Christmas Decor

here's the thing. most the time i love blogging more for the opportunity i have had to find other inspiring blogs and read them...it's one of my "me" things that i do to relax. but honestly i get in slumps of keeping this thing updated for myself. so instead of thinking about how i should have at least done one "thankful" post, i'm just moving on and keeping up instead of looking back : )

on another note this is my christmas decor post done completely with iphone pics because i sent in my digital camera to be fixed and sold my dslr. it's kind of weird/annoying not actually having a real camera at the moment.

the kid's favorite new addition this year is their little people nativity set that great grandma fowles gave them as a present last year!

my mother in law gave me this "peace" sign and it kind of inspired my glitter and gold theme.

my home made burlap stockings got some glitter initials added this year that hang on the peg with them...a walmart 97cent score. 

here is where the crafting came in this year. 

the deer came from this picture and i just used modge podge and glitter  the gold easel is from the thrift store for $1

here is the link to the nativity printable and the frame is another thrift find for a whopping 75 cents.

i painted most of the sticks gold and some of the pine cones got glittered with modge podge. 

the trees are just hanging from a white piece of thread and were bought in a pack of 10 from walmart.

the tree and "jingle" blocks are from past years. 

and the beloved tree. 

i used scrap burlap and cream fabric that i had laying around and it worked perfectly for a tree skirt and matched my stockings. 

someday i will make one like this or this. 

it did have a big bow on top made of the same gold ribbon but emma INSISTED we had a star...so grandma shelly saved the day and sent the cutest star that is made from a bunch of tiny little bells! thanks again mom!

all my inspiration can be found on my holiday pinterest board including these favorites below!

happy holiday decorating!!!!

Beef Stew in a Pumpkin

because it's getting close to the time where you take those un-carved pumpkins off your porch, i thought it would be the perfect time to share my beef stew in a pumpkin recipe! 

and once again the picture won't turn. whatever.

Beef Stew in a Pumpkin

3 lbs of stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 TBS. olive oil

2 large onions, sliced

5-6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick coins

5-6 large potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes

4 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

2 TBS. flour

1 quart beef stock

water

1/4 cup ketchup

Stew Directions:

Sprinkle beef cubes with salt, pepper, and flour. Brown the floured beef cubes in a skillet with the olive oil. Towards the end of browning add in the garlic and onions. In a crock pot, add all the vegetables, meet, beef stock, ketchup, and water(if desired). cook on low for 5-8 hours until the vegetables are tender. 

Pumpkin Directions:

Cut a wide hole in the top of your pumpkin and gut it. Coat the indie and outside with melted butter. Cook at 300* for 1 hour.

When the stew is done cooking, pour it into the pumpkin and cook at 300* for 30 minutes to an hour before serving. Serve straight from the pumpkin! (you can even scrape some of the pumpkin off the sides as you serve to add flavor!)

Halloween

this holiday gets better every year because my kids are actually understanding and loving it. 

kellen learned to say trick-or-treat and actually started saying thank you instead of just thanks like he usually does. 

 trevor always loves to dress up but the kids did not appreciate it this year...they were both scream bloody murder when he came out dressed this way. kellen never warmed up to the idea of dad being dressed up.
oh and presley (who blends in with trevor's costume) had a bat dog costume that lasted about 30 seconds.

grandma dschaak and aunt kelcie came up to visit!

**so did out friends skye & fletcher (and their baby rayce) but i didnt take a family pic with my camera of them, but believe me, their costumes from "Where the Wild Things Are" were awesome

 idk why i can't get this picture from my phone to turn, but growing up we always went to my grandparents for halloween and my grandma foley always made stew in a pumpkin! i decided to start the tradition at our own house : )

and a pinterest FAIL. 

apparently since the inside of apples are wet the caramel won't stick. dang it. 

 these were actually from wednesday at the library parade!

 and thursday i dressed up for emma's preschool party!

my little cheerleader

emma wants to be a cheerleader SO bad and i made the mistake of telling her about the mini clinic my squad was putting on a week before it was even going to happen. so basically i heard about it EVERY day, multiple times a day, for an entire week. 

finally the long awaited day happened last friday where we had a 2 hour clinic practice and then the girls got to cheer the 3rd quarter of the varsity football game. 

we had old uniforms and pom poms out for the girls to purchase if they wanted and emma just HAD to have them. 

i totally should have taken a before picture but after about an hour of winging it with scissors and my sewing machine, i took a high schooler size uniform and turned it into a 4 year old uniform.

emma had the best time and it just melted my heart that my little emma finds such joy in something i love as well. 

 and it was the game of the week so emma got her 10 seconds of fame on the 10pm news because the news guy just picked her right up and said, "hey! do you want ot be on t.v.?!"
obviously we need to discuss stranger danger more because she didn't even ask permission! : )

last week my sister tried to convince me that campbell's chunky potato soup taste "just" like panera bread's potato soup. so i decided to give it a try. well, after some salt and pepper it was okay. 

for those of you who have never experienced eating at panera bread. i'm sorry. it is on my top 3 favorite places to eat and the fact that there isn't one ANYWHERE in the west is a tragedy. for real.

so after eating that can of soup it just made me crave the real deal even more. 

that's when pinterest always comes to save the day!

