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!

The White Elephant Gifts...

We had so much fun at the Christmas Party we went to on Wednesday! Thanks Travis & Sabra!This is where they had the party!

It was so cozy, this place holds 60+ people, if you are interested let me know & I'll e-mail you the website. Would be SO fun for a family Reunion etc.

Okay so on to the White Elephant gifts! We died laughing! The first one was Maxi Pad Slippers. This guy was hilarious, and even tried them on! haha.

The second one was Shaving With Barbie. I love this one too! You just buy a cheap $1 store barbie and cut some of her hair off, use double sided tape or a glue gun to put the hair on her legs. Add a shaver into the package and type up the words Shaving with Barbie and add to the package and you are good to go! You'll have to let me know if you use these ideas and how they went over. haha. There were some other great gifts too, not G rated for the blog though. lol.

A little Christmas tag from my sister! Thought this was fun, Ang... you & I had almost ALL the same answers! Can't wait for you to be home with us!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper--definitely. 2. Real tree or artificial? Call me lame but I'm all for the artificial, it's not so messy and all you need is a nice pine candle! Plus I'm sorta against cutting down trees... (right Hanna) hahaha. 3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving 4. When do you take the tree down? Around New Year’s 5. Do you like eggnog? Yes who doesn't like that extra 10,ooo calories a sip! I love eggnog shakes and I like to put in my hot chocolate! 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Pink beanbag chairs that all 4 of us girls got one year.

7. Hardest person to buy for? All the guys on my list! 8. Easiest person to buy for? My sisters 9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes a few, the one on my wish list though is the Willowtree set 11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ugly Sweater 12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Santa Clause (only the first one), ELF, and Miracle on 34th Street., Polar Express & Shreck the Halls 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year long! 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably to Goodwill! 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Candied Almonds, chocolate covered pretzels, Carmel's, real oranges, hot chocolate with candy cane--all those yummy homemade goodies! 16. Lights on the tree? Yes! White for mom's tree & colored for the kids tree. 17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh my gosh, I LOVE them all! Big fan of Christmas music! 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home 19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep all I gotta do is sing the famous song! 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I like stars for the most part 21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? PJ's on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning 22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I hate how busy it is in town and how fast this time of the year goes by--I feel like I have no time to just relax and enjoy it. 23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Hmmm... I am really liking the red and lime green right now.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Rolls, ham and funeral potatoes 25. Favorite family Christmas tradition? We always had a small manger and we would go around doing good deeds for each other, every time we did one we would leave a piece of straw by the good deed or put one in the manger and see how soft we could make baby Jesus' manger for him. I want to start that tradition with my kids too.

I tag anyone who wants to play!

Hey all you Twilight Fans...

Is everyone gearing up for the movie? EeeK! I know I'm excited!! (Although I won't be going to the midnight premier... does anyone else hate big crowds?) So I thought I'd share this fun contest with you. My CUTE friend Pam, designed this digital scrap booking kit:

FUN right?! She is giving one away on her blog RIGHT HERE! Or go here for more details on how you can purchase it! SO FUN! I also thought I'd share these fun little candy bar wrappers, I think they would be SO cute as a little gift topper etc! Print them out HERE for free! LOVE that Rachel Ray! PS There are many more wrappers to choose from!

ANNETTE! tagged me! Seven things I can do: Organize Anything Raise Happy Children Read long books in a short period of time Stay Positive Sleep In

Make my bed every single morning Make a Difference

Seven things I can't do: Text... well not very well at all! Eat something I don't like. Have enough time in the day to do everything I want to. Discipline others Children ( I don't like to anyway) Drive without my seat belt on.

Answer my phone... hehe. Drink Milk

Seven things that attracted me to Zach: Sense of Humor

Adventure Attitude His Testimony He's HOT!

Work Ethic Loves Kids

Wisdom... He's got it together!

Seven things I say often: What??? No way! Are you serious? That's insane. Brooklyn... please throw away that wrapper you left on the floor. hurry! hurry! hurry! Braxton... I don't think so buddy.

Seven people I admire: Zach My SISTERS! Mom & Dad Mother Teresa Marjorie Hinckley Zach's Family Birth Mothers

Seven favorite foods/drinks Hot Chocolate Mexican Food A Good Old Salad Pasta H2O Rocky Road Ice cream

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy Seven people I tag: Anyone Who Wants to Do this!

