I thought I had a good tip to share with you today...........but my good tip went bad!! I saw it in a magazine and was eager to try it out with my daughter.The tip: use a cupcake liner to catch the drips from popsicles. Just make a small slit for the stick and slide the liner up the stick. Simple enough. I made a tiny slit just big enough for the stick, good to go! As Ivy is eating her popsicle, she says "Mom. Look!" The popsicle had started melting and running through the little slit in the cupcake liner all down her arm.....Fail.I guess if you eat your popsicle really quick you won't have a problem, but this girl takes a while! I was really hopeful for this little tip, but it was not to be. I guess I'll stick to that little plastic thing you put the popsicle stick in. I don't remember what it's called, but it's better than the cupcake liner!

My Home's In Alabama

To quote a great country song by one of the best groups(Alabama), My Home’s In Alabama. Yes! It sure is!

I just couldn’t blog today, without thinking about my beloved Alabama. As many of you may know, this great state was hit with some extremely severe weather on Wednesday. Tornadoes that were massive in size and strength.

Many people may think that tornadoes are more apt to happen in the Midwest. Places like Kansas, Nebraska,Iowa, etc. and I’m sure they get their fair share. But being born and raised in Alabama, I know we get our fair share too! My husband still doesn’t really “get” why many times I will be glued to the t.v. or constantly checking the internet if there is severe weather. I’ve always been afraid of storms. Not as much anymore, but it’s still there. I was scared Wednesday. I was scared for those that had been hit that morning in the first wave of storms in northern AL. Places that I grew up in like Moody and Odenville. I was scared when I saw that huge tornado approaching Tuscaloosa as I was watching the weather via Ustream. My heart ached for the people in it’s path. Then to hear that same tornado was heading for the county that all my family(parents, sister, cousins, grandparents) live in , well, it sent tears flowing. I wanted them to be okay and to be safe. I had said my prayers earlier that day, but I said a few more as I saw that beast of a tornado. I am firm in my faith and know that our Heavenly Father loves us all and that he would be with us all, no matter the circumstances.

I knew my sister, her family, my mother, grandmother and other friends were in a neighbor’s basement. I felt that they would be safe. Later in the night, I found out that their were trees down near my sister’s house and down the road from them, but everyone was fine,including their houses. However, if you keep driving down the road they live on to the other end of the “valley” as we call it, many were not as fortunate. I haven’t seen it, but they tell me of the houses that are just gone;brick houses, mobile homes, 2-story houses. You name it. Their was also many who lost their lives, as well. I just watched a video of someone interviewing a man who lived in the valley, telling of how his father died trying to protect all of his kids.

I was also scared when later in the night we heard the weather man say,”Elmore county. You should be in your safe place now!”Ummm. That’s my county. Where I have many friends that I love. Needless to say We went to our hall bath,(I so want a basement in our next house) which is an interior room away from windows. The kids went with their pillows and PSP’s to wait out the storm. It ended up going north east of us into Eclectic, which is about 20 minutes from my house.The storm just totally devastated that area and killed 6 people. I didn’t know any of them personally, but my heart still just aches for their families. I tell you about these little places in AL, and there are more, that you probably won’t hear about. But it happened here too. Very close to home. Most people will only hear about the bigger places like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Cullman, etc. Likely so. The devestation there is just awful. It’s hard to fathom that parts of a Tuscaloosa, where I was just 3 weeks ago for U of A’s spring football game, are demolished. It’s heartbreaking! While I tell you that I was scared, I know that my Heavenly Father was watching over us all. That gave me comfort. Whatever the outcome, He will give us our peace and comfort.

While I’ve shed tears of sadness, I’ve also shed tears of joy. I’ve seen my community and heard of many more come together to help wherever they can. Donating clothes and food, sorting clothes, cleaning up trees, picking up personal items from the ravaged areas, and the list goes on. That makes me happy!My son, Trent, and I went to Eclectic on Saturday to help wherever we could. As we rode on the bus out to the affected areas, my eyes just welled up with tears. Until you see the trees snapped, only a porch standing, but no house, a 100 yr old church reduced to rubble, parts of houses in trees, and tents pitched so homeowners can safely guard their belongings, it’s just not as real. I feel so very spared, thankful, blessed……I wanted my son to see that this is real.We have a home, clothes, beds, video games, computers and kids 20 minutes up the road just don’t have those comforts anymore. I think he got it. Although, we didn’t get to actually work as much as we had wanted, I was happy that he was so willing to help his neighbor and show compassion for people he didn’t even know.Laci and I also went to sort clothing on Sunday with other ladies from our church. She was so eager. She said, “Are we gonna go mom? I really want to help.” Thanks for having a giving heart Lace. I saw many kids,adults, young and old, just wanting to help their neighbor. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about.

