My Little Kumquat

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sentiments

2010-11-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

Altered Christmas Books

2010-11-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

I made some cute Christmas books for the boutique. I love the paper on this one.

This is my absolute favorite. The deer ornament came from the dollar store.

Loving the polka dot ribbon on this one!

I have lots more crafts to show. Tomorrow is setup for the boutique, hopefully I will find time to post the pictures. Yee haw!

Shadow box/Memory board

2010-11-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

Two of my favorite projects so far for the boutique.

The big beautiful black one:

The pretty little green one that I so want to keep for my girls' room:

Boutique Season

2010-11-07T19:57:00.001-08:00

We are getting ready for a big boutique that runs the week before Thanksgiving. Our house is a wreck but we are sure having fun.

The state of the living room

Kitchen table.

At least I have some cute pumpkins to show for it. I got this idea from another blog. I can't remember which one at the moment.

All other projects are at the midway point, waiting to be painted. Hopefully this week will see the rest of the projects finished.

Altered Halloween Book

2010-10-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Just a cute little Halloween project I wanted to share. This is an old book from the thrift store. I had a lot of fun jazzing it up for Halloween. It turned out so cute I can't wait to make one for Christmas!

I'm linking up to Just a Girl. Go check her out.

Halloween Table

2010-10-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

I got the Halloween decorations out the other day and played around with them a little bit. I had lots of fun putting this table together. The picture is kind of at a funky angle but that is because it is so hard to photograph in front of a mirror and not get the rest of the ~~mess~~ room.

I found these weeds on my morning run. It is kind of hard to see in this picture but the tall ones are a pretty orange and the shorter ones are a rust color. The ones in the bottom of the vase are sunflower heads. We have a ton of sunflowers growing around here and they are all drying out now. I just lopped off their heads and put them in the vase for filler. I looked like I was carrying the Olympic torch running home with them in my hands. I kind of messed up my back in the process but it was definitely worth it. The bird is from dollar tree and the cute jack-o-lantern kettle came from a yard sale.

This cute sign was painted by my mom last year. I love the simplicity of it.

The boots! Aren't they the cutest things? Megan and I made these last year. She came up with the idea. They are so fun. I really love the moss growing out of them. The burlap pumpkins came from a yard sale.

I hope you like it.

Sweet lamp

2010-09-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

I found a cute lamp at a yard sale for 25 cents. Score! The gold parts were spray painted white, then it set around for a year waiting for the perfect lamp shade. Finally, I found the perfect flowers to cover the shade. I pulled the flowers off the stems and hot glued them on an old lamp shade.

Here it is all lit up.

Now I have the sweetest lamp for the girls' room.

Taming Counter Clutter

2010-09-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

I can't stand having clutter on my kitchen counters. Especially dirty dishes. The kids will get a drink and put the dirty cup on the counter or in the sink. When they get thirsty again they can't remember which cup they used before so they grab a clean one out of the cupboard. This process is repeated several times a day. Multiply that by 6 kids, and you get the picture. The counter and sink were always full of dirty cups. Then I walked into Anthropologie and found this:

Could this be the solution to my dirty cup problem? Then I looked at the price tag. At eight dollars a pop I knew this was not my solution.

I started thinking. Why don't I make my own monogram mugs? So I did.

I went to a thrift store and found eight matching mugs for 25 cents each. Took them home and gave them a nice bleach bath. Then I had the kiddos initials cut from vinyl with a Cricut and slapped them on the mugs. (I didn't really slap them on. More like I carefully lined them up to make sure they were straight).

The vinyl has held up great to washings in the dishwasher and by hand. They look so cute all lined up on the counter, and everyone always knows which cup is theirs.

Cute DVD Storage

2010-08-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

It seems like I am crazy about blue these days.

I got this old metal storage container at a thrift store for 2 dollars. I wanted to spray paint it but couldn't find the right color of blue in a can. I mixed some white paint with a blue sample I found at ACE and came up with this color. It is perfect for holding the kiddos dvd's.

Before

After

I LOVE IT!

Hutch re-do

2010-08-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

I promised crafts over a week ago so here goes.

This is a little project Randy and I worked on together. I picked up this Hutch at a thrift store quite a while ago and finally got around to painting it. Originally the back of the hutch had a mirror that was broken and the glass shelves were missing. I am assuming they had been broken also. You can see the bottom piece in the background with a coat of white paint already on it.

We spray painted it white and added white bead board to the back. We purchased new glass shelves, and added new white ceramic knobs. Then we sanded it to give it that shabby look.

I love the way it turned out. Guess what! She is for sale. I am asking $300.00 for her. Please contact me if you are interested and you live in Arizona.

Thanks for looking.

Hello!

2010-08-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

Is anybody out there? I decided to give this blogging thing another go. School will be starting soon so maybe I will have a little time on my hands. We will have to see. I thought I would post my favorite picture from our Oregon vacation this summer. This is Dad and some of my brothers out on the lake doing some fishing. I don't think they caught anything but they sure had fun.

