Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I had a birthday last week!!! My future step-mother sent me these beautiful flowers! Isn't that sweet?? She was nice enough to have the florist put my Dad's name on the card too. Also I have no idea how to describe my upcoming relationship with Marie. I have never really liked the term step-mother, I just feel like it has a negative connotation (possibly from the movie Cinderella). Usually I just say "Dad and Marie" which works fine, but every once in a while it is hard to describe the relationship. Anyway I am so excited that she is joining our family, whatever she is called. 

Okay after that little detour,  back to the birthday festivities. I made some awesome molten chocolate cakes, Carson did offer to make me a cake but lets face it, we would both rather eat something I have cooked.  He did get me a fudge cookie dough blizzard from Dairy Queen, and took me out to dinner though. And the best part... we are going to Thriller at the Tuacahn tomorrow night!!! I am sooooo excited. 

Carson really wanted a picture of the card he got me. We have only watched the first season of Duck Dynasty, you know because we don't have cable, and we are too cheap to actually rent it, so we got the first season from our local library. But we did find it pretty entertaining (if a bit staged). Anyway there was an endearing note in the card about how he loves me more than Phil loves squirrel, don't you all wish you had such a romantic guy?? Well keep wishing because he is taken, and I sure love him.

Angels Landing

Stacy and Jeremy were nice enough to let Kynlee and I tag along with their family on a hike up Angels Landing in Zion National Park. The weather was perfect, and we had lots of fun. 

 Kynlee thought the best part was playing in the sand. She started throwing it, and with all the sunscreen that we had put in her hair, she became a redhead pretty fast. 

 My shoulders were a bit sore the next day from hiking all those switchbacks like this. Kynlee fell asleep on the hike down and I loved carrying her that way because she NEVER sleeps in my arms anymore. 

I am so happy that we live in such a beautiful place.

Fall Photos!!

So Carson and I dragged Morgan down the canyon trail today after church in the wind and cold to take some family pictures for us. She is a great sport, because we are not a photogenic family. On second thought I am not sure that any family with a very active 1 year old who wants to go eat rocks and dirt the whole time can really be classified as a photogenic family. Either way she did an awesome job, and the whole thing took less than 45 min and we still made it back in time for our stake devotional, woo hoo!! Then I had fun editing my favorites. I don't think Carson had any fun thru the editing process though because I kept asking him over and over, "do you like it now??" He wanted me to do all the crazy effects like neon and such, I am much too boring for that. Anyway after that long and boring introduction, here are the pictures!!!

 

Oh yeah and there were QUITE a few that turned out like this, I will spare you the rest of those!

Pinterest Challenge wrap-up!

So today is the day to report on the pins that we did in the last 2 weeks. (or if you are me, the day to finish up 1 or 2 of them). As the challenge was coming to a close, I was worried that I would not get all my pins done, but it turns out, I actually did 12 pins, WOW. Anyway here is the wrap-up on what I did, hold on tight this may be the longest post ever!!

These are the pins that I did. Don't they look impressive??

So this is a DIY waterfall front shirt from here. As you can see, mine is not identical to the picture because I could not find ruffle fabric, and believe me, I looked all over. So I used a slightly less cute fabric, but it still worked well. And FYI it took me exactly 13 tries to get a picture of it that I was happy with, go me!

Oops I forgot to picture these peanut butter pretzel bars above, and I am WAY too lazy to go back and add them now, so you will just have to go from my picture. These were great. I actually used caramel instead of peanut butter because I had some in the fridge that I needed to use, I think they would be awesome either way. Also the cookie recipe alone was one of the best bar cookie recipes I have tried. Highly recommended.    

I tried these breadsticks from this pin, and let me tell you they were awesome. I followed the recipe exactly until the very end when I spontaneously brushed one of the loaves with jalapeno juice, and then since I was taking them to a BBQ I needed a way to tell those apart from they plain ones the olives in the fridge made the cut. I couldn't really taste the jalapeno much, but the olives made a great addition, and all the breadsticks got eaten before the meal even started. 

 I tried to copy this outfit, but as with all my pins, I did not do it exactly, mostly because I don't have a cute red skirt, but I still think it turned out really cute. After I got dressed I realized that the entire outfit either came from second hand stores, or relief society exchanges, so all in all it cost less than $10.00. AWESOME!!!

