Home By the Creekside

One thing that I love about being a Mormon is finding friends in Relief Society. I love it and I have always loved it. Since I have been teaching primary since last December, I haven't been able to go and enjoy the lessons. Being a mother, wife, teacher, daughter is very hard. Over the last couple months, I have been extremely overwhelmed trying to finish my master's, keep my head above the water at work, raise my children, be a wife and friend. There is no end in sight. So I feel that I need to surround myself with things that will uplift me the most. With Brayden being baptized at the beginning of this month, I feel like I have had a type of renewal..a spiritual one.  My testimony has grown and I feel that my home and my life outside the church needs to reflect how I feel when I go to church each Sunday. Each day, I love seeking to feel the Holy Ghost. This video was played before a lesson in church today. I am a big fan of Hilary Weeks. ...

I have a lot to be thankful for these days. One of the things that I am especially thankful for my two kids. They remind me everyday that prayer works. I prayed so hard for these little angels. I love how they are so much like a real brother and sister. They really lighten my life.  One of my favorite things that I learned how to make is apple pie. I learned this from one of my college roomies. I still make it every Christmas and Thanksgiving. The best time to eat though is for breakfast with some milk. Yum! Lyndee is always my little helper. We have a great time baking and cooking. We talk about things and I show her how to do certain things. I know that as she gets older this will be a treat for both of us.  Brayden helped Lyndee and me stack the apples in the pie crust. Then we rolled it out together. We even put a dough apple on the top.

 With the holidays or the expiration date of cake mixes approaching, you can make cookies with them. Not sure why every time I went to the store I would buy cake mixes on sale. I thought I would make some cookies to take to my brother's today. My intention was to make a banana chocolate chip cookie and a double chocolate cookie. In the picture above, I used a yellow cake mix with almost a cup of chocolate chips I had on hand. Then I tried adding banana extract but I didnt have enough. It would have been great though. Here above. I used a chocolate cake mix along with some leftover chocolate chips. See my helper...I love her so much. You have cookies ready for delivery or in my case...my brother's house. Recipe 1 egg 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup oil 1 cake mix of your choice Extra....1 cup of any add in...like choco chips, dried fruit stuff, oatmeal, or whatever you have. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Lyndee had her first grade Thanksgiving program. They sang songs and she and some other pilgrim girls recited a part of the first Thanksgiving and Tom the Turkey story. It lasted about 40 minutes. It was cute! Glad I have no more first graders! :)

It was nice to wake up to a snow covered lawn. A clean slate! That is what Brayden got when he entered the waters of baptism today. It was a truly great experience for him. My friend makes really awesome cakes and I found something similar (not really similar cuz this one rocks!) on the internet and we (Clay and I) totally KNEW that it was meant for him to make his day extra special. We were so pleased to have a golden plates cake. It was strawberry inside. His favorite flava! Here is a link to the awesome woman that makes them . We will totally do another one for Lyndee's baptism next year.  Brayden and Lyndee were so excited this morning. This is where I figured that one of my little monsters turned my flash off. It is now all fixed. This day was a very special occasion for Brayden. We had Clay's mom and aunt, brother and future wife, my sis in law, and all my nieces and nephews come to SUPPORT Brayden. It totally made it extra nice for him. It was very heart felt and it ...

Lyndee was "pretty" girl. Brayden was bloody bones. Together, we all went trick or treating with my nephew and my sis in law. It was pretty chilly that night. We always go to our neighbors first. These are our new ones. They are super sweet. This dude below waited for a while to give candy to Brayden. This guy decorates his foyer. It was all old timey with several skeletons sitting around playing poker. On the table, all the candy was there. The kids had to pick out what they wanted. He built it all.

Brayden turned 8. His grandparents came from Meridian to spend the weekend with us. We had homemade sloppy joes for dinner, french fries, cider, and birthday cake for dinner. See below my shrunken head cider. Those are the heads...floating in the cider...yummy. I made his cake. It was a mummy cake with eyes poking out from it. He loved it. After presents, cake, and fun, as a family, we all headed up to Rexburg and went to the straw maze. It was sooo much fun. We went through and decided to go back to find the beginning. My husband decided to ditch us. We thought he was lost. A couple minutes later, I get a call from him telling me that he is at the beginning. We ended up being lost. We might make this a tradition. It was a hoot. Anyone that knows Brayden, this is his true form. Always having this huge smile. I love him so much.   Crazy fun with nephew, too.   Ya....thats me with my babies. There's my mom playing peek a boo with the camera. Just kidding, shes no...

The only person that is missing in this picture is Grandpa. Slacker! He helped the kids create their awesome pumpkin. I forgot to take a picture of it. You might see in my Halloween night pictures. Thanks, Dad, for helping them with that gooey mess so Mom and Erica and I could go shopping.

Lyndee and Brayden participated in their Halloween parade at school last Friday. It was exciting for Lyndee. She was so cute and she enjoyed it. Her teacher is so awesome with her. She held onto Lyndee because she wanted to talk with everyone and visit. So she told Lyndee since they are both wearing gloves that they need to stick together. So clever!!! Brayden has a bloody bone costume. Blood is supposed to leak through his bones but we put water in it for school. He had a good time walking in his line. Whoa! There Bessie! Who is that scurvy lot below??? Yup that is me! I dressed up as a pirate with the rest of my colleagues. We had good fun. I didn't want to but I pulled this together the night before. The only thing that is missing is my peg leg. I know you all are so jealous of my chest hair. Argh! I had to look the part in my picture...