Crazy!...I know.

Okay, so yesterday was just a nutty day. I went clothes shopping. I usually can find really good deals and things that look totally awesome on me...but yesterday...not so much! I did find a $3 blouse for my business side of life, so that was good. I did not however find nice slacks or jacket for business which is the truly really reason I went in 4 separate stores in search of them. So, feeling a bit defeated, I took Jenna to Burger King and got drive through. Headed to Wal-Mart and parked in the parking lot to eat away my bummer day. Finished eating, got out of the van, locked the van, shut the door and double checked my purse for keys...triple checked for keys....quadruple checked for keys...NO KEYS. Looked back at car...keys dangling in the ignition......Augh! (that's me completely disgusted with myself). I must mention at this point that it's been about 2 years since I've done that so, I guess it was time. Luckily I did have my phone and wallet in my purse on my shoulder. I called Randall and we then arranged for our neighbors to watch the kids (I had all the car seats) so that Randall could come rescue me in the pick up truck...oh but wait, I had both spare keys to the truck with me! As it happened Debbie had an extra and he was able to come and save me after an hour of bumming around Wal-Mart after I checked out.

All that to say, I had the worst desire to create something that I know would be good and that I had complete control over once I got home. So, I made cupcakes (I know, right?). I make 24 and to date every single one are gone. Not by me thank goodness! I don't think my thighs could handle any more fat.... I took them to church where the youth often become my giunepigs for my creations. I had one left when I got home and Bud rushed in to devour it this morning. So, do you want to know what kind I made? I was intirely my own invention. Although i received inspiration from my newest book, 'Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it'. I made what will forever be known as:

Carmel Butter Pecan Cupcakes with a Salted Carmel Cream Cheese Frosting

Long name, right? Maybe I should name it CBPCSCCCF? (Wow. Flashbacks to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) It was really fun to put these together and I think I'll definitely be added these to the repertoire.

I'm a TOM BOY!

For awhile now Jenna has insisted that she was much more boyish than girlish. There was never a point were she has deviated from that position either. In fact, she got for Christmas from Santa a pink bike with flowers on it and in her own words she said, "I really wanted a boy bike with flames. Doesn't Santa know I'm a TOM BOY?!? I guess next year I'll have to write that in my note, too..."

I must admit, having a girl that would rather be a boy is somewhat disconcerting. I had all these hopes of doing all sorts of little girl things with Jenna when she was born. Ya know, dollies and dress up and doing fun things with her hair. All that is a big fat no on the Jenna meter. But, this week there have been glimpes of hope in all this masculinity. Tuesday she decidided that we're going to plant a butterfly garden so see can look at all the pretty butterflies. She had me read Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly, which is completely girly. Ashton wouldn't even look at the pages...And last but not least, she made beads with me in the kitchen using some instructions we found on Martha Stewart's website. Granted her's were acid green, but at least she made them and had fun doing it to boot! This weekend we're going to make Valentines to hand out to all their friends and family plus mail a few. I may just be rubbing off on her what do you think?

Smile!

Shiloh has a new thing that she does. Whenever you say smile, she does this:










She's super cute about it. And I think it's totally funny that she does it on command! She also loves to laugh when anyone else does, too! She's a source of a lot of laughter and happiness in our home...

I finished the invitations for New Beginnings. I mentioned before that we are holding ours on Valentines with the theme Fearless Heart. I'm super excited about and I took a picture of the invites. The photo I created in Photoshop and then I pasted it on scrapbook paper. On the back I added the info for the night. Here's what it looks like:


The word art over the silhouette says, "Fearless Heart: Be Strong and of a Good Courage"

I just love it and I'm going to frame mine and put it on my fridge so I can see it everyday.

Be Strong

About 4 or 5 months ago, I got a phone call from my m-i-l (Randall's step-mom). She told me that she was reading her scriptures and that she was lead to share with me some scriptures that would help our family in the coming months. One of those scriptures was Joshua 1:9 which states: "Be strong and of a good courage, for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest." Shortly afterward, I found out that this was the theme for the youth of the church during 2010. I love it! It has really struck accord with me and I'm uber excited about it and including it in all our activities this year.
Next week I'm in charge of our combined activity and as part of it I made these chocolate boxes for handouts. I made both the box and the wrappers in Photoshop. It was a fun project. When all 20 boxes are stacked up, they look this building blocks, which is part of what I'm going to talk about with them. I think I'm going to start with a clip from A Brand New Year that introduces the theme: Be Strong and of a Good Courage. Then we're going to play a game to help illutrate the point that as we are strong and courageous we are building the kingdom of God. So, yeah...I'm super excited about all of it.