Girls Night

About a week ago a new but incredible friend invited me over to make wreaths. Having been to her house I knew they would be amazing!

You should see how she decorates!! So cute!! In her entry is a framed picture of Santa, but really it is her father! How cute is that?

Back to the wreaths!!! I asked what I should bring. She said anything, maybe some ribbon. It just has some of this and some of that.

I bought a couple ornaments, including the bi-plane, gathered ribbon from around the house and at the last minute I threw some sparkly balls in the bag. I think I used like 5 things that I brought including a glue gun!

Candice the most talented wreath maker ever supplied the rest! It was so fun!!! Two other fun ladies came over and I can honestly say that their wreaths turned out just as cute, if not cuter!

Thanks Candice for sharing your talent and darling supplies! And thanks to Michelle and Tina for making the night such a blast

. I simply love my new wreath. Enough so that I yanked all the stuff of my old ones and am re-doing them as well.

I will post pictures when they are done.

The completed wreath! Looks cute huh? Kinda of crazy and fun!!
Glittery ornaments!


This one shows my favorite part! The little bi-plane. It reminds me of the beach!

The cute Merry Christmas!

Giant candy!

A ton of different ribbon!

And snowflakes!

Hidden presents!

The Real Deal

Do you ever feel like you are lost? Not physically lost..but you know not sure where the old you is? I have been feeling that often lately. I thought it was because my house is a mess. Nothing new there. Because I fat.....nothing new there either! Because I am so busy.....nope not new! OK so you see the problem. If there is no new issue then where am I?

Funny it took a trip to my favorite thinking spot to figure it out. As I sat on the beach watching the waves I realized I had been slipping. Becoming a person I don't like. The girl who worries what others think about how she looks. Who is concerned about her messy house more then concerned for their friend who is ill. Who is insecure and unhappy. This is not the real me!

So, as I sat watching my son learn to surf I noticed a lady taking pictures of her son learning to surf. She had the grown-up version of my camera, with a butt kicking zoom lens! I walked over to ask her about her camera and lens. She said "here try my other lens see if you like it". Who does that? A $900 lens I feel the need to point out. Well I loved it and her. I visited with her awhile and was reminded of the old me. The one who liked who she was. The one who was generous with others.

It started me thinking about a few questions.

1. Who am I now?

2. Who do I want to be?

3. What made me forget in the first place?

I know that I am first and foremost, a child of God. I know that He loves me. This without a doubt I know. Then if God made me and thought I was good why do I not act that way? I am strong, healthy, smart, and sometimes even fun. I want to be more. I want to be less concerned with my fat and more concerned with my heart. I want to be the person who sees others in need and responds. I want to be the person who keeps my unkind thoughts to myself and one day to not have them at all! Why did I get so off track? Well frankly I struggle to be my authentic self here. I am not overly concerned with having a perfect house, car, clothes or furniture. That is not the norm here. I found myself getting in stuck in the mire. No more. Holly the cute picture taker helped me see that. Not through any conversation but rather just by watching her.

Now about the picture....Holly took this of me while I was gathering shells with Morgan and Trevor, my nephew. First I am always the one taking the pictures. Second in case you didn't notice...I am wearing a swimsuit. Third I am actually posting it. So try not to focus so much on how I look and instead look past that to what I am doing; enjoying my family! This is who I am. The real me. I am going to try to remember that more fully!

Can You Say Squash??

I have been forced to ask myself a question: What in the world can I do with all this zucchini? Last year we planted one plant and got ZERO zucchini! This year we planted 4 just to be safe. FYI if you plant a zucchini plant right in front of your compost bin you get ENORMOUS plants!!! With an abundant amount of squash!

This picture shows some of the baby squash!

While speaking with my very good friend, Sandy, who happens to live on a farm! OK not really but what do you call it when you have 10 chickens, a rooster, 3-4 ducks, 2 rabbits, a cat, a frog, and a SNAKE! Yes Sandy, I know about the snake, thanks for not asking me to feed that! GROSS!! AND an orchard with a huge successfully producing garden!
Is that not a farm?

Back to the conversation...what the heck to do with all this squash? Well you make zucchini pie she replies!! Okey Dokey, Sandy! It is so yummy!!! A huge hit! The original recipe was good on its own...but you know me! We can make it better! I will post both recipes! I promise your family will enjoy it!


Pretty huh??? This pie is with my additions!


A slice of the original recipe!

Zucchini Pie

preheat oven to 375

in a pie pan spread 1 container crescent rolls, making a crust of sorts, set aside

4 cups sliced zucchini

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 butter

melt butter in a large skillet, saute zucchini and onion until tender

to that add

1 tbls oregano

1/2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

stir well and ten add to the skillet

2 cups mozzarella cheese

2 eggs, beaten

stir together and dump it in the pie pan!! Bake for 20 minutes then let sit for 10 more! Slice and eat.

For my variation:

Do it all the same, expect I caramelized the onions and zucchini a bit! AND added 1 garden fresh tomato chopped (yep that would be from my garden) and swiss instead or mozzarella! I swear it was even better! Honestly this will be a summer favorite for a long time to come!

And that's good because we have a ton of squash left!