 Ok I was a bit skeptical of this recipe for homemade thin mints because as a thin mint lover, I know that there is some sort of chocolate cookie in the middle, not a ritz cracker. But even though they did not taste just like thin mints, they were easy and made a great tasty treat. As a bonus Kynlee loved them.

  

I loosely copied this outfit that I pinned a long time ago on My Style board. I was planning on matching it a little closer, but when I went to my closet and saw this striped cardigan, I thought it would look awesome, and I think I was right so that is the way I wore it for the day. The boots were a bit of a stretch for me because even though the fashion rules (you know those rules written by some unknown individuals who tell us what to wear) say that black and brown are neutrals so you can wear them together, I have always disliked putting them together. 

To be honest when I wear it again I will probably wear my black boots with it. 

And that was probably way more than you wanted to know about my fashion dilemmas in the mornings.

 I also took a picture with the black jacket just for a more accurate comparison of the actual pin, but I still think it looked better when I added my own twist. 

I made these awesome molten lava cakes, and they did not disappoint. I cooked them just as long as the recipe said to, and not a minute more, but it might have been a tiny bit too long because they were not quite as gooey on the inside as I thought they would be. 

They were even better the next day, especially when put in the microwave for 10 seconds. I would definitely recommend trying them.

You guys would not believe how long I have been working on this pin. Or more accurately how long I have NOT been working on it after I started it. But I finally finished it!! 

It was actually a very easy craft, although it was made harder by the fact that I cut my hand with the glass and I had to try not to bleed all over the letters while I placed them. Proceed with caution!!!

 I made this pillow to decorate our bed with from this pin. It is actually just a picture so I just had to wing it, but it was  pretty easy. 

I tried out this recipe for watermelon and strawberry lemonade. My Dad has been coming over here almost every weekend to see his girlfriend (may none of you ever live to see the day when you have to double date with your parent) and he leaves a very large watermelon with Carson and I every time he heads back home. So I needed a way to use up the latest one before it went bad. I did not love this recipe, I think it was the liquid watermelon that I didn't care for, but Kynlee really liked it. And just so you know, only the first date was awkward, now it is fine and we are sooooo happy for my Dad. Also removing all the seeds from a watermelon takes a long time!!

We had some zucchini that I needed to use up, and this was a great way. We followed the suggestions at the very end to add some jalapeno and some bacon. A Great way to use up those zucchinis that are getting passed around all summer. 

And lastly I tried out this honey walnut shrimp recipe. Don't judge by my unappetizing looking picture, this recipe was great. When I originally tasted the sauce I thought it was a little overpowering, but when combined with the shrimp and walnuts it was delicious and I went back for seconds, and maybe even thirds.

Good for you if you have made it this far in this long boring post. These challenges are so fun, and they make me feel very accomplished. I also love that I can make them as easy or as hard as I want to. I can't wait to read everyone elses follow-ups, and if you didn't join us, you had better join next time. Seriously people!!! 

Pinterest Challenge Take 2!!!

We are doing the Pinterest Challenge again!! Check out Megan's blog for the details!! And remember we want to see the fun things you do, so post your results. Happy Pinning!!

Meatballs!!

I am going to start putting my favorite recipes on my blog so the three or so of you who actually read my blog can enjoy them as much as I do
These meatballs are the best, and they are pretty darn easy too, always a plus in my opinion.

Mozzarella  stuffed Meatballs

What you need:
1 lb raw hamburger
1 egg
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1 1/2 C. bread crumbs
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. oregano
pinch of garlic powder
a pinch or two of salt and pepper
4 cheese sticks cut into 1/2 inch pieces
oil for frying

Mix the first 8 ingredients in a bowl, then form meatballs around the pieces of cheese.
Fry the meatballs in thin layer of oil, until cooked thru, turning once. Easy Right??? And don't worry if some of the meatballs split open when frying, they will still taste excellent.

Serve with cooked noodles, and your favorite pasta sauce, mine comes from a can... I told you I like it easy.

I actually put half of the meatballs in the freezer after I form them, then I have an easy ready made meal for the future.

The proof of the deliciousness is written all over her face!!!
Happy Cooking

Hiking!!

Carson and I have been trying to take advantage of these last few warm weekends, so we decided to go on a hike every Saturday until we declare it too cold to go anymore, I am really hoping that is not too soon, I am not ready for summer to be over. 

Our first hike was supposed to be a water hike, but it had recently rained, and the water was flowing a bit higher than usual, so we really just hiked down to the bottom of the canyon, let baby girl play in the mud, and then hiked back up.

