Gotta Love 'em!

I love it when kids have a ring of chocolate around their mouths, or ketchup, or peanut butter....etc. It's a small reminder to me of how innocent and non-judgmental they are! They could care less! They are just enjoying the moments!

DON'T MISS THIS!!

SLOAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Please check out the amazing work my friend Angie Sloan does. She is a true artist and a dear friend. I adore her and am so thankful for her willingness to do this photo shoot with my Mom.

Merchant Square Flea Market!!!

The Merchant Square Flea Market is tomorrow from 7am-2pm! I will be participating as one of the vendors and have LOADS of cool vintage, shabby stuff! Merchant Square is located on the east side of Country Club and Warner! There will be over 90 vendors with all kinds of gizmos and gadgets!! Look for the big red and white sign! And be there early if you want the best stuff!

Bottled Butter

My sister, Amy gave me this recipe who recieved it from a friend, who received it from a friend! It's great and I thought I would pass it along!

1. Find some really eager helpers, mine happened to live at home so I didn't have to search very far!
2. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #6 below), but the results are the same as with expensive brands.
3. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
4. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #6 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.
5. Stir the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle; pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 1/2” headspace in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.

6. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. This is when your helpers come in super handy! Once a few lids “ping” shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.
7. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars in the refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 15 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar. Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

8. Canned butter does not “melt” again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.

Waaa-Lah!!! It's ready to sit on your shelves and be enjoyed as you please!

Highlights from Disneyland!!

I'm Flattered!!!!!!!!!!

This WONDERFUL new blog, BLOOM, has featured my items from ETSY on their site!! Check it out! These girls are hip, educated, spiritual, and just down right great SAHM's! (Stay at home moms) Thank you BLOOM for finding me!!!
View my sidebar to get their button!

Dizzyland!!!

Here we come!

We are heading to CA on Thursday for a fun quick trip to Disneyland! CAN'T WAIT!! Our good good friends, the Dickinsons are flying in from New York and we are meeting them there! Our kids are soooooo excited! For some reason Gavin and Emery have been at each other's throats lately and I have to keep reminding them that if they want to go to Mickey's mansion, they better cut it out! We pulled out our stash of change that we have been hanging on to and figured that money could go towards our trip! We thought it looked like quite a bit of change and then once we had it counted up, realized it would only buy Gavins's ticket! At least Emery is free right!??? Stay tuned for pics of Disneyland, soon to come!

Visiting my Dad

Every August we go to the Mesa Cemetery to "visit" my dad, or my kids' Grandpa Sherwood. This year Gavin had a quizzical look on his face when we arrived? "This is where Grandpa is?" he asked. It was a good teaching moment to explain to the kids that he went back to live with Jesus. Gavin's reply came as if it was no big thing at all....."Oh, Ok!" As if it made complete sense to him. Owen was more interested in trying to eat the grass.

Emery took this photo.

Owen trying not to topple over.

My sweethearts.

Triple Play!

We love Papa Goodman. Not just because he gives us tickets to the DBacks Games, although that is a perk! Amy, Evonne and I took our boys and we had a great time! As we were walking to our seats, Gavin looked up at me and said, "this is great Mom!" He was so cute the whole night. In the 9th inning, he acutally fell asleep on my lap and didn't even complain when I woke him up to make the long trek back to the car. We also stayed for the firework show which I wasn't sure he would remember the next morning, since I had to wake him for that. But he reminded me the next morning that he had a great time and wants to go again! Me and Gav

Amy and Brigham

Evonne and Ty

Dan Marjerle walking out after the game was right in front of us!