Violin 2005

Excelsior Show Choir Winter 2012 - 2

Excelsior Show Choir Winter 2012 - 1

Tyler, Turquoise, and Pinterest Tries

Tyler, Turquoise, and Pinterest Tries

Way to go Tyler!

1. He got accepted into College for Kids again, although he probably won’t attend this year.

2. He received a “superior” on his band solo.

3. Yesterday his showchoir traveled to Dubuque for a competition and placed 6^th!

4. He also bedazzled his assignment for school. Wonder where he gets that from?

5. He was also set apart as the Deacons Quorum President today.

Décor

I worked on the kids bathroom this week. It was a purple “fairytopia” theme which totally rocked when they little and we 1^st moved here. But now that I have 3 teens, we figured we might be up for modernized update. So, I took Marisa and Kayla to Walmart and seriously we were there for 30 minutes trying to all agree upon colors. We finally decided on a turquoiseish blue and light brown. I got matching candles and then put up new vinyl my sister bought for me. I think it looks fantastic!

Now I am looking at the downstairs bathroom …poor Bob!

I also moved several thousand books(and NO that’s not an exaggeration)at the library . Some of my ideas are coming together brilliantly.

Pinterest Tries

As usual more info on these will be available on my other blog later today if you want recipes.

Yummy Chocolate chip cookies made with cream cheese!

Cheesy Chicken Croissants

Chicken Crockpot Taco Mix

Chicken Enchiladas

Sliders- cooked ham and cheese sandwiches

March is on its way like a lion

We had a big snow storm this week and got a delay 1 day for it.  I’ll take it!

Senior Violin Solo

What a Week, oh what a week!

What a Week, oh what a week!

Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!

We were so excited this week to get Marisa’s acceptance to BYU-Provo! We are all so ecstatic!! She is a 4^th generation cougar and we are just thrilled. Congrats to Marisa on all the hard work and effort that it took to get there.

Senior Solo

Marisa had her senior solo this week. She looked so beautiful up there and was absolutely brilliant. She did a beautiful piece from Beethoven. I, of course, cried through the whole thing. She is so talented. Bob will be posting the video and for fun we thought we would post her very 1^st time playing as well for a comparison. (You’re welcome Marisa!)

She also played in the Winter Orchestra concert and, as always, did an amazing job.

Solo/ensemble Festival

Tyler did a solo at the band festival this week. He did a wonderful job! We don’t have his results yet but I bet he scored well.

Without Valentine's Day, February would be... well, January. ~Jim Gaffigan

We had a wonderful Valentines Day! Bob bought me beautiful roses and we got a heart shaped pizza. For the 1^st time ever I tried Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I thought they turned out great! Although I must admit I, um, cheated a little. I was going to make them completely from scratch but I saw that Marisa picked up red velvet cake mix from Hyvee, so I used that instead.

Blecky germs

Alayna got sick Sunday night and started running a fever. I stayed home with her and Kayla on Monday and then her and Tyler on Tuesday. For me, it was nice to have 2 days off. I had some sort of flu thing so I had to relax which I really needed. We are all better now.

Spring cleaning

I do realize its February and actually nowhere near spring, but I have had this drive to start my spring cleaning anyway.

So, one day I realized, “You know, that wall paper trim in the girls bathroom has been yellowing and peeling off the wall, I should take that down.” Before I knew it, I had gone all postal and I was on the sink covered in wall paper and glue thinking I REALLY should have waited until summer. I ended up ripping some of the paint off and made a mess of things. Tyler and Alayna repainted it off-white today and I will be decorating it. I can’t wait for you all to see the final project.

Domestic News

I am thrilled with my “trying” new things.

I tried a homemade calzone Stromboli thingy for dinner last night. My 1^st one looked like I had hacked a dead body and it was bleeding with bones protruding through it. I pulled it out of the oven and the kids gasped in horror. But when they tasted it, they said it was awesome. So, I win. My 2^nd one turned out better although when I finally moved it onto the tray it looked more like that creature from tremors than a calzone, but again, it tasted awesome. More details will be on the other blog.

Oh My Shibberdegibbertdoopoop!?!?

Oh My Shibberdegibbertdoopoop!?!?

Friday night was a bad night mixed with insomnia and not feeling well. At 5AM, Alayna came in asking where her “Big Planet” game was. When I asked why in heavens name she was up so early, she said that Kayla’s alarm had gone off for seminary. I guess when Kayla went to her slumber party, she forgot to turn it off.

