Happy Independence Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy New Year!

'Hope this year is full to the brim of happiness, good health, growth, service and love -- all the while surrounded by those we love the most!

A New Etsy Store - Grass Roots Home!

I have the best news! My amazing and creative daughters (all four of them) have opened an Etsy store. I'm in on it with them, but I feel like I just sit back and watch as they come up with idea after idea. It is brand spanking new, and has just barely become stocked with the first few items. It will continue to grow and expand as new items are designed and developed, but they have begun with some real stunners! And can I say how much fun it is to see the girls all working on a family business together? For a long time, the men in the family have worked hard together in building up the cable and metal shop, and now it's the girls' turn to work shoulder-to-shoulder to create their own business. So much fun!

You need to go to the store and check it out. It's called Grass Roots Home, and you can get there by clicking here.

The store has some gorgeous metal products, which are made right here in good old Draper, Utah, at our own metal shop! I've highlighted a few of the products below.

We have a couple of different large metal signs with awesome phrases. We've got lots more in the works, too.

These birdhouses are amazing! They're cut, bent and welded in the shop, and then sent out to be powder-coated in this perfect mint color! I've got a few of these in my own backyard. Soooo cute!

I'm already thinking friend gifts with this Joy sign...

And talk about the perfect neighbor gift, or Christmas tree ornament!

The metal is heavy-duty and I love the way it looks. We are so excited about these products and the others that are in the works. We've got a good stock right now, so it's a great time to order for Christmas. I can't believe I'm talking about Christmas gifts (and maybe feeling a little bit panicky about getting my own Christmas shopping done!).

Halloween Decorating, Easy Style

Halloween is coming and going in just a flash. Can't believe how quickly this month has flown by! It may have something to do with being gone for 9 days smack dab in the middle of it, but more on that in another post.

I did my usual quick and simple Halloween decorating this year, keeping in mind that we have seven grandchildren, 2 years and under, so whatever I have within reach needs to be touchable and even playable. Notice all of the things in the picture below, that are at child-level. They can play with the ghosts, car, pumpkin and scarecrow to their heart's delight.

We went up to the cabin and cut some gorgeous maple branches to begin with. I don't care a bit that the leaves curl up and shrivel a little. I am so in love with the color that I don't even notice it. I wonder if people who come to my house try to figure out why I have branches of dead leaves strewn all about. Oh well. Maybe it adds to the spooky effect?

After I placed the leaves around, I just took out one box (Yay!) of Halloween decor, and placed items here and there around the house.

I don't love the creepy or gory side of this holiday. I don't even really like dressing up. (My costume usually involves an orange jack-o-lantern t-shirt, or some such thing.) But I do love how much the kiddos love it, and I love to see their costumes and how excited they get. I love fall and the smells and colors of it. So.... that's pretty much how my decorating goes. Oh, and some Fisher Price Halloween toys to go along with it all. After all, I'm a grandma, and the littles need to have lots of fun at our house!

The best thing about fall decorating with branches as the base, is that the day after Halloween, I just take out the Halloween-specific items, and throw in a few Thanksgiving ones, and voila! Another holiday decorated for! Fall decorations seriously can last for more than two months. I sure wish Christmas decorations could be up that long, because they take the most work.

How much do you love this old Alfred Hitchcock book? It's the perfect Halloween decoration!

Another good thing about gathering branches and leaves as your base for decorating? You don't have to store them. You just toss them in the garbage when Thanksgiving is over! Doesn't get any easier than that!

And last night we had a trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot. I'm generally not a fan of the old trunk-or-treating in our neighborhood, simply because the kids that show up to trunk-or-treat are the the exact same kids who show up at our house only a few days later for round #2. Does that sound Humbug-ish? Maybe. But I've always thought trunk-or-treating was great for areas that might be iffy to trick-or-treat in, or if your church group was spread out over a large area, but wanted an opportunity to trunk-or-treat together. That makes so much sense. But going to the same car trunks as the houses they will trick-or-treat to a couple of days later seems a little much. Having said that, we whole-heartedly got into the spirit of things, because I certainly know the kiddies love getting twice as much candy, and I also know that if I was one of those kids, I would have loved the heck out of it.

