Baking Bread

I baked my first loaves of bread ever!! It was so much easier than I ever thought.

I knew they didn't look like they had risen enough, but I decided to follow the directions and bake anyway.

In retrospect they definitely needed to rise more. They don't look perfect, but they definitely tasted good! (No, I didn't eat them all. I gave most of them away.) I think it was a pretty successful first try overall.

Applique Onesies

I saw this idea and templates here,  and since I have a baby shower to go to next week, decided to give it try.  It was pretty easy and fun to do.

A Little DIY Decorating

I've seen this idea several times and finally took the time to give it a try.  I modge podged scapbook paper to the outlet covers.  Gives them a nice decorative look!

Get Well Soon

Not a great pic, but this was one of my small projects over my summer break.  Based on the instructions found here, I think these tissue holders will make cute 'get well' gifts.  I modifed the dimensions from the inspiration link.

The best size, the purple one, was 3 pieces cut 3 1/4" x 5 1/2", and 2 pieces cut 3 1/4" x 3 3/4".
The smaller one is 3 pieces cut 3" x 5 1/4", and 2 pieces cut 3" x 3 1/2".

They were super fast and easy.

Beehives & Beads

This year for stake girls camp they are starting a new tradition of 'bead necklaces'. The girls will be given beads for different activities and things they do and the necklaces will be built over all their years at camp. I think it's cool and wanted to make a bead that I could give to my girls. Since I figured lots of people would do beads related to the theme ('Shine On'), I decided to make my beads specific to my Beehives, thus I created a beehive!

This was my original prototype which I first thought, 'Hey, this isn't bad.' Yeah, I know, what was I thinking?!

 Then my brain really kicked into gear and I realized I could do much much better and voila! These were created! I just absoluely love them. I can't wait to give them to the girls. You can't see it in the picture, but I used a chopstick to create a wide hole down thru the center of the beehive.

 After the clay baked I add a little coat of modge podge for some extra shine. If I'm still in YW next year, I will make them a second bead with two beehives, representing their second year. (I made one this time, since I only have one second year beehive.)

Anyone want a Pop Tart?

I thought I'd make my niece Shantel feel better. At least there weren't any flames this time, just smoke pouring out of the toaster. I'm really not sure what happened, the toaster just didn't shut off.

Holy Options Batman!

Playing with my new toy.... I bought a new DSLR camera yesterday in a somewhat spur of the moment decision. I had been thinking about one for a long time and when I saw a great deal at Costco I decided to go for it.

I know these pictures aren't masterpieces or anything, but being able to get a better depth of field and all the other options were fun to play with. It's going to take me a LONG time to really figure it all out. In the end, most of the pictures that came out the best from this first shooting session were taken on 'Auto'. So much for creativity huh?

April Fools Day 2012

My twisted sense of humor rears it's ugly head again....

Inspired by the Battle of the Bozos (see also this link), and celebrated on April 2, I left this in my friend Evan's office.

I know it's weird, but I found it funny and he did too.

4 year old Owen is an Awesome Snowboarder!!!

So proud of my awesome nephew!!

BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL

This is one of my most favorite songs ever. Makes me groovy happy! Don't ask me what it means, it's just cool!

Latest Craft Projects

I've been meaning to post these for a while.

These are some cute Temple recommend holders I made for my two new Beehives, Hope and Emma. I made some a few months ago for the other Beehives but didn't take pictures. I found the idea on the internet (where I get all my ideas) but I think mine look even cuter than the inspiration.
A few weeks ago we had Young Women in Excellence and I volunteered to make the refreshments. Inspired by the current cupcake fad, I had fun trying to make a slightly jazzed up cupcake with cute little decorations. The theme was 'One Virtuous Young Woman Lead by the Spirit Can Change the World'. The homemade cream cheese frosting got rave reviews.

Small Covered Book of Mormon

Several months ago I saw this great project that my niece Brittni's YW group had done. I loved it and decided I needed to make some for my girls. So, after getting some verbal directions from Brittni's YW leader and fumbling thru my first one, I made several more and decided to write down the instructions for anyone else who liked the idea.
I purchased the small military size books from the Church distribution center. To start you want to buy super heavy duty magnets and glue two to the front cover. Recommended: Darice brand from Joann's, 18x3mm. I used a tacky glue for the whole project.

Cut your fabric 6 1/2" x 18" and iron on a heavy pelon or Wonder Under (cut size 5 1/4" x 17").

Fold your fabric edges up over the lining. You can finger press or iron them.

If you want to add the ribbon embelishment, I glued the first end to the left edge of the fabric, about 2 1/4" from the bottom. Fold the left side over about 2 3/4".

Spread the glue on the frabric from the fold out to the left edge and on the cover of the book. I didn't spread the first one I made and it seemed to get a few air pockets so get it covered and pressed on well.

Fold your glued edge over into the inside cover. Be careful to keep glue from squishing out and getting stuck to the first page. Continue gluing and wrapping around the spine and back cover.

Cut two pieces of metal plumbers tape, approx. 4 1/2 " long. Glue the first one down almost up to the edge of the back cover and the other one about 1 3/4" from the edge of the back cover. Spread your glue on the rest of the fabric and top of the plumbers tape.

Fold the remaining fabric over and into the inside of the back cover - leaving about 2" (the space with the plumbers tape) coming out from the backside. This will be the piece the folds up and over to make your magnetized clasp/closure. Finish by gluing your ribbon around the outside and add any other embelishments.

