dinner at my grandparents house and I brought the dessert. I have been wanting to make this cake since last year when I saw it in a Taste of Home Magazine. Isn't it cute?! For the recipe go HERE.

I've also been in the mood to read a good book lately. I think it stems back to when I was in SoCal and Angie let me read her book called "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, if you liked the Twilight Series, I'm betting you'll like this book too! Pretty intense. Do you have any book recommendations for me?

I also got this e-mail from my cute friend Amberlee. Thanks girl! Def. made my day a little better and boosted my self esteem!

And you thought they were natural beauties??OIY! Feelin' better about yourself now girls?YOU'RE DARN RIGHT YOU DO! Now go and kiss that mirror reflection. Loved this, because we all get so down on ourselves, heck if I had a makeup artist I could look like a star every day too!

This short little film has been floating around on a few of my favorite blogs! It's got such a great message!

Also loving the new Miley Cyrus song "The Climb" Jill. Jill introduced me to it, and it's just so positive and uplifting! Definitely a great reminder for all of us. I don't know much about Hannah Montana yet, I mean Brooklyn's only 3, but if that's the kind of music she's making then I think I could put up with her! ;)

Where are my manners...

Well how rude of me... I didn't even think to post a tutorial on the bows we made. I'm not great at explaining and I tried surfing the net to find a tutorial for you with no luck, Sorry it looks like you are stuck with my poor attempt at a tutorial. ;)

Step #1 Cut 3 pieces of ribbon to all the same lengths, depending on the size you want. I cut mine to approx. 6 inches each.

Step #2 Using a match or lighter seer both ends of each piece of cut ribbon. (This is to prevent fraying)

Step #3 Using a glue gun put a dot of glue on the end of one ribbon. Bring the other end of the ribbon around looping it to make a circle. Repeat with all 3 pieces of ribbon.

Step #4 Place a dot of glue on the inside and center of the circle of ribbon you made in step #3 and press down firmly. Repeat with all 3 pieces of ribbon. Step #5 Place a dot of glue in center of the ribbon loops.

Place another ribbon on top layering and making an X until you have used all 3 pieces of ribbon and it looks like a flower.

Step #6 Place dot of glue in center of the flower and add your button or other embellishment.

Step #7 Glue onto alligator clip and you have a cute little bow fit for a princess! I get my clips from the Ribbon Retreat, they are the best deal I have found, Sally's Beauty Supply also carries them though.

Helpful Hint: When gluing ribbon on clip, place a ribbon inside the clip

add the glue and then the flower. Let glue dry for a few seconds, and gently peel the ribbon inside the clip off again. This just makes it a little less of a mess on the underside of the bow.

PS Brooklyn already has too many bows, so the first person who e-mails me and tells me that they want this set, gets them! Just click the email me button on the column to the left for my e-mail address.

****Oh and I've also had a few e-mails and comments about how to clean the blinds... I found the best thing to do was just take the blinds down (make sure they are shut) and stick them in the shower. All the dust rinses right off and then I put a few towels on my bathroom floor to set them down on and ran a rag over them to get the excess water off. Then just hang them back up. Easy, just a long process if you have a bunch of windows. Well worth it though!!! ****

SueAnn & Brynly, tagged Brooklyn and I:

Ask your children to answer the questions and type their answers in.Tag other moms with kids who might have fun with this. :)

( just type what the kids said...)

1. What is something mom always says to you? Eat my ogurt...(yogurt)

2. What makes mom happy? When I smile.

3. What makes mom sad? When I don't want to eat my ogurt

4. How does your mom make you laugh? when she dance with me

5. What was your mom like as a child? Her was a girl and she played with a dolly in her bedroom

6. How old is your mom? I don't know. Hers 3?

7. How tall is your mom? Umm... I don't know.

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV? Music.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Be like a Ballet Princess.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Cleaning up.

11. What is your mom really good at? Computers and answering questions.

12. What is your mom not very good at? Umm... nothing.

13. What does your mom do for her job? Works on the computer.

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Pizza and jelly beans.

