The McIllece Spot

Tee Makeover Mania!

2012-01-29T20:39:00.005-06:00

Holy cow. I saw this darling tutorial on Pinterest last week and I got a little obsessed. I bought a couple of long sleeved tees at Target, cut one up, and tried my hand at a great tee makeover. Mine turned out just a little bit different, but I love it. I wore it to church last week with a black cardigan. CUTE!

Yesterday, I was scouring online to find a couple other ways to makeover tees, but it seemed to defeat the purpose to buy tees to makeover. Then BAM! It hits me. When I pulled out all my winter clothes, I set aside a bunch of Old Navy tees that were either very low v-necks that I didn't want to wear with a tank in the hot Alabama summer or that the neck seemed a little stretched out. Or boring. I had them out in the garage to donate. So I got them out, took them inside and inspiration hit! First, I had a light olive flutter shirt that I got online for $3 at Old Navy but that was too big. It did have this great flower detail at the bottom. I also found a dark olive tee. I carefully cut around the flowers and also the embroidery details. I got it all pinned where I wanted it and hand stitched it on. There seemed to be a big empty spot in the center so I cut along the finished hem and made a little gathered flower and sewed it in the spot. LOVE it.

I also ended up finding a v-neck tee and a crew neck tee in the same color. I cut the v-neck into strips, hand gathered the strips, pinned them to the crew neck and sewed them on. I thought this one would be cute with a white cardigan while it is still cool. It is very similar to this tutorial.

I have a couple more ideas and a couple more shirts. But not for tonight.

Have a great week!

"Josh-isms" Squared

2012-01-26T16:19:00.004-06:00

I shared these two "Josh-isms" on facebook in real time, but I needed to record them here also so they make it into our family journal. This kid is too much. And growing up way too quickly for my taste. One day in the not too near future, these "Josh-isms" will be a thing of the past. Sigh.

On Sunday, Josh rushed over to me with a little Playmobile guy and says:

Josh: "Look, mom! It's a knight! He has a big shield, a big ass and a big helmet."

I think that is Josh-talk for axe.

Yesterday morning, Josh told me to watch out or his knights would shoot a "canyon ball" out of their "canyon" at me.

I'm gonna be so sad when he says all his quirky words right...it's tough to watch that last little one grow up!

Duck & Cover Bunker

2012-01-23T14:17:00.003-06:00

I was up getting the kids ready for school this morning and the tornado siren went off. The weather has been strange, but it caught me a little off guard. Not the best way to start the day. All the schools went to a 2-hour late start and I explained the situation to the big kids. They were a little spooked, but they seemed fine. But when Tony was getting ready to leave for school, Anna starts to sob. Turns out, she wasn't so worried about our actual house blowing away in a tornado, but she was so sad because she would miss Bunny and Rebecca (her American Girl doll) when the house blew away. So I told her to go carefully put them in my closet (our "safe" spot) so that if we had to hide, they would be there with us. And that's exactly what she did.

And just so it is recorded for posterity, Josh slept through the entire thing. Sirens. Wind. Rain. Thunder. Lightening.

Seriously.

Boot.Socks.

2012-01-20T21:41:00.005-06:00

I am in love with boot socks.

Exhibit A: Knee-high socks topped with trim that peek out over the tops of your boots. Here is the tutorial to do your own from Laurel at Ducks in a Row. I made a black pair and a white pair to wear with my church skirts. LOVE them.

Exhibit B: Over the knee book socks. LOVE them over skinny jeans. I hit Target earlier this week and bought 3 sweaters on clearance for about $5 each, cut the arms off right where they meet the body of the sweater and serged along the raw edge. The sweater cuff becomes the top of your boot socks. I also cut the buttons off the sweater and stitched two to the outside of both socks.

Today I wore my cream boot socks. I felt stylish AND frugal.

The end.

DIY Apothecary Jars

2012-01-18T14:16:00.006-06:00

I LOVE those gorgeous, big apothecary jars that everyone has on their entry table or mantle filled with beautiful holiday things. But three things bring me to a screeching halt every time I ever even consider putting one in my cart.

1. Price. They are SO expensive. And even with coupons, I could easily spend $80 on jars. And I'd want a lot of them.

2. They are big. And I have 3 kids.

3. We move all the time. I almost have a panic attack just thinking about the mover dudes trying to pack them up and get them to our next home without them shattering.

So when I saw this on Pinterest, I got excited. By scouring my local junk shops, dollar stores, and even my own cupboards, I got the elements to MAKE some apothecary jars. They are smaller than average, but inexpensive so if they broke...no big deal. So I made 6 apothecary jars. For about $20. Seriously.

I can just see them all on my mantle filled with Valentine goodies. This has been my favorite project in a long time...

Felt Flower Scarf

2012-01-15T12:52:00.004-06:00

Tony and I had to speak in church a couple of weeks ago and, as always, I was a little nervous. And what better to distract my would-be listeners than with an awesome scarf!! I found the tutorial on Pinterest and was excited to try it out (I'm all about scarves this Winter). I think I spent all of $3 on the felt...I had a coupon for Hobby Lobby. The tutorial here is easy to follow and gives great picture references. I think the scarf is even cuter with her little baby belly...

My Suicidal "M"

2012-01-10T21:31:00.004-06:00

I have seen a ton of these yarn covered monograms lately (like Laurel's here) and since covering an "m" would obviously be a little tricky, I didn't want to spend a lot of money to give it a go. I bought a pressboard letter at Hobby Lobby (on sale for $1) and used some yarn I had on hand. It took me two nights and I ended up going all over it twice with yarn. Added some felt flowers and leaves (more to come on felt flowers tomorrow), hot glued some ribbon on the back and hung it on the front door. It turned out much better than I though it would and looked pretty dang cute for the whole 2 days it was on the front door.

It has been beautiful here. Gorgeous. Sunny and warm. So warm, in fact, that the sun remelted the hot glue holding the ribbon to the back of the "m" and the whole thing came crashing down between the front door and the screen door. And broke. My heart. It broke in two places where the "m" is the narrowest, but I'm not ready to give it up yet. I'm gonna try and salvage it with something a little more "Alabama-proof" than hot glue this time. Geesh.

Sam's Green Lantern Cake

2012-01-09T16:05:00.003-06:00

Sam's 11th birthday was last week. He chose dinner at Bass Pro Shops and then we came home and opened presents and ate...yes...Green Lantern cake. I kid you not. Really stretched my cake-making talents, but he was happy. Such a funny kid.

Happy, happy birthday Sam. We love you to infinity and beyond.

January Reflections

2012-01-05T21:19:00.005-06:00

My very favorite part of the Holiday Season is the walk from the mailbox to the living room couch with a little stack of Christmas cards from the people that our family loves. This year, I feel especially grateful for the wonderful people in our life...from Belgium to Japan, Alaska to Florida and everywhere in between. I love that I have gotten to actually HUG so many of you this year...

So the Christmas cards will be staying up just a little bit longer, even though the rest of Christmas has been put away. Just to remind us of all of you.

I love that the fireplace in this house has such a great mantle. It was so fun to decorate with snow and snowmen and pretty white and blue things. Jeni inspired the pitcher of twigs and crocheted snowflakes . My favorite thing is the tall glass apothecary with "snowballs" made of Styrofoam, Elmer's glue and fake snow I got on clearance at Target (on the left in front of the wooden barn star).

Happy January!

Gingerbread Houses

2012-01-01T18:22:00.007-06:00

I hope everyone had a fabulous, safe New Year's Eve! We did "find-the-nut-and-get-a-prize" cupcakes (Anna won), sparkling cider, and thought of personal goals for 2012. It was a nice night!

I know we are playing catch-up a little bit, but I thought I lost the memory card with the photos I took while my mom was here and she made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. But I found it...tada!

I've heard that building gingerbread houses can be a pain in the tush, but on one of our many trips to Michaels during my mom's visit, we found this Wilton's gingerbread house cookie cutter set. We used this recipe, split the dough into 3 parts, flattened it on cookie sheets and baked it. When they were done baking and still warm, my mom used the cookie cutters to cut the pieces out of the sheet...it was awesome. The pieces don't warp in the oven that way and with a little icing, those houses were solid. GREAT find.

We puts bowls of candy and icing bags all over the table and the kids just went for it. They each had their own house which made it really nice for everyone. We helped Josh a little with icing, but for the most part, these are their creations. We've had them on display all Christmas season. Special thanks to my mom for all her help pulling this off...couldn't have done it without her.

This is the front of Sam's gingerbread house. And that is gingerbread Captain America.

Have a great week!

Let It...Snow?

2011-12-26T15:25:00.007-06:00

This has been the only snowless Christmas our kids have ever had...it doesn't seemed to have really bothered anyone but Josh. Certainly didn't bother me. But my dear friend Kristi and her family sent our kids a can of make-your-own snow for Christmas! It is made of the same stuff that is inside diapers...we just added water and instant snow! The kids made a few snowballs, a little snowman and called it good.

That's my kind of snow!

Have any of you seen the darling types of duct tape there are out there now? I found this reindeer roll at Michaels in early December and made some cards with it. LOVE the green.

Hope everyone is having a happy Christmas hangover!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T23:06:00.002-06:00

Hope your Christmas is merry & bright! Lots of love from our family to yours.

Be back after the Holidays...

Obsessed

2011-12-21T19:52:00.006-06:00

What is it about red velvet cake?? And when it is conveniently bite-sized?? We're taking them to our friend parties this weekend.
I AM OBSESSED!

How To Make Pointy Bows

2011-12-18T22:09:00.018-06:00

Anna wanted me to wrap her book exchange book with a pointy bow last week and I had so many ladies ask me how to do them that I thought I'd share. My mom taught me how to make them years ago...you used to be able to buy them. They pack a lot of punch, are quick to make and all you really need is a glue stick.

First, make 5 identical circles out of your wrapping paper or coordinating paper.

Next, fold 1 circle in half, in half, and then in half again so when unfolded there are 8 equal pie sections. Stack the 5 circles with the folded one on top and cut along the lines through all 5 layers ALMOST to the center.

Next, put some glue stick on the upper right hand corner of each of the pie sections of 1 circle. Then use a pencil (or I like to use my American Crafts rub-on stick because it had a good point) and starting at the left side of each pie section and roll it into a point. The glue is already on the right corner so it should stick immediately. Roll each section of all 5 circles. It sounds like it will take forever, but once you get in a groove, it goes quickly. I made this one in about 5 minutes.

Put a piece of double-stick tape (or glue, but double-stick works better) in the center of a circle. Stagger the points and stick another circle to the tape. Continue until all 5 layers are taped together by the middle. You will need to use a pencil to get the last layer to stick down in the center.

And voila! Gorgeous!

Have a good week!

A Life Lesson At Sonic

2011-12-16T12:49:00.003-06:00

The kids didn't have to go to school today and we decided to spend some time at the library. On the way, we stopped at Sonic to get a super-dooper sized diet Dr. Pepper. As we were waiting for them to bring it out, two cars came screeching into the parking lot and parked in adjacent spots. The driver of the first car gets out and starts yelling at the other driver. Boyfriends get out, horrible words start flying and I was so afraid it was gonna come to blows. HORRIBLE words. As soon as I realized what was goin' down, I told the kids to plug their ears. It was pretty tense for a minute. One of the drivers (with two elementary school-aged kids in the backseat) finally pulled out and left. The other one stayed and calmly ordered lunch.

