A testimony building day

Let me share a story with you. I'm sure that this will mean nothing to you however I feel I need to share how my testimony has been strengthened in a mere 24 hours period.

First a little background: For the past 7 months I have been the 1st counselor in our church's Young Womens program (it's a youth program for girls ages 12-18). My primary responsibly is to work with the 14 & 15 year olds. It have been a very trying calling, as I learn the program, get to know the girls, and find how to balance my time while still doing my other duties as wife, mother, volunteer, etc. For the past month of so I have been feverishly working to get the mid-week activities planned for the year after feeling prompted to a few fast Sundays ago. I would not go as far as to say I'm totally comfortable in my calling or that I have it all figured out by any means but I was feeling less and less stressed with each event or situation that I was in charge of.

Imagine my surprised when I received a call Saturday evening to let me know that my entire presidency was being released and was thanked for all that we have done. I was filled with emotions, relief (hooray I'll have my Wed. nights back! Imagine all the things I can do with my time!) and sadness (I really was just getting into it, loving the girls, and was so close to completing my own Personal Progress).

A little while later, I received another call from the bishopric, just as all of my feeling had begin to really set in. I'll admit I was a bit teary eyed. The new president had asked me to return as her counselor filling the same role as I had previously being doing. I of course excepted and was overwhelmed with relief, which surprised me. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I already knew what to do and had a plan in place and was ready to roll.

The next morning at church as they released & sustained not only my presidency but Primary, part of Relief Society, and many more callings. I was sustained as 2nd counselor. Wait, that's not what I was excepting...did they say that right? The next hour my head was spinning with so many thoughts. They must have read wrong, that's not what I was prepared for. Suddenly I was feeling way more overwhelmed and I'll admit it, a bit upset. After the meeting I talked with my new presidency and bishopric. They had made a mistake when they talked with me Saturday night. I really was just called as the 2nd counselor. I accepted with a smile on my face but had so many other thoughts swirling around in my head.

As I was being set apart in my new calling all the doubt, feeling of my time being waste in preparing for the year, having to start all over again with another age group, and the overwhelming feelings disappeared as I listen to the words being said. Our bishopric members are men of God that are so spiritually in tune. Every blessing they gave that afternoon was so very specific to the person that they where giving it to. Not one blessing was even remotely close to being the same. I also know this because they addressed the very specific thoughts I had not voiced to anyone. My heavenly Father really does know me personally! He has a plan and for whatever the reason I need to move over and focus my attention on the girls that have just moved in to the Young Women's program. I look forward to getting to know them better. As a matter of fact, in the last month or so I've noticed I know very little about any of our younger girls and rarely have had the chance to spend any time with them. I'm excited to get working with my new presidency and hope that they will become as good of friends as my last presidency has been. It's amazing how much you grow to love someone as you serve along side them.

100th Day of School...Hooray!!!

This calls for a party! :)

An amazing sugar cookie recipe

I just have to share this recipe with you all. It delicious, easy, versatile, and did I mention delicious?!

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1½ C sugar
1 C butter (softened)
1 8oz pkg cream cheese (softened)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
3½ C flour
1 tsp baking powder

In a mixing bowl cream sugar, butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
Add egg and flavorings, beat smooth.
Stir together the flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.

{FOR CUT-OUT COOKIES}

Chill dough. Roll out on surface dusted with a mixture of ½ powered sugar and ½ flour, ¼ to ½ inch thick depending on your preference. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet ( I line with parchment paper) and bake in a 375° oven 8-9 minutes. Watch for the edges to just barely begin to brown. Cool and frost.

{FOR COOKIE PRESS COOKIES}

Divide dough into portions. Force through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375° oven 8-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack. Before baking brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sprinkles if desired.

{FOR COOKIE BARS}

Roll out in a Pampered Chef bar pan (a jelly roll pan will also work. Watch closely to prevent over cooking.) Bake in a 350° oven for 30 - 40 minutes.

