Monday Gratitudes

-I am grateful to serve in my church. In my Church there is no paid ministry and no professional clergy as is common in other churches, so as members we are all given opportunities to serve.
Recently I was blessed to serve as the Primary President in my congregation. The purpose of Primary is to teach our children the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help them learn to live it. The children in my ward each have their own personalities and it was so fun and interesting to get to know and to teach them.
Well I was just released this past Sunday from my duties and don't know what to do with all the time I have on my hands. Mind you I know that we are moving in a month and I have plenty to do but I still feel like I have so much time left over. That moves me into my next gratitude.
-I am grateful for my knowledge of quilting. It's such a good hobby. I just finished piecing two tops and am starting a third. I won't be able to actually quilt them until after our move but hey-it's helping keep me busy.
-I am grateful for good books. I really need to update my sidebar. I noticed that I finished those books eons ago.
Last but not least- I am thankful that my children can play sports. My oldest daughter was recently diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis which is a painful heel condition - but she can still play soccer as long as we keep her exercising and massaging her foot.

Rocky Road Fudge

I received this great recipe from a friend while we were living in Columbus. She always said that Chocolate and Marshmallows were a match made in Heaven and probably has a million recipes that use both. Try it. It's yummy. I usually add the whole bag of marshmallows because my kids love them and I don't like to store the rest.

2 cans sweetened condensed milk
18 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
3 cups mini marshmallows

Melt chips and sweetened condensed milk in top of double boiler. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the walnuts and mix well. Stir in marshmallows. Immediately spread into a 9x13" pan lined with plastic wrap. Cover and refrigerate until set. Remove from pan and cut into mini squares. Enjoy!

Monday Gratitudes

I think this will be a Monday Blog tradition.
*I am thankful for a good husband that works hard and takes time (after a long day of work) to play with our kids.
*I love having whole grains and veggies in my home and I'm thankful for the farmers in these great United States that grow the wonderful food that I'm able put on the dinner table each night.
*I am thankful for Chelsea (a friend from church) who started a M/W/F Boxing-Aerobics group for a full hour in the gym. It's an awesome workout.
*I'm also thankful to be able to teach Pilates/Yoga on T/TH. Yes, yes - you read it right, I actually teach and it's a pretty good workout.
Being able to workout every day for free and having my kids run around the gym at the same time has really been a blessing.

Good Health is a Blessing

Despite the minor colds, bumps, bruises and some sleepless nights, I am very thankful for the blessing of healthy children.
Some friends of ours are going through some trying times right now with very sick children and a couple of our good friends have children that were sent back to heaven. Their situations are all different but they all have one thing in common, that is the love they have for their children and the love they have for the Lord.
-click on the link above for a touching story.

Monday Gratitudes

I was reflecting last night about the life of the savior and how important his teachings are in mine and my family's life that I thought I would post this clip called 'Reflections of Christ'. A few days ago a friend of ours sent us this clip which is of a photography exhibit that was recently on display at the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center that was in conjunction with an Easter Pageant which was produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of which I am a member. I am grateful for friends that give me good reminders of the things that are most important in life.
I am grateful for the Savior, his example and atonement.
I know that he is the Son of God and that He Lives!
This gives me peace in my life.

Wonderful World of Crayons?

My children love being creative and draw some sort of picture every day. No fail! Some days they use crayons, other days it's watercolors and on other occasions it's colored pencils. Being creative is a great way to keep my kids occupied, out of trouble, and they are learning fine motor skills at the same time. As Martha Stewart puts it "It's a good thing". Well saturday as I was pulling a batch of nice church clothes from the dryer, much to my horror, I found the entire laundry covered in some strange blue stuff. Then I found a crayon wrapper. OH, no (my heart sank), what do I do now? I couldn't just be wasteful and throw everything out. We can't afford to replace these clothes right now. So I started searching the internet and found a great concoction that a lot of women swore by. I tried it, it didn't work. This is just sad and terrible, but it was worth another try. I scrubbed the clothes again, washed them one more time and it really worked on the most important pieces of laundry. Thank heavens for modern cleaning supplies. I had a good talking to with my children about the mishaps of not putting crayons back where they need to go. I hope they understand. Now I'm going to scrutinize what I put in the washer even better than I was before. I am determined to never let another crayon get past me.

We Love Restoring Old Homes!

