See, I have been busy...

I've seen this list going around lately on some blogs so I thought I'd do it also. The things I've done are in BOLD.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band ....at school
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland /world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (does being layed off count?)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I've been tagged!

Nothing has happened lately that's blogworthy so I thought I'd do this survey that my friend tagged me with. Maybe you'll learn a few things about me that you didn't know!

8 TV shows I watch:
1. Project Runway
2. Top Chef
3. Biggest Loser
4. Bachelor
5. Desperate Housewives
6. The Office
7. ER
8. 24 (can’t wait for new season in Jan!)

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Café Rio - not in MI :(
2. Panera Bread
3. Seva (mmm, yam fries)
4. Subway (used to work at one in HS)
5. Max and Erma’s
6. Dibella’s
7. The Other Place (Greek place in SLC, get the Mezedakiah!)
8. Cold Stone!

8 things that happened today:
1. I worked out for 45 min!
2. Emptied the dishwasher
3. Packed up the kids to run errands in 20 degree weather - brrrr!
4. Watched a friend’s daughter for a few hours
5. Paid bills and balanced checkbook
6. Went to dinner with a friend
7. Saw movie Twilight
8. Updated my blog!

8 things I look forward to:
1. Thanksgiving weekend (food, shopping, sleeping in!)
2. Christmas (opening presents, food, relaxing with family)
3. Leah’s 2nd birthday (she’s getting so big!)
4. Next spring and winter being over
5. 10th anniversary next May
6. Having more kids someday
7. Living by extended family
8. Watching my kids grow up

8 things on my wish list:
1. To live by family
2. To have more kids
3. To be healthy and reach my goal weight
4. To own a home
5. To catch up on my scrapbooks someday
6. To be able to stop time so I can catch up on my scrapbooks and still get a decent night’s sleep!
7. To be financially stable enough to not have to worry about money
8. To see my kids all go on missions and/or get married in the temple

8 people I tag today:
1. Afton M.
2. Liesl J.
3. Millie B.
4. Julie J.
5. Cynthia W.
6. Beth A.
7. Naomi A.
8. Tara Ann B.

Just a few things I've been working on...

Here are some craft projects I've been busy with lately. For some reason, I've got the decorating/crafting/sewing/scrapbooking bug right now and with the holidays coming up, I feel even more pressure to get things done before life gets crazy with Thanksgiving and Christmas. So if you'd like a guilt trip for all those half-finished projects in your basement that you keep meaning to get around to, keep reading!

These are wood blocks for Leah's room that match the themed baby room decor. I just painted the wood white and glued on these squares from some leftover wallpaper border that I've been saving for something like this. I meant to do this 2 years ago before Leah was born when we moved and had to take down the wallpaper border...

This FHE board I did a couple years ago but I never got around to making the name tags. Well, I finally found the wood tags that I bought over a year ago, painted them, and shopped around for white rub-on letters that fit and stuck them on. Ta-Da!

One of my sisters had a baby almost two months ago and I finally finished this Nursery Rhyme baby book for her. To see a sample of the scrapbook pages inside, look at my slide show on the right of the Nursery Rhyme Gift Album.

We had our Christmas Workshop today and I made this magnetic recipe board. It wasn't very hard at all to do (everything came in a kit from http://simplycreativecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/03/other-cute-stuff.html) and now I have a cute place to display the recipes that I'm always intending to make.

There also was a class on making these "I Spy" bags for kids for church and other places where you want them to be quiet and busy. I couldn't take the class since I was teaching one at the time but figured out how to do it myself with help from these sites: http://rosie-baby-crafty.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-spy-bags.html or http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=261769.0;all . Pretty easy and cheap and I can't wait to see the girls' reactions when they get to play with them tomorrow.

The class I helped teach was to make these swirled paint glass ornaments. You can do any combination of colors and designs and they turned out really pretty for really cheap. To find out how to do it yourself, go to http://www.save-on-crafts.com/howtomakcero.html . Using similar colors in different shades (ex. bright red, maroon, brick red) with white or silver or gold seemed to work the best.

This was my favorite craft from the workshop. This is a kid-friendly nativity set made of wood and stickers. We just sanded and painted the wood blocks, stained the edges with stamp ink, put on the stickers, and put modge-podge over the whole thing to seal it all in. The girls are going to love it! If you want to make a set for your kids, go to http://creativeholidaygiftideas.blogspot.com/2008/09/were-back-nativity-blocks.html for more info.

Well, there you have it! I'm sure I'll procrasinate for the next year and not get any of the following things done that are next on my list of things I'd like to make. Until then, celebrate with me in finally completing some long over-due projects! Woohoo!

.

My "Someday When I Have More Time" list of crafts I want to do:

Baby Rag Quilt. To buy or for color ideas go here: http://www.quiltsjust4kids.com/category_6/Baby-Quilts.htm

For tutorial:

http://jenyu.net/pj/stuff/ragquilt/

Crayon Roll-Up Holder: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

Christmas Advent Calendar Boxes: http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2007/11/christmas-proje.html

Favorite Things magnet board: http://simplycreativecrafts.blogspot.com/2008/03/other-cute-stuff.html

Decorative Photo blocks: http://www.mylifetime.com/lifestyle/home-crafts/craft-ideas/paper-crafts/scrapbook-cubes

Wanna see something scary?

This is what I woke up to this morning! We carved the pumpkin on Saturday night and I found this Wednesday morning, so only 3 - 1/2 days later. Gross!!!

This week...

We've been busy playing outside in the leaves,





Playing dress up,
Emptying all the toy bins and playing in them instead,Taking naps (this is usually how Leah starts out every nap, with all her babies, animals, and blankies!)
Visiting the pumpkin patch,

Carving pumpkins,
Dancing like a ballerina,

Going trick-or-treating at our church party,
And eating all the candy afterward!

We love fall and Halloween!

Harvest Time!

I finally got around to picking all the rest of the vegetables from our garden before the frost hits and here's our bounty! I had picked a lot of tomatoes over the last month or so and made salsa with them but these ones never turned red so I thought I would just have to throw them away. But then I found out from my SIL that if you wrap them in newspaper, they will ripen indoors. So I did that and already, a week later, I've got 4 red ones and 2 more yellowish red ones that are almost ready to eat. Anyone up for more salsa?

As for the carrots, they tasted marvelous, so much better than store bought ones. I made a beef stew last weekend with half of them and we could totally taste the difference. Then yesterday I made this delicious carrot cake with the other half and oh my gosh, it was the best carrot cake ever! Try this recipe if you have carrots you're trying to use up, even if they are store bought.

Carrot Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.


Because this was our first year of having a successful garden and actually getting something out of it, I thought I'd show it's progress from start to finish. We did a row of corn and carrots and then sections of tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce. This is planting day, May 31st, 2008.


1 month later, July 3rd

2 months later, Aug. 3rd

2 1/2 months later, Aug. 22nd

3 months later, Sep. 4th

4 1/2 months later, Oct. 18th

It's sad to see our little plot all barren and dead but we're excited for the spring when our tulips will come up and we can start it all over again!

Pucker up!

About a month ago Leah started always wanting me to kiss her and would pucker her lips up "like diss" several times a day and say "Mmmm, mmmm" until I gave her one. Ever since, I've been trying to get a good picture of it to show you all. Well, we finally got one! Now, who wouldn't want to kiss those adorable smackeroos?

Just a few more to show how cute and persistent she is!