New and improved!

I've been waffling between sticking with this blog for awhile, along with my other 2 blogs and it's just a tad too much. I still want to do what I do tho; so I decided to just merge this with My Pookie Designs and simply continue on with my random fun there. :) I'm beginning to like WordPress a little more and plus I didn't want that site, that I set up in memory of my baby, to just sit there. I will leave this blog up for all my previous posts, but from here on out I will be on Pookie Designs. :) I would love to see you over there! And might as well get a head start on the awesome contest/giveaway I'll be having soon, and become my friend on the "Google Friend Connect" bar on the bottom to follow my blog. :) :)

I'm excited for this transition and look forward to keep sharing many much fun stuff that I love! :) See ya on the other side.........

Baby Shower

To end the week we had a baby shower for my sil who is having a boy....now it will be 5 girls and 2 boys. It was fun to do a boy one for a change, even though girl stuff is much more fun, we still came up with some fun ideas!

My amazing sister hosted it, it was fun to help her! We did a car theme decorating with:

* Paper cars
* Dump truck (we were going to serve the fruit out of it, but didn't happen)
* Tires spelling out his name
* Fun lookin pom poms- polka dot is my favy
* apothecary jars filled with peanut m&m's which happened to match the color theme perfectly
* Styrofoam covered in "grass" paper and 'dirt' oreos. Which was the holder of the WAY cute Cake push pops! Super cute, right?!
Tam and I were giggling like little school girls when we found the push pop containers and were so excited to make them! Very fun to put together. We made some mini trifles in them; half strawberry shortcake and other half snicker trifle. MMMMMMMMM Very fun and very tasty! I'm so looking forward to trying some other things in them like yogurt/smoothie pops! We found ours at etsy.com.

I'm looking forward to meeting my cute little nephew in a few weeks!! It's a given he's going to be cute, cuz look at his mommy! :)

Get your game on

Last night was Tim's nerd party! I "dressed up" in one of his many nerd shirts....yes he has a collection of nerd shirts. I figure if I can't understand what it means, it's his nerd shirt. hah
I made some gaming/nerd glasses for pictures....there were some pretty winner nerd faces. :)


We had different games set up on 4 different tv's like DDR, Wii, Ps2, nintendo..playing Mario was my favorite! I love the old games, they're classic. Tim was in heaven having a whole night just for computer games with friends and family!

29 years ago....

....A sweet, good lookin', intelligent, talented, generous guy was born and I was the lucky one to marry him.

My sweet hubby's birthday was yesterday! He's been sick with a nasty cough from bronchitis for almost a week, but luckily was better in time for his special day :)

In addition to some nerdy computer games (hehe) he wanted some Bucky Balls! Don't underestimate its fun-ness....tiny magnetic balls have never brought such amusement to us before.Just be careful to supervise kids! They are dangerous if swallowed. I told him I'd get them for him if he left them at work. Hopefully he's getting some work done. ;)

His request for his birthday dinner was Indian food. We love Indian food. Anyone been to the Bombay House? Yum. I have never tried cooking it before, but was determined to find a yummy recipe and try my hand at it. This recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan bread from Mel's Kitchen was absolutely phenomenal!
I bet to everyone that when my dad came back to eat it he would say "this just screams with flavor!" So when he got back and started eating, I asked him how the flavor tastes...he said it was good. hmmm... We sat there talking and when he was finished we hear, "wow, that just screamed with flavor!" hahaha We all just bust up laughing making him wonder what in the heck was wrong with us. It was too perfect. I guess you had to have been there, but trust me it was funny :)

Screams with flavor it certainly does. Sometimes the weirdest combinations make the best food. Don't knock it til' you try it! It might just become your new best food.

