Time Out For 8 Great Women!

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to attend a time out for women with some of my closest friends. We took a 6 hour drive to Kentucky and began an amazing weekend filled with laughter, tears, and much learning.

The trip was so fantastic it is hard to really sum it all up in a few words. I came home feeling spiritually fed and refreshed. Well... as refreshed as you can be on only 2 1/2 hours of sleep.
We got to eat 4 meals that were not cooked or cleaned up by us...that was a huge perk! We listened to some amazing speakers and even more amazing musical talents.

For me the best part was sharing it all with these women. Each one is unique and special and I can honestly say that I learned something from each one of them and feel even closer to them all. It was such a special experience to share together. One I hope we don't soon forget.

So thank you dear women for coming along and thank you dear husbands for watching all of our children while we were away filling our cups!

Lamp Project

So it is 10:30 and Morgan and I are still in our pajamas and the 8 loads of laundry I did yesterday still need to be put away but instead of doing any of the things I "should" be doing I decided to throw myself into a project this morning.

Samuel's room is still in transition mode and seeing as it is almost his first birthday I am feeling the push to get it done. I purchased this lamp a few days ago and knew I wanted to jazz it up with some ribbon but I was not quite sure how.

So this morning I dove in head first and just went for it.

I put some painters tape on and started marking some spots that I thought looked like the right spacing. No measuring I just eyeballed it.

I then took out my handy hole puncher and started punching away.

Here is the lamp minus the tape once the holes were punched.

Here is the finished project! It was super simple and super quick and I think it looks really cute.

Now here is the question. I love it with the black base but all of the furniture in his room is stained wood. It is hard to decide from this picture because if it was just a lamp I think it looks best with the black but imagine a room with a wood crib, wood side table, and wood chair. Which one do you think would look better?

Keep in mind as well that there is black trim on his bedding and I am trying to add several black accents throughout the room so the lamp would not be the only black thing in the room.

Suggestions????

Recital Night

Last night was Abby's recital. She looked beautiful and did a great job. We were so proud of all of her hard work.

Here are the cute girls together. They had so much fun.

After the recital we took out all the kids for ice cream.
There is something special about being a mom and taking your girls to their first dance recitals. The last few weeks have been filled with great memories!

Here is a small portion of Abby's dance. The quality is not great but hopefully you will get a look into her fun night!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ross!

By 9 A.M.

It's happened! You know that stage when if it is not glued down or locked up your child will find a way to get to it and destroy it in 3 seconds flat. Well by 9 A.M. this morning these were the 3 messes I have already discovered. Don't let his innocent little face fool you.....he knows just when to strike.

So dear husband, when you come home at night and the house is a mess and I have not showered in days and dinner is not made and I am a bit on edge...now you know why. And the only way I am able to blog about this right now with the peace of mind that nothing else is being destroyed is because I just laid my little one down for a nap. I have exactly one hour now to run around as fast as humanly possible to get as much cleaned up and taken care of as I can. Wish me luck!

Morgan had her dance recital this past weekend. It was so fun to see her up on stage loving every second of it. I had a great time doing her hair and make-up and making her look like a beautiful ballerina for the day.

Her preschool teacher even came to the performance to see her. I think that was her favorite part!Here is a picture with her and one of her best friends. They are so cute together!

Below is a video of one of the dances she was in. The video is actually of her dress rehearsal because the one of her recital was too dark...but it is still pretty cute to watch. Enjoy!

20 memories in 10 days

We have just arrived home from our trip out to Utah and I thought I would share some of the

fun we had.

1. Sometimes the best part of the trip for the kids is the stay in the hotel. They had a blast swimming and jumping on the beds. I was not in the room when the jumping occurred...I can only wonder what else goes on when I am not around.

2. We got to ride on the airplane with our good friends. The girls sat with the girls and the boys sat with the boys. When we were walking down the isle with our 7 kids you should have seen the look of amazement/terror on peoples faces. I am sure they were just happy when they realised we were not sitting in their row. The kids were actually REALLY good!






3. Our next memory is hanging out with our best friends The Pittman's. Our kids have so much fun together and we just LOVE spending time with them. We had bad movie night which is a tradition for us, we had lots of laughs...and lots of great night talks. What would we do without them????

4. We went bowling...my kids always love it and I actually bowled a really good game!

5. I got to go to General Conference with Abby, my sister, and my nephew. It was awesome to be in the actual conference center and feel the hush of the crowd when the prophet walked in. Abby took notes through the entire thing and was so cute. It was a great experience that I think she will remember for a long time.

6. We got to spend a good amount of time up at my parents cabin. It was the perfect amount of down time to just hang out and play games. My sister and her family were there and our kids always have a blast together. My favorite part was when Abby and her cousin Grace saw each other for the first time. It was like a scene out of a movie..they ran down the hall towards each other and started spinning around hugging each other. It was a true moment of pure joy and so fun to watch and see their excitement!

