Photo Valentines with Roses and Pencils

We finally got the Valentines together! The hardest part--getting the boys to write ALL of the names themselves!

K-don't let your eyes fool you! These are photos of the boys holding out their fists. Then we developed the pictures and cut slits above and below their fists. We then slid pencils or rose pens through the slits.

The original idea was to use suckers in their hands. The slits can be smaller and the cards lie flatter with suckers, but I wanted to be a little more original {not to mention sugar-free}, so we used pencils. The holes had to be bigger, and they bend a bit, but overall I love them!

The teachers are special, so we attached a rose to a pen with floral tape and it looks like the boys are handing their teachers a rose. So much fun!!!

I LOVE my little Valentines

I found the funnest idea for Valentines on the web that required a photo shoot for the Valentine givers. I'll post pics of the Valentines once they are finished.

These two little buddies usually get along really well. They are great brothers and they have so much fun together (unlike today when I wanted to send them to the zoo!) My wish for them is to have this great relationship through out their entire lives!

In LOVE with Cherry Almond Bars

If you make this recipe for the ones you love this Valentine's Day, you will have a house full of happy loved ones :)

(I'm going to have to make some of these again and post pics)

Cheery Cherry Almond Bars


1 C butter,
4 eggs
1 teasp almond extract
1 can cherry pie filling
2 C sugar
3 C flour,
1 teasp. vanilla

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add almond and vanilla. Add flour. Spread 3/4 of the batter on an ungreased jelly roll pan. Drop pie filling in blobs all over the batter. Drop the rest of the batter in blobs all over the pie filling. Do not mix. Bake at 350 for 40-45 min. Cool completely. Drizzle with glaze.

Glaze:
1/2 tsp almond ex
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C powd. sugar
2 Tablesp warm water

ENJOY <3

LOVE for Haiti and the World

Have you taken the time and effort yet to send Haiti some love? I promise it won't take much . . . time, effort, or money . . . but if we all get on board, we can make a difference.

I was reading through my google reader and found a post from Kelly of My happy little life. It's her 32nd birthday, and she wants to make a difference. Check out what she is giving the world for her birthday. Inspirational!!!

In deciding how to help, she considered Haiti, and this is what she had to say:

"The best way to help the Haitian effort is with money.

From an msnbc article: 'when people give $1, it translates into $7 in the field," he said. 'if they spend $5 for bottled water, that’s nice and it makes them feel good, but probably it costs us more than $5 to send it. if they give us $5, we can get $35 worth of water.'

So if you are inclined to give financially, rather than making/ shopping for something for the newborn kits, i would encourage you to donate the money toward the haitian efforts by texting "haiti" to 90999, which will charge $10 to your phone bill and be given to the relief funds, or online through the lds humanitarian emergency response fund here. you can see what they are using the donations for here. "

So, I took her advice and texted my $10 to Haiti, and now I feel a tiny part of the enormous relief effort. I am also sending her a baby blanket to help with her birthday service project.

Each of us can improve a tiny part of our world each day. Whether it's a $10 donation to help Haiti, or a smile for someone you pass by in the grocery store, we can make a difference. I am committed to helping someone in need every day! As a reminder, I am going to put this note in my sidebar Have I done any Good in the World Today? I encourage you to help make the world a better place by tiny daily efforts in your own neck of the woods ! :)

February in LOVE

I love February!!!! I am so happy to see cold, blue January go, and of course, it's one month closer to SPRING!!! Not to mention that it's full of everything pink and LOVE-RLY!

There are winter storm warnings all over the country, but not even that can deflate this tingle I feel inside. All is right with the world, and Love abounds!

Happy February! <3 <3 <3

Connor

Connor was very restless in church today. He couldn't seem to sit still.

He reached over and started playing with my necklace; a long chain with sparkly beads and baubles on it.

He thought about that chain for a while.

Then he said, "A chain is INVINCIBLE!"

I whispered, "No it's not" Leaving it at that for the moment, not wanting to disturb the people in front of us with details about the inadequacies of chains.

After pausing for consideration, Connor said with his cute little lisp, "Unless you use a CHAIN SAW!"

My shoulders shook as I giggled inside. Then I grabbed Connor's Santa shaped notepad and his new glittery red pen and wrote down his little words so I could document them.

Connor Can't Sleep

Connor is typically my sleepy head. He loves to sleep-in in the mornings. Consequently, he tends to stay up late at night with difficulty falling asleep {hmmm. wonder where he gets that--don't even look at what time I'm posting this}.

We usually see Connor several times out of bed after he's been tucked in. He's hot, or thirsty, or itchy, or just can't sleep.

Daddy wasn't feeling well tonight and really needed his own sleep and so scolded Connor the third time he tried to come into our room.

Mama smoothed things over and sent him off to bed. A few minutes later I thought I could hear a little mouse outside of my door. I waited and then crept quietly to my door. When I looked down, I saw this little note tucked under the crack beneath the door. Now, how can you get angry at a little kindergartner who can write like that? I love the emphasis of the periods after each word.