After a full week of checking out numerous homes, we finally decided on this home. It's over 100+ years old, has 2+ acres and is in a great location. I'm so excited to pick paint colors -especially for the outside! If you have any fun color schemes-I'm there! I can't wait to show you the after pictures-I've already burned them to memory. Oh wait, or is that to my dreams? Anyway with a lot of elbow grease this will be an awesome house.

Diet, Exercise, and Cheese!

Okay, I have a love - hate relationship with cheese. I love the taste, but hate the calories. I grew up in a family that was accustomed to eating all types of different cheeses, mind you, in small quantities but now I really have to watch my waistline so I try to cut the cheese out.
Now there are too many good cheeses to name them all but two of my children's favorites are Gouda [gow-da, not goo-da] and Muenster. We love to mix up different flavors when making casseroles and use at least 4 different cheeses when it comes to real Mac & Cheese.
What does this have to do with diet and exercise you ask? Well, I was looking on the I love cheese website for a new cheese and found that I could actually lose weight and still have my cheese! The catch was you have to be on a reduced calorie weight loss plan in order to get results! Ha - there's the catch. Oh well. To all of you out there that love cheese, I challenge you to try a different type of cheese, maybe only a bite or two so as not to ruin your weight loss plan. Would love to know what your favorites are!

Friends in my Circle

I received an e-mail from a friend of mine titled Girls in My Circle that went on to explain how many different friends we have through out this life - that I have to say I am so thankful for good friends. Of course there are my sisters, sister in-law, cousins, and my Mom who will always be my BFF, but I have also been blessed with good friends that are not related. Stacy was my BF growing up and lived a few houses down. She helped me to learn the American way of life. We grew up and went our different directions, but she always has a place in my heart.
 Michelle, Shelley, Tina, Allison and Denise were my best friends in High School. Michelle and I were room mates our first year at BYU and she taught me a lot about service and kindness. Then I served a mission for my church in Germany and had numerous companions that all taught me something different and helped me grow in many ways. Melda and Fran are so talented and loved the same music as I and were my outing partners to some fun church dances and activities after my mission. Stacy W. was one of my first friends as a newlywed. My friend, Tirsa helped keep me sane when I first moved to Cleveland. Alean taught me how to stand up for my kids when the school board/teacher wouldn’t. Krystal was my pool buddy and helped me to catch the exercise bug. I love how she just didn’t quit. Isaak still talks about his Kaleb friend. Sara was my walking partner/sitter and has an honest view of the world and is not afraid to voice her opinion. Lani was my best next door neighbor and I loved hearing her laugh about funny things our kids did and I always knew that if I didn’t have enough sugar or needed to borrow an egg, she was always willing to share hers. Kathy became my walking buddy our last year in Cleveland and my confidant. She taught me that it is possible to balance life and still do almost everything and have 7 kids at the same time. I loved how Maia and Marin were the best of friends. I met Gerta in Italy when I was 12 and we have be in touch ever since. I am her crazy American BF and she is my crazy Italian BF. Sally is a kindred spirit and has such a sweet way with children, she makes me want to do better. Hatsuho was the sweetest visiting teacher and very consistent. I admire her relationship with her hubby. Troba was wonderful and taught me the fine art of quilting. Kirstin inspired me to scrapbook all my best recipes. Rebecca is the ultimate nice person. She can do anything with material and is an awesome sewer. She inspires me to be a better quilter and all around sewer. Shari is my most organized friend & I love it. There are so many more women who have touched my life, inspired me, and been true friends but I must come to a close. I hope these women know how much I love and appreciate them. I would love to take all of you out to lunch. One more line–even though he isn’t a girl, I must say that through the thick & thin of it my BFF, hands down, is Ranleigh. Sooo many reasons why!

Where is my sweet boy?

With this nasty cold that is going around I have had to take Noah into the Doctor's office for breathing treatments. Now mind you he's done this several times and totally knows the routine but yesterday he instantly changed from a sweet 2 year old boy to a kicking, crying, screaming, tyrant. My attempts to get him to calm down were in vain. I usually have the other kids in the waiting room (which is way in the front of the building) so they can watch cartoons and even they could hear him screaming. Well, he wouldn't stop so I had to recruit Isaak to come & help me. I had to hold him (arms, legs, head) the entire 10 minutes it took to get the treatment administered. I'll tell you, I left the office 2 pounds lighter just from perspiration. It's these moments that I'm sorry I didn't take a picture, so that he and I could be reminded of how wonderful childhood really is.