As we were leaving, I told the kids they could unplug their ears. They were all looking at me. Sam had pink cheeks and kept saying, "I can't get those awful words out of my head." So I seized the moment. I asked them how watching those people be so mean to one another made them feel. The all agreed that it made them feel horrible. I asked them if they could feel the difference between feeling the Spirit at church and the way they felt when the people were fighting. Yes, they really could. We talked about how Heavenly Father must feel when we fight with each other, how it hurts to call people names, and how the Spirit can't be with us if we choose to do those things.

A life lesson. Right in the Sonic parking lot. And a good reminder to me, too.

Reindeer Noses

2011-12-14T19:46:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow all the kids have Christmas parties so I will be shuttling between their three schools. I made cupcakes for Sam's class and wanted to do a little something for Anna and Joshua's classes as well. I saw some cute little packets of "reindeer noses" online and thought they would be perfect! There are a lot of printable bag toppers online made specifically for reindeer noses, but I didn't love any of them so I made up some of my own. I used this set of Stampin' Up stamps and cut off the reindeer part of the main stamp and used it on a clear stamp block and then colored them with watercolor pencils. Some of the packets online were made with red and brown M&Ms, but I liked the perfect ball shape of the Whoppers (Anna used to call them "Woopers") and cherry sours.

Visiting Santa, Alabama Style

2011-12-12T12:48:00.005-06:00

In the other parts of the United States we've lived, it is fairly customary to go to the mall to visit with Santa, tell him what you want for Christmas, and then get a candy cane. Right?

Not in Alabama.

You want to visit Santa, you gotta go to Bass Pro Shop.

But you do still get a candy cane.

(Josh's preschool class went on a field trip to see Santa and I tagged along.)

M&M Nativity Legend Visiting Teaching Gifts

2011-12-10T22:00:00.004-06:00

One of my good friends in Washington shared this Nativity Legend with our Primary last Christmas and I tucked it away in my Christmas file knowing that it would make a wonderful visiting teaching gift during the Holidays. Just a jelly jar filled with Christmas M&Ms in cello and lots of curling ribbon.

Here's the Nativity Legend:

"As you hold these candies in your hand,

and turn them you will see,

The "M" becomes a "W", an "E" and then a "3".

They tell the Christmas story, it's one I'm sure you know,

It took place in a stable, a long long time ago.

The "E" is for the East, where the star shone oh so bright,

The "M" is for the Manger, where baby Jesus slept that night.

The "3" is for the wise men bearing gifts, with haste they came,

"W" is for Worship, an angelic choir sang praises to His name.

So as you eat these candies, or share them with a friend,

Remember the true Spirit of Christmas and never let it end."

--Unknown

Merry Christmas, y'all!

JAG Spouses Cookie Swap

2011-12-09T11:59:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I hosted the December JAG spouses group at my house...for a cookie swap! We ended up with 15 ladies and about 17 different types of cookies and candies (YUM!) and got lots of visiting in, coffee cake eaten, and drank lots of cranberry tea and eggnog punch.

As everyone started to get ready to go, a couple ladies and I started putting an assortment of cookies in these cute cake boxes I ordered online (this is also the site I buy my baker's twine from also). We tied them with red or green baker's twine and stuck on a Christmas sticker...I just used some of my Christmas stamps of sheets of adhesive paper and cut them out. So much cuter than taking a Tupperware bowl of cookies home. We made up a bunch of extra boxes and sent them back to base to pass the cookie love along. This was SO fun...I would do this again in a heartbeat.

Here is the divine recipe for the tea:

Hot Cranberry Tea

1 quart cranberry juice cocktail

2 quarts water

1/2 cup red hot candies

6 whole cloves

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 cups orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

Boil the cranberry juice, water, red hots, cloves and sugar. Add orange juice and lemon juice and refrigerate until ready to serve. I serve mine from my crock pot to keep it warm.

Christmas Wreaths

2011-12-08T16:24:00.007-06:00

While my mom was here, we made a couple of new Christmas wreaths...my last one got crunched after the umpteenth move and I chucked it in Washington last year. We were at Michaels and all their handful sized poinsettias were on sale for $.99, and they had both red and this awesome creamy white. I would usually pick red, but that white was so pretty and so I decided to give it a try. The door at this house is a dark wine color and we thought it would look really great.
I got one of those rounded green floral Styrofoam wreaths and $8.00 worth of stems. My mom clipped the blossoms off with wire cutters and pushed the leaves up so they were all ready to glue. I used a screwdriver to put a hole in the wreath along the outside edge, filled it with glue, and pushed the stem into the glue. I did the outside, the front, and then the inside. We both loved the way it turned out and it looks fab from the street.

One of the magazines that my mom bought for the plane ride had this great wreath idea in it. And when I see something I really like and want to duplicate, I get all cross-eyed and obsessive. But we could NOT find any small boxes that would work for the wreath. So we made a bunch. We also bought a few little truffle boxes from the Target $1 bins and emptied them and used them. After a little trial and error, some scrapbook paper backfires, and what seemed like endless pieces of double stick tape, I finally broke down and just bought some coordinating Christmas wrapping paper. After that, things went remarkably better! We wrapped all the little boxes, used my ribbon stash to tie them with bows, and then thin wire and a curved needle to anchor the bottom layer to a 12" wire floral wreath and hot glued the rest on top of the bottom layer. We love the way they turned out!

I Really {heart} Adele

2011-12-07T10:53:00.003-06:00

...and Glee mashups.

(Why can't I get the wide screen on my blog? Anybody? Anybody? HELP!)

"The Golden Rule" FHE Idea

2011-12-05T13:40:00.003-06:00

Teaching a junior primary class is 1 part lesson, 2 parts fancy-dancing and every part about preparation. I scour online each week to get prepared for my class's lesson but also for activities that the kids will enjoy as well as will help reinforce the lesson's gospel principle. Sometimes, not so easy. But this past Sunday, I came up with an idea all on my own. And it was so successful that I thought I'd share it...it would work well as a FHE lesson also.

The lesson was on "The Golden Rule" and treating others the way you would like to be treated. I hit the Dollar Tree and bought a $1 puzzles (24-piece) for each member of my class. My mom, Anna and I broke down the boxes and put the picture and puzzle pieces in a Ziploc baggie. I then took one piece out of each bag and replaced it with a piece from one of the other puzzles, so they would end up missing one puzzle piece when their puzzle was complete and have a piece that didn't go to their puzzle.

We spent about 15 minutes putting their puzzles together on the floor. They would find the piece that didn't go to their puzzle and get a little confused, but I told them to just put it aside and do what they could. When everyone was done, they took the piece that didn't belong to them and gave it to their friend that needed it to complete their puzzle. It was such a sweet moment for all of us...they were so much more excited to see their friend's puzzle complete than to finish their own. We talked about how it feels to help others and how it feels to be helped. Then I handed out some gold chocolate coins from the Target $1 bins to remind them all to follow "The Golden Rule this week.

That's all.

:-)

Just a Trifle

2011-12-02T21:05:00.005-06:00

You know you've reached the doldrums of middle-age when you ask for glass mini trifle bowls for your birthday. And then you actually get them! So aside from the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies for Thanksgiving dessert, we made 10 mini trifles...one cute, individual dish of yumminess for each of us (and an extra for whoever got to it first). We used a chocolate layered cake recipe...we just broke up the cooled crust and divided it into the bottom of the trifle bowls and then added the other layers as usual. So cute. Can't wait to use them again for an actual trifle recipe.

Chocolate Layered Dessert

1/4 c. chopped pecans

1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Cool Whip
2 small pkgs. instant chocolate pudding
3 c. cold milk
additional pecan pieces for garnish

Mix first 4 ingredients as for pie crust. Press in bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool. Blend cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add whipped cream and mix well. Spread on cooled crust.

Mix chocolate pudding and cold milk until well blended. Pour over cream cheese layer, refrigerate until firm. Spread remaining frozen whipped topping over pudding layer. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

My mom is still here and we have been busy baking, crafting and Christmas decorating. And I have some major blogging to catch up on...more to come soon!

Anna's Baptism

2011-11-28T21:28:00.008-06:00

Our beautiful baby girl was baptized yesterday! We are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized. It was such a blessing to have both grandmas with us for the big day and they were even asked to participate...Grammy Joan gave a talk on baptism and Grandma Nichols gave the opening prayer. I'll probably go to hell for taking a picture in the chapel, but this moment between Tony and Anna was too priceless not to capture.

About a week ago, I went digging through my bin of things from when I was younger and found the baptism dress that my mom made for me when I was baptized (all the way back in 1982). On a whim, I had Anna try it on and it fit her just perfectly. We had a little chat while she had it on and I told her about my dress and how it would mean so much to me if she wore it when she was baptized and then she could keep it to remember her special day. I'm so grateful that she thought it was a brilliant idea.

Because Sam is a boy, he got to prepare for his actual baptism with Tony and I had to sit with everyone else. But this time, Anna was the only girl getting baptized so she and I were all alone in the dressing room and we got to share a sweet minute that was so precious. I am grateful to have had that time with her.

Anna is an amazing little girl. Tonight, she gave the dinner prayer. She forgot to bless the food, but she did remember to ask for help so that she could make good decisions because she had been baptized.

What a good example and a wonderful reminder to me.

We love you, Anna!!

Aftermath

2011-11-24T17:31:00.007-06:00

First of all, Happy Thanks-giving! We are so grateful for our family, our friends, and our freedoms. We are indeed surrounded by many, many blessings.

With my mother-in-law and my mom both is town for Anna's baptism and Thanksgiving, it was fabulous to have two extra sets of hands in the kitchen! We also played host to a couple of guys that are here at Maxwell for OTS and couldn't go home for Thanksgiving. We borrowed a big table that everyone would fit around and feasted!

The aftermath.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving Goodies

2011-11-20T15:14:00.005-06:00

Josh and I spent an afternoon last week making snicker-doodles as Thanks-giving treats for my primary class and for the kids' teachers. We put them in goodie bags in a couple of cupcake papers and added a tag and ribbon. Yummy!

Moms are both coming in tomorrow for Thanksgiving and Anna's baptism!

Go To Church

2011-11-17T17:18:00.003-06:00

On I-65 between Montgomery and Birmingham. Gotta love the Bible Belt. Pretty much the best billboard ever.

Switzerland

2011-11-16T08:07:00.006-06:00

...or in other words, "How to keep your kids from getting beat up during Iron Bowl tailgate parties." That's right. The annual Auburn/Alabama knockdown is the weekend of Thanksgiving. And because the kids have all next week off, that leaves this week for the Autauga County school district to tailgate. Seriously. Our family has tried very hard to stay Alabama neutral so as not to immediately alienate half the state (or the other half) with the official McIllece family backing. Today for Anna's tailgate party, I made her a cute, generic football shirt. And she decided to wear Auburn blue & orange in one pigtail and Alabama crimson in the other. And notice the darling new glasses!

