Delightful!

A few weeks ago my cute friend Melissa (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!!) posted this recipe on her blog. She said that it was possibly the best dessert she's ever made. Well... I made it for a Halloween party last weekend and I have to say.... she was right! It was divine. I've had a ton of people ask me for the recipe so I thought I'd pass it along here too:

Pumpkin Delight
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 glass dish.

Beat 3 eggs well. Add 1 cup sugar, 15 ounce can pumpkin, 1 large size can evaporated milk (I think it's 10 ounces give or take), 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice) and mix.

Pour into glass dish. Sprinkle the dry contents of 1 box of yellow cake mix over the top. Melt and drizzle 1 1/2 sticks of butter on top of the dry cake mix. Bake about 45 or 50 minutes at 350.

Serve warm with whipped cream, chocolate chips and/or pecans sprinkled on top (I highly recommend the toppings!). Enjoy. A lot. The toppings really are what send this dessert over the top of deliciousness. (Allen will be taking this to his work party on Friday too - it's that good!)

Here's one more of my favorite fall recipes. I make this as breakfast for dinner.

Gingerbread Pancakes & Apple Syrup

Pancakes:
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
2 T. shortening
1/2 c. molasses
1 1/2 c. four
2 eggs, separated, add yolks
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ginger
1/2 t. cinnamon

Beat whites until stiff. Mix all. Fold in whites.

Apple syrup:

Mix:
1 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. cinnamon
1 T. lemon juice
2 C. apple juice

Boil 1 minute. Stir in 1/4 c. butter.

(I usually double the pancake recipe and then freeze the extras. The syrup is SO good over any kind of pancake/waffle and makes a lot)

Can't resist...

... posting a little sneak peek of our family photoshoot from the weekend!

Thanks Erin! I can't wait to see the rest!

8 months

Baby Lulu is 8 (and a half) months old. We did a little photoshoot today. I've noticed that when babies are tiny, it's hard to get a good picture because they can't focus on anything. She's older now but she wants to be moving ALL.THE.TIME. I got some cute shots though. This is the closest I've ever gotten to capturing her real smile - and wouldn't you know I cut off her bow. My lack of photography skills is pathetically obvious. She's so cute though and gave me a million sweet smiles today:
Trying to crawl out of the chair:
Ok, so this month has been full of lots of changes for Addie:

- She recently started to pull up on furniture and I saw her take a few tentative steps holding on a couple days ago.
- She can crawl up the stairs
- Says mama, dada and hi
- Still doesn't really like baby food but looooves table food. She loves graham crackers, rice cakes, pretzels, fries, noodles (what can I say, she's a carb lover). She's liking yogurt and cheese more and this week she tried scrambled eggs and wasn't impressed at all. She also like meat. Most nights I just cut up what we're eating into tiny bites and let her try it all.
- Is finally drinking out of a sippy cup.
- Still a terrible night sleeper. I'm feeling very sleep deprived lately and would love to get a full night of rest soon.
- Is nursing 6-8 times a day
- Can crawl but prefers to do the inchworm crawl - she is fast.
- Is obsessed with my scale (that makes two of us!!), the remote control, paper of any kind, her siblings and the doll house.

I have the cutest video of her today that I will have to upload later!

Photo Tag

My cute friend Kelli tagged me for this. You're supposed to go to your picture folder, pick the 6th folder and the 6th picture in the folder. I had to cheat a little bit because my sixth folder is called "Card Backgrounds." So here's my 7th folder, 6th picture:

I'm pretty sure these are scanned images that I must have emailed or something at some point. This was the photo shoot for our 2004 Christmas cards. Carter was 23 months old and had just learned how to really ham it up for the camera. I remember that this was our 2nd or 3rd attempt to get a good picture and he just wouldn't cooperate for me. As soon as Al stepped on the scene, he was perfectly behaved and gave us so many good shots we had a hard time picking which one to use.

Thanks for the tag Kel. I desperately needed to get the depressing last week post off the top of the page. Play along!