Ta da! The finished product! I'm excited to give these away, but I'm not sure when I'll do it. I may end up saving them for Christmas presents. (Shh! Anelieze, don't tell : ) The yellow/orange one in the top right is the first one I made. I think the blue polk-a-dots might be my favorite now that they are done.

Bow Tie Pasta & Spinach Salad

This salad is so yummy! I hung out with Mom and Dad on Sunday afternoon and made this for lunch. (Thanks to Corrine for the great recipe!)
1 package of fresh spinach
1 package (8oz) of bow tie pasta (cooked, drained and cooled)
2-4 TBLS sesame seeds
1 small package of sliced almonds (basically 3/4 to 1 cup)
1-2 cups bean sprouts
chicken (two cans of the cooked chicken from Costco works great)

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil (vegetable or olive)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame seeds
3 TBLS soy sauce
2 TBLS seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp fresh garlic, minced

Stir ingredients well to dissolve the sugar, store in refrigerator. Let dressing warm to room temperature before tossing with salad.

Harry Potter Movie Night

I had a few of the young women over on Friday night to watch Harry Potter 7, Part I. As part of the festivities we made butterbeer.
Half a glass of cream soda, 1/4 cup butterscotch topping, and a tablespoon of butter. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute and then stir. Voila!

Emergency Preparedness

So today after the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting the Bishop stood up and called out several families in our ward and asked them to stand up. He then told them that a disaster has struck and they have no electricity, no gas, no water, and the cell phone towers are all out. This will last from noon today until midnight tonight. They must use whatever emergency supplies they have to get thru the next 12 hours. Next week for our 5th sunday combined priesthood/relief society we will be discussing emergency preparedness and he would like them to share their experiences.

One of the family names that was called: Eric and Shae Law & Family.

Because this isn't a true emergency, I find it hilarious!! The look on Shae's face, was priceless. (Guarantee'd she didn't find it hilarious.) However, I am also fascinated by what I believe is a very effective exercise. I know everyone that was there today is thinking about what they'd be doing if they had just been called out and put in the same situation.

I'm not deaf, I've definitely been hearing the very frequent reminders lately to be prepared (thus the food I canned and blogged about a few weeks ago, which is still sitting in my living room). I feel the urgency to get further prepared with emergency kits etc. I do have one with some very basic things but it needs a whole lot more added to it.

Shae and Eric didn't have any warning. We won't either. Are you prepared?

Family Home Evening = Food Storage

64 cans of food

4.5 hours

1 person

4 ibuprofen

1 heating pad

I'm seriously not sure if I'll be able to move my back in the morning. Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll have the engergy to move it out of my car and into the house.

April Fools!

Ok, today was the best April Fools day ever. I actually managed to play some pretty good pranks on my co-worker and friend Evan Mackay. There are no pictures to share, but here's a summary of the multiple things I did:

I hit him with these 2 first. I managed to make him believe me when I denied any culpability.

• Taped a small piece of paper over the eye of his optical mouse. When he tried to use the mouse, the cursor wouldn't move. I wrote April Fools! on the paper.


• Taped down the hook that presses down when the handset of your phone is in the cradle. When he picked it up to make a call he didn't get a dial tone. He obviously figured it out quick, but it was pretty funny to watch.

Later when I knew he had just left for lunch with his boss and the computer hadn't gone into sleep mode yet, I snuck back into his office and

• Repeated both of the above items.


• Changed his internet home page to a page about hemorrhoids.


• Changed his Google language preferences to Dutch.


• Changed his mouse pointer cursor to the hourglass/thinking cursor. (He told me he actually rebooted his computer trying to fix this one.)


• Changed the speed of the mouse to as slow as it could go.


• Went into Word and changed it so that any time he typed the word 'the' it changed it to 'flying monkeys', 'and' changed to 'I'll be jiggered!', and 'GSS' (our department name) changed to 'BYU'. A bonus for me is that it also affected Outlook. So far he has only found the flying monkeys and was quite distressed as he tried to type an email. He asked me to remove the flying monkeys, which I did. I haven't removed the others though... I also found another co-work who had left his computer unattended and I changed 'the' to say 'April Fools!'. He actually put in a work order to our IS help desk saying he thought he had a virus. Unfortunately he didn't find it nearly as funny as Evan did.


• I also changed the volume on the computer and the sound it makes when he receives email, but I couldn't find anything particularly obnoxious and I don't think he's noticed this one.


• The last item I did won't actually show up until next April 1 and I'm not telling what it is...

Evan found it all quite funny and is only mad that he didn't think of any of it himself and doesn't have an immediate comeback, although he has sworn revenge. I believe he has actually signed me up for some mass distrubution of junk mail, I've been 'unsubscribing' all afternoon. I'm a bit scared of what may be to come.

Happy April Fools Day everyone!!

Happy Ever After

Tuesday night was New Beginnings at YW. This is where we introduce the incoming Beehives for the year and re-introduce the Personal Progress program. Our theme was 'Happily Ever After' - as in, Personal Progress helps you reach your Happily Ever After, i.e. the Temple. It even fits right in our camp theme this year which we just learned will be 'Born to be a Queen'. Cool! The 3 white dresses in a girls life - Blessing, Baptism and Temple

Our princess cake made by Kandra Lassen.

Our awesome two new Beehives, Emma and Hope, who unfortunately won't actually join us until September and October.