peachberry bites

These little guys came about one night when I was late for a neighborhood bar.b.que. I'm always the disappointment who comes with something store-bought when everyone else has their delicious homemade sides. I couldn't be the flake who was late and bumming food off of everyone else. So I threw these things together, and botta bing botta boom! People tell me they liked them.. but maybe they were just trying to support my efforts...



All you need is right here

Athens mini fillo shells (I use two packs)

Smuckers boysenberry syrup (yeah, the stuff for pancakes)

Peach sherbet

Cool Whip

Raspberries


Don't judge my messy house.. I started this time by putting a little syrup in the bottom of the cup.



I fill the shell most of the way with the sherbet. Easier if it's softened..

Top it off with some cool whip..

At this point I freeze it until I'm ready to serve it. It softens up pretty fast, so especially for something like a bar-b-que you're gonna want it pretty frozen.

Ready to hit the party? Take those bad boys out and drizzle some more boysenberry syrup over the top, garnish with a raspberry and go!

I was trying to snap a pic while Benny was trying to steal one...

They're really easy and quick to make... My specialty!

it's okay for a girl to dream

It's that time of year again. I start putting together a folder of all my yard inspirations that I would love for my own yard. And every year my yard looks a little worse than the year before. But I feel like this might be the year that we make some progress.. I know, sounds crazy.. but I have already trimmed (butchered) my huge tree in my back yard, and planted some potters...so there. I really want a fire pit, with permanent seating like this guy. I also love the idea of a little waterfall behind the pit..

I have a wood pile in my backyard right now that terrifies me. I know there is a spider city in there, and anytime my kids go near it I have an anxiety attack. I love the way this looks-a somewhat organized stylish wood pile. Maybe it would contain some of the chaos that is my wood pile that is going on right now.. Spiders runnin the show and thinkin' they own the place in my backyard.

And this guy. How awesome would this be? Now I just have to get to work, I'll keep you posted if any of these dreams ever come true!

And I wanna know-What projects are you aspiring to this summer?

piNk LemOnAde CupCakes!!

They're baack! And they're still supa dupa delish. I have missed my pink lemonade cupcakes. Summer is the perfect time to bust these bad boys out. I had to go back to my old blog to dig them up, and I stole this pic from http://www.ericasweettooth.com/ Her stuff looks crazy delicious! I originally got this recipe from Betty Crocker (I believe), and it's always a favorite at any summer get together! And we all want to be the favorite at any summer get together.

1 package white cake mix (not the pudding kind)
3 egg whites
1 cup water
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup frozen pink lemonade, thawed, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 to 8 drops red food coloring
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
Lemon slice candies


preheat to 350
Beat cake mix, egg whites, water 1/3 cup concentrate, oil and 4 to 6 drops food coloring.
Spoon into cupcake cups.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes of until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes, remove and let finish cooling.
Beat powdered sugar, butter and remaining 1/4 cup concentrate in medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed. Beat in remaining food coloring.
Spread frosting over cupcakes. Garnish with candies and straws (that makes it way cute) if desired.



Try them. Do it. It'll change your life.

Then tell me about how you were the hit of the party.

Spring Sunshine

I've been wanting to get some pictures of my kids all winter long, so here they are!

The spring blossoms were so beautiful in the local orchard, Bentley loved it!

Thanks for Looking!

Bauer's Turning Three!

And you better be there! Or else...

I wanted to do something funny for Bauer's birthday invitations cause he has such a funny little personality. This is what popped into my mind... getting him to cooperate was a whole different story.



He loves to punch things. Jess, the dog (don't call the humane society), the air.. he has such a cute little tough guy face.. I tried to get him to combine the two..

So then you flip your little invite over and you get this.

I know I already asked you not to call the Humane Society, but let's not call child services either when I tell you that to get him to cry we may have told him he had to go to bed while the other kids were playing. My friend's idea-not mine, of course. It's art, it's serious, it's a 3-year old's birthday party. So don't judge me.

These will go out with the little party favors that I got from http://www.beau-coup.com/. I thought the mini gumballs were so cute! I always love filling little bags, but this year I'm going simple and just doing one take home thing.

