Going once, twice... sold!

Yep, it's really hard to believe that Mike's car is finally sold! If any of you know Mike very well you know this car fit his personality perfect, so of course it was so hard for him to give up his baby. He is a wonderful, and unselfish husband though. We have been trying to sell it for a year. I really wish he didn't have had to, but it really is a blessing for us at this time.

Homemade Pretzels

So I found the easiest recipe to make homemade pretzels or breadsticks and they are pretty good.

Ingredients:
3 Tsp Yeast
1 1/2 C Warm water
2 T brown sugar (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4-5 C Flour

Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl combine water, salt and sugar and then yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Yeast should bubble. Stir in flour. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes until not sticky on hands anymore- or if you have a bread mixer knead for the same amount of time. Shape and let rise for 15 minutes. At this time you are able to freeze them and they will be ready to pop in the oven when you want to bake them. Great for snacks. Bake for 5-10 minutes- I baked mine for 6. If you are going to just salt the pretzels boil 2 C water and 2 Tbsp baking powder. Dip pretzels in for 40 seconds and place on cooling rack. Salt while wet.( or I have heard that right after you shape them dip them in the water and baking powder and then place on cookie sheet and let rise) If you are putting other toppings- parmesan, garlic, cinnamon/sugar- as soon as they are done baking rub butter on them and then sprinkle toppings on. Enjoy.

Halloween Costumes

(this pic is of Olivia)

So I know Halloween is next month, but if I don't start thinking of ideas for costumes now I will be so last minute. So if anyone has any ideas for a really cute costume for Olivia I would appreciate it! I am hoping to find a really cute costume for her. Last year she was a witch:


And it really didn't matter if I had a cute animal/warm costume last year since she couldn't walk so we just had her bundled in a blanket, but this year I want a cute- really cute animal costume I think. I was wanting to make boo's costume from Monster's Inc,:(but, I am not the greatest at sewing, and I would want it to turn out good)

even though her hair isn't that dark anymore- but Boo is one of her nicknames and we chose it from the movie. I had planned for it to be her costume last year and Mike to be Sulley- I would also want a awesome sulley costume too though but I don't want to spend $500.... I am thinking about maybe making this costume from Martha Stewart:( there are some really creative costume ideas on her website)

But I think I would change the feet- I don't think rubber gloves would be so easy to walk in, but I think it is a cute idea


They have opened some stores but they don't have anything good. I would much rather make a costume, unless I can find something good quality and at a reasonable price.

So Ideas Anyone?

Crazy Volleyball Night

So on Thursday ward volleyball started. I am still the Young Women coach. The Sunday before I had about 13 girls sign up saying they would come play. We had six girls by the time our game started which I was really happy with, but it would have been great if more had shown up. We were the only ward with a full team there and they are supposed to forfeit the other teams for not having a full team, so then we just play for fun, but they didn't. We lost our first game, but the girls played just as good as the other team. I talked to the lady in charge and said the games shouldn't count since we should have won right away for having a full team, and she said that's what will probably happen- I really hope it does. I'm usually the one to not try to argue that much and cause contention, but I will argue this one especially since the other teams coach was bragging how they had less players and won-I just kept my mouth shut but its easier to play with less people. Anyways so either we should get the win or since the schedules got out so late- the day before- those first games shouldn't count.

Volleyball is my favorite sport to play. For our womens' games, we had two people show up, but no one from the other team so I believe we won our first game by forfeit. They have us playing two teams so the second game we had two people, and the other ward had two people, so I don't know what they did for that. It was fun playing for fun. I actually had some pretty good sets and my serves were right on. It was a lot of fun.

So off of the volleyball subject that same night Olivia was acting so cranky all afternoon- just not herself. At volleyball she wanted me the whole time, and was just not herself. I played 1 game and half of another, Mike played some of the game while his mom watched her and then we left because she felt like she was burning up- her body felt so hot like how your skin feels when you have a really bad sunburn, so I took her temp and it was at 102! (I felt like a horrible parent for playing volleyball!)I dressed her in a really light shirt, gave her some Tylenol, and Mike gave her a blessing. Her temp went down to 100. You could just tell she was out of it, but she wasn't crying or whining, but she was just so tired. So while I was rocking her to sleep, waiting for the medicine to kick in I checked her temp and it went to 99. So slowly it was going down. She really hasn't gotten sick since she has been born, so it was really scary. After thirty minutes she started to sweat and her fever broke- 98.7 and continued to go down. I was so so so happy! Father's blessings are truly amazing!

Olivia's Fall Style

I really love weather like this. I love it when its cool fall weather. I am so glad that we actually get some cool weather. Olivia prefers not to wear hats but she is really good to wear them if she wants to go outside.Lately, that's all she wants to do. Go outside! As soon as she wakes up, or way late at night, basically all the time. Today the wind is blowin' like crazy. It's cool feeling but its not horribly cold. So I bundled her up in the coat I bought her from Baby Gap- (I couldn't resist, it's the cutest little petticoat), leggings, leg warmers, boots, a sweater and her red hat. I love her red hat!

( this pic was when she was four months old...I love this picture so much! she has the prettiest lips!)

Now she can actually wear it: ( the pictures were taken with the camera on my phone so the quality is not the best)

She loves swinging on this swing.