We also got some great news last week. We will be staying in Alabama for at least two more years after Tony graduates from ACSC in the Spring! He was offered a staff judge advocate job here at Maxwell...a great opportunity for him. I'm thrilled. We waited to tell the kids that we would be staying until everything was finalized. We thought they'd be excited. Instead, we were met with silence. And then Sam said, "What does that mean, exactly?" That's what you get when you have a 5th grader who has attended 5 schools. Geesh.

McWane & A Parade

2011-11-13T18:55:00.012-06:00

ALL the students in our house had Veteran's Day off so we decided to do some exploring! On Friday morning, we drove to Birmingham and spent the day at the McWane Science Center. It is four floors of science delight right in downtown. The highlights included digging for dinosaur bones, the awesome train display, laying on a bed of nails, butterflies landing on our shadows, and making fabulous family portraits on the push peg boards. But the best part of the day was touching REAL.LIVE.SHARKS. And rays.

About halfway through the visit, we went outside and watched the Veteran's Day parade go by. It is the longest running and largest Veteran's Day parade in the United States...right there in Birmingham. And I must say, they sure love the military here. There were so many flags and cheering and waving...it was such a wonderful thing to be a part of.

After the day in Birmingham, we made a quick stop North of town to see the temple and then headed on to Huntsville for another adventure on Saturday...

Peee-cans

2011-11-10T15:06:00.003-06:00

Just another reason to love Alabama. Who could imagine heading to the parking lot after church, shooting the breeze with friends, munching peee-cans off a real peee-can tree. In November. I'm gonna shell a bunch and use them in my Thanksgiving pie this year. I love Alabama.

Anna's Literary Genius

2011-11-03T10:30:00.004-05:00

I go to Anna's classroom once a week for a couple hours to read with the kids. Last week when I got there, Anna's teacher asked Anna to show me her writing journal. The class had read a story about animals and the journal assignment was to write 3-5 sentences describing an animal and then the class would try and guess what animal they were describing. In the few minutes that the class had to write, "this animal has feathers" or "this animal lives in a barn", Anna whips out this masterpiece of literary genius:

"I like to drink milk, and eat lots of food,
Whenever you try to touch me, I'm in a bad mood.
I think yarn is fun, I have a good clean dish,
The only treat I'd like is NICE FRESH FISH!
My eyes are super yellow, they are sometimes scary,
I sometimes live on a farm, where cows make dairy.
My fur is really soft, my nails are really sharp,
I will fall asleep if you play music on a harp.
My tail is skinny, any pattern, spots, or shade,
If you like this animal, you may not want to trade!"

What am I?

Seriously? I almost died. She's in 2nd grade, people!

This kid is gonna make me millions.

Fall Cookie Cutter Visiting Teaching Gifts

2011-11-01T17:51:00.007-05:00

I was at Michaels the other day and all their Fall stuff was on sale. I did a little digging and found a set of nine Wilton cookie cutters...three nesting cutters of three different designs. I split the box up into 3 sets so that each set had one of all three designs (two leaves and an acorn). I tied them all together at the stems with ribbon, added a tag and Bam! said the visiting teaching lady.

"The greatest oak was once a little acorn who held his ground." --Old Proverb

Anna's 8 & A New Calling

2011-10-30T18:02:00.013-05:00

I'm so far behind on our blog but I've been living in a candy-induced euphoria this past little while that it doesn't seem to be bothering me much. I can say this about Alabama...they sure are a social bunch! We have been party-going, candy-eating, costume-wearing maniacs for the last week. And loving every minute of it.

The highlight this week was Anna's 8th birthday. I showed up at her school and delivered cupcakes to her class (chocolate self-filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and a gumball), we went to Bass Pro Shop for dinner and gator meat (I kid you not...that's what she picked), and opened her presents. Anna is such a wonderful little girl. My favorite thing about Anna right now is her willingness to always be a helper. It doesn't matter what you need done, if you ask her, she will do it. She is so kind and patient with Josh...she is a wonderful sister and daughter. She is a delight and we are so happy to have her as part of our family. She has decided to be baptized and we will be doing it over Thanksgiving while the Grandmas are here.

(This is Anna at about 2 and a half years. Notice she's holding a much healthier looking bunny.)

My days of attending Sunday school and relief society are over! Again. I was called about 3 weeks ago to be a primary worker...teaching the CTR 4s (4-5 year olds). I pretty flattered because they gave me another little person class, so I must not have too badly screwed up the 2 years of Sunbeams I taught in Washington. You know, it really is the place to be. I love these kids already and it helps my testimony grow every time I teach these precious little ones.

One last thing. I found this great Halloween snack mix here and thought it was a great alternative to candy for my primary children this year. I love the Halloween colors!

Have a great week everyone!

Loot

2011-10-26T20:43:00.002-05:00

The only thing better than "trunk-or-treating" is stealing your kids' Halloween bounty after they go to bed.

Nice.

Pumpkin Patch & Josh Love

2011-10-21T19:56:00.005-05:00

Today was awesome. I got to go to the pumpkin patch with Joshua's preschool class! We went on a hayride, picked out a pumpkin, went on bouncy slides (okay, I just watched...those things were TALL), played in hay and had a treat. Such a beautiful, perfect day...lots of sunshine and just cool enough for jackets. And it was fun, FUN to spend some time with Josh.
On our way up to the pumpkin patch, it was just Josh and I in the car. Out of the blue, he says, "I so love you, Mommy." (As an aside, I'm sure he does, but I think the excitement of going to the pumpkin patch probably had something to do with the outburst). I answered him back, like I always do,

Me: "I so love you, Josh."

Josh: "No, I love you more."

Me: "No, I love YOU more."

Josh: "Mommy, I love you to infinity and beyond."

That's what my dad would always say to us. Coming out of Josh's sweet little mouth, it was music to my ears. And I know a grandpa who must be whispering it in Josh's ear while he sleeps...

Giveaway at Beautiful Nest

2011-10-20T06:43:00.006-05:00

I am a true believer in Gooseberry Patch. LOVE their recipes and cute Holiday ideas. So I was quick to jump on the giveaway bandwagon when I saw that Jenni over at Beautiful Nest is giving two lucky readers a copy of Gooseberry Patch's Christmas recipes/idea booklet.

So go here. If you win, send it to me. Got it? GO NOW.

Have a good day!

Trick or Treat Pillow LOVE

2011-10-16T18:19:00.012-05:00

About two weeks ago, I came across the cutest idea while blog-hopping. These trick or treat pillows are made with painting drop cloth canvas, stencils and spray paint. Seriously. I got a little obsessed and made a set for myself and have been churning around ideas in my mind for other ways to use this same technique. Here is Jessica's tutorial on how to make these darling pillows. Since I don't have a Cricut, I used Martha Stewart adhesive stencil paper (from Michael's), traced and then cut out the letters to make my own stencil. A little more work, but they are so cute and a great addition to Halloween at our house!

I also finally used this great orange Aber-crombie & Fitch wool sweater I found at Goodwill and felted to make this sweet little pumpkin pillow. I loved the cream pattern along the bottom of the sweater...

Have a great week!!

How to Give a Mom a Heart Attack 101

2011-10-12T21:57:00.006-05:00

While I was out running some errands this morning, I got an automated phone call from Anna's school. It simply said that she was absent today and would I kindly send in a written excuse explaining the reason for her absence when she comes back. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that I put Anna on the bus myself this morning. And if she wasn't at school, where was she??

I ran to the car and drove down to the school, trying not to panic. I calmly walked into the office and told them why I was there...that my daughter was marked absent, but I had put her on the bus this morning. First, they wouldn't say a word until they had seen my ID card and made sure that I was on the "authorized" list of people that were allowed information about Anna. The list that I personally filled out. Then they called down to her classroom and talked to her teacher (but they wouldn't let me talk to her) and she confirmed that Anna was in class...her bus had just arrived late and they has already recorded attendance for the day. I only felt marginally better. I kind of got short with the secretaries and told them I WASN'T LEAVING UNTIL I ACTUALLY SAW HER. So they called Anna's teacher back and told her to send Anna down to the office. About 20 seconds later, Anna comes bounding around the corner and into the office. I couldn't get her in my arms quickly enough. I quickly told her what had happened and why I was worried.

She looked up at me with her brown eyes and said, "Hey mom, can I have some gum?"

I'd have given her about anything right then. Thank goodness she only wanted gum.

Treats!

2011-10-09T15:20:00.005-05:00

These are some of the Halloween goodies I made for a little "soiree" last night (more to come...). Skeleton cookies. How cute are these?? I don't remember how I got there, but Family Fun magazine had this darling idea on their website. I love how they used cookie cutters that just about everyone already has in their collection in a new way. They made their cookies out of gingerbread but we decided to do sugar cookies with black frosting and white bones. Spooky!

Dripping with Halloween Fun!

2011-10-04T15:56:00.010-05:00

**UPDATED!!** If you don't want to buy labels, Martha Stewart does have some printable labels on her website here! A couple are specifically for gin and vodka (YIKES!), but there are a couple that would work for visiting teaching gifts. She also has some cute candy labels here. I {heart} Martha. Seriously.**

I was at Michael's a couple weeks ago and found these great Martha Stewart beverage labels in their Halloween section of paper crafts and KNEW they were just what I needed for October visiting teaching!! I think there are 12 labels in the package for about $10 and I used a off 40% coupon. They are even cheaper here. Then I went shopping for some great glass bottles. There were quite a few cream soda bottle options (no alcohol, no caffeine) but I needed a smooth bottle without too much embossed lettering in the glass. I found these Virgil's brand bottles that were perfect...just used some Goo-Gone on the bottle labels, peeled them off, and washed the bottles. But the key was to find an awesome color cream soda. And since to wanted to use the cyanide and blood labels, I used black cherry flavor...it looks an awful lot like blood.

Add a tag ("Hope your Halloween is dripping with fun!") with a spider punch and some webbing and off we go!

I {heart} Alabama!

2011-10-01T15:34:00.005-05:00

Just another reason I love the South.

The stuff THEY think is junk, I think is awesome.

I went to an antique and flea market in downtown Prattville on Friday after I dropped Josh off at school, really with no expectations. Oh.My.Gosh. This is just one of the treasures I picked up. A little antique green weathered bench. For $18.

Junk? I think not.

Quilt-Along Square One

2011-09-29T07:06:00.005-05:00

There's a Flickr account set up to share our squares for this quilt-along, but I'm a little self-conscience about my amateur quilting status so I'll just share it here. With people who won't mock me.

The Loft & A Quilting Bug

2011-09-27T14:33:00.023-05:00

Here, at last, are some pictures of my favorite place in the house. We love our house, the wide streets, our neighbors and the neighborhood. And I was willing to downsize to a 3-bedroom house after I saw this little nook. And I even graciously agreed to share it with the guest bed.

Since I don't really scrapbook anymore, this past move I downsized to only the things I use to make cards. So now, I have room to put everything in a spot and still have space to quilt. Yes, I have been quilting! I've come a long way since my first real quilting project...a little family pride flag I made while we lived in Papillion.