15. What makes you proud of your mom? Does my hair.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? A mommy cartoon.

17. What do you and your mom do together? Clean the house and something elses I don't renember.

18. How are you and your mom the same? We like the Easter Bunny.

19. How are you and your mom different? We like to paint our house different.

20. How do you know your mom loves you? Kisses n hugs me.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? He reads his scripers. (scriptures)

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Shopping.

We tag EVERYONE who read our blog and has kids! I died laughing at some of Brooklyn's answers, at first I didn't think she would understand the ?s but she did great on most of them!

Happy First Day of Spring!!!! It's 60 degrees here!!! Goodbye winter!

Our own Clutter Crew...

It's been close to a perfect day. One of my favorite things in the whole world is to have a day that I can spend at home, no errands. no appointments, just doing whatever we want to. Dancing with a certain little princess.

And watching Baby Einstein with a certain little guy.

Love it. How did I get so LUCKY?

Oh, but our day wasn't all laid back and fun. We got down and dirt too with some Spring Cleaning. I like to Spring Clean all year round. It's an obsession of mine. I don't know what's wrong with me but I get a natural high from a big garbage bag full of stuff to take to the DI. I've been on a 6 week purge, thanks to Peter Walsh's book that I have been reading. I definitely recommend it! On a side note have you been watching Oprah on Wednesdays? I ♥ Peter Walsh and his Clutter Crew!

This morning we took down all the blinds and washed them! Cleaned the insides of all the windows and then washed all the curtains too. (I still need to iron them, but maybe I can get to that tonight when the kids are in bed.) Ahhh. Feels SO good!

I also got the SWEETEST surprise in the mail today. If you know me very well, you know that I love to get letters in the mail. So every day I get excited to go out and get the mail. If it's anything other than bills I'm excited. So imagine my excitement when I saw this in the mail box:

Christal just out of the blue sent me this package and it made my week! I love the quote on the plaque. (Christal and I share a love of good quotes!) I've never even met Christal we've just become friends through blogging. Let me tell you a little about Christal. She is a mom of 3 darling children, all adopted and we are crossing our fingers she gets a 4th soon! ;) Christal is also one of the most positive people I've ever come across. She's darling, and she is kind and genuine. And that's not all. She's organized and obviously thoughtful too! That's why I love blogging. How else would Christal and I have ever become friends? So THANK YOU Christal, you'll never know how much your friendship means to me. And those Smarties... I think they are better than M&M's!

On Tuesday we had some fun friends over and we made hair bows and bracelets for our girls. Here are some that I made... EASY PEASY! Seriously SO simple! Brooklyn loves them.

Oh and another recommendation from me... Australia. Have you seen it? It gave me allot to think about. I loved it! Really a great movie.

What is your favorite way to SPring Clean? Any great tips for me? Products that you love?

Blenvy...

You know what... I just finished reading some of my favorite blogs on this beautiful Saturday morning! I actually read 3 posts that really caught my eye today. That's one of the reasons I love blogging so much, I love being able to find inspiration and relate to others through blogging. I have been thinking allot this week, about blogging, about the role that it plays in my life and in others lives as well. I guess that's why I loved Kate's post so much this morning.

Kate said.. " i don't consider myself a "blog freak".. you know blogging 10 hours a day (seriously, more power to you if that's what you enjoy doing), although i'll be the first to admit i think it's one of the greatest invention of all time (next to cucumbers in vinegar). i love reading ALL your blogs, keeping up with your cute children/spouses/vacations/etc. keeping up with friends i NEVER see.

I think we've all heard or read some of these words...

