10 on Tuesday…

1.

Randomly picked this up on a road trip and I’ve been obsessed ever since. SoBe Life Water Pacific Coconut. Try it.

2. Pretty obsessed with the Olympics these days too. The gymnastics is by far my favorite, right next to the diving and do I dare admit this but… I kind of like the synchronized swimming too! ha! 

 

The kids totally fell asleep one night watching the Olympics. ♥

 

3. On the same lines as gymnastics, we found this CUTE American Girl Doll App for the iphone. It’s Called McKenna’s Gymnastics. Love it. Brooklyn thinks she wants Santa to bring her an American Girl Doll for Christmas. ;)

4. Finally took the kids to a Summer Movie. Super cute. My favorite thing was that all the kids in the theater kept breaking into laughter at all the same parts! 

5. I really love this blog. She is full of cute ideas!

6. Does anyone else HATE these new blogger ads? Grrr.

7. I ordered this journal to help me study my scriptures better. In love. Go HERE to check out her system.

8. My friend Annalee posted this song on her blog, loved it. I love being a mom. Even on the hard days. It’s almost been a year since we put our adoption papers back in. I don’t like to admit it but I worry and wonder if our little family is complete. Moving on, so I don’t start dripping tears on the keyboard. :(

9. I love our garden. Confession, more than half of it is growing my decorative pumpkins for my porch this fall. ♥

10. Favorite quote today  {I used it in my lesson on Sunday}

“A friend is more concerned about helping people than getting credit. A friend cares. A friend loves. A friend reaches out.

We can strengthen one another; we have the capacity to notice the unnoticed. When we have eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that know and feel, we can reach out and rescue those for who we have responsibility.

Often small acts of service are all that is required to lift and bless another: a question concerning a person’s family, quick words of encouragement, a sincere compliment, a small note of thanks, a brief phone call. If we are observant and aware, and if we act on the promptings wish come to us, we can accomplish much good.” President Thomas S. Monson

I want to be a better friend.

Here We Go…

I know, where the heck have I been? I think about blogging ALL the time, it just doesn’t fit into my schedule lately. I’ve been thinking about a few things. Let’s get this little item of business checked off the list- COMMENTS.

I’ve decided to disable comments on my blog, not because I don’t like reading your comments but rather so that you don’t feel like you HAVE to comment, rather you can just read and catch up on our life with out feeling guilty or pressured into writing comments. If you want to write a comment to me you can always Facebook me or email me. I really have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments, I hope no one takes offense to me doing this. I’d rather you just read and enjoy seeing what we’re up to, I know we are ALL crazy busy. I love sharing, and will continue to blog whenever time allows me to. Sound okay? I hope so!

I may change my mind in the future but for now this is how I feel.

Okay, moving on. It’s my birthday today. I LOVE birthday’s in fact I love any reason to celebrate- there’s honestly not a holiday I don’t love. ♥ I got golf clubs for my birthday. Pretty fun right? And they are pink. My super cute kids with some help from my favorite boy, go all out and decorate a little for me. It always melts me into a puddle. I love that Miss Brooklyn took an hour cutting out my name for the banner on the mantle and that she is sounding out everything she writes all by herself! ♥ I love that Braxton scribbled all over Optimus Prime – his favorite coloring book might I add, to give to me. I love that Zach took them to the store to pick out flowers, and my favorite snacks. I love my family. I do! Gosh, I’m one lucky girl!

 

 

Wow, so many things to catch up on too.

Here’s what’s coming:

March + April in Instagram form- whaaa? Where the heck did they go?!

Spring Break + Easter

My current Faves + Obsessions list

What we are doing for Mother’s Day Gifts- MEM STOP reading now! ;)

The discipline post- what’s working for us right now. key word. right now.

Our Summer Bucket List

And since it was Cinco De Mayo day yesterday- here’s my most favorite Salsa Recipe. It has seriously taken me a few years to perfect it. I’ve combined a couple of our favorite recipes.

{click and save to desktop to download + print}

 

California + Pinterest = one happy me

This post is for Miss Kelie- who told me exactly what she thought of me going so long without a post. ;) No really, I had no idea it had been a couple of weeks. What is filling my time? Well a little trip to California,

 

which was bliss. Our kids have been begging to move there… WHERE IT’S WARM!!! haha. We hit up beaches galore!  

