My Painting Buddy has Arrived!

This is my crazy friend who loves a good project! We always have a blast when we paint and we always end up learning a new thing or TWO! :) Thanks for all your amazing help!

The first day we finished painting my room. It's hard to see my stripes but I do love them! We found this new laser level at Home Depot for $20 and it served it purpose 10 fold! New lamps are in the works and I hope to get a beautiful rustic picture of the LA Temple to put above my bed. Anyone know where I can get one?
The next day we painted the main area. We took the color throughout most of the house. Here is our finished projects. This is the entry way.

Followed by the front room.









Of course the kitchen.


And last of all the dining area. This was our new learning experience. So I thought Emily and I are pretty handy and we could totally install this new light fixture. Well. . . . we did do it mostly right. It was not our fault the builders wired the wires together to a different switch than the one the instructions told us to do. That was our main problem. After a few hours of not getting it right a friend of my came over and saved the night! Another new tip. . . don't follow all the instructions. Put your fixture together first and then take the whole thing and attach it to the ceiling. Much easier this way and you won't run the risk of winding up the cords and copper wires! As my friend told me, you only learn from your mistakes! :)
We also painted the girls bathroom. This was my $30 mistake! I was going for a soft turquoise but it turned out to be Robin egg blue! Yuck! Saved myself the trouble and just painted it the same color as the rest of my house! We were handy when it came to replacing the bathroom light fixtures! Don't they look so much better? Plug for Costco- bathroom fixtures were only $19. I say that was a great deal!
Emily talked me into painting
my piano room the color of my old house. This was in memory for my girls. They still miss our old home. Hopefully they will love this memory as they sit and pout about practing the piano! Maybe someday I will show you Jake's office but its not finished. Morgan will have to earn the right for me to put up a picture of her room, with a room like hers it may be NEVER!

Remember This Deal. . .

Well here it is. . . my new table! One must love the Steelers for providing me with the ability to sweet talk a man into getting me a brand new table! :)

Did I Say Real Butter?

Why yes I did! My friend and I spent a few hours turning real butter into food storage butter! I promise its really easy, so easy its silly not to have some real butta in your store house!
Buy any butter on sale. Cheaper butter requires more shaking but the results are the same.
Heat jars in 250 degree oven for 20 minutes without seals or lids. One pound of butter will fill one pint jar with a little leftover. 11 lbs = 12 jars.

While jars are heating, start on your butter.
Melt all butter until it comes to a slow boil. Use a spatula to stir bottom so the butter will not burn. Once it comes to a boil reduce heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
When jars and butter are done, you will then pour the butter into the jars. Leave 3/4 of head space in the jar so you have room to shake the butter.

Once butter is in the jars, carefully wipe off the top of the jars. Get a hot lid from your simmering water and place on top of the jar. Then seal tightly with the ring. Wait for your butter jar to "ping". When the jars are still warm being shaking them. Do this every so often until the jars have cooled off.
It's time to place the jars in the fridge.

You will then set your timer for 5 minutes. Once the timer goes off you will shake each jar. You will continue to do this until the butter becomes a solid. This process takes about 30 minutes.


Look how pretty it looks! The wonderful thing about the butter. . . it will not melt! It will last for up to 5 years, maybe longer we just don't know yet!

Prepardness Drill

On Sunday a few families were asked to go 1 week on the food in their homes. I thought okay, I can do this BUT, then we were asked to act out one day as if we were hit with a disaster. We are to use our 72 hour kits for food and we are not to use our electricity. Ouch! I knew this would be a little bit tough but how wrong I was. It sucks! We all had oatmeal for breakfast along with our lotion tasting hot chocolate! BARF! For lunch I TRIED to eat a Campbell's drink soup? GROSS! I couldn't even finish it. I then moved on to a cup of noodles. . . . gross, it tastes like lotion! I'm going to suffer with dry skin on our next emergency! Here is the plus to this. . . my Ritz crackers taste wonderful! My winter green breath mints taste awesome but I just want to chew them all up because I'm so hungry! I'll need a bag per day next time. My bad cuz my 72 hour kit is 1 year old. I now know the importance of changing it out every 6 months. For now. . . . I'm hungry! :(

Here are the girls getting ready for the night with flashlights in hand!

Husband had to get a picture! I will say that my headlight is awesome! I love having my hands free, it made reading a breeze!

It's my lucky day! My guardian angels arrived with a plate of yummy treats! I'm NOT cheating friends because in a real disaster if someone brought me treats I would eat them! I'm only cheating due to the fact that I am blogging this! :)

Our Little Star

This was Morgan's first year in drama and she had a great time! She landed the role of a court jester and she did an awesome job! These are Morgan's friends Andrea and Hannah.

Grandma and Grandpa cheering Morgan on!

Dad, Mom and Makelle

Makelle, Morgan, Todd and Jamie.

Morgan and her two biggest fans! :)
Thanks for coming everyone!

That's My Man!

Yep, we went to the Temple today only to find my MAN wearing two different colored shoes! :) That is. . . after we left the session! We apparently go together because I didn't even notice! :)

Of Course She's Excited. . .

but I'm not! :( This means she's growing up and its happening way to fast!

My baby will never look the same! Of course, I think she'll only get more beautiful! :)