Crazy Hair Day and Another Lost Tooth!

This last week was Red Ribbon Week at Sunrise. Kaitlyn loves this week because they have a new thing you should do or wear each day of this week. Her favorite day is crazy hair day. She told me exactly how she wanted her hair to be crazy, she wanted lots of braids that stuck out everywhere. I thought she had a great idea so we ran with it and got some colorful wires from the dollar store so they could twist and turn and add some color at the same time.

Isn't she a doll even with crazy hair.

She also lost yet another tooth that week, notice the little hole on the bottom.

Melanie insisted on participating in everything of Red Ribbon week. She was especially excited about crazy hair day. We calmed her hair down a bit because it was her birthday day at preschool. she loved having braids that stuck out though.

Happy 5th Birthday Melanie!

My sweet Melanie is now 5, wow how time sure does go fast. She is such a great part of our family with such a sweet heart. She hates to see people sad because she feels like she has to be sad with them. She is always cleaning up the house without even being asked. Don't know where she got this trait, but we sure enjoy it. She is our party girl, who love a good party and anything that has sugar as the main ingredient. She loves being in pre-school, but cannot wait to go to school everyday next year in Kindergarten. Her best friend is her older sister Kaitlyn, oh how I love that and hope that it can last. She is learning to enjoy playing with Matt more now that Kaitlyn is in school all day. She is our angel and such a fun gal!

Melanie, Kaitlyn and Matt

Melanie and her Belle cake. As of lately she has this thing for Belle because Belle has the same color of hair as her. She wanted a Belle cake, is being Belle for Halloween and for some reason really love Belle!

The main thing she wanted for her Birthday was a Nintendo DS. She absolutely loves it and plays with it everyday!

Melanie and Mom playing her DS.

Halloween Carnival

We had a great time at our ward carnival. There was lots of yummy treats and so many fun games for the kids! We all had a great time.

Melanie (Belle) Matt (Cowboy) and Kaitlyn (Witch)

Eating a doughnut on the string is a favorite of Kaitlyn's. Melanie on the other had would prefer just pulling it off the string and just eat it. Notice that is what she did in the background.

Mike and Juile's Wedding

Brad and I were able to drive up to beautiful Idaho for Brad's brother Mike's wedding. It was so much fun to get away for the afternoon/evening with no kids. They were married up at their family ranch up in Idaho. you couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. We are so happy for Julie and Mike. They showed us all a great time up at the ranch and ate a super yummo prime rib dinner.

The happy couple and their children!

Gordon requested a brother picture.

Brad, Greg, Mike, and Garry

Homemade Pretzels!

These homemade pretzels were absolutely amazing! I got this recipe from http://myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com/ She has some really fun recipes over there so you should go check it out. Matt and Melanie both said to me that they tasted just like the ones at Sams Club. I can't wait for Kaitlyn to get home from school and try them. She is my true pretzel lover. We will definitely be making these again.

I know not the greatest picture, but believe me they are delicious. They look kind of funny because I left out one twist from them.

Homemade Soft Pretzels
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007
Makes 8 pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt (I just used my table salt)
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted (I used margarine)
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt (I didn't have any eggs or pretzel salt so I just shook my table salt on it and they were still delicious)

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend is always a fun weekend of family and fun! The kids get together and play to their hearts content while the adults get to enjoy each others company. We all got to enjoy such wonderful talks too.



The kids absolutely love being together! Jess and Kristi, Always a fun time when this girl is around!

Lisa, Grandpa and Grandma Blake, My crazy bro Alan and the adorable Josh.

Celebrating the October birthday's Alyssa, Melanie and Luke.

By Small and Simple Things. . .

......great things are brought to pass! Well here is a small and simple thing you can do to help achieve a Great Thing! There is a family in my sister Julie's ward whose 4 year old daughter, Taylie, was diagnosed with Leukemia in August. She is facing at least 6 months in the hospital. A lady had a great idea and found a generous donor to not only spread the word about Taylie but help raise money for their family. For each person who posts a link to Taylie's sight on their blog or facebook, they will donate $2 to the family. So check out http://www.tayliebug.com/ or for more info about the fundraiser check out http://www.adashofseason.blogspot.com/ and post a link as well (you just have to leave a comment on her blog to let her know you have posted)!!! It has been so neat to witness the goodness of people in helping out this sweet family.