And last of all, I read THIS blog post and it really resonated with me! I LOVE this idea!!

She says: "How many times do we complain when something goes wrong. When service is bad or a product doesn't work right? But what about when things go smoothly? When you are surprised by how nice someone is or how well something went? Often those things make my day but I don't pass it along, know what I mean?"

"So, here's my challenge to you. And to me. Let someone know that you are happy about what they did. It could be the fastest cashier at the market. An employee who goes out of their way to help you find something at the hardware store. A mom at the school who helped your child find a lost jacket. A teacher who continues to inspire your child. A friend who lets you know when they found the retired webkinz you've been searching for." And don't limit it to strangers or acquaintances. How about your spouse? Or child? "

I'm in! This is perfect for everyday and especially perfect with the Holidays coming up! Lets start now and spread the JOY! I recently got the SWEETEST Thank You note in the mail... (Thank YOU Jessie!) It made my day, no, more like it made my week! It was sincere and simple. I am going to pass it on!

For Family Home Evening last week we even got Brooklyn to start thinking about it. We talked about Thanksgiving and what it means to be Thank people, and what we are thankful for. We wrote Thank You cards to people who gave her presents for her Birthday. She colored them and put them in the mailbox. It was simple, yet a start. I don't want to raise ungrateful children. I want them to look around and see the good in this world and be grateful for it!

Sometimes it's hard to see all that we might have right in front of us, but let's all be GRATEFUL. Let's spread the JOY and pave the way into the Holiday Season!

Blog Crushes...

First of all if you didn't see those coolGeneral Conference Packets for kids going around on the internet last year, you will want to check them out for this year!GO HERE NOW.They are SOOO stinkin' cute! I like to make copies of them and take them to the girls I visit teach too {for their kids of course}.

I also got another fun blogging award... Thanks Jessica! So of course I get to pass along the award. LOVE that! This is perfect because I have found some really FUN blogs lately and of course I'd love nothing more than to share them with all of you! 1. Livin' Life Patino Style- this girl has so many FUN projects going on that I could just spend an hour on her blog trying to decide which ones I want to try! Trust me you will want to go check her out! 2. Little Birdie Secrets!- darling blog, many many great projects here as well! My to do list is going to be endless this winter, I can already see it! LOVIN' it! :) 3. Projects & Ideas!... {Thanks for the tip on this one Teri!} This blog is full of well.... more craftiness! 4. 4 Reluctant Entertainers- This blog totally inspires me, first off she has great recipes, second, she is down to earth and well I guess I want to be more like her! :) 5. The Color Blue Photography!I just ran across this photography blog today. It's beautiful! Love her vintage style. 6.Live & Breathe 4 Art- This is one of my best friends ever, she is so stinkin' talented! Her artwork is amazing, and someday I'll be able to afford a piece of it! :) Check it out. She'll be famous someday, I know it! Just wanted to give you all a little link love!

oh, and Annalee- tagged me, so let's do this! :)

8 Things Tag...

8 Things I am PASSIONATE About...

1. The Gospel

2. My Family

3. Adoption

4. Humanitarian Service

5. Creativity.

6. Reading

7. Blogging :)

8. Being organized.

8 "words" or "phrases" I say way to often...

1. OH wow.

2. like

3. LOL

4. So...

5. Anyways,

6. No problem

7. Are you Serious?!

8. That's insane.

8 Things I want to do before I die...

1. Adopt another child.

2. Sky Dive

3. Travel Everywhere!

4. Work in an orphange.

5. Go on an African Safarri

6. Be 100% happy with being me.

7. Raise happy and successful children who make a difference in the world.

8. Go see a live Oprah or a Martha Stewart Show

8 Things I have learned From my past...

1. Everyone is fighting some sort of a battle, be kinder than necessary.

2. Don't procrastinate.

3. When you don't get what you want it's because god thought of something better to give you.

4. Focus on the bright side of life. I promise - there is always a bright side! What you think about is what you will get.

5. Laugh Often!

6. Life is way too short not to forgive.

7. If you eat a green and a purple skittle, it tastes like a lime ricky! YUM!

8. You really do learn something new every single day!

8 Places I would love to see...

1. India

2. Paris... who wouldn't?!

3. 7 wonders of the world

4. Holland

5. South Africa

6. Austrailia

7. All 50 states

8. Hawaii

8 Things I Currently Need or Want...

1. more time

2. to be financially free

3. loose some weight... who doesn't right?!

