The Scrapping Spot

5 things I'm grateful for...

Because there comes a point where you need to focus on the good and let the stressful stuff take a backseat!!

1. We have insurance! Everything has been organized and we are good to go! What a relief!

2. Fall is in the air! It's getting cooler in the evenings and Elodie, Ginger, and I are enjoying our afternoon walks to get the mail and stop at the park. Any of my neighborhood friends are welcome to join us...we usually head out around 5pm.

3. Christopher is 2 months away from graduating! That in itself brings a whole new set of stressful decisions but for now it's exciting to see the light!

4. I don't have to stress about Elodie's Halloween costume. Got Tinkerbell from Costco about 3 weeks ago so it's nice to have that ready to go!

5. That second tivo recorder we got was REALLY worth the money! ;)

New recipe to share!

I really love a new recipe and it's always a bonus when it turns out good. I made this one last night and since Chris and I both liked it, I thought I would share it with all of you. AND, I know that all of you try new recipes so when you find one you like post it on your blog so we can all enjoy it!

I got this recipe from Paula Deen. I love the Food Network and the best part about their recipes is the reviews other people give it. It's nice to get an idea of what people thought of the recipe..especially before I spend my own money to make it. This recipe got rave reviews and 4 stars so I thought I was safe....ENJOY!

CHICKEN DIVAN:

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen brocolli, chopped. (I keep a huge bag of frozen brocolli on hand so I just eyeballed how much I wanted and then chopped it up after it had been steamed)
6 cups shredded chicken, cooked (I used a rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart, deboned it, and chopped it up..used the whole chicken for this recipe...went much faster then thawing out my own chicken breast and cooking them..plus the rotisserie chicken added more flavor)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I added this but didn't taste it in the dish so if you don't have it on hand I would say water would work just fine)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350

1. Steam your brocolli, cut up chicken. Put both ingredients into a 9x13 inch casserole dish

2. In a bowl combine mayonnaise, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and lemon juice. Pour the sauve over the brocolli and chicken and mix well.

3. Combine parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and melted butter together. Sprinkle over the top of dish.

4. Back for 45 minutes at 350. 5 minutes before the dish is done spread more cheddar cheese on top and melt.

I didn't think this dinner too far in advance but now think it would be good with just some breadsticks and a side salad. Hope you all try it out!

Great idea to share...

I mentioned my cousin Tania and how crafty she is and wanted to post her latest entry on her blog. I didn't know this but the Friend has "Temple Trading Cards" in them. So Tania took them all, laminated them, and put them on a ring for her 2 boys to learn all the Temples! I thought it was such a cute idea and wanted to share it with all of you guys here! Hope you don't mind Tania! You rock! Thanks again for your inspiration! I really do need to start getting the Friend for Elodie.

P.S- Look closely- That's the Baton Rouge Temple right in front....it's where Chris and I got married. Tania is also from Louisiana so yes she did that on purpose!




From Tania: Edited: FYI, these cards are online at lds.org under “gospel library”. The cards are in past issues from 2002, 2005, and 2007. You have to do a search or look through each year. Here is a link to the past issues of the Friend

I'm Uppercase!

The last couple of weeks Elodie and I have been working on flashcards...she has a set of shape flashcards (It's so cute to hear her say shapes like rectangle and octagon) and she has a set of ABC flashcards. We usually rotate daily which set we are going to work on and today we were going through the alphabet. Each card has either an uppercase letter or a lowercase letter with a picture to help her learn what letters start what words.

When we first started with the flashcards I was asking simple questions like what's this a picture of or what letter is this. The lowercase letters were a little harder as some of the letters look alike or don't resemble at all the uppercase letter. Now that we have been working on it for a couple of weeks I've started to ask her if the letters are big or small and ended up teaching her the difference between an uppercase letter and a lowercase letter. During our lesson this morning Elodie stood up in her chair and said "Mommy! I'm big like an uppercase and babies are small like a lowercase!" Yes, Elodie your right!

Fall is in the air!

So is scrapbooking! I finally got a little scrapbooking mojo back since I've been pregnant. I would like to think it's because I'm through my first trimester and I've got some energy back but really I'm on a deadline for a kit club that I'm a guest designer for next month. Check them out!


These blocks were inspired by my cousin Tania. She and I have very similar taste, love to scrapbook, and enjoy bouncing crafty ideas off of each other! Thanks Tania for the inspiration! I went to Home Depot and got them to cut a post into 4 inch blocks for me, used my kit to mod podge the outside, painted it, decorated, and then used vinyl lettering for the letters! VOILA! Too bad we don't have a craft/scrapbooking interest group anymore! Oh well! It's been fun to be so creative again and I think I might be back in the mix!

Sunday Lesson

This evening while cleaning up in the kitchen Elodie was looking at the picture she colored in nursery today....this is what she told me...

Elodie-

We go to church and learn about Jesus. And Jesus is a good guy. And that's why we follow the prophets!

Do you ever wish you could do this?