It should be a good one!

A little shmidgen of what I've been up to..

I have been trying to keep up with so many things! Here's some of the photography I've been doing... I have much more to post, but here's a taste..


My little Bauer.. he usually won't pose for long, but is very well behaved in the one minute window he gives me.


Bentley is my cute little serious thing. This house reminded me of my great grandma's, so I love the porch!


My younger sister, Brooke.. she thinks she looks like an Asian man in the picture, but I think she looks darling.


My cute little Linds.. one of my Young Women who is now graduating from college!! She's going to make a great teacher!!

baptism invite example

Back..

I never really post the cards that I put together, and thought I'd share this one.. maybe one day I'll get more with it and have cards people can upload from my blog.. if someone can tell me how I do that, I will post some free templates. Help a brotha out, yo!

Salt Flats Graffiti-Tastic Extraordinaire Family Shoot

So I gotsta love me these Hodson girls! How cute is this family? And such troopers in the cold weather. I have to admit, I've never seen a family work the graffiti like they do. Notice the "sissy pants" on the door frame? We couldn't help ourselves... All three cute kiddos.. Someone's got a baptism coming up! We got extra of this cutie for her invites.. Love this one! Somehow graffiti just works better for teenage boys pics. Call me crazy, I know.. I'm sure a field of flowers would be great, too. Thanks for looking!

Utah Festival of Colors

Gem Festival = I'm in trouble

I promised Jess I would be disciplined enough this week to not spend any money. It started when I was talking with my aunt last week about how every time Jesse checks our account, it's always off by hundreds of dollars... When I told my aunt this, she said, "Poor Jesse." I was a little offended. I feel I spend money only on things I need. Maybe. But after I thought a little more about it, I decided I would try a little experiment to see if I could control myself from spending any money during the week. I thought I did well. I thought I deserved a little reward from all my hard work during the week. Plus, I did promise not to spend any money during the week, not the weekend. The gem festival was Friday. Anyway, I was in a little trouble.

(this is my mom's purchases combined with mine..)

But now think of all the cute projects I can work on! And I'll even blog how to on some of them, if I'm not lazy. So fun and springy! I can't wait.



The Gem Festival comes every three months, so if ya wanna go in June, I'll see you there!

Crazy Nail Polish Ya Gotsta Try

So I'm always looking for fun beauty products and this was one worth sharing! I had seen these nail polish strips in a magazine being worn by Katy Perry, but you had to order them online and that, of course, was way too much work for me. So imagine my excitement when I found a Sally Hansen brand at Smith's! In all kinds of fun prints! Kinda made my week. Yup. Week. This is my life, here. Not Katy Perry's.

Anyway.. super easy to put on, and they stayed on great for at least a week. I pulled them off to try new ones. I did have to coat them with clear nail polish every now and then to keep them looking ship-shape. And, on a frugal note, I cut the strips in half so that I could get double use out of the pack. Frugal? Or is that ghetto? It reminds me of the time I was in high school and a particularily rude guy caught me applying the magazine perfume sample onto my wrist. This guy referred to me as ghetto then, and I think cutting them in half may be in the same category. Just sayin'

Sorry about the dorky pics... I was so excited to share I just grabbed the closest camera which happened to be my phone...or is that ghetto?.. I think there's a trend.

If you try them, let me know what you think!

Leprechaun Treasure Hunt

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I love to leave my kids a green goody basket from their personal leprechaun, Leroy.. but you know I'm gonna make them work for it. These are the clues that I wrote, and I thought I would share if anyone wants to start their own St. Patrick's Day tradition.

When I wrote this out, I tried to keep it general enough that anyone should be able to use it. I print my clues on green (white this year, with green ribbon...it was kinda last minute) paper and tape them in their hiding spots. I usually throw tinsel or glitter around where the leprechaun has been.

Your clues will hide like this:

1. leave out in the open

2. under the couch
3. in the fridge
4. dining table
5. bathtub/shower
6. t.v.
7. in their closet-since I have two little ones, I will put

their surprises in their own closet.

Who knows? Maybe Leroy will visit my husband, too. If he's lucky.

