Look Who We Met

Mandee, Cjane & I

Just wanted to send you a quick note to say hi!!! I am missing you all, but the bloggy break is good. I hope to be back next week, but will have to see how it goes. School starts August 11, and then hopefully we will be back on track.

One of the highlights of my bloggy break is that I got to meet Cjane!!! Mandee gets all the credit for setting that one up, Mandee booked her to speak at girls camp. It was the coolest thing ever! I made a huge fool of myself, because I was so excited!! She is the rock star of the blogging world!! She is so sweet and such a fun person. Next time we meet her, we hope it's with showers and not 4 day-old campfire hair!

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer. See you next week to recap our adventures!

Vacation

Old Bridge, Marysvale Utah

Just wanted to let you know that I am going on vacation! I won't be back for a few weeks. I get to spend the week at girls camp!! There is going to be an awesome speaker, someone most of you know!!!! I will share those awesome details when I get back. I can hardly stand it. I don't want to say who it is, in case I jinx it. But my other-half (Mandee :) set it up!!! Just wait in suspense!

Then I am off for some much needed R&R in Marysvale. 10 glorious days of family and fun! The 24th of July celebration and my oldest is getting baptized! where does the time go?

Hope you guys have a great couple of weeks. I'll miss ya!

Christmas in July Exchange

Awhile back, I signed up for a Christmas in July gift exchange over at Craftaholics Anonymous. I just wanted to share the cute gift that I got from my gifter, Pedey, who has a great cooking blog!
The package was addressed to me and my my little girl. She made us these cute matching bags! I absolutely love them.

I love how feminine they are on the outside and the bright lining she used on the inside. They are darling!

Piper took hers and proceeded to fill it up with her little princess dolls and accessories. She totes them everywhere with her. In fact, I haven't had a chance to use my purse, because Piper has been using them both!

Thanks Pedey! I love them!! Can't wait to do the next exchange! It's always fun to get fun mail, instead of junk mail and bills!

What Have You Been Watching?

Here is the last 5 movies I 've seen in the theater.
This was my husbands pick. It was pretty funny and had a good morale, in the end. But it's Adam Sandler, so some crude humor, but would you expect different?

I LOVED IT! Followed the book pretty well. I think each movie gets better and better. Their acting defiently does and I absolutely love Taylor Lautner! He is such a cute kid and I hope he has a good career in front of him.

This was awesome! So much better than I thought it would be. Gotta admit, I'm not a Jake Gyllenhall fan, but he did an amazing job!

I loved this one. Went and saw it at the Dollar theater! Such a cute love story!

And this one made me cry like a baby! Did not expect that! It was such a sweet story. The end of an era! My kids loved it at much as I did. Can't wait to buy this one!

What have you been watching? Any suggestions?

Some Freebie & a little about Alison's Pantry

Want to try a free sample of Shirley J Universal Sauce mix?? Go visit Savvy Sister Shops for the details, plus lot's of other samples and freebies! I totally ordered mine last night. I have used this sauce before and it is amazing!! We sell it in bulk bags through Alison's Pantry.

And speaking of Alison's Pantry. They are looking for reps in lot's of areas. I know right now they are targeting some cities in Utah, Wyoming, Montanna, Arizona and Colorado. If your intersted in learning more about them, check out their website. Tell em' Brandy sent ya! You can also find them on facebook.

It's a great company to work for. It's been a great way to supplement our grocery budget and to bulk up on food storage items!

The Perfect Cupcake

The Perfect Cupcake

1 pkg. cake mix (choc. or white)

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup water

1 pkg. small dry pudding mix (choc. or vanilla)

Mix all the ingredients together until well blended. I use muffin liners, but I usually spray them with Vegalene, just to make sure the cupcakes slide out easily. Fill each muffin cup 2/3rds of the way full. Bake at 350 for 15-16 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

This recipe will yield the yummiest, moistest, perfect shaped and most beautiful cupcake you have ever seen! I topped these with a vanilla buttercream frosting. Oooh, so delicious.

Daily Reads & an explanation

Sorry, I've kinda been a slacker! Okay, well not really. I've had sick, sick kids! That is not supposed to happen during the summer! But it has been horrible! And then I've had a million kids at my house. Helping a friend out during a very tough time in her life, I've been tending quite a bit. Hmmm, what else? Oh yeah, I will be gone a lot during the next month!! So bare with me while I take a break. I have girls camp and then a 10 day vacation, my oldest is getting baptized and that is just for starters! I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing! I do have a few posts coming up. Mostly food. For some reason I'm in the mood to cook, because dang it all, I'm pretty good at it and it seems to be where my thoughs have been lately.

Anyway, here are a few more of my favorite blogs. Some of these I've read for years, though I am not sure how they missed the list before ??? My brand new favorite blog is House of Smith! Holy cow, the girls is super crafty!! Loving it!

Brownies

My oldest who is almost 8, wants to learn to cook! It's awesome, but so far his cooking consists of sweets only! He helped me to make these brownies and was so proud. I had to take them to a fireside, just to get rid of them because he and I couldn't stop eating them!

Brownies
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening (butter)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1 c. walnuts

Cream shortening, sugar and egss. Add flour and other dry ingredients. Add in walnuts, chocolate chips, whatever your heart desires. Place in a greased 13x9 baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

This could be co nsidered a bread or a dessert. Anyway you look at it, it's yummy!
Zucchini Bread

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini, peeled

3 cups flour

3 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

Nuts

Raisins

or my favorite, cinnamon chips!!!

Mix oil, sugar and eggs. Add zucchini and vanilla. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Place in a greased bread pan Bake at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes. Makes 2 loaves.

I NEED YOUR IDEAS

HELP!!! Every year we go to my hometown for the 24th of July celebration. Otherwise known as Pioneer Day, here in Utah! The last few years we have participated because my sister has been in charge. Last year was the first year that we did an actual float! It's a small parade and we won best float for the Hawaiian themed float above. Not much, but then again, like I said, it's small town.

But I'm stumped on what to do this year. I will be at girls camp all week and I will come home on Friday, jump in my car and head up Friday night and the parade is Saturday morning. So it has to be pretty simple to throw together.

If you have any ideas, I would appreciate it. I've been tossing around the idea of a Down on the Farm theme, a western theme and I love the idea of doing a wagon, but don't have the time for that one this year. If you have any idea's they would be appreciated!

4th of July Printables

Living Locurto has a huge roundup of fun 4th of July Printables! Go check them out! Lot's of great idea's all over the web. One Pretty thing, has a ton of fun ideas too.