valentines...

I can't believe how quickly time goes by...but this is what we are up to...

valentine making. water color hearts and friendship bracelets {nothing fancy, just a simple braid}

cookie decorating with cousins. and cookie eating with cousins.

i took a photography workshop. it was super fun and super worth it.

got some new leggings from groopdealz. fleece-lined. i love them. i use them for pajamas:) i'm not super confident in leggings in public currently.

valentines breakfast. pancakes and strawberries cut like little hearts. the how-to is here.

fun hair for valentines days. only miss milly's hair is long enough. super easy and very cute {in my opinion}. tutorial here.

my latest read while I wait to pick up a preschooler: parenting--a house united by nicholeen peck.
super awesome so far. very good ideas for family economy structure and discipline.

dinner tonight is a twist on chicken pot pie and chicken and dumplings. but of course, the carrots are shaped as hearts being valentine's and all;) {i had to}

that's us in a nutshell...what are you up to?

new years, new resolutions...

every new year is followed new resolutions...
to do better, to be better...
striving to improve myself, but sometimes (ahem...most times) not following all the way through.

so this year, I have three general areas I wish to improve upon...
1. reading.
i want to read a lot this year! everything from food & nutrition to history & the constitution to classical literature and beyond. so i have ordered a pile of books from amazon to get started. i will try to keep you updated on those as i go:)
2. organization.
this is something i absolutely LOVE to do. it's a weird quirk, i know;) but i always love learning new ways to organize and having to roll up my sleeves to purge out all my old junk, and after all that hard work having a shining, clean, fresh organized area to show for it! so i am taking the "8 weeks to a less cluttered home" challenge from stephanie over @ keeper of the home! join me!
3. photography.
this is one thing, that if i had more time i would devote myself to, but i can never seem to find that extra time...hmm...please let me know if you come across some;) but this simple challenge over @ peanut blossom called "365 in 2013" looked like a lot of fun. basically you take a picture everyday. capture a moment and learn through the experience.

so this year, i am trying to keep my resolutions a bit more general in the hopes that i will really accomplish improving myself and not feel down that i didn't attain a specific unrealistic goal.

what are your new years resolutions? do you make any?

happy 2013! may 2013 be a better year than 2012.

tomorrow!!

ok so last day on my 'general conference week' kick!

i thought today, i would share some yummy 'looking' and 'sounding' recipes from pinterest! but baker discretion is advised! pinterest can have totally awesome recipes and totally NOT awesome recipes! so, just keep that in mind!:)

first up is this delicious looking Almond Cream Cheese Danish from Country Momma Cooks!

next up...rae gun ramblings came up with this great harvest cinnaburst copycat bread! yum!

how about this blueberry buttermilk breakfast cake from alexandra's kitchen!?

you must use this cinnamon syrup from its going to be yummy in here! next time you make pancakes! it's  a copycat recipe from Kneaders! i <3 Kneaders!

and how about this blackberry braided danish from amanda's cookin?! 

last one... cherry almond coffee cake from positively splendid! i <3 almond in anything!

ok, i just realized i am a 'cake for breakfast' person! all of my recipes were bread or pastries!! sorry if there were any bacon and egg lovers out there! 

love this! i think i'm going to get this printed and put it in cute frames for my kids to put in their rooms or around my home! this picture is from sassy sites

pinterest

just got on pinterest. uh oh. its addicting... and an awesome place to collect ideas on a million things! if you're not already on it, you should try it:)

random photography and fun with hipstagram

here is a look into my day... while i play with hipstagram on my phone:) if you don't have this app, download it! but be careful, it's addicting. instagram is another favorite that I highly recommend!!

pumpkin patch...

last week was so busy, so forgive me, i'm a little behind on my posts... being in young womens and working with the youth in the church, i was in charge of young women in excellence, that was on tuesday. then, friday rolled around where i was teaching at the relief society's fab friday (super saturday). we made the funky flower pins. i'll share more pics from that later...


and we also had a preschool field trip to the local pumpkin patch, much fun. they had lots to do, including pushing my double stroller through the mud:) it had just rained the day before. but the visit is a fall-must and a field trip so what are you gonna do?! btw these were taken with my iphone, because my nikon battery was dead and i had forgotten to bring a backup battery. slap on the wrist suzy. but they turned out pretty good, thanks apple.

they had a hayride pulled by a tractor...which my girls were not interested in. a big slide, the kind where you sit on burlap sacks. some tire swings...which were the biggest hit! some animals...which my girls liked until the goat tried to nibble their coats, and of course the pumpkin patch...where you get to pick your own pumpkin, which is harder then it sounds with no gloves or clippers and 8 months pregnant:) but needless to say we left with 2 perfect pumpkins! halloween, we are ready for you. i love october. have i mentioned that?! love fall. love halloween.

i'm taking elder ardern's talk from general conference to heart. i love what he said, " love is spelled TIME". our bishop also challenged us recently to spend some undivided time with each child, every week. he gave us a goal of 30 mins with each child/week. where you just say, "i'm am all yours, what do you want to do?"
so saturday i and very fun date with... Amelia...we went to the mall and went shopping! where she got a mini MAC makeover and clothes, and i got some see's truffles and some of these...gray uggs... happy birthday from mom! thanks mom!