We decided to decorate the tractor and use that as our "trunk", since Bob is known for his tractoring around these parts. I had a little bug the day I was planning on decorating it, so I literally opened a closet or two, pulled out some things, cut a few vines off of an errant (understatement of the year) trumpet vine, and draped them all over the bucket of the tractor. Done.

Happy 4th of July!

The Living Uncle Sam
taken at Ft. Lee and
made up of 19,000 officers

Happy Mother's Day!

In a world where there are so many influences pulling at us and our children, every which way, the quote below, hit home to me. Oh, how I depended on my mother for a positive, perfect role model. And still to this day, I find myself asking,"How would Mom handle this?" or "What would Mom say?" or "How often would Mom clean this" or "What would Mom serve for this occassion?", etc, etc. I am eternally grateful for a mother who never looked away or took a break from what she knew to be right and true, who mothered with love and tenderness, and yes... sternness when it was called for (sorry Mom!). And she was always, always a constant in my life. Always there at the crossroads when we'd come home from school. Always. And she still is. Love you forever, Mom!

"My dear young women, with all my heart I urge you not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her. She may not be a whiz at texting; she may not even have a Facebook page. But when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge. As you approach the time for marriage and young motherhood, she will be your greatest source of wisdom. No other person on earth loves you in the same way or is willing to sacrifice as much to encourage you and help you find happiness—in this life and forever."

-Russell M. Ballard 

Happy Easter!

I love this video. I love the reminder of what we each have and are Because He Lives. What a miraculous time of the year, to see the new growth coming up all around -- so green and lovely. And we have that same opportunity to begin anew. To try every single day to be just a little bit better than the day before. To love more than we loved the day before. To be a better disciple. To be more charitable. All because of Jesus' life and His Great Sacrifice. I love Him with all my heart.

Happy Easter!

Bottle-Brush Trees: Failure and Success

The Christmas season is in full-swing, and I love it! I think this may be our busiest one yet, but I'm bound and determined to love every single minute of it, and so far, so good! I put a lot of thought into how I wanted December to be. I knew we had things scheduled every single night for the first two weeks, and many of the others beyond that. I knew that we had not been able to get much done before December hit, so we'd be scurrying around, playing "catch up" almost the whole time. I knew that my husband would be exhausted from his many, many hours spent in his church calling at this time of the year. And I knew that the first of our five grand babies that are currently expected, would be making her appearance the week after Christmas. Lots to do, and truly not enough time to get it all done. I came up with a plan:

1. Plan ahead, and be organized.

2. Don't be afraid to say no.

3. Live in the moment. Enjoy it all!

4. Play Christmas music around the house all the live-long day.

5. Be aware of those around me. Serve even in the smallest of ways.

6. Spend a few minutes every day pondering The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Click on the title to read it. It's beautiful, poignant, and speaks to my heart) and read from good Christmas books.

7. Cross things off the "to-do" list that are just fluff, and don't need to be done.
8. When I'm busily running around, remind myself what that trip to Costco, or the grocery run, or the stop in at the mall has to do with Christmas. Most of those errands have everything to do with buying/making gifts or preparing food and our home for family gatherings, and thinking about that just helps me keep my head in the right place. It's all good.

At this time of year, especially, it takes real effort to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas. So many things to do, events to be at, gifts to buy, things to make. But what a gift it is to know and feel that at the heart of all of our celebrating and hustle and bustle, is our love for family, friends, and Jesus Christ. It is truly the most wonderful time of the year!

Moving on to one of the crafts I had planned to make for Christmas. I found these donut cutters at a antique shop in Logan, Utah. 

I love the look of them, and as soon as I saw them, I knew they would make a perfect base for the bottle brush trees I had wanted to try. I had seen a few different pins about bleaching and dying bottle brush trees, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Oh boy.

I soaked the trees in a bleach/water mixture, and when that didn't do anything, I went for straight bleach. I left the trees soaking for 48 hours, and all they did was change to a dingy color of green. I had thrown 2 smaller trees, that were made of a different material, and to my surprise, they actually bleached beautifully. BUT, when they were drying, and I gently fluffed the little piney spikes back out, they all fell out. Bleh. At that point, I threw the whole kit-and-caboodle out in the trash can, and went to WalMart and bought some while bottle brush trees with very little decor on them. They were cheap and already white. I knew I could work with those.