I made this little pinwheel quilt for my niece, Cora, using this Vanessa Christenson tutorial and I loved it so much I made one for us with colors that suit our home.

But the real inspiration to really stretch my quilting wings was this quilt-along on Moose on the Porch Quilts. A new free quilt block pattern comes out every two weeks and you use your choice in fabric to make your quilt square. I used my patriotic stash, stayed caught up and had it quilted with my pinwheel quilt this summer and I am HOOKED! I have two new quilts at the quilter now and I will share when they get back.

Moose on the Front Porch just started a fat quarter quilt-along today and I'm using Moda Sweet-water's Hometown collection. I'm so excited. I'll keep you posted.

Have a good week!

Ticket to Ride

2011-09-25T16:02:00.006-05:00

We took the kids to Six Flags in Atlanta yesterday. While Tony and Sam stood in long lines to ride the coasters, I took the kids on all the kids' rides. From the airplane ride, Anna (who is notoriously jittery about roller coasters after being finagled into riding one at Silverwood) saw a roller coaster that she said looked like fun. All for that, I took Josh and Anna and we got in line for the mini-roller coaster. I was surprised that Josh might be able to ride it, but the little gate guard told me that anyone could ride it. Right on! We wait about 20 minutes and load into the cars, Josh with me and Anna in the car behind us.

The thing takes off. Although it didn't have any freefalls, it went fast. And was VERY jerky. About halfway through, I look over at Josh and he is hanging on for dear life looking like a deer caught in the headlights and his cheeks plastered against his face and his teeth gritting. I reached over and pulled him into me so he wouldn't bounce around so much and we managed to finish with no tears.

When we got off the ride, Tony and Sam were waiting by the exit doors. The first thing I said was, "I can't believe that was a kid ride!" There was the little measurement sign over to the side (which I didn't see on the way in) and Josh was a couple inches too short to ride the ride. Wha? Don't roller coasters all have theme park Nazis that measure your kids like thirteen times to make sure they are tall enough before you even get on the ride? Didn't the lady tell me anyone could ride? What the...? I was a little upset. But Josh seemed none the worse for wear so I figured he wouldn't be eternally traumatized by the experience. Until we turned to leave and he said:

Josh: That thing almost ripped my head off.

Better start saving for a good therapist.

Castle Overload

2011-09-20T06:33:00.016-05:00

Yeah, like overloading on Castle is even possible. Castle in my, opinion, is one of the best shows on television. Dry, witty, smart, and so dang funny. And it's Nathan Fillion for crying out loud.

Last night was the big Castle Season 4 premiere. Nice. And then today was the release date for Season 3 on DVD and also the release date for Richard Castle's third book, Heat Rises. Yes, you read that right. The main character in the show, Richard Castle, is a best-selling author who shadows an NYPD detective and then bases his books on her and her murder squad. And "he" actually writes
real books based on the characters on the TV show. Pretty clever. Who actually writes the books is still the big question but so far, nobody is making any admissions.

Us Castle fans seem to come out of the woodwork. A friend in my ward is also a huge fan and she told me about a short-lived TV show released in 2002 called Firefly which is sort of a space cowboy show also starring Nathan Fillion. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but it was so much like Castle that it sure helped pacify the bug for the rest of the summer. But now, oh yes now, the next few weeks I'll be on a Castle high. And I can't wait.

Still

2011-09-15T06:44:00.009-05:00

I think of my dad every single day. And miss him.

But just a little bit more today.

So Gleeky.

2011-09-13T17:11:00.002-05:00

I'd really like to blog, but I'm waaaay too busy getting my Season 2 Gleek on.

Seriously.

Tony's Life Debt

2011-09-09T17:45:00.010-05:00

Aside from being an awesome place to live, the South has given me fodder for about a million blog posts.

Case in point. Last night, Tony was puttering around in the backyard and the garage and then came in and sat down at the desk. I walked by and was going to give him a squeeze and when I got close, I saw this huge (not exaggerating, quarter-sized) spider hanging out on his back. I'm usually not too squeamish about spiders, but I don't know much about Alabaman spiders and I didn't like it on my husband's back. So I start yelling, "You have a spider on your back!" and he says "Well get it off!" I went over to him and swiped it off and it flies across the hallway and hits the pantry door. And EXPLODES into about a million little itty-bitty baby spiders. Gag. We spent the next 10 minutes spraying spider spray and cleaning up.

So basically, I saved Tony's life last night. And he owes me a life debt. Or at least a new pair of shoes.

My Dad's Popcorn Pan

2011-09-08T07:34:00.005-05:00

Next week will be the 1st anniversary of my dad's passing. My sister has been putting together a wonderful Shutterfly book with the personal history he wrote with lots of photos from his life...some I have never even seen before. And although I still think about him a lot, the pain isn't quite as intense as it has been in the past. Mostly I just miss him.

Reading over the stories in this book, I am reminded of some of the best, worst, and more hilarious parts of our family's history. I also realized that there are many stories about my dad that I have never told anyone aside from Tony. And although this might not be interesting to most of you out there, it is important to me to have these experiences written so that my children will someday know them. And although they might not have many memories with their grandfather in them, they will never doubt that I loved him. And he loved them.

My dad was not a materialistic man. He was a dentist and made all the money he wanted or needed, but aside from his hobbies, he didn't have a lot of "stuff" so there was few of his personal things that we wanted after he passed. But I did desperately want his popcorn pan. As long as I remember, my dad made popcorn in this pan. Each Sunday night, our family would watch a movie together and he would make "sticky" popcorn or popcorn with melted marshmallows. I really preferred it the way my dad did...just salt and real butter, so he would always make two little bowls of regular popcorn for us. When he was so ill and visiting us for what would be the last time, I had to go to a farewell party in town. My parents were spending the early evening with us and I promised to be back as soon as I could. Dad said he was making sticky popcorn for the kids. When I got home, dad had gotten tired and they had gone back to their hotel room on base. But sitting on the counter was a bowl of popcorn waiting for me. I grabbed it and took it back to our room to eat it while I read and that first bite...I tasted it and started to sob. Nobody could make popcorn taste like my dad's. And I knew in my soul that it was the last time I would be tasting his popcorn. And my heart broke.

When we went home for the funeral, my sisters graciously let me take his popcorn pan home with me. And I make popcorn with it sometimes. But it never tastes like my dad's.

Apple Potpourri Visiting Teaching Gifts

2011-09-05T10:12:00.009-05:00

This is the little gift we came up with for September visiting teaching gifts. I thought some potpourri would be nice, but to buy it...the smell seems weak and they all sorta smell the same. So I wondered how hard it would be to make. Turns out it's not that hard! I followed this recipe and with just a few tweaks (I used my dehydrator for the apples and I had a hard time finding dried rose hips so I used a bunch of dried buds in a dark color instead and added a few more drops of apple spice essential oil). I love these pint jars! A little homespun, string and a quote and they're done.

And on another note, Tony and Sam had a great time at the BYU/Ole Miss game on Saturday. It was pretty intense to watch from home...I can't imagine the feeling in the stadium (notice they are in the middle of the Ole Miss section). I've always admitted to being a little bit of a fair weather BYU fan. It seems to me that they tend to, well, umm, CHOKE a lot and it breaks my heart. But good job, Cougs! Way to pull it out of the crapper at the last minute!

Did I just say "crapper" on our family blog??

Saturday

2011-09-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

It has been a good day. Tony and Sam are in Oxford, Mississippi to watch BYU play Ole Miss and I have the little ones with me. We've spent the day quietly at home except for a quick run to the commissary and the Shoppette for a Dr. Pepper Icee. I talked to my mom on the phone. We played with Play-doh. Tonight, we vacuumed, bathed and jammied. Like most of Alabama, we're bracing for a few days of rain/thunderstorms caused by the severe weather along the Gulf Coast. But for right now, all is quiet.

And it was a good day.

New Home, Part 2 & Caramel Apple Yumminess

2011-08-30T15:21:00.006-05:00

I finally took some photos of the kids' bathroom this afternoon. We have had the cutest "ducky" bathroom since Sam was born and with the kids getting older, we decided they had outgrown duckies. I was puttering around Target one day while we were still living in TLF on base waiting to move into our house and I found this awesome canvas of the United States made from license plates. After all the travel we had done this summer, the kids LOVED it when I brought it home. Then, it was Tony's idea to dig out all of our saved license plates from our 13 years of Air Force moves and use them to decorate the rest of the walls. With a little help from Joan and Megan (we somehow lost our Utah plate from the Civic and we never actually had a car registered in Alaska), we have plates from every state we have lived, and two each of Washington and Nebraska because we lived there twice. I think it is a cool reminder of the adventures our family has had! The "detour" sign pointing to the potty is my personal contribution...

Last night, we had a family from our ward over for FHE and we used them as guinea pigs for a new recipe I found. Apples? Caramel? Cake? Pure yumminess.

Moist Caramel Apple Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. french vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 medium granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 bag of caramels
3 Tbsp. milk

Grease and flour bundt pan. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, water, eggs and oil in a large bowl until blended (I used my KitchenAid). Gently stir in apples by hand. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350 degrees or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Microwave caramels and milk for 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until blended. Cool until starting to set and drizzle over cake.

A Place of Her Own

2011-08-25T20:57:00.011-05:00

I have the most enjoyable, least employable degree in the world. Art history. And in order to graduate with a BA in art history, you have to take "Art Technique for Dummies" which turned out to be a comedy of errors because art historians tend to be more academic than artistic. A real art teacher helped us do all sorts of artistic styles: watercolor, tempera, wood blocking, lithographs. He even had us do etching (although whatever possessed him to allow art historians anywhere near a vat of acid is beyond me). While we were waiting our turn to put our plates into the acid bath, we were looking through a bunch of plates that were still in the studio. One of them was by James C. Christensen who used to teach at BYU and who still had plates in the studio.

They were amazing. Detailed. Beautiful.And because they were etching plates, completed in mirror image of the final piece. That's when I fell in love with James C. Christensen. A couple of years ago, Tony found a canvas of Christensen's The Responsible Woman for Mother's Day and I think I cried for a week.

Fast forward to this past July. We were getting packed up to leave Utah the next morning. Out of the blue my mom calls from Spanish Fork and tells me I need to come meet her in American Fork because she has something for me. When we met up, she handed me a rolled up print. When I opened it, it was a signed James Christensen print of A Place of Her Own. AMAZING. When I got it back to Sandy, I showed Tony and the first thing he said was, "Amber, that is YOU". A woman in comfy clothes and messy hair surrounded by stacks of books. I am a lover of books. I don't remember a time when I didn't love books. I love the smell and feel of books. I love having a stack of books waiting to be read in the basket by my bed. I even read all assigned books in high school (except I didn't finish Moby Dick or Grapes of Wrath which still haunts me to this day). I even loved reading my big, beautiful art history books in college. So this is the perfect union of the art lover and the book lover in me. In one print.

And I picked it up from the framers today. Thank you, mom! I love it.

