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Monday, November 23, 2015

Dollar Store Sock Snowmen



These Dollar Store Sock Snowmen are so much fun to make and the kids love them! Use them as decorations or as christmas giveaways.

Here's what you need:
White socks from the dollar store ( I used the kids sizes, the adult sizes hold much more rice )
Rice (1 1/4 cup of rice for the smallest kid size 4-6 1/2, 2 cups for the next size up, 6-8 1/2.
White twine
Matching buttons
Fleece (for this you can either just buy scraps of fleece or use fleece scarves from the Dollar Store)
Patterned socks from the dollar store to use as hats
pins for the eyes and noses (blues, oranges, pinks)

Cut your socks like this.



Use the toe part of the sock to form the hat by rolling it over 2 times.


Nest inside out the rest of your sock and tie a knot with twine at the end.


Right side it out and stuff it with rice.


After you have filled it with rice use the twine again to tie off the top. Then use another piece of twine to separate the body of the snowman from its head.



Finish by adding the hat, buttons, pin eyes, and a fleece scarf.

This would totally make a cute gift to give for a family night! Here's one of the kits I created.



Hope you have fun! I sure did!




Homemade Caramel and Apples

There is nothing more frustrating or rewarding than some delicious homemade Caramel dipped apples. This is a recipe that one of my favorite cooks was kind enough to share with me! I love it! The white chocolate with the spices sprinkled over it is WONDERFUL! I forgot to take a pic :-(



Caramel Apples

1 pound brown sugar (2 1/4 cups)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
20 small apples washed (can soak in a large bowl of water with ¼- ½ cup vinegar) and dried well
20 dowels or craft sticks pushed into the tops of the washed apples

Topping:
White chocolate for melting (I used almond bark) melted in double broiler or microwave.
3 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. apple pie spice


Combine First 6 ingredients in a 2-3 quart sauce pan.  Heat at medium low temp. stirring constantly but slowly and frequently scraping the bottom of the pan.  Cook caramel to the soft ball stage (236) degrees.  Pour into a small deep metal or heat proof bowl and let cool to 200 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  (I just sprayed the baking sheet with Pam) While caramel cools you can prepare the topping.  


Dip apples into caramel using a straight up and down motion (I find it's necessary to tilt the bowl and twirl the apple in the caramel to get it covered fully and this seems to work fine too).  Place dipped apples on baking sheet and place in the fridge for 15 to 20 min.  Next drizzle desired amount of white chocolate on top of apples and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.   I also like to individually wrap them in a cellophane bag and tie it up with ribbon/twine etc.) 

Yum!

I have also experimented with making one of my favorite types of candies: Scotch Kisses. These are incredible, although I've got to figure out how to perfect the process and the packaging. This was my first attempt.




I used a homemade marshmallow recipe and then poured the caramel over the cut marshmallows. I'm still trying to find the best marshmallow recipe, but it's worth the effort for sure! Delicious!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Mermaids, Pirates, and Baptisms

My little Olivia turned 8 recently and got baptized. One of my good friends did her baptism pictures. She is an amazing photographer! If you want to check her out here is a link to her website!

Here are a few of my very favorites! (I should add that Olivia is extremely difficult to photograph! Megan did an amazing job!) She also did color, but I'm a sucker for black and whites!








This one is absolutely beautiful in color! I want to order a canvas of this one!



And now for the Mermaid Party! Although my iPhone pics look TERRIBLE after this lot!



We had tons of fun! It was mostly family, but we did invite a few of the neighborhood kids. We had a Treasure Hunt, and made these cute mermaid necklaces and starfish hair clips.





The clam cupcakes  were made using vanilla wafers, a bit of turquoise icing and some sugar pearls. They were so super easy!



My older son also helped me fashion a few wooden swords for the boys and I picked up a few eye patches at Walmart. Mostly the kids just had fun hanging out and jumping on the tramp.





Happy Birthday my beautiful Olivia! Mommy loves you!









Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Best Sour Cream Pancakes


I love Sour Cream Pancakes! The kids and I have had fun coming up with a recipe that works for us. Can you get sick of eating pancakes? I don't know, but we've sure enjoyed trying :-). I think we've had pancakes every day this week trying to get this recipe just right! Everyone has had a turn. We all had a good laugh the day one of us mistook a teaspoon for a Tablespoon of baking soda. It was the saddest day ever! Each of us had a heaping pile of what looked like delicious Sour Cream Pancakes topped with Buttermilk Syrup only to find that they were completely inedible. We had a long debate over whether you could eat them or not if you were actually starving, but in the end, even smothered in a scrumptious syrup they all found their way to the trash can.