Not necessarily bury your head in dirty laundry, but just bury your head in general! This is how I found Ginger this morning...and most mornings when I'm doing laundry. For some reason she loves to find her way through piles of laundry and sleep. I usually have to pull laundry out from underneath her to get her to move! Silly dog... This picture made me laugh...not that she was asleep in the laundry pile but that she was so far tucked underneath the pile all you can see is her tail! Can I blame her for wanting to hide from the outside world...somedays, if I had the option (especially now that I'm pregnant) there isn't anything I would love more than to curl up in bed and throw the covers over my head and just sleep...drown out the daily worries that come from being a wife, a mother, a friend, a visiting teacher, having a church calling, a home, a part time job...and the list can go on. But since that really isn't an option and I can't exactly have the life my sweet Ginger has...I'll just take a deep breath and plug along! And in reality..I wouldn't really want to trade places with Ginger! Even if she does get to sleep alot!

Elodie's Birthday Party

So after editing and tweeking over 60 pictures from Elodie's birthday party, I FINALLY have something to show for it!

The whole thing was a huge success! As soon as I found out I was pregnant I wanted to have Elodie's party ANYWHERE except at home! Last year we did this huge barbeque, fed about 20 people, had to have my house cleaned before the party then clean up after the party..it was alot of fun but lots of work! The Little Gym was the perfect solution! They took care of everything...invitations, goodie bags (these super cute Little Gym water bottles stuffed with candy with a balloon tied to it-loved it! So did the kids!), set up and clean up, and most important...the ENTERTAINMENT! We had a total of 8 kids ranging from 2 to 4 years of age and I know all the kids had a great time! All the activities were geared for their age group, it was very organized, and the 2 girls that were in charge did a fantastic time! All the parents just got to sit back and relax....and take pictures!

The only thing I had to stress about was the cake..and to be honest with you I am SURPRISED that I even got a cake to the party! It just wasn't my cake day, I was unmotivated, tired, and I plain didn't want to do it! Initially it was suppose to be 2 tiers, but the top tier didn't cooperate and so only 1 tier made it to the party! Overall it was still super cute but I have to admit that at one point during the whole cake process I had serious thoughts about throwing the whole thing in the trash and NOT even having a cake at her party OR running by the store and buying cupcakes! Believe me, I wasn't in the right state of mind!!! LOL! Elodie, of course, loved the cake...she is my bright spot and when it's all said and done she is all that matters! It wasn't about the cake or how many pictures I took...she had fun and all her friends had fun and that was all that mattered!

I mean....seriously...look at this face!! I would do it all over in a heartbeat!!


I can't believe Elodie is 3. She is getting big so fast and we are enjoying everything about her!

14 weeks pregnant

Here I am at 14 weeks! Not much else to say..I'm trying to be just as good at taking prego pictures as I was with Elodie's pregnancy. So far so good!

New Site

Christopher commented that my blog was hard to read and the font was too small..so I went in and tweeked everything a little bit. Hopefully it's not so hard on the eyes now and is a little easier to follow! As for the site Heather gave me, it is MatieKay
I'm sure there are a million blog template sites out there but this is the one she gave me and it was super easy to copy and paste the template I wanted. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! ENJOY!

Until tomorrow..

I wanted to post today about Elodie's party over the weekend and some other fun things we have been up to but my computer isn't recognizing my camera program so I have to wait till Chris gets home to set it up for me.....so until tomorrow..we are alive, healthy, and plugging along! Oh and my new template should be enough until tomorrow too! Thanks Heather for the link! Such a fun site! I could easily get addicted!

Top 10 Pregnancy Update Week 13

10. I'm starting to feel better! I don't want to talk too much about it in case I jinx myself, but I'm really starting to feel better! If you knew me when I was pregnant with Elodie this comes as a huge relief! I'm eating pretty good..haven't thrown up in a while..it's been really great. I'm still tired and blah somedays but nothing I can really complain about! No weight LOSS so that's always a great thing!

9. Lately the food that sounds best to me is TUNA FISH..isn't that funny! I didn't mind it before I got pregnant but now it seems like it's the one thing I can always eat...that and a grilled cheese sandwich. Weird! Maybe I'm lacking in protein!

8. When I got pregnant with Elodie I got this head cold and it seemed to last the whole pregnancy...well, guess what came last Friday...Stuffy nose, cough, pressure in my head...it's fabulous..and the best part is I can't take anything so I just have to suffer through it. I'm going on 7 days with this cold so who know's how long it will last. With Elodie my headcolds came and went....we shall see.

7. Another weird thing is when I was pregnant with Elodie and I was sick I would get these weird double sneezes..like before one would end I would get another one. Weirdest thing! I've been getting those lately too and the first time it happened I had to just smile because it reminded me of my pregnancy with Elodie. And it was something I had forgotten about!

6. Still battling with insurance...enough said! By the time we get this all figured out it will be time to switch again! It's annoying!

5. Free Burritos at Chipotle this next Wednesday night! Show your ASU ID from 5-8pm. The reason this is apart of my pregnancy update is because it means I don't have to cook that night..and any night I don't have to worry about what to feed my family is a good night! Plus a Chipotle burrito sounds really good right now.