& Disney Land

Can you believe this is the ONLY picture of Mickey Mouse or any character we saw! We were TOO busy riding rides! Brooklyn was a maniac & LOVED all the rides! Her favorite was probably Soarin’ Over California @ California Adventures! Crazy thrill seeking girl! haha!

 

had a girls shopping day, had a few too many cups of yogurt land,

golfing, Jazz vs. Lakers game… you name it we packed it into our week!

Not to mention we enjoyed my little sister’s resort-like home! {THANKS ANGIE for letting us all crash at your place!}

If the kids weren’t at the beach, they were at the pool! We had a blast!!!

What else is consuming my time? A little thing called Pinterest- It’s beyond addictive! I love it and am totally hooked! It’s

There have been so many times I wanted to bookmark a particular website or photo from a website without saving it to my computer. Well, Pinterest solves that problem!  You drag their "pin" button to your bookmarks tab and then anytime you're on a website and see something you want to save, you click the pin button and it'll save the photo and link it back to the website on your boards.
You can create different inspiration boards in categories.  I've got a style board for Party Ideas, Style & Fashion, and boards for things like recipes, home design, books to read, Places I want to Travel & a bunch more!  Here are some of the things I've pinned:

Use a muffin tin to dye Easter Eggs! Idea from Parent Hacks

Cirque, Italy

EeEK! Aren’t these so Stinkin’ cute for 4th of July?!!!

You can find all kinds of goodness through Pinterest, from food to photography to shoes and everything in between.  But to get on Pinterest you have to sign up for an invitation from them, or be invited via e-mail from an existing user.  So if you're interested in signing up, just leave me your e-mail address and I'll send you an invite!  Once you're on, you can follow me here: http://pinterest.com/scattersunshine/. 

LA-LA-LOVE it!!!! I can’t hardly stand all the inspiration on there! I’m afraid I’ll be pinning much more than blogging from now on! ;)

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!

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"!

Going Private

Thank you all for your insight, one of the many reasons I love to blog. Even before I read all of your comments, I knew what I wanted to do. I just hate the thought of missing out on any new friendships or reconnecting with old friends… or making it a pain to sign into my blog, however I have decided that for now I will be Going private. Maybe I will change my mind later and open my blog back up, but for now, please leave your e-mail address and I will put you on the list, if I need to, I will make two blogs with the same post so I don’t leave anyone out. This will happen in the next two weeks.

Thank you!

I also hope no one ever ever feels obligated to leave me a comment, I love blogging. I do it more for myself than anyone { I guess I’m kinda selfish that way} ;) As many of you mentioned, I thought back to what got me started blogging in the beginning! I’m thinking my LOVE for blogging will return, when I know exactly who is peaking in at my life. I’ve just felt a little uneasy posting pictures of my family or my deep thoughts lately, wondering who was out there.

ANYWAYS… I know, I tend to ramble…. It’s just apart of who I am! :)

LOOK at this CUTE Annie doll I just bought! EEEK! Is it not SO stinkin’ cute?! I’m so excited!! Take a peek at THIS BLOG

to see more… there are a bunch of different seasonal ones, and others! I think they are so fun. They are all handmade! I wish I was as talented as Miss Christine!

I have more FUN HALLOWEEN IDEAS coming up! I love Halloween! Such a fun holiday, all the little kids dressing up, fall leaves floating down from the sky with a crisp breeze cooling the evenings down, the smell of apple cider and cinnamon! YUM! I ♥ it all!!!

Watermelon Cookies & a Cook Book…

I should be preparing my Young Women Lesson, I just had to share a few things with all of you!

First off I was at the grocery store, when I saw these darling cookies… I thought I could make those! I just whipped up a batch of sugar cookies and added green gel coloring to the frosting. I used mini chocolate chips for the seeds, but at the grocery store they used chocolate sprinkles, and that looked cute too! Perfect for a BBQ or to take to a neighbor for an end-of-the summer treat! I think they are SO cute!