* 8 YEARS *

Then and Now, wow have we gained some weight!

8 Wonderful years ago on October the 2nd I was married to this wonderful man! We have been through a lot of good and a lot of not so good, but have always gotten through it together. Here's to many more wonderful years. Brad and I decided to celebrate our anniversary in Salt Lake City, the free babysitters had nothing to do with the choice in venue!:) We had a very fun evening once we finally got down there. The kids and I left our house at 3:00 to pick Brad up from work. All was going as planned until we got to the canyon and our van started not working. So we turned around back to Logan to try and figure it out. At this point I thought I would not get to go anywhere. We toyed with just switching cars and taking the Sentra down, that would have been a disaster. Anyways about 2 1/2 hours later we figure out that the only thing wrong with the van is that it is completely out of oil. yay for us for keeping such good care of our cars. We stop at the maverick and get two bottles of oil and off we go. Now we are only 3 hours later than planned but hey at least we get to still go out. We didn't get to Grandma Hiatts house until about 6:45. All my plans were delayed but we still had a fun anniversary. We ate at Tucannos, shopped the Gateway and Walked downtown Salt Lake City. Oh how I miss this city. Brad and I just reminisced on all the great times we have had there. It was so peaceful and fun to be just the two of us with no kids.

The poor kids were sick of the car before we even left Logan!

Brad with his Chicken Heart! He loves these things. I remember on our 3rd date ever we ate here and thought he was so gross wanting to eat a chicken heart! He sure does love this place and all the great meats they offer!

Me on the other hand can deal without any of the meat, just fill me up a plate of these most delicious cheese rolls and I am good to go. And man that pineapple is to die for!

We both ate way too much, but loved every bite!

We had so much fun walking around temple square and downtown!

Mom, We're Ice Skating!

The other day while I was busy doing something on the computer. I see all three of my kids run out of the girls bedroom sliding all over the wood floor. then I noticed that they were all decked out in there winter clothes. I asked them what they were doing and they said "Mom, we're ice skating!" Oh how I love the imagination of my kids and how they most of the time play so good with each other, they really are each others best friends. I couldn't fin the camera until Melanie had given up on the ice skating and change to being a princess. Oh how I love my kids!

Melanie, Matt, Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn the Basketball Player!

Kaitlyn decided to take an even longer break from dance and try the whole basketball thing. she is actually a really good player. It is so fun to watch her learn new skills and enjoy it. Brad is her coach and she really loves that! This last Tuesday she even made her very first basket in her game oh how I wish i got a picture of it. she was so excited and danced down to the other end of the court. What a fun new adventure for her, that I hope hope she continues to enjoy!

Kaitlyn and her #1 fan Melanie!

Melanie Dancing Again!

Well we took a much needed break from the whole dancing thing. When fall came around again Melanie decided she wanted to do it again. She is so excited and loves it so much!!! I think she looks like the cutest dancer ever!

Canning Peaches!

So I have never learned to can peaches so never better than the present to learn right? My mom was coming up to see the kids in their primary program, which by the way they did awesome in. So I talked her into teaching me how to can the Monday after. She is a pro caner. As a child I remember her canning every year and especially remember eating all the yummy canned goods all year round. She hasn't done it for a long time now because it isn't her favorite thing to do. So she was a good sport to bring all her canning stuff up to my house and teach me how. I think she even enjoyed it a little bit because she was mainly supervising and not doing all the work. We got my sister Julie to join in on the fun ad I think this might just have to become a tradition. Alot of fun was had. Now all I need to do is get those peach trees planted in my yard, I guess it will have to wait until next spring since the weather is now starting to turn cold.

Melanie helping stir the sugar water!

Mom, the pro caner!

Look at these beauties!!!

Julie and Kristi