I wrote these for younger kids, they shouldn't be too hard for them to figure out...

***

1
To my lil’ lads and lassies I say hello!
I am a wee lil’ leprechaun from the rainbow.
To find your St. Patty’s Day treasure, I have left you some clues.
Look under the couch for something green-me favorite color, it’s true!

2

To find clue number three, you won’t have to look far.
Just think of a place where all your green veggies are.
It’s full of good things to eat, and it’s so very cold.
But it can get stinky inside if things start to mold!

3
You’re on your way to finding your own gold.
Now be good lads and lassies and do as you’re told!
You’ve just taken a trip to the refrigerator.
Now go look around where you’ll eat dinner later.

4
‘Tis a magical four-leaf-clover kind of lucky day!
You’re getting closer to your treasure; alas! halfway!
You’re wee lil’ ones often stinky, or covered in mud.
Look where you go to get clean with bubbly soap suds.

5
Oh holy shamrock! You’re a great treasure hunter!
Hiding clues is lots of work-you’re aware I’m quite miniature.
Look next in a place where you shouldn’t sit and watch all day.
Eat your popcorn in front of it, then go out and play!

6

Your rainbow’s gold is one clue away.
And how I wish a wee bit longer I could stay.
Look where you hang all your clothes and put your shoes.
And you’ll finally find something besides just a clue!

7

Thank you for all the St. Patrick’s Day fun!
But it’s time that this lil’ leprechaun better run.
Back to the rainbow to give me Irish mum a kiss.
And make sure to wear green! You don’t want to get pinched!
Love, Leroy
Your personal leprechaun

***

Hope you enjoy!

For our treasure:
I just tried to find everything green that I could. So I found green blow pops, sprite, green bubbles, junior mints, a sparkly gold bouncy ball (all a $), the green basket is from All A Dollar, too. Bauer also got a green train for his thomas table and a big green ball. Bentley has wanted a Monster High doll for a while, and I thought this may be the opportunity to finally get her one. I felt like that would be a weird addition to an Easter basket. It turned out perfect, because there was one with green skin. I also found her green dippin' dots lip gloss from all a dolla. So there's some pot'o' gold ideas. And kids love just a pot of gold chocolates! I just somehow have suckered myself into a standard these kids are holding me to... or Leroy to.

Here is my first attempt at trying to upload my document. It sort of worked, I lost my cute fonts. If anyone has any advice for having attaching documents in blogger, let me know!

http://docs.google.com/document/d/1yC38KMCeq05YAROsIsr_1xtVPf0FIpO1ygKGBShpySk/edit?hl=es#

If you're not wearing green I hope you get pinched! And I hope it leaves a bruise.

Baptism Preview

Cutest lil' thang ever! She was such a trooper even through cold windy weather. I can't wait to post some more of her and the rest of her cute fam!

damask fakesy wall paper

My craft room/home office has needed some attention for quite some time now. I love that patterned wallpaper is so in, but I didn't want to go to all of the work of wall-papering so I started looking for other options. I found a wall stencil from a company called cutting edge stencils through Etsy, although they have their own site at http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/. I have since seen that Hobby Lobby has a few patterned fakesy wallpaper stencils of their own (but not AS big as the cutting edge stencils). Originally, I put it off because I thought it would be a lot of work-but it was so easy!

See? That's a 6 year old, yo! Easy.

What you need:

Stencil

Paint (I used leftover Behr Ultra)

Small Roller

Painters Tape

Measuring Tape

Let's not kid ourselves here. I am by no means an expert, and if I can do it so can anyone. I finished my wall in less than an hour. It was as easy as taping the stencil to the wall and rolling the paint over it. I made sure there was never too much paint in the roller so it didn't bleed into the stencil, but found that if I had to push paint out of the roller that would make it bleed also. I found my groove just by trial and error. Even the tries that I felt weren't perfect still look good.

Here is the almost finished project..

I'd love to hear if you've tried stenciling or wall paper. If you have any questions, post me a comment!

more of my favorite baby pics

Usually I only spend an hour on a baby shoot, but I spent 2 hours with this one. She was so sweet and had so much hair! Here are some more of my favorites from the day...