To be completely honest I do not find the desert all that beautiful, there just isn’t enough variety for me.  There are parts of Arizona that are beautiful (the red rocks of Sedona, the painted desert, Alpine) but here in the Valley it is almost always brown with a shade or two of beige.

When my husband and son were in the WY this past weekend I decided it might be a good time to take the girls to the Desert Botanical Garden’s Butterfly exhibit.  I had also heard that the gardens were in bloom and thought it might be nice to see the brief beauty the desert offers.

The desert did not disappoint!  Cacti were in bloom all over- yellow, orange, pink and red.  I don’t think my daughters noticed a single flower, all the my oldest was interested in were the benches and the butterflies!

She and her friend who came with us stood as still as they good and extended their arms and fingers as perches…as close as they could with out actually touching the butterflies.  Nearly begging the insects to please land on them!  It was pretty cute and silly!

If you are in the Valley and want to pretend that we have spring- then go and go quick (there is even a groupon)!  With 100 degree temps about a week away it is almost time for our annual six month hibernation.  Enjoy the brief beauty while you can.

My only son, my oldest child is E-L-E-V-E-N today.  He just keeps growing!!

The days are sometimes long but the years are lightening fast.  He has challenged me in ways his sisters haven’t.  I finally understand what my mother once told me- that she learned more from us {her children} than she thinks we learned from her.  I have grown so much as a person from raising this kid.

We had a heart to heart awhile ago where I told him that it is he who made me a mother.  Everywhere he goes, now and later, a little piece of me goes with him. He grew from me, we are a part of each other, and that I love him more than everything.

I get nearly all my books from my public library or Goodwill.  I love that my library even offers Kindle books and I am amazed at the number of “romance novels” available for Kindle.  I’ve never read a romance book in my life, but when I scroll through my libraries fiction titles I sure do laugh at some of the titles.

I had to do a double take on this one.  At first glance I thought the title was “Ride Me”, and while I’m told romance novels are supposed to be pretty graphic I was surprised the author was being so bold.  After a second glance I saw the “with”, but I suspect the cover designer did that on purpose!

Anyway- I’ve updated my Books of 2013 page recently, I promise, no trashy romance novels!  If you haven’t read The Shoemakers Wife I strongly recommend putting it on your summer reading list, it was such a good and well written story!

I’m sure by now everyone has seen Amy’s amazing Be Joyful embroidery. I am so inspired by her attention to detail and amazing skill with a needle and thread.  Amy kindly sent me a copy of her pattern and I was/am dying to stitch it up, but to be honest I am a bit intimidated by Amy’s amazing work…afraid mine will fall flat. So, I decided I wanted to do a “trial run” before stitching the real thing.

Enter a heart to heart and joke between my husband and I.  We were having a talk about some parenting frustrations we were having.  We decided to take a new approach to the problem, I read the following quote to my husband- “Life by the inch is a cinch, life by the yard is hard”.  We both liked it and thought it would be a perfect approach to our problem. My husbands response was that we needed to have it displayed somewhere we would see it often.  I jokingly said that I would embroider it on a pillow- he took me seriously!!

So, I set about creating a pattern, and decided that really it was a silly phrase (good sentiment, but wrong for a pillow).  I found another quote I liked that also reminded us of the same sentiment.

“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved”-Thomas S. Monson

I decided to stitch it up and let this pillow be my trial run for Amy’s pattern.  I am really tickled with how it turned out- and my husband of few words (and fewer compliments) has commented multiple times about how impressed he is!

I was absolutely inspired by Amy’s work, I just loved her flowers!  Here is my pattern (free download) in case anyone else wants a trial run before staring Amy’s gorgeous Be Joyful pattern.  The pattern shows only the green vine and words, I made the flowers up as I went along.  I really liked the blackeyed susan at the top and wish I had done a few more.

This is what Easter Sunday looked like at my house.  Somehow I got the focus wrong and the only shots that turned out were the “goofy” ones!