I have lots of fun craft projects to show so check back soon.

Candle Holder

2010-02-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

I made another cute Valentines craft.

Here is how you can do it too.

Look for these candle holders at the dollar store.

Simply glue the large candle holder to the taper holder with some tile glue. Let the glue dry for 24 hours. It dries clear.

Tie some cute ribbon around the base.

Stand back to admire and ask yourself why on earth you didn't buy candles while you were at the dollar store.

My first 10k run!

2010-01-31T18:20:00.000-08:00

I ran my first 10k yesterday.

I can barely walk today.

I have been training for a couple of months to run in London's Run in Queen Creek, AZ. I figured it would take me about 1 hour and 20 minutes at the pace I have been running on the tread mill.

I was very excited and surprised when I finished in less than an hour!

Here is a link to my picture from the run . Don't laugh, I was just finishing running 6.2 miles.

It was a challenge but lots of fun too.

Valentines Craft

2010-01-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

I found this cute Valentines craft Idea on The Creative Crate. This blog has so many cute craft Ideas.

It was super easy to make. My friend Megan cut the wood for me, and I used her cricut to cut stencils for the letters and the heart.

Go check out The Creative Crate. I'm sure you will be inspired too.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

2010-01-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! We sure did! We even had snow for Christmas! It just doesn't seem like Christmas without snow.

I love the snow lady the kids made.

She's got style!

Jacob's Birthday

2010-01-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Our blue eyed boy turned 7 today!

Wow, time flies.

Jacob is such a sweet boy. He is loving the 1st grade and is an excellent student.

He loves video games and is enjoying the Wii we got for Christmas.

Jacob is such an obedient boy. He is always getting rewarded for being the first one to obey when we ask the kids to do something. (It drives the other kids crazy).

He is a lego master and he gets very upset when someone breaks his creations.

You can often find him standing or spinning on his head or crawling accross the floor. He doesn't hold still for long.

We love you Jake. We are glad you are ours.

9 year old fashionista!

2010-01-05T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up! One more post and I am moving on to Christmas.

Natalie turned 9 on November 7, 2009.

She asked for; brown boots, black boots, and black Sunday shoes. What are we going to do when she is a teenager? This shoe obsession, where does it come from? Her Dad?

She is growing into a lovely young lady. I am always amazed at how creative she is. She loves making things for other people and can often be found in her room working on her latest project.

It is lots of fun having a girl around that likes to shop and craft.

By the way, she is already asking to wear my clothes.

Seriously girl, you are only 9!

Terrible Two's

2009-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hailey turned 2 years old on October 28th. (I told you I was behind) She might look sweet but she is a monster!

For example, tonight while I was on the computer I could hear her in the kitchen. I told Natalie to go check on her thinking that if she was into something she shouldn't be that Natalie would come tell me, right? WRONG! She proceeded to dump the remainder of the oreos on the floor and let her brother run over them with a toy car. Then she dumped the rest of the cat food and spread it around.

Her normal bedtime is between 12:00 and 1:00 am. If you want her to go to bed earlier you have to put in the movie "Bolt". This makes for a very interesting sleep routine considering Randy's new job requires him to wake up at 3:30 in the morning.

Oh well, what are you going to do? We wouldn't trade her for anything.

Halloween 2009

2009-12-29T21:28:00.000-08:00

I know, I am a few holidays behind. Life has been so crazy the last few months. We moved into our new house the week of Thanksgiving, then the holidays happened, so I have a little catching up to do. I hope you enjoy the Halloween pics. I swear, I am not sewing costumes next year!

We have a teenager!

2009-10-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Kyle turned 13 on September 11th. I can't believe we have a teenager!

5 ways to know if you have a teenager;

1. Your child refuses to get a haircut no matter how long it gets.
2. You cook large amounts of food only to see it disappear in a flash, then you hear"I'm still hungry".
3. Your child asks you 10 times a day, "Can I have a cell phone"?
4. The "toys" on your child's birthday wish list get more and more expensive.
5. Your child's sleep schedule reminds you of a cat.

Kyle has really grown up a lot this year. He is enjoying scouts and going on overnight camp outs. He is doing great in school and his teachers say he is a great kid. He is learning to cook lots of new things to help satisfy his healthy appetite. He is learning to play the clarinet and is in beginning bad at school. He is becoming very independent.

We love you Kyle!

First Day of School!

2009-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was parent teacher conferences so I decided it was time to post my first day of school pictures.

Natalie started 3rd grade. Her teacher says she just loves her.

Cody is in the 5th grade, enjoying his last year of elementry school.

Jacob is in 1st grade and his teacher says he is an excellent reader!

Kyle is in 7th grade and is now in the junior high. He loves school and is doing great in all of his classes. He especially loves his science class and his science teacher, Mr. Jackson.