Don't even get me started on this yummy Mango sticky rice dessert...which my mom now calls "YuMango dessert" lol. She has all the fancy stuff to prepare the sticky rice and made this for Tim, he was very grateful and full of ooohs and aaahhs and yuuums while eating it. :)

It's safe to say Tim was very happy with his meal, it was fun to make it and even more fun to see how much he loved it! All that work was totally worth it.
I'm grateful to have him in my life! He is my knight in shining armor...he's a nerd but so am I, and we are two happy nerds in a pod. :)

Easter Egg Hunt

It's a few days past, but I still want to post this :)

This was Faith's second Easter egg hunt and was lovin the excitement of it. Mostly the candy...I think she downed it all in record time. It's no wonder why the kids were hyped up in Primary. I'm thinking the "Easter Bunny" should come AFTER church, not before....think of the teachers! hah :)

Speaking of the "Easter Bunny", who tells their kids there is one? I was talking to my sil about it and when she said they don't do the Easter bunny, the more I thought about it, I thought, you know...that's probably a good idea. I mean come on, a giant bunny rabbit?? Bringing you eggs that it doesn't even lay? How ridiculous is that. If we're going to get technical, it should be the Easter Chicken....a little more scary than a cuddly bunny, but makes more sense right? Santa is more believable than that, and at least he represents something....or Someone :) Faith doesn't really care if her easter basket is from the easter bunny or mommy and daddy as long as she gets her candy! :)

Cute little kids, I love to see their excitement. It makes me feel like a kid again, reliving my childhood through them.

Why are these hunts just for kids? Next year I'm doing one for adults who still like to have fun! :) Except the eggs will all be chocolate! ha

Freebie Spring Digi Kit!

My Pookie Designs site is under a bit of 'construction' right now, so I'm going to post this on here for now.... This isn't necessarily an Easter kit, more so Spring, so it's ok that I'm late :) I could actually say I'm early because Spring seems to not have arrived yet. (boooooo!)

I used to not like Tulips, weren't my favorite type of flower, but just this year I've been blown away at how bright and beautiful they are. Temple Square always has them in abundance, and they look beautiful right along with the cherry blossom trees...oooh don't even get me started on those! Anyways, tulips and sheep gave me the idea for this Springy kit. Don't ask me why about the sheepy, just because I wanted to draw one. :)

Because I don't have a great photo of tulips.....

LOVE these trees!

So, here's my kit, Tiptoe Through Tulips. Hope you likey :)

Free for Personal Use Only.

Click on image to download. Thanks!

Cream filled chocolate eggs

YUM!!!

This is what we're having for our dessert for Easter!
They are just as good as those cream filled cadbury eggs, but more of a chewy creamy than liquidy creamy. This is stayin' on my list of traditional Easter treats! So yummy!!

Look at that smooth, creamy center....mmmmm

Store in refrigerator like it says, but take out to soften a little bit, so it will be more creamy in center...I like them better that way :)

Chocolate Easter Eggs
Source: Monique

The recipe can be made in advance and refrigerated.

1.5 lbs of icing sugar
1/4 lb butter melted
1/2 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Tbsps. corn syrup
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 lb of unsweetened or semi sweet chocolate melted

The original recipe called for adding paraffin. Monique didn't use the paraffin so neither did I.

Mix with Kitchenaide or other mixer. Shape like an egg and place in fridge till hard.

Melt chocolate. Dip each egg into melted chocolate, and place on tray lined with parchment or wax paper.

Colour some of the filling with yellow food color if you would like a "yolk" centre. Store in tins (between sheets of wax paper when cold).

Note: Double the recipe to use up the full can of Condensed Milk. A double batch makes approximately 32 two ounce eggs.


These don't take long to make, so there's still time to make some for your Easter dessert!! :) Not that I'm going to stop making them after Easter. hehe :)

Hangin' with my Peeps

I just went to the Wood Connection for the first time. Why I haven't made it there before now I don't know, but it is one of my new favorite places!
I got these cute little bunnies to do...Hangin' with my peeps...because they look like peeps marshmallow bunnies. Cute huh!
Faith was super excited to help paint and glitter one, doesn't the purple one look especially awesome?! :)

My last decoration before Easter.....which is in 5 days and I'm not ready!! Anyone else feel my pain? ;)

Oh and here is a pattern I traced of the bunny for you to use! Have fun!

