Gingerbread House's

I guess I should get these posted before Christmas is over. I have been so busy at work and now I am just really tired. It just doesn't seem to slow down.

This year I decided to make Disney themed Gingerbread House's. All the Grand babies are in Utah this year for Christmas and they are all at the princess loving age, and now also Mickey Mouse. Tess' favorite is Aurora from sleeping beauty, Eliza likes Cinderella with Aurora coming in as a close second, Grace love Mickey Mouse and Lexa loves Cinderella. We are also planning a family trip to Disneyland next year so I thought it would be a fun kick off to get everyone excited.

Everything is edible, except the glue that holds the houses together. I hot glue it together, it's faster that way. And really who wants to eat it after it has been sitting out for a month?

This is Mickey's Play house

The Side of Mickey's House

Cinderella's Castle

Daisy's Flower Shop

The icing for the front bushes was to runny. I meant to
thicken it, but through it away and then I didn't want to make more.
Which is why there is a green mark.
Oh well, like Tess says, "We can pretend"

The side of Daisy's House.

Dream Project

One day I would love to restore an older home. I would learn the history, find out what the original colors where, everything! That will be one Expensive project, but it will be fun. I don't think I would keep the house, just restore it and then sell it. I have this thing with older houses being haunted! Anyway I grabbed a book off the shelf at the library the other day called "New Old House" It was all about home restoration. It took you through the whole process from start to finish, right down to what permits you will need and time lines, it was great, and it had lots of photos! The whole time I was reading the book I kept thinking the woman doing the restoration looked so much like Martha Stewart. I mean just look at these pictures. Don't you see some kind of resemblance?





Finally I was near the end when the resemblance started to bug me. So I finally looked at the cover to see who the author was and guess what! It was Martha Stewart. Crazy! That was my goof ball moment of the week! Ya gotta have at least one a week, right? Although I have many!

Letters to Santa!

So this is the first year that I have my own mail route. So when letters come addressed to Santa this year I get to answer them for my route! Not all Mail Carriers do this, but a few do and I thought it would be fun

That is until I received my first letter yesterday. This youngster asked for 23 things, most a which are really large purchase items. He wants an ipod, laptop, x box, wii, guitar hero etc. At first I thought what a greedy little kid. Then I got to #10 and he would like a washer and dryer for his dad. This broke my heart to see a child think of his parents.

Now my dilemma is how do I respond? I need to create some kind of cute form letter without promising anything. I don't want to give false hope when I have no idea what the financial situation is with all of the families. I was thinking of just saying something like I received your letter and I'll be watching to see if you are knotty or nice or something like that. I've been told that the kids get so excited when they get these letter. There is one Down Syndrome guy in his 20's on one of the routes in the office who sends off a letter to Santa every year. Then he waits by his mail box everyday for his letter from Santa. Last year the mail carrier got behind in answering the letters and this caused the fellow some anxiety! He was afraid Santa didn't get his letter! It is so fun to see Christmas through the eyes of children!

Beauty Shop

We were babysitting Grace the other night and the girls got bored. So instead of just letting them beat on each other Janel decided to play - Beauty Shop.

When we were younger we used to play "Beauty Shop" We would take turns doing each others hair. And then it would usually turn into a full blown beauty pageant with a talent show and evening wear. The evening wear could get pretty interesting! Anyway that is off the subject.

Janel gathered up all the necessary hair equipment
and initiated Eliza & Grace into this tradition,
and they loved it!

Janel placed glamorous, dazzling, sweeping
side ponytails on both the little girls!
And then spiked them up good!

Grace was the funniest, she was so proud of her hair! After her hair was done she would go and stand next to people and just look up at them until they commented on her pretty hair, she would get the biggest smile, and then it was onto the next person. When Grammie told her how pretty she was she started batting her eyes.

They both really loved their new do's. I think one of the funniest things is that the side ponytail really is back in (I didn't see that one coming -we'll see how long it lasts).

To bad it was right before bedtime,
so they weren't able to show them off for too long!

Halloween 2008

This was the first year that I worked Halloween at the Post Office. I didn't dress up (maybe next year) A few of my co-workers did, and got pretty creative. It was fun to deliver mail and see everyone who did dress up. I deliver to a lot of businesses and most of the offices had people who dressed up. Here are the pictures of my co-workers who did dress up. Which is your favorite?







We went to Ammon's work for their Halloween extravaganza later that day! The whole company decorates each of their departments in theme. Each department is given a budget and then they choose a theme, Ammon's department chose Ninja Turtles. They had the Ninja Mobil, flashing lights (they had turned all the lights out) and everyone in costume! They really go all out. They each vote on the best department and the winning department splits $5000! This is a company that loves Halloween. We got to walk through all the departments, they have three buildings (2 floors each) so it took a couple hours. They had tons of candy for the kids to go Trick or Treating.

Here is the gang walking through an enchanted forest!
You can see a pink dragon's tail in the background!
Ammon is in his Ninja Costume, the rest of us are just regular Joe's

You can see the leaves on the floor, some departments had straw and other floor covering,
nothing was over looked, right down to the tiny details.

This is Candy Mountain. If you went through it there was a bucket of candy.

Here is Ammon, Jillian & Grace next to a Gingerbread House
You could take a piece of Candy off of the house!

Here is a cave with a dragon (the eyes would light up) and a skeleton.
They had cute and scary themes.

These are lollipops in the Candy Land department!

They really went all out. I wish I got more pictures.
One department did the Wizard of Oz theme, another had a Football theme
(Where they laid real sod inside), another did Ghost Busters,
and there was a wild west town! And More!
I can't imagine the clean up, but it was a lot of fun!

It's hard to imagine that the areas we walked through are usually office's and desks!

