ABC Quiet Book

Christmas is coming, so bring on the Homemade Christmas!

First project......

ABC Quiet Book

I am using Memory Mixer &

I AM LOVING IT!

Although it's sure taking longer then I thought!

Here are a few pages I have completed.

Thanks Megan for showing me Memory Mixer!

Vintage Hardcover Planner

As soon as I saw this tutorial I HAD to do it!

I got goose-bumps, love at first site.

I was determined to find a vintage hard cover book... and I did! Thanks to the Parent Link Center clothing give away! I found a box with 2 vintage hard cover books and swiped them! So today instead of farting around LOOKING at other peoples project I did my own! In fact I got TONS accomplished today, I made a goal to only be on the computer for 15 mins of nap time and its amazing how much time I had! Any-hooo moving on....

This project went super fast, the longest part was waiting for the gorilla glue to dry.

Here the start of my project... (remember my camara is dying and I can't take a decent photo to save my life), and the drying stage.

Finished Product!

Me LOVES it!

Now for the second book.... thinking about a note pad on one side and grid paper on the other??!?

Lets Read

I had the opportunity to speak in Church last week.
I could say that I was super nervous, or that I really didn't want too... but
I like to speak in chuch... shhh!!
Lets keep that between us! Cause I kinda enjoy it.
I don't UBER LOVE it, but I do enjoy contributing my part once every 2 years or so.

I spoke on Service using Elder Uchtdorf's April 2010 Conferance talk "You are my Hands."
So today, I want to show my favorite book.

The Book of Mormon.

This book means the world to me. It testifies the Saviors love for me, it comforts me when nothing else can. The Book of Mormon is a true book, a book that will change your life for the better.

Celiac

Earlier this year my dad was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He has taken the news rather well, but he misses fast food and pizza, sandwiches and breaded chicken among other things.

Today I made Chocolate Chips Cookies with Soy Flour and they taste good, but not Fantastic.

So... I have been looking at Celiac recipes- mostly Chocolate Chip recipes and I found one... a complicated one...AUGH!

Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Mom’s recipe. Adaptation by Lauren of Celiac Teen.

Ingredients
1 (1/2 cup) stick butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 to 1 tsp vanilla (she always eyeballs it)
1/3 cup millet flour (1.80 oz)
1/4 cup tapioca flour (1.15 oz)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour (0.65 oz)
2 tbsp quinoa flour (0.75 oz)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Steps
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.http://www.celiacteen.com/2010/moms-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I dont reconize 1/2 of the flours and what the HECK is xanthan gum??!
... this is going to be harder then I thought :(

I am also looking for

• Pizza Dough
• Hamburger Buns
• Pie Crust (Thanksgiving is comming!)
• Breaded Chicken

So if any of you out there have a Celiac in the family and have some good recipes and pointers...

PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH ME!

Things He would Never Say.

Things my Husband would Never Say:

1. Can we hold hands just because?
2. I love how long you sit on the computer at night.
3. Honey, why don't you drive this time?
4. Let me cook dinner, you go curl up with a good book.
5. I think you clean too much, let me do the toilet.
6. The color you picked for our house is fantastic, the green is just perfect!!
7. You must be cold, lets snuggle.

The list could go on and on. I love my husband, even his shortcomings!

Greg's Anatomy

I CANT stop watching!

And yes I know its called Grey's Anatomy I just keep calling it Greg's for some odd reason.

I am trying to hurry and watch it so I can start September 23!
Season 5 episode 12 to be exact.
I LOVE IT! I watch it every chance I get.

PLEASE tell me other people out there are ADDICTED too?!?!

Stubborn

All this

 because no chips until her noodles were finished.

I love my children dearly, I have NO idea where A gets her stubborn streak?!?

If Grandpa can do it....

Playing at the pool. Sounds simple enough.

Then a challange is issued, no one is really bothered by it...

then Grandpa trys and suceeds.

If Grandpa can do it..

Diet Coke, Ice Cream and Concrete Dust.

Driving home from a stayathomemomkindacrazy day, soaked in Diet Coke, Ice Cream and Concrete dust, Justin turns to me, wiggles his eyebrows and says "Honey your Filthy, grrrrr."

Glad to know I still got it!

Managable Tourette's

Some people say, (LISA WORSEY to be specific!), I have a slight form of Tourette's.
 A manageable form, the type of Tourette's that only rears its ugly head once in a while.

Like yesterday.....