I am a proud southerner. I love Alabama. Always have and always will. I feel for all the states affected by this storm, though. It just makes you hug your kids a little tighter and makes you take a look at your life. Or at least it did me. What can I do? Where can I go the extra mile? How can I better serve my neighbor? How can I better serve my family? I’m so thankful for the gospel in my life and for good people in the world.---Sorry for the long post, but I had to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard ; ) and tell my feelings . ……..My Home’s in Alabama. No matter where I lay my head.

A- Day 2011

Laci showin' some love for the Crimson Tide!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! We certainly did!
Now switching gears a little bit. I wanted to share the pics from the A-Day game we went to a couple weeks ago. It's the University of Alabama's spring football game in case you're wondering what that is. It was a breezy, sunny day to watch some football and take in all the sights surrounding A-Day. Why do we go to A-Day games? See the picture below of my dad's shirt! Roll Tide!

Kyle, Lena and Laci

Rama Jama's restaurant, which is right across from the stadium. We stood in line a while, but it was worth it for that good cheeseburger and onion rings!



Lena and Laci waiting on lunch. This place was so packed. Seriously the line was out the door. If you saw someone get up from a table, you grabbed it or you may not have a place to eat!

The guy table!

Flag football game before the actual football game.

We always enjoy going to this game with my family and spending time together. It was a fun day!

Star Wars Art

R2-D2

Today I'm featuring some of the art work by my talented husband. He is a very good artist .........and , yes, he does draw and paint more than just Star Wars related things. I thought these particular sketches were great. Recently, he has been drawing some things for our son's room, who is still quite the Star Wars enthusiast. He already has 2 pictures framed and hanging in his room and my husband has one more to go. These are some of his practice(I know! Practice!) sketches which will be in the last picture, only smaller. I know Trent, our son, loves the pictures that he's already done and can't wait to get the third one. It looks like Trent and our daughter, Laci, both have a talent for art like their dad.(I know they didn't get their drawing skills from me!) Enjoy your day........and may the force be with you!

Darth Vader

Boba Fett

DVD Storage

Just a quick storage tip to share with you today for DVD's. I bet you can guess what it is by the picture above. That is an old CD binder/wallet we had that was not being used by CD's, so I thought it would be great for our DVD's. We have been storing them like this for a while now, but before that two of the three drawers in our t.v. cabinet were being taken up by all of our DVDs in their cases. I wanted a different solution and this has been working out great for us. We just flip through to find the one we want. Best part, our t.v. cabinet drawers are freed up for other things rather than being overrun by DVDs. What can you do with all those DVD cases? You could make your own labels for them to use as gifts for homemade c.d.'s, as decorations for a movie party or you can do what we did and toss them in the trash! Ha! Ha! We don't have ours organized in the binder any particular way either, but you could do that as well. Have a great weekend!

A Lunch Date

Last week I got to have a lunch date with the other guy in my life, my son Trent. His G.A.T.E. (gifted and talented education) class went on a field trip/ lunch to Tokyo Japanese Restaurant. They wanted to experience Japaneses food and hibachi style cooking since their course of study this year is Japan.

I think it was a fun experience for the whole class. Trent certainly had fun being with his friends and watching his food being prepared right in front of him with the fire and quirky little things the cooks did! It was a good show and good food! Trent chose steak while I chose chicken, but next time I'll go with steak. He let me taste of his and it was so, so good! I was surprised that Trent even chose the miso soup over salad and he ate it! I guess my picky boy is branching out a bit. It was fun times with my big man!

Trent's teacher, Mrs. Hurst, and some of the guys from his class. Jemarcus, Owen,Trent, Carson and Austin.

Baking Tips & Tricks

Looks like it's another photo-less post today. So, sorry if you like pics, but I'm going to share some baking tips and tricks I learned at the King Arthur Flour baking demo. Refer to my previous post if you want to know more about that.

The demo guy, Frank, really knew what he was doing and he shared some things that I didn't know and that I'd like to use in my baking. I thought I'd share them! So here they are!

--When measuring flour, first, fluff it up with a fork or spoon because more than likely it has settled in the container. Then use the "sprinkle & sweep" method. That is, hold your measuring cup above your canister, scoop out flour with another scoop and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Then use a spatula, knife,etc. to level it off. If you dip and then level you will more than likely be using more flour than your recipe calls for. Best way---use a kitchen scale!

