10th day of Holiday

10th day Tutorial

Since 10 is one of my favorite numbers, I thought I would give a gift.  A little tutorial on how to make a very very simple backpack.  I needed to make one for Liz for her new scriptures, and I thought there might be some others out there who would like some new ideas.

Happy New Years!

Backpack Directions

1. Cut 2 pieces of fabric into 11" by 32" strips.  My backpack was a little "big" for scriptures, so you could take off 5 or so inches if you like.  2.  Put right sides facing, and sew along to top and bottom edges (these are the short edges).  3. Now turn right side out.  Press. 4. Sew channels along the top and bottom with a 3/4" -1" seam.  5. Fold end to end (inside out) and pin sides.  For bottom loops fold 4" cords in half; place inside the bottom corners, ends aligned with fabric edges.  6.  Stitch sides (do not sew channels closed), make sure to secure the cords and right up to the channels seam.  7. Turn right side out.  8. For strap, thread an end of each drawstring through the loop below it and tie ends.  

9th Day of Holiday

On the 9th Day of Holiday we celebrate the joy of friendship.  Recently, our friends moved 3 hours away.  We spent last weekend visiting them.  They were so kind to host us in their beautiful new home (with an amazing basement).  We ate well, played lots of games, decorated cookies, made fun crafts, saw a fun and quaint downtown, pulled out many slivers, teased children, and enjoyed the Christmas splendor all around.  Here are the pictures from part of the fun.  Thanks Jarman's for being such great friends.

This is Liz's cookie.  I think she dumped multiple bottles of colored sugar onto this baby.  I'm sure it tasted fantastic.
Cookie decorating is pretty intense.  The kids were all very intent on making sure their cookies were as beautiful as possible.
Maddie is a tough cookie!  She worked hard to  use all the frosting she could.
This is Bj's happy face. Maybe we should make him take a class on how to smile for a camera (he should take Mitchell with him).  Beej enjoyed decorating cookies the "man" way...pulling off limbs of the cookie man and using red frosting to make it look like it was bleeding.  

I can't believe that New Years Eve is tomorrow.  I want time to slow down.  AHHHHH!  I don't want work to start again.  This is the life.  My hubby is home all the time, I have an extra set of hands, and I don't have to be going 80 mph all the time.  Maybe tomorrow we can get really bored, that always slows time down a little bit.  I'll work on that.

8th day

8th Day of Holiday

My house has been showing signs of the holiday. So today is cleaning day. The kids are going to play with their cousins today, and I am finally going to get to getting some quilting projects done (or worked on). After, of course, I finish cleaning the house and getting some much needed exercise. So, no pictures, no rambling, no trying to be fun or cute, ....I must get to work.

7th Day of Holiday

2008 Nativity

This year Bj put Madeline in charge of the Nativity.  She was responsible for everything.  Music, costumes, script, etc..   She took her responsibility seriously and we had dress rehearsals, and study periods (luke 2).  She played 3 parts (the innkeeper, the angel, and a wiseman)
Here's Mitch as a wise man, he also played the part of a shepherd.
Sweet Liz, she didn't want to be a person, so she played a sheep.  This is her afterward, she couldn't help but take care of Baby Jesus for many days.
No, this is not an announcement.  Luckily, I was able to play Mary, and It was pretty fun to have a pillow that looked so much like pregnant belly.

We hope you had a great Christmas.  We are still celebrating it a little here (with Dad being home from work).  I hope the spirit of Christmas may extend longer this year.  The feeling of generosity, giving, and selflessness is needed all the year through....maybe if we all keep it going, 2009 can be a year to remember.

6th day of Holiday-call for creativity

6th Day of Holiday

I can hardly believe we are one week down, and 1 to go with Bj's days off of work. I love having him home, and I am very grateful for these perks of his employment.

Okay, on with today's ramblings.

Today is a creativity call to everyone out there. Each year we all give neighbor/friend gifts, and each year we have to come up with new ideas. So, here is my hope....I will offer you my ideas, and I ask that you comment with your ideas too. If you have a picture, just email it to me, and I'll post it for you, or put it on your own blog, and leave us a comment with a link. I have a great hope that this will give us all ideas for neighbor gifts for years to come.