We didn't get the boys' hair cut before school started again this year so just never mind the long hair.

We are off to a good start. It has been an adjustment for us to get up at 6:00 am but we are getting used to it. Lucas will start preschool in a few weeks. He can't wait!

Vacation

2009-08-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Vacation. It was a BLAST!

Hailey, our beach baby.

Family photo on the beach in Oceanside, CA.

Natalie on the beach.

Kyle, sporting his new shades.

Kyle catches a wave. We had a blast on the boogie boards. Even the grown ups gave it a go. We thought we were going to have to call the coast guard for Randy though. He got out too far and had a hard time getting back in.

Cody getting burried in the sand.

Hailey takes a turn getting burried too.

Jacob digs a hole.

All the cousins at Sea World. Minus the Nelsons who went home earlier. Sea World was awesome! Can't wait to go back.

Lucas and Randy heading up the "Side Winder" at Kotts Berry Farm. Lucas was our little daredevil who wanted to ride everything. He was barely 42" tall so he was able to go on a lot of the rides.

Cody and Lucas on the airplane ride at Knotts.

Jake a Luke taking the corner on the car ride at knotts.

We had an amazing vacation thanks to Grandma Webb! Thank you Grandma, we couldn't have done it without you.

Finally!

2009-07-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

I finally finished sewing the girls Easter clothes last night. Better late than never right? They wore them to church today and looked so cute!

Black and White Makeover

2009-07-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Check it out! I found this bench in the yard at our new house and decided to give it a makeover.

First I spray painted it black. Then I cut a diamond out of a piece of paper and traced diamonds all over the top. With the help of Natalie, I filled them in with white craft pain. She is becoming quite the little painter.

It took a few nails to reattach the piece on top that was falling off and now it is better than new. I think it turned out pretty cute!

It has a tag on it because I had it in a boutique this weekend but it didn't sell. I just might keep it since it turned out so cute.

Do you like?

4th of July Parade

2009-07-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

Our little town decided to host it's own 4th of July celebration this year. It worked out great because we were having our family reunion here. We enjoyed the festivities with our Brewer cousins!

The kids are enjoying the parade with their cousin Amary.

Hailey is looking for more candy!

This is how a teenager enjoys the parade.

Cody got to carry the banner for the Grand Marshal.

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Just picture me with a hammer in one hand and a crow bar in the other. That is what I have been up to lately. We are buying a home and doing a major remodel. Here is a picture of the work in progress. That there is my work crew, aka my hubby and my dad. I'll have some more pictures coming soon. I'm so excited to finaly have a bigger space!

We had a fun 4th and a family reunion all in the same weekend. I have some fun pictures that are stuck on the camera at the moment because the batteries are dead.

I have been sewing some baby blankets and aprons for a boutique. I took some fun pictures of Natalie modeling some of the aprons I made.

Jacob and Lucas found a sand box to keep themselves occupied while I took pictures of Natalie. What cute little guys!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

2009-06-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

5 years already!
Time flies!
This boy loves life.
He jumps,
he climbs,
he hollars,
he hugs,
he laughs,
he cries,
all in the same 5 minutes.
We can't imagine our family without him.
We love you Lucas!

Just call me at the hospital!

2009-05-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering where I have been lately I have been running back and forth from the doctor to the hospital for the last month and a half. Jacob got sick with the flu in April but he was just not getting better. I finaly took him to the doctor and they thought he had appendicitis so they sent me to the hospital. It turned out the he had pneumonia. He had to stay in the hospital for a few days. We were so grateful that it was not more serious. He recovered quickly then about two weeks later he was walking along a retaining wall at the little league field and fell and broke his arm.

About a week later kyle got hit in the hand with a golf ball at school. We went back to the Doctor's office for an Xray and found that he had a small fracture. They put his hand into a splint to protect it but he didn't need a cast. A few days later Randy and the boys went camping. When they got home Kyle was having chest pain and was having a hard time breathing. The doctor's office was closed since it was saturday so off we went to the ER again, thinking he had pneumonia. They Xrayed his lungs and couldn't find anything so they said it was pleurisy. It is an inflamation of the lungs that goes away on it's own. At least he didn't have to stay in the hospital. He is feeling great now but is sad that he is missing the end of little league season.

In between all of this Hailey got double ear infections and I fell and thought I broke my tailbone.

The doctor says we should be good for a couple of years now. I hope he is right. I am so sick of doctor's offices, Xrays, and staying up all night with sick kids.

We are all healthy now. What a blessing it is to have good health.

Happy Mom's Day

2009-05-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say "Happy Mother's Day" to all the mothers out there.

I'm sure many of you feel the same way I do but I have the best mom in the world.

It just occured to me that she might not like seeing her picture on here.

I'm sure she will forgive me though.

I wanted to show you how beautiful my mom is and what an angel she is.