{FROSTING}

Got leftover frosting in the frig? Heat in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until it becomes soupy (be careful to not burn it.) Add food coloring, if desired. Dip cookies face down in the melted frosting and allow to dry on wax paper. As simple as that!

OR

Mix a lot of Powdered sugar, a little bit of milk, and a splash of vanilla together until you get the perfect glaze. (Sorry for the lack of measurements, I just eyeball it.). Depending on how thick you make it; You can dip the cookies face down and allow to dry on wax paper or spread with a knife on each cookie.

Now go try it out, I promise you will love them. This recipe (and many others) are the reason I have been losing the weight loss challenge. :)

Love one another

During the Month of February we try to focus on ways to show love one to another with our children. This year is the first year that I think The Daughter really understood what we've been talking about all these past years and has constantly been on the look out for ways to serve those she loves.

Here are a few ways she has shown her love for others by serving: making my bed for me while I was whipping up some breakfast, saying hello to EVERYONE, helping her brother clean up his cars, helping make dinner for another family, inviting anyone that comes over to stay for a delicious meal (her words), making homemade cards for her friends, and the list goes on. Yesterday we took advantage of a day off of school by making cookies and delivering them to her Grandmas' and Papas' so they would know that they where loved (her idea).

I hope that her desire to serve others stays with her as she grows towards adulthood. The world is in great need of more kind people that are willing to lend a helping hand. She is such a great example to me.

A time out break through!

He's two and you know what that means, right? Head strong, tantrums and hitting which all cause him to go straight to TIME OUT. Time out's a great idea, except for the part where he doesn't stay in the designated corner for more than a few seconds at best. I was getting a work out running him back and restarting the time every other second. It always felt like time out was going to last forever!
That was until out of pure desperation, I did this:I put him in a basket in the corner and guess what? He stayed there! Now he has a defined time out spot and things are going SO much better and (knock on wood) to top it off he's been going to time out less! He tends to even choose to say in the basket for many more minutes after the timer has beeped not because he hasn't calmed down but because he simply what's to sit in the basket more. This basket has magical powers. :)

Silhouette Fun

Some may recall that I got this fabulous Christmas present (Thank you Overstock for have a major black Friday sale!) and boy do I LOVE IT!

Here are a few of the things I whipped up while testing out some of it's features:
I'm predicting that I'll be spending many a Friday nights hiding out in the office cutting away... :)

A bitter-sweet day in a crafty girl's world

First off this post is from over two weeks ago. I guess I never pushed the publish button...opps. :) Enjoy the flashback.

Many have laughed at my old trusty sewing machine but it just kept on sewing, just about as good as the new models. Don't get me wrong, it had some quirks but I like to think of it more as having character (not so negative, ya know?). Over the past few years I would get the urge to buy a new fancy pants machine and would then have to convincing myself I don't need one. After all, I use a straight stitch for just about everything except maybe when feeling a little WILD and use the cris-cross or blanket stitch! I know, I live a dangerous life. :)

Wouldn't you know it, after voicing recently how I've come to terms with the fact that I don't need a new one and having lost the desire to even look at the new ones, my machine would sewed it's last stitch right in the middle of a project. Leave it to her to go out with drama...it's been sassy machine from the moment we first met! After rushing the machine to the repairmen with great hopes that they would be able to save her, I discover that age finally caught up to her. Parts had been discontinued 15 years ago and there was nothing they could do...sad day.

P.S. Have no fear, between finding a last years model on major sale, my Christmas money (thank you grandma), and a Rewards check, I was able to get a new machine. Nothing fancy but perfect for me. Now I'm off to work on Young Womens stuff so I can get back to my apron projects. :)

Apron Making Round 2

Heads up: When life my life gets super CRAZY, I found I need to work on something crafty and fun to help relieve the stress before heading to bed. It makes life so much easier to deal with in the AM for me. Now you know the more crafts I'm doing the more crazy my life currently is. :)

Pretty Pillows

Check out the pillows I made last week...Every one of them is made out of a place mat. I've been collected them from clearance racks for months. All it took was some stuffing and a few stitches and now there super cute pillows!

