January 2012

2012!
Already!!
The end of January already!!!

Seriously.....where does the time keep going?

Is the dryer eating it like the socks?

Regardless, it has been a pretty good month for us!
We spent the fist day waking up with some of our favorite people in the world and dancing and sweatin' like crazy to Just Dance 3 on the Wii with them!
It was way too much fun......and I kicked all those kids' bums!!
Yup.....I still got it! ;)
It ain't pretty, but I still got it!

We were able to go to my nephew's baptism! So excited for him!! Joe loved it....especially because he knows he'll get to do the same thing soon!

I also got "sucked" into Pinterest!!! Now I can't get out of there!
Can we say "Addicted"?!
Yes we can.....but it has inspired me to do new things!
Like this completely awesome chore chart!!
I saw it and loved! I was able to find everything and put it together for $11!
And it works!! The kids actually do what I put on there for them to get done!!
It amazes me!!
Who knew something so simple would work so well?!
Not I.....or I would have done this a LONG time ago!

There has also been a lot of basketball! I'm helping coach Joe's team this year. So we have a practice and a game every week......4 weeks down and 4 more to go! I love it! We have such a fun team. I'm so proud of them!
It's just so entertaining watching them play!

We've really been working as a family on getting things prioritized!
Trying to keep focus on all the things that are REALLY important!
Gary has made some big commitments this year! Just before the beginning of the year he decided it was time to clean up his act and quit smoking and drinking!!
I was/am SO excited!!
We've been visiting with the missionaries once a week, working through the repentance process and helping him any and every way we can to quit.
This Sunday, the day his son turns 8, is the day he's chosen to be completely and totally done smoking and drinking! He really wants to get himself worthy to be able to baptize his son. I'm so proud of him! We are also really working on being able to go through the temple and become an eternal family this year! My heart is so full of joy that some days it just feels like it's going to burst!! I am SO blessed!

Back to the baking.....I got to make these fun basketball cookies for our local varsity girls basketball team! They loved them!
I'll be making some more later this week for my team too!

The dance season has begun!! Emma had her first performance this last weekend and will get to perform at the boy's JV game for half time tomorrow night. There are many more scheduled between her and Grace for the next couple of months.

Thanks to Pinterest, I had to try these! Of course I had to tweak them a little....but they turned out pretty good. Our basketball team really like them. Sierra loves them.....the other kids are torn. I am too.....They are okay....not my favorite......next time I think I'll try just baking the brownies with cookie dough bits inside the brownie.

I HAD to try these!! These are Hot Cocoa Cookies....again, I tweaked them a little bit. I tried them with semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, mint chocolate, caramel and caramel milk chocolate!! Whew!
I know the ladies we visit taught that day were happy for all of the extras I had to spare! These will definitely be on my "to do" list again soon!

Today I made play dough to make a volcano. Yup, it's that time......our first Blue/Gold banquet is this coming Thursday.
Scouts.....here we come!
Both my boys are so excited for it!
I'm so excited for them!!
It's the beginning of more busy.....but a good busy!

So bring it February!!! There's even an extra day in there for me to get it all done!!