--When your making bread, pie crusts, pastries,etc., the recipe usually says the dough needs to be a certain length. Well did you know that a standard size rolling pin barrel is 10 inches and one standard handle is 4 inches. So a standard rolling pin is about 18 inches. So no need to get out the ruler if you're using a rolling pin!

--What about doubling recipes? His rule was that if it is a tested or published recipe(KAF recipes) you can double it. However that does not include recipes that use yeast. You should make make the recipe as it says once and if you want more, just make it over again.

--Want a yummy homemade pie crust?Yeah, me too!Pat the dough out with the barrel of your rolling pin instead of rolling it.You want to pat it out(not whack it) or if you must roll it, only in one direction so you don't "confuse" the developing gluten in the dough. If you work your dough too long it will be tough. So work quickly.

These are just a few things I took notes on or remembered. Hope they help in your baking adventures!

Free Flour Fun!

Saturday,Laci and I got to go to the King Arthur Flour free baking demo here in Montgomery. They made 3 stops in Alabama and Montgomery was their last one. I'm so glad a friend of mine showed me their ad in the paper. It was a fun activity for Laci and I. We came away with great baking tips, free recipes, coupons, samples and fun door prizes. I won 2 bags of K.A.F.(bread flour) and Laci won a box of their new cake flour and a box of Cranberry Orange Scone Mix. We can't wait to try that! And because they didn't want anyone to leave empty handed, everyone got a free dough scraper and a $10 gift card to use on a purchase of $20 or more for their store. Since they are located in Vermont, I guess we'll use ours online.But now I so want to go to VT to their store. We saw video of it while waiting for the demo to start and it looks awesome!

After this, I should be able to make the perfect flaky pie crust and have no problem with sweet yeast breads. We'll see! The demo guy, Frank, who works on their baker's hotline and works in their test kitchen did a great job. He was a wealth of baking info! It got me excited to come home and try out our new products. I have to say before this, I hadn't really used KAF much, but I think I will make the switch even if it is a little more expensive.

Laci and I made their Lemon-Glazed Pound Cake yesterday and it is Ah-mazing! Now, my picture isn't so pretty because it stuck to my cake pan. It was stoneware and I guess I needed to grease it better, but don't let that fool you. The cake is light, fluffy and lemony! It's really good! Find out more about KAF free demos on their website!

Laci, with our friends Christina and Neal, that went to the demo with us. They're holding the door prizes they won. Laci has her cake flour, Christina has a Red Star oven mitt and instant read thermometer and Neal won the biggie! A King Arthur Flour cookie companion cook book! I have to say I was jealous of him! I wanted that cook book! Maybe he will let me borrow it.
Come back tomorrow and I will share some baking tips I learned!

I {HEART} Zumba!

Looks like this is going to be a picture less post today. I can't get any picture I try to work! But I still want to tell you about something I've grown to LOVE......Zumba!! Yep! Love. It. I've been doing it since July 2010 and am still going strong in January 2011! I started out the first 4 months going 3 nights a week, but now only do it two nights. Still gotta have time for kids, husband, church,etc.

If you haven't heard of it or done it, Zumba is a latin inspired dance-fitness program that started in 2001 and has grown majorly in popularity. One of their slogan's is"ditch the work out and join the party." That's exactly what I did. I was working out before, but got so bored with it.Seriously. I did not look forward to it at all. No worries. My friend started up her Zumba classes shortly there after and it has been great! She is a very good instructor, too. She has great routines and gets us pumped up and moving!! Now, I can't say that I've lost major pounds, but I have lost inches. (Oh yeah!)Weird how that works, but I guess fat has turned into muscle. I can also tell that my body is more toned and firm.(My jeans look a lot better on me. Hahaha!) Another perk is that I have more energy. It's awesome! I think the best part is that I haven't gotten bored with it. I like to dance, and boy do I work my booty off in those classes,so this was a great fit for me! Give it a try if you get the chance.

Tiny Dancer

The night of December 11 our "tiny dancer," Laci, along with the rest of her dance class from Leap of Faith performed at the Montgomery Zoo's light festival. That's her with her dance teacher, Mrs. Jill. She is like the sweetest person ever! Really! She's so super sweet! Love her!

