You Know You Want to Listen (pause my playlist first so you don't get a headache!)

Even if you don't like country, these guys are a little rock'n'roll too.

Mud or Stars?

There is a little poem that reads, "Two men looked through prison bars. One saw the mud; the other saw the stars." The moral: You can improve your ability to deal with change by focusing your attention on the future and by seeing the glass as half-full rather than half-empty.
If the world economic crisis is negatively affecting you and/or your business, I have some advice for you...stop worrying about it!

I can't help it,my little Brockbank is too stinkin' cute! And he speaks Swahili!

Brock at dinner the other night. He just is so smiley all the time. I am preserving the memory here and hoping he will always be this happy and angelic!

Preserve your childs works of art!

At my house Boston is bringing something new home everyday from school that he has made. We love these and some go on the fridge or on his magnet board in his room, but a lot of the times, these works of art end up on the floor and then in the garbage. My mom used to save my stuff in a drawer, but that takes up a lot of room! I know some moms frame their kids work and hang them in their home, but here is what I have decided to do this year. I take a picture of all of Bostons work and at the end of the year I am making a photobook from Snapfish or something so he has an entire book of all his projects and I can throw them away now without feeling guilty. (Unless it is something really spectacular of course I will save it) I am hoping at the end of the year and in years to come it will show his progress and creativity.

Knitting is Knotty

I started taking knitting classes in April with my friend Stephanie. We learned how to make a scarf and I made beanies for my boys, but this is my first project (and only project) I did completely on my own. Love fingerless gloves! I am currently working on some fun prairie boots (think Uggs) and I will post a picture when I am done. I took a class for these, but missed the last week and I am way behind and I am struggling. But onward and upward! Kitting is all part of my new creative being I am channeling lately. Yeah! Go me! Aaron makes fun of me that I am an old bitty and Boston loves it because on one of his TV shows "World Girl" the villain is granny May who knits always and does evil plots like tie people up with her knitting needles and yarn, so Boston calls me Granny May when I knit. If you feel so inspired, knitting is really fairly easy to learn and we took classes at a local yarn shop but you could probably learn online, there are tons of resources! Next up for me is crochet!

Snack of the Day! Popchips salt & pepper

Yes, I ate the WHOLE bag. Not the snack size individual serving, but the big one. But guess what?! That is only 12 grams of fat! So do you shop at Target for groceries? I find all sorts of wonderful goodies there! Stuff you can't get elsewhere like the aforementioned popchips, chili oil, olive tepenade, I am so a fan of Archer Farms. They have delicious almonds and dried cherries, and you can't beat the price! But back to my popchips. They say "we don't fry it (unhealthy). we don't bake it (undelicious). They take potatoes and pop them like popcorn somehow! No preservatives, artificial flavors, cholesterol, saturated fat or trans fat!

P.S.

So I forgot! At the buffet, there is a snazzy classy jazzy string trio playing in the ballroom, and what are they playing? Tool, Radio Head, The Beatles...how cool is that? I sun Boston around the dancefloor a few times on the way to the smoothi bar. Good times! But alas, Boston puked like 6 times the next morning, hopefully it was from a bug totally unrelated to our indulgence!

The Indulgence

So today we went to THE GRAND AMERICA brunch for Aaron's birthday coming up. Oh my, can I just say that it was quite the indulgence. It is beautiful there first off, they have a cute little child's buffet that is at their height with the normal fare, plus kids stuff like mini corn dogs and mac and cheese plus it has candy on the table to take! There was an omelet station and chef with eggs Benedict also, then a crepe station and chef with pancakes and bacon, waffles, etc. The hot food room has your standard prime rib, turkey, salad, fruit (including yellow watermelon thank you very much!), cheese, bread and crackers, plus ahi tuna, duck, salmon, crab legs, oysters, pasta and all sorts of other goodness. There is a freshly rolled sushi area with spring rolls and dumpling things. Then a way yummy smoothie bar with delicious flavors like pear, and fresh nectar of rare fruits and little shots of carrot juice and strawberry puree. And yummy yogurt and fruit, and granola parfaits. Now that is not all! Of course there was a dessert buffet! Totally good and worth it and an all sorts of wonderful treat! Thanks Aaron, Happy Birthday!!

PROJECT: Boutique Wipes Case!