Thanks Ammon for inviting us to come join in the fun!


Here are my cute nieces'
Grace as a Kitty &
Eliza as Princess Jasmine
I should have got a close up picture of Eliza's shoes,
they curl up at the toes! -so cute!

Current Project

The project I am working on right now is a Halloween quilt called Hoscuspocusville by Crabapple Hill Studio. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for so I was really excited when I saw this pattern at my local quilt shop. This quilt is really whimsical and light hearted. It draws on the humor of Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz. and anything witch related. With Hermione's Slit Ends Hair Salon, where bad hair days are guaranteed. And Hagatha's Dirty Laundry, - hard water stains added, and many more. There are 12 haunted houses total.


Here a some of the squares that I have done. You can kind of get an idea of what it will look like. The darker black is what I have stitched and the lighter black is the outline of what I still need to stitch.








Here is a picture of what the finished project will look like. There is no way I will be finished with it by Halloween. I just started it at the beginning of October so it will defiantly have to be for next Halloween!

Birthday Gift

I am sooo excited. My Birthday present from my parents came today! They got me a complete set of measuring cups and spoons (I love kitchen gadgets). This may seem like a strange gift to some, but I think they are so pretty, I love the shape of the them the most. They ordered them through King Arthur Flour which is a really fun shop. They also carry all the odd ingredients that the grocery stores don't carry. It is fun to browse through their catalog and make a wish list. They also have some really good recipes on their website. I think 2 of my hobbies are collecting kitchen gadgets, and collecting recipes. One of these years I will put both of them to better use.





Speaking of recipes I have a large tub of them that I have collected over the years. My goal this year is to get them all complied into one book. That way I won't lose anymore and I will know where they are. I don't know how many times I have taken a recipe out of the box to make it and then forgot to put it back, and then lose it - so sad! The tub is now overflowing, so I think it is time to take action!

What's your favorite Kitchen Gadget/Tool?

Pumpkin Patch

It's off for the annual Pumpkin hunt!
This year at the South Ridge Farm in Santaquin Utah!
This is a first for us. Our hunt usually finds us at Albertsons Grocery Store.
I hope we can turn this into a tradition.
Even though it was a long way to travel it was worth it!


First up is a hay ride out to the Pumpkin Fields.
Everyone grab a seat, keep hands and feet in at all times!
Grace quick grab a seat!

Ready set go, the search is on for the perfect pumpkin!

Looks like Grace is the first to find a Pumpkin,
and it's just her size!

It's fun to go with a friend!

Now take a minute and enjoy the Country. It is so peaceful!

Now it's time to head back! Does everyone have their Pumpkins?
Hop back on the Wagon!

Until Next Year!

National Storytelling Festival 2008

Every year I go to the National Storytelling Festival that is held the first weekend in October. They hold it in a small town in East Tennessee. I'm not sure how the locals feel about it, with the added traffic, shut down streets etc. It's funny how if I go out of town I will put up with added annoyances like more traffic. But when I'm home I will not even venture out if there is a football game that is about to start because I know the traffic is going to be awful. I guess it all comes down to what is important to you.















Jonesborough is a really charming historic town, and the Festival literally takes over all of downtown. They set up tents for the event all throughout downtown. I would say downtown is about a 4 block radius. They decorate the town with a great festive fall feel. They have flower mum pots, corn stalks, hay bails, and pumpkins that really add to the atmosphere.





















They have a lot of shops on Main Street that are a lot of fun to visit. This year's new store on Main Street was Earth & Sky Confections. They are a chocolate shop that has really unusual chocolate flavors like rosemary carmel, cayenne pepper. They were all really good even the dark chocolate which is not generally my favorite. The fun part of their chocolate is that they have designs on the top of each piece that look like they have been printed right onto the chocolate. I wish they would show how they created them, that would have been fun to watch. The good news is they do ship! So you can have them at your next party for a little added flare.




Jonesborough has a lot of history. It is the oldest town in Tennessee and has been a part of 3 different states (Tennessee, North Carlina, and Franklin) Many of it's original buildings are still in the downtown area. The building above is said to have an entrance into the Underground railroad and is haunted. The picture on the below is a billboard on the side of a building. When the building that was connected right next to it was torn down, this painted billboard was discovered in perfect condition.





In all I would say this year's trip to Jonesborough was a good one. Although the plane ride seems to get longer each year! The weather was perfect, therefore my hair was perfect! Those who know what humidity can do to hair, can feel for me!

Birthday Bash!

My Birthday lands on the 19th and my friend Tierney's Birthday is on the 21st. So this year we decided to celebrate both of them on the 20th! It was so much fun that we decided to do something every year on the 20th.


This year we went to a old west dinner show in Pleasant Grove. We were served up baked potatoes, pulled BBQ meat, beans and dessert. The show was a cowboy/western, which isn't my thing, but Tierney and her family are really into it.


Tierney's Mom did a great job with decorating our table for the occasion. But because of the decorations, meant that others knew it was our Birthday, which was a problem for me because I hate attention. Her family loves attention so it was great for them. In the middle of the show they announced that they could not find their can-can dancers, but they knew where they could find replacements. I was dying because I thought they were going to pull us up because of our Birthday, but instead they had their eyes on the men in the audience. My friend Lindsay's husband got pulled up and did a great job. He was really funny about it. He is the one in the middle. He was glad he got to pick his skirt first and chose the more manly blue one. At the very end of the show they did make me and Tierney stand up and have everyone sing Happy Birthday to us.


Like I said Lindsay and Tierney are really into anything western, and showed up in their own cowboy hats, boots, and chaps. Here they are outside the dinner theater being silly and doing a little dance. They brought a hat for me so I wouldn't feel left out.