I got to work taking the bows off, and many of the little peg-shaped ornaments. They weren't glued in well, and most of them were cockeyed so that you could see the peg. Not the look I was going for.

Then, I took the bases of of each of the trees. Easy. Just unscrew and gently pull as you do so, and the bases come off. I then ran a bead of hot glue around the top inside of the donut cutter, and held the trees in place until they dried.

The decorating was so much fun. I don't have any pics of the process, because my hands were covered in white snow fluff and hot glue. I had bought a box of odds and ends from vintage glass garlands, so I used those pieces on the trees. I pretty much used up all that I had, but I would have kept on going if I had had more tiny ornaments to work with. As it was, I was making them for my mom and sisters for an event the next day, so I didn't have time to find more ornaments online.

Notice the "snow" all over the table. These trees did shed a bit of their snow, but it was easy to clean up, so it's all good. I tied a tiny card with a teeny tiny candy cane around each one with baker's twine, and Done! A fun and really quick project.

I had enough of the white trees for my sisters and mom, but I ran out of the white, and made a green tree for myself. 

Which is actually okay, because I have a lot of white/off-white bottle brush trees.

And there is my newest addition. Sitting as proud as a peacock in a donut cutter. Love it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Pioneer Day! Do you have pioneer ancestors?

It is Pioneer Day here in Utah! For those who don't know about Pioneer Day...

We love our Pioneer Day holiday. One more summer holiday, and this one has special, deep meaning. Bob and I have even done a few pioneer treks which re-create some of the experiences the pioneers had on the trail.

So, imagine my joy when I received an email the other day from FamilySearch. It begins: "We've found pioneers in your family tree".  And goes on with "Learn what company they traveled with, read stories from the trail and uncover your family heritage on a new pioneer memorial page created just for you." And then there was a place to sign in with my regular FamilySearch information. Whaaaaatttttt? This is a really, really cool new feature.

The page below is what popped up when I got to my Pioneer Ancestor page. The page has too much information to fit nicely here, but further to the right, there is also a place to click for their Trail Experiences and Stories. All you need to do is go to FamilySearch.org, and check it out for yourself. If you don't already have an account, it is easy and free. I loved seeing a list of my pioneer ancestors pop up, and then to have additional information and stories to boot. Love it, love it! They are making it so very easy on us to have the information at our fingertips!

Mormon Pioneers - Companies

• Your Pioneer Ancestors
• Companies

(This is FamilySearch's attempt at comparing the list of pioneer companies to those listed in your Family Tree. We recognize that it may not be comprehensive or completely accurate historically. We hope you enjoy this information.)

Ancestor (Family Tree)	Company

Anna Barbara Ramp (1833 - 1910)	John Gillespie Company
George Craner (1829 - 1904)	James C. Snow Company
Hannah Elizabeth Barber Rowberry (1813 - 1852)	Ezra T. Benson Company
John Bowen (1841 - 1922)	John R. Murdock Company
John Jacob Reiser (1822 - 1891)	William Hyde Company
Lewis Bowen (1815 - 1894)	Company Unknown (1863)
Sarah Emma Jenkins (1842 - 1880)	Ezra T. Benson Company

Happy 4th of July!

Father's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

I think you all know how I feel about my mother. She was and is the best. Last year, I wrote a post about her (click here to read) and the many amazing things she does. Since I was just tiny, I watched her loving being a wife and mother, and I wanted that more than anything when I was a grown-up. And now that I'm an adult, I do thoroughly love being a wife and mother, and grandmother. It all feels so natural to me -- like I was made solely to do these things. And I love it all. Still, so very many years later, as I'm doing laundry and folding and sorting, I sometimes have flashbacks to when I played "house" for hours and hours with my friends and sisters. Strangely enough, I even like things like doing the laundry and the dishes, and cooking. I know, I know... that sounds like nothing but crazy talk.