"blogs are for people who want to brag about themselves and how perfect their life is" "people try to make their life sounds so perfect in blogland"

"blogs are a perfect way to live in a fairy tale land, and fool other people to believe you are liv'n the dream"

"no one wants to hear about you going to the grocery store, or how delightful your moonlight walk was"

....etc..... sound familiar?? ..... heard or read any of these or something similar??

whether you blog to journal, to scrapbook, or even if you blog to escape reality... flaunt it how you want it girl! it's your time to shine... and everyone's sunshine is completely different. don't let anyone tell you or make you feel like you can't spice up your blog life! do and say whatever you darn well please. if it makes you feel better to talk about the "grand" ... "fantabulous" things going on in your life, and sometimes even sugar coat them... more power to ya sugar. as for me, i consider myself an optimist.. for the most part (don't get me wrong, occasionally i have to walk up hill in the snow both ways!) and i think everyone knows NO ONE's life is perfect, but when i sit down by jeremy with ESPN blazing in the background, and start posting on my cheesehead blog... the positive things are what MOST often come to mind to record, not those rare times i want to drop kick that cute hubs of mine. ha. "

but seriously.. if people are going to spend the time talking about how lame blogs are .... and how people SHOULD blog.... and how people are being fake through blogging ...

Well you get the point, and I couldn't have said it better myself Kate!!!!

(Read her whole blog post RIGHT HERE.)

(image courtesy of Flickr)

I agree 100% with my friend Kate. I feel like I am a "glass is half full" kind of girl. My life is no where near perfect. In fact if I recapped my week this week it would be filled with throw-up in the car, naughty kids in town, a failed batch of cookies, a planned trip to the temple that never happened, a missed recipe group, I get mad at my kids, I'm late for church almost every Sunday! and I probably spend too much time on the computer etc. etc. I never want to appear fake or flaunting, and there are plenty of times when I look at someone else's blog and think oh my gosh, I wish I could sew like her... I wish I had a house like that... I wish I could cook like... I wish I had her energy or I wish I could take pictures like that or decorate my home like her, but you know what... Kate's right I am worrying to much about what people think about me in blogland, and in real life. If you are one who is reading my blog and you don't like what you see, well then STOP READING it! It's my blog & my life and I'm going to keep posting what I want to. :)

On that note... here's a quote I got from the movie Fred Clause

"The world is what you make it, but it all starts with what you make of yourself."

Have a beautiful weekend!!

Well call me a perfectionist... but I had to re-do my cute cookies, I just didn't like the frosted ones in there...

doesn't that look better?

My cute hubby also showed me this inspiring video. SERIOUSLY worth it to watch! Completely inspired me to be better, have a more positive attitude and be grateful!

Well tonight we have recipe group! Always fun to get together with my fun recipe group girls! So check out the Cookin' Mama's blog throughout the week to get new recipes!

Hope you are all having a great week!

Daylight Savings Time...

Okay I don't know about you guys... but I very much dislike Daylight Savings Time. It makes me feel like I have jetlag. Not to mention that the kids aren't loving it either. Daylight savings time + me and my 2 kids= a very long day and much tiredness. I vote we do away with it! haha. First of all LOOK who turned the big five O! Zach's dad turned 50 this weekend. He's an awesome Grandpa, a friend to everyone, he has a great sense of humor and knows how to work and play hard! We sure LOVE you Bart!!

{This is my favorite picture of him, even though you can barely see him! } We had a little party for him and we got him the Planet Earth Series on DVD... any of you seen it? I absolutely LOVE it! It's fascinating!!

While we were in CA Angie introduced me to the Starbucks Caramel Steamer and boy... I was hooked, but I didn't want to drive 15 minutes to one of our local Starbucks and then pay $4 bucks everytime I wanted one... so here is the recipe I found! You can check out the recipe HERE. Trust me it's divine! I bet a bunch of you have already seen this video, but just in case some of you haven't I wanted to post it. It's beautiful.

It's going to be a busy week, but I'm hoping to have lots to share soon!

Hope you all have a great Monday!

It is definitely the month for babies! SO FUN! We have 6 baby showers in the next 2 weeks! That's pretty exciting!! I like to make these tiny baby bracelets for the little girls. Aren't they precious?!

Wishin' the sun would come out...

