Monday, January 26, 2009

Make it and love it

Okay, I have this friend who is amazingly talented! She comes up with the greatest, cutest ideas. She has helped me do things before, and if she can help me-she can help ANYONE. Anyway, she started a blog with tutorials of things that she has made. Totally cute! If you feel like being crafty, take a look at her blog.

makeitandloveit.blogspot.com ( or just hit the button and the top of the blog )

Right now she is doing a give away of some super cute things. Go check it out!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Crash

So we got in a bit of a car accident on Monday the 19. We were on our way home from shopping for house decorations when traffic slowed pretty fast. I was able to stop okay and so was the car behind me. After I saw the car behind me had stopped, I didn't really pay attention to what was going on behind me. About 30 seconds later, we were hit really hard out of the blue. Our car hit the car in front of us, and we spun around until we hit the car who had hit us the first time and our car finally stopped-facing the opposite direction. Talk about a moment of panic ( and at the same time relief ) because the kids were screaming. At least if they were screaming they were alive! I got out of the car to get my kids out, but the doors on my side of the car were jammed. One of the cars who saw the accident thought our car was on fire and they could hear the kids screaming, so it took about 2 seconds for people to run over and pull the kids out of the car. Everyone was shaken, but we came away with some whiplash, bumps on the head, and popped blood vessels. The other two cars involved had to take people to the hospital, so we were VERY aware of how blessed and lucky we were. The car that hit us didn't see that traffic was stopping, so they swerved to miss the car behind me and lost control of their car and hit us in the back left corner, Gracie, thankfully, was sitting in the back right side of the car. I think this is were we hit the car in front of us.
We thought this picture was a little funny, not only for the look on my face, but also because I am taller than the car. When I first saw it, I didn't even think it was ours because it looked so small. The rear axle is broken.


This shows where we took the impact from the other car. Yup, all my new house decorations were in the back and flew out the car when the window broke. I think Evan was a little relieved because he ended up not liking what I bought, but to his dismay, I found that a little hot glue and some nails go a long way. I also told him the antique look is in, so it is okay that all our stuff is chipped and scratched! It was a little funny when I went to hand him one of the decorations and he looked at me confused and asked why I was bringing the muffler home. Wow! What does that say about my taste in decorations??


Once I finally got a look at the car that hit us, I noticed our bumper was sticking out of his mangled engine. You can't see it in this picture but the back seat was shoved forward, so our back seats didn't line up.


Well, we got the final word that our car is a total loss, so now we will begin the process of finding a new car. Ashley, doesn't it seem like yesterday you were bringing over fudge for our "car-warming" gift? Evan really has a lot of love for that car. He feels like it did a good job to protect our little family.




Sunday, January 11, 2009

Some fun before Christmas

This is us on Christmas Eve in our matching family pajamas!! Gracie is asleep behind us. Sweet thing had so much fun playing with her cousins she couldn't even stay up on Christmas Eve. My super great neighbor Susan taught me how to make pajamas so the whole family could be matching. It turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be. ( most likely because Susan was there to take over all the times I messed up. Thanks!!!)
Sander was one of the shepherds during our puppets Christmas program. My mom made all these super cute puppets. We sure miss Grandpa and Grandma Gee. We will be with you next year!!

Gracie was waiting for half the month to see the baby Jesus with the puppets. We finally got everyone clean and in the new pajamas and Gracie sat down in the chair and fell asleep. We tried and tried to wake her, but it just wasn't happening. On Christmas day she ran up to me and told me we didn't ever see baby Jesus. She didn't think she slept through it all until she saw the pictures. I guess there is always next year. :)



Sander was looking forward to this so much, and he fell ASLEEP!! He sure tried to have fun. Evan would go over a jump while Sander was sleeping, and Sander would try to laugh and cheer but he couldn't ever pull himself out of that deep sleep. Caleb lasted longer than Sander, but in the end he joined him for a long winters nap.



This is turning into a tradition at Evan's parents house. We hook up the big sleds to the 4-wheelers and all go for a ride. The "boys" (evan and eric) get to be boys while Janine and I climb in with the kids and enjoy the ride.



Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bring in the new year- review of last year( well a bit of a review)

It may take some time, but my goal is to put some updates of the last year on here every now and then. Sorry there is no really order to this, but here goes....Sander and Gracie wanted to be a cowboy and cowgirl this year. This is them with some neighbors before trick or treating.
This is Gracie's glamour shot. Just kidding, but this is my baby all done up. She LOVES putting on makeup.

Always got to love preg-testing the cows. The kids adore their dad, and they want to do everything he does. He is teaching them young how to prod the cows along. Yeehaw!



This was the day of Gracie's first primary program. Sander was her number one fan. Got to love that smile...




Evan and I were in our ward roadshow. Go HONEY!! Evan only agreed because we have a super nice neighbor who asked Evan to be in it, and he couldn't tell her no. I think once it was all over, he decided that it wasn't all bad. I guess we will see next year if he agrees to it again.
We have really started out this year right. The kids have been so sick they haven't been out of the house for days, weeks, I can't keep track. At this rate I will be updating every day! If anyone has ideas of things to do with the kids in the house, I will take them. The movies are getting old and the kids can only go so long without fighting. It is great fun at our house...


Yummy orange rolls

Okay, I got this recipe from Janine who got it from one of her friends. I hope it is okay to put on my blog, but you guys have got to try these! They are wonderful

Orange Rolls

Dough

2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 eggs
I cup room temperature milk
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour

Filling
1/2 cup butter ( soften )
1/2 cup sugar
rind of 2 oranges-finely grated

1.soften yeast in 1/4 cup water. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes
2. beat eggs VERY well
3. combine yeast mixture, eggs, warm milk, shortening, the rest of the sugar, and salt into very large bowl
4. add flour a cup at a time until soft dough forms. (no longer sticky)
5. cover and let rise until double in size
6. divide dough in half and roll out
7. spread half of orange filling on each half and roll up cinnamon roll style
8. cut with floss and place in a greased 9x13 in. pan
9. let rise a second time until doubled
10. bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 min. until lightly browned

Filling
1. mix butter, sugar and orange rind. cool in refrigerator so it will stay in rolls easier


Frosting

8 0z cream cheese
4 TBLS butter softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 bag white chocolate chips

1. mix the first four ingredients
2. melt the white chocolate and combine the two. SPREAD ON ROLLS IMMEDIATELY


Hope you like them...