DIY String Easter Baskets

I don't remember a whole lot from my elementary years, but I do remember making these string baskets for Easter, funny eh! I had just thought about them last year but didn't get around to making them, so I was excited to try them out this year! They are fun to make, kinda messy and really sticky, but it's a fun one for your kids to do....unless they are clean freaks like their moms and hate being messy. lol Faith had to keep washing her hands every 5 minutes.

The result was worth it though, aren't they cute and fun?!!

Want to make one for/with your kids for Easter? You need the following:

• Balloon- blown up to the size you want
• String or yarn. String works better; I used 12 bundles of crochet thread, 2 different colors.
• 1 cup warm water + 2 cups granulated white sugar- stir til dissolved
  

1. Hang balloon up with some string and place newspaper or something underneath.
2. Dip string into sugar water mixture and wrap around balloon. The fun thing about this is you don't have to get it perfect, just keep wrapping it around in different directions to get a web-like design.
3. You can use more string than me to make it more covered, that's all the string I had so I stopped there, but I like it this way, just my preference.
4. Let dry over night.
5. When strings are all completely dry and stiff, pop balloon and either pull out carefully through holes or wait til next step.
6. Cut a hole for front of basket, where the Easter Bunny will place the goodies! ;) Faith was extremely excited about that part! If you didn't already, pull out your popped balloon now.
   
7. Be creative and decorate with whatever you want!
8. To make it stand up, just lightly press bottom down on hard surface.
   

This is how Faith wanted hers---> I hot glued lace around hole to cover up raw edges and hot glued bow on top. I love the way they turn out!

And you got yourself a fun, unique Easter basket ready for all those yummy goodies.... which include Cadbury eggs, right?!? They are the BEST! :)

If you do one, let me know, I want to see!! I like to find different ideas!

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Oreos? Yes! Cheesecake? Double yes! Oreos AND cheesecake? Heck yes!

Warning: Making these could result in consuming the whole batch all by yourself! :)

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

• ½ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
• 3 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Oreo Cookie Crumbs
• ½ cups White Chocolate Chips, Melted (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese using a hand mixer until they are well combined.

Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until ingredients are well combined. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into 1″ balls (I used a scoop to insure all measured the same) and roll in Oreo cookie crumbs so cookie is covered. Place covered cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.

Cool on the pan for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate. Enjoy!

Paint swatch Egg garland

I've seen a few of these floating around blogland and thought how clever is that!

If you don't have a bunch of these stocked up for one reason or another then, like me, go to the hardware store and pick out a bunch... I felt a little guilty taking them, but that's what they're there for, right? For crafting purposes. :)

Cut out an egg shape onto some paper and use that as your stencil to cut out the swatches.

Poke holes at top of eggs and string onto some rope, ribbon, etc and hang up for everyone to see!

Pretty cute, eh!
I think my pro painter Dad would be proud of me, right Daddo?!? ;)

Vinyl shirts

When I heard about this heat transfer vinyl, I was so excited to try it out! The fabric way is fun to do too, but this is a lot faster! So easy. Just put the vinyl on cricut mat, cut and iron on shirt! Check out their video for instructions. Can't wait to try out more with it, I got 5 colors, so have lots do with if anyone wants to do one too! :) Any one else tried this stuff?!?

Faith was so excited, I couldn't get a normal smile out of her ;)

Me likey. :)

Salsa...

Has got to be one of the most addictive snacks ever!
I've been stuck on regular salsa all this while, which is good, but I started venturing out on other kinds of salsa and it's opened a whole new world for me. :) It started with this amazing mango salsa that my sister made once upon a time, which I will share later, but for now, feast your eyes upon....

Balsamic Black Bean Salsa

{Recipe from Mel's Kitchen}

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained well
½ medium onion finely diced (about 1/3 cup)
½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 (7 oz.) can salsa verde (I used Herdez brand)
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the salsa marinate for a few hours (or overnight before serving). Drain most of the liquid from the salsa before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

AND...

