the fourth of july...

i had to teach relief society on sunday, and since it was the 4th of july i decided to make summery looking cookies. i found this idea on a blog [sorry, i dont remember where] and i was just dying for an excuse to make them... so katie, kelsey & i whipped up our very first batch of watermelon cookies for the relief society sisters...

ps... they are just a sugar cookie recipe with a green frosting/glaze and mini chocolate chips as the seeds... too stinking cute... right? i just love them. :)

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i texted danielle a picture of the cookies, and she texted me back these adorable red, white and blue cupcakes. and that made me remember that i had bought this really cute cupcake set from walmart a while back... it came with cute festive wrappers and these adorable mini pinwheels. so i gave the townsend inspired multi-colored cupcakes a go... i think they were pretty good for my first time. and my family was impressed :)

 ps... those last 2 are courtesy of zac baker photography :) ... visit his blog, it is fantastic!

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that night we had a riveting game of croquet... dad, me, kelsey, austin, dustin, travis [and then adrian] played... it was a ton of fun playing on our lawn. the sprinklers even came on in the middle of our game... it was too funny!

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this whole fourth of july weekend was just a hoot. we swam a bunch and grilled even more. i love my family and i love my country... and i love hayley [i couldn't very well do a family post and not put a picture of her in... lol].

{christmastime fun}

my family makes some wicked awesome cookies for christmas... including spritz [that taste like christmas] and these amazing candy cookies [which are my personal speciality... they are peanut butter cookies wrapped around a bite size snickers or reeses cup. mmm baby]. but we hardly ever make gingerbread cookies. my dad brought some dough home... so we tried our hand at gingerbread men this year. this is what happened...

this was the best i could do... and he's pretty cute, dont you think?

and then this happened...apparently they are halloween gingerbread men. hahah....

and then we made these for elder devin [to send to him in picture form...]oh man... good times.

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tino made this santa and elf. he's always been so ingeniously creative. he's our little lego wiz...


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and we had some wicked awesome flowers for our christmas dinner table too...


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sorry i dont have a lot of christmas christmas pictures...

we did have a lovely day! dustin was working, so adrian and hayley spent the night with us. granny tanny and grampa mark got a cool rocking horse that hayley absolutely adored! [click her to see video clips!] i got a chi from santa this year [its the best of the best flat irons!] :) and lots and LOTS of other presents! they were all great and so totally perfect! and nicole got to be here this christmas too! it was a super fun day filled with lots of love!

i hope y'all had a great christmas too!!

:)

{tis the season!}

alright... so kelsey is home! wahoo!! we picked her up in the middle of the night on thursday, stopped by adrians house on the way home, and then went to bed. friday we were crazy busy baking [rolls and aunt fredda potatoes for a ward christmas party and thousands [or just 100] sugar cookies for a friends wedding reception]. and i may have burned kelseys ear off. [but in my defense, she really did lean into it.] haha... click here for the whole story.

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today mom kels and i went christmas shopping for a bit. then we did something else then something else.... and then all of the kids [me kelsey tino dustin adrian & hayley] went to winterhaven [which is this cool neighborhood in tucson that decorates their houses and yards like uber crazy since the 1930's]. anyway it was a really fun night... we got to pretend to bundle up in our pretend cold. [ps... i was still wearing flip flops- utah cold can suck it. haha] but seriously it was great! :)

christmas and farr? how perfect is that?! love it! :)

^ shweet, eh?

this was the elvis house... awesome, yeah? it had elvis' christmas album playing too. mmm... :)

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then we came home and austin made us his special hot chocolate. and blast it all... it was delicious! :)

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and then we finished decorating our official christmas tree! yay... isnt it pretty?

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this was actually a couple days ago... but look how stinking cute my parents are? oh how i love them! :)

{oh so many feet}

okay... so im one of the relief society teachers in my ward. i had to give the lesson today... it was on elder holland's talk from the april 2009 conference entitled "none were with him." [click here if you want to read it.] it really is a powerful talk. i loved it. and the lesson went pretty well, too, i thought. i still get really nervous teaching. it is not something i am particularly good at, but i give it my best anyway. the last lesson i did was about pioneers and i told a story about an ancestor of mine that we call "the cookie lady" so naturally, to tie into the talk and be sort of an object lesson, i brought in some cookies. needless to say, they were a big hit. well this talk was about how because Jesus suffered and died for us and because He was completely forsaken by all, we would never have to feel the complete depth of what He felt on our behalf. It talked about how even when we feel completely alone and abandoned, we never really are... that He is always there for us and has complete empathy for us while we are going through our personal gethsemanes. anyway... i ended up using a poem that i had heard years ago... its called "footprints in the sand." this is the poem. i absolutely love it...

FOOTPRINTS

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: One belonged to him, the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of foot prints. He also noticed that it happened at the lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it. "LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you you would walk with me all of the way But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you the most, you would leave me."