 Kynlee thought it was great!!!

 Our next hike was up the "C" trail. Neither of us realized how long this hike actually was, when we saw the sign at the bottom saying 4.25 miles, we thought that was the round trip total. We were WRONG!! The really terrible part was that the big "C" taunts you as you think you are getting closer, but the trail has you walk all over the mountain without actually getting closer, in fact you pass the C many times and just keep going off to the side for awhile before you eventually start heading back the right way. I was spent by the time we finally got to the top, and I was planning on taking a nice long rest. Again I was WRONG!! As soon as we climbed up over the edge of the hill, the wind about knocked us down, it was sooooo strong up there. We only stayed long enough to take a few windy pictures and share our water with a high school boy who evidentally didn't realize how long the hike was either, and then we were out of there. Now I have 3 nice blisters to prove that I made it to the "C", and they better last, because I am never doing that hike again.

Holyoak Reunion!!

Over Labor Day weekend Carson and I got to head to Moab for the Holyoak family reunion. As usual it was a weekend full of good times. We started off the weekend by going to see this beauty. After a bit of struggling with the company to make it just the way Dad wanted it, it was finally set last week. I must say I spent many hours sitting with Dad trying to get this right. You see Dad wanted the little needle and thread thing saying "She brought us joy," over Mom's name. Not a big deal right?? WRONG!!! Dad told them what he wanted and even drew a little picture so they would get the idea, assuming that they could make it look even better. The samples that we were sent truly looked like a 4 year old drew them, I was appalled that they would think anyone would want that on their headstone. So I took the image and loaded it into Paint (not the most user friendly program on the planet might I add) and erased their lines, printed it out, drew what Dad wanted, and scanned it back to the company.  Well this worked great, but then Dad assumed I could fix anything on it, so he went to work having us redraw the cabin, which was also appalling, seriously, these people don't even know the basic rules for drawing a 3-dimensional image. As you can see we never did get it quite fixed, I am not a graphic designer, and I did not have a fancy or even easy to use program to work with, but let me tell you it is WAY closer to what the cabin actually looks like than what they drew from the picture Dad gave them. And all in all I think it looks pretty nice, and I think Mom would be happy with it, and at least now whenever I go see it I can be happy that I helped design it (although shouldn't Dad and I have gotten a share of the chunk of change Dad paid for it).

 We took Mom some of her own roses, which Dad has kept alive. I had nothing to do with it because I have killed every flower I have ever tried to tend. 

 Then we headed to the reunion where we had lots of good food, and lots of fun. Kynlee really liked this big ball, although she rolled over the top of it and onto the ground many times. 

  Now let me tell you, the Redneck games were not planned as scheduled activities for the reunion, but at a Holyoak reunion, they really don't have to be scheduled to happen. I am not sure you can see really well, but the picture below shows a little rocket with a parachute stuck in a tree, followed by a chain, and a shovel (yes a shovel). How did all these items get there?? Well I will explain. I am ashamed to say it all started when my own husband Carson saw the rocket stuck up VERY high in a cottonwood tree. He jokingly told my nephew Parker that he would give him $10 if he could get the rocket down from the tree. So Parker got a baseball and started trowing it up at the rocket. When all the big boys heard what Parker was doing, they all accepted this challenge. Now the big boys have more resources than Parker and they quickly started pulling them out. First the chain started flying, and not long after it was stuck in the tree as well. Next Nathan got a shovel, and even with a hurt knee he managed to throw it with stunning accuracy high in the air... where it stuck on the first throw. IMPRESSIVE! Then the help of another shovel, a rope, and a water bottle was enlisted. After about an hour or two of perseverance, those boys got first the shovel, then the chain, and eventually the rocket out of that tree. Well done boys!! Carson incidentally never made even one throw towards the cause. The rocket actually belonged to the park maintenance guy, and after it had been retrieved he launched it high into the sky for us. Luckily it did not get stuck again, or we might have been there all night.   

The boys and their toys! Amazingly no one was hurt in this challenge... except a shovel or two that didn't fair so well

 The next day after church we headed up to the cabins for dinner, and the best homemade ice cream in the world, provided by Aunt Cheryl. 

The boys had fun trying out this scooter.

 These tries usually resulted in this.

 I am glad we can come together and have such a good time with each other because even though we drive each other crazy sometimes, family really is the most important thing in the world (even better than homemade ice cream).