Neighbor Gifts

This is this year's offerings.  I made cookbooks for everyone.  I got this great idea from my fabulous friend Katie Hughes.  I must say, if you are going to take this one on, give yourself a little more time than I did.  As I read through these and see all the imperfections, and hear about recipes left out (from my family), I think it would have been nice to have the time to spend editing and proofing it.  Alas, it is done, and I have a great collection of recipes from my family members (even if there are some quirky moments).

Last year I made banana bread, and gave this recipe card to go along.  I love this banana bread.

The year before I made these hot pads.  Seriously, this was fun to do, and it took a long time!   This is a great way to start quilting, if you are new to it.  

Other ideas:

gourmet hot chocolate (I did this a couple times, I loved it. Fast, easy, non messy, great)

plates of cookies (I did this one year and realized I really need to wear shoes on a tile floor         when baking all day).

CD compilation

wrapping supplies: this year I found some fun square stickers, and made some to/from stickers for some of my friends.  Here are just a few examples:

So, what are your ideas?  what did you give?  What did you get?

Christmas Fruit

Christmas Fruit

In our home, we renamed all the days of Christmas.  The day before Christmas Eve is Christmas Adam, then Christmas Eve, then Christmas, and the day after Christmas is Christmas Fruit.  Obviously, the kids had a big hand in the naming of these days, and it has been fun to have new decorations to celebrate the different days.   All this to say, Merry Christmas Fruit.

Todays 5th day of Holiday is about our Mitch.  These pictures are taken from his school Christmas program, and his class party.  When he got up on the stand to sing, I was waving at him so he would know where I was, and he looked at me and gave me the biggest wink.  Man, that kid is a cutie!  Of course, he is too old to be a cutie, so he is very handsome.  The next day, we had the party at school.  I was responsible for bringing hot chocolate....I must say, does anyone know how to safely transport liquids in a car?  I am seriously lacking this skill.  Anyway, as you can tell, Mitch has inherited his father's skill of posing for pictures.

So, last Saturday when we went to see the lights we went to Ikea for dinner.  Mitch is  not a small eater, and he wanted an extra helping of Mac and Cheese.  Bj gave him the   money, and sent him to go buy it for himself.  Mitch just took the money and went for it.  He didn't look back, he wasn't concerned about being alone, he just did it.  When he couldn't reach the mac and cheese from the top counter, he just kept jumping, and reaching until they noticed him.  No panic attacks, no break downs, nothing  (boys seriously are easier).  It seems like a simple thing, but I love watching him gain independence.  It was so fun to watch!

Merry Christmas Fruit!

It Came!

Merry Christmas

(4th day of Holiday)

I don't know why, but each year I get so excited about Christmas, that I have a hard time relaxing.  I love it.  I love playing the roll I do, and seeing my children's eyes light up as they see what Santa brought them.  I love the magic of it, I love the anticipation, and I love the little surprises I get.  This year I got a huge surprise.  My super sweet Santa gave me a new camera.  This is the camera that I have been wanting for nigh unto 4 years.  I could never justify it, I am just a lowly common person, not a real photographer.  Alas, my Santa baby took care of me.  

The kids enjoyed their day full of fun and wonder.  It took us from 7-10 a.m. to get through all the presents, and I love that it takes so long.  It is 2:47 and I am still in my jammies (lovin' it).  I love that my kids are all downstairs playing various Wii games, and that their dad is loving it right along with them.  He is really the best dad ever.  I am so glad he is here, because if it were only me, I think the kids would seriously be lacking for someone to play Wii with them.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas (even though it seems like it is over now).  And, if anyone else out there got a super fun camera to play with here is a link to a 12 week photography course.  (The address starts with week one, when you want to progress to the next week, simply type the week you want to go in place of the "weekone").

Here's a little nudge to my parents who spoke of blizzards and snow.  Hmmm, do you think you may want to come for a visit????

Here's the fun family!  Christmas is always so fun.