We headed out to Park Lake. A relaxing day with sunshine, a beach, park, water, snacks, and Big Gulp Dr. Pepper. I mean, really... what more could a mother want??

It started out very relaxing, Grandma and Grandpa Martin even showed up for lunch.

I missed A going into the water with her swimming suit on, so let her play in her clothing, and she can ride home in a dry swim suit. K left me as soon as we got there and I saw her occasionally for drinks and a cherries.

And THEN.... A couple sat down about 6 or so feet from us.

Ok, whatever its a beach right?!?

WITH A DOG... I can do this... as long as the dog stays away from me. But NOOOO.

They had this dog on a chain... a 10 feet long chain and it was just sniffing around. I know enough about dogs, that she was just checking things out. BUT THEN... the mutt lifted its leg right over my STUFF!!

That when I politely said yelled "HEY DUMB DOG DON'T PEE ON MY STUFF!!"

The couple glared at me and pulled the dog back. Yes I didn't need to yell, but it just came out like that. Opps.. I was now on a roll apparently.

5 mins later they start to smoke. -Look I realize people smoke (I have no clue WHY), I don't care.

 BUT ON a FAMILY BEACH?!?!

Yards from my pregnant cousin and young children?!?!
All I had to quietly say  loudly exclaim "MAN SMOKE STINKS, WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE ON A BEACH?"

I don't think I made any friends yesterday. I think I am lucky to have not lost any. I do try and keep my Tourettes to myself. But some days it just rears its little head.

Z is for Zoo

The Zoo. It was fun.

I cant seem to get the energy to write about it.

When we walked into the Zoo they were handing out maps. K and A both had to have one, and it some how turned into a check list. K had to make sure we saw all off the animals on the map. She was hilarious, naming all the animals on the map and telling us to be sure we saw them.

20 months is such a fun age. A laughed and yelled and talked to ALL the animals. She had a hard time moving from one animal to the next, thinking we were leaving.. us trying to tell her to lets go see another animal. It was so fun.

A was TERRIFIED off the stuffed animal though!

It was so fun to be their with cousins. K and Holton play so well together, now that Mckenna is back from Victoria its gonna be fun to see how they all interact!

Don't feed the animals!!!

Playing on the rock elephants. A must do at the Zoo.

The new butterfly exhibit was beautiful. Justin was a little freaked and kept wanting to swat the butterflies, he was happy when we walked out of that exhibit.

Looking at the Black Bear. It was coming on 4:00 and we adults were pooped. It must be nice to be a child at the zoo. Being paid for, running around, riding in a stroller when tired, napping, eating whatever I scream for, being put on daddy shoulders...

Anyways, as I said the adults were pooped. We made a quick stop at the Dinosaurs...

Lets just say the Dinosaurs were NOT the girls favorite part.

My thoughts.

My thoughts: on Gel Nails.

The first time I got Gel Nails was 8 years ago. I was in grade 11. I worked after school, and my mom bought me my first "set". I paid the $20 every three weeks to get them filled. I LOVED them. From then on I had them on and off... mostly on... until I got pregnant with K. I had to go on bed rest and quit my job, money was VERY tight and nails was one (of the many) luxury cut.

I got nails again about 4 months ago.
I STILL LOVE THEM.

Yes, I know that $25 every three weeks seems to be silly for some people.

Here's the thing:
I am not the prettiest of people. In my head I am below average, and nails make me feel pretty.

I feel grown up with them on. I feel like a woman, a pretty woman.

So. Yes I wear Gel Nails for ME. JUST ME.

Toopy and Binoo

Eventually I am planning on making my blog into a book. Like a scrapbook/journal.

I love looking back in my blog or my personal journal and reading things about my girls that I had forgotten! Little things that seem silly now but in a couple years I will think fondly of.

Ergo

Toopy and Binoo.

This cartoon is the girls favorite right now.

Toopy lets me take a shower in the morning... at 8:30a.m.

Toopy also lets me drive to Lethbridge with peace and quiet.

I have heard some parents question this cartoon, due to the fact Toopy is either boy or girl.. no one is sure which... but none the less..

Thank you Tree house for this cartoon!

My girls sit for the full half hour of your Toopy and Binoo,

its lovely!

MY Cookie Advice

I have had so many complements and questions lately about my

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I am SO FLATTERED!  

So first- my recipe....the one on my kitchen wall! 

Here are my tips, to pair with the recipe!