{And thanks for all your sweet and encouraging comments about things. It will work out, it always does. And several of you have asked about the lawsuit - we were fighting over escrow money from a couple who put an offer on our house and then walked away 6 days before closing. We had put a lot of money into the house to fix things for them so we really deserved the money - isn't that what escrow money is for?}

Last Week

Last week will NOT go down as a fun week of our lives. Not.at.all. It was abnormally busy. Allen is extremely busy with work and his company has enrolled him in a super intense training course that lasts for 4 months (one week per month). He has to travel to attend the course, and last week was the week for the month. On Wednesday he called late in the afternoon to say that he had gotten in a wreck coming home early from training. It was a 4 car pile up and it was his fault. Luckily, no one was hurt and only our car was damaged. It's our first accident ever and it is so inconvenient and expensive. We have a high deductible, which works great on saving on our monthly premiums, but stinks when you have to actually pay it (go figure).

Here's a picture of his car. The body shop had already started the work on it by the time I got over there to take a picture. I'm so grateful that he wasn't hurt and count my blessings in that way.

In other bad news, we heard back about a lawsuit we have been involved in over our CONNECTICUT house. We lost because our attorney did not do his job. Blatantly did not do his job - did not file some paperwork that the court was requiring from us. Sigh. We keep thinking that someday we'll be able to look back on that house debacle with some humor but it's been two years and it's still SO not funny to us. Maybe someday I'll laugh about it, but last week I cried. Again.

Digital Disney

I've finally started scrapping our Disneyland pictures. I've spent the last 18 months going back and forth on going digital in my scrapbooking. I've finally taken the plunge. It took me awhile to scrap just these two layouts this weekend. But I'm getting more familiar with PSE and getting faster all the time. A huge thanks to Miss Mindy for her constant help/hand holding as I make the transition. And can I just say that scrapping these pictures makes me want to go back to Disneyland RIGHT NOW! It is making me happy just to see these pictures again!

Credits (I need to keep better track of this): Every thing you see here is from various Disney kits offered by Britt-ish Designs at Scrap Matters (there is a HUGE lack of Disney kits, luckily hers are just my style. I've purchased almost every one she's designed)

And if you're considering going digital, I highly recommend the classes offered over at Jessica Sprague. I've taken a couple and they are awesome. Starting today you can register for a FREE class over there just to see if it's for you.

Kid friendly recipes

One of my favorite things to do with my kids is cook. I like to keep things simple and fun and have been meaning to blog about a few of our new favorites. So in an attempt to get out of my blogging slump, here you go!


Mall Pretzels (I *might* have had a slight addiction to these when I was pregnant with A. But at $4 a pop, I knew I could make them cheaper myself) Got the recipe here at allrecipes: Mall Pretzels Here's Carter rolling out the dough when we made them for FHE a few weeks ago. We topped ours with Cinnamon/sugar and garlic salt/parm cheese (my fave). They are way yummy!


Homemade Oreos: These are SO easy and delicious and a hit any time we make them.

Cookie:

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix (I use devil's food)

2 eggs

1/2 c. butter melted

Mix ingredients, roll into small balls. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes

Once cookies have cooled, frost cookies and stick two together (I use store bought frosting)

Edible Playdough: There's a ton of recipes out there for this one. I like this one because it uses ingredients that I have on hand.

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. honey

2 c. powdered sugar

This is pretty sweet but actually tastes good (don't worry, I tried it before the kids played with and germified it). You can store this indefinitely in your fridge in an airtight container. This was a big hit with my kiddos.

Individual Molten Lava Cakes: Who doesn't LOVE those Molten cakes? So yummy but expensive to buy a mix at the store. A few months ago we had an enrichment night on quick cooking. The lady who taught the class had awesome recipes and ideas. One of her ideas was these individual cakes. We've made these several times and it's an often requested treat from the kids. These are SO easy too (do you see a theme here?):

1/2 c. chocolate cake mix

1/3 c. water

mix together in bowl for one minute (you can use paper bowls for this too). Top batter with 2 T. hot fudge topping. Microwave 60-90 seconds. Serve warm with ice cream

Spider cupcakes: Here's one we did a couple weeks ago as a Halloween project. I got this idea from the amazing Bakerella (If you've never seen her blog, you must check it out - she does incredible work)

She has tons of ideas for holiday treats. The hardest part of these cupcakes was finding the skinny licorice for the legs!

