Pin and Tried!

I have been busy trying recipes from Pinterest. I realized that I might hurt the originator's feelings if I am not so nice about my reviews, I don't mean to be rude or hurt feelings, I am just sharing my personal opinion. I want the originators to know that I am not personally attacking you or your posts, just sharing with other's my take on your recipes. I hope you aren't mad at me :=)

so, with that being said... here we go with the latest pins:

1) Buttermilk Pancakes - these were fine, nothing to write home about. But I didn't use the Buttermilk Syrup and I am sure if I did, they would have been out of this world. I am sure the syrup makes the pancakes.

CONSENSUS: DELETE PIN (I am sure I can find a better pancake recipe out there in the wide world of the web).

2) Rachel Ray's Southwest Chili Co Queso Pasta Bake - I didn't like this recipe. And the only reason is that i have a hard time mixing mexican flavors with pasta. Pasta should be reserved for Italian flavors only. Mixing the two ethnic flavors just doesn't work for me.

CONSENSUS: DELETE PIN

3) Delish Chicken Marinade - I really liked this marinade. It was super yummy and I could taste all the subtle flavors in each bite. It definitely is delish.

CONSENSUS: KEEP IT PINNED

4) Cinnabon Popcorn - this was good, but not my favorite when it comes to caramel popcorn. I loved the flavors (cinnamon, pecans, chocolate, caramel all together - how could you not, right?). But the caramel popcorn part was a little to crunchy for me. I prefer my caramel popcorn a little more chewy.

But what I would do is use my favorite caramel popcorn recipe and then add the cinnamon, pecans, chocolate, etc. Then it personally be the best popcorn ever!

CONSENSUS: KEEP PINNED (but use my own caramel corn recipe).

5) Mashed Potato Skins - I really liked these. They tasted great and so easy (you don't have to peel the potatoes). They were nice and creamy and because of buttermilk, not as fattening. I would definitely make these again.

CONSENSUS: KEEP PINNED.

Trip to Zion's National Park

After some time in SLC, we headed to St. George to see my parents. The weather was beautiful for July in St. George. They had a huge rainstorm the first night and it was crazy. So much rain and wind and thunder and lightening. It caused major flooding around their community and the next day we were going to go swimming in Veyo, but the rainstorm caused so much damage that the pool was closed because the pool was full of mud! So, we headed to St. George to play in their water feature in the middle of town. My kids favorite thing to do.

Then on Saturday we headed to Zion's National Park. It was the perfect day. 82 degrees and overcast. Such a great day to go hiking in Zions. It ended up being a great day with the family. The kids did so great and we hiked a bunch!

Playing at the Reservoir

After the reunion, we went to SLC and played with the cousin. We went to a splash park, had lots of dinners with family, visited BYU campus and showed the kids where we lived and studied on campus and went to Uncle Kyle's family Reservoir on Peterson, Ut. The kids had a blast hunting for frogs, snakes and salamanders. They went canoeing and walked around the reservoir looking for anything living they could find.

Jake fell in love with the frogs and salamanders. He just sat at the bucket full of frogs and played with them for hours. He would pick them up and play with them, but apparently he played with them too hard and squished on of them to death. His cousin came to me to tell me that a frog had white curly things coming out of his side after Jake played with him. So, we had to teach Jake to be gentle with the poor things.

He also loved the Salamanders and kept playing with it and talking about it for days after. Another fun day in utah!

I forgot to mention that the kids ran all the way back from the reservoir. It was 2 1/2 miles from the house to the reservoir and the kids ran a lot of the way. We picked up many of them along the way in our ATV and dropped them off when they wanted to run again. But Hannah was a trooper. She ran most of the way and did it in flip flops. She needed a ride for about a 1/4 mile because her side hurt... but other than that she ran and was a great sport!

Reunion Hike

During the Reunion, everyone went on a hike. (Again, I didn't make it), but it sounded like a good time had by all. My kids loved it. There were rocks everywhere and they came back with a ton of them to take home. My kids loves rocks.

Christensen Family Reunion

We went to Ephraim for the every-other year Christensen Family Reunion. I was sick for the whole thing this year. I don't know what happened, but I came down with a horrible case of the flu (i think) and was knocked out for 2 days. But Chris took some pictures at the family farm (which is the central focus of the reunion)... I will let the pictures speak for themselves, since i don't know what happened that day :-)

4th of July Weekend

We got back from our summer trip to Utah. It started with the 4th of July. We woke up and headed to Moroni, Ut for their parade. It started with a ping-pong ball drop from an airplane. Which the kids love. Then the floats with tons and tons of candy being thrown at the kids. They love that more. Unfortunately, Jake took a dive onto the street road and had a big, fat, bloody lip. It was so sad, but again the candy made him forget his pain.