I can't decide which one's my favorite. Currently, I'm leaning towards the black and cream one but I love the flourishes on the red & white ones and the solid red ones are SO soft but I also love that perfect shade of green...see hard to hard to decide. :)

P.S. Don't worry, the couch is not going to be home to all of them, some will be moving to my bedroom.

Mr. Fix it

Whipped up this little tool belt/apron for our Mr. Fix-it for Christmas. He loves anything with pockets so this was a big hit. Of course now that I think of it, he hasn't really been using it much the last week of so...maybe the coolness factor has worn off?

P.S. It's even personalized but for the sake of posting it on the blog I've blurred it out. Not a fan of having my kids names on the blog. :)

2009 in Review

What a year this has been! Here's a recap of the trying year we call 2009:

January

• Started out cold and dreary.
• The van breaks down, leaving me with no car for a big chunk of the month. Being from a family of mechanics, we had a shop patch it up so that we could drive to TC to get it repaired for WAY cheaper. Thank you Dad & Jeromie!
• Randy worked non-stop putting in 60+ hour weeks and employee morale was plummeting. The company does it's first layoff...Randy was included...ugh!

February

• We increase our temple attendance from once in a blue moon to weekly while we try to come up with an action plan. Little did we know that there would be much more waiting than doing...a challenge in it's self!
• We travel home to the TC to be with family while we wrapped our minds around the shocking change. We evaluated our needs and continue the job search hoping to be able to find work in the crippled Boise economy.
• I attend a concert with great friends and enjoy the escape from reality for an evening.

March

• Becomes very clear that the chances of finding a job in Boise is very slim. We broaden our search and continue hoping things will turn around really soon.
• Randy has some job interviews in the TC area. Not his dream jobs but we're not in a position to be picky. We travel more.
• The kids are LOVING having Dad around to play with all day long! After years of college & then working long hours, the chance for him to spend so much time with them is a blessing.
• We continue to get together weekly with our good friends the McKays.
  
• I teach my 10th year at Camp Wooten with Jason Lee. It rained or snowed the entire week but we all had a great time anyway.
  

April

• Randy is one of the 5,000 people to attend the Lockheed Martin Job Fair in hopes of getting one of the stimulus jobs.
• The Daughter & I go on her class field trip to the Zoo together. Really enjoy see the new Africa area that just opened.
• The weather is beautiful and you can tell summer is right around the corner. Randy fires up the BBQ to kick off the season.
• Randy receives a job offer with a Network Management company in Pasco WA. In a matter of hours, He; works out details, accepts, packs, and is on his way to start the next day. The kids and I stay to allow the Daughter to finish her school year.

May

• We take turns traveling to visit Randy on the weekends.
• I break my toe, making packing even more fun.
  
• Randy finds us a place to live, nothing like we are used to, but will do us just fine.
  
• The Daughter Graduates from Preschool and says good bye to her teachers and friends.
• The last day of the month we loaded up all of our earthly possessions, said good-bye to our friends, and travel to the dry side of the Evergreen State.

June

• Spent the month gutting the house of all signs of old people, stripping HORRIBLE wall paper found on just about every surface, making repairs, being sick of working on this stupid house, and living out of suitcases.
• Randy flies to CA to attend his brother Richie's wedding. He plays at Disneyland while there and makes us completely JEALOUS!
• I celebrate a Birthday.
• The little man turns 2 years old.

July

• We are totally sick of working on the house, decide that we've taken care of the things that HAD to be done and will live with the rest for a while (the wall paper in the kitchen...).
  
• The unpacking begins and we have it pretty much all done within a week.
  
• Spend as much time as we can at the pool soaking up the sun.
• The kids have sleepovers at Grandma's
• We go to Boat Races, Randy's first time ever.
• Randy celebrates a Birthday

August

• We take the kids on a surprise trip to Silverwood
• Visit Pullman and enjoyed running into friends and acquaintances.
  
• Randy starts biking with friends a couple times a week.
• The daughter gives learning to ride a bike another shot and is SO close to having it figured out.
• Go to a Family Reunion at Emigrant Springs (love that place!)
• Take my brother's senior pictures
• Randy passes his first two sets of certifications and gets a raise. The job is getting better.
  