Do your kids have a favorite recipe? Feel free to share in the comments!

Pumpkin Patch 2008

There is nothing like a couple 75 degree days in Phoenix to renew your spirits (you might think I'm joking, but I'm not). On Friday night I asked Allen to check to the weather for the next couple weekends so we could try to hit the pumpkin patch before Halloween. He looked and we were both shocked that the high on Saturday was only going to be 75! I learned my lesson last year when we had a few cooler days and postponed our trip and then ended up having to go on a 95 degree day. So after soccer, dance and lunch we headed off to the patch!

Unsure of the hay (but oh my gosh, I could eat her!):

Petting zoo:Hay bale maze on trikes:Corn maze:Corn crib full of dried corn (the kids loved this and stayed in for the longest time):Miss personality - I cannot get enough of this toothless grin:Train ride:Duck races (pump water down these long troughs to have them race - we spent a long time doing this too):

Not pictured: The bouncy house, rope swing, kids' play area and tractor ride (I have these pics but clearly, this is enough). The five of us also downed an enormous bag of fresh kettle corn (YUM!!!) I say five of us because Addie was shoveling it in her mouth as fast as I would give it to her! Ok, it isn't New England but I have to say this is one of the most fun pumpkin patches I've ever been to - we had a blast!

This weekend is *just* what the doctor ordered. I'm feeling more like myself than I have in awhile! Don't worry, it's supposed to be back up to the high 90s by the end of the week but at least I have a glimpse of what it will be like here in a few weeks!

Blah

I have the blogging blahs. Actually, I kind of have life blahs right now.

Be back soon (I hope).

Laurie's Wedding

Last weekend Allen's little sister, Laurie got married. We got to spend the weekend in Al's hometown and had so much fun. A ton of his extended family came into town for the big event so that made it even more exciting. Here's a "few" pictures from the reception and wedding.

The happy couple arriving at the reception (which they held the night before the wedding):

LJ decided to have a circus themed reception which had me a bit nervous. Her friend did all the decorating and it was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S. It was all vintagey and totally amazing. Here's some of the decor (which of course my pictures do absolutely no justice):

(I'm still Jonesing for these amazing vintage pennants. I want them for my playroom SO bad!)

She served cotton candy, shave ice and popcorn as part of the refreshments:

She had the most beautiful floral arrangements everywhere:Sample centerpiece- every table was differentCarter picked Laurie a "bouquet" out of the lawn at the church and he was so excited to give it to her:Cute cousins - so excited to eat their cotton candy. They all ate SO much junk that night - I think Carter had about 7 snow cones alone!

She had all kinds of fun cakes and wanted to serve milk with it:Adorable airplane and banner hanging from the ceiling:

Our family at the reception:My mom and dad just happened to be coming to town at the same time as the wedding. My dad's 50th high school reunion was the same weekend (my dad and Al's dad graduated from the same HS)

Our family at the temple. There were clearly about 10 cameras trying to get a picture at the same time and no one knew where to look. I can't wait to see what the professional photographer gotCute cousins with the bribery candy from the photographer (brilliant). In M's other hand is her very first lip GLOSS that I bought her last week. It hasn't left her hot little hand since - LOLMakenna was OBSESSED with Laurie's wedding dress. She told me repeatedly, "Mom, I've got to have that same princess dress. I'm going to put it on my Christmas list. Tell Santa I HAVE to have one too!"

The rest of the weekend was great fun playing on the ranch - four wheeling, rope swing, treehouse, hiking, hanging with family, etc!

We're so happy for Laurie and Adam. They are a great couple and compliment each other wonderfully!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

So it's only about six weeks early, but I got my birthday present yesterday!!!

