A Request

If you have a couple minutes, I would love it if you would vote for my little honey here and here. He is cute kid #4. The first one you have to become a facebook fan before you can vote--and be sure to leave a comment on the actual photo, not the album. The second one is a poll at the bottom of the page, so scroll all the way down. You can also vote once a day at each place for a week, I think. So if you would be so kind to do so every day, I would love it! If you pick another kid, that's okay, I won't be offended. But I would love to win a photo shoot for my honey!

April Fool's

Last year the extent of our April Fool's Day was to eat pancakes for dinner...
I think it would be fun to do some mild April Fool's jokes, and Disney's Family Fun has a whole list of them dealing with food! Check them out here.

For Two

I would love to have a cute picnic basket, and this one comes with plates, utensils, and glasses! How romantic would that be to go on a cozy picnic for two?

Funny

*Is this picture funny? I did an image search with the word funny and this is what came up.

Today my husband informed me that if he didn't know that I write this blog, he wouldn't know that I write it because I "talk funny." I call him "Mr. Wonderful" and our son "little honey." So, just FYI, in case you think I'm weird like he did...that is just for personal safety reasons. I do have a private blog where we use actual names and pictures of our family, and if you want to read it, you can ask me for an invite. :)

Spring is in the air

Doesn't this just scream springtime?? I love it! Do you think a grown woman could get away with this on her bike or is it just for the little girls? :) Find the tutorial at A Lemon Squeezy Home, also a boy's version.

Obsession

Anyone who sees my wardrobe could probably guess how much I love Shade Clothing. Well...they just came out with this little number and I love it! I love the fresh color for spring! They also have swimsuits availiable for pre-order...oh...if only I could buy it all!

Freshly Picked

Oh how I love flowers! I have been longing for the day when I can have a flower garden and then bring fresh flowers into my home all the time! I love this idea of having flowers as a party favor found from postcards and pretties.

there is something about farmer's market flowers wrapped in paper that make me want to run home and arrange them in my favorite vase. i love this idea for a casual outdoor wedding - offer your guest mini farmer market bouquet to take home as favors. display them in baskets or tin pails with a sign to remind guest's to take a bouquet home.

here's my little tutorial to create these cone-shaped bouquets.

{material}
kraft, butcher, newspaper, waxed tissue paper
water picks
fresh cut flowers
ribbon

{directions}
spread the paper out flat in front of you and position it so it is a straight square.

gather the flowers into a small bouquet with your hands. Cut the ends to the same length and insert into a water pick.

place the bundle of flowers onto the tissue paper in a diagonal position across the middle of the paper.

roll the paper with the flowers in it, starting at the flower’s corner. Roll the paper from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. This will create a cone-like wrap for the flowers.

tie a pretty ribbon around the cone bouquet to hold it together.

voila!

Mouth watering

This recipe got me so excited about spring/summer! I can't wait to try it! And the best part is that you can add whatever berry you want! I have been wanting to go to a certain restaurant just because they had blackberry lemonade...but why not make it at home?

Berry Delicious Lemonade

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 c. sliced strawberries or other berries
  
• 1 c. fresh lemon juice
• 1-1/4 c. sugar
• 4 c. cold water
• 1 lemon, sliced
• ice

Method:

Combine strawberries, lemon juice and sugar in blender and process until smooth. Combine with water, lemon slices and ice in a pitcher.


While you're at it, why not try these delicious looking lemon cookies or lemon crumb squares? Oh...yum....my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I really can't wait to try these recipes!

Today

Today was a good day. I felt very accomplished even though all I did was walk to the laundromat to get some quarters to walk home and do one load of laundry here, mend some suit pants (which I love doing), and then spending the afternoon visiting with neighbors and making this little lovely. Of course all of this was done with my little honey, except the windmill happened during his nap. I love spring! What a great day.

Project 52: Date 1

I've been a slacker with writing about our date nights even though we have been doing them! Since I don't want to take the time to remember them all right now, I'll just start with this one as number 1...even though we've done 3 or 4.
This date only lasted about 45 minutes because it was so late and we were both so tired...but I liked it. I have the "5 Love Languages" book and so we each took the 'find your love language' quiz. Then we compared results and talked about them. We read a little bit from the book about the love language that was the strongest for each of us. If you want to take the quiz, you can find it here. There is a 30 second one, or a 30 question one. The 30 question one only takes 10-15 minutes, and I think it is worth the extra time! I think it is fun to learn more about Mr. Wonderful doing things like this, especially so we can understand better how we try to show love to each other.
If you want to take part of Project 52, go here.