• 
  
  Use SOFT margarine instead of butter. ( I know most of you have stopped reading... but I find that the butter in this recipe makes them too oily)
• 
  
  Add 1/8 cup of flour... it helps hold their shape better. Not spread out over the pan and get too crispy.
• 
  
  Refrigerate for 1 hour before baking
• 
  
  Set your oven racks on 1, 2 and 4 slots. If they are in different spots they cook faster or slower.
• 
  
  Cook for exactly 10 minutes. (at least that is the PERFECT time in my oven)
• 
  
  Finally wait for 1 minute before taking off hot pan... it will make the cookie fall apart/or mash up.

This picture is the cookies I made today....

First of all my camera sucks... and the lighting is bad because its 730..

but I did a couple things wrong...

The ones at the bottom of the picture were on the wrong rack to cook... causing them to cook slower, they were also taken right off the pan without waiting... I wanted to get the next batch in too quickly.

My tips may seem silly to you. But you asked what I did different to make them great.

BTW the picture really was not a great example.

Blessings in Disguise

We own a 2004 Grand Caravan. We bought it 2 years ago and its been a great vehicle to us.

Recently the brake rotors needed shaving and the temperature gage went... OK.

 We can handle that.

Until we found out the back brakes needed completely redone.... not just a shave!

And we need new tires desperately.

A LOT more work then originally anticipated.

Our blessing in disguise.

We have been saving up to go to UTAH for my cousins wedding/conference/visit Justin's Mission.

Almost the exact amount we has saved for the trip is needed for Van repairs.

We are very blessed to have the resources to fix the van.

Even though we will NOT be going to Utah in October,

instead we will have a working and safe van.

A blessing in Disguise.

Epic DISASTER.

This sweet, innocent baby of mine did the MOST DISGUISING thing today.
She woke up from her nap and took off her poppy diaper and played it in.
Smeared it on her tummy and her face....
I am MORTIFIED.

Wednesday Day 4 in Radium.

Our last full day in Radium was spent at the BEACH! K and A love to swim and play in the sand.

 There was even a slide out IN the lake... although the water was too cold for the girls to make it there! And a park right off the Beach area, it was a beautiful family area.

 K even found a little friend to play with and we hardly heard one word from her! A busied herself with bottles and shovels and playing with Uncle Mark and Aunt Laura.

I love this photo. Sand, sweat, juice, water, chips and a VERY happy baby!

Wednesday was the last full day of Hoilday in Radium. We woke up Thursday morning and I was feeling not well, my eye had swollen and become infected. So instead of staying untill Sautrday we pack up and Grandpa drove the girls and I home. It was a fanatsic trip, I love vactioning with my family!

Tuesday Day 3 in Radium

GOLFING!

Mom is still dealing with pain in her shoulder and arm, so Tuesday we just hung around the house in the morning, and then headed over to Radium Hot springs to give the girls some more swim time!

The girls sure had a great time on the slide. People always comment on how fearless my girls are.

Its kinda worrisome. Each and every time we swim I pray the girls come back alive.

Mom stayed at the house to nap with the girls and the rest of us headed out golfing!

We did a beautiful Par 3 Course in Radium.

We had a T-time for 1:30 but got stuck behind 3 groups of 4, this included 4 children under 10.    

Oh well.... we finally started at 2:15.

Mark has a great swing... like the bare feet? Laura did not bring any type of shoe on our Holiday... Mark wore his Sunday shoes on his bike all weekend.

Dad had the best swing by far..

We had to wait at every hole to Toff. It provided many picture ops.

Laura is showing me the correct swing here. LOL

This here video is for Dad and Cyril... My swing is just FANTASTIC.

I know don't be jealous.

My swing did get better by the 9th hole. Where I beat everyone for a Par!

We got home and Grandma and the girls had been hard at work with Window Markers!

K was so proud of her drawings.

I'm sure A was a BIG help!

But that's ok she's CUTE!

Grandpa and Mark snuggling with the girls.

By the end of the weekend the girls got better with Zeus. They wont touch him, if hes looking at them.. but if his face is cover then its ok.

I am really hoping Zeus helps the girls with their fear of dogs. I understand not LIKING dogs but the scared thing is getting old.

We headed over after dinner to the hot springs before bed.. where we had diving competition and the girls did the slide like 30 times.

After swimming the girls ENJOY showers. A sat there in the shower for 15 minutes until I convinced her to come out. I love how she looks just sitting in the shower hanging out.