Service for a family of 4:

1 1/2 Cups of sour cream
3/4 Cup of all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons of sugar
1 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of salt
3 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Butter for the skillet

1. Heat up your skillet. I set mine to 350 degrees.
2. Mix up all of your ingredients until just blended.
3. Butter the skillet. This is especially important for sour cream pancakes, even if you are using a non stick skillet
4. Use a large ice cream scoop to spoon even amounts of batter onto your skillet. Heat until thick and bubbly. I usually end up flipping mine a couple of times cooking them on each side twice, but DON'T press them down with your flipper!
5. Enjoy, I know you will!





Friday, August 14, 2015

Tomato Pin Cushion Pattern and Free Printable





I had a lot of fun creating this pincushion pattern. I plan on tweaking it just a bit, but for now, here it is. I hope you will enjoying using it!

Click here for the template. 

The printable actually has enough for two tomatoes. I always like to have a copy that is uncut for my records.  
Materials:

Red, green, or white embroidery floss
Matching button
1 6X3 piece of green fleece or quality felt
1 11X12 or 22X6 piece of tomato fabric
1 11X12 or 22X6 piece of single faced iron on interfacing

1. Start by tracing 6 tomato segments onto the nonstick side of your interfacing. Iron it to the wrong side of your tomato fabric following manufacturer's instructions. Doing it this way, rather than pinning and cutting 6 segments on both your fabric and your interfacing, saves a ton of time on cutting. 


2. After you have ironed your interfacing to the wrong side of your tomato fabric cut out each of the segments. 


3. Sew two segments together as shown.


Open it up and it should look something like this.


4. Now pin and sew a third segment to one of the two pieces you have just sewn together.


Open it up and it should look something like this.


5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 so that you now have two halves comprised of 3 segments each. 

6. Pin one half of your tomato to the other along one set of seams and sew from top to bottom. 


When you right side it out it should look something like this.


7. Pin your final seams together but instead of sewing from top to bottom leave a 2 1/2 opening in the center of the seam. In this picture shown you would start from one pin and go to the closest point, stop, cut threads, and then start again at the other pin and move towards the closest point leaving the middle open. 


8. Right side out and finger press the opening along the seam line. 


9. Stuff to your desired fullness. 


10. Do a blind stitch to close up the opening. 


11. Taking your embroidery floss go in and out down the center of your tomato from top to bottom a couple of times squishing it into a tomato shape. 


12. Now you are going to cover your seams with embroidery floss by stretching your floss around the curve of the tomato and down into the center of your tomato. Come up through the other side and curve around the opposite side of the seam you have just covered. Repeat until you have covered all of your seams with embroidery floss. Add a Knot, but don't sever your thread yet. 



You will undoubtably end up with one end of your tomato that looks better than the other. Choose that end for your bottom and the other end for your top. 

13. Cut your leaves out using either some fleece scraps or some quality felt. Attach your leaves and button with the rest of your thread. If you've run out, just grab a bit more. 


Voila!


14. Pin it if you Enjoy!



Sunday, August 9, 2015

Our Trek Experience

I absolutely loved Trek! I feel so lucky to have gotten to go as a Ma and Pa with chad and two of our kids! The youth in our ward are truly incredible. I was impressed with everyone's willingness to pitch in and their amazing attitudes. Our group was definitely a group of workers!

We met at the church around 6:15 to start with a prayer and load up. We loaded the trailers up with all our goods the night before.




Then we met at Independence Rock for lunch, family assignments, flag decorating, and a quick devotional. Our Trek directors also passed out our amazing goody bags stuffed with journals, pens, lip gloss, bracelets, water bottles, and carabiners.






Then we drove to Martin's Cove and trekked to our camp grounds. Here is a pic of our first camp ground.


This was truly an experience to remember. Our directors did a fantastic job organizing our Trek. I was really pleased with the format they chose. With the help of the missionaries and all the planning with devotionals and spiritual thoughts it was just amazing! We were able to visit Martin's Cove, Sixth Crossing, & Rock Creek Hollow. Many of the experiences we had are sacred to me and will be burned in my heart forever. I imagine this will be one of the experiences the Youth will remember till the day they die. I know I will. Some of the more memorable experiences for me were the river crossings, the women's pull, Jens and Elsie's story, Martin's Cove, and Rock Creek Hollow.