Okay, and it looks like a few of you are having a hard time putting your watermark on your pictures, in Windows Live Writer here is how you do it:

After you have just added a picture in windows live writer, it should pop up on the right hand side of the screen, in it you can do all sorts of things, like add frames to your pictures etc. At the top of the window there are little tabs, one says "advanced" click that and look down under actions, one will say watermark, just click that and it will take you through the instructions. Hope that makes sense. :)

Another FUN freebie I just downloaded was this cute Red Robin Kids Cook book, I’m SO excited to try out my own gourmet burger recipe this weekend! Here’s the LINK for your free Red Robin cookbook!

Just a few fun things! Hope you all have a PERFECT weekend!

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!

Just Because...

The winner of the travel make up bag is Brandi! #4! E-mail me your address Brandi, and I'll get it to you! Thanks girls. Oh and by the way... I did not make the make up bag! hahaha. You guys give me WAY too much credit! ;)

And just because this puts a smile on my face every single time I watch it! So in ♥ with this little sweetie pie!

Blog Secrets...

As promised her you go!

I have wanted a 3 column blog forever! Here is the tutorial I used to make mine... 3 column blog tutorial. This site also has many other fabulous tutorials about how to how to make a blog signature, how to change the font on your blog, and more blog secrets!

I love this one... to make the little icon up in your address bar, so it's not the ugly orange blogger one...Try it out HERE! So fun!

Last I hope you ALL decide to put one of these on your blogs... it makes blog surfin' SO much easier. ha! To put a "You might like these stories" on the bottom of your posts, GO HERE!

Come on if I can figure these out then you can too... I want everyone to have a CUTE blog!

If you have anymore questions for me, or are wondering about something that I didn't cover, please e-mail me or leave a comment I'm happy to help you (well as much as I can anyway!) ;) I'm really not that savvy with computers!

So now that all my secrets are out! I need some help... how do you all make the blogs on your side bar automatically update? I've tried... do you really have to enter each individual blog address into the side bar again under the feed button? And I think I want the one that updates with pictures... how do I do that? Help! Please! :)

Oh and one more thing... I totally missed my Blog Birthday! It was back in March... 3 years ladies! Hooray! (Really just an excuse for a give away!) Okay this is the one that I have... I ♥ it! So perfect for traveling. The one I'm giving away probably won't be this pattern but, if you want one... leave me a comment and let me know!

Warning this post may be RANDOM...

Hello all my friends! I've developed a bad habit lately... I've become a night owl. I get so much more done lately in the late hours of the night, when everyone is in bed but me. Maybe it's because there are no interruptions, nothing to get in the way of my to do list. I keep telling myself I need to change this routine, and quick, because I find myself dragging a little towards the end of the day and then suddenly around 9:00 pm I get my second wind!

Hope you don't mind if I get a little personal. Sometimes I just need to get the thoughts out of my head. For the last month, maybe even two, I just haven't been myself. I find myself being negative, and not wanting to do things that usually make me happy, like blogging, scrap booking, crafting, organizing etc. I've really had to make myself get out there and do the things that usually bring me joy. I don't exactly know why I have been feeling this way, it could be a number of things, which I won't go into boring details, but I'm HAPPY to report that I'm starting to come out of that little slump! I feel good tonight, I feel like everything is coming together in my little world again. Hooray!!

I also need to call on you for some help... I'm teaching a joint lesson in Young Women's on Sunday, it's on the blessings of the Priesthood... so any little quote, object lesson, handout idea you might be able to pass along would be awesome!

You know how I love to share, well I have been wanting to make one of those beaded watch bands FOREVER now, and I found THIS TUTORIAL! Can't wait to make one! {Amber I posted this link for you!} Could be a great Mother's Day gift!

I also won a little giveaway over at my new favorite blog...The Idea Room. I have been wanting one of these crayon holders forever, I've been meaning to make one... and now I won't have to! Thanks Amy! You girls will want to RUN right over to her blog! I mean seriously SOOO many yummy and fun ideas!!! I can't get enough!

Have you ever wanted to search blogs for something specific... kind of like you would on google? Well I just found this site that will let you! Sweet! http://www.blogged.com/

I've also had quite a few inquiries about my new blog design. I'm blushing! Thanks for all your sweet e-mails! I am no expert when it comes to the blog, I just learn by trial and error, but stay tuned... I'll post some of my recent blogging tips in a day or two. Have a great weekend!

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!!