We're Off!

Tomorrow morning, the girls and I take off for Nebraska to visit my family for two weeks. I am excited to see all my brothers and sister, but sad to leave Jonathan behind. He has to go to PA to take a test and then he works in family practice clinic for the next month. I will take lots of pictures and have lots to blog about when I get back. But for now, I will leave with some pictures of my beauty queens.

Fun Times

I love watching these cute dancers. I love Janie keeping her own beat in the background. I love Julia's disco moves (a.k.a. wheels on the bus) and I love Sami's laugh.


Here's another great one. We were listening to Jon Schmidt's new song, "Love Story Meets Viva La Vida."

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

My sweetheart, Prince Charming, and very best friend is 29 today! I love you Sweetie!!

Hungry Janie

I can hardly believe that Janie is old enough for cereal, but she is. We decided to wait until she was closer to five months to start her on rice cereal because Jonathan was allergic to everything as a child (wheat, dairy, etc). But we noticed that everytime I took a bite of something while holding her she turned her head to the spoon and opened her mouth. So we knew she was ready. And we (especially Jonathan) were hoping for some really funny faces during those first few bites, but she was so hungry and excited that the spoon was coming for her, that she hardly made any faces at all. She loves her cereal, and will eat as much as I give her.

What would we do without our Janie Banie?!!

One Night Craft Projects

In order for me to do a craft, it has to meet three criteria: 1. it has to be cheap 2. it has to be easy and simple, and 3. it has to be completed in one night. I don't want craft supplies cluttering up my house. And I have found three such projects that were very fun for me to do that I would like to share with you.

No Sew Tutu

This is my favorite crafty project. I really wanted a tutu for Sami, and I could find them in boutiques or online for around 30 dollars. That's way too much for this family's budget. So I made up my mind that I would learn how to make one myself, and my search led me to a tutorial. Here's the finished project:

One of my favorite princesses is modeling for us:

The best part of this project is that it costs around $7! Now every princess can have the tutu she needs for all that twirling and dancing. These also make great gifts. Can you guess what Sami will be wearing for Halloween this year?

Personalized Clipboard

I wanted to make my mother-in-law something special for Mother's Day. She is always helping us out and I wanted to show her our appreciation with something homemade. I saw this on the blog Controlling My Chaos and it also fit my criteria for crafts. Wo-hoo!

It's amazing what a little Modge Podge can do! Hopefully you can see her name under the clip. She sells Scentsy and I wanted to make her a cute clipboard for her parties.

Picture Magnets

And my last project was also a gift for my mother-in-law. They are fridge magnets with the faces of all her grandchildren. The idea comes from Crafting Chicks. Here are some of the ones I made:

Once again, Modge Podge came in handy. These are super easy and fun. Just by the pebbles at any craft store, cut out pictures that are the same size as the pebble, and decoupage the picture to the back of the pebble. Let dry (it takes a long time) and glue on a magnet. Ta-da!

Sami was impressed.

Check out all the links in this post for complete instructions on everything. I hope you have fun crafting!

Jonathan came home from MO on Tuesday, and he has had the rest of the week off. It's been so nice. Since he was home, I decided it was a good time to can since he could entertain the little people for me. I got a pressure cooker for my birthday from Jonathan, his mom, and sister, and I was excited to try my hand at it. I canned 16 pints of chicken (only half are shown here) and over 20 quarts of apple pie filling. We joke that if a disaster happens, at least we'll live off of chicken and pie. Doesn't sound so bad to me.



Then last night, we had Jonathan's sister, Tami, over for dinner and then later Jeremy and his family came over. Once again, it was so much fun. It's so nice to have family close. The only sad thing was that Sami fell asleep before her cousins came and she actually stayed asleep for their visit. She's been fighting a cold, so I think she needed the rest.

I've been tagged

A: Addiction: Chocolate
B: Breakfast (what you eat) ~ Cereal with skim milk
C: Chocolate or Chips ~ Chocolate
D: Dessert or Appetizers ~ Dessert
E: Essential Items ~ Dishwasher, and washing machine
F: Favorite Color ~pink but I also like teal blue since my girls look so cute in that color
G: Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms ~ neither, I'm not into gummy things
H: Hometown ~ Gering, NE
I: Indulgence ~ Once again, chocolate. But honestly, folks, I'm trying to be good. I still have some baby weight to get rid of.
J: January or July ~ In Arizona, definitely January.
K: Kids ~ Samantha and Jane
L: Life isn’t complete without ~ the gospel and my family
M: Most exciting memory ~ Being sealed to Sami in the Nauvoo temple. We had looked forward to it ever since we brought her home. It felt so wonderful to know that she was ours for eternity. We were surrounded with some of our most favorite people and felt Heavenly Father's love so strongly.
N: Number of brothers & sisters ~ 4 brothers and 1 sister
O: Oranges or Apples ~ apples
P: Phobias or Fears ~ I think my biggest fear is that I won't be ready for the big challenges that life brings, like the early death of a loved one.
Q: Quote ~ "All that I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all that I have not seen." Emerson
R: Reading currently ~ I am waiting for a new book from Betsy Brannon Green. She is my favorite LDS author. Actually, she's the only LDS author I like (so far), so many others are too cheesy. I ordered a book from Amazon and it should come this week.
S: Summer or Spring ~ Spring, summer is too hot.
T: Tag 6 People ~ Suzanne, Sarah, Kristen, Mindy, Lisa, and Christi
U: Unknown fact about me ~ I love watching old shows, like Matlock and Murder She Wrote, but sometimes they scare me so Jonathan has to be around when I watch them. He thinks it's hilarious that anything with Angela Lansbury could be scary. Some may think I'm a wimp, but I prefer to think of myself as a "sensitive spirit."
V: Vacation I want to go on ~ Hawaii
W: Walking or Running ~ for excercise, running; for relaxing, walking.
X: X-Ray or Ultrasound ~ Ultrasound if I'm pregant because I love seeing the baby, all other times, I prefer x-ray.
Y: Your favorite Food ~ Mexican
Z: Zoo or Bowling ~ Zoo (I can't wait to take the girls to the zoo next year.)