Thanksgiving Decorations

Found this at a home decoration store. I love it. I may need to get it to grace my Thanksgiving table this year. Think of the conversations.

P.S. Does this count as "Put a Bird On It"?

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Not only is my Mom sweet but she is Hip. Check out the material of her shirt. 

So retro. And so is that lamp. And the material on the chair.

I love this pic of us both. She looks like a Movie Star. Thanks Mom for putting up with me 

and helping me through the rough times throughout my whole life.

Leftover Valentines

Last weekend we went to Vegas for the Holiday. What Holiday? you're wondering. President's Day! One evening we were walking around the Bellagio hotel. They always have such beautiful garden displays there. And then we wandered around the nearby stores.

And guess what?!? There were Leftover Valentine treats! These were so cute! I just couldn't stop myself, especially at half off.

As you can see they are miniature cupcakes that are actually Chocolate Truffles. So fun to eat! If you're willing to wait and celebrate things a little later you can get a great deal on awesome stuff. Maybe I'll tell my kids they just discovered Jesus was born after December 25th so Christmas got moved.

Crazy Halloween

Last week I made a new purse. With this Halloween fabric I fell in love with a few months ago.

 I loved the characters. I thought this waddle of witches was perfect.

And I loved this fun fabric, so I put it on the inside.

It's official, I'm the crazy Holiday Lady. I promise I won't wear Holiday Sweaters though.

The Bottle Rocket

On the 4th of July quite a few people in our neighborhood did fireworks. A lot of those people went to Wyoming to get their fireworks. We just went to the local fireworks stand. We didn't want no stinking tickets from the coppers.

The next morning Baby found an unlit bottle rocket in our backyard. He was in Illegal Fireworks Heaven. Every year he begs us to go to Wyoming and every year we tell him No.

So, the next day when we went to our friend's house we decided to light the Illegal Fireworks. That way we wouldn't get the ticket if the cops decided to hunt us down. We're smart thinkers like that, letting others take the fall for us.

First order of business was to find something to hold the rocket. Since we don't drink soda from glass bottles anymore I think they're going to have to rename Bottle Rockets to something more relevant to our times. Thank goodness for Mexico Coke or our children wouldn't know what Coke in a Bottle looks like.

Our friend's had this contraption for a legal rocket that they shoot off occasionally.

Baby attempted to light the Firework. He was having a little trouble though.

Olaf came to the rescue.

They finally got it lit! It was a successful Bottle Rocket. Baby was a Happy Illegal Fireworker.

V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Valentine

At my kids' Elementary School the kids can buy valentines for others. The only reason I even know this is because Calvin's class was in charge of selling them when he was in 4th grade. He had fun selling and getting the valentines ready. Middle Child had the same teacher but never once mentioned this activity, even though I know they did it too. They are such different boys. Well, he had a crush on a girl. And she is a cute girl. He had it bad for her for the whole year. Bad enough that he even bought her a Valentine. And not the cheap ones but the more expensive one, $0.50, big money. He had such a crush on her that he had to see if she bought Valentines for anyone. Guess what! She bought him a Valentine. And she only bought three other Valentines, total. (He checked the records to see how many she bought.) He was on Cloud 9! I should have known at this point that he was gonna be a Ladies Man.

But I didn't have a clue.

No Labor on Labor Day

As a child my parents didn't travel on major holidays. That left chores and housework to do on the holidays from work. I had such a fun childhood! Actually, I really did, I'm not complaining, especially if my parents are reading this. But because of the few times my Dad said we were going to "Labor on Labor Day" I refuse to do that as a grown up. This year we went camping with some friends and family. We had an absolute blast!

It didn't necessarily start out that way. We hadn't even been on the road for an hour when Olaf noticed our friends were no longer right behind us. I figured the roads were busy and a few people snuck between us. Olaf begged to disagree and when he got hold of our friends he was right. The back wheel on their camper trailer had completely flown off! Apparently the middle bolt came loose, the whole thing jiggled for who knows how long, and then all the lug nuts sheared off and the wheel went flying through the air! It hit an empty, parked car, thank goodness, and no one was hurt.


Of course, Olaf knows someone in Heber whose husband has a Tire Shop. What are the odds? Seriously? The next three hours were spent with friend's husband helping Olaf and his friend fix the tire and get a new spare; you know another problem would happen if we proceeded without a spare, it would be too tempting for Fate. We couldn't have asked for better weather to wait by the side of the road, cool and cloudy, and it started to rain just as we got in our trucks to head out again.

After we got to camp people started setting up and I made dinner so I didn't have to set up anything. I know how to get out of work! We had a nice evening hanging out with our friends and cousins and aunts and uncles. I always love visiting with Olaf's family, they are a lot of fun. We finally all headed to bed and the kids crashed pretty quickly.

I slept great in my sleeping bag in our tent. I love sleeping in a tent, especially when it's cool outside and I have to snuggle in my bag to stay warm. I did wake up in the middle of the night and heard an owl hooting around our campsite. Then I heard a squirrel that sounded like he was in our tent, but I'm sure he was just above our tent in the trees.

