What’s better than Watermelon…

Thought I'd share a few more cute 4th of July or BBQ ideas.... I LOVE the 4th of July!! LOVE it!! I love all holidays, but the 4th is probably the most relaxing to me! I love that patriotic feeling that's in the air. We are so blessed to be free!

Love this Watermelon Bombe, from who else... MARTHA! Get the recipe HERE. I also think these brownies are so cute and festive. Easy too!

{picture courtesy of Betty Crocker}

This is also a fun brownie/cheesecake/ fruit pizza etc. You could use this fruit design on anything really!

Young Women Handouts...

I've got a new favorite song. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm totally in ♥ with the music video, but the lyrics.... A-Mazing! This one is going on my i-pod! Every woman/girl should listen to this.

And if any of you are in Young Women's you know how hard it is to come up with handouts sometimes. I've made a few, and thought I'd share them with you, if you want a copy of any of them let me know, and I'd be more than happy to e-mail you the template or just right click and download it from my blog! :)

{You could just attatch a cute pencil to this handout}

{You could put this quote with a little journal} {Just attached a fortune cookie to this one, and really you could change this to fit any lesson}

{this one is for this week's lesson on forgiveness, it would also be cute to put mini hershey bars, the marshmallow and graham crackers, instead of the chocolate covered graham crackers}

Happy...

Oh, you guys make me smile all day long! Loved reading over what makes YOU happy! I used Random number.org, and Jill. #25 won! So e-mail me your address Miss Jill from Missouri, and I'll send you your watch band!

I also thought I'd share with you a few fun 4th of July finds that I loved.

First this Jello, perfect little treat for all the kids....

Get the Recipe HERE.

This beverage is darling!

Recipe HERE.

Also any of you Adoption Advocates out there, there is a new sight called

Adoption Voices.

It's like facebook only it's all about adoption. Pretty cool. Check it out, if you join add me as your friend! I got this quote off of it today, LOVE it!

Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come. ~Joseph F. Smith

Well it's finally feeling like summer around here! We are gearing up to go camping this weekend and then we have 2 family reunions in a row! We've also decided to build a house this summer... we put the downpayment on it today... kind of scary... way exciting... have any of you built your own home... do you have any tips for me? Things you wish you would have done differently? I'm going to need all the help I can get, I'm not great at picking colors etc. If Zach & I don't kill each other by the time it's done, it will be a miracle. ha! No, I just hope he's patient with me.

Well have a great day! Thanks again for all your happy comments!

For Freeeeeee....

Have you guys seen Bed Time Stories with Adam Sandler? That's where my post title came from. Makes me giggle a little. Yeah, I'm a dork.

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you some great freebies that I've found this week. First off, I ♥ music. Have you seen that cool Toyota Prius Commercial? I love the music on it and found out that you can download it for free on their website. Go HERE to get it now! Besides loving the music, I think it's pretty dang cool how they used real people for all the scenery! Crazy & Creative!

Another FUN site, is Shabby Blogs... all you background template people will LOVE this! They have the cutest backgrounds I've seen! They have free blog buttons and more! Just click on one of the buttons below, and it will take you to their site.

This is from there.

and this too...

While building my control journal, (which by the way, you guys are flattering, but that's not my handwriting it is a free font.... you can get it HERE.) I came across this great site: http://www.pollyklaas.org/ I am sticking this in my 911 section, you can sign up for free, and then you can download a Child Saftey kit, and a great lesson plan for teaching your kids about child abduction and safety. They stressed the need not to scare your kids, so the wording they used was awesome and there are sections for toddlers up to teens. We will be having a Family Home Evening Lesson on this in the next week or two. Great info!

Another great one I've been wanting to do is get our will and trust together. I haven't finished it, but Suze Orman has a great freebie to help you do it. Go HERE and use code People First.

Well, I just read THIS article about a family from Missouri who was shocked to find that their Christmas Card photo had been used in an ad in Prague, it was just luck that a friend of theirs was visiting and saw it in the window of the grocery store!

CRAZY!!

Now I'm not one to be overly paranoid about blogs, but I decided to make my kids their own blogs and make them private, I have one for each of them. I feel good about this decision, for one I can brag about them all I want and no one in the blog world has to know or care. :) So just a heads up , when you post pictures on your blog, take precautions and watermark them or reduce the resolution. I've been using this awesome site called LIVE WRITER. It's AMAZING!!! (Thanks Janeal & Nichelle.) It will let you watermark your pictures, put frames around them etc. and the best part is it takes only seconds to load your pictures instead of years in blogger! I'd recomend it to all of you. I'll still post pictures of my kids on this blog, just not as much as I used to. I'm just taking more precautions than ever. I've never had anything scary happen and I feel like we all have so much to offer one another, I get SO much inspiration from all of you! I'm not going to let fear overpower me. We should use our blogs to better the world, set a good example and proclaim our faiths. (see Elder Ballard's talk) I LOVE having an open blog, because I've met SO many great friends. I guess it's just a bit of a wake up call. I definitely don't know everyone who is looking in at my life, and while I don't mind (as long as you are not creepy!), would you please be polite and leave me a comment just for my peace of mind..... I'll even throw in a drawing, because we need some SUNSHINE in our neck of the woods! It's been raining for two weeks here! So how about your own beaded watch band!

Leave me a comment tell me something that makes you happy, and you'll be in the drawing. Simple as that. :)

Have a PERFECT day!