Of course I stole this idea. I saw these first at Oh Sweet Sadie, and although some may call them pointlessly cute, I love the idea. What a fun gift for a shower or just to feel cute carrying while shopping instead of your Coscto wipes bag! The only thing was they were like $30 or so, and I thought, surely I could make this, and so Viola! I found this lovely little tutorial at www.according-to-kellys.com.
D.I.Y. boutique wipes case tutorial
supplies needed: one travel wipes case, some batting, a fabric scrap, mod podge & sponge brush, trim and hot glue.
time needed: 1/2 hour
crafting expertise: beginner... if you can wield a glue gun, you're good to go.

My Bookclub with myself

So didn't you know? Ya, I am in a book club and the members are: me! I like to pretend. Really, I just am always looking for good books and like to talk about books, but no one else seems to care or be reading anything but Twilight....for the 5th time. So here is my post for my imaginary friends in my book club and we are reading THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak. This book so far is so good! It is a Holocaust book and I like those, not because I like to be depressed or because I like to reflect deeply on my blessings, but I just like them okay? So it is different than any other book I have read about WWII. Just a little spoiler alert though, don't read the inside part that tells the plot summary. I was looking for the copy wright and accidentally read this and it gave away something that I didn't want to know yet and was still trying to figure out on my own! (Unless I am stupid and everyone else already figures this out, but to me it was a real 6th Sense 'He's a ghost!' spoiler!) This will make no sense to any of you, oh unless you are in my book club:) So if you dropped your Twilight books in the bathtub or something, read this while they are drying out or something! I will give you a teaser of it. I hate reading the back of books and learning what the story is about, I like to just read it. But how will I know if I like it then? I read the first page instead. This doesn't give anything away really, and it let's me know if I will enjoy reading the book for the most part, so here you go:

DEATH AND CHOCOLATE
First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.
***Here is a small fact. You are going to die.***

Cheery, right? I know!

First day of school!

BOSTON'S FIRST DAY AT SMALL WONDERS!! 3 DAYS A WEEK!
Today was Boston's first day of "real" preschool at Small Wonders. It is really close, he has friends in it, and I am glad it is 3 days a week! I signed up for morning, a)to be with the other kids he was in Joy School with last year, and 2)so I would get myself up and going early ready for a productive day. Yea....that didn't happen so much...but it will!! Next time I will be showered and ready to go by 9:00am! Carpooling will be nice to for when Brock is napping, I just need to still be in the habit of getting up early even when I don't drive. Why is it so hard? I like staying up late, but even when I go to bed early I still can't get going early in the morning. Cancel! Cancel! I like ice cream! I wake up early and I seize the day! That is my new motto. So that reminds me, my friend Steph came over and I was being negative Nelly about something in my house and she had read my blog and yells at me, "Halt!...Uh, you like ice cream!" She couldn't remember cancel, I like halt though, it sounds regal or something, right? It was funny. Well, one more year and it's kindergarten, it goes so fast! I think I am not as sad because I still have a "baby" (almost 1 year is not really even a baby I was realizing when seeing Brock next to my friends newborn!) at home, but when I have my last child I will probably be crying at every milestone! I also start teaching piano again today after a summer break. Busy day! If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward so away I go! HAPPY FRIDAY!

Words of Wisdom from Boston, age 4

The UPS guy comes to our door and Boston yells, "Mom! The PBS guy is here!
"Mom, I love you all the way to Santa Claus, Heavenly Father and Buzz Lightyear!"
Boston do you like BYU? Boston: "no, I like the good guys, not the bad guys!"
"Mom, does Jesus come down the chimney too like Santa?"
My moms friend Katrina was in town from Colorado and they were all somewhere and were babysitting Boston and someone asked Katrina "So what brings you to Utah?" and she said my mom Julie, so later in the car he says to Katrina "So what brings you to Utah?" and Katrina says to Boston, "So what brings you to Utah?" He says "my mom....actually Heavenly Father brings me here"
He was using some of my shampoo and says "I like this shampoo it smells like spirit mint!"
We had to pull in to a handicapped parking space for one minute while quickly doing something and Boston yells "Why are we parking here guys? We aren't handis!"
At Christmas time any time Boston would open a gift that wasn't a toy, like say clothes or books, he would throw it to the side yelling, "boring!"
His favorite word right now is "actually" everything is "actually this, actually that..."
Aaron was driving and pointed out they are building a new In n Out Burger in Draper and asked Boston if he had been there. He said, "duh Dad, yes" Aaron "Where?"(Thinking he would say Las Vegas) Boston: "In heaven! They have those!"
Boston to his dad while playing: "Why do I love you so much?!"
We were driving in the car and I told Boston to say a prayer that we didn't run out of gas. He goes"I've got it taken care of mom" I say"how?" He says the force and holds his hands up, so I am like okay and we are driving, about 10 minutes pass and I hear "I don't think I can take this much longer!" I look back, and ya, he still has his hads up 'using the force' to make our car go!
Brock was being kind of fussy and I am like waht is the deal Brock?! Boston goes, "Ya, what are you having a bag about Brock?" I say, "do you mean 'what's your bag?' Yes, that was what he meant:)

