End of April::April 30

One last pic for the month:



A macro of a dandelion. I love seeing things from a different perspective! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥

18/52::April 29

It has only been in the past little bit that Michael has enjoyed looking at books and magazines. When he was really small he loved one book, and only one book; his eyes were only for that book. Lately, though, he likes looking at pictures, books, magazines, and the computer screen - especially when it is a picture of him. :)

(I'm still working on having him watch t.v. - how I long for the day I can plop him in front of the boob tube and have him just sit and watch!!)

I love seeing him pick up a book and start looking at it, and that is exactly what happened this morning with this book. The book he is reading in the picture, "Daddy Loves Me", is his favorite right now.

♥

17/52::April 26, 2013

Michael loves playing with the great big exercise ball. He likes to bounce it, roll it, unplug it and let the air out, then blow it back up again. I wish he loved to lie back on it, since we bought it as physical therapy equipment. Meh, he loves the ball; maybe one day he'll use it for its specified purpose. :)



(This picture was taken using natural light along with a reflector set on the silver side.)

♥

Escape to the Wilderness::April 23

We went into the mountains on Sunday to get away from it all, and for a little peace and quiet.









But since we also took the kids, the laughter, giggles, talking, teasing, and snowball throwing followed us. ;)

♥

Earth Day::April 22

"Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs, --
To the silent wilderness,
Where the soul need not repress
Its music."
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, (1792-1822), "To Jane, The Invitation," c.1820
(Thanks for the quote on facebook earthnsky)

Happy Earth Day!

♥

16/52::April 21

We drove up the to mountains today, and I was so glad to see that the gates were open - when we were up a few weeks ago the gates were still closed because of the snow. We headed for the picnic area, and the kids played a little in the snow and a little in the water.

Michael likes to be independent and do his own thing, but he likes to touch base with either Steve or me by giving us a hug and then going back to playing.

I'll put up some more pics tomorrow, but I wanted to get the 16/52 pic up today.

See you tomorrow,

♥

Article on Faith::Kirby: Doubt and Mormon faith not mutually exclusive::April 19

I need to post this here so that it doesn't get lost amid all of my other paperless stuff on the virtual universe :)

Kirby: Doubt and Mormon faith not mutually exclusive

Whether you are Mormon or not, I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did - I'm sure that those of other faiths can apply most of it to themselves too :)

Don't forget to read his "13 Particles of Faith" on the left-hand side of the article. I seriously LOLed at #3, loved #12, and couldn't agree more with #13.

Enjoy! :)

♥

This Moment::Miah's Birthday::April 19

This is what 4 looks like:







We celebrated with Miah on Wednesday. She was excited to be turning 4. She looked like a little princess and I don't think there were many moments when she wasn't wearing a happy smile. :)

Happy Birthday Miah! ♥

♥

Fudgy Brownie Recipe::April 17

I was reading blogs this afternoon and came across this brownie recipe with this as my bait:

"that recipe is the first one I’ve ever made that had the same fudgey consistency as brownies from a mix. Usually homemade brownies are too cakey. I highly recommend"

So I took the bait and will try homemade brownies again. Up 'til now, Duncan Hines has been my old standby. Thanks for the link to the recipe GlowWorm!

Have a great day making and eating brownies! :)

♥

15/52::April 15

Michael loves popcorn and makes me pop him some every day; he loves to watch it pop and loves to eat it. I put only butter and salt on it. Steve is more adventurous, and his concoctions vary. Michael likes it any way that it is made.

The second picture looks like he's proposing a toast with his popcorn, so I'll end with Cheers!

♥

All Wrapped Up::April 15

Aiden wanted to be swaddled in a blanket like Baby Bentley, so Matt wrapped him up and I took the pic :)


Karen, Aiden, and Ben left yesterday to go back to her mom's house for a week or so..... I miss them. I love talking to Karen and snuggling and kissing the boys whenever I want. Today, the boys have check ups with the pediatrician, and there are a few things she wanted to get done while she was back in the city. I'll have to just be patient.

As for me, I'm just planning on staying inside and staying warm today. Yesterday, I took pictures of fruit tree blossoms, today, it is snowy and cold.

Have a wonderful day, no matter the weather!

♥

Naptime::April 14

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Bentley::4 weeks old::April 12

Since he was awake and happy, I had to take pictures:









Also, this is my first attempt at shooting in RAW. It was a lot more fun to play with than I thought it would be. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥

Coca Cola Cake::March 10

I found this recipe on facebook. I am really hoping tastes like Cracker Barrel's Coca Cola Cake!! :)

"I can still remember my Mom pouring out a bottle of Coke to make this cake. It was our favorite. This cake is so moist and the icing is just irresistible. I hope you get a chance to make this one."

Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

1 cup Coca Cola (real thing, not diet)
1/2 cup oil
1 stick butter
3 Tablespoon cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

1 stick butter
3 Tablespoon cocoa
6 Tablesppon of cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar

In a saucepan, mix Coca Cola, oil, butter and cocoa and bring to a boil. In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Pour the boiling Cola mixture over the flour mixture and beat well. Add the eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla and beat well. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees or 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pan. Cool for about 10 minutes before frosting.

