It's GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!!!

I am so excited about this giveaway. I was invited by My Blog Spark to try a great new product idea from Fruit Roll Ups!! This is so cool!!

Fruit Roll - Ups can be personalized. All you have to do is go to www.myfruitrollups.com and you can design your own!! I think this is a great idea for a birthday party favor, a treat for your kids to take to school on their birthday or valentines, a baby shower..... You can add your own pictures or text or use their art & designs!!

Wouldn't your kids think it's cool to have their own picture on Fruit Roll-Ups?The winner of this giveaway will receive a coupon code to order a box of 30 Fruit Roll-Ups - personalized BY YOU for free - and free shipping!! That's a $37 value!!

Here's what you need to do ---

Get ONE entry by going to www.myfruitrollups.com and take a look around -- then come back here and post a comment telling me about your design idea!!

Get ANOTHER entry by blogging about this giveaway and referring your readers here!!

If your readers tell me in their comments here that they read about this giveaway on YOUR BLOG -- I will throw in a 3rd entry for you!!!

This giveawy will end on January 5th at NOON.... I will announce the winner on Januray 6th!!!

Wanted: A Lost and Found Department

There is one thing I am adding to my Christmas list for next year:

My own personal lost and found department.

With the help of the Little Man today we have lost a small key ring camera that Matt got from Santa and one of the the extension feet off of the Wii Fit. I have searched and searched!!

The department could have also come in handy when we were searching for Matt's pager, razor, wallet, cell phone...... the remote that we replaced and then Matt found in his boot at work over a month later!!!

They could have also helped out at Church today when the Little Man decided to run away.... maybe they could have caught him before he made from the VERY BACK of the Chapel to the BACK ROW OF THE STAND...... I seriously thought about calling out to Aubrey to grab him!!! And then after that the department could have helped in LOSE my red embarrassed face.

Yep that's what I want..... my very own LOST & FOUND.

All I Need To Know I Learned From A Snowman

This was given to us by a sweet neighbor and I just wanted to share.

All I Need To Know I Learned From A Snowman

It's okay if you're a little bottom heavy.
Hold your ground, even when the heat is on.
Wearing white is always appropriate.
Winter is the best of the four seasons.
It takes a few extra rolls to make a good midsection.
There's nothing better than a foul weather friend.
The key to life is to be a jolly, happy soul.
We're made up of mostly water.
You know you've made it when they write a song about you.
Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!
Avoid yellow snow.
Don't get too much sun.
It's embarrassing when you look down and can't see your feet.
It's fun to hang out in your front yard.
Always put your best foot forward.
There's no stopping once you are on a roll.

Enjoy the SNOW!!!

A Christmas Gift to you!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

I have an AWESOME GIVEAWAY coming you way!!! The giveaway will be announced on Monday December 29th --- COME BACK AND ENTER!!!! Seriously it is a great prize worth over $30!!!! I can't wait to share!!!!!!!!!

My Parents & My Sister

I took some cute photos of my parents!!! It was lots of fun. It's really hard to get my dad to smile on que so I had to keep saying, "I'm gonna get you..." to get him to smile.My parents do a lot for us and they are a good example of love. They are so in love it's awesome!! I hope to be able to always show my kids that I love their daddy!!!

Of course while I was there I had to take a picture of my sister Meg...........

Creamy French Onion Mushroom Pork

On my other blog Good Stuff Maynard someone posted a pork tenderloin recipe that sounded so yummy!!

I made this on Wednesday and I really liked it. I did modify it according to what I had on hand.

I used a pork roast. I didn't have French onion soup so what I did was sliced a whole onion and then boiled it until translucent in a can of beef stock. I used a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and a can of Cream of Celery Soup and a large can of mushrooms.

I cooked this in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours.

The only bad thing about this is that the house smelled so good at 9am when I was boiling the onions, my mouth watered all day.

The sauce from the roast made super yummy gravy for the mashed potatoes!!!!

Christmas Potpouri

Last week we finally put up our Christmas Tree. It was decorated nicely for the first 3 minutes and then the little man of the house decided to make a few adjustments. You might notice that there are very few ornaments on the bottom part of the tree. The ornaments from the lower half have either been moved out of reach (YEAH RIGHT) by Mic or hidden behind the couch - yes there are some snowmen back there!!

