Halloween Goodies x2…

Aren’t those little mummy cupcakes to die for! LOVE them!

 

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Both found here. I love this little jack –o- lantern drink. I would put spiced cider in the cup, with the orange slice and lime stem!

All 3 ideas found HERE.

Don’t like sweet treats? These are cute! Found here.

 

And how great is this?! Spray paint an old vine wreath black and string with webs and spiders. Easy!

 

Have you carved pumpkins yet? We are doing it this week! Need a pattern? You can print a few of them for free RIGHT HERE!

I’m thinking I need to try this recipe! Sounds delish does it not? Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn!

Guess I have a thing for Pumpkin and Spice! This playdough sounds good enough to eat! Recipe HERE.

Enjoy your FRIDAY!

Very Precious Moments…

Well I’ve had this sudden urge to SIMPLIFY my life. In the past couple of weeks, although we have been extremely busy with house plans, dance lessons, daily life, new babies, friends & family… I have had these precious moments that overtake me completely. For instance…

I was busy rushing around the kitchen, fixing dinner with Brooklyn at my side helping me, and talking on the phone with Grandma. Grandma said to me, it’s really quiet at your house, what are the kids doing? I looked in Brooklyn’s direction, and saw her stirring the spaghetti sauce for me, wearing only her underwear and a pair of fairy wings. For a minute I paused and thought I might cry. I thought to myself, look how perfect this moment is. I forgot all about the craziness, and just enjoyed watching her. She is growing up right before my eyes, and I don’t want to miss these sweet little girl moments. I love that she has such a large imagination, I love that she likes to help me in the kitchen, I love that she has not a care in the world. She is so beautiful and I am so very grateful to be her mom. Watching her tonight was a little slice of heaven.

Another moment of sweetness… watching my two boys work on our the house together. Braxton was in awe watching his daddy create something with his own two hands. I looked out the frame of the door, just in time to catch a glimpse of Braxton staring up at his daddy with those BIG BLUE eyes, in complete adoration. Loving that his dad would let him be apart of something so important. My heart swelled with love for both of these two boys. Sometimes I don’t feel worthy of such a beautiful life. I do not know what else could make my life so utterly complete.

To some these may seem like very small and unimportant things, but to me, they mean everything.

I have also had a few more thoughts about blogs racing through my head. Why do we write them? How much time should we really let them consume? I have made so many beautiful new friends through blogging, I don’t want that to end. I am truly a better person because of all of YOU! Should I go private? Do we need more privacy in this crazy world? Should I stop blogging? Should I take the comment section off my blog, that way no one has to feel obligated to leave me a comment, thus giving us all more time to enjoy our lives? … do you all live for comments or are they unimportant to you? Do you feel like you write the same things over and over when leaving a comment? What makes you leave a comment on someone’s blog?

Do you worry about your family's privacy?

I personally love to read each and every comment I get, but I also get feeling guilty if I do not have the time to return the favor to all of you. I am struggling to keep up with facebook friends, blogging friends, e-mail and daily life. How do you all do it? What is your solution? How do you suppose I should find this great balance in life? Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Hope each and everyone of you is enjoying these delicious fall days!

Renewed…

Do you ever have a weekend that you wished would never end?! My weekend was one of those. We took the family to Yellowstone, I thought we would just drive through the park a bit, have our picnic and head home, we didn’t get home until around midnight! The park was breathtaking! The kids were way more patient with the driving around than I ever imagined!

We saw buffalo, elk, and even a BEAR! We couldn’t have timed it more perfectly!

The grizzly bear was only about 100 yards from us! (Of course we stayed in the car), but it was so cool! I’ve never seen a bear in the wild. The park ranger had to blow his whistle and get people herded back into their cars, he was yelling, don’t get closer or you will get a ticket! ha! {My mom will probably die when she reads this!} Don’t worry we were safe & cautions mem! :)

What is it about being out in nature that makes you feel so connected with Heavenly Father, with each other, and the world?

I feel so renewed and peaceful. I am so grateful for the life I have and I’m grateful for all of you for being apart of it.

Someday…

Someday my purse won’t look like this anymore… and you know what? I’ll probably miss it.

On a side note, you see that little can in there? It’s an itty bitty version of this:

I have been carrying it around with me, just in case they don’t have any sanitizing wipes next to the shopping carts…

It has been SO very convenient and with all this talk of H1N1 flu, it’s gotten me a bit paranoid. How are you all handling it? Are you getting your kids vaccinated?

We were exposed to it last week, and the hubs works with a doctor. He told us to get our kids on a high dose of Vitamin D. So that’s what we did. It’s supposed to boost their immune systems. I stalked up on the stuff. This is where I got mine from. It’s called SOL-RD Vitamin D3. I really think it’s helping already. Plus I get a little bit of seasonal depression, and I’m hoping this will fix it for me as well. Anyway, just thought I’d share.

{Edit: TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS: I just break the pills open, and put it in my kids' drinks. They can't taste it at all. You can get the mini cans of lysol near the checkout stands of most places like Target, Walmart etc.} More ?s you are more than welcome to e-mail me! :)

Hope you are all enjoying your FRIDAY and this delightful fall weather we are having!

Halloween Goodies…

EeeK! I LOVE Halloween! There’s just some sort of magic in the air, it’s the gateway to all the Holidays! Little kids dressing up, bobbing for apples, hayrides, pumpkin patches!  Seriously. What could be better? Here are a few ideas I’ve come across that I thought were cute!