What this little guy needs is some TLC from his Mama. We changed his PJs to cool cotton and turned his soft classical music on again and tucked Mr. Teddy Bear in on one side and tattered portion of a blanket on the other and like a magic wand leaving sparkles in its wake, sleep overcomes him. zzzzzzzzzzzz

Big brother is not as convincing, but still just as cute! I love these little guys. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up before my eyes.

I will treasure this note forever.

Sadie's Wedding

My sister, Sadie made the most beautiful Princess Bride! Here she is with our little beautiful niece, Phebe, and her puppy Pearl.

The wedding and reception were held at the Castle in Layton, UT.

Here are Sadie and her Bride's Maids; Our Cousin, Christan, sister Sallie, and Sis Shirlee, with little Phebe.

Connor was the little ring bearer. He did such a great job. He knew how important it was to be very careful with the diamonds!

Luke and Liam got to follow Connor. They stole the show! They were so funny!

Sadie asked me to make her cake. I was a little {a LOT} overwhelmed since it's been several years since I made a wedding cake. It really took it all out of me making this cake. I begged James to never let me make another one during the excruciating process . . . then I see the end result and sigh and say ...well maybe I could do it again. I know why wedding cakes are so expensive--you almost kill yourself each time you make one!

The cake looked huge until I put the flowers on it.

I am very grateful for flowers and for the flaws they hide ;) I don't mind showing y'all though because I always like to keep things real (don't even think about clicking to enlarge that photo).

James was the man behind the camera. He caught some very funny moments on film (can you still say film if it's digital?)

Alex looked very dashing in his tux, but was too shy to ask his "hot" cousins to dance. I told him that that is the best because there is no worry of commitment. He didn't care. He watched a movie on James' ipod in stead (wimp).

Connor, on the other hand, is the Ladies man! He found his little princess at the castle and they were tearing up the dance floor! They also threw rose petals in the fountain. Hope that wasn't a bad thing. He was so adorable!

It was a beautiful wedding. It gave me the opportunity to reflect upon my own wedding and how very spectacular and amazing it was. There was absolutely not one artificial thing in my castle, and although we couldn't have spent more than $1500, it was more precious than gold.

The covenants and promises that James and I made with God are binding on earth and in Heaven forever. I am so grateful for the choice I made 18 years ago to be married to my sweetheart in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all Eternity.

New Year's Eve

We love spending time with my parent's over the holidays, but it gets too crazy around Christmas, so we have begun a tradition of spending New Year's Eve with them.

Ever since I was a little girl, my mom has made cheese fondue for NYE. The tradition continued with her and whoever happened to be home at the time, even after we moved away and could no longer celebrate with them. So it is a special treat that we are able to enjoy this tradition once again!

One of the greatest inventions know to wo-man was found a couple of years ago: the Chocolate Fountain!!! It really is any woman's dream come true!

It turns out that it is every CHILD'S dream come true too! This is my little nephew, Luke who also happened to be celebrating with us {with his Dad, brother and sister, too}

There is nothing better than cheese and chocolate fondue on New Year's Eve with people you love. It just doesn't get much better than that!

And there is one that I really LOVE--My new little red head nephew, Bodie! He is such a yummy baby and you'll never guess who got his very first laugh out of him--ME!

Sadie's New Year's Bridal Shower

As you know, I love any excuse to throw a party! So when my mom got roped into doing my sister, Sadie's Bridal Shower, I immediately took over {trust me, she and my other sisters were overjoyed, and so was I}!
Sadie is the sister who is most like me in that we both love glammy-girly-crafty-hand-made sorts of things. I knew she would love what I had planned for her!!!
I immediately tied this New Year's Shower Party Hat on her as soon as she walked in the door. I made it by cutting a 12 by 12 sheet of paper into a half circle (minus a thin pie slice). I backed it with a piece of poster board cut in the same shape for stability. Then I hot glued a feather boa to the top and bottom. I cut out a word plate with my Cricut and wrote "Bride" in purple glitter letters. Added some stickers for bling factor, and WHAMO! You couldn't miss the Bride!

Hannah was trying so hard to be a part of it all, but she had just made a goal to read 100 books this year and she felt compelled to work on it at that very moment.

Sadie's colors were red and purple. She picked the perfect time of year with Valentine's Day stuff hitting the shelves!

I used my Cricut again and cut out this fun garland. I'm sure Sadie has it up in her little house somewhere. She LOVED it!

These little gift bags were created with my Cricut as well {The poor Cricut was going hoppin' crazy! I'm so happy that I got it for Christmas}. I punched a scalloped circle and put it under a circle with A and S for Andre and Sadie. The of course, lined it with red boa. This was fun, but I'm still finding feathers floating all over my craft room! We put chocolate truffles in the bags.