Project 52

A few weeks ago Mr. Wonderful and I got to visit with Elder Sitati from the quorom of the 70 who said something that really stuck with me and impressed me as being very important. He said of marriage “This is the most important project of your whole life now. There is nothing greater.” This really impacted me—I work so hard on other ‘projects’ or feel unfulfilled when I don’t get time to work on them, but what effort do I put each day into my marriage? That is the most important thing. There is nothing greater. He said some other beautiful things, but that is what I wanted to focus on. I have found two other things that have impressed me lately.
First, I really liked this article. I used to read things like this all the time in my major, and I miss it. I really love scientific findings that support marriage.
Second, in keeping with the idea of marriage being a project, I came across Project 52. This is a really fun project that I am excited to start! It is a pledge to date your spouse! This is something I really want to do better at. Project 52 is great because they encourage you to stay home and not spend money, but at the same time make your home a more date-like atmosphere. I think it would be fun to hear what you do for your weekly dates if you want to join!

St. Patrick's Day

photo found here

I hope everyone had a fun St. Patrick's day today! Mine was good, even though it was one of those too frequent days where everything was better in my head then in actuality. We had a leprechaun visit our home and turn the milk green and leave some fun treasures hidden around our house. I had hoped the leprechaun would leave little green footprints...but I guess this was a clean leprechaun!
Today marked the beginning of Mr. Wonderful's spring break...so he still has to work, but no school for the rest of the week! The weather was BEAUTIFUL today, so we went to the park...I wished I had planned to have a picnic!
I had planned to have made Green Shamrock Rolls (my own little twist on this recipe) for breakfast with our green milk, but didn't have time beforehand so instead we had Lucky Charms which was just as fun and ate Green Shamrock Rolls as a snack later in the day.
I had planned to have Shamrock Sandwiches with Pot of Gold Soup and green kool-aid, and Clover Crispies for dessert...but since all the stores were sold out of shamrock cookie cutters by the time I was able to look for one, there weren't any shamrocks or clovers involved, but we still ate them anyway. :)
We also watched The Gnome Mobile, which is a fun St. Patrick's Day movie...although my very favorite is Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
I had also planned to make my Little Honey a new green shirt...but with a husband gone most of the day and no time to myself, it's pretty hard to get things done. So that didn't happen either. It's cut out at least...that's the hardest part!
Despite a couple disappointments, it was a fun day. How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Spring Flowers

I am in love with these flowers! They are made of crepe paper! I absolutely want to make some of these for our house. Lovely.

Shamrockin' Oreo Truffles

I have been wanting to make Bakerella's cake balls for quite some time, and today I discovered another amazing Bakerella find... Mint Oreo Truffles! Perfect for St. Paddy's Day. Check out her other St. Patrick's day creations here.

Girl Scout Cookies

This weekend I was very excited to receive the boxes of Girl Scout Cookies I ordered a month ago...only to be quickly disappointed at the small amount of cookies each $3.50 box contained. And...I wasn't too thrilled with the taste either. Of course I did try two types of cookies I hadn't before, which I won't be getting again. I still love Thin Mints and Samoas--absolute favorite, but unless I am supporting someone I know, I don't think I will be buying boxes of girl scout cookies again. I'll make them myself!
Here are some homemade girl scout cookie recipes you should try:
Samoas or for an easier version, Samoa Bars.
Do-Si-Dos
Tag-a-longs
and....last of all.

Thin Mints! I made these a month ago, when I couldn't wait to receive the cookies I had ordered. They were good, but they took a lot of time. It was my first experience with making cookies where the dough had to be put in the freezer. I might have done something wrong because the dough was pretty crumbly and so they don't look too great... I also think I would try a different type of chocolate to dip the cookies in. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. At first I didn't like them, but then they grew on me and I decided I really liked them after all. :)
This is the only recipe I've tried of these, but I'm excited to try the other ones!

Rainbow

I came across these colorful pancakes today...wouldn't this be so fun to do for St. Patrick's day? Or really for any occasion...I just thought leprechauns always have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...maybe somehow they go together?

Do you like them here or there?

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday, and while it is a little late to celebrate right now...we are planning on having a Dr. Seuss night this weekend, complete with green eggs and ham! I found a few recipes that are all very different from each other. I might just try the simplest one, but the others look pretty good! you can find them here (this one has a couple different recipes), here, and here.

First Words

How fun is this idea? I love this idea of a simple first words book with familiar things my little honey loves. I would have to get some more blocks to do this though, we only have one for each letter of the alphabet. This idea, including pictures was found at Say Yes to Hoboken.

Come run with me!

I was a lucky winner thanks to Make it Work Mom...and won a free entry into the Run For Red Race! I am so excited...and I would love it if you came and ran with me! The proceeds benefit their disaster relief fund. So, come this Saturday! March 6th at 10:00 am in Provo! $20 adults; $15 students. Hope to see you there!!

If you like to sew...

...then you have to check out this cute website Obsessively Stitching! It has the most adorable ideas! Like this alphabet quiet book!