The River Crossings



By this time of year (Aug) the water wasn't very deep at all, it was warm outside, but man the water was cold. I can't even imagine doing this in Oct, in below freezing temperatures.

By the time the saints reached Sixth Crossing they were low on rations eating anything they could, bark, leaves, and raw hide. Shortly after completing the crossing a blizzard struck and many of the members suffered from frostbite and hypothermia after wading through the frigid waters. I can't express how touched I was by their faithfulness, courage, and fortitude. The stories of the rescuers were also quite moving.

The Women's Pull:

During the Women's Pull (we had a group of exceptional girls) the leaders were instructed to pull against the cart. I found this to be extremely hard! My group of girls were so amazing. They sized the hill up and said "We got this". Their spirit was unconquerable. I was wondering what insights I might gain doing the women's pull. I expected a camaraderie with the girls and an appreciation for the women who lost their husbands and sons, but what I wasn't expecting was an insight into how our Heavenly Father must have felt. These were his beloved faithful saints. When I was asked to pull against the cart, I thought, how can I do this? All I want to do is make their path smooth, I want to provide for and protect these girls. Especially after I saw how incredible their spirits were. How could I do anything to crush that? I imagined how Heavenly Father must have felt, how hard it must have been to watch the saints suffer, but I came to know as He did that It was for their growth. I love my girls!

Jens and Elsie's story:

Chad and I got to reenact Jens and Elsie's Story. This experience is sacred to me. Jens' foot had become frozen at a right angle. He was crippled and hobbling. They had lost their little boy and a little girl they had brought over for a friend. Jens reached the point where he felt like he could no longer make it. He thought he was slowing Elsie down and told her to go on without him. Elsie told him she would not leave him, that she would push him to Zion. She loaded him up into the cart and pushed the cart by herself. The thought that came to me during this experience was that there must have been a time in each of those pioneer's journey that they felt alone as if they had no one else to turn to. I was reminded of the savior on the cross when he asked "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" I believe the saints went through what they did so that they could better understand their savior, and the sacrifices they made to "come unto Christ".

Martin's Cove:

"For five days and nights the cove was the best refuge they could find from the storm. They huddled in tents and clustered around fires to try to keep warm. Although the cove offered some protection, a raging wind flattened many tents the first night. With the temperature dropping to 11 degrees below zero, the cold penetrated to the core. With little to eat, people were drained of the stamina and will needed to succor life. Deaths added up as the cold and lack of food took their toll." - Taken from Selected Handcart Stories for Youth Treks.

Here we got to hike up into the stillness of the cove. Our bishop did a devotional and talked about his own pioneer heritage. As we hiked into the cove, the missionaries had us separate and walk in single file. My daughter Madelaine happened to be just in front of Chad and I who were walking together. As I saw her take off ahead of us my heart just about broke. I knew that there were girls her age who lost parents who had to carry on the journey and walk on taking care of younger siblings. It broke my heart to think of Madelaine having that type of burden placed on her, and again the idea hit me that at some point on their journey every saint must have felt alone save for their Savior and Father in Heaven.

Rock Creek Hollow:

Rock Creek Hollow was probably one of the most touching sites. Here 13 members died in one night.  2 of the strongest men dug their grave. They were dead before the company left camp the next day. I've often thought why the saints had to go through such trials. That winter was one of the worst. Surely the Lord could have lightened their loads, cleared their paths, and calmed their storms. I've felt impressed that the reason why the saints must have suffered so much was because the saints needed to be perfected. As we were on Trek, I kept asking my self, "So what does this mean for me, What does their sacrifice mean to me? Why did they have to sacrifice so much?" By the end of Trek at Rock Creek Hollow I realized that not only was their suffering so that they could be perfected, but also, so that the saints, today's saints could be perfected. I'm positive that before Christ comes again his people will have to undergo their own set of trials, but as I imagined the thousands of people that have passed through these sacred sites and the thousands that will continue to do so, I thought of the memories and impressions burned into my own heart and realized that their suffering was so much bigger than themselves. Their trials will serve to strengthen, enlighten, and perfect God's people of every age.






We also had our Testimony Meeting there which was wonderful.


I can't express my gratitude for being given this opportunity to go on Trek. It was the most wonderful experience! I would highly recommend it.