7. We were there for my brothers birthday and we went bowling with all the kids. It was great that we could all be together with him on his special day.

8. We spent an amazing day at the zoo. The weather was beautiful that day and it felt great to be outside. The kids had a blast...the train as usual was their favorite!

9. We went out to eat at Tuscany KID FREE! The food was amazing the company was even better. It was great to spend one night as adults and remember the good old days!

10. We took the kids to eat at the Mayan. Do you notice anyone missing in this picture? Morgan!!! She had been left outside and we had been at our table taking pictures and ordering food before some front desk lady brought her up and asked us if she was ours!!!! Great parenting moment if I do say so myself. You know you have too many kids when you don't even notice when one is missing. OOPS!

11. We went on a hike to the temple quarry trail where they got all the stone for the Utah temple. It was a perfect hike for the kids and they each found a little stone made out of rock that looks just like the temple to bring home with them.

12. We took the kids up to BYU to show them our old stomping grounds. We went and got ice cream at the creamery and then walked them around campus. It is always weird to be back in Provo..so many good and crazy memories!

13. We had a special lunch at Thanksgiving Point for my grandma and grandpa. It was a great way to see family and have a special lunch together. My grandma and grandpa looked great...I wish I could be around to spend more time with them.

14. We took the kids to the Dino museum. They had a great time exploring.

15. My grandma Jane had her annual easter egg hunt and we were able to go and see lots of family and the kids had a great time on their hunt. I love spending time with family!

The last 5 memories I don't have pictures of but they were fun all the same.

16. Spa day with my bff at my favorite place in the entire world. I seriously would be broke if I lived in Utah. The relaxing time was fantastic.

17. Charlie and his brother and two good friends spent a day skiing. Actually Charlie spent most of the day falling and the boys spent most of the day laughing. They purposely would let Charlie go ahead of them so that they could watch the show. No broken bones just lots of bruises and a shattered credit card. Thanks Rich for finding my husbands cell phone....I have no idea how you did it!

18. The kids got to go swimming in Uncle Chris' outdoor hot springs pool. They had a blast!

19. My sister invited the kids for a sleepover at her house. It was a special night for them and they are still talking about it. Thanks Jeni!

20. Last but not least, we spent an afternoon with Charlie's family and had a great time. The kids had an easter egg hunt, they rode in the back of Uncle Chris' truck and we ate great food and enjoyed the company of fun family.

It was a great trip...now we are just in recovery mode. I feel like I always need a vacation from my vacation. It feels good to be home but our time with our friends and family will truly be missed. COME SEE US SOON!!!!!!!!

Fun Project

The baby's room has been in need of some major tlc for quite some time. I have had my eye on some canvas prints that match his bedding but I have only seen them for $50-$70 and I was not willing to pay that much so I started to brainstorm a way that I could make my own.

I started and finished this project in one day and the entire thing cost just under $20. I was so happy with how they turned out and I think it makes it more fun knowing that I made them myself and saved some money while doing it.

Here is the finished project and below that are the actual pictures of the animals on his bedding. I think I made a pretty good match!

This is how I did it. I took a digital picture of each animal. I printed each one to the size I needed just in black and white on regular computer paper. I purchased some tracing paper and then traced the images onto the canvas. Then it was just a matter of painting them and that was it!

I think this is a great option for making art for any child's room. You could take an image off their bedding or really any image from a book, a card...the sky is the limit. Anyway, I thought I would just pass the idea along.

Next project is to paint the actual room and then finish off with a few more little items and I think he will finally have a cute nursery! Sometimes you just need a little project like this to get you jump started.

12 hours = 2 cups

A few days ago some of our friends called us and asked us if we wanted to take some of their sap from their maple trees to make our own maple syrup. I responded with an enthusiastic , "Yes, we would love some."

My worries began when I showed up at their doorstep and my friend said, "Thank you for taking away my headache." I left with two buckets full of sap and the instructions to just boil it until you can't blow the bubbles down anymore.

Sounds easy enough right????

These are my lovely buckets full of sap.

This is what the sap looks like before the process began. Clear as water.

Here is my pot on the stove. Notice the time on the clock 1:36.
12 HOURS LATER THIS IS THE RESULT!!!!

This is not a joke. I started with about 8 gallons of sap and the end result was a little less than 2 cups of syrup. I ran my stove on high for 12 straight hours. I started to think this was just a mean joke when I had reached 11 hours and 59 minutes and I was still able to blow the bubbles down, but finally it happened!

I am not quite sure I will ever want to use this delicious syrup I labored over so diligently but I have had a little taste and it is very good. One thing is for sure...the kids will not be allowed to use this on their pancakes.

Now I know why my friend lovingly referred to this as her "headache". If she calls again and wants to share I may think twice. I must say however it was a new lesson learned and kind of fun to try once but I don't think I will be opening my homemade maple syrup shop any time soon!