Yum-mo! Peanut Butta Cups Need I say more to entice you?

INGREDIENTS
For the filling:
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup natural crunchy peanut butter (no added sugar)
For the chocolate coating:
1 pound milk chocolate couverture, such as El Rey 41 percent milk chocolate Discos
INSTRUCTIONS
For the filling:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and peanut butter. Mix on medium speed until filling is well combined, breaks into large chunks, and resembles cookie dough, about 3 minutes.
Divide filling into 24 (2-teaspoon) balls, then form into round, compact shapes that will fit in the mini muffin pan wells. (Keep in mind that when the filling is in the wells, there should be enough room to cover it with chocolate.) Set aside.

For the chocolate coating:
To temper chocolate, fill a large bowl with 2 inches of cold water, add 3 to 4 ice cubes, and set aside.
Bring a saucepan filled with 1 to 2 inches of water to a simmer over high heat; once simmering, turn off heat. Place 12 ounces of the chocolate in a dry heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over the saucepan and stir until chocolate is completely melted and reaches 118°F. (Make sure the chocolate does not come in contact with water or exceed 120°F. If either happens, start over, as the chocolate is no longer usable.)
Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Add remaining 4 ounces chocolate and stir until all chocolate is melted and cools to 80°F. To speed the cooling process, after all chocolate has melted place the bowl over the reserved cold-water bath.
Return the bowl to the saucepan and stir until chocolate reaches 86°F; immediately remove from heat. Do not remove the thermometer from the bowl; check the temperature periodically to make sure it stays between 85°F and 87°F. (The chocolate must remain in this temperature range or it will not set up properly.) Keep the saucepan over low heat and use it to reheat the chocolate as necessary.
To test if the chocolate is properly tempered, spread a thin layer on parchment paper and place it in the refrigerator for 3 minutes to set. If the chocolate hardens smooth and without streaks, it is properly tempered. (If it is not properly tempered, you need to repeat the process.)
Using a small pastry brush (or a small, clean paintbrush), liberally spread tempered chocolate inside each cup of the muffin pan. Try to make your coating as even as possible, aiming for about 1/16 inch thick.
Divide filling among chocolate wells. (Don’t push too hard or you’ll crack the coating.) Spoon chocolate over each filling until completely covered. Scrape across the top of the muffin pan with a palette knife or a flat spatula to remove excess chocolate and even out candy tops.
Place the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes to set up. To remove candies, place a towel or a silicone baking mat on a counter and hit one edge of the muffin pan against the counter. If the candies don’t come out easily, freeze them for another 5 minutes and try again. The Peanut Butta Cups will last up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator or up to 2 months in the freezer. Let come to room temperature before serving.

Brocks first Haircut!

So I take my boys to Cookie Cutters and I took Brock for his first a lot sooner than Boston. I look back at pictures of Boston and I don't know what we were thinking! He totally had a mullet! But now with Brockie getting his haircut, he looks so cute, but more grown up too:( He did pretty good, no major freaking out, he was just fascinated by the scissors mostly.

Cornice Boards

My friend Stephanie and her sister-in-law Shannon made these gorgeous cornice boards for her windows and she commissioned moi to paint them! They first built and constructed them and painted them and did the diamond pattern and aged, antiqued all that good stuff. Then I painted the design on them. So fun! This has really made me feel creative. So thank you Steph! I now am inspired to do all sorts of DIY projects! Anyway, here is the finished results! I will have to have Stephanie do a tutorial on the whole thing cuz I think they turned out just fab! Oh and P.S. Stephanie's "story" of these beauties is that she bought the boards at a flea market in Paris and hired a local artisan to paint them. Tres chic no?