What Big Eyes You Have!

This was the cake for my 5 year old's birthday, he loved it!


This was the inspiration with cake pop eyes.

I decided to use these oreo eyes instead.

Cute treats just taste better, ha ha!

A bunch of books

A new year and new titles to read, how exciting! I can't wait to open up "Daughters in My Kingdom, The History and Work of the Relief Society."


This semester at Institute we'll be studying "The Gospel and the Productive Life." We had our first luncheon and lesson today. Our temporal work improves our spiritual work and vice versa, they just go hand in hand.

"The Persion Pickle Club" was our Book Club title for November. It was a cute little read that made me grateful for my "quilting" friends. And guess what? "I did it!"

"The Cricket on the Hearth" was our Book Club selection for December, which I recommended. I really enjoyed the little story of hearth and home and those we love, but I don't understand why it's considered a "Christmas" story, it takes place at "New Year's."

I read "Animal Farm" in high school and I'll be reading it again for Book Club this month. I enjoyed it when I read it before, but I'm afraid it might just make me frustrated with our modern politics now.

I did not read "1984" in high school and since it's by the same author as "Animal Farm" I decided I will read this as my "extra" novel this month. I did read "Brave New World" before and enjoyed it, but see so much of it in today's society. People have their different types of "soma" that they take all the time. Again, I'm afraid this will make me frustrated with corrupt government.

I watched Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" on TV before he died. I really liked his message. I received this book from our Christmas book exchange and look forward to reading it.

As the mother of 4 boys and 1 girl, I would love to have another girl join our family. I ordered this book for Christmas, "Guarantee the Sex of your Baby" in the hopes that it would have all the little old-wives' tales in one spot for me to refer to as we try to conceive our next baby. Unfortunately, this is about designer babies and how to finance them to pre-select the exact embryo you want. As a pro-lifer I could not choose one of my little embryos over another and then just throw away the ones that didn't make the cut. I don't know exactly when life begins, but I do know when life ends and I could NEVER have any part in ending the potential life of my child. If we end up with another boy we will love him forever!

This was another Christmas gift and I just love it. I've been a fan of Bakerella's blog for years. So excited to finally make some "Cake Pops" for our next birthday bash.

Our children all got fun books for Christmas too. I just wanted to mention this one that our little Maple Sugar got, "A Porcupine in a Pine Tree- A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas." How appropriate for him.

I read "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" to my fourth graders and now we will read the whole "Fudge" series: "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great," "Superfudge," "Fudge-a-Mania," and "Double Fudge."

Last year I read "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" to my third graders for their book club. We'll read the rest of the "Ramona" series after we finish with "Fudge." The first is "Beezus and Ramona" followed by: "Ramona the Pest," "Ramona the Brave," "Ramona and her Father," "Ramona and her Mother," "Ramona Quimby, Age 8," "Ramona Forever," and "Ramona's World." The first book "Beezus and Ramona" is the same age as my mom and the last one "Ramon's World" is only three years younger than my daugher!

Witch Craftin'

I started out the year doing really well crafting something once a week. Then I got pregnant and majorly slacked off- ha ha! I finally finished this little Halloween decoration,


and decorated some Halloween sugar cookies. Wahoo!

More Titles

Goodnight Mister Tom was our title for book club this month and I absolutely loved it. It is terribly heartbreaking, but I was completely smitten with Mister Tom and Willie (seriously, so in love with both of them.) Don't forget your tissues when you read it, but it is so worth it!


I'm slowly working my way through the Wheel of Time series and have now begun book 7, A Crown of Swords.

Sharing Traditions

My sister-in-law's sweet mother made this Christmas album for Len & I for our 2nd Christmas (1998). I was big into scrapbooking then, and had visions of filling this book with pictures of our family through the years. Well that never happened, and I'm not so much into scrapbooking anymore. Back in 2002, I saw my friend's 24 Days of Christmas book and asked if I could copy it. It has become a yearly favorite since then.

So what's inside? Each day has a Christmas scripture, song, and story. I've also made a title page for each day that has a picture of our special Hallmark ornament representing that year. It's like our family has Family Home Evening every night from December 1st- 24th. And our children really do enjoy it as much as we do!

My mom is the Relief Society President in her ward, and asked if I could send her the book file so they can do it at Super Saturday. Unfortunately, when I re-typed the whole book in Taiwan I didn't save the file. Since I had to make a hard copy for her, I decided to make a cute book for her too! Now I need to make a book for my dad and all 11 of our siblings.

I wish I had a digital file to share with others, but if you live in my neighborhood stop by anytime and I'll lend you my new Master Set to copy. Warning: It's 150 pages of quality family bonding.

Favorite Summer Salad

You can actually eat this salad year-round, but it's so much better in the summer with ingredients fresh from the garden. Not my garden (which is non-existant), but a few of my friends were very generous with their bounteous harvest this year and we loved it!

Basic Greek Salad:
Diced Tomatoes
Diced Cucumbers
Sliced Olives
Feta Cheese
Greek Seasoning

I could eat this salad everyday and not feel guilty since I don't put any salad dressing on it- delish!

Parenting Tips

My mom gave me this book and it has lots of great ideas. It has simple things you need to teach your kids (like how to do the laundry) as well as extraordinary things (like go on a hot air balloon ride). Each activity is also an object lesson to teach your children not only how much you love them, but also how much their Father in Heaven loves them. I just want the day my kids leave home to be far, far away!


I'm also on to book 6 in The Wheel of Time. After buying all the books for my husband, I've finally gotten into them myself.

My Pretty Little House

Last summer, Gramma bought a dollhouse like this for Noe (and all her future granddaughters) to play with at her house. Noe liked it so much Gramma wanted to send it home with her, but it was just too big to get on the plane. This past spring Noe got her very own dollhouse for her birthday.




When Gramma came to visit in the spring, I commented on how I wish I lived in a perfect little dollhouse. Gramma responded that I did. That made me smile.




Home Sweet Home! My home may not be a "dream" house, but right now it is the home of our dreams. We've lived here for 2 years now. Our first summer we were busy unpacking. Last summer I was busy finishing up all the decorating. This summer I have been busy going through each room top to bottom. I've gone through every closet, drawer, cupboard, and cabinet clearing away the junk. I still have the 2 storage rooms in the basement to do, plus the garage, shed, and dreaded file cabinets. Wish me luck to get it all done before summer is over!

I love hanging a wreath for each season.

Entry way.

The hall.

The stairs.

Laundry room.

Powder room.

Living room.

Dining room.

Kitchen.

Family room.

Master bedroom.

En suite.

The big boy's room.

The little boys' room.

The girl's room.

The kids' bathroom.

The rec room- library.

The rec room- office.

The rec room- guest room (hide-a-bed).

The rec room- play room.

Our tiny backyard.

Our big family vehicle.

*I am so grateful for our home and most especially for our family that lives here!