Then I had to get up at 6AM to get Tyler up because he had the Showchoir Sweetheart tour all day. I saw Alayna downstairs on our nice couch with a huge bag of buttered popcorn (Tyler brought it home from the movie last night. He and friends went to Star Wars 3D without me. Rude!) I explained that she CANNOT have that downstairs because 1) that’s new carpet and 2) that butter will leak straight though the bag to seep grease into the nice couch. So, I took it back upstairs and tried to go back to sleep.

I woke up with a start of another migraine at 8:30 on a Saturday!! Grr! So, I started cleaning the house while Bob and Alayna took a load to the garbage dump and did the grocery shopping. Guess what I found on our nice couch?? The stupid bag of buttered popcorn and the greasy butter had seeped through into the entire arm of my couch. I was almost in tears. When she got home, I really laid in to her about how upset I was that she deliberately disobeyed me and ruined my couch! Her response? “Well, at least I didn’t cut it with a pocket knife”! Huh?

She went on to tell us how Tyler thought his iPod was lost in the couch so he cut the bottom open and tried to get it. So, Bob and I turn over the couch and sure enough there is a HUGE hole cut out!! Are you kidding me??? Bob and I ended up flipping the couch over and over. We could hear it ringing in the couch and couldn’t get the dang thing out. We finally had to unstaple the whole bottom to get it out of this small spot. Ugh! Bob got a splinter and I cut my finger on a staple. Argh!

Then the girls were supposed to be back from the slumber party to go help Bob set up for the ward party, but they showed up 2 hours late because they overslept. (Isn’t that what usually happens at a sleepover?)

*And no I didn’t take any pics because it broke my heart

Show Choir

Tyler had his 1^st showchoir performance of the year. He did a wonderful job and knows all the choreography, which probably comes easy to him since he watched dancers from the time he was born! His group also did the Sweetheart Tour yesterday where they performed at the mall and retirement homes.

Did you Know?

Bob and I had our 19^th anniversary of the day he asked me to marry him. Friday, February 10.

Odds and ends

This week Tyler also had a band concert and the girls had New Beginnings for YW.

Pinterest

You will be shocked to know I have started a supplemental blog to post about things I try at home. Most of the ideas and recipes come from Pinterest. Its dorky, but in the world of dorks, I could be Queen. I pin everything I like on Pinterest, but there are things I actually want to try. I wanted a place to show what things I try work and what doesn’t, so feel free to follow along or not. It could be entertaining…

Creative Décor with a side of Pinterest Addiction and a pinch of Awesomeness

Creative Décor with a side of Pinterest Addiction and a pinch of Awesomeness

We had a quieter week- thank the heavens above. We needed a break!

Creative Décor

This week I got enough guts to ask my boss about me possibly doing some decorating. The library was built in the 1960s and I am pretty sure not much has been done to it since. Now, I am by no means creative, but I can organize like nobody’s business. But I kept thinking that you get better at things as you try and practice right? I spent all week running between Michaels and Walmart.

(For Iowa teen awards)

So, I brought in a small sample and she said it looked good and to go for it. So, I put all these things together this week and put them up on Friday while she was at a meeting all day. Then I worried and had a bad dream that she hated it. But this morning she sent me all these wonderful texts on how she loves it and she loves working with and loves all my ideas. I was in shock and so very thrilled.

Pinterest Addiction

So, I am absolutely in love with the new pinterest site. I get such great ideas and I love it. Some things make me laugh out loud, and some help me dream. Anyway, I decided to try a cookie recipe yesterday and the cookies were to DIE for! They had a secret ingredient- vanilla pudding mix! Anyone want the recipe?

I am also trying to make these Texas Roadhouse rolls for dinner. I never make rolls from scratch so we shall see how these turn out. AND it has homemade cinnamon honey butter.

I found all these amazing red velvet recipes so I am going to try one for Valentine’s Day.

I also started a pinterest binder. Yes, I have issues. But not they are issues with a dreamy future!

A Pinch of Awesomeness

We started on Monday looking for a formal length evening gown for Marisa’s upcoming solo. I was worried it would take weeks. The 1^st store we went to was a HUGE fail. Then we hit David’s bridal and found 3 gorgeous gowns! We finally went with the one that is ocean blue and she looks stunning.

We FINALLY got our new sink in!! We bought it before Thanksgiving and finally found someone who could help us get us in. It looks great – so a big thank you to Bob and Craig!

Alayna vacuums with a moustache. Brave soul!

And Marisa gave a wonderful family home evening on energy conservation!