Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I am so proud to call this beautiful and great nation my home! Let's not forget, those who give their lives to make it free! Have a safe holiday weekend, make lots of memories, and please remember those who make it possible for us to live in the greatest nation in the world.

Thank you!

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles:

3 cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 & ½ cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs

¼ cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tarter, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add in eggs. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until well blended.

Mix together the ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon. Shape into 1 & ½ inch balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light and golden. Don’t over bake!! Makes about 3 dz.

I originally got this recipe from Jadi's Recipes.

Hamburger Rolls

These were one of my favorite things that we used to eat at school lunch when I was in high school. Good ole' Piute High! Definitely a comfort food.

Hamburger Rolls

Use this roll recipe to make your dough. You can use any roll recipe that you have. This is just the one that I use and love. TRIED AND TRUE!

Brown 1 lb. of hamburger. Season it with dried onions, salt, pepper, cilantro, whatever floats your boat. Drain your hamburger and add 2 cups of cheese to it. Mix well.

Roll the dough out 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with hamburger mixture. Roll up and cut the dough just as you would cinnamon rolls. About 1 inch thick slices. Place in greased 13x9 pan. I had some left over meat, so I sprinkled it on the top of the buns. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

You can serve this with a cream sauce, cream of mushroom soup or brown gravy. My family prefers the brown gravy.

You can do many variations of this recipe. You could do different combinations on the filling. I know people who do tuna as the filling. Blah! But my husband and I were discussing this and we think shredded chicken and cheese would be great also, served with chicken gravy.

I've Been Busy

I got a new niece this week. I love babies. Who doesn't? There is something wonderful about holding a new little sweetie so fresh from heaven. Well, we didn't know what this baby was and so as soon as I found out, I started sewing.

I didn't actually make this. My friend Shelly had it in her ribbon box, but we paired it up with the cute Minnie Mouse onesies below.

Darling!! This is the first time I have ever done appliques. I pretty much just followed the directions on the wonder under and it turned out cute.

She is a Mickey Mouse fan. HUGE! So I loved this. The only thing I wish I had done differently was put the bow on crooked. But it's cute.

And of course a little, warm, snugglie, blanket!

I love any excuse to break out my sewing machine!

Easy Graduation Ideas

Bakerella has done it agian! These one's would be so easy!! Peanut Butter Graduation caps! Ingenious!

So cute!! With graduation j ust around the corner, it's one you could defiently use! You can find these cuties over at Living Locurto.

Mock Canvas

I meant to make this into a tutorial with step by step photo's. I got so caught up in the project, I only took 1 photo and that was this one!
What you will need is a canvas, a paper cutter, a saying or a picture, and modge podge.

1. Print out your picture and trim down to the exact size of the canvas.
2. Spread a layer of Modge Podge onto the canvas and lay the picture down. Make sure you have it even all the way around.
3. Push out any air bubbles in the paper and wait for it to dry. I only waited about 20 minutes.
4. Spread a thin layer of modge podge on top of the paper and let dry completely.


I roughed up the edges on this picture. I did that because I messed it up. I had just a teeny bit hanging over the edge of the canvas. I tried to trim it off and messed it up, so I roughed up the whole picture. I actually like the way it turned out.

Sorry for the hand. I couldn't get a good angle without glare. But here is one I did with some clip art off of Sugardoodle. It has the 2010 Mutual theme on it. I am going to make some more of these to go in our camp store this year. I hope the girls will like them.

I just typed up the Keep Calm sign, but for a printable one, you can go here. I thought hers were cute, but they just weren't what I wanted. I would share but mine, but sadly I am having some computer problems. The font I used was Rockwell and it's size 100.

These seriously look like real canvas pictures. Easy and cheap! My kinda craft. I found my canvas at the Dollar Store a while back! I went back yesterday to get more and they didn't have any, but you can also get them at Micheal's or Roberts. Remember your coupon!!

Another Frame Makeover

I didn't get a beginning picture of this frame. It had chickens in it and the frame was white.. I made this for my sister-in-law who was married over the weekend. I am loving it. The vinyl is from Scribble It. Incidentally, Cammie just moved into my tiny town. I need to get her some cookies! I am so excited to have her just down the street. Her shop is closed until the first of June, due to her recent move, but you should go check her out. She has great craft kits and lot's of fun ideas!