Ah, yes, the Martha Stewart Tissue Paper Pom Poms. I really love these things. Although the photos don't do them justice, they are beautiful, inexpensive, and easy to make. A great addition to any party! {Beware, if you don't take them down and dispose of them, you may find them hanging in the same place years later ;)

We had the yummiest food at the Shower! We had just begun the food when the guests started to arrive!!! Not very good timing on our part. It's a good thing we had fun games to distract the hungry guests and lots of helping hands in the kitchen!

We made chicken salad sandwiches on crescent rolls, a veggie tray and dip, a tray of chocolates, punch, and artichoke dip with bruchetta. For dessert, we had my cherry almond bars. So yummy!

The games were a real blast. I found some fun ideas on the WWW. We started with My Wedding Ring which is a spin off of the clothes pin game. I found Christmas ornaments that look like diamond jewels on clearance at Target. They had holes through them, so I strung some yarn through the holes and made them into necklaces. No one could say the bride or groom's names or they lost their necklace. It was hilarious!

That game was played throughout the entire shower. While guests were arriving, we played How Old Is the Bride. We displayed several photos of Sadie at different ages, and they had to guess how old she was in the photo. Not the most exciting, but it helped break the ice and could be done in stages as guests arrived.

I love How Well Does the Bride Know the Groom with Gum. It is so funny but since the groom is from Chili there was a crazy language barrier when I was asking him the questions. That alone made me laugh!

What was she Wearing was a big hit! I really hate those lame memory games, but this is a fun spin on those.

We passed around a little scrapbook for people to write advice for Sadie and Andre then Sadie read all of the advice out loud.

Then she opened gifts and the party was over.

I think everyone had a great time especially Sadie!

Christmas 2009

Another quirky Moore Family tradition: The children are not allowed to see what Santa brought until I get a photo of them in a stack peeking around the door {do you think they will ever be too old for this}. Happy little boys!

I have to be honest with you, I was not excited for Christmas this year. I tend to have a problem with general Grinchiness around the holidays. I'm not sure why. It may be that I try to do too much. After all, isn't that what the holidays are for? Over indulging, Over spending, Over doing?

This year was no different--other than medically regulated hormones. It began with me dreading the trip home from Thanksgiving thinking of having to pull out all of that STUFF! Ugh! I decided to wait an extra week from our usual Monday after Thanksgiving FHE ritual of setting up the tree. I announced my new plan to my family, and what do you know? They were all of the sudden determined to hold up our old family traditions and they did not like my idea.

So, I sat and watched as they put up the tree and decorated it. When asked my opinion of how the lights looked, or if I cared that half of the lights were out on the bottom of the tree, or if I cared that one strand of white lights were replaced by neon lights, or where certain ornaments should be placed, I lamely said, "I don't care (and thought, "bah humbug")." I would later come to regret my lack of help in the tree decorating department, although I think this was the first year the tree didn't tip over. It goes to show that I like to put the heavy baubles to the outer viewing side of the tree, and the kid's precious paper ornaments to the inner "non-viewing" side of the tree, thus greatly unbalancing it.

Then something started happening to me . . . just like something started happening to the Grinch standing a top a snowy hill . . .

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons.

It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

I stopped stressing out about Christmas, and just started enjoying it {until I started enjoying it a little too much and I had to reign myself in}.

Overall it was a wonderful season full of love, giving, and service. Some of Christ's most treasured gifts!

Christmas Eve 2009

We have a family tradition of having a very special party on Christmas Eve. It's the time when we focus on the true meaning of Christmas and the gifts of the Savior. We get together with close friends and act out the Nativity, eat yummy food, feed Santa cookies and his reindeer oats and veggie wreaths (okay, maybe that part isn't the "real" meaning of Christmas, but it must be done) and end the party early to get ready for our long winter's nap. It's a great time. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by this point, so I wanted to keep the party small. We weren't sure if the Buskas would be able to come over because Sarah had just had a c-section a few days before, but they surprised us and felt up to coming.

I made hand puppets a few years ago, and the kids used them to do a very hilarious production of the Nativity. "One of the most irreverent we've ever had," said James.

But, we got er done and headed out the door for a flash look at the famous Christmas lights of Rigby. Okay, they are not famous, and they were sparse this year maybe due to the economy.

We stopped and shot photos of an awesome tree that was really breathtaking in it's frozen state under the snow-mottled light of a street lamp.

The kids made a huge batch of reindeer food by combining oats and magical glitter and threw it all over the front porch so the reindeer would have a snack while they waited for Santa to unload all of those presents.

And lastly, before the little ones were snuggled up in their beds, we put out the reindeer wreath.

Here is where I got the idea for the wreath. Her pics are much better than mine. She probably didn't take them last minute on Christmas Eve!

Place cut carrots in a bowl. Put a cup in the center and fill the bowl with water.

Put outside (ideally) a few days before Christmas Eve to freeze hard. Or just pop it into the freezer.

Take out the cup and pop out the wreath. Tie with a festive ribbon and place on a tree in the yard.

Amazingly all that remained were a couple of chewed chunks of carrots. Those reindeer were hungry this year!

Okay, now that we are sure that our children know the true meaning of Christmas--Santa, bring it!