• Randy & I get away for a weekend to celebrate our Anniversary.

September

• The daughter starts Kindergarten and LOVES it!
• Randy gets a newer car after many years of driving junk.
• Go out to dinner for kids night at AppleBee's with Ryan, Megan & kids every few weeks (the highlight of the week for the kids, even us grown-ups have a good time:).
• I get called to be 1st counselor in the Young Women's Presidency. Gone is any spare time I may have had.

October

• We are super busy with school, church, youth activities, and life.
• Randy meets all his college friends in Pullman for a "reunion".
• Take the kids to see Disney On Ice.
• Enjoy having Sunday dinners with family.
• Things are looking up. We feel more at home, Randy feels at peace with his job most days and we have realized that what makes a job great has more to do with those you work with and less about the amount you get paid. It would be nice to have something comparable to what we used to earn but it's no longer the end of the world. Some how we get by each month (BLESSING!)

November

• The Daughter celebrates her 6th Birthday
• We have additional kiddos at our house while their parents are on a cruise.
• We host Thanksgiving at our house and have a great time with my family.

December

• Busy bouncing from one Christmas party to the next.
• Enjoy Randy having a week off for Christmas. Loved having him home!

It's been a tough year. I'm so Thankful for this opportunity to look back on the year and discover amongst the challenges there have been so many more blessings. Here's to hoping for a brighter new year!

A Christmas Recap

Holy Smokes! Christmas has come & GONE.
I have to admit, I'm wishing we had had just a few more days to enjoy the break. We're back to the daily craziness and I'm longing for a lazy day with no place to go and nothing to be done...How much longer until summer?

Here's a recap of some of my favorite holiday memories from this year:

*Welcoming home Robbie from his mission and learning about life in Argentina.
*Spending time with so many people we love
*No school, mutual, and appointments to be rushing to and from.
*Being in our own home for Christmas morning for the first time!!!
*Watching all the kids enjoy playing with their cousins.
*Going to the temple together
*All the boys going to Rexburg to get Robbie settled in at school (so good for them!)
*Doing crafts & watching movies with the girls while the boys traveled.
*Randy having the week of Christmas off and only having to work 2 days the week of New Years!

And no recap would be complete without pictures...

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and are adjusted back to your normal daily lives.

Flirty Apron Making...

When the women are left on their own for a weekend, you can bet we'll be getting our craft on! Randy, his brothers, and father all left for a road trip to Idaho to drop off the newly returned missionary at college (he starts BYU-I Monday), and I had the perfect craft project we could all do together. I found this A-line apron pattern awhile ago and have been dieing for time to whip one up for the past month but Christmas project came first.

In the making:

Megan teaching Linda how to sew
The finished results:

The four of us (Megan, myself, Linda, & Val)
An attempt to take a picture of it myself
Then calling in one of the children to take one for me.

I love it! I know some things I would change next time around and can't wait to make the half apron version next. Anyone up to making that one with me? Crafting with company is always more fun... :)

Happy New Year!

The party has started here and we're planning to ring in the new year on Eastern time (9 o'clock here) with the kiddos. Ya, you're jealous you didn't think of it!
We hope you are all have a safe and enjoyable evening and wish you the best in the new year. :)

A few Random pictures from the past few months

Currently working on downloading and editing pictures from the past week. There are a ton!

In the meantime enjoy these cute moments from the past few months;

Enjoying a quiet evening at the library
Two cousins enjoying a movie together. Notice he's not a fan of her snuggling with him?
Randy golfing with his brothers as much as possible before the snow hit.
Delivering the Shaggin' Wagon to Ryan in Yakima. He's the proud new owner of this fine automobile!
Tea time with Dad
Teaching the little brother the proper way to dunk cookies.
Sporting her beloved cowgirl hatEarning an ice cream cone treat
Whipping up some holiday cookies
I'm sure there are more...but for now this will do.
Have a great day everyone!