4. I have been buying a few maternity tops in the juniors section at Kohl's-everything looks SO maternity!!! This is great for my budget as maternity clothes can be pretty pricey but concerns me for our high school age kids. What are designers teaching them? I've come up with 2 possible conclusions 1. Since there is a huge problem with kids being overweight maybe designers have decided to make looser fitting clothes more stylish so kids will look better OR 2. If a girl gets pregnant she can hide it longer because all the shirts LOOK LIKE MATERNITY TOPS!! It's the new style to look pregnant!! You can tell I've thought long and hard about this! If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them! Maybe I'm just being too judgemental!

3. As my pregnancy progresses PRAY for me that I don't get kidney stones again!

2. Made tuna fish last night..all this talk makes me want a sandwich!

1. My little belly is poking out a little more everyday. It's fun and I know it won't be long before I can feel the baby kick! I'll take my first pregnancy picture at 15 weeks so look forward to that! I know you all CAN'T wait!

Officially Obsessed!

So over the weekend I was convinced into letting Christopher get a second tivo box for our house. In Chris' defense it really didn't take much convincing...we had been talking about getting a second box for a while. As if we weren't addicted enough to tv, our tivo box is the first model where you can only record one show and watch something else. Can really create a dilemma when you have 2 shows you want to record at the same time.

And at this point I can feel some of you rolling your eyes at me but if you don't have tivo then you could NEVER understand!

The idea of being able to record something with no sense of urgency to have to watch it immediately is a very beautiful thing! And don't even get me started on fast forwarding through commercials! We could be serious salespeople for Tivo.

Anyway, we put our old tivo box in our bedroom and set up our new tivo box in the living room. Our new tivo box will record 2 shows at once and allow you to watch a 3rd. And the most wonderful thing about having 2 boxes is we can record something in the living room and WATCH it in our bedroom! And with me being pregnant and wanted to spend most of my days in bed, this is definitely a beautiful thing! You had me at record! So bring on the new season of our favorite shows! We are ready!

P.S- Chris pointed out to me last night that we got our first tivo box in September of '05 and our second tivo box September this year..must be something about all the new seasons starting that makes us want another tivo box! I thought that was funny!

Window

I don't know if anyone else is familiar with the song "Window to His Love". It's from an old EFY cd I have and it's a really beautiful song about being pure and clean and Christlike so that when people see you they can see the light of Christ through you. Really pretty. Anyway, on the way home from church today we were listening to this cd and that song was on. When we got home and I was making lunch I could hear Elodie in her room singing "I want to be a window...in the store"..the real words are "I want to be a window to His love"

LOL...she is so funny!

5

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Starting my Senior year of high school
2. Writing Christopher on his mission (the very BEGINNING of his mission-he left in August of '07)
3. My first job at the GAP
4. Sending out College Applications- actually only one! Can you believe I ONLY applied to Ricks..thank heavens I got in!
5. Enjoying my role as Silks Captain
6. Just because Tania reminded me- Saying goodbye to my dear cousin and friend Kyle who couldn't be convinced to stay and go to LSU)

5 things on my "to do" list today:
1. Shower- this may seem silly but for some reason showers make me feel really sick to my stomach! It takes a while afterwards for me to feel better again. Maybe it's all the heat....
2. Better organize our food storage-it's driving me nuts
3. Finish delivering Elodie's birthday invitations
4. Vacuum
5. Watch Melissa's 2 boys tonight

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Coke- it's not really a snack but it's a guilty pleasure...
2. M&M's
3. Ice-cream
4. Popcorn
5. A drink from Sonic

5 songs I know the lyrics to:
1. The theme song to Stawberry Shortcake
2. Anything John Mayer
3. The theme song to "Saved by the Bell"
4. I am a Child of God
5. Anything Maroon 5

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off our student loan debt
2. Buy a house for myself and our parents
3. Invest it
4. Take an awesome vacation every year!
5. SCRAPBOOK!

5 bad habits:
1. I bite my nails when I am nervous or bored
2. I can be a little judgemental
3. I'm a busy body
4. I'm a picky eater
5. I'm impatient

5 things I would never wear again:
1. tye dye
2. scrunchies
3. more than one pair of socks
4. High tops
5. tight roll my jeans

5 of my favorite toys:
1. TIVO
2. Internet
3. Digital Camera
4. DVD player for the car
5. Anything scrapbooking

5 people I tag:
1. Tania
2. Brooke
3. Lara
4. Heidi
5. Holly

The One About a Wedding Cake

So about a year ago I did the wedding cake for my dear friend Heidi's sister. While I was at the reception serving, one of the ladies who was helping with the catering asked me for my number. Her daughter was seriously dating a guy and she anticipated that it wouldn't be long before she was planning the wedding. Well, nearly a year later this same lady gave me a call today to do the wedding cake for her daughter's wedding! I haven't done a wedding cake since May and although my pregnancy has taken a front seat to everything else, in the back of my mind I was wondering when I would get a chance to do another cake! I'm super excited and any extra money to pad the Disneyland account is music to my ears! Wish me luck...in November!