Tackling the To-Do List…

I've been trying to get a few projects done around here. A couple of these, I've had on the to-do list for a LONG time! So it feels great to get it done. I've been wanting to organize my recipe book, into individual binders with the titles like Main Dish, Desserts, Soup/Salad & Bread, Appetizers/Beverages & Misc. I love the way they turned out. I used the Shabby Miss Jenn digi kit called Chit Chat to design the cover pages.

If you want to organize your recipes like this, then let me know... I'd be more than happy to e-mail you a copy of each of the binder covers! Or I'll even customize one that says "your name Recipes" (example: Holly's Recipes)

I also love the site Fly Lady, and while I don't follow her routine exactly, I've taken allot of inspiration from it. I have a "Control Journal". It keeps me sane and organized. This is what it looks like (the cover anyway):

 

First Section in it is my Address Book, I wanted my own templates so I could add to it anytime I needed to.

Section #2 My Weekly Focus... which means I have a "focus" for each day of the week. They look like this: Now don't get me wrong, my week is never perfect, but it makes me remember to be more balanced and find a happy medium between cleaning, cooking, taking care of me and my family etc. Each day has a word I want to focus on, such as Order, Happiness, Beauty etc.   This is what Thursday looks like:

I also have a sheet that says Monthly:

at the beginning of each month I look ahead for Birthdays & special events, I plan my menu, get my visiting teach done etc.

Section #3 is a section for my detailed cleaning lists, each week  I focus on a new area or zone, these lists can be found on http://www.flylady.net/ I have altered it to fit my own schedule and home. It just lists deep cleaning ideas, and I try to get most of them done in the week that I am cleaning in that zone. That way your house never needs to be completely deep cleaned. You are doing pieces of your Spring Cleaning all year round!

Section #4 is my personal section. I like to have a sheet that says Project List, Things I Want, Books to Read, Movies to See, Movies to Buy. It may seem silly, but we are always walking out the door to rent a movie and we get to the Red Box and we think, what movie did so and so recommend to watch?! Ugh.  Or I can grab my list of Books to Read and head to the Library with it. Love that!

Section #5 is a list of Birthdays and special events that I want to keep track of… the templates are SIMPLE and that’s what I wanted.

Section#6 is my “911” Section. First I have a page that looks like this:

 

I list our pediatrician’s phone number, poison control, and any relatives or close neighbors phone numbers, along with our own address so when we have baby sitters over they can use this section in case of an emergency. I am still working on the section, but eventually I would like to have more info like CPR tips, etc.

So there you have it, that’s what I have been working on this week!

This looks like fun...

Hey all you scrapbookers! Check out this Scrapbook Retreat! Who wouldn't want a little relaxation while being inspired by the scenery that this cabin has to offer, so grab your favorite girlfriends and go enjoy yourself! To register go HERE.

It's a great week...

How do you thank so many people that have touched our lives during this difficult spot in our lives? You all make me want to be a better person, kinder, more compassionate, and Christ-like! Thank YOU. You have made this load lighter for us to bear. I am so grateful.

I am so thankful for the knowledge that I have, we will see Jayden again, this life does not end after death. I have gained an even stronger understanding and testimony of the Atonement, the peace & comfort it brings is real. Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of us.

Here is a quote that was given to Angie and Neal:

"The Lord takes many away even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again."

-The Prophet Joseph Smith

Another beautiful one that we found comfort in:

"The best way to have Heaven in your home is to have someone you love in heaven."

It's already a great week! Yesterday we went to the Semi Annual Bath & Body Works Sale... ♥ that sale! I always stock up on the Wall Flowers! I changed some of my scents around so right now my house smells like lemons & lilacs! YUM!!!

We also watched an AWESOME movie over the weekend. I seriously recommend it to all of you! It's called Forever Strong. Go rent it this weekend! Great message.

I'm headed in town today to do a little grocery shopping, I like to try out new products every once in a while, so I'm going to be looking for these:

I can't decide which ones Salt & Vinegar or the Vanilla Bean...YUM!

Last week we had our Cookin Mama's Recipe Group... great food! Find all the recipes HERE.

Speaking of recipes, for some reason I had the cooking bug last week, and tried a bunch of new recipes, I liked all of them! A few of my favorites:

Brazillian Lemonade, let's just say this drink has changed my life! ha-ha! Really it's THAT good!

You can find all the recipes HERE.

I don't really know where to start catching up?! I guess you can expect to see a few posts this week.... June totally snuck up on me!

And one more: Bleu Bacon Chicken Quesadillas

Thank You...

Friends & Family, I tear up as I write this. We are overwhelmed by the kindness that has been shown to Angie & Neal. We have been truly blessed. Angie is recovering physically extremely well. She is here and we are so glad! Neal will be traveling up separately with Jayden, hopefully they will be here sometime tomorrow. The Lord has blessed them with a strength beyond their own. It is truly a miracle. We know it will be a rough road ahead, but the Lord truly is watching over them. TO ALL FRIENDS & FAMILY OF NEAL & ANGIE: We would like to invite you to a light luncheon, this Saturday, June 6th at Noon. We are planning on doing it at my parents house if you need directions to the Bodily Residence, please e-mail me at sunshineinmysoul_33(at)yahoo(dot)com, in case of inclement weather we will be holding it at the Denning Church Building in Iona.

Again, thank you so very much for your thoughtfulness, your faith and your prayers, they have truly buoyed us up. There is no way to properly thank each one of you for your kindness.