My mom had nine children and she says it is "the best thing I ever did." I'm glad she had nine kids too.

I love you Mom!

Craft it forward!

2009-04-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Well isn't this fun?

Another scrap project

2009-04-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I made these out of some scrap boards Randy had lying around in the garage after the pinewood derby last year. It has taken me a year to finish it but I love it! I just mod podged some scraps of paper I had in my stash and painted some chip board letters that I glued on top.

We woke up to a couple of inches of snow this morning and it snowed off and on all day. It melted in time for the easter egg hunt but it was still cold.

Here are some action shots of some of the kiddos. I didn't get a pic of them all.
We enjoyed a lovely indoor pic nic at Grandma Davis' house.

Happy 39th!

2009-03-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

Look who turned 39 today!

Yes, that means next year is the big 4-0.

Thats okay honey, I love you anyway.

I love that I can laugh at you and call you a red neck and you laugh right along with me.

I love that you can fix/build anything.

I love your cheesy eggs and chocolate chip cookies. No matter how hard I try mine just don't taste as good.

I love that you are such a hard worker.

I love how you play with the kids and teach them Book of Mormon stories.

I love how you look in a suit and sunglasses.

I love how you help me see the bright side of everything.

I love your favorite saying "love can get you through times with no money better than money can get you through times with no love."

This is starting to sound pretty sappy so I will stop right there.

Happy Birthday Randy! I love you!

Cody is #1!

2009-03-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Cody has done it again! He took first place in the pinewood derby again this year. We were so excited for him since this was his last year to race. He made his car into a skate board, it was so cool. Randy helped him make the car but Cody did a lot of the work himself. Now it is on to district! Good luck Cody!

Happy late Valentines Day!

2009-02-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentines day a few days late because Randy was out of town, but it was just as sweet as ever.

I made these Pottery Barn inspired Valentines holders last year for the kiddos. I hung them on the kitchen chairs the night before Valentines day and filled them with Valentines and chocolate.

I had a big meal planned but decided to hold off until Randy returned home. I did however, make the appetizers I had planned to make since the avocados were ripe and I couldn't stand it any more. I found this recipe for The Cheesecake Factory's avocado rolls on Recipe Zaar. They were so yummy. My kids even liked them. I was so happy to find this recipe. Now I just need to learn how to make cheesecake like they do.

Avocado Rolls
2 avocados, diced
2 TB sun dried tomatoes in oil, diced
1 TB minced red onion
1/2 t fresh cilantro, chopped
1 pinch salt
4 egg roll wraps
1 egg, beaten

Stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion cilantro and salt. Spoon filling into egg wrapper. Brush edges of wrapper with egg and fold up. Fry 3-4 min. Drain on a paper bag. Serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce
3 t white vinegar
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 t tamarind pulp
1/4 c honey
1 pinch saffron
1/2 c chopped cashews
2/3 c fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
2 green onions
1 TB sugar
1 t black pepper
1 t cumin
1/4 c olive oil

Combine vinegars, tamarind pulp, honey, and saffron in a small bowl. Microwave until the tamarind pulp is dissolved. Pour all ingredients in the blender except the olive oil. Puree until smooth. Stir in the olive oil and refrigerate.

The sauce really makes this dish. I made the sauce without the tamarind pulp and the saffron and it was still really yummy. I couldn't find tamarind pulp in any of our grocery stores, but I did find places to buy it online. Saffron is about 14 dollars for 5 little pieces so I decide to leave it out also. It made plenty of sauce so I froze it for the next time. I made them again when Randy got home and he loved it!

Here is my Valentine! Isn't he cute? He's so good to me, I couldn't have picked a better one!

Valentine crafts and a cutie!

2009-02-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

I have been working on some cute Valentines crafts.

I grabbed a couple of old boards out of my Dad's burn pile, printed out some letters on the computer, and turned them into this! So cute! I love it!

The topiary is made from scrapbook paper. I downloaded the pattern from Heather Bailey's blog.
Here is a pink one.

Here is the cutie!

More Valentines fun tomorrow! I can't wait!

In pursuit of excellence!

2009-02-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

We had an enrichment meeting the other night in which we were encouraged to use the pursuit of excellence book this year to set goals. I have already accomplished one of my goals for this year and am working on some more.

Last year I ran the two mile run in London's run. I didn't feel like I did very well. This year my goal was to beat last years time and to run it in less than 20 minutes. I didn't know if I would make the last goal because when I ran at home I could only get down to 20 min 45 seconds. We took the whole family and went to the "big city" for the run last weekend. They didn't take official time for the two mile run like they did last year but Randy's sister Jenny loaned me a stop watch. My "unofficial" time was 19 min 6 seconds. I was so excited! Next year Jenny and I are going to run the 10k so I still have some work to do. I have a goal to run a 5k this summer to help me get in shape for next year. We forgot to take pictures this year.