I am so excited about this little find. When we bought our couch we decided to forgo the ottoman that went with it. I've always had a bit of buyer's remorse about it, especially when the furniture store went out of business shortly after we bought the couch (we always thought we could go back and purchase it later). So, I've had my eye out for an ottoman for over a year now. Yesterday I hit the JACKPOT.

Check her out:

Ready for this? Original price: $597, I got it for 75% off! I've *almost* purchased ottomans a couple of different times and now I'm SO happy that I waited. I like this way better than the one that came with the couch. I originally wanted something in patterned fabric but I find it nearly impossible to commit to fabric. I always want the options of totally switching things up any time I need a change. So this is perfect for me with my fabric phobia! I'm down to only needing a couple more pieces of furniture for my house to be DONE furniture wise.

Hmmm... it seems like forever since I posted anything about my kiddos. This is turning into a project blog. I'll make sure to remedy that this week!.

Get Ready for Conference!

I'm so excited! I love general conference weekend!

There are so many fun general conference packets out there now floating around the internet. Here's a few that I've found this week:

Sugardoodle has two packets, one for older kids and one for younger kids!

This is the packet that I had emailed to me several times before the April General Conference:
April Conference Packet (there is also an updated version of this available)

Deseret Book has a new cute packet available:
Deseret Book Packet


I also made a memory/match game out of the 12 apostles. I printed out the picture and facts cards and then laminated them. (Elder Christofferson is included) Cards can be found here

We also decided to start a new tradition this year. We're taking breakfast to our home and visiting teaching families. A friend of mine told me about her home teacher bringing them breakfast for every General Conference weekend. I loved this idea and decided to borrow it! Unfortunately, we have an 8:00 a.m. soccer game followed by dance at 9:00 so we delivered our breakfast tonight for them to enjoy tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend!

Bootiful & Spooktackular!

Do you like my cheesy title?

I finally finished up my Halloween decorating this morning! Something about this time of year makes me want to craft, craft, craft! And I have been up to my eyeballs in projects this last week. Here's a little peek around my house today. This isn't all my Halloween decor but it's most of my new stuff.
I don't really do scary Halloween around here so the spider webs are as crazy as we get. I did get some mums, even though I have to water them twice a day! (I change this planter box out every season):On my front door. This is the only new thing this year that isn't hand made. Thanks to Jan for pointing out this cutie from Cracker Barrel:In the living room: I'd like one more super tall candle stick but haven't been able to find one yet.Here's a closeup of the Halloween scrapbook I made. It's all my kids' Halloweens and I'll add to it each year. Cost to make $0 - I had everything for this project on hand!You know that banners are all the rage right now. My mom and I made this one last week while she was here. This picture does not do it justice as the fabrics are SO cute on this. It's all fabric and sewn perfectly by my mama! Cost $0 - my mom brought all the fabric/supplies from her huge stashAnother sewing project is this AWESOME witches stocking that I made yesterday (yep, the entire thing during nap time and after the kids were in bed). Again, the details on this are SO cute, I should take a closeup picture of the cute laces up the front of the boot. Cost of project - about $1 for the cheesecloth - I had everything else on hand. I even pulled the berries out of an unused garland and spray painted them black and orange (another detail you can't really see here) Here's a picture of my buffet as it is right now. Next to that lantern is the CUTEST witch that I've had for a few years.Close up of the star. I LOVE how this turned out. The paper details are adorable and Halloweeny. I made this the night before my mom got here. Metal star, patterned paper, Mod Podge and ribbon. So easy to make! Cost of project - about $3 for patterned paper. I had the star, ribbon and some paper on hand. I just painted the star black and went to town.

I'm so thrilled to have added this to my decor this year:
Cost to me $0!!! Yep, you read that right. Last year, one of my friends purchased the advent calendar from PBK. When she got it, the dowel had broken so PBK sent her a brand new one. There was nothing else wrong with it so she gave it to me. I just had to fix the dowel, which I did by replacing it with a cheapy curtain rod that I had from one of my previous houses that I spray painted black. My kids are going to be so excited to get treats and activities out of this all season long!

I LOVE that it's October because I consider it the beginning of the holiday season!