Apple Berry Salsa with Cinnamon Chips
{Recipe from Pampered Chef}

CINNAMON CHIPS
4 (7-inch) flour tortillas
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

SALSA
2 med Granny Smith apples
1 cup strawberries -- sliced
1 kiwi fruit -- peeled and chopped
1 small orange
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp apple jelly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For cinnamon chips, lightly spray tortillas with water. Combine sugar and cinnamon in flour/sugar shaker; sprinkle over tortillas. Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges; place in single layer on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Remove to cooling rack; cool completely.

For salsa, peel, core, and slice apples. Cut apples into quarters; chop with food chopper. Slice strawberries and chop kiwi. Place fruit in 1 quart bowl. Zest orange and juice. Add orange zest, orange juice, brown sugar and apple jelly to fruit mixture, mix gently. Serve with cinnamon chips.

They're both sooo tasty! This was my first time making tortilla chips, the cinnamon kind are awesome! Now go feast on them! :)

Cruisin'

We just got back from a super fun cruise yesterday, that's why I've been so busy! :) I don't think it's very smart when people announce they'll be gone before the fact, I wanted to wait til I got back to tell ya all about it! I've got lots to tell and even more pictures and only posted half of them ;)

Tim and I and my parents went on the Baja cruise, leaving from Long Beach, CA, we visited Catalina Island and Ensenada, MX. Besides Tim, it was our first cruise! I've been so terrified of the ocean but realizing more how short life is I decided to buck up and go. I'm so glad I did! Tim was such a sweetheart to plan it all. It was so fun to be with my parents, I'm glad they came. Of all people they most deserved a vacation!

We got to visit Hollywood a little bit when we arrived, it was fun to go up to the "Hollywood sign". Next boarding the Carnival Paradise. The view of the city from the boat reminded me of NYC on our way to the Statue of Liberty.
The ship was so beautiful, me and my parents were giddy like little kids :) We went to the front of the ship waiting for us to sail away and decided to enact the Titanic scene. The guys pretended they didn't want us to jump. haha
We were pretty excited when we got to all the food buffets, woa! That was one of our favorite things to do there :) they had some gooood food!
The ship looked amazing at night with all the lights, there were lights everywhere, so pretty!

After a rather rough night of stomach problems for my parents and I, we were grateful to get to land in the morning. They took Dramamine after that and were fine from then on. First day we woke up in Catalina. I must say this was my favorite, it was gorgeous! There were some amazing flowers! My favorite is the redish one in the middle.

We rented a golf cart and got to ride it around and explore, super fun! We went to the Botanical Gardens, lots of neat different cacti and plants. My dad is standing by some crazy twisted cactus and the "Old Man" which they have; we've had it forever but we didn't realize how tall it gets!
Tim's favorite was the "Prickly pear", it's cool how the old ones change.

My mom and I got to drive the golf cart back to town while the guys browsed around. If we had great weather all the time, I'd opt for getting a golf cart, they're so fun ;)
Look how buff and tuff the guys are holding up the ship, hahaha :) yea right, that ship is beastly HUGE!

Tim's favorite buffet on the ship was the mongolian, it was pretty tasty!
That night on the ship we had a formal night and got to dress up for dinner! Our waiter was awesome and brought him out a dairy-free dessert, a marinated pear which he said was great!
I was excited to see the sunset from the ocean, I've heard it's just amazing when you're out there. It did not disappoint. Stunning!
That bottom picture I was taking a pic of Catalina when a seagull flew right in the shot, ha! Not a very shy bird, but a great poser! :)
Tim took me out walking on top of the ship at night and went to the front to look out, but it was so completely dark and no moon out, all you could hear was the waves below, kinda creepy, call me crazy but I like to be able to see it to enjoy it.