"Here's What's Cookin'" Visiting Teaching Gifts

2011-08-22T11:29:00.005-05:00

New ward, new visiting teaching companion and new sisters to visit! August is typically a challenge for me as far as visiting teaching gifts, but since the route is a new one, we really just needed to introduce ourselves. I found the cutest rooster recipe cards and coordinating blue measuring spoons at Michaels in their dollar bins and I attached a tag with our info on it with twine, and we're GTG (Lena speak for "good to go"). :-)

Dreamy S'more Pie & Kissing Up

2011-08-14T20:42:00.014-05:00

While we were at my sister April's house in Utah for baby Rock's blessing this Summer, my other sister Megan was there visiting from Boise. She is a dietitian and a fabulous recipe finder. She had made this pie for dinner the night before and told me to try a bite. A bite, my heck!! I snarfed down what was left of the pie standing by the fridge right OUT OF THE PIE PAN. So I made it for my family tonight. But don't make it on a Sunday you are fasting. Just a suggestion. It is a little like Chinese water torture.

Dreamy S'mores Pie

8 oz cream cheese at room

temper-ature
1 1/4 cup chilled whipping cream
13 oz jar Nutella/chocolate hazelnut cream
Ready made graham cracker crust
3-4 cups mini marshmallows

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer, beat cream cheese till creamy. Add whipping cream to the cream cheese and beat on high till mixture is thick, then reduce speed to low and beat in Nutella, just until the mixture is incorporated together. Pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust. Place the mini marshmallows over the top of the pie, making sure they are close together and all the chocolate mixture is covered up. Pre-heat broiler with the oven rack on the second slot from the top. Place the pie under the broiler and broil till the marshmallows are golden brown. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE PIE AS IT BROWNS, BECAUSE THE MARSHMALLOWS WILL BROWN IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES. Turn the pie around in order to brown it evenly, if necessary. Refrigerate pie for 3 hours, before serving.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the big kids. I have to admit that I'm freakin' out a bit. We are still getting used to the area and they will be attending different elementary schools. Having them both away from me all day, in a new place and having them in DIFFERENT places is really throwing me for a loop. I'll be wringing my hands and pacing the floor tomorrow until they get off their buses after school. But with these little gifts and homemade tags (Martha Stewart apple punch and ABC border punch) at least I'm be sending a clear message to their teachers: "Here is a teacher's gift celebrating the first day of school. Be nice to my kid, and there's more where this comes from. Be mean to them and I'll beat you up."

Our New Home, Part I

2011-08-13T12:21:00.012-05:00

I just wanted to share a couple photos of our new home. This is the family room...the big room you see as you walk in the front door. I filled the entertainment center with our books this move...we've pared down so much and wanted to keep it simple. And we have a lot of books. We added my kids' Willow Tree collection, some of our "m"s and all the kids' baby pictures.

I LOVE, love the mantle! I've been drooling over a Pottery Barn version of this flag for 2 years, but I didn't love the proportions. So I recreated it with $15 of wood, paint and electric sander.

This is the view from the family room into the dining area with the back door, kitchen to the right and the doorway to the kids' wing.

This is the looking into the kitchen. The doorway beyond leads to the pantry, laundry room, little office area and the garage. The stairway to the right in the picture goes to the bonus room above the garage...my favorite place in the whole house.

When you walk in the front door, there is an alcove on the right that they call "the game room." We put our smaller two leather pieces in there with our Turkish rug.

To the left of the family room is the Master wing...it is HUGE! Our bed is on one side and our leather couch is on the left with a reading nook for me. Then further left is the master bath.

It feels so good to be moved in. And we have the kids all ready for school, which starts Monday. What a crazy summer! More to come...

The Wal-Mart Pool: A True Story

2011-08-10T11:30:00.008-05:00

You know, my life is one great adventure after another. Some are hilarious to me. Some are just hilarious to other people. Case in point.

We're moved in and the mover guys came to pick up the boxes this morning. And the kids are going bonkers. They're used to playing outside and the close quarters inside and the HOT Alabama heat has turned them into crazy kids. So yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and bought a plastic pool so I could squirt the kids down with sunblock and send them outside for a while. We got a pool picked out (the deluxe $30 version, which we'll get to in a minute) and wedged the pool into the bed of the Tony's truck. I even bought a case of water to put on top of the pool so it wouldn't fly out. We only live about 2 miles from Wal-Mart so I very slowly headed for home. Just as we pulled out of the parking lot, torrential Alabama downpour, complete with thunder and lightening and winds. I slowed way down and double gripped the steering wheel all the way home. Just as we pulled into the driveway, a huge thunder boomed right above our house. The big kids just ran through the rain to the garage but Josh freaked out. So I grabbed him and we made a rush for the garage. Of course, he is sobbing and as my wet flip-flops hit the cement in the garage, I slipped and as I fell I turned so Josh landed on me and I landed flat on my elbow. I was shaken up a bit and now all THREE kids are crying because they figured I'd killed myself for sure this time.

Fast forward about 3 hours when the rain had stopped and I went to go get the pool out of the back of the truck. Opened the tailgate and grabbed the edge of the pool and pulled...and about 20 gallons of water come sloshing down my front. BEYOND frustrated, I shoved the damn pool into the garage.

This morning, Sam and I got the pool to set up in the backyard for after lunch. The thing came with instructions. That got soaked in the rain yesterday. So we spent 30 minutes pulling the instructions apart carefully and then another 30 minutes putting the damn pool together.

Exhibit One: The Bruise.

Doesn't look very bad in the picture, but my entire elbow is ugly green and brown and hurts like heck.

Exhibit Two: The Damn Pool.

The End.

Roll Tide

2011-08-04T18:39:00.001-05:00

Can't wait for Fall football. Not sure whether I'm a Bama fan or an Auburn fan yet. Just like sayin' Roll Tide.

Dah...Dah...Dah...Dah...

2011-08-01T19:34:00.003-05:00

We are up to our noses in boxes and are almost moved into our new house. But we're staying in base TLF until the new house is unpacked enough for it to be habitable.

Okay, lets be honest. The reason we are still in TLF is that it has cable and our cable doesn't get hooked up until Wednesday.

And it's Shark Week.

Stars Fell On...

2011-07-28T15:53:00.003-05:00

Tally-Ho!

2011-07-25T15:49:00.002-05:00

Holy cow. Our last day in the car on the way into Alabama, Tony and I counted up the stats of our summer travels. Pretty unbelieveavle.

We visited 14 states.

We crossed the Mississippi River 2 times.

We crossed the (very high and a little scary) Missouri River 3 times.

We stayed in 5 different hotels, 3 homes and a very soggy TLF room.

And we had a ball. Here are some highlights:

Driving across beautiful Nebraska and enjoying the green carpet of corn...I miss it so much! Playing in the pool at the Kellogg's lovely home and being fed like royalty. Tony wouldn't stop anywhere in eastern Nebraska knowing that if I got out of the car, he wouldn't be able to get me back in.

Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. 4 major roller coasters, 2 train rides and 22 water bottle refills. The heat index that day was 105 degrees. No lines for the rides, but no pictures either because everytime I opened my camera, the lens would fog up.

A quick stop at Adam-ondi-ahman, Missouri--a site of importance to the history of our church. And another blown tire. Seriously.

An overnight in Nauvoo, Illinois to see the Nauvoo Pageant, the Nauvoo Temple and the lovely town of Old Nauvoo.

A somber and beautiful stop in Carthage, Illinois to visit the site of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum.

In St. Louis, a view form the bottom (and the top) of the Gateway Arch.

One last night in southern Illinois, and into Montgomery.

Whew.

Wheeler Farm & Wyoming

2011-07-20T08:39:00.007-05:00

I know, the two don't really go together except in our crazy moving adventure! Our last day in Salt Lake, Lena and I took a bunch of the McIllece kids to Wheeler Farm. It is such a cute little place with farm animals, ducks to feed and a really fun hayride. They even had a penny press. Nice.

And for dinner? Why, Cafe Rio, of course!

Yesterday morning we finished packing and picked up Joan (Tony's mom) to start our trip to Alabama. Yesterday, we drove the entire width of Wyoming. And let me just say that every road trip disaster on our many drives between Omaha and Salt Lake ALL happened in Wyoming. I consider it pretty much the bane of my travel existence. But I must say, yesterday went extremely well. No flat tires, no blown spare, no pee breaks on the side of the road and no getting snowed in. And to top it all off, when we stopped for lunch, I ran over to Sonic because I knew they had diet Dr. Pepper on fountain and I needed one for the road. Not only did they have diet Dr. Pepper, but the had the BIGGEST diet Dr. Pepper I have ever seen. For $1. I'd say my relationship with Wyoming is lookin' up.

On to Nebraska!

Baby Rock

2011-07-17T22:01:00.008-05:00

We are finally in Utah and living it up with the McIlleces. Lagoon, angry birds, lunch with my girlfriends, Harry Potter and playing the McIllece version of "Minute to Win It." But today was all about this little man.

This is baby Rock. He belongs to my sister April and is the newest member of the Nichols Family Tree. He is special in so many ways and has been a blessing to us from the minute he arrived in March. Today was the first time I have seen him and let me tell you, relative bias aside, he is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. I snuggled him every chance I got this afternoon. Grandparents, a set of great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins converged on my sister's family today to bless baby Rock.

Let me step back a minute. My sister was about 3 months pregnant at my father's funeral last Fall. Later, we found out it was a baby boy. And because her last baby was delivered by c-section, they scheduled April's delivery date many weeks in advance. She called me after she had it scheduled--exactly 6 months after our father passed away, with no wiggle room. Now, April and her husband could have gone two ways with this. Poor baby Rock could have grown up knowing that every birthday would be tragically painful for his mother. Or they could use this date to celebrate the birth of this beautiful child and remember my father at the same time. So his name became James Rock. They call him Rock, but the James is after our father. Hearing it today in the blessing made me catch my breath, knowing that for the first time, my dad wasn't there to help bless one of his grandchildren. My father loved babies. And babies always loved him. So, today I can only imagine that six months my dad and Rock spent together in heaven and I know that Rock was born with his cheeks wet with my father's kisses.

So today, we celebrate this beautiful baby boy and the gift of healing and life he has brought to our family. We love you, baby Rock. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day.

Sunday Stroll

2011-07-11T18:14:00.016-05:00

After dinner last night Tony, my mom, me and all the kids went on a hike. My parents' house is at the end of a cul-de-sac and past them is miles and miles of Army land that they use for playing war, but is totally undeveloped and will probably stay undeveloped forever (yeah!). Makes for beautiful trails and wildlife...especially if you don't mind moose, bears, and wolves walking around with you. Yes, I have seen all of those in my neighborhood.

About a mile from the house is Campbell Creek which is pretty small up here but gets bigger and bigger as it flows to Cook Inlet. The pink salmon (Alaskans call them "humpies") are spawning so they turn bright red and travel upstream to where they were born to lay eggs and die. The kids kept singing "The Circle of Life" as we talked about the life cycle of salmon.

We found a spot where we could cross the creek and on the other side, we found this great tree swing. We all got in on the fun.