At breakfast in the morning one of the Uncles told everyone he thought he heard our friend's girls out screaming in the meadow in the middle of the night. Maybe that was what originally woke me up, I'm not sure. But then he thought about it a little bit and realized it was probably just a cougar. He and a few others went hunting for cougar tracks and found some good sized tracks by the stream.

The tracks are about six inches across. I didn't have a ruler up at camp to set next to them. But it was cool to see them!

Several people brought 4-wheelers, the kids' favoritist thing about camping. Until last year Middle Child didn't really like 4-wheelers and then last year something happened. We're not sure what but he loves them and we have a hard time keeping him off of the machines. This year Baby learned to drive the big 4-wheelers and loved it!

Notice how his legs don't even reach the bottom! He's driven kid-sized 4-wheelers but he was pretty excited that he knows how to drive big ones now. Of course Olaf and I had to keep going on rides with him. He got bored driving around camp and couldn't go anywhere else without an older person.

This morning I made Decadent French Toast. We have finally almost perfected the art of baking it in the dutch ovens without burning it on the bottom. It was delicious. Then we packed up and headed home. We even got home before dinner. And without any mishaps at all! It was a wonderful weekend and I hope you all had fun too!

Hallowed Pioneers

I live in Utah, in case you forgot. I live amongst the Mormons. (I am even one of them, sort of.) A little history lesson; the Mormon's were driven out of Missouri by angry mobs who didn't like them. They trekked across the plains and mountains and settled in Utah, which was at that moment not even in the US, it was part of Mexico, but only for another year or two. They didn't care, they just wanted to be left alone after being run out of several states.

The best part of living in Utah is the month of July. Not only do we celebrate the 4th of July but also the 24th of July. It's Pioneer Day. I like it for several reasons. One, it extends the celebration of our country for a few more weeks. Second, the city does their local Carnival/Fiesta Days that week. Fiesta Days are a lot of fun. The carnival comes, the kids get to ride exorbitantly overpriced rides, we get to eat at little booths under the hot sun, and the shops on Main St. have a sidewalk sale (I'm kind of curious as to what Dirty Jo's puts out on their tables). But the two best things about Fiesta Days are the Parade on the 24th and the Rodeo! It's a pretty awesome rodeo. The first few years I declined saying I didn't like rodeos. Then they finally talked me into going one year and it was FUN!

The only part of the 24th of July I don't like is the constant talk of Pioneers. As summer approaches I look forward to the 24th and all its festivities. And then they start talking about Pioneers at church. I know the Pioneers sacrificed a lot to live their religion. I know they are an important part of our history. But almost every Sunday in church someone spends their whole lesson or talk glorifying the Pioneers. Seriously, they are people like you and me who did what they had to in a hard situation, not unlike most people today.

Several years ago the youth were preparing for a Handcart Trek. It was supposed to make them more aware of what their ancestors sacrificed. I say "their ancestors" because, thankfully, I have absolutely no Pioneer heritage. The youth were told to bring a story about one of their Pioneer ancestors who trekked across the plains/mountains and (this is the best part) if someone did not have a story one would be provided for them! I was livid! Who gives a rats ass whether you have a pioneer in your ancestry or not.

I was so mad I turned to Olaf and said "I'm so glad our kids have no Pioneers in their history! I can give them a real story to tell!"

Olaf looked at me a little perplexed, "But our kids have Pioneers in their history."

"How did they get there?" I asked, completely shocked. This can't be true, I know of no Pioneers in my lineage. Did he know something I didn't?

"They're my kids too and I have Pioneers who traipsed across the plains in my history." I was so disappointed and upset. My kids no longer have the novelty of being amongst the Few in Utah with No Pioneer Heritage.

Thank goodness for the Rodeo or the 24th wouldn't be any fun at all.

Practicality Rules

The other day I was talking with a friend and her husband. She asked what Olaf had gotten me for V-day.

"A sleeping bag to keep me warm on that campout," I proudly replied.

"Were you just so mad?!?" she questioned.

"No, I was so glad cuz I needed it."

Her husband started snickering.

"My husband bought me a sleeping bag for one of our first Valentine's Day and I was so mad!"

"I still haven't lived it down," he said.

"To me it seems as though he's not putting any thought into a gift, just buying us something we need, or he needs. We're going to buy it anyway so put some thought into a gift and buy me something different for my Birthday or Valentine's day," she complained.

"Yeah, but that's the beauty of getting stuff you need. I know we're going to buy it anyway, so instead of spending money on something I might want but don't need for V-day or B-day just seems so frivolous. I'd rather spend less money and get what we need and not have to fork out money for it later," I explained. I'm kind of a practical girl. "One year when my whole family got together for Christmas I got all this camping stuff. After everyone went home Sister Quilter asked if I liked the camping stuff or if I was kinda mad about it. I told her I loved it. She was glad for me because it would have ticked her off. Her husband never would have lived it down."

At this point her husband is laughing hysterically.

"Stop! You're feeding the fire! My hubby now knows that there are girls out there just like him when it comes to gifts! Stop talking!"

I can't help it if I'm practical. That's just me. It's a blessing. And a curse.