These little tags we made today, we will probably attach them to plates of pumpkin cookies to deliver. They are just our thumbprints!

Saw this on Martha’s site!

How cute is that!? I mean you could use this idea to put salads in for a party, to keep the drinks cool, just stick the ice in the pumpkin, and place the clear bowl inside, instant drink cooler.

This was also found on Martha, I’ve had it in my file for a while, my friend Hanna posted it on her blog too! Great minds think alike!

Loving the idea of these little darlings! Deviled eggs + black olives! Found the idea on Hostess with the Mostess.

Okay, I want to do this, I love to carve pumpkins, but this is darling, I know Zach has some extra golf tees and a hammer laying around! CUTE!

I thought this was hilarious! Not sure what I’m going to use this idea for, but I’ve got to find something! {make sure you read the poem!}

Idea found on Split Coast Stampers

Okay and this little Monster Mix Cookie jar, is SO DARLING! I am in ♥! And even better… this cute girl lets you download her ultra darling label on her blog. GO HERE NOW to make your own! SO cute for visiting teaching gifts or a friendly happy Halloween from one neighbor to another!

As if this talented girl isn’t enough… {you will all probably want to subscribe to her blog like me.} Look at these creepy candles she has a tutorial for!

 

I also have a recipe to share with you… it’s SUPER simple, and SO very yummy! Try it, it’s perfect for any of the upcoming holidays!

White Chocolate & Cinnamon Pretzels

9-10 cups of pretzels
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar + 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup white chips
1 Tbsp oil or shortening

Pour pretzels into large microwave safe bowl and drizzle with oil. Stir to coat. Add cinnamon sugar mixture and stir till all pretzels are evenly coated. Cook in microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every 60 seconds. Spread into a single layer on waxed paper or cookie sheets. Let cool. Melt together white chips and oil till smooth, drizzle over pretzels. Let cool till chocolate is set.

 

I’m not finished with the fun Halloween ideas, so check back for more! ♥  What are your little kids going to dress up as for Halloween?

Meeting Mrs. R…

As many of you know, yesterday we had an amazing fireside! We were privileged to hear from Lindsey or many of you know her from her blog at, www.therhouse.blogspot.com where she writes as "Mrs. R." She spoke to us about Finding Hope through Infertility and Adoption. Her message was uplifting, and buoyed each of us up who were in attendance. I'd like to share some highlights from her message.

Lindsey talked about surrendering our old dreams, because as we all know infertility can be crushing news. However there is much hope in each of our journeys. As we surrender our old dreams the Lord replaces them with new dreams. Sometimes it is hard to let the old ones go, however we must in order to let our new dreams grow.

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She talked about the ways hope may come into our lives, through prayer, the scriptures, priesthood blessings, compassion for others, service, and being proactive in our approach to adoption. Because when we have hope, we are happy! We should always be hoping!

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Lindsey also shared this quote with us.
"Perhaps strength doesn't reside in never being broken- but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places."

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What an honor to have Mrs. R speak to us. She is truly a great advocate for the adoption world, and inspires so many. Feel free to check out more of her inspiring words at www.therhouse.blogspot.com

Free Cycle…

I’m back, and ready to share! I came across this blog, and I’m loving it! As soon as I saw this faux make up, I knew I needed to put it on my project list for Miss Brooklyn! Too cute!

Full instructions HERE… what a great idea!!

Sometime this week… expect to see some FUN halloween Ideas!

{If I get my house cleaned… then I’ll post them tonight!}

Crazy Ramblings...

Hello my SWEET blogging friends, to be quite honest, I'm overwhelmed to say the least. I didn't know I had so many friends out there reading my crazy ramblings (Not that I'm special or anything because I know plenty of other blogs that have oh, about three thousand readers or more! lol.) I read this quote on someone's blog and was thinking it fit my blog perfectly! lol. Blogging. Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

ha! ha! I have been putting off setting up my new blog, well not really putting it off, it's just I haven't had time yet! I'm a little confused now, I wanted to go totally private and now my mind is wandering in different directions, I AM A WOMAN... so I can do that and not feel guilty right?! ha! ;) What I'm trying to decide now is why do you read my ramblings? I think some of you are close family & friends, and like to see what we are up to. Maybe some of you have a connection through adoption. And maybe the rest of you like the semi-crafty side of me. So my new plan of action will be this... I will be inviting those of you I know like to peek in at my family life to my kids' blogs. I just finished deleting most family related things, and pictures of my kids on this blog and it will remain open, where I will continue to share my thoughts and ideas. When I really thought about making two blogs and posting there, plus keeping up with my kids' blogs and this blog, and my recipe blog, etc. was well at the least making me more overwhelmed. I thought... holy cow! I'm making things too complicated! Instead of simplifying I'm feeling like I'm just creating more work for myself. I think the reason I have such a hard time separating my blogs is because it's ALL a big part of me... so how can I decide what to post here and what to post there, but I think I'll just figure that out as we go along. You know what my biggest weakness is... being totally indecisive! It doesn't look to me like I have any crazies reading my blog, I've checked out almost all of your links... I'm LOVING you all! I hope this decision will make all of us happier and more at peace. Thanks for reading... I am very grateful for each one of you. What a blessing to have so many "friends"!