The fireweed is just starting to come out...one of Tony's favorite things about Alaska. I like them too until they start sending up fluff that makes me sneeze and my eyes itch.

This metal
"fence" was built along the trail to keep motorized vehicles off the Army reservation. Right by Campbell Creek, we saw this and I had to take a picture. Man versus Mother Nature? Guess who wins every time.

10:33

2011-07-10T20:05:00.003-05:00

I took this picture last Thursday at 10:33 p.m. As in nighttime. Not daytime.

Gotta love these long Alaska summer days.

Linguini with Smoked Salmon, Asparagus & Dill

2011-07-09T18:23:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted a recipe for a while and this one is spectacular! I made dinner for everyone at my mom's house this week and it was a huge hit. Even my kids love it. And where better to find some good smoked salmon than Alaska?

This is my version of a Gooseberry Patch recipe from their Family Favorites Cookbook. It's an awesome find...I have yet to have a meal crash and burn from this book.

Linguine with Smoked Salmon, Asparagus, and Dill

Ingredients:
8 ounce package of linguine, uncooked (you can use whatever pasta you like)
1 pound asparagus
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped (worth it to use fresh...don't use the dried stuff)
1 Tbsp prepared horseradish
4 oz smoked salmon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cook pasta per package instructions. Prepare the asparagus stalks and then cut them into 1" pieces. Add the asparagus to the pasta during the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain pasta and asparagus and put in serving dish. While the pasta is cooking, heat the cream, fresh dill, and horseradish in a pan over low heat until hot. (I like to try and time the two parts so they are done at the same time and then nothing cools). Pour sauce over the pasta and asparagus. Add chopped smoked salmon to mixture. Toss to coat.

I don't like lemon on this, but some of my family members do so I just squeeze the lemon into a small bowl and let them at it to their own dish.

Hand-Me-Down Drama

2011-07-07T19:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my mom got out her box of loose photos that she has of my sisters and I and all the grand kids to show Sam, Anna, and Josh the pictures of them when they were babies. She started with Sam--my mom would show the pictures to Sam one by one and then lay them on the floor for the other kids to see. Josh was bouncing around, obviously a little distracted. When he finally decided to join the party, there were all of Sam's photos laid out on the floor, many of which Sam was wearing clothes that turned into hand-me-downs for Josh. Josh grabs one photo, says, "Hey. That is MY red shirt. Wha? This is MY church sweater." He throws the pictures on the floor, folds his arms across his chest and utters this gem:

Josh: "Sam! You are wearin' ALL MY CLOTHES!"

He promptly bursts into tears, spins on his heel and stomps his way to his bedroom and quietly shuts the door. He's been told there will be dire consequences if he slams his door anymore. Didn't quite have the same impact, but he got his point across.

What a nut.

Launching Water Balloons

2011-07-06T22:08:00.009-05:00

We had a picnic late this afternoon with my grand-parents around the fire pit in the backyard. The weather was glorious and none of us were really in a hurry to go inside. So mom dug out her water balloon launcher and water balloons and we waged water warfare against our neighbors front lawns.

After a few backfires and some premature explosions, we finally got the hang of it. The kids had a ball launching and watching the balloons hang in the air and then cheering when they hit the ground and exploded. So much fun. She wants us to take it with us to Utah and I can only imagine the carnage this thing will unleash in the hands of a group of McIllece brothers...

I guess water balloon launching is the Cranney Family Reunion Official Sport (my mom's family) but only after we're done launching rockets. Water balloons are Act II. My Aunt Lori helped my mom make this one with drilled dowels, stiff canvas, and surgical tubing from a pharmacy. I took a close-up just in case you wanted to make your very own family water warfare wager.

Try saying THAT three times fast.

Celebrating the Fourth

2011-07-04T17:55:00.001-05:00

Growing up, July 4th was a big day for our family. My Grandpa and my Uncle Mel both have birthdays on the 4th so we always had a big family picnic to celebrate. It has continued as a family tradition and whenever we are home over the holiday, we get to go, too. Ribs, potato salad, beans, burgers, hot dogs, chips, cake, games for the kids (and a few brave adults), flags, pistachios and a big backyard makes for a pretty fun day!

This is my wonderful Grandpa. And baby Lola. Grandpa turned 88 today and Lola is 5 weeks old. The oldest and the youngest in the family.

As we were leaving, Tony and I went over to say goodbye to my grandparents and Grandpa was waxing a little nostalgic. He was looking over the backyard full of great-grandkids (28 to be exact) and he asked my Grandma, "Could you ever have imagined this?" She turned to him and said, "Well, that's what happens when you don't stay on your side of the bed." Classic Grandma.

And crazy Joshua. Flag in one hand and a piece of chocolate cake in the other. Doesn't get much better than that.

After we got home, my mom and I drove out to the cemetery and changed the flowers for my dad and put a flag by his marker. Although it was so nice to be with family for the day, it was a little hard to be there without my dad. And everywhere I looked, I seemed to catch a glimpse of him. In the kids, in his brother. We miss him just a little bit extra today.

Happy Fourth!

Just For the Halibut...

2011-07-01T14:56:00.010-05:00

We are officially homeless and jobless for the next month. Only in our crazy life would that be a good thing! And we're in Alaska visiting my mom. For two weeks. It has been glorious to have all the time in the world and nothing to worry about.

The first item of business for the boys was a hardcore fishing trip. So yesterday Sam and Tony drove to Ninilchik for a halibut fishing charter. On the way, they saw a bear and a couple moose. It was a beautiful day and nobody got seasick until Sam puked right as they hit the dock at the end of the trip. Besides Sam taking a nose dive into the ocean, I was the most worried about him getting seasick because it.is.miserable. Especially when everyone else is busy catching fish while you're puking your guts out. Miserable.

This is Mt. Redoubt across Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula. It actually erupted when I was in high school and we had to wear masks whenever we went outside and the ash gathered on everything like gray snow.

This is Sam on the boat. Tony said he did great and was the boat favorite! His biggest fish was about 30 lbs. and outweighed anything Tony caught. But lucky for Tony, Sam hasn't rubbed it in too much. Aside from the halibut, they also caught a ton of Pacific cod. In fact, Sam caught the first cod on the boat as well as the first keeper halibut. That's my boy!

Tony and Sam in front of all the halibut caught on the charter. The largest was about 60 pounds. Not as big as a barn door like some of them get, but at this size, they are the best for eating. So we're having fresh halibut for dinner tonight.

Aren't they cute? Blah. I wonder about the first guy brave enough to eat one of these suckers. They may be ugly, but they sure taste good!

More of our adventures soon...

Teacher Gifts & Hello Summer!

2011-06-27T23:28:00.006-05:00

The kids FINALLY finished up their school year on June 17th..really late. It was a great school year, I got in lots of volunteer time, and all three kids thrived. With all the travel, visits and moving stuff, I didn't have time to get much of a teacher gift put together for these great ladies. So I grabbed a couple bags of Hershey Hugs, put them in some long craft baggies, and topped them with a flip-over tag with a cute school themed sticker on top. I used the bus stickers for the school bus drivers and for Josh's teachers and specialists and the pencil stickers for the big kids' teachers. I like the way they turned out and they were quick and inexpensive. I also used this printable template to make a set of thank you cards for the teachers from me. I rounded the corners, added envelopes and tied it all with red baker's twine.

Tony and I were both able to attend the school award assembly and the kids both were recognized for their hard work this year...Anna was Student of the Month for her class and was recognized for her Advanced Reading scores. Sam was named PE student of the year for all the 4th graders and was one of the top 10 kids in the entire school for Advanced Reading points. We are so proud of them and their hard work.

It seems like there is always one little girl that Anna really bonds with each year. Lucky for us, Bronwen lived right around the corner from us and even after the girls spent all day together, they had a playdate once a week after school as well. We'll miss you, Bronwen!

And just an FYI, Bath & Body Works had a bunch of their classic scents on sale for $3 and so I bought some of their antibacterial hand soap in Fresh Market Apple scent for next year...if you're looking for an easy idea to stash away for teacher gifts...check it out!

San Fran--Last Day

2011-06-26T22:40:00.008-05:00

I'm playing a little catch-up here and need to post my last photos from our San Francisco trip before I can post some more recent things. So bear with me for the sake of our family blog book.

Our last day in San Francisco, we slept in late, had Starbucks for breakfast in the rain, checked out of the hotel, and headed north. Our first stop was on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a surreal moment for me...after my parents returned from a trip to San Francisco when I was little, they showed me a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge and it stuck with me so powerfully that I painted a picture of it in 3rd grade that won best in school. Really. The bridge was under construction, so there are cranes in pretty much every picture, but I loved seeing it. (And although I loved that there was no toll to cross the Bridge away from San Francisco, I couldn't believe it when we had to pay $6 to cross back over! What the...?) After the stop at the Golden Gate, we continued north to Muir Woods. Someone had mentioned to Tony how beautiful the area was. It was pretty. And wet. And a long way to drive to look at trees. But it was fun to be together and a wonderful way to unwind before our drive back to San Jose and the flight home to Spokane.

The End.

Pretty Much the Weirdest Day EVER

2011-06-25T23:47:00.004-05:00

This morning, I had my last appointment at Spa Paradiso before our move. I headed downtown to the gorgeous Davenport Hotel...the spa is in the basement. Just as I hit downtown, the traffic turned crazy, there were pedestrians all over the place, and I couldn't find a parking spot anywhere. And then I remembered. It is Hoopfest weekend when they set up 3 on 3 basketball courts all over downtown Spokane and the 200,000 people hanging out there to play and watch the games turns it into pure.mayhem. Of course, this all comes to me the second my front right tire blows and I start driving on my rim. Did I mention that there was no place to park? Anywhere? So I illegally parked as out of the way as I could and ran the two blocks to the Davenport and asked the valets to let me park my car there...I was going to the spa so I didn't feel like too much of a smuck (like some weirdo there for Hoopfest looking for a great parking space). They told me that I could park and they would hold the car there until Tony could come and change the tire. So I ran back to my illegally parked car and very slowly and carefully drove the 2 blocks to the Davenport's valet. And during that 2 block drive, there were at least 10 guys gesturing wildly that I had a flat tire. Like the WHOMP! WHOMP! didn't give it away. Geesh. I called Tony and told him where the car was so he could come rescue me (on his birthday, no less) and I make my spa appointment. But this is where it gets really weird. When I came out of the hotel, Tony and Sam were just finishing up the tire. As we were standing there, this guy walks up and starts talking to us, telling Sam how cool it was that his dad was teaching him how to change a tire and we started chatting. Tony looks up at me and says, "You know you're talking to somebody famous, don't you?" And totally "celebrity suave" me turns to the guy and asks, "Who are you?" Seriously Amber? The guy just laughed and said, Oh, I'm nobody, really."

Tony asked him for his autograph for Sam and I start to really freak out. Turns out, it was Nate Robinson who played for the Knicks, the Celtics, and now for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perhaps his stature threw me for a loop...he is only 5'8"...I'm taller than he is! He is also the only guy in NBA history to win 3 slam dunk contests. The guy has like a 44" vertical. So I went home with a new tire, my legs newly waxed, and an autograph from a guy I didn't even recognize. Pretty much the weirdest day. Ever.