Then we went to the local park festivities both in Moroni and Manti. We rode rides, played put-put golf, we took a little train ride and made rockets and launched them into the air. We had yummy Italian Ice and wonderful utah watermelon.

Later that night, we went to Manti and saw another parade and then went to the high school stadium and watched fireworks with the beautiful Manti Temple in the background. It was a great small town 4th of July!

Craftopolooza

Hi Ladies,

I hope you are able to come to the first annual neighborhood Craftopolooza. It is going to be Friday night October 19th from 7:00 pm until whenever you want (although I might kick you out at midnight).

We will be doing three craft projects. You can do all three or one or two. It is completely up to you. Here are the projects to choose from.

Craft Project #1 - Girls Jumbo Beaded Bracelets


Price $10 for 3 bracelets.

We will be making a halloween-colored bracelet, a christmas-colored bracelet and then you can choose between a valentine-colored bracelet or a WOODS-colored bracelet.

I will provide all of the supplies, you just need to let me know if you want a Woods bracelet or a valentine bracelet.

The CRAFTING 411:
I got my beads from ebay.  I searched using "18mm acrylic round beads".  or you could search 14mm or 16mm for more selection.  Most beads come from China, so you need to give 2-3 week delivery window.

You can also look at these two sites.
pandahall.com
white mountain gems and beads

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

A FEW MORE SPECIFICS:   The string is elastic I bought at Joanns.  I used 9 beads for my 5 year old and 10 beads for my 8 year old.  I used a coordinating ribbon and tied the bow around the knot.  And to keep the ribbon from fraying, I used a lighter to burn the edges (just ever so slightly).

Craft Project #2 - Tabletop Framed Chalkboard


Price $18 for a 8X10 frame

I will provide the paint and frames and chalkboard paint. We will be painting them in an old white color and I will have stuff available to antique them if you want.

THE CRAFTING 411
I bought the frames from Cut it Out Already.  These frames are awesome and for half the cost.  The frames come with a cardboard backing.  So, you will need to go to Lowes and have some thin wood sheets cut for the frames in the size of the opening.

I used Annie Sloane Chalk Paint.  Here is a post all about this great paint.  I bought Old White and Graphite for the chalkboard.

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

The backing of the frame is the wood you purchased at Lowes.  The Dark Wax is from Annie Sloan.  You don't have to antique the frame if you don't want to.  I gave it as a choice for the girls to do.  And again, painting the frame with the clear wax isn't necessary.  We actually didn't do it.  

Craft Project #3 - Holiday Wreath



PRICE $12 (not including fabric or felt)

There are two choices for wreaths. They both will require you purchasing the fabric or felt before the craft night. The fabric wreath is a very simple and quick wreath to make. The felt wreath will require a lot more time. It is still very easy, just more time consuming.

Fabric Wreath - bring one yard of whatever fabric you want to use. It would be best to use a thinner fabric (not something too heavy, like twill or corduroy). HINT: A light airy fabric will make it look similar to the picture, but it would look good with a nice cotton fabric too.

Felt Wreath - one yard of heavy weight felt. Definitely use a heavier-weight felt. It's more expensive, but well worth it. I found mine at Joanne's for $6.99 a yard. The lightweight felt will require you to use more, which means you'll need to cut and cut and cut more circles. The heavyweight felt also gives the wreath a more quality look.

For the felt wreath you probably won't finish it all that night, so you can either start it at the craft night (and finish it at a later time) or pre-cut your felt circles before the craft night, so you can assemble and finish your wreath that night. If you are interested in pre-cutting and having everything ready to complete that night, let me know and I will tell you what to do. it is super easy, just cutting is involved (like a 150 circles, so you know what you are getting yourself into :-).

I will have the wreaths, pins, glue etc. You just bring the fabric or felt.

The Crafting 411

I bought the 14 inch wreaths at Hobby Lobby.   But the Extruded wreaths, the pins stick in them better.   And then I bought #17 stick pins.  they are a bit longer, so they stick into the wreath further.

Here are the instructions for both wreaths.

For the ruffle wreath, here is a link to show you a bit more of how to assemble it.

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What would be a gathering without food. It would be great if everyone could bring an appetizer or dessert to share with the group to keep our energy levels up while we craft through the night.

So, I think that is it. If you are interested in coming to CRAFTOPOLOOZA, please RSVP as soon as you can (or by Sept 30th at the latest) with which projects you want to do, so I can gather up the supplies and be ready for the big night. And if you can make it, please let me know the following:

1) what projects you want to do
2) if you want a WOODs or Valentine's bracelet
3) which wreath you want to do (so I can get the right wreath for your project).

Hope you all can make it... it will be a fun night of crafts, friends, talking and eating. Not a bad way to spend a friday night!

THERE YOU GO.  A FUN CRAFT NIGHT WITH FRIENDS. I WILL POST A FEW MORE PICTURES OF THE NIGHT IN A FEW DAYS.