Can I tell you about something that I never even considered in all of those years growing up, and even in my adult years... until just recently: my daughters are incredible mothers! I mean, I always knew they both had the same desire to be mommies all through the years. They played dolls and house and loved those "babies" as if they were their own flesh and blood. There is something about watching a little child be so gentle and nurturing to a doll... it gives a little glimpse into what they might be like as real mothers. Just look at these two darling sisters, a few years back...

And now... I LOVE watching them as mothers. They are sweet and patient and oh-so-loving to their little ones. They ooo and ahhh over them and it is plain to see that they are certain they have been blessed with the most perfect children in the world (and they have!). I never worried about what kind of mothers they would be, but I just never really pictured the reality of it. It is a lovely thing to see. Truly. (And.... I am absolutely sure of the fact that when my daughters-in-law become mommies, they will be equally as amazing!)

And so, my girls, celebrate this Mother's Day knowing you have been blessed with wonderful, sweet babies. And through this, you are blessed to experience the best of all callings in life: Motherhood. Love every minute of it. As my mom used to tell me: "They grow up so fast... you'll blink and then realize they have all grown up". Don't shy away from enjoying Mother's Day. Use the day to reflect on how blessed you are because of your husband and children. Without them, you wouldn't be what you are today. It is the perfect day to celebrate for you and your family.

Thank you both for being truly beautiful mothers. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy May Day!

I have lots of fun memories associated with May Day. We would get up early in the morning and take bouquets of hand-picked, home-grown flowers to our friends. My mom did this for years and years to her friends... always with a See's chocolate treat tucked along with it. So naturally, her six daughters did the same to their friends. I still wonder what they thought when they opened their door to see a little bouquet of flowers at their doorstep. What a sweet tradition, that sadly, I haven't done in many years. I think that if I my mom and sis's were just around the corner, it would be fun to carry that on and leave a little something on their doorsteps bright and early in the morning. Or, if I was really on the ball, I would drive the 30-40 minutes to their homes and do it anyway. Ahhh well. Happy May Day!

Happy Easter!

Christmas Card Keeper

What do you do when you look out the window, and this is what you see? My very first inclination was to throw on my sweats (or even better... jammies!), and talk my love into curling up on the couch and watching old movies with me. 

The perfect little project while curled up in front of the TV is going through the Christmas cards we just received. I quickly go through all of the envelopes and update my Christmas Card list with any address changes that I may not have previously known about. And then, I toss all of the envelopes into the garbage, and I punch a hole in the top corner of each card and Christmas letter we've received. After that, I just thread them onto a large keyring, and leave them out on the coffee table for a few weeks. That way, the family is easily able to thumb through them and read anything they missed out on. When I put it away for the year, I'll just attach a "2013" tag (which my husband is going to make with his magic laser machine), and I can keep it with the other Christmas card key rings I have. Its a fun way to keep the cards and photos, and to be able to look easily through them, without having to take the cards out of envelopes to view them. Easy and fun project!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Activity Days: Valentine's Treat Jars

We had a fun Activity Days activity the other day. We took around some Valentine's treats to some people in the neighborhood, and also to the girls who missed Activity Days that week. I made the Valentine's Muddy Buddies (from The Recipe Critic) beforehand so that the girls would have a chance to make the cards and then deliver the treats in the neighborhood.

I just used some wide-mouth jars that I happened to have on hand, and we used coffee filters for the covering under the rings. I have loads and loads of coffee filters for crafts, and we don't drink coffee around these parts, so I love when I get a chance to use them. They fit perfectly on the jars, and looked pretty darn cute. Then we just tied some pink and red baker's twine around the ring lids and voila! A darling little treat! Lindsay (my daughter, and Activity Days partner... woo hoo!) made the darling little cards to attach to the jars. Each of the girls wrote their names on the back. We had the girls all go up to the doorsteps together, and they were darling! I'm sure the recipients couldn't help but smile at their sweet, eager faces. And the girls felt SOOOOO good afterwards. It was fun to hear them talk about how much they liked surprising the people with their little treats.

Easy to make, and we really could fill the jars with any kind of treat for any time of the year and do the same thing.