The LORD replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

By Carolyn Joyce Carty ©

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amazing right? it gives me goosebumps every time. well... i made cookies to take in today to again tie my lesson together. i figure i always remember lessons better when there are handouts... and i mighta hoped that they would forgive my lack of teaching skills if there were treats... haha. i was really happy with the end results. i think the sisters loved the cookies and the lesson was well received... i sure am thankful for the sisters in my ward... they always have such good comments! so... here are pictures! :)

i used mom/paula's sugar cookie recipe, a foot shaped cookie cutter, regular icing and organic sugar cause it looked a little more sand-like. pretty stinking cute, dont you think?

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another note about some feet... i got these stinking cute shoes awhile back, and im absolutely in love with them! but they gave me some wicked blisters... i guess i should have worn them around the house with socks or something first! hahaha....

the culprits:

the victim:

[there are matching blisters on each pinky toe and heels... well not anymore. i drained them. lol]

like grandma used to say... "a litte pain for beauty's sake" ...right? hahaha....

{a happy easter to all...}

so... a couple weeks ago aunt nancy & uncle dan came down to visit their kids- and i got to tag along for some of it... we watched the new james bond movie at laurels sisters house... we went to this fun little peruvian restaurant... and we had sunday dinner together. before i left, aunt nancy gave me a present from my parents... but it had a note that said "do not open until easter"...

and im kind of a peeker. but... i got home, and put this gift in the closet, and i was telling jamie about how my family's easter bunny hides our baskets every year... and i was joking around and telling her that she might just have to hide the basket for me.

well... easter came, and surprisingly i hadnt peeked [high five to me!], i just left it in the closet. i woke up this beautiful [and surprisingly sunny] easter morning, got ready for church, put on my new easter dress [as is tradition] and came outside to open my easter basket. and surprise! the easter bunny found me after all! and this cute little easter bunny [named jamie] had hidden my basket in the oven... bless her cute little easter bunny heart!


there was also a fun little bag of goodies from uncle dan & aunt nancy [thank you very very much! i love you both!]

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yay for easter!



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but thats not all.... yesterday- me and the roomies [all four of us] went shopping together... and im pretty sure thats the first time that has ever happened. and i was a lot of fun! i got my new easter dress... and brooke and jamie and angela all got cute stuff too! we came home and made easter cookies [thanks to the cute cookie cutters from my dear mama]... they turned out really cute! well... almost. i havent quite gotten around to icing them all yet! i got interrupted... i was invited to go to divine comedy by joe [joe, from my fhe, joe] so i went to that instead.... and it was way way worth it! it was seriously funny... i laughed the whole entire time! [kels: when you get up here you have to have to go see it! :) ] anyway. it was a super fun day and a super fun night....


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why is it that worms crawl out of the grass when it rains? it has been rainy the last couple of days and there have been worms everywhere.... last night me and joe were walking back after the date and i felt really bad stepping on them. but i guess its just another sign of spring [yay! yay for spring... not the dying worms and such]. ill try to get some pictures of the trees around here... they are all blooming and beautiful!

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anyway...now im off to paula's sister's house for easter dinner.

happy easter! :)

[oh... and two weeks and ill be back in tucson! wahoo!]

{absolute deliciousness....}

]ive never been particularly good at making chocolate chip cookies... but laurel made these amazing cookies last weekend when i was hanging out with them and was she sweet enough to share her recipe with me. ive made them a couple times now and in all honesty... they are my new favorite chocolate chip cookies! for serious! :) thanks laurel!!

[the roomies love them too!!]

new things...

{updated cookie pics}

so i am continuing in my quest to perfect my sugar cookies... and in honor of st. patty's day [and with the help of my new clover cookie cutters from my wonderful mama] i made all green clover shaped sugar cookies! :) lol... i even dyed the cookie dough green! they were terribly cute, and terribly delicious! and i took a little bag of them over to paula's and then to jason and laurel's [i went there for dinner last night, and it was dee-lish!] and they were a hit [the roomies loved them too] plus... i think im getting better! haha.... there were three sizes... huge, normal and bite size... the little bitty "baby" cookies [as isabel called them] were definitely my favorite too! :) oh! and i went to a fireside, ward prayer... and watched the prince of egypt with a little group of people... high five to me for being social! lol... and then today i went to the beauty school and brooke highlighted my hair... actually she did highlights and lowlights and then we did a dark brown on my bottom layer [all of it for just $7.50 - heck yes!] and it looks really cute! :) she did such a great great job and i am absolutely loving it! [thanks brooke!] oh and i also made a little frog vase thingy... like mine, only way cuter... for the office- i actually like this one way better! [it was for paula... hence all the pretty blue, and she likes it! so... yay!]



can you see the big big ones... the normal ones.... and the baby ones? too cute right? :)



little miss isabel...and jason! [this was on my phone too... curtesy of erik!]



my new awesome highlights! i really am very very happy with them! :)



lol... there a couple really bold ones... just what i wanted [i forgot to get a picture of the underneath side... ill work on that too!}



and the very cute [and newest] office plant [and froggie friends!]

:)