Notice the cards on the door in the background. Thanks to all our friends and family for making our home a little more festive.

3rd Day of Holiday

Oh Holy Night

This star is from the Mesa Temple....which we visited on Saturday night.  I love how going to the temple helps remind our family about Christ during this busy season.

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the Christmas Season.   I feel like it is a very calm and peaceful evening.  I love how we perform our own Nativity, I love reading Luke 2, I love the warm Potato Soup and bread bowls.  I have so many fond memories of candlelit dinners on Christmas Eve, and I am trying to pass that on to my little family.  I wish you all may have the best Christmas Eve ever.   Whether you spend it quietly like our family, or have big family dinners/parties, may your Christmas Eve bring you joy, and fill your heart and mind with warm memories you may return to often.

Merry Christmas

2nd day of Holiday

For our Second Day of Holiday I have to share about how independent our Maddie is.  Wow, she learned how to make pancakes with her Papa Jimbo over Thanksgiving, and she has been very proactive in doing more cooking since we came home.   The morning these pictures were taken, she awoke before Mom and Dad, made the batter and started cooking.  I must admit, and hopefully you can see, this was not a clean adventure.  There were drips, crumbs, many failed attempts, .....but she did it.  She is learning and growing so much, and I love how she has so much zest for life and learning.

Yesterday, Maddie was rehearsing to me all the foods she can prepare, and she was so proud of herself.  Maybe we can start having her be the chef for our family.

12 days...is it too late?

As I finally put all our pictures from the last few weeks onto the computer, I realized how much there is to show, update, describe, etc.....  As to not tire me or you out, I thought I might do a 12 days of Holiday.  How's that? Bj gets 12 days to be with us (sans work), so 12 days of Holiday it is.   A little late, but alas, life surely isn't perfect (especially not at our abode).

For our first day of Holiday, we will look one of last weeks activities.  Sweet Liz, she had her recital and she sang "We are Santa's Elves....stocking Santa's shelves.."  Honestly, she is the cutest little elf I have ever seen.  I was so proud to see her up dancing, and enjoying every minute of it.  I hate to admit that there have been times in my life where recitals seemed less thrilling than they could.  However, maybe I have grown as a mom because even though the crowds were insane, I felt so excited to be there and be a part of her moment.  She loved singing in the car on the way over, she loved being there with her friends, and she especially enjoyed the pizza and ice cream we had after the big event, let's not forget she got to stay up late too!

The Christmas cards have been sent, and with it a link to the blog, so I thought maybe I would give a years recap for those who have never visited my blog before.  

We hope this year finds you all healthy and well taken care of.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family, and if you are reading this, you can count yourself one of those we are blessed to know and love.  May  your Christmas be full of the Spirit of Christ, and may your new year be better than the last!  Merry Christmas.

2008

I wish I could wax long about what a blessed year this was, but instead...I may simply say this was an interesting year full of moments to learn from, people to appreciate, tears of sadness, tears of joy, accomplishments, and shortcomings.

In January....Madeline finally learned how to ride her bike.  We were so proud of her and all her hard work.  You can read about that here.

In February....we spent time as a family enjoying valentines day, and Bj and I went on a trip to Santa Barbara with my extended family.  You can see those pictures here.

March...this is where the "fun" began.  Our little Elizabeth was bit by a rattlesnake, while retrieving a ball from a bush.  Serious issues followed.  We enjoyed an ambulance ride, she enjoyed a life flight ride, and 4 days in the PICU.  I became well aware of the dedication and love of my parents as they dropped what they were doing and flew to our rescue.  Thanks Mom and Dad for taking care of our little ones while our littlest one was in the hospital.  There were many prayers offered on her behalf, and I appreciate the many calls and visits of concern, the many meals cooked, and the outpouring of love and gifts.  I was overcome with the outpouring of love we received, and with the goodness of the people around us.  You can see picture here.

April...worked on helping Elizabeth recover full use of her hand (she did!!!), and to overcome her fear of the outdoors and creatures (this took a little longer). Bj celebrated his birthday. Bj and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a 4 hour hike in a bug infested area.   And I worked hard in my quilting endeavors.

