Our Family Proclamation

Our Family Proclamation

This past month I have been able to get a project done that I have wanted to do for 5 years. When we lived in Michigan for an Enrichment Super Saturday, one of the projects was this family proclamation. I never got mine done, but knew that someday I would get it done. It was so fun to pick out the pictures to use in this project, I decided to use the day that we were sealed to Karlee as a family. My sister took amazing pictures, so the only hard part was finding the best out of the best. I was able to find this beautiful frame at the DI for $3 (it was oak brown, so I painted it black and antiqued it, and then stained it for extra character. Really I think it turned out better than I could have hoped.

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For anyone that thinks they would want to tackle this, here are the supplies that you will need. Let me know if you have any questions.

1-16x20 frame (got mine at the DI, and fixed it up)

12-4x6 pictures

1-copy "The Family Proclamation" (I retyped mine to a font that I wanted)

Photo tape, scissors, and patience.

My scrapbooks are going digital

So for the past year I have been collecting some amazing moments on camera, and on our blog. Now its time to put a scrapbook together, and with technology the way it is, what better way to do it, but on the computer. My sister Monica has been the real inspiration, and fire burning force behind me getting this underway. Thank you! There have been many trial and ERROR moments, one of my all time favorites (up to this point - obviously) is having my computer shutdown, 2 hour session, before I could save anything - thus losing it all. I know, one would have thought that yes I learned my lesson from that time . . . well it probably happened another time, and I am going to be honest I am sure it will happen to me again. Okay so any way. I am working on my first project, it is Karlee's First 12 months. I am excited to get this done. I am pretty slow in the creativity department, so a page will take me quite a bit of time, but I am sure it will get better the more I am doing this. Just thought I would post what I have been working on lately.

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Pioneer Day 2009

Happy July 24th! Today we started our day off with going to the Washington City Pioneer Day parade. We had a good time, good thing it didn't start any later than 9 am because we were nice and toasty, baking in the sun. The parade was a lot of fun, and Karlee enjoyed it much more than we had anticipated. She loved all the people waving, people watching, and especially loved the flashing lights from the service vehicles. We spent the rest of the day with friends, and had a nice relaxing day.

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Karlee and mom waiting for the parade to begin!

The handcarts were amazing!

Karlee and Dad enjoyed the parade.

Why did the pioneers think of a tractor?

Look who's walking!

. . . Go Karlee Go . . .

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Karlee is now officially walking, just 2 weeks shy of turning 18 months old. She took a few (3) steps on her own this last week, then she sat down, and crawled away to play with her toys. I knew I shouldn't get too excited just yet, as she has a mind of her own and will do things on her own time. This past week was when she decided to really surprise us and put on a show. Rob was making the bed when Karlee climbed up onto the bed to help (I am sure), she stood up and started walking from the wall to the edge of the bed. Maybe she has been practicing in her crib at night, because she was walking with so much confidence. She did this a couple more times, as for the rest of the day, she showed no interest in walking until just before bed. As I was getting Karlee dressed for bed, she would pick up a toy and then walk it across the room, turn around and walk back. Now to say that she is walking, and she is, just not 100%. She still insists on crawling for all her long distance ventures, but like I said she has a mind of her own, and when she is done crawling she will let us all know.

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Karlee getting her balance.

Here she comes! Hooray Karlee!!!!

Yummy Homemade Pizza

Doesn't this look Delicious . . . it was.

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I have been making this pizza for awhile now, and thought I would share it with the rest of ya'll. It is so yummy, fast, and super easy. I cannot remember where I found the recipe, so I can't give props to them, if I remember I will update this post. This pizza from start to finish will take you about 30 minutes. How awesome is that!

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Pizza dough:

1 Tbsp active yeast (small envelope)

1 cup warm water (120º - 130º)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp veg oil

2 1/2 cups flour

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Steps to follow:

- Dissolve the yeast in the water, let stand 3-5 minutes.

- Add the rest of the ingredients in bowl, or mixer and mix. (I use my kitchen-aid mixer to mix, knead, and rest - saves on the clean up.) Then add yeast to dry ingredients.