Or they have morphed into bits and pieces of landfill decor. We were able to rescue this guy -- you might know him as Rudolf the One Antlered Reindeer.I wanted to show you a prize part of our Christmas Decor. These stockings were made by my Grandma. She made on for all of her grandkids, their spouses, and most of her great-grandkids - her eyes and hands no longer work and so she cannot make any more. She actually made 2 for me. I have my original from my childhood that was getting worn and thin, so she made me a new one a few years ago. These stockings will always be treasured!!

Do you get excited for deliveries in December? If you are like me and have done most of your shopping online then you know what I mean. The rumble of the UPS or FedEx truck outside of your house can be exciting. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I looked out and the rumble came from this truck.Luckily they were not delivering anything to us!!! I much prefer my indoor water closets!!!!

Come back tomorrow for a look at what we are having for dinner tonight......... I just about deleted that sentence!! Don't worry you won't be looking at a toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny Visiting Teaching Video

In the LDS Church the Relief Society has Visiting Teachers. Basically Visiting Teachers are women assigned to look after each other. We visit monthly and we are supposed to give a short message/lesson from The Ensign, a church magazine.

This is a funny video about visiting teaching and how it usually ends up going. At the end is way that it really should be -- Thank goodness we have a forgiving Father in Heaven!

Santa's Workshop

Are you busily working getting ready for Christmas?
Only slightly..... I think I am almost ready - except for the wrapping.

Are you building/making anything in your own Santa's Workshop?
I wanted to get a train table for my kids. I thought that I had bought one from someone and then they turned around and sold it to someone else. So I went with Plan B..... I bought a used coffee table for $15 then I spray painted it white and then painted some green for grass and blue for water on it. Then I sprayed it will a clear gloss sealer. It looks pretty good. It's a nice table anyway so IF it survives the train years I can easily repaint it to be used as furniture. I wish I would have taken a picture of it while it was in the carport but I forgot -- I had to hurry and bring it in to the storage room while no one was watching and before the storm hits.

How late do you usually stay up on Christmas Eve?
I have heard that some mom's never go to sleep. I try to get as much wrapped as possible before hand. Last year I think we were up until about midnight putting together a small trampoline thing. This year I plan on being in bed early .

How many presents do your kids get from you and Santa?
My kids are getting 6 individual gifts, 2 combined gifts and then a few things in their stockings.

Are you still in search of a gift?
Matt and I still have to shop for us, but we pretty much know what we are going to get.

What is the gift that you are most excited about giving this year?
We bought our kids both guitars. They are so into musical instruments. I think they will like them! I am also really excited about the family membership I bought for the Dinosaur Park.

TeePee Instructions

I have had several people ask me for the instructions for making the teepee. You can print them from this photo.

The exciting news........

It was fun reading the comments from my last post. If you read Aubrey's comment you could probably almost figure out what the news is.

Matt got a new job. He is still going to be a firefighter/paramedic but just a little further South in the Salt Lake area. We are not planning on moving -- I would miss my friends and my neighborhood too much!

It is a great job with better pay and hopefully more opportunities for training and advancement. We are excited and nervous. It's weird to think of him changing departments since he has been where he has been for about 9 years. He is going to be staying part time at his old job so we can pay off debt.

Wish us luck!! His first day is right after Christmas!!!

Under the weather.....Some exciting news!

You may have been wondering where I have been..... Or maybe you really didn't care......

Anyway...... We have been a little sick at our house. We have been passing around a lovely cold that kicked mommy's butt!!

My sweet little girl celebrated her 6th birthday!!! Happy Birthday.....

I finished a Christmas gift for my kids........... TEEPEE!!! Yeah that's C-Man playing it. It has been put away and I am sure he has forgoten all about it!!! I do have to say that I am very proud of myself for getting it done!! It was a project that a few ladies in my ward (LDS Church Group) made. Most of them got theirs done a while ago.And........... We have some very exciting news in our family.......... Try and guess what it is...... (no it's not a baby)!!!

With all of this stuff going on we still haven't done ANY Christmas decorating. Today my daughter asked, "Mommy are we EVER going to put up our Christmas tree?" Stay tuned....