May....we celebrated Elizabeth's 4th birthday, and enjoyed finishing school, finishing many quilts, and preparing for our annual trip to the motherland.

June...we spent the majority of this month in the motherland, enjoying grandma/papa time, and getting spoiled.  To see our travel pictures go here.

July...we celebrated Madeline's 8th birthday, had  a tea party, had family visitors, and Madeline was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Pictures are here.  We also learned that Elizabeth hasn't quite recovered emotionally from her bite, as she completely freaked out when a beetle crawled all over her (go here to read more).

August...back to school, already?  It's true, the kids return to school, Bj continues at work, and I get to resume my 5:30 wake up schedule (that sometimes turns into 6 a.m.....but if my alarm goes off at 5:30 that is when I wake up, right?).  Also, Bj finally finished the Patio cover, you can read about it here.

September... Mitch turned 7, enjoyed the biggest ice-cream cake I have ever seen, and loved playing with all his presents.   I also went to the annual quilt fest, and I loved spending time quilting, talking to my mom and aunt, and the feel of fabulous fabric.

October....my favorite month.  Maybe because it is my birthday month, but I hope it is because I love fall so much.  Of course, fall doesn't come here  at this time, but I remember what fall used to be like, and I remember it with love.  I digress.  We enjoyed our first ever fall break by visiting with friends and family.  Bj spent many hours organizing for Prop 102.  We have never been this involved politically, but this year...we put up signs, put up door hangers, and stood outside the polls on election day.  Yes, prop 102 passed.  Also, a my new sewing room was born, and many a happy hour has been spent there.

November....  I think this month passed by too quickly.  This month we recovered from October, and then we were off on vacation.  We went to the Polar Express in William, AZ, and then to the Grand Canyon, and then to what we lovingly call the "compound" for Thanksgiving.  I enjoyed the time away, and all the "quiet" time we could spend together.

December....just enjoying the Christmas season.  We are excited to decorate our gingerbread house.  We have ballet recitals, Christmas concerts, neighborhood Christmas performances, tea parties, wii parties, and more coming up.

Tagged

This time I was tagged by Tracy, let's hope I have answers to all of these.

Five things Bj loves...
1. Me
2. His kids
3. Food
4. Mario Kart
5. Football

Five things on his to-do list...
1. Go to Church meetings
2. Go on visits
3. deliver christmas presents
4. fix the lawn mower
5. refinish the table

Five snacks he loves...
1. peanut butter treats
2. jalapeno flavor sunflower seeds
3. peanut m&m's
4. hummus
5. nachos

Five things you may not know about him...
1. He is one of the most gentle men I know
2. He can hardly wait for Christmas because he is so excited to give presents to people.
3. He loves to do science projects with the kids
4. He LOVES to pack everything he can to go to: the park, camping, the beach, on vacation, etc...
5. He almost always says sorry first.

Five places he has lived...
1. Washington
2. California
3. UT
4. Michigan
5. Arizona

Five quirky things...
1. He loves to argue with family, friends, and Maddie.
2. He keeps broken electric gadgets for their parts.
3. He wants to add Peanut Butter to almost any treat.
4. He makes all the sandwiches for the kids on Sunday night (they go in the freezer).
5. He loses his credit cards more often than we would all like to admit.

Five people I tag...
1. Lydia
2. Suzzette
3. Sara Schofield
4. Katie H.
5. Shauna

Overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed by the onslaught of email, requesting a Christmas card. It is amazing how many people have shown interest. So, thanks, Shauna for sending me an email, you rock.

sbisel@byu.net

Temple Envy

While visiting the family, I spent one morning with Hubby and Mom and went to the temple.  How long did it take, 5 minutes to drive there, 2 hour session, 5 minutes home.  I am jealous.  I could go to the temple during preschool (if I lived in such a place).  However, I will be a bigger person, and overcome my jealousy by saying I am grateful to live within 2 hours of a temple.  And, if my trips to the temple do take 6-9 hours depending on the car traffic and temple traffic,  I must say I am just grateful for the opportunity to go.  Truly, the temple is a beautiful place, and I love going there to feel peace, quiet, and get answers to my prayers.