- Dump onto a floured surface.

- Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so). I also let it rise/rest just a bit.

- Roll out and press down onto a pizza stone, or a greased pan. (if you use a stone you don't have to grease it.)

- Add toppings. This is the FUN part!

- Bake at 450º for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

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The pizza that is pictured above is our Spinach Alfredo Garlic Chicken pizza. It was so yummy. We have made BBQ chicken, pepperoni, ham & pineapple, Taco, and cheese. I think my favorite so far is the Spinach Alfredo Garlic Chicken pizza. Hope you make your homemade pizza and enjoy it as much as we do.

Oh so very Gross!

Our vacuum bit the dust, literally. Embarrassingly we have been without a vacuum for well over a month, and let me just tell you. . . GROSS! I know, what were we thinking, right? When the vacuum stopped working (burned up, literally), I knew we needed to replace it, and soon. Then life just went on, other things got moved to the top of the 'list'.
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Today I went and got our new vaccum. I didn't do too much research on this purchase so hopefully it won't bite me later on. Honestly, I went for price more than anything. For anyone that knows anything about vacuums, it is a Bissell Powerforce Bagless Vacuum. Okay so anyways, I was excited to finally get my carpets vacuumed (almost like Christmas morning, ha ha). The vacuum worked great, the amazing part is all the dust, dirt, and crap that it was able to pull up from our carpets. It took me probably 30 minutes to vacuum, because I wanted to make sure I got every bit of carpet covered. The bagless container almost hit the Full Line. Doesn't that just make you sick, I can't believe it, ya I am totally disgusted. To think that poor little Karlee has been crawling around with all that crap in the carpet. So why am I posting about this? Because I have learned my lesson, Never again! Never again!

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Here are some gross pictures of our dirt, dust, and crap. (enjoy)

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Karlee loves her daddy

Karlee always has so much fun when she is with her daddy. Her eyes light up whenever she see him. Rob has been home much of the day these past few weeks, due to the slow economy and the extremely hot weather, so Karlee has been in heaven. The two of them have played peek-a-boo, hide and go seek, chase (up and down the hallways), and have watched movies together. Anything inside the air conditioned home, out of the heat. I love how these two have so much fun together. Karlee gets to spend so much time with her favorite guy, and I think that Rob is loving all the time he gets with her as well.

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Beating the Summer heat!

One day last week, I caught Karlee cooling off in our fridge. Rob was putting lunch away, and Karlee made her way over to "the spot". Rob says she does this all the time when he gets into the fridge to get his cold water. Pretty funny! I guess Karlee figured this was one way to stay cool in this summer heat! Atleast she can't open the door on her own quite yet. What a cute little smile she has on her face.

Am I dreaming about Vampires?

Okay so I have finally finished the Twilight Series. I know . . . I know . . . It has taken me some time to actually get into getting them read. I read the first book in a day and a half, only after having my sister-in-law's book for over a year - I felt so guilty and gave it back to her only to have to call her up a couple months later, to ask if I could borrow it - so I could hurry and read it before I watch the movie. The second book probably took me a week to read, and I enjoyed it as well (only this was months ago - yep I waited another 6-7 months to start the 2nd book). To get started on the last two books, I tried checking them out of the library (I'm too cheap to buy the books), but to my shock, there was a 3-4 week wait on getting one or the other - crazy girls - I thought. So when it came to the last two books, I wasn't completely motivated, to get them read. My sister let me borrow the last two books, so there was no excuse in not finishing them.

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First off I have to admit that I accomplished absolutely nothing this weekend and finished the last two books. Whew!!!! I am embarrassed also to say that when I wasn't reading, all I was thinking about was wanting to read and then when I was reading I was lost in the story, nothing else existed. A Special Thanks to my dear sweet Rob who took care of Karlee for me - not too hard . . . when she has him wrapped around her finger like she does, but it didn't seem to me that either of them missed me too terribly. ha ha
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I loved all the books, if asked which one I liked most . . . think that I would have to say 2, that is that is to say that my two favorite books would have to be Twilight, and Breaking Dawn. I'll be honest, I guess I am more of a hopeless romantic than I had thought. I enjoyed the journey of the entire story, how it started and how it all ended. Now I can see what all the craziness has been about. To settle this matter as well (probably for my own sanity) . . . Edward or Jacob. I am definitely an Edward Cullen fan, but can finally appreciate Jacob for who he was in the end of the story.