Copycat Panera's Baked Potato Soup

via

• 6 C. chicken broth
• 6 C. potatoes, peeled and cubed (i used yellow potatos)
• 1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (i only used 1/8 tsp but wish i would have used even less with kids eating it)
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, cut into chunks, room temperature
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional, but really it's not)

Directions

Combine broth, potatoes and spices. Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender. Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening (i scooped some out and smashed them on a plate with a fork). If you like it smooth smash more, if you like it chunky just smash a little of it. You can decide the texture of it. Reduce to low heat. Add cream cheese (and I added half the bacon). Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle a little bacon (and cheese and chives if you would like)over each bowl of soup. (we used store bought bread bowls)

Serves 6

it is seriously so easy and delicious! the hardest part is peeling/cutting the potato's.

and by the way, i'm pretty sure it was even yummier today for lunch. 

enjoy!!!

thoughts on sharing

it's another one of "those" weeks like i had a few weeks ago where every day is exhausting. some how between babysitting, teaching preschool, cheer practice/meetings, visiting teaching, primary program practice & performance, a cheer clinic, and football game, i have actually managed to keep up with the laundry and dishes {and it's wednesday!}...i can't hardly even do that on a slow week. 

so in the chaos of it all, like i said, i have been watching two sisters for a few days for a friend. that's where the sharing thoughts come in. 

let me just start off with saying that originally i came up with my "sharing policy" a while ago when i read this article. 

i thought it was genius and exactly how i felt about sharing with my own kids. but since kellen is still young i kind of make emma share sometimes just for the sheer fact of my sanity. 

but when a 7 year old and a 3 year old are added to the mix i sure am glad that i already had established my house rule on sharing. here's how sharing is handled at our house....

if someone is playing with a toy they do not have to give it up just because someone asks them to share. they do however have to be polite about it and say that then they are done playing with it then the other child may have a turn. 

once a toy is left on the ground then it is free for anyone else to pick up and play with. 

and my reasoning is just like the article says, "I think it does a child a great disservice to teach him that he can have something that someone else has,simply because he wants it."

now of course there are exceptions{aren't there always?}

when a child has to use the restroom they may bring me the toy to save it until they are done.

the same thing may also be done if i ask them to do something like eat dinner or do a chore.

this is simply because i don't want accidents or whining just because they are afraid they will lose the toy they are playing with.

and a few more parts i loved...

"It's hard, as with so many things about parenthood, but let's teach our kids how to cope with disappointment, because it happens. And we won't always be there to fix it for them. Let's teach them how they can get things they want through diligence, patience and hard work."

"...this is not how things work in the real world. In your child's adult life, he's going to think he's owed everything he sees. This is already happening in the next generation. I read a fascinating article about how today's teens and twenty-somethings are expecting raises and promotions at their jobs for reasons like, "I show up every day."

i'd love to hear what other "sharing policies" are being used and out there!

our family pictures by {C. Thiel Photography}

 a couple weeks ago i won an awesome giveaway! a free mini session with 

Cassie @ C. Thiel Photography

she is located in the rexburg area and i would HIGHLY recommend her :)

she was great with my kids and we got in and out quickly just as the kiddos were over getting their picture taken. basically my only want was one good family picture for christmas cards/to print off and i'm pretty sure i'm obsessed with the one above.  

if you are interest in family, wedding, senior, maternity, or whatever kind of pictures you can find all her info and previous work over here.

thanks again Cassie!!!

and you can tell there is a baby in there : )

my perfect weekend

on wednesday evening i called trevor to see how much longer he would be golfing and about in tears told him, "oh and can you please plan on putting the kids to be when you get home because i need to leave or something. and by the way there is nothing for dinner so don't ask." 

thankfully he got the hint and came home, loaded the kids up for dinner at rupe's drive in {because naturally i was still in pajamas}, we ate as the kids watched a movie in the car, came home and he put them down for bed. 