Isn't it the Truth?

The New Way to eat Graham Crackers

My kids still love the frosting on top!

For me, it's sugar free Cool-Whip, sprinkled with raspberry crumbles. Simply heavenly!

Caterpillars

There are caterpillars everywhere in my yard. The other day we had the neighborhood kids collecting them in Mason Jars. At one point we had 28 of them. Kinda gross!

But the kids sure do love them. Today I did a fun little craft with the 2-year-olds.
Easy and these guys did it well. I had to help little Miss Mia along, but Piper, who is almost 3 did really well by herself. The only thing I did for Piper was glue the eye's on.

Grab a tongue depressor, a glue stick and some pom-poms. Simply glue pom-poms all the way down the stick. Add some googly eye's and you've got a darling Caterpillar.

Easy Gift Idea

Cute labels, via Domestifluff. Made these for the ladies I visit teach! So cute and so yummy! Go here for my freezer jam recipe!

Target Knock-off

Loving this! It's at Target for $40.00.

Love this even better! It's a free download from Comfort Zone! Make yourself one for under $5.00!! Plus, chose the size you want. What a great present for the teenager in your life! I'm so making one for my niece for her birthday in August!

Motherhood is a Gift

(for some reason this plays funny on the blog. You may want to go to You Tube to watch it)

She is one of my very favorite people in all the world, and I don't even know her. She inspires me, makes me laugh, appreciate my life, and makes me want to be a better mother and wife. An all around better person. If you haven't seen this yet, you need to.

Thanks Stephanie for sharing your story and your life with us. You continue to inspire and lift others with your faith and your love of life.

Have a lovely Mother's Day weekend! You deserve it!

Lookie What We Made

Remember these? Tuesday morning, I spent my day helping make 40 of these beauties! Mandee and I are the Co-Vice Presidents on the PTO at our school. My friend Shelley wanted to make make these and practice on a few other cookies, so we figured, if were making a few, we may as well make 40!! So we had 4 of us working on these and it took us 2 and 1/2 hours, minus the baking time. Shelley cooked them the night before.
We used a egg to cut out the cookie shape and it was a bit smaller than the one on Bake It at 350. So we didn't have enough room to write popcorn on them. But they turned out way cute anyway.

I had never made royal icing, used meringue powder or floated icing. It was a whole new experience, but very fun! I think we will be dabbling in cookie decorating a bit more. Shelley and I are going to make darling graduation hats for our preschool kids at school. I'll post pictures of those when we get to that. In all our free time, ya know :).

Then the 4 of us met at the school this morning and handed these out to all the teachers and staff. Everyone loved them! Super cute idea. Thanks for Bake It at 350 for the idea!

I'm Not a Maid, Object Lesson

Monday brought me to a place that I hate to go. I had reached the end of my rope. I was yelling at my kids and almost to the point of tears. I was tired of cleaning my house, only to find more mess in each room and none of it my own.

We were supposed to take our kids to a movie for family home evening, but I didn't want to go. I was just frustrated. Anyone else have those days. I was trying to decided what to do, when an idea popped into my head.

I had my boys go and clean their room. Vacuum, put clothes away, and toy's too. They did a good job. That is the picture below.

Then I had them go outside and jump on the trampoline. And while they did that, I dumped out every toy in their room. I dumped out their dirty clothes and all of their shoes. Literally made a huge mess, everywhere!! It was liberating and stress relieving!

And then I closed the door and we ran to the store, fixed dinner and then I heard J.D. yelling at me from his room. He was so upset that his room was trashed. He was trying to figure out who had messed it up. Never guessing of course that it was me.

I told him, that I had done this to his room and he was so ticked. Then I asked him, "How does it make you feel?" Of course he said mad, and I said, "Well, how do you think I feel every time you and your brother make a huge mess and leave it for me to clean?"

I think the idea hit home. My husband and I helped them clean it up and we went through everything, throwing away broken toys and getting a bag full of DI stuff. It was awesome!

Then yesterday morning, my nephews came over and I hear Tyson in the back room, "Don't get out any toys or my mom will throw them away!" I think it may have sunk in!!

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