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I am shaking my head right now, just listening to myself . . . I am sure I will look back at this post and laugh (as Rob is doing right now). But for the record . . . I finished the books, and I can now start them over, well maybe in a little bit, give myself some time to accomplish in my life. So to answer the question - Am I dreaming about Vampires? Undoubtedly so . . . at least for a couple more days. ha ha ha

Life's Sweet Assurances

This week, one of my college roommates, truly a good friend, sent me an email. She was asked to share her thoughts at a Time Out for Women. Wow, what an intimidating honor! Bethany is such an amazing woman, she really is a friend to all, I have always secretly wanted to steal some of her wonderful qualities. In the past year or so I have been able to reconnect with her (all-be-it through emails, and our blogs). This girl in college was AMAZING, so to see her today, being asked to share her thoughts is no surprise! She has the heart of a giant, and the most loving testimony of the gospel. I am so impressed with the feelings she was able to share that I wanted to put it on my blog so that I can keep it with my daily treasures. I appreciate the gentle reminders of the sweet assurances that we have in our lives.

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A Sweet Assurance in Life's Process
June 29, 2009
By Bethany Hansen
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I have sweet assurance because I know my life is a process. Sounds simple enough. But, for me it was the answer I had been diligently seeking. Over the past ten years I found myself feeling discouraged and frustrated about my imperfections, my personal performance and my progress as a wife, a mother, a daughter-in-law, and co-worker. I started to find it difficult to tolerate myself and it eventually became too much for me to handle.

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Let me share just ONE example to illustrate, my mornings:

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My mornings start out like this: I wake up, postpone exercising again and skip the shower because I ignored the alarm, throw on some clothes, wake up my four kids with a forced, "GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE" (which we all know is NOT a mutually sunshiny moment), pull out some cereal (yes it's sugared), pray that I bought just one more gallon of milk, wash 4 dirty spoons (because the dishes are definitely not done), help someone find that one missing sock or special shirt that is lost, read scriptures, gather everyone for family prayer, and finally herd everyone into the dirty van to be dropped off at school (sigh and pause…).

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While this might sound like a normal morning to most women, for me the real trouble was not the mornings, but the thoughts behind the morning. For example, I felt bad because I had slept in rather than waking up early enough to exercise and shower. I felt frustrated that I had to take care of my kids needs before my own needs were taken care of. I felt upset because I didn’t serve a well balanced breakfast for my kids. I felt angry that the kids still couldn’t find their own clothes even after my labor-intensive, drawer-labeling job, and the list goes on.

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With this mind set I was miserable and exhausted and couldn't figure out how to fix it. I hated not “doing it right.” What was the answer? How could I be happy when things seemed like they were always falling apart?I was disappointed to eventually find out that there was no single magic solution that could solve my problems. However, I was relieved to learn that there are a few eternal principles that have changed my discouragement to hope and peace, including Helaman's words in Alma 58:11.

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Here are the three sweet assurances that changed my despair to hope:

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#1 I am good enough ‘as is’. My dad once reminded me that my worth and my actions ARE NOT one and the same. What I do and who I am are very different things. While my actions are not perfect and they may be good or bad, successful or less effective, I am good enough ‘as is’.

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#2 God lives and knows me. There are times, I am pretty darn sure, that I didn’t do anything to qualify for His love, yet I received it. Because I know that God lives and that He loves me, this battle of life, as it sometimes seems, is not mine alone to fight.

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#3 Last and most importantly, Life is a process. My life is not a sprint to perfection, nor a deadline to meet. My life is a process. A process of overcoming and making better choices. There are struggles indeed, but they are my stepping stones and not my roadblocks towards perfection. In this process called life there is a great need to slow down. A great need to just be me. These sweet assurances have changed my life. I know I am good enough ‘as is’.