After the run Randy took me to Hobby Lobby. I have heard so much about it and was dying to go. It did not dissapoint. I got some fabric for a quilt I am going to make for my bed. The rest of the fabric came from my sweet aunt Carla who is going to teach me how to quilt. I have always wanted to learn, so one of my goals this year is to finish a quilt.

Speaking of excellence. Look what Natalie made for me.

I was having "one of those days" the other day. I was feeling bummed about Randy working out of town. I went to my room and sat on my bed and when I looked behind me this cute little bird was sitting on my pillow. Natalie knowing of my love for birds made this for me. She is so sweet. She is always making little things for people. She drew this herself. I was so impressed with her creativity. Thanks Natalie, you are a sweetie.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

2009-01-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

Jacob is 6 today! We had a two hour delay for school today because of the snow. Jacob opened presents then we went to play in the snow before school. Jacob loves playing in the snow, school and video games. He is such a sweet boy and a very good artist (he gets that from his grandmas). Happy birthday Jake! We love you!

The stockings were hung!

2009-01-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went in a blur this year. Stockings were hung, gingerbread houses were constructed and destructed, the nativity was acted out, goodies were eaten, gifts were wrapped and unwrapped, and Christmas cards were sent. We were so blessed to be able to celebrate the birth of the Savior with our family and loved ones this year. We hope your Christmas was wonderful too!
Two of the wise men. Don't they look wise?

Sweet little Mary and Joseph.

Christmas pajamas. A Christmas eve tradition.

Opening presents Christmas morning!

Natalie's Baptism

2008-12-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

Natalie was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on November 29, 2008. It was a special day for our family. Natalie was all smiles and very excited to be baptized. We are so proud of her. She is always reminding us to say family prayer. She recently took our family challenge to read her scriptures every day for a month. She started over a few times but was determined, and finally completed it about a month ago. She is a sweet girl and we are so glad she is part of our family. Thanks to all our friends and family who came to see Natalie be baptized.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

2008-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a few days late but I wanted to say happy birthday to my girl! Natalie turned 8 on November 7th. She is so much fun to have around. Here is a picture of the birthday banner I made for Natalie and Hailey's birthdays.

Here is the sweet birthday girl ready to open her presents.

Natalie and Hailey each got a baby kitty for their birthday from Grandma. They are named Shadow and Boo. Dad can't stay away from them even though he is allergic. They are so cute!

We love you Naty! We hope you had a great day!

Halloween cuties!

2008-11-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween is so fun! I love dressing up the kids an taking tons of pictures before we go trick-or-treating. This year I made 4 of the kids costumes. It was a lot of work but so fun to see them all dressed up Halloween night.
Natalie was a cute witch.

Kyle was a pirate. He is holding one of our new kitties that we got Halloween night.

Hailey was a witch also. She is holding the other kitty. We had to be careful not to let her squish it to death.

Jacob was a bank robber. What a cute boy!

Cody is obsessed with The Magic Treehouse books so he chose to be Merlin the Magician.

This has been the year of the bat for Lucas. He is crazy about everything Batman so of course that is who he had to be. He had a mask that he wore trick-or-treating but I love to see his cute little face.

We didn't end up with near as much candy this year, but that was just fine with me. It was lots of fun!

Our baby is 1!

2008-10-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has only been one year since Hailey entered our lives. Already we cannot imagine life without her.
Hailey loves:

her bottle - she carries it everywhere and sucks on it even if it is empty.

going outside - she is no longer content to play at my feet while I do the dishes or fix dinner. If the door opens she yells to go outside with the big kids.

fishy crackers - since she loves her bottle so much she doesn't eat much solid food but she loves goldfish.

climbing on the table - she is a monkey, and she has no fear.

talking to dad on the phone - or should I say listening to her dad on the phone. She lights up at the sound of his voice.

She is growing up too fast. Usually during family prayer she just toddles around and we don't pay much attention to her as long as she is being quiet. Tonight after we said the prayer I looked back at her and she was standing there with her little arms folded looking at us. It was so cute. Then she started clapping because she could tell we were all so thrilled with her for folding her arms. I guess it is time to start including her in saying our prayers.

Happy Birthday Hailey! We love you!

Fall decorations are up!

2008-10-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I love pumpkins, pumkin pie, pumkin rolls, pumpkin cookies. Oh, you get the idea. Not only does fall put me in the mood to bake but I get a serious case of the crafties. Meaning, all I want to do is stay inside where it is warm and make something crafty. Let me tell you, I have a list a mile long of things I want to make. First on the list is halloween costumes for the kiddos. Can't wait to show you what we are working on there, but it will have to wait until halloween.

I have been selling some scrapbook pages on ebay. I will have to link to them later when I have more time but if you would like to go take a look you can search for "premade scrapbook pages by Amber".

Happy fall y'all!

Washing machine, now wash!