4. My own library

5. A blue Scooter

6. A big vacation

7. Cute yellow or red, or maybe vapor blue kitchen aid... I still love my white one, those colored ones are just soo cute!

8. A new house and unlimited amount of money to decorate it. :)

8 More People I Tag!

1.Judy

2.Kate

3.Nicole... get a blog, well one that you can do tags on! :)

4.Amber Davis

5.Liza

6.Whitney

7.Shanna

8.Sabra

Blog Awards & Headbands...

I recieved another blog award, thanks Meichelle, so sweet of you! She has a fun new site too, you should check it out, she's constantly doing give-aways, and rating everyday products. So check her out... RIGHT HERE!. This award recognizes a blog’s creativity and overall contribution to the blogger community. Once you’ve been selected, please follow these guidelines and pay it forward: (but don't worry, if I tagged you and you don't do it, I'm totally not offended and will definitely still read your blog) :)

1) Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language. 2) Post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog by so everyone can view it. 3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award. 4) The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the "Arte y pico“.blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award. 5) Please post these rules. Here are the 5 blogs I'm passing the award to:

1. Stacey, Steph & Hanna @Piggies & Ponies. LOVE LOVE LOVE their cute ideas for little girl's hair!! So incredibly creative, all of them! 2. Janeal, @Enjoying Life. I think her blog is so darn cute, she has a great eye for digital scrapbooking! She is an amazing cook and is the life of the party! 3.Liz, this is my cute friend, who just started a photography blog, she has only been practicing photography for a few months, but man I think she is a natural! You can check out her work here: Here. 4. Wendy @ Today I Kissed an Angel. I don't know Wendy, but I love her blog, she is a great writer and really captures some deep hard to express thoughts & feelings about adoption. 5. Judy @ Life's 2 Short. Her blog is always so uplifting and she is so creative, kind, generous and giving! So fun to read her blog!

Okay and the winners of the CD's are Shannon, Aranne & Andrea... e-mail me at sunshineinmysoul_33(at)yahoo(dot)com with your addresses and I'll get it in the mail asap! I hope you like your new tunes! And on a side note I've had a few e-mails about the headbands the bridesmaids wore at Krystal's wedding, we made them and you can find the pattern RIGHT HERE.

I can't think of anything to call this post...

Okay, well I just had to share a recipe I made last night. One of my all time favorites at Chili's is the Southwestern Egg Rolls... any of you had them? They are a little bit of heaven rolled up and deep fat fried! :) You can find it on my recipe blog :Life Should Be Delicious.

I was also tagged by:Sabra it's the DUMP YOUR BAG TAG....this one is always fun,

*my planner *a coupon for Chicken Bacon & Artichoke Pizza... I'm excited to try this out... maybe tonight!

*a notebook w/grocery list and To DO list

*Cell phone

*bobby pins

*Pen & pencil

*a breathing treatment for Braxton

*lip gloss & gum...(my new favorite orbitz's sangria & fesca)mmm.

*some loose change & hand sanitizer

*checks to be cashed

*wallet & checkbook

It's pretty amazing what we can fit into a little bag!

I tag...Annalee, Janeal, Alison, Amberlee, Judy,Heidi, Kate & Nancy (only if you want to girls, no pressure at all)

Oh and we tried Dr. Oz's green drink, you know the one that Oprah calls "a little glass of fresh",

hmm... I could barely get through one swallow, yeah, it was that bad! I LOVE the color, just not the taste! Has anyone else tried it out?? Maybe I did it wrong...What was your experience?? Have a great weekend!!!

Another Tag Catch Up...