So Olivia is 13 months, almost 14 in a few days. She is growing up so much. We were watching her baby videos earlier today and I can't believe how much she has changed from just a few months ago! I can't believe she is a toddler now! I swear a year has not gone by yet! I guess that's how I know to cherish every moment, and to have a camera with me all the time.

Family In Idaho

Kirsten is the one who got baptized on Saturday. It was really fun seeing all of them. Thanks Jake and Amy for letting us stay with you.

Poison Scare

So we own a vaporizer, and its the Vick's brand, so we bought the vapor stuff you can put in it for Mike and me to use. We have been using it every night since we have both had stuffed noises and colds. The vaporizer has a little place to put the stuff in- it holds about a tablespoon of the stuff. When we bought the vapor stuff we had actually bought it for Olivia, but we read it when we got home and it says not for children under 2- so that's why Mike and me used it.
Well I was sitting on the couch and Olivia came over to me chewing on something. Her breath smelled like the vapor stuff , so strong! She had found the vaporizer and drank the vapor stuff! We read the warning label on it and it read to get medical help or call poison control. I called poison control and they said that we needed to watch her carefully for an hour because the vapor stuff is so deadly for infants. It can cause seizures and cancer. They said since it was such a small amount she will probably be okay, but that they would call back in an hour to check. They said to watch for drowsiness, which was hard because at the time we called- around 6 PM- she gets really tired normally. So after what seemed like the longest hour, and watching her be her normal, funny self the poison control called back. They said if we hadn't seen anything by now she was fine. I was so mad at myself when it happened because it was just one of those stupid things where I should have been paying more attention to her- she had been playing with her car. I'm so glad it wasn't anything really serious.

Olivia's Driving!

It was fun to spend time with family up in Idaho. We arrived Friday night. Olivia didn't sleep the entire car ride, until we were 20 minutes away, but she entertained herself rather well. On Saturday we had the baptism in the morning. Then after the luncheon we went shopping. Then to dinner and then played the game "Celebrity" with Amy and Jake and his family. Olivia was so good on the trip so , we let her have her first car. I know Olivia is only 13 months, but she acts a lot older than she is :)...

Amy gave this toy car to Olivia. She loves it so much! She gets so angry when we take her out of it. Thanks Aunt Amy!

Labor Day Weekend Get Away

Oh how I wish we were going on a vacation to California- It's been forever since we have been on a true vacation, and now that summer is over it seems like we will have to wait a little longer. Still, we are going to get away this weekend. We are going to Idaho Falls! No, its not Cali, but it's the closest we will get to having a vacation for a while. We will be visiting family. This weekend Mike's niece, Kirsten(Amy's) daughter is getting baptized in Idaho Falls on Saturday. We are leaving tonight when Mike gets off of work. I hope its not too late. We will be staying at Amy's house. It should be fun. Even though we are just going to be gone until Sunday, I feel like I have packed for a whole week- of course that's how it always goes:)

All Better?

So I believe that I'm pretty much all better- or at least I feel all better. It's been a pretty good day. Oh and the rolls from yesterday- I did put too much flour in them again! But they taste good. They are just a little heavy:)

It's been one of those lazy days. I'm so glad that fall is here- I know some day's it's still hot, but I love how cool it is in the mornings!

All better?... not really

So I thought I was all better... I overworked myself too much. So I just feel drained in the head. The stuffy nose is gone, but I'm just feeling that blah sick feeling. These days I just want to sleep in a comfy bed. So far today:

1. Cleaned and organized my bedroom- before: a tornado now: spotless

2. Scrubbed the tub, and kitchen sinks.

3. Cleaned the kitchen.

4. Made homemade bread- still in the process of cooking them- the first time I made them they turned out seriously better than perfect, and then the second time I put too much flour so they didn't rise. I just hope they turn out today. They are so good. So if they do turn out Ill post a recipe.

5. Made some YW handouts for volleyball- yes, I'm still the YW sports coach. Im excited for volleyball.

6. Killed a spider- that takes all my energy because I'm scared to death of them. I freeze when I see them. Usually I just put a cup over them and wait for Mike to get home to kill them but this one was almost by Olivia so I had to smash it- it took me like ten minutes- after staring at it and trying not to get Olivia scared like me I finally got the courage to smash it with a shoe. It's on our floor still waiting for Mike to clean it up:)

(mmm...my rolls are making the house smell so good)

7. Cooked Olivia lunch.

8. Read books to Olivia.

9. Played with Olivia and her dolls- she loves feeding them with their bottle.

so that is just what has happened so far. ( now I need some R&R)

Fall

It's September 1st already! and I love how the weather has been lately. It actually feels like fall. I have been sick the last couple of days- mostly a head cold, but today I actually feel pretty great. I hate feeling sick, and its so hard with a toddler. I'm just glad she isn't sick. So I know Halloween is the end of next month but ... I just put up some decorations. I love Halloween decor. I don't have much but I do love what I have. I have some great ideas to make some more decorations-I love surfing on the internet to find cute holiday decorating ideas, that you can make that actually look good. These are just a few of the ones I really like:

I love the white painted pumpkins.

I love going into all the boutique stores right now, because of the Halloween decor. I'll post some pics of my decorations a little later.