Okay, let's get real, count this as my call for a temple in Tucson.

We're Back

I didn't really want to let blogland know we were going to be out of town for sometime, but....I guess you could tell anyway. We went to the fabulous family compound and enjoyed a great Thanksgiving week with the family. On our way, we planned a stop at the Polar Express. We had so much fun. We took our sweet time getting there, but we arrived early, went swimming, had dinner in our jammies, and rode on the 6:30 train. It was so fun to watch the wonder in my kids' eyes as they saw Santa. We listened to the book, had hot chocolate and cookies, met Santa, and enjoyed some Christmas time together.





It was actually cold there. Imagine that. You can see us all with our coats on (a rare occurrence nowadays....but don't worry, the girls are all still wearing our flip flops). brrrrr!
Here is Santa and sweet Elizabeth, she loved getting her very own bell from Santa.

The Grand Canyon

It is amazing to us, but none of us had ever been to the grand canyon. I have flown over it many a time, but I guess that doesn't count. Being the absolute party animal that I am (ha), I have to admit I thought this route would add minutes to our trip, and that it would kill me to see the hours roll by without making much progress. However, (I know you are glad to see I might be changing...finding joy in the journey and all), I did enjoy it. It was amazing to see the canyon, it is indeed GRAND. It was slightly scary to me as Bj took himself and our son beyond the small wall to look over the edge, I kept imagining them both plunging to their deaths...but alas, we are all alive, and we are better off. Madeline was scared to death, and cried as we got close to the edge. Elizabeth wasn't scared, her crawling all over me wasn't fear of the canyon, just fear of the flash. Mitchell kept commenting on his bravery and courage at climbing over the wall and tempting fate....I, being the fabulous mother I am, crushed that belief, by telling him that doing something dangerous just because it is dangerous isn't brave, it is stupid. I continued that ....bravery must be for some good cause (country, freedom, family....not for kicks). I may not get the "mother of the year" award for that speech, but I may keep a kid alive. Here's hoping!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my whole family. This is the first time this has happened since....well, since we grew up and went our own ways. But, now everyone is closer to the homeland and it is easier to get together. We spent the first 5 days alone with my parents just enjoying the lack of responsibility. We swam in the 90 degree pool, went for runs, walks, and bike rides, looked at beautiful Christmas trees, enjoyed Christmas presentations, played the wii, played ping pong, made neighbor and family gifts, visited friends, and enjoyed the good life (as good as it can get without Internet).


The kids table!

Here's our water baby. Loved every minute in the pool, and did it the whole time without water wings.

Cousins! These two were inseparable, it is so fun watching them grow up together. Here's wishing we lived closer.

This kid worked hard on his flips, dives, and beating the competition in all the pool games.

We had such a great time. I absolutely loved the alone time, and enjoyed the lack of responsibility. November was a super crazy month full of tasks upon tasks, but hopefully, I can hurry and finish all the commercial Christmas stuff early, and take time to enjoy the beauties of this season. I am so grateful for these moments, where I can run away from it all, and hopefully come back better, and ready to tackle it all again, but with a good attitude and a loving heart. Wish me luck.

Oh....and the Christmas cards are ready. Do you want one? I have a limited number, but if you want one and I have enough left, just shoot me an email sbisel@byu.net with your address and I will send you one.

No Double Duty

Busy week, busy Sunday, we're all busy. So, I am not going to do a double duty post. Bj already put Halloween pics on his blog, baldguyblogging.blopspot.com....so, please go visit his site to see how much fun we had.

Halloween was great. We had the trunk'r treat the night before (serious collection of the good stuff there), then on Halloween we spent the day putting Prop 102 door hangers in neighborhoods (thanks Seth and Denise for helping us), at class parties, visiting Nana Betty, having dinner with the big family, and trick or treating all over our neighbor, going to "booville," and falling asleep during the movie that night (I seriously can't stay awake in movie's anymore). We must thank all those who helped us collect yummy treats that filled our tummies that night, and will serve as stocking stuffers in about 2 months.