2008-09-24T14:41:00.001-07:00

After two months of hauling my laundry up to my Mom and Dad's house every week I finally have a new washing machine. Our house had no laundry hookups so after much blood, sweat, and tears on Randy's part it was finally hooked up at 3 am sunday morning. We put in the first load of laundry and just stood there in amazement as we watched it do it's thing. It reminds me of a book I loved as a child. I can't remember the name of it but the story goes something like this: a little boy goes out and plays and gets all dirty. He knows his mother will be upset if he comes home dirty so he goes into the forrest by his house where there is a huge washing machine. He walks inside and says "washing machine, now wash." It washes his hair and clothes and everything and he walks out shiny and clean and goes home to his mother. Now if my boys could only find a washing machine like that after they were done playing my problems would be over. For now I will settle for this little beauty and continue to stop and stare in amazement as I walk by. By the way if anyone remembers that story or knows the name of the book please let me know. I would love to find it for my children.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

2008-09-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy birthday month around here. Kyle celebrated his 12th birthday on the 11th! He is growing up so fast. He was ordained a deacon and recieved the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. I wanted to get a picture of him and Randy after church on sunday but everyone changed so fast I didn't get a chance to. We are so proud of Kyle and the young man he is growing up to be. Happy Birthday Kyle! We love you!

Baby Steps

2008-09-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hailey took her first steps a couple of weeks ago. She can now take several steps at a time but prefers crawling most of the time. Her brothers and sister make a great cheering section everytime she decides to take off walking. They sure love their baby sister.

She has finally learned how to wave. We have been working on this for a few weeks now. At first she would just wave her arms in the air. She has now mastered opening and closing her hand. From the look on her face it must take lots of concentration.

They grow up so fast. I can't believe she will be 1 in two months. We are sure enjoying watching her grow.

Settling In

2008-08-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

We finally made the move from the big city to the country. We have only been talking about it for two years now. It has been quite an adjustment, mostly for me. I probably cried every day the first week we were here. The kids are adjusting well. They have started school and have already had play dates with cousins and new friends. Natalie asks to call Rachel almost every day. The other day she said "it has almost been two weeks with no Rachel and I am still alive!" Poor thing, she was so broken hearted about moving. She still misses her best friend but she is making new friends and loves her new school. Here are some pics from the first day of school.

I guess the kids should have all had haircuts before school started but we were too busy to even notice.

There are some perks to living in the country, even if there is no Target close by. This is the view down my street on my morning jog.

This was the view out my kitchen window tonight as I fixed dinner.

We are missing Randy like crazy since he is still working in the valley and we only see him on weekends. Hailey now calls the phone "Dad". Thank you to all our friends and family that helped with meals and babysitting and cleaning and packing. We don't know what we are going to do without you (probably cry every day for a week). We are serious when we say come visit us. We miss you all like crazy!!!

Take me out to the ball game

2008-07-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

We went up to the white mountains for the 4th of July celebration. We enjoyed the nice cool weather. On thursday morning we went to the parade then to my grandma's house for a 4th of July picnic. In the evening we went to see the Webb cousins and had a fun baseball game at the little league field. The kids had lots of fun and I think it made them more excited about moving up there in a couple of weeks. Jacob said he wants to move to Aunt Julie's house though. I guess he had fun there. We are back home for a few weeks, then we are going back up for the 24th of July celebration and Randy's 20 year high school reunion. OUCH! Is he really that old? Here is a slide show of the baseball game. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sew much fun!

2008-06-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Many of you know I am a big Heather Bailey fan. I was on her blog recently when I saw that she was having a sewing class at a nearby boutique. I just happened to mention it to Randy and he just happened to call and sign me up. So on saturday off I went to meet the "Queen of cute fabric."

I know, this is a super cheesy picture of me but look who I am standing next to! You can see part of the cute store in the background.

We made these cute little strawberry pincushions, and ate some of her amazing strawberry pretzel desert ice cream. You can download the recipe from her blog. It was so delicious, I think we need to make it for the 4th of July.

We got the stuffins to make a red strawberry pincushion also and her new pattern that is not yet released. It includes a pattern for a pear, apple and tomato. She printed some cute recipe cards for her ice cream and she even signed our patterns.

It was so cool to meet her and ask questions about her fabric and learn some cool sewing tips. We were chatting after the class and she pulled out some of her scrapbook line. It is so cute! I am going to have to get my hands on some of that. It was tons of fun. Thanks Randy, for letting me have such a fun treat, I will never forget it!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

2008-06-09T23:54:00.001-07:00

Lucas is 4 today! What a cute little farmer. We love you Lucas!

Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Crisps

2008-06-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Yum! I got this recipe from a friend about a month ago and have been wanting to try it ever since. I finaly got around to making it today and let me tell you it is delicious! This is definately a new summertime favorite. Thanks Melissa!