Hello! Well believe it or not I am slowy getting caught up and things are returning to normal around here. I wish the sun would come back out! I have a few things I wanted to share with you. Maybe this will brighten your day...

First off any of you that are locals check this out! I just scheduled a family photo shoot with Tawsha at The Color Blue Photography. She is an amazing photographer, and she will be coming up to our area for 2 days only. Her prices are very competitive and she does an excellent job. To book a session with her or to see more of her work please go HERE. She has a really classy yet funky & fresh style! Perfect for Spring!

I ♥ Snapfish, and they have a great deal going on right now! Go HERE. to get 100 4x6 prints for $12.99 that includes shipping! I'm just about done uploading all mine to be printed!

Also look what I got in the mail right before I left on my trip to Cali... this CUTE card holder. I've been in dier need of something to help me get my cards organized. Thank YOU Nicole!! I absolutely love it!!

Okay what else, Oh! My friend Natasha started up a new blog. It's called Keepin' Romance Alive. She posts fun date night ideas for you & the Mr. What a great idea!

Her Mother-in-law also just started up her own little business called Grandma's Lace. Jean is extremely crafty and talented. She takes vintage doilies or other family heirlooms, and makes them into beautiful quilts/ throw pillows etc. To see her work go HERE. What a great gift idea, especially for someone who has everything! What a beautiful keepsake this would be for someone who has lost a loved one or has keepsakes like this sitting in a box somewhere.

And last of all, I just love this cute idea. I'm using it as a visiting teaching handout this month, but I think the possiblities are endless. (Cute party favor, handout at church etc.) All it is is one of those paper CD Sleeves. You can get a package of 100 for like $5 bucks. I wish I had made different cookies, ones that didn't have frosting on them and were a little bit bigger... like chocolate chip or something. But you get the general idea right? I think they are cute!

Happy Wednesday!

I ♥ CA...

Sorry to have been MIA for SO long! I had such a perfect vacation! I'll just spend a little time recapping it. But first... THE GIVE-AWAY! I used random.org and #40 was our winner which is Cameron & Melissa!!!

E-mail me your address and I'll get it in the mail ! Thanks for all your comments I LOVED reading through them all. I'm so grateful for all my blog readers out there. It makes my day to get a sweet e-mail from one of you or a kind comment. Thank you Thank you!

We left last Friday, and I got to visit IKEA and Tai Pan Trading for the first time... I had to limit my spending since I still had 9 days left of fun! I'm definitely going back when I save up my $$ again!! I got this CUTE red tin and picked up some spiky greenery to go in it too!

Well Day #2 of vacation we headed to LA. We walked Holly Wood Blvd. and did a little shopping. We also headed to China Town. Where we got loads of funky and fun jewelry for cheap! ♥ed it!!

Day #3 We headed to The Happiest Place On Earth! Disney Land!! I told Brooklyn I would get pictures of the Princesses and the castle for her! We had allot of fun!

Day #4 Back to the beach and we met this cute little seal, we watched him fish for hours it was so fun to be so close up to an animal I've only seen in pictures!

We also fell in love with Yogurt Land... anyone been there? If so you will know what I'm talking about!

Day #5 We hit the outlet malls!

Also ate at the Cheese Cake Factory. Pure Bliss. We had so much fun and allot of laughs! I LOVE my sisters. I seriously feel bad for any of you who don't have a sister. We were minus Krystal and we missed her! She had to stay home and do the college scene dang it.

Also a HUGE thanks to this guy... Neal (my brother-in-law) for putting up with late night giggling, girl talk, chauffeuring us everywhere and for cooking us his AWESOME Stromboli.. want the recipe? Go HERE.

So I'm back home and have a renewed appreciation for my sweet husband. He took such great care of the kids for me. He even took them both to the doctor when they came down with colds & an ear infection. The house was clean when I got home and even the laundry caught up! I have to admit I was worried leaving them all for that long, but I didn't need to, Zach even said he had fun being Mr. Mom! I am one LUCKY lady!

Have a PERFECT day, I'll be back soon!!