My Packing Horror Story

2011-06-21T18:25:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the farewell and award ceremony for members of the Wing that were moving on to other assignments and PCSing. Following the ceremony, there was a really nice little luncheon that was intimate enough that we could mingle and talk with the rest of the legal office and members of the Wing leadership. Since both Tony's boss and Tony are leaving, everybody was sharing their packing horror stories...one lady had her garbage can packed completely full of kitchen garbage, one lady had her checkbook packed (back in the day when you had to have a checkbook to pay for anything), one lady had a roast packed in her crockpot by the movers. Lovely. But I didn't have much to add to the conversation. So I committed the cardinal sin of moving. I said, "We've been lucky...we have always had pretty good moves." And WHAM! Karma gave me a nice kick in the pants.

The packers packed my cellphone today. Lucky for me, Anna was near enough to the box it was in it to hear it ringing.

Geesh.

Here We Go Again...

2011-06-20T20:50:00.002-05:00

Last night was the last night in our house. Tonight we are in temporary housing and the packers come tomorrow. Tony took the kids to put them to bed and the house is quiet, the last of the laundry drying and the last load of dishes in the dishwasher. It's exciting and scary. But after this past year, I am ready for this kind of scary. Jumping into the unknown. And hoping to land in a warm, happy, and friendly spot.

I'll be checking in on the road...

The Tale of Lefty

2011-06-16T12:52:00.004-05:00

Last July my parents came for a quick visit to Spokane before my dad got too sick to travel. My dad (and Tony) both loved Northern Washington and I think my dad would have chosen to retire up near Colville, Washington. While he was here, he took a trip to visit Colville one more time and say goodbye to the friends he had made during years of hunting there. He also had a bear he had shot on a previous trip that was a little unique. My dad was up in a tree stand and saw a bear limp into view. My dad was afraid it had been wounded so he shot it on his tag. When they got close enough to check it out, they saw that the bear had gotten his paw caught in a trap when he was younger, he was able to pull free, and the stump had healed enough that he could get around on it. Hence the name "Lefty". Lefty was being wall-mounted and my dad wanted to check on its progress and take it home with him to Alaska. Well, the taxidermist in Colville was moving slow and the bear wasn't quite ready, but he promised to meet my parents at a parking lot near the airport and bring the bear in time for their flight. But when he showed up, the bear wasn't packaged...just laying in the back of his truck. My dad wasn't happy. So the bear came home, temporarily, to our house. We checked all over to see how much it would cost to ship Lefty to my dad in Alaska. Come to find out, it would be cheaper to BUY A DAMN AIRLINE SEAT for Lefty than to ship him to Alaska. As my dad got sicker and sicker, it was the one little joke my mom and I were able to share. I had Lefty, but I didn't want Lefty. My mom didn't have Lefty and she didn't want Lefty either. "Possession is nine tenths of the law" she kept saying. And as much as I really didn't like Lefty, I got a little sentimental about him. After my dad passed away, Lefty became a reminder of the last time I saw my dad. Although I'd rant about how much I didn't like Lefty, I maybe liked him just a little bit.

So now we are getting ready to move next week. Lefty is heavy. Lefty is big. And I didn't really have a place to mount him ON A WALL in my new house, so we decided to find a new home for him. We learned you can't sell him at a garage sale (although one guy tried to buy it out of our garage) or sell it on Craig's List...it has to be gifted. So Tony did a bunch of paperwork, and we gifted Lefty to the base. He is a local bear, after all. So he has been sitting on a credenza in the legal office for the last week waiting for a plaque to be finished...that was my one stipulation about gifting Lefty. I wanted to have my dad's name on him somehow. Late this morning, Tony brought the plaque by the house so I could see it. I love it. And after all this, I love Lefty. I will kinda miss having him around to pretend to aggravate me.

But he will be loved here.

I think my dad would be proud.

San Fran--Fisherman's Wharf

2011-06-13T10:08:00.013-05:00

I'm a little behind on blogging (I have so much to catch up on) but I've been way too busy watching the entire first season of Glee. Hey, a woman must have priorities. Our movers come a week from tomorrow, so most nights I eat my weight in chocolate (see below), cry for a while and then I feel better. You just never feel 100% prepared for a move.

After our trip to Alcatraz, we landed back at Pier 33 and walked our way down to Pier 39 where all the good stuff is. It was pretty busy (Memorial Day) but we found a little outdoor seafood cafe that was delish. After lunch (and the best people watching EVER), we walked around the back side of the Pier and saw the sea lions of Pier 39. Really cool!

After our Pier 39 adventure, we walked and walked and finally found Amber's Mecca. Ghirardelli Square!! Heaven. I browsed around the little shops flinging things at Tony to hold and having a ball! The treasure of the day was a little tin of a Powell-Hyde trolley car filled with chocolate squares. Tony was just happy with the little sample square they were handing out at the door. What a guy!

After Ghirardelli Square, we walked straight uphill (a LONG way), and finally made it to the top of Lombard Street which is contested to be the "Crookedest Street" in the world. You should have seen the crazy line of cars that was waiting to drive down Lombard Street! We were content just to walk down the side street and take a picture from the bottom. It was a gorgeous day and everybody had their plants and flowering trees in bloom.

After Lombard Street, we walked back down to the Powell-Hyde cable car tournaround (very cool) and rode the cable car all the way back to our hotel in Union Square. I don't remember much after that...I think I passed out and Tony showed up about an hour later with dinner. It was an awesome day...for our one full day in San Francisco, we sure packed a ton of stuff in!

One more day to go...

San Fran--Alcatraz

2011-06-05T18:40:00.013-05:00

I'm really not sure how to start with this post. Ever since I was a little girl and read all the books about Alcatraz I could get my hands on, an actual trip there seemed pretty unbelievable. But Monday morning at 9:30, we were on a ferry to "The Rock".

I took this photo from the ferry. It is the burned down warden's home, the lighthouse and building 64 which was used a barracks.

After a brief orientation film, they brought us through the shower room to get our self-guided tour tapes. We kept waiting for Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage and all the SEAL guys to pop out of the shower floor. Obviously, not the shower room they used in filming The Rock.

The bottom two tiers on one cell block. The whole place just feels eerie.

Inside one of the standard cells. Tony could raise his arms and touch both of the outside walls of the cell. So tiny.

Tony in one of the cells on D Block...solitary.

This was the actual menu posted on the day they transferred the last prisoners off of Alcatraz.

Despite it's notorious reputation and haggard appearance, there were moments like this that we would come around the corner and see something truly beautiful.

Tony and I on the ferry back to the pier. What a fun way to start our only full day in San Francisco!

More to come...

San Fran-MOMA & Chinatown

2011-06-04T11:36:00.013-05:00

The morning after Wicked, Tony and I caught a 6:00 a.m. flight to SAN FRANCISCO! Joan kindly agreed to stay with the kids after the show so Tony and I could have a small getaway before the big move. We flew into San Jose, got our rental and drove into San Fran. We got checked into our hotel just a few blocks from Union Square and then set out on an adventure! We walked over the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and checked out their permanent collection and also toured the newly opened Stein Collection which shows some of the collection of Gertrude Stein and her family and the impact they had on Expressionism in Europe. Tony was a good sport. He even got to the point where he recognized some the artists and could clearly state if he liked a piece or not. That, my friends, is progress. Here are some of my very faves from the day:

Paul Klee, Heldenmutter

Pablo Picasso, Les Femmes d'Alger

Rothko, No. 14

After the MOMA, we walked back to our hotel and then on to Chinatown for a Chinese dinner. Oh.My.Gosh. Nothing like authentic Chinese food in a tiny, cramped, hole in the wall. I even got a little authentic Chinese food on my favorite grey jacket. But with my tummy full of yummy food, well, I didn't mind so much.

More to come!

Wicked...Again!

2011-06-01T16:53:00.007-05:00

Wowsa! I have a lot to blog about over the next few days...I had a pretty rockin' weekend! It started with a visit from my mom, my sister Megan, my sister-in-law Lena, and Joan coming into town to see Wicked! I also decided to take Anna for the first time. So after the perfunctory pictures before we left for the show and a shot of all our crazy cute red shoes (Anna's sparkle ones were the biggest hit) we headed downtown for a fun dinner followed by the play. We had so much fun and it was especially magical to see Anna experience it for the first time...

Definitely a night to remember!

She Shoots! She Scores!

2011-05-28T11:12:00.003-05:00

The boys were only interested in swimming this Spring, but Anna was all about soccer! I could handle the two weekly practices, but Tony (with his killer competitive edge) took her to all the games while I had the boys at swimming. Again, she was the only little girl on her team but after the first week of teasing, she got tough and kept up pretty well with the boys. Tony told her that every time she scored, he'd give her $5 but she hadn't done it yet. So on Wednesday night while Tony and Sam were at the church (they moved her last game to mid-week so it wouldn't mess with Memorial Day plans) I got to take her to her game. And after 6 games, she scored a goal. And the crowd went wild!

And I was lucky enough to be there to see it.

Thought of the Day

2011-05-23T19:07:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it takes a house full of 4-year-old boys to remind us...

...that it's a "dinosaur eat explorer guy" world out there.

Sam is Famous!

2011-05-21T14:49:00.005-05:00

Tony was at his office PT this morning and a lady from the public relations office came up to him and said that Sam was going to be on the front page of the Fairchild Flyer which is the weekly newspaper for the base and the surrounding communities. So when Tony got to work, he picked up a copy and sure enough, there is Sam on the front cover looking in a microscope during his time at the 4th grade overnight at Camp Reed! I'm sure they picked him because he is so smart and handsome. Being a proud mama, I grabbed a stack for family and friends and various strangers I might run into. I told Sam that he must be pretty special...
...his picture was in color. And above the fold.
:-)

May Visiting Teaching Gifts

2011-05-16T09:34:00.007-05:00

Two months ago my visiting teaching companion moved to Hawaii and I got a new partner and a whole new set of four ladies to visit. So fun! I love it when they mix it up a bit. This time, I got a little spoiled because my companion also likes to give little gifts when we go visiting so I only have to come up with a little something every other month. It was my turn in May and since it has been a late, cold, rainy Spring here (my tulips only opened about a week ago) I focused on the "May flowers" part of life and found these darling little sugar cookies at WalMart. I repackaged them, found a quote, and used a ribbon laced through the eye of a clip to attach the quote.

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."
--Virgil A. Kraft

Happy May visiting teaching!

Grandma's Mother's Day Gift

2011-05-13T12:58:00.005-05:00

This year for Mother's Day, my mom said she didn't want anything. She just had her birthday in April and we sent her something from us girls and she thought that was enough. But then, my sister had a brilliant idea. She had each of us sisters take a picture of our kids (or Molly in Megan's case) holding a letter in the word "grandma" and email the photos to April. She printed them all, found a beautiful frame, and voila! Now each year for Mother's Day, we can update the photos and she can enjoy watching the kids grow. (click on the picture to see it better)

Brilliant.

