It's one of those days.. where you build a 2 year old a hideout that should make a whole days worth of play, only to be taken down because nothing can make his yucky cold go away...

I'm not a fan of sick children!

Going to the Planitarium was out of this WORLD!

Presidents Day we went to the Clark Planitarium in SLC

Sadie and Nick landed on MARS

right after walking on the moon

Our first 3D movie experience!!! It was AWESOME

We saw Under the Sea iMAX... totally fun (especially with cousins)

I love my family...

Sugar Cookies and Valentines Day!!!

What is it with sugar cookies and valentines day? (I know one thing, my tread-mill is going to be my new best friend... that's for sure!)

I'll share my recipe and some tips on making them:

Brenda's Sugar Cookies: (thanks Brenda for the long sought after perfect recipe)
6 c. flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp b. powder
1 tsp b. soda
2 c. sugar
2 c. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream

sift dry ingredients together, cut in butter. In seperate bowl mix vanilla, eggs and sour cream. beat all ingredients together. roll out. bake 360 for 8-10 minutes

*here's what I've learned about making these cookies turn out perfect.

don't underbake/overbake them. It's tricky... but 360 (wierd temp) 10 min. usually does it for my oven!

no real need to refrigerate the dough

cutting the butter into the flower is the trick I think to making the texture perfectly flakey and delicious.

cutting the cookie dough thicker (like 1/4 inch), then when baked makes them rise to the perfect thickness.

cream cheese frosting - yummy

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

click here to see these beautiful creations by my friend VICKI who made these for wedding center peices. This is only one design, and you will want to see the rest.

Feather Your Nest

they are inspired by Cadbury Eggs... yummy, my favorite! Isn't this the cutest idea ever~ she is going to show a tutorial video on how to make them too.. so check her out~!

cupcake decorating 101

These sugary little rose topped cupcakes are super easy to make... I'll show you how:
Here's what you need: mini cupcakes (I made red velvet and topped them with cream cheese frosting.. yummm)

gummy cinnamon hearts and green tootsie rolls

It takes 2 hearts to make one rose.

using a rolling pin flatten the gummy hearts out as thin as you can (you can use a bit of sugar on the surface you are rolling the candy so it doesn't stick)

once you've flattened out the candy, slice it in half...

now begin to roll the candy from the largest side to the smaller side with the sugary side facing inward.

keep adding strips around the outer edge until you have formed a full rose

*don't roll too tightly, keep pinching the bottom to make the petals spread out.

using the same rolling out method for the leaves, form the green tootsie roll into small leaves, create a vein in the leaf using the back side or dull side of your knife in the center of a leaf shape (free hand or use small cookie cutter)

You can pipe the frosting on the cupcakes as shown or just spread evenly with a knife or spatula.

place rose and 2 leaves on each mini cupcake. (It would be cute to put each mini cupcake with rose in a mini clay flower pot and use them as a place setting on a table for valentines day, mother's day, easter....)

Let me know if you give it a try... I would love to know who's "stealing" my ideas!

*you know I stole the idea right?*

Happy Valentine's Day!

"manly valentine"

What guy doesn't like gummy fish? Maybe (after disassembeling all the "girly" ribbon) he'll take it to work?

I found the fish on microsoft clip art and the font is called "for the hundredth time" (free font I found on google) I stamped with love and need to sign it....
I had the jar, but you can find them at the dollar store. filled it with $5 worth of sweedish fish. I have an ice fishing "jig" that I'm going to attach to the card somehow that he can re-use. I wrapped it with mesh gardening fabric and a recycled peice of ribbon.

perfect manly valentine for my man!
feel free to copy.
or call me, I'll make you one!
:)

Weekend Trip to Hardware Ranch

Here's the crew... bundled up and ready for fun.
That smile is cute enough for a christmas card don't you think?

have you ever seen a more perfect snowflake? I don't know if I have...

Billy and Vicky

Hardware Ranch is a place where elk come every winter. The volunteers there feed them and take horse drawn sleds up right in the herds of elk to get a close up view of these animals. We live close enough to take advantage of seeing this cool sight, so this is our 2nd time, but still just as amazing as the first.

It was even more fun this time to have Mom, Dad and Missy here with us.