The next day we arrived in Ensenada, Mexico! It was so foggy, we thought it would be cold, but not so, I got burnt while on the horsies. Yup, we went horse back riding, fun eh! Believe it or not, I know my way around with a horse. My horse was named "Baio", not sure of the spelling, but not as great as my dad's horse...."Bud Light". haha We joked about pulling him over for "riding under the influence". lol We rode for about 1 1/2 hours, it was so gorgeous on top of the mountain, foggy below, blue sky above with the sun shining through and the ocean right over the cliff, that's where the fog was coming from.
Sadly my mom didn't do too well on the horse, so they took her back, she was a trooper for trying it out! It was hilarious to watch my dad try walking when we got off the horses, haha I'm sure I looked just as funny, my knees were really hurting so when I tried to walk felt like they started to buckle up, I felt like an old granny. :)

Thank goodness Tim knows Spanish, it really came in handy. We were able to find an alternative ride up to La Bufadora besides the tour bus which was ridiculously priced. After walking a few blocks away from all the touristy stuff, we found a stellar guy named Oscar to drive us around. He and Tim were able to talk which was good or it would've been an awkward 45 minute ride. I could pick out some of the conversation with my limited Espanol. Si, hablo espanol. :)

Up at La Bufadora was the "Blow hole". It's a crevice in the cliff where the waves come in from ocean, some magical science stuff happens that I don't understand and Poof the water shoots up! Pretty sweet lookin! I was taking a picture of my mom and I when it went off really high and sprayed us! That was my next favorite part of the trip.

We got to look at the market up there and Tim did the bartering :) That's not my thing. I got a sweet cowgirl hat and a hat for Faith...which my dad is wearing. hehe Tim got another Frank Sinatra hat and some gnarly sunglasses since he left his other one's in Catalina. :(

The last day was spent at sea. It was the best weather in the whole trip, absolutely perfect day! A little too perfect, cuz I stayed out a little too long and got a little too burnt :( Yup, I came back a baked lobster hardly able to walk from the pain in legs. Silly me, I never learn. It was so nice to just sit out in the sun, read a book, run to the buffet for a snack, come back out a repeat :)
My mom got that pretty blue dress from the market in MX and it was the perfect day to wear it, nice and airy and light, she looks great in it!
Every time we came back in to our room, it would be all cleaned up and there would be a different "towel animal" on our bed each time. They fold towels up to look like an animal, they're so cool! I didn't want to take them apart. The pic here is a lobster. they did an elephant, dog and stingray also, so clever.

If I didn't make it obvious enough, I'm a fan of cruises! The staff there was AMAZING, they were all from different parts of the world, it was fun to meet them, they were all so nice and so helpful. The whole cruise was very neat, orderly and organized, which is right up my alley! The best part about the vacation was we didn't have to clean up anything, good thing the cruise wasn't too long or I don't think they could've gotten me off the ship. JK
This was my first time ever to be on vacation without Faith and it was so hard to leave her. I missed her like crazy and have never been so excited to see someone before, when we got back! I'm not one of those parents who's excited to get a break from the kids, nope, no more vacations without my little sweet pea. :)

If any of you have not been on a cruise, I highly recommend you go!! You can get some incredible prices! Do it, you won't regret it...unless you get sea sick, just take some Dramamine and you still won't regret it :)

Am I ready to get back to normal life? No, but I will anyways :)

Spring crafts!

So wow, it's been a bit busy lately, but I did manage to get a few crafts done. I have a bunch of things I wanna share, but won't be as fast as I'd like, so please be patient with me for a bit. :)

I don't know about you, but I'm soooo ready for Spring. Winter, once again, has overstayed its welcome. ;) Here's some fun Springy these I made:

This cute lil pomander flower ball. So springy and go well with my cherry blossoms!

My sister and I made some fun easter eggs! Get some styrofoam eggs (I like the smooth ones, got mine at Hobby Lobby), paint (optional, but so cute!), dry, spray with adhesive and sprinkle glitter evenly all over. Poke hole in top and hot glue ribbon on. Show off wherever you want, I hung mine on some branches I spray painted white with white glitter and stuck in a tall vase. Love it!

Aren't those boingy carrots so cute?! Got them at Tai Pan.