In almost related news, I found our halloween outfits for next year at target yesterday for $1.5 -$2.50. Seriously, that is great. I can afford that kind of stuff, now I won't have to go to Goodwill again, and come out feeling like...is that supposed to cost that much?

tagged

My sweet friend Lydia tagged me, and I had to do it, because I love her that much. I am supposed to post the fourth picture in the fourth folder in my My Pictures folder and then tell about it. I am on a Mac and pics are organized slightly different, so I'll do the best I can.

I have tried for 2 days straight to upload pictures, but it isn't working.  What up blogspot?  So, imagine a picture of a 1.5 year old Elizabeth in the bathtub covered with suds.  She is super cute, super naked, and super great.  On this occasion, Bj was washing her and she slipped and gave her a dislocated elbow, the third or fourth in her short life.  Poor kid!  The pictures that come after this one are of her screaming and crying.  You'd think we would be smart enough to stop taking pictures, but alas, we didn't realize what had happened to her.  Poor Monkey!  I will keep trying to post the pics, but I wanted sweet Lydia to know I am participating in your tagginess (that is a word, I promise).

The Family

Yesterday while I was at Stake Conference I was reminded of a simple truth.  We are children of God.  He loves us dearly.  I think the first time I got a glimpse of the power of his love was when I became a parent.  I remember watching my children sleep as they were babies, and an overwhelming rush of love would come over me. I realized then, that if I love my children with a love that was so powerful and binding (yet I am a very imperfect being), how much my Father in Heaven must love me. This glimpse of his matchless love has taught me more about why we have families. Families are to help us understand the Gospel better. Everything in this life is here to help us come closer to our Heavenly Father, to learn, to grow, and to bring us joy. I love this song that came out in last months friend. The words are below, and this is the link to the song.

I love all the truths this song teaches in its simplicity. We are all in the family of God. We each have roles in our family....a mother, a father, and children. God gave us families to teach us! It is the perfect place for us to make mistakes, and learn from them. It is the perfect place to practice the things we learn in a safe environment. Families love each other, and we make mistakes together, but we always know that no matter what, we Love each other. I am so grateful for these shining moments of Joy when I understand the gospel plan a little better. I am so grateful for the adult session of Stake Conference....the quiet moments of reflection and gospel truth help me so much. I am so grateful for the whisperings of the spirit to help me get out of my "funks" and focus my attention of the beauties of the gifts I have been given. I am grateful for families, to help me understand my Heavenly Father's love better. I hope YOU know that He loves YOU too!


The Family is of God

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.

2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.

3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.

4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

For Mom

This post is for my super sweet Mom. She cares what my Halloween decorations look like.   

This is Uncle George.   Bj invented him back in MI, but this is his first appearance in our current house.  He is seriously creepy, but the kids love him. 

Our Front Door.  Highly exciting!

I loved working on this project.  Wool felt is so fun!

Here is pumpkin land.  There used to be tons of little cups of m&m's all over, but alas they are all in our belly's now. 

How do you do it?

Bacon?  How do you cook it?

I came upon this method of cooking bacon from watching the food network.  I have been cooking my bacon like this for sometime, and loving it I might add, but realized last night I have forgotten to share the love.  So, to be real, I must say, this is not my pic, I stole it.  I do that!  And, I don't use real bacon, I love Turkey bacon you can buy from Costco (I know, anyone who knows me at all has to know I got it from Costco).  Anyway, on with the goods.  So, turn your oven onto broil.  As it is heating up, line your cookie sheet with foil (you don't have to do this, I just like to) space out your bacon like the picture above (I overlap a little),  and then put the cookie sheet on the 2nd rack of the oven (or top if you really want to watch it super carefully).  Then, just wait.  Mine takes about 5 minutes, or a little longer, it depends on how you like your bacon.  I like mine crispy!!!  I would be really careful the first time you do it, and figure out your oven.  

My favorite recipe for using bacon is Pasta Carbonara.  I absolutely love it.  This is a doubled recipe.