I had one of those rare moments today when the two littles were sleeping and the three bigs and 1 little were off playing with friends or helping their Dad on his new truck and I decided to make this. After I tasted it I was hoping they would hurry up and come home so I wouldn't eat the whole thing by myself. Yeah, it's that good! After I pigged out I realized I was going to need more cinnamon crisps so I had to make another batch. Thank goodness I did because when everyone got home it was gone in a few minutes.

Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Salsa
2 kiwis peeled & diced
2 apples peeled & diced
8 oz raspberries
1 lb strawberries
2 T sugar
1 T brown sugar
3 T fruit preserves, any flavor

In a large bowl, mix all the fruit together with sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill 15 min.

Cinnamon Crisps
10 flour tortillas
cooking spray or oil
cinnamon
sugar

Coat one side of each tortilla with butter flavor cooking spray or brush with oil. Cut into wedges with pizza cutter. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and sprinkle with desired amt. of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray or baste again with oil. Bake 8-10 min at 350. Cool 15 min. and serve fresh.

This is the recipe the way Melissa gave it to me. I didn't have raspberries so I didn't put them in. I used strawberry preserves and only added a sprinkling of brown sugar and no regular sugar. It was plenty sweet enough for me. You might want to play around with it and add different things like blackberries or pineapple. I had a pre-made pie crust in the fridge so I used it for some of the chips. I thought the flavor was better than the tortillas but the dipability (is that a word?) was not as good because they were flakier and tended to fall apart. That is when a spoon comes in handy.

I promised to update you on the progress of my recipe book so here goes. The boys were all up at my Mom and Dad's for a week so I was able to actually get some stuff done around here, and have some fun girl time with Natalie and Hailey. I started working on my book but I have to admit I am not done because I kept thinking of great recipes I wanted to add to it. Here is the progress so far.

Speaking of fun with the girls, we had lots of fun. We discovered Redbox movie rentals at our local Walmart and watched a movie almost every night. I took Natalie to a ceramic store that we have lived 1/2 a mile from for 3 years for the first time. She painted a ceramic butterfly with her friend Kylie and can't wait to go back. She pulled out the Easy Bake Oven on more than one occasion to make cookies.

She was so cute. I had scouts on Wednesday and she wanted to make cookies for them for refreshments. She made them all in her Easy Bake Oven.

Notice the tatoo on her arm in the upper left hand corner of the picture. She cracks me up. She even melted some chocolate in a little bowl on the top burner to dip cookies in.

It was a good week. I was excited to go get my boys though. We drove up on Saturday to get them and back on Sunday. I got to see my sister Shara and her daughter Avery and new baby Aiden. I didn't get any pics though. We got back on Sunday night and started swimming lessons Monday morning. The kids are enjoying their swimming lessons all except for Jacob because he says the teacher won't let him do whatever he wants, too funny. Hopefully I will get pictures of them swimming next week.

Sorry, I know it is a long one but so much is going on it is hard to keep up. I would rather be busy than not though, thats what keeps life fun!

Work in progress

2008-05-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get better at this blogging business and post more often. Two posts in one week, yea!

I have been working on a couple of projects for weeks now and I just can't seem to find the time to finish them. I thought maybe if I posted them here I would be motivated to get them finished so here goes.

I am trying to get all my favorite recipes compiled into one book. They are printed out and ready to go I just need to put it together.

This is a dress I am making for Hailey. It has been sitting on my ironing board untouched for two weeks now.

Hailey has been working on this -

She mostly just rocks back and forth on her hands and knees but I'm sure it wont be long before she is crawling everywhere. She is such a cute little bug.

I promise to keep you updated on the progress of all three. See, now I have to finish them. Lets hope this speeds up the process.

Happy Mom's Day

2008-05-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pop in and wish a happy Mom's Day to my mother. I hope you had a good day Mom. It was good to talk to you, as always. Thanks for your awesome example. I hope to grow up to be like you someday. I love you!

Here's what Randy and the kids cooked up for me for Mother's Day.

It has all the kiddo's hand prints in plaster paris. It is so cute! Leave it to Randy to come up with something so cute and sentimental. The kids were so cute with their cards and helping out all day. Natalie was so excited to give me my gifts she kept telling me to go to bed last night so they could get everything ready. If only every day could be like this.

Here is my Mother's Day gift to myself. Who doesn't love a new pair of shoes?

I'm pretty much crazy about anything polka dot right now so when I saw these I just hade to have them.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there. I hope you had a great day!

Food Storage

2008-04-26T09:24:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's been a whole month since I have posted anything here! What a slacker. Actually I have been quite busy working on my year supply so I want to show you some of the things I have done. First of all M&M's:

I got a ton of chocolate at target on clearance after Easter. Only 5 bags survived & made it into the jars though. I borrowed my friend's jar vac and sealed my M&M's up in jars. Don't they look fun? I'm sure chocolate will be essential to one's year supply.