Frosting: In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Heat until the butter melts. Beat in the remaining ingredients and spread on the cake while it's still warm.

Enjoy!

♥

14/52::March 9

This is coming a few days late, but better late than never!

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The Weekend in Pics::April 7

Yesterday, Jared and I went into the backyard farm to gather up all of the chickens that refused to live in the coop. They were being sent to live with their aunt in the country, since free range chickens are looked down on greatly by my next door neighbor. At one point, we had caught a few but still had 2 more to go. We had scared them off, so we needed to wait a few minutes to see if they'd come back home for another attempt to catch them.

It was beginning to be sunset, and the lighting was very nice, so of course I had to take some macro pictures of all of the living things around me:

The parsley made it through the cold, hard winter! Yay!!


I'd forgotten that I left celery in the garden last year, but it is off to a good start this season:


The three little kittens felt that I needed their help in the garden:



The lilac bush is getting its leaves:


The apricot tree is in full bloom:


And this is my partner in crime. He was giving me a grumpy face because he wanted to leave me and go buy seeds to plant in the garden - his spring fever set in seeing all of my green stuff! But I made him stick around so that we could grab the chickens as soon as they showed up.


We put a lot of time into catching those chickens last night, but lacked one rooster in the group. We waited for him 'til this morning, but one attempt to catch him resulted in one more escape for him. So, we ended up taking the chickens that we had - one rooster and three hens - over to my sisters house early-ish this morning.

We got them there safely. Moved the animal crate that we had them in to the side of their driveway and released them into the backyard. They left the crate and looked around. Then they started walking. They walked out of the backyard. They walked through the fence to the hay field. They walked through the hay field, through the neighbors fence, and they kept walking, and walking, and walking.

I told my sister that perhaps they might come back for some popcorn, so she went in and popped some. She threw some into the neighbor's yard.... and the chickens ignored her. We all gave up, thinking that they were gone. In the sadness of loss, there was still all of the humor in it. Silly chickens. Poor neighbors - but we figured that one of them would get some free chickens out of the deal.

My sister texted me a little while ago and told me that two of the chickens came back.... Hopefully the others follow suit.

And yes, I've spotted the remaining rooster. He is avoiding me. When he sees me in the backyard farm he hustles out to the orchard and disappears. Hopefully my neighbor won't notice. Hopefully the rooster will behave himself!

In the morning, I have a dentist appt. It seems that my tooth has a hairline fracture from one side to the other on one of my molars. It happened last week sometime, but my dentist was on vacation, so I've had to wait. I am soooo thankful it didn't break apart! BUT, I am *not* looking forward to another crown. :(

I hope that you have a wonderful Monday!

♥

Pictures from Saturday::April 3

On Saturday, Steve, Matt, Michael, Aiden, Bentley, & I went for a drive around the lake while Jared, Emily, and Karen went to the Color Festival.

I needed to take a break from all of the frustrations of life and take some pictures:





You can't see it very well, but the big dot on the lake is a guy fishing in a boat, and the little dots are ducks. I tried to crop in more so that they were easier to see, but it entirely changed the picture to being only about the guy fishing instead of "getting away from everything".... it had a different feel that I didn't like as well. You can click to enlarge the pic; it helps a little.

Earlier in the day, I had seen the crocuses in the front yard had bloomed, so when we got back from the lake, I took some pics of flowers:





Photography stills my soul.

Today is the birthday of one of my best friends. She has been my friend since we met in 8th grade when were 13. We hung out together when we were both divorced and became as close as sisters. I'm hoping that someday she moves back to Utah, so I get to see her more often than once a year! Happy Birthday Sherry! I hope that you have an amazing day today and a wonderful year! Love you!

And I hope that you have a wonderful day too! Thanks for stopping by :)

♥

Happy Birthday dear: Jared Steve & Matthew! Happy Birthday to you!::April 2

I've fallen behind in birthday celebrations, so we celebrated all of the neglected last night after our family Easter dinner.

Matt's birthday was back in December, and though we celebrated by giving him gifts and taking him out to lunch, we hadn't had all of the family over to celebrate with cake. I'm glad that we remedied that!

Happy 13th Birthday Matt! You are awesome!



I still don't feel like I've done justice to Steve's birthday though. He was a great sport and let us sing to him and light some candles for him, but he couldn't eat the cake. He discovered many months ago that gluten was causing his migraines and cluster headaches. Since then, he has avoided gluten, and he gets migraines very infrequently now. So, I still owe him brownies, cake, or cookies, whichever he prefers. He celebrated with Easter candy last night.

Happy Birthday Steve! I sure love you and appreciate you for all you do and are!



And Jared. He has had to wait the least amount of time for his birthday. This handsome guy turned 19 on Saturday.



To celebrate, he went to the Color Festival at the Krishna Temple with Emily and Karen. They all had a GREAT time!



Happy Birthday, Jared! I hope that this year brings you a lot of joy and lasting happiness!

Have a wonderful day!

♥