1 package of noodles (I use spaghetti or linguine)

2 cups of half and half

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 parsley dried (1/2 cup fresh)

12 or more strips of bacon 

Cook noodles according to directions.  For sauce.  Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat, then add half and half and beaten eggs.  Continue to cook on medium heat until sauce thickens.  Do not boil.  Continue to stir while it is cooking.  If you must walk away, try to stir at least once every minute. It is done when it coats the spoon thickly (about 6 minutes).  (***sometimes you overcook it, don't worry, it won't be perfect, but life isn't perfect and it still tastes good, it just isn't as creamy and smooth).  After sauce and pasta are cooked, mix together, then add parsley and parmesan cheese.  You are done, and you have a dish to please the masses.

My kids absolutely love this dish.  I serve this often with grilled chicken and grilled veges.  Super yummy.  Or, just add a side salad and you are done (you have your protein in the bacon, so it is all good).

Warm Fuzzies

My kids had Fall Break this week.  We had a lot of our friends go out of town, but with Bj's work situation (meaning no vacation days left), I didn't want to tackle a vacation by myself.  However, I did want them to have a great fall break, and do "out of the ordinary" things.  So, I invited myself to my cousins house and my friends house.  They were both so hospitable, and took my family in.  They both fed us well, and I felt very spoiled.  I am very blessed to have such great family and friends.  Wednesday we went to visit my cousin Penny and her cute family.  Thursday we went to Ikea and to visit my friend Katie who I was an Academy for Girls counselor with.  

I was a little nervous as I began the trip.  I was driving to Phoenix all by myself (I never do that kind of stuff).  I am always nervous when I leave Bj, I just don't like being away......I am afraid something bad will happen to one of us.  A silly fear, but one that is well embedded in my psyche.  However, after I got to my cousins house, all of it melted away.  It was so great to see her and her cute little family.  I loved spending time with them all.  The kids had a great time chasing each other with grasshoppers, being wild, and staying up 2 hours past their bedtime.  Poor Penny's kids had school the next morning, and  we did not make things easier for her.  As we left her house, I felt so many warm fuzzies.  Why didn't we do this more often?  It has been about 2.5 years since we got together last.  Why in the world does it take that long?  We only live 2 hours away from each other.  I wished we had more time with them....but I made a little commitment to myself that I wouldn't let time slip by again like that.

Here's little Penny...oh I mean Hannah!  She is so super cute.

Hey Mitch (who now goes by the name of Crash).  He started the morning off early with much hoola hooping....and counting.  Penny is a Saint to listen with a smile to this all morning.

Here's Zach!  What a fun kid.  He has a new lizard, he and Crash spent a lot of time feeding him and chasing the girls with grasshoppers.

Here's my Penny.  She is such babe!  She got up early this morning and made us fantastic French Toast and homemade special syrup.  Yes, she does take after her fabulous mother.

Every time I look at Benjamin I see my Aunt Diane in his eyes.  It brings me so much joy to see her fire shining in his eyes.

Thursday we went to visit my friend Katie.  She has been a dear friend since we were counselors together at AFG.  I was always impressed by her for so many reasons.  1....she is super creative.  2....she has such a gentle way about her  (I love people with gentle ways, I think it is because I am still working on that skill, and I haven't yet achieved that) 3.....in all of life's craziness, she takes opportunities to remember and reflect on the Spirit.  4.  She is such a giving person....I am always put to shame when I see the gifts of love she prepares for me and others.  She is amazing.   

Poor Katie.  She had a baby 4 weeks ago (C-section), went to Las Vegas for a convention for her company last week...and here I am showing up ready to be entertained.  What a sweetheart to even let me in the door.  It was so fun to see her little bundle of joy, and see all her little ones.  Katie and I spent the day talking of quilts, rug hooking, crafts, business opportunities, preparing for Christmas, and life!  Our kids spent the day playing webkinz, making up dances, and eating yummy cookies.  Thanks Katie for such a great time.  

Here's the Elizabeth's (Liz and Betsy) playing with their playdough.

Here's Madeline and Ruby, and the dance they made up.  This is not a short video, but one that brings warmth to my heart.