Now tomatoes:

My mom sent me 3 boxes of tomatoes to can. I only did one batch as this was my first time doing tomatoes, but I did make a large batch of salsa, and homemade tomato soup, and gave some away. I can't wait to do some more, we love tomatoes!

My cereal score:

A gal in the ward got me hooked on this money saving blog, Bargain Moms.
I got all this for $4! What a bargain. Now I just have to keep the kids from eating all the granola bars in one day. Most of this is going into my 3 month supply.

Hailey: a year supply of cuteness (at least)

I hope I have inspired some of you to work on your food storage. It sure is fun to see my closet filling up with food. I will try not to be such a bad blogger. I do have some cute scrapbook pages to post but will have to do that when I have more time. The kids are off to the primary activity so I must jet.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T22:08:00.001-07:00

We had a fun easter here at our house. Jacob had been asking all week when we were going to go "Easter Egging". We colored eggs yesterday and had an easter egg hunt all through the house and in the backyard. We had a big feast for dinner. I cooked asparagus for the first time (about half of the kids liked it and half didn't). I am so grateful for the Savior and for his atonement and that we have the Easter holiday to remember what he has done for us.

Here are some pictures of the kids all dressed up.

The results are in!

2008-03-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Cody! He took second place in his cub scout pinewood derby this year! Good job Cody and Dad on making an awesome car.

Randy gets so excited about pinewood derby every year. He makes a car for all of the kids. Kyle lost his so he didn't get to finish it but here are the other kiddo's cars.

Hailey's car, so cute!

Naty's car

Lucas, Jacob and Codys' cars

They let the little kids race their cars when the scouts were done. Hailey's car was the fastest of them all. Pretty funny. The kids thought it was lots of fun.

Scrapbook Heaven

2008-03-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

Natalie about 2 1/2 years old

I just got back from my annual scrapbook retreat with Randy's Mom, Sisters and Neice. We had a blast! Three and a half days of fun scrapbooking, yummy food, and great company. I made a record 74 pages this year. (A record for me that is, Julie had like 150 or something). It was tons of fun and I am looking forward to doing it again next year. This is a sampling of some of my favorite pages. Hope you enjoy!

Hailey

Lucas Christmas day 2006

Family Fun!

2008-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

Here is what we did for family night. Isn't he cute? We talked about family unity then decided to make something together. The kids chose this frog cake. They realy had fun with it. Kyle is turning into quite the cake decorator. Go make something with your family. It's lots of fun!

Sara!

2008-02-24T14:51:00.001-08:00

This is Natalie's new pet Sara. Oh, how that girl wants a dog! She gets it from her Dad. She was so sick last week she missed 4 days of school. I found this cute dog pattern on one of my fave blogs called Allsorts. She wanted to make it. (I ended up doing most of the stitching though while she slept) She has been sleeping with it most nights since then.

She is a happy girl now! She was so sick she hardly ate anything all week. She told me "Mom, if you want to loose weight all you have to do is get sick". Thankyou very much Natalie.

I have proof!

2008-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Many of you have heard my tales of all the mischief my two youngest boys get into and now I have pictures to prove it. Last Friday I was busy chopping 24 heads of lettuce for a church dinner when Jacob and Lucas came downstairs with ink all over the bottoms of their feet. They had gotten into my ink pads. I told them to go upstairs and wash their feet off in the bathtub, and I continued to chop lettuce. I could hear them upstairs playing in the tub and I figured they had decided to take a bath. I had lots of lettuce to chop so I just kept going. I assumed there was probably water all over the floor but I would just wipe it up when I was done. Well, I finished chopping lettuce and headed upstairs to survey the damage. There were little blue and purple footprints all up the stairs on the carpet but I was not worried since I had been needing to shampoo the carpet any way. I got to the top of the stairs where the footprints stopped and found a couple of ink pads lying on the floor. I thought, "well this isn't so bad." Then I went into my bathroom to find the boys up to their necks in BLUE water. They had 4 inkpads in the bathtub with them. It actually looked pretty cool, but they still got in trouble. Notice they are not smiling in the pictures. They did ask why I was taking pictures of them. So now you know how to make really cool blue bath water.

What's in a name?

2008-02-14T20:54:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day! I finally decided to start a blog. I wanted a place to share my crafty things with my friends and family.

The name "My Little Kumquat" came about several years ago on Valentines Day. My Hubby came home from work and told me about a radio contest to call in and guess the top 5 food names for your sweetheart. I rattled off the common ones like: Honey, Sugar, Pumpkin and such but couldn't guess the 5th one on the list (which was Sweet Pea by the way). After several clues and many guesses later I finally blurted out "Kumquat?" This sent him into a fit of laughter, which if you have ever seen my hubby laugh it is quite a site. It became one of our private jokes and he started calling me "My little kumquat". So it is very fitting that I have started my blog on Valentines Day.

See ya soon, or as my hubby always says, "I'm glad you got to see me!".