on our drive i was wondering what the heck was wrong with me{besides the obvious reason that i am hormonal and 15 weeks pregnant}and i realized for 3 weeks straight trevor has had to work/be at his rotations. that means 3 weeks straight {including saturdays & sundays} of only having him home for an hour here or there in between things or sometimes gone all day until after the kids were in bed. 

i was worn down and worn out. 

don't get me wrong i am SOOOO grateful for all the hard work he puts in for our family to provide for us...i just needed some away from the kids time. 

so again i gave a not so subtle hint and said "i need a date night, like friday, and no kids allowed."

so after some plans fell through with a trip to burley for trevor to golf, he made new plans. 

amazing plans.

my incredible mother in law met us in pocatello for the evening to go out to dinner and then she took the kids home with her...to burley...for the entire weekend!!!

so i got two date nights, two days of sleeping in, and spent saturday and sunday completely alone watching conference. although doing it with my hubbs would have been the icing on the cake, i was completely content sitting on the couch and not doing anything for anyone for two days straight : )

so that my friends was my perfect weekend. 

now i am spiritually and physically uplifted and headed to go pick up my kiddos...because really, i truly did miss them.

if you are interested in knowing more about conference check it out here!

Fall Favorites

there are a few months/holidays of the year that i get really hyped up for and october/halloween is one of them. so in honor of the best month of the year here are some of my pinterest favorites that are on our bucket list for the month!

all links can be found here

{DIY} our lost keys solution!

earlier this week we had yet another morning of rushing around frantically to find a pair of keys. this usually happens about once a week around here and it kinda starts the day off on the wrong foot. so this time i decided that i had to do something about it.

after some thinking that morning about what i could use to make a key holder i finally decided what i would do. 

so... i have this diaper box in our storage closet of things i collect. i keep it to this box or else things would get way out of hand...i'm talking hoarders: buried alive, kind of problems here. 

last fall while on a walk with the kiddos i found an awesome chippy board in some weeds.(you can't imagine trevor's face when i brought it home. haha) at the time i thought it would be cute with something painted on it but that never happened so here i am a year later putting it to use!

 the hooks came from a purple board thing i got at the DI for $1 that i planned on painting and putting in kellen's room for hats to hang on but now i'll just have to replace those when i get around to that project.

i used a bracket off an old (not being used) shelf that actually had 2 extra on it and nailed it to the back to hang.

added some burlap ribbon and ta-da! our new key holder!

 it is taking some getting used to to hang them but they are right next to the door and so far we haven't had any lost keys :)

life is crazy

is it friday yet?

this week is killing me.
fall activities are in full force and i am feeling a bit overwelmed...let me just give you a run down of the craziness that this week has been and is yet to be....

ballet & gymnastics class
6 am cheerleading practices
two soccer games
my week to teach preschool
writing the primary program
CPR & concussion training
primary presidency meeting
homecoming powderpuff games, bonfire, and football game

basically my house is clean for preschool and a complete disaster a few hours later. i have yet to go grocery shopping, the laundry is out of control, and my temper needs a serious time out.

i'm not really sure how people do it with 4-5 kids and juggling everyone's schedule. must come with practice? i hope. because right now i feel like i am trying to tread water with a 1 year old and a 4 year old holding on to me.

in my own defense about half the events this week were sprung upon me when the other cheer coach had to leave for a funeral for the entire week....the entire HOMECOMING week. nothing like just jumping right in on your first week of coaching.

so life is nuts and it might take me all next week to recover. the poor blog is just going to have to take a back seat until our little family can get into the grove of real life because the lazy days of summer are slowly slipping away.



and on another note... does anyone have ANY advice at all on how to get a 19month old to stop hitting and pinching? my kid is a serious bully and unfortunately emma and i are on the other end of it.

5 years. holy cow.

we have been married for 5 years.

wow. 

that's like from 8th grade to high school graduation. those years seemed to take FOREVER. and man oh man did those five years change me...

haha. 

but seriously. in the past 5 years trevor and i ...

*have moved 6 times

*had 2 kiddos

*3 vehicles

*owned 3 dogs

*2 bachelors degrees, and 3/4 of a doctorate degree(not that i'm counting down for that one or anything)

*lived in 2 different states

there have been lots of changes, up's and down's, and many, many adventures. 

so let's just take a walk down memory lane, shall we? 

the day after our first date...we decided he needed a facebook profile picture. 

february 2008

our first picture together

more dating...

and engaged july 2008

MARRIED!!!!

emma joined our family september 2009

July 2010 Trevor graduated from BYU-Idaho

July 2011 I graduated from BYU-Idaho!

kellen joined our family February 2012!

 thanks for the best 5 years babe. here's to eternity : )