A Star is Born

Cole did a fabulous job in his school play/musical.  He has been practicing the song called "American Tears" and finally got to sing it for the end of the year school program.  He was excited but nervous to get up in front of so many people and "not be silly" because if that was required he would have no problem.  His music teacher at school Mrs.Gabarrd has been a positive force for him this year.  She is very encouraging to her students, fostering kids to explore possible talents.  It was fitting that the Theme for the Program was "Possibilities".  The program was different and entertaining, it really showed that the kids enjoyed music class this year. Congratulations Cole on a job well done!

Girls Weekend at BYU Women's Conference

Wow! What a wonderful couple of days I had with my childhood friends, some of them I don't even remember not knowing them. For some of us girls it was 20 years since meeting up. I am so lucky to have such good examples to follow from growing up until now. Each one of these girls holds a special place in my heart with cherished memories. Two days wasn't near long enough to play catch up, but we did the best we could by staying up until the weeee hours of the morning! The talks and concert we were great so was the food. The only complaint I had is falling down some stairs and bruising my self not to mention feeling foolish.
Oh wait, I do that without falling down!

Sooo Funny!

nick my nephew is a funny guy, we think he needs to develop a kids show like blues's clues. this video of him is pretty hilarious and also shows his talent in video making. enjoy!

joe's crab shack & more

 

 

 

one of victoria's bucket list things to do was to go to joe's crab shack, put the bib on, eat crabs and buy a shirt, so i'm happy to report she got her wish. we had lots of fun at the shack waiting for our food then enjoying it. brad and victoria were the ones who shared a huge basket of steamed crabs, veggies and lobster. fun times.

spring break - destin fl.

victoria and friend krystal

cole getting ready to boogie

me & brad taking a walk

cole posing for me

what a fun trip we had camping at the gulf. the weather was not the best but we had a few good days. these pictuers where of the last day and of course it was a stormy, rainy day. the kids played in the water anyway. we had a tough time getting them to leave because friday was perfect. we will visit again soon, it's a great place!

hershey's mint brownies

for st. patrick's day, i didn't wake up on time to make the kids the annual green gravy over biscuits and cole reminded me as soon as i told him what day it was. so as a consolation i made these delicious brownies. years ago i cut this recipe out of a magazine but only recently tried them two years ago, and they are really good. so thought i would share it with anyone who loves mint and chocolate together.
p.s. don't wait years before you try this recipe.


brownie ingredients and yes there is no baking soda or powder

dump all the ingredients in a bowl and beat

don't forget to spray the pan with cooking spray and then it should look something like this

now make the mint creme by mixing 2 cups confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup soft butter,1/2 tsp. peppermint extract, and 1 T. water I used 2, beat until smooth

looks pretty

brownies are done

now spread that mint creme on top then refridgerate

melt 1 cup chocolate chips and 6 T. butter together, stir well and pour on top of brownies and put back in fridge.

Don't you just want to eat them all! Yum, enjoy!


brownies:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter softened
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup hershey's chocolate syrup (16 oz. can)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 in pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix flour,eggs,sugar,butter and syrup together until smooth. Pour in prepared pan and bake for 25-30 min.

mint creme layer:
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1 T. water
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3 drops of green food coloring

in mixing bowl combine combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

chocolate topping layer:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
6 T. of butter
1/2 tsp. mint extract (optional)

in small micro-proof bowl melt butter and chocolate chips together for 1 to 1/2 min. o n high, stir every 30 sec, until smooth.

When cake is completely cool spread mint layer on cake then chill. After chilled then pour chocolate topping on top and spread, cool in fridge.

yellow belt

 

 

 

 

yeah! he did it, cole got his yellow belt in karate. he was so excited to get his belt until he saw the crowd of people watching the ceremony. he got a little nervous but did just great. cole just missed the last ceremony to get his yellow belt when we started him in the class so he has been waiting for a few months for this. congrats cole!!

before & after

wow! the changes that happen in 2 years in the life of a teenager are colossal compared to an adult life. yep, the girl got her wish, the braces are history! 2 years flew by and now she couldn't be more pleased with the results. money well spent!

9 is so fine!!

"every single one of you a devil inside" it's lyrics to a song, this picture brings it to my mind for some reason he he!

 

loves his pokemon cards

 

speechless over this little do-dah, it'a game for his psp

 

 

cole did it, he turned 9 years old (ugh, sigh) we can hardly believe it too. time flies by when your having fun. we had a birthday party at the house (another sigh) and it was fun but can't say we'll do that again. from the moment of arrival it was screaming, running, chaos! we played a couple of games, ate cake and opened presents and after that i was exhausted but cole was a happy camper. we love you coley!

spring is in the air

 

i took this picture at the temple in dallas aren't they pretty. i just love the temple grounds, wish the grounds crew were for hire at my house! makes me think of the primary song "in my pretty garden the flowers are sing... how do you do today?" it' playing in my head right now.

what have i been doing?

 

 

i've been playing in the crafts. i discovered google reader which is pretty neat. you just subscribe to what ever it is your interested in and each day when you go to read it, it will bring up the latest stuff people have put out there. well, since i contribute to the mother huddle which is blog dedicated to moms and doing that job just a bit better everyday, i am constantly checking out other mom blogs. i have come accross the most talented and amazing people in the blog world, if your looking for a self esteem boost (checking out crafty blogs won't do it). anway found out how to glass etch from notsoidlehands blog (love that girl who crafts on there). i made this little jar for st. patty's day and i plan to give it away tonight at church for a relief society mtg. the great thing is that the jar was recycled, it was a cheez wiz jar and i painted the lid. the bad news is i spent a small fortune finding enough green candy to go in that tiny jar but not like brad and the kids won't eat it (left myself out on purpose cuz i'm trying to be good). hope you like the idea for the jars just check out the blog i mentioned for the know how. happy st. patty's day!
p.s. i'm tired of writing w/ caps so i'm not

Christmas 2009

What a great year we had and wonderful Christmas too. We first celebrated here a little early with the Platt family. We did our now annual white elephant gift exchange and game and it's always fun. On Christmas Eve we flew to California to celebrate with my family. We weren't sure we were going to make it out on time because of bad weather this side of the country. We did make it Christmas Eve just 2 hours before Christmas, although our luggage went to another airport. We were just happy to make it there at all, the ham and dessert were still there waiting along with the rest of the family. It was great to visit with family and just relax with Brad. Brad leads a very busy life with work and church responsibilities and doesn't get much down time, so he especially enjoyed the visit.

Primary- Family Service Project

 

 

 

 

In Novemeber the Primary at church asked each family of a primary child to pick thier own service project to do and to document it with pictures so they can hang them up on the bulletin board in Primary. What a great idea this was since it was the month of giving thanks it also really helped our family do something together.

Brad is the sewer in the family so I coridnated the project of making school kits for the Humanitarian Aid Services our church does. At lds.org we found the idea and instructions for the kits. The kids learned to sew a little and decorate the bags. Cole helped me shop for all the things we put inside the bag. We talked about how these bags will help kids who don't get supplies like these for school and how they have to walk to and from school, nothing like our kids who can ride a bus or car.

Sitting on Santa's Lap

 

Kara and I enjoying telling Santa what we wanted for Christmas! about 1973