M&M Mother's Day Gift

2011-05-06T19:17:00.002-05:00

Hello! Don't really know if my "blog-break" is all the way over yet, but I did want to post this cute idea that I came across for my Sunbeam class to give their moms on Mother's Day this Sunday. I found the original idea here and manipulated it to work for my class. I stapled the instructions below on the cute little snack packs of M&Ms (I used the small ones so that the game won't last 6 hours).

A Mom & Me Moment for Mother’s Day!

Directions: Find a quiet place where you can be alone with the special woman of the day…your mom! Then, open the top of your M&Ms bag. Take turns picking an M&M candy from the bag without looking. Look at the list below for the directions that match the color you drew. Ask the other person your question. Have a fun time with your mom!

Blue: What is one of your favorite things to do with me?
Yellow: Tell me a story about a good day that you had.
Green: Tell me about a bad day that you had.
Brown: What is one of your favorite things to eat?
Red: What is something you really love about me?
Orange: Hum a song and I’ll try to guess what it is!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Taking a Break...

2011-04-27T09:24:00.003-05:00

I will be taking a little "blog-break". This last few weeks have been very challenging for me and I need to simplify my life a little while until things calm down. Hopefully sooner then later. And if you can spare a prayer or two, send them my way!!:-)

Bright Lights

2011-04-22T10:17:00.003-05:00

Okay. Tony is gone until tonight (2nd TDY in two weeks) and we have been running around here with our pants on fire. And it keeps snowing. Yes, my friends, you read that right. Sno.Wing.

Seems like a good morning for a little Rob Thomas.

Bright Lights

Just make sure to wipe the slobber off the keyboard when it's over. Tony hates it when I forget.

:-)

M&M Filled Rice Crispy Easter Eggs

2011-04-15T17:31:00.010-05:00

Have any of you seen the cute commercial with the mommy making rice crispy Easter eggs with her kids filled with M&Ms? Tony and I saw it together one night and we looked at each other and said, "Hey! What a great idea! We could do this with the kids!"

So we took a little bit of warm rice crispy mixture and lined some plastic Easter eggs with it. (Just a piece of advice from us professionals...use lots of butter on your hands. Lots.) Then we made a little indentation in the center of each egg half and filled it up with M&Ms and put the egg halves back together. We put them in a cup to hold the shape until the rice crispy mixture cooled. And voila! Darling. The kids had a blast and they were a delicious FHE treat.
Of course you could use smaller eggs, but why would you when you can use big, giant camouflage Easter eggs??

"It" Revisited

2011-04-14T14:01:00.009-05:00

Josh's preschool class learned about the circus this week. This is how he looked when he stepped off the bus.

Obviously, not Josh's favorite topic. I call this photo "Study of a Reluctant Clown."

Still cute as a stinkin' button.

Hello, My Name Is...

2011-04-11T13:30:00.008-05:00

I can't take credit for this darling idea...I think my mom and I found it in a Christmas issue of BH&G. So while I was in Alaska on my visit, she and I went shopping and found the stickers. I'm taking a dinner in to some friends of ours tonight and out of the dull grey recesses of my brain, this idea came to mind. Perfect. The potato cheese soup recipe is from my sister-in-law Wendy and is the best.soup.ever.

So glad that Spring Break is over. Now all we need is actual Spring. Grrrr.

Happy Birthday, Sir Joshua!

2011-04-06T21:46:00.008-05:00

Today was Joshua's birthday! Since we are smack-dab in the middle of Spring Break week, we made the most of his special day by picking out the most delicious looking cake at the Commissary, finding the very best "4" shaped candle, having lunch at the Funspot and, of course, presents, cake and ice cream! Not so original, but Josh chose french fries, nuggets, strawberries and chocolate milk for his birthday dinner.

Pray you don't run into this in a dark alley.

Man, we love this kid. He is stubborn, sassy, delightful, so dang funny, and growing up way too fast. This evening when I "snuggled" him into bed, I asked him if he had a good birthday. He said yes. I asked him how old he was now and he thought for a minute and then said, "I be three again." I wish that could be true.

Pitching Our Tent...

2011-04-03T16:19:00.005-05:00

Happy General Conference weekend!

Pinewood Derby, 2011

2011-03-31T17:07:00.004-05:00

Our ward's Pinewood Derby fell a little late this year, but was highly successful! Sam drew up the plan for the top of the car, I helped him transfer and paint, and Tony helped with the silver spray paint, put the thing together and get it weighted properly.
Overall, Sam in his final Pinewood Derby took second place, but also "Best In Show." Awesome!

The Impossible Grocery List

2011-03-25T19:06:00.004-05:00

While my mom was here helping the second week after my surgery, Tony asked us to put together a grocery list so that he could run and grab some things that we needed to get through the next few days. My mom and I came up with the usuals and she handed me the list to check. At the bottom of the list, kumquats. I said, "Oh, mom, you don't know Tony like I do. If they're on the list, that sweet guy will find them and bring them home!" So away Tony goes with the impossible list. When he gets home with the groceries, we ask him how it went and he said he got everything except the last thing on the list. He'd looked everywhere, asked the produce people and even the occasional stranger and nobody could tell him where (or even WHAT) kumquats were. Poor guy. We had a little giggle at his expense and my mom learned a new layer of Tony.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday. Josh has school in the morning so I try and hit the commissary alone. I was on my way to check out and I was still looking for yellow cherry tomatoes and I thought I saw them out of the corner of my eye. So I ran over, grabbed a box, and thought to myself, "Hey, these look like little oranges...oh.my.gosh." Yes, my friends. Kumquats. So I bought them and took them over to Tony's office to show him.

I figured they might be a hit in his candy dish.

What I've Been Up To...

2011-03-24T15:49:00.012-05:00

First things first. I had my 6-week follow-up with my surgeon yesterday and the splint is now history! It seems sort of strange to have it gone and I'm still a little sore, but man, am I so happy to be done with that part! Now on to physical therapy...

There weren't a lot of things on my to-do list that I could do with just one arm. But there was one thing that I had been avoiding for some time. So I decided during the six weeks of recovery after my surgery, it would be my goal. I needed to get control of our family photos, memorabilia and scrapbooks.

Since I started blogging, I have pretty much stopped doing scrapbook pages. As much as I love to do it, in reality, I don't have time. And I know that the best pictures and highlights of our life are captured and preserved each year in our family blog books.

But that still left a whole bin of scrapbook pages that were already completed or pulled out for lessons that were never put in sheet protectors or even placed into actual books. So the first step was re-organizing our actual scrapbooks. Putting them all into sheet protectors and back in the correct order. The kids helped me (they became my second arm) and we loaded them into black binders and labeled each one for easy reference. They loved seeing pictures of themselves and remember fun things we have done as a family. But the best game was guessing if a boy baby page was Sam or Josh. Tough even for me...

And because my dream was to scrapbook all our photos and memorabilia someday, I had boxes and boxes of photos from pre-digital days and an entire bin of memorabilia. So while my mom was here, we went through and organized all the photos by year, got rid of multiple prints, threw away bad, blurry shots and loaded them into generic black two-up photo albums. I LOVE these things because they have a little pocket on each page in the middle of the two pictures. I used that space to journal the pictures and add any pressed pennies we had gathered from that particular time (we live for pressed pennies!). Then any other memorabilia that would fit into the photo albums was three hole punched or laminated and three hole punched (like wedding announcements, National Park pamphlets, baby portraits and copies of our family Christmas card letter) and put into the album in the right place. I started in 1995, my third year at BYU and the year I met Tony. All previous photos I organized and put into one photo box. I ended up with nine volumes, but that gets us from 1995 until and a little past the time I started blogging and our blog books take over. It was a HUGE project and one that I have been dreading.
But now that it is done, I feel like I have done something huge. When we move, I always make Tony pack our scrapbooks, videos, pictures that I don't dare have the movers move into our truck so we can make sure they weather the move okay. By completing this projects, all our memories and family history is practically and simply organized and will fit into one bin. Amazing.

I'm not sure what I'm more happy about...my arm or finishing this damn project.

Swim Lessons & Feeling the Burn

2011-03-21T19:09:00.014-05:00

This past weekend was the last day of Saturday swim lessons for the kids. Although they'll start up swim again in the next few weeks, I wanted to document this fun part of our life. This is Bruce the shark. He is on display at the base pool. Since we share the pool with the water survival guys, I'm sure one of them thought Bruce needed something to play with and chucked a ball into his mouth. The kids think it is hilarious.

Anna is fearless in the water. She and Sam were in the same class this session and she made it her goal to keep up with her big brother!

This is Sam doing a "Geronimo" off the diving board. He does so well with his swimming that his instructor at summer lessons nicknamed him "Fish".

And then there is Joshua. Who astounds everyone with his toughness in the water. He loves that his tubes finally fell out and he doesn't have to wear wax in his ears anymore. He loves jumping big jumps off the side of the pool at his favorite teacher, Levi. And, of course, impressing us all with his muscles.

And after years of living in McIllece Family Bracketology oblivion (which is strange because they are the basketball coachin' family), we're feeling pretty much the entire Condie family breathing down our necks and poised to take over almost the entire top of the Bracketology list. Within striking distance. And showing no mercy. Way to go, Condies. And a big thanks to Syracuse and Pitt for blowing my bracket. Seriously.

Bracketology, BABY!

2011-03-17T14:11:00.011-05:00

And so it begins. The McIllece family trash talkin' survival of the fittest, free-for-all that we know as braketology. We're filled out, submitted and ready. All for bragging rights and the honor of having this in your home for a year. Get the packin' tape out Dave, it's coming home to Spokane this year. Let the games, BEGIN!

Just as a side note, I always fill out my brackets on paper before we submit them to our group online. And I always fill them out in Sharpie marker...so there is no second guessing, no questioning of the gut. And this year, the Sharpie color was gold. Premonition? Perhaps, my friends. Perhaps.

Having A Family Adventure, Brough Style!

2011-03-14T17:35:00.006-05:00

On Friday night, I had just gotten home from a movie with a girlfriend and Tony said something about the "earthquake in Japan." I'm like, "What earthquake in Japan?" And then he looked at me like I was crazy because I seriously had not had the TV on all day and had not listened to the news in the car (actually, Josh and I were jamming out to Lady Gaga, but that's beside the point). Anyway I hadn't heard a thing. But then, I started to freak out. My dear friend Liz and her family from our days in Papillion are currently stationed in Misawa, Japan. Not bothering to do the time calculations to know whether she would be awake or asleep, I called but only got voice mail. I waited another day. Then Sunday morning before church, I sent her an email and she was able to email me back later that night, letting me know her story and that her family was safe. You can read about her family's story here. Did I mention this woman is 38 weeks pregnant? She is my hero.

At the end of her email to me, she closed with these words:
Kiss you kids for me and check your 72 hour kits. Thank goodness for a prophets counsel!!!

I love you, Liz. your family and the sweet people of Japan are in our hearts and prayers.

What's A Girl To Do...

2011-03-12T20:19:00.002-06:00

...when she needs just a little pick-me-up and is "Lenting" chocolate? Why she buys a cute pair of Madden Girl nude summer pumps.

Yep. And then she feels ALL better.