Day At the Beach ( I Wish! but the lake will do)

This past Saturday we went to Pine View with our friends the Hadley's. They invited us to go boating. We all had a blast. The Hadley's are super fun to be around, with kids both our kids ages. So Corbin showed Chad how to water ski; then Chad tried. Chad gave it a few tries but was not able to get up on the ski's! He had a blast trying. Morgan decided that tubing would be way more fun. Plus she was able to go with her friend Katelynn. The two of them were hysterical together!! Both girls would scream at Sherm if he jumped over a wake. They just wanted a nice smooth ride! They were little granny's out there. The boys on the other hand wanted it faster and more wild!

What a great way to start summer!

Tiger Pride (say what?)

I finished the baby quilt for Sarah a few days ago. But I did not want to send it without a little something for Afton's big brothers. What better then LSU pillowcases. I think they will be happy with them...and so will their dad!

It Is Done

This is my very first quilt ever! Well the real kind. With all sorts of little pieces and stuff. I love it! I am so happy with how it turned out. I am pretty sure Sarah and baby Coco will also love it! So Sarah....it's in the mail! I hope you love it!

A Random Act of Kindness

Sandy came and played at my house! Some people would call this weeding and planting work; not Sandy. She is honestly my dearest friend here in Utah. She went way over and above to make my life easier. I was getting ready to have all my family over for Morgan's baptism. I was running around with my head cut off trying to get it all done. She just came over and did it! Now it still looks a bit sparse but it is still early spring here in the Beehive state. She added some transplants from her own garden as well as some babies that she grew from seed!

This is my front side yard! I used to have NOTHING!!! growing here. Well maybe some weeds. Sandy also played here! She is like Robin Hood of gardening. She weeds at the over worked and gives (talent and flowers to the crazy!) She weeded then added soil then planted all sorts of goodies! She did all this as a surprise to me. She knew I had family coming over and wanted the yard to look as good as possible. I can't wait to see what this will look like in another 4 weeks! I am thankful for a good friend like Sandy!

Pay It Forward

I logged on to http://sherimhoward.blogspot.com/ and read about Paying It Forward. This is really just like that movie we all saw years ago. I felt especially motivated to do this after being on the receiving end of 2 Pay It Forwards yesterday.

First as I was leaving to take Morgan to the Doctor my friend Sandy came by. She was there to see how she could help me. You see we have a lot of family coming into town for Morgan's baptism. Not to mention an open house with both sides of our family. She weeded and she planted and she even made and planted a whole new garden bed!! Who does that??? Sandy!!! She spent hours here making it look pretty!! Thank you! Thank you!! I will post pictures at a later time!

Secondly I received a package in the mail! A gift from my friend Sarah. She sent me "Spring In A Box", how cute is that??? There was a notepad, all sorts of spring colored candy, a rubber ducky, CHOCOLATE, sprinkles in a happy yellow, a little sunflower and the cutest little cupcake candles ever! Um Hello?? How well does she know me? By the way...this lovely lady's husband was just released from the rehabilitation center where he was recovering from surgery. (not to be confused with a DRUG REHAB center!!) She has been caring for her 3 boys while pregnant with her 4th child and running back and forth to her husband AND she makes the time to send me a gift???!!!??? I honestly don't know how she does this stuff!

There was also this cute quote in the box.

"No Winter lasts forever, no Spring skips its turn"

Hal Borland

Today I feel so blessed to have such great friends. I thought the idea of passing on their kindness would be a great way of showing my love and appreciation. Well that and making cinnamon rolls never hurts! I will just have to figure out how to send them to Sarah!

So to follow in the theme...for the first 5 people who leave me a little comment with a way to email you or reach of you I will make and send a little gift to you within the next 12 months! It will be a surprise when you get it!! It will also be a surprise what you get!! Oh goody doesn't that sound like fun??

Kids and Friends

A few days ago my friends Sara took my kids, her kids, and a couple other kids

to Pioneer Village. This was so very nice to her, and maybe just a bit insane!

The kids had so much fun. Especially Morgan, she got to ride

a horse. Chad tells me he is too old for pony rides. Well

poo poo on him for growing up! Morgan made a corn husk doll,

which is super cute and simple. I think that the favorite part

of the day was dipping candles. They both dipped

their own and loved telling me all about it. So we put them in a

cup of popcorn to help them stand up and lit them up.

I think the best part of the day for them was the sense of

satisfaction they both had by making something for

themselves. A good thing to remember.

By the way....they both think we should make our
own candles from now on! Good Grief! One more thing
to try to fit in! Just kidding, we live in 2008
for a reason!

A Surprise

So the last table runner was so fun I made another one. This one is for a friend. A very good friend. Who will be getting a surprise package in that mail in a couple days! She better love it! She knows I do not quilt so well. She also knows I procrastinate. Anyway when she gets if she is nice she will comment about how much she loves it and me!!

Home Run Derby

The one benefit of Charlie being on the baseball league board is KEYS!!! Keys to the lights, the pitching machine, and balls. So some friends of ours called and after the last game, 10pm we headed out for a little home run derby.



Sherman in his umpire uniform.
He still has it! Charlie had the most home runs!

Bryce was right behind Charlie in total runs..but he hit the house behind the fields so I would have to say he won!

Kade one of the boys Charlie coached on football was hitting!
Chad in full laker attire! He got under a couple and really hit them deep.

I think that Charlie has such a cool follow through stance. It was a good time for all. My friend Becky hit as well as me! I did not hit a home run, big suprise. Morgan hung out in the snack bar behind home plate watching in warmth and safety.