Mrs. Jill's classes performed at the zoo's overlook cafe which was all lighted up and decked out for Christmas. It was fun to watch her and see the dances she's learned, but I also felt like it was a bit of chaos. Okay. A lot of chaos. Not on Mrs. Jill's part, but their were sooooo many people there to watch their little kiddos dance. I know it's special, don't get me wrong, but do ya have to act like this is THE last picture you will ever take of your child.I'm sure I blurted out "down in front" a few times! I'm just sayin'! I wanted pics too, but didn't want to be one of the ones obstructing everyone else trying to watch. Now, back to the dancing. Laci's class danced to "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and "Hot Chocolate" from the movie Polar Express. She did a super job! She really had her "grinder" move down. It was very cute! I can't wait to see her perform again. (note that my pics are not edited so their is red eye and two ladies and their white hair are in most of my pics)

Laci is second from left.

Laci on the end.

This is the stage where they danced with the tree in the middle. It was very cute, but this is not a good picture.

Uhhh.......Rewind!

As you can see my little blog has been sorely neglected for about the past month. So let’s do a little rewind! We were super busy with school, activities and church. Then my husband was admitted to the hospital with an a-typical pneumonia in both lungs. A-typical?? An uncommon and really bad strain of it! He was there for 9 days and came home on the 21^st of December. Thank you!!! I became all too familiar with that hospital . Much more than I wanted to be.

Before our mini “vacation” to the hospital, Laci’s dance class performed at the Montgomery Zoo’s Light Festival. Hopefully I will get those pics posted soon. She did a great job and had fun! She is a cute little dancer. Trent also earned more merit badges and earned his tenderfoot rank in scouting.Not sure what else happened in December. It’s all a blur really!

Through all of this, I’m so thankful that I had help from my friends from church and my family. If not for them, I couldn’t have been at the hospital with Will. I appreciate everyone’s prayers and the time they took out of their schedules to stay with my kids, feed them, take them to school, etc. That really kept me sane! I am so blessed to have selfless friends and family.Also, I think I learned or already knew but was reminded of a few things from this experience!(in no particular order)

1. I SO SO love my husband and it is very lonely with him in the hospital! If he’s gone for work it’s one thing, but to know he’s in the hospital is just different.

2. Life doesn’t stop for your problems and trials.

3. My kids do know when mommy needs help and they really helped me!

4. My Heavenly Father knows me ,loves me and knows the things I need and my family needs at certain times.

5. My husband likes lime sherbet! Who knew?!

6. My bed feels like a dream and here I thought it was time to get a new mattress.

7. You can eat too much Chick-fil-A! (did discover Chick-fil-A sauce and it’s delish)

8. The middle elevator on the first floor of Jackson Hospital is weird or possessed or something. Avoid it!

9. There are very good, caring and knowledgeable nurses(and some…. not so much).

10. Four (or more) unexpected things will happen in the midst of your trial. Didn’t leave car seat with babysitter for Ivy(too long of a story), oil light comes on in van because HELLO you need more oil, gas peddle in van gets stuck and you don’t know what to do, daughter loses tooth and the “tooth fairy” has no cash(borrow from babysitter, she’s a better tooth fairy any ways) And one more just because.

11.William and I need a real vacation. Not one to the hospital. It is long overdue! Even if it’s just for the weekend, maybe we can get away soon!

We ARE looking forward to 2011, but hope that it doesn’t bring any major injuries or hospital stays! If it does, we know our Heavenly Father loves us and is there! Hope all of you have a great new year!

Family Faces

It's been busy around here, so as you can tell, I haven't made time for blogging. I was so tired of looking at those pilgrim hats from Thanksgiving , though. I thought I would share some of our family pics we had taken a few months ago. (If you are my FB friend , I know you've seen these a lot. Sorry. But you know you love us) Our friend, Jennie,that we go to church with(when she is home from going to school at BYU) and of Jennie Rae Photography took these for us at Goldstar Park here in Wetumpka. You should look up Jennie Rae Photography on Facebook to see some of her work. She's awesome. Love her work. She has such a great talent for photography. Here are just some of the pics of our family. The top one made it on our Christmas card this year!

Hair Helper

A couple months ago my daughter, Laci, got a haircut. Not really a big deal I guess, but she's only had 3 in her whole little life. She told me she only wanted Tonya, which is my hairstylist and our friend from church, to cut it. She was so excited to get it cut and decided that she would donate her cut hair to Wigs for Kids after Tonya told her that her hair was long enough to donate. I explained to her that some kids lose their hair due to health conditions or when they are trying to get better from certain illnesses and Wigs for Kids takes the hair that is donated and makes wigs for them to wear. She thought it was a good thing and so do I. Good choice, Laci!

If you want to know more about this non-profit organization you can find it here. Their site tells you how to donate, how to cut a ponytail, how long it has to be and more.

After pic(at Bluebell Creamery)

Before pic

Ponytail to donate