I have a few different tags I need to catch up on. I know you are all dreading this, I'll make it short and sweet I promise. :) I was surfing through bloglines... and I saw that Christal had given me this award! Well... it made my day! So thanks Christal! So now it's my turn to award this to a few of my favorite..."You Make My Day" Blogs! I really LOVE all my blogging friends and I really do find that all of you make my day, but two that stand out to me are... I'll probably do a few of these since really, I love all of your blogs! Hanna's... Our life in Full Bloom, she's the cutest little mommy ever. She is the craft queen! I would love to spend a whole month just crafting away with her and getting fun ideas! She is laid back and loves to have a good time. She is so giving, and always thinking about others. I love your blog Han... My next pick for the make my day award is Alison's... blog...This is My Joy, she is also an amazing mommy. She has so much energy and gets so much done in a day, it always totally inspires me! She is a great cook,and I also love to read about her cute little family (she has also adopted) and it has been so much fun getting to know her through blogging! Look at this cute little guy that I won on her blog a few weeks ago... he never leaves Braxton's side now. LOVE it!! One other thing that really stands out to me is these girls' positive attitudes and sincere concern for others. Thanks for the inspiration girls! You make my day! :) I was tagged by: Ann-Michelle 1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. 3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. 1. I am majorly worried about hurting someone else's feelings or offending someone. I lay awake at night worrying about things I have said sometimes. Hate that guilt feeling. So if I have hurt your feelings... or offended you, I promise I didn't mean to! Please accept my appologies right now. :) 2. I eat almost everything with a fork. I am getting better about this. It all started when I was younger, I don't like milk and if I used a fork to eat my cereal, it would drain the milk out as I ate. 3. I love reading tags about everyone else, I can't think of anything interesting to write when I do them. 4. I love to read, but I can read a whole book, really fast, and then a few days later okay maybe at best a few weeks later, I can't remember anything I read, this makes me a horrible test taker, and awful awful at math! 5. I have to look over each piece of silverware that I set out on the table or grab to eat with, just to make sure there's no little dried pieces of food on one of them, I seriously gag, if I see it's even a little dirty still. 6. I want to build an orphange in another 3rd world country or I would love to spend time in one. Before I was married that was my goal, and when Zach asked me to marry him, I made him promise to take me to one one day. (Kind of ironic, since we have adopted now). 7. I love Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey, as much as I get teased about this, I don't even care, I still LOVE em both! 8. I often buy clothes that I think I love and then a few weeks later, I'm thinking I hate this shirt what was I thinking, so I make alot of trips to the DI. It drives me nuts, even if I research it out and think I am really loving my new product, I usually end up wishing I had gotten something else. (Don't tell Zach, but I really hope it's not the case with my new stroller, which still hasn't arrived yet) Ugh. Okay there you go... 8 random fact. I tag, everyone on my list that hasn't done this tag before. One more thing I wanted to share... me and my sister in law Amber got together on Friday and made these, for our girls for the 4th of July, aren't they cute! I love them and they were so easy... I got the instructions RIGHT HERE , and since I have some left over ribbon, I'm going to make a few more sets, I'll do a random drawing for them, so if you want in the drawing just say so in your comment. :)

Tag Catch up...

I was tagged by Steph & Amberlee so here goes....

Two Names I Go By: Holly & Holl

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Jeans and a brown and cream Tshirt

Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: Be with family and clean the house

Two Things You Want Very Badly At This Moment: A new house and new furniture

Two Favorite Pets: Fatty my siamese kitty and Blackie, a cat I had growing up, she finally died last year and was 22 years old (well we actually had to take her in and put her to sleep)

Two People Who Will Fill This Out: ??

Two Things You Did Last Night: Spent some time at my mom's and picked up a prescription

Two Things You Ate Today: an apple and a hershey kiss

Two Last People You Talked To: My mom and Sean (our adoption lawyer)

Two Longest Car Rides: From Idaho to Texas and from Idaho to Nebraska

Two Favorite Holidays: 4th of July and Christmas

Two Favorite Vacations: Mexico and Lake Powell

Two Favorite Drinks: Grapefruit juice and this.

I was also tagged by Annalee

{Picture Me}

1. Go to http://www.flickr.com/

2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box

3. Use your favorite image of the subject.

4. Copy the html and paste for the answer. (Or 'Save Picture as' in file) Birth Place:

Favorite Vacation Destination: Tropical Island Favorite Color: All of them! Dream Career: Professional Shopper Guilty Pleasure: BLogging Favorite Hobby: Creative Creating Favorite Restraunt: Bajio's Favorite Actor/Actress: Henry Cavill Rees Witherspoon Favorite Vehicle: Vapor Blue VW Bug Favorite Place to Shop for myself: Down East Outfitters Favorite Flower: Wild Flowers I Tag: Liz, Cherish, Liza, Morgan, My Recipe Group Gals, Kelie Casie,Calise and anyone else who wants to do it. Leave me a comment if you do, so I can check it out!! :)