During our Easter services one of the speakers asked the questions: What does the Atonement mean to me?  I spent the remainder of the day pondering that question.  The simplified answer is- To me, the Atonement means that its ok for me to make mistakes.  I can mess up and pick myself up, dust off my pants and try again- and that God doesn’t love me any less for it.  To me this is HUGE.

I grew up understanding that I could not make mistakes.  Mistakes meant you were weak and weakness was not tolerated.  I don’t think my parents intentionally set out to create these boundaries, but none-the-less they were there and I knew it.  How this played out in my everyday life is a long story for a memoir I may one day write!  Suffice it to say I grew up trying desperately to hide my flaws and my weaknesses, rationalizing them away or denying that they existed. But I knew I wasn’t perfect and the self loathing that came from secretly acknowledging my mistakes did a number on my self esteem.  I began to define myself by all the things I couldn’t do right- never even acknowledging the things I was good at.

I continued on this path until I was in my mid-thirties.  And then I had a moment of clarity and I began to recognize the good in myself.  I suddenly saw myself in a completely different light, as if my strengths were being hit by a giant spotlight.  I slowly realized that I had been choosing to define myself by my faults; which was ridiculous!  I thought about the Atonment and how a loving and benevolent God does not define us by our mistakes, but our successes!  It is through the power and wonder of the Atonement that my mistakes are blotted out from that great record book.

The epiphany continued when I realized what my example may have been teaching my own children.  My heart broke as I recognized certain behaviors in them that I knew stemmed from a fear of making mistakes.  I made a conscious choice that this would STOP with me and that I would NOT pass this on to my kids.

What does this look like in action?  When my daughter comes home and tells me she is stupid because she can’t do math and failed her math test- we talk about how the test went, did she understand the material? Does she recognize what she did wrong and know how to fix it? She then continues to lament (in her dramatic 8year old way) that she is just stupid, stupid at everything.  I begin to ask her more leading questions.  Well, you failed your math test and that is a total bummer, but are you still a good big sister? (yes) Are you still really helpful in class- always helping people in need? (yes) What about art, are you still really good at putting colors together and drawing animals? (yes).  I point out to her that while yes, she failed a test, she is still really amazing at so many other things.  Those other things are the ones that define who she is as a person, not the fact that she flunked today’s math test.

I do NOT want my children defining themselves by their mistakes.  We all make them, but they are not who we are.  I talk openly about the mistakes that I make each day- when I yell, I apologize.  I tell them mommy messed up, but tomorrow is a new day and I will try to do better.  I want them to know that they too can make mistakes- and then pick themselves up, dust off their pants and try again tomorrow.

And that is what the Atonment means to me.

You can read last years list here.

1. We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive - Laurie Notaro

2. The Persian Pickle Club -Sandra Dallas

3. Alice’s Tulips - Sandra Dallas

4. The Shoemaker’s Wife: A Novel- Adriana Trigiani
Trigiani cast a spell over the reader with detailed descriptions of Italy, New York City, the Met, the costumes….so descriptive. This is a beautiful story of Ciro and Enza, their lives, loves and losses. The story begins in 1904 and spans the end of WWII. A captivating and emotion filled story of love, family, hard work and grit!

5. Calico Joe - Grisham
A very quick read, probably due in part to the fact that I skimmed all the baseball stat pages. Despite my ignorance to all things baseball, I still found the story entertaining. The book was light with a few deeper themes of forgiveness and accepting responsibility. Two themes that could lead to a great discussion if this was read in a book club.

6. Tending Roses (Tending Roses Series, Book 1) - Lisa Wingate

7. Chasing Paris - Jen Carter
The story was compelling which kept me reading despite the weak dialogue and poor writing. The plot was interesting and I wanted to know what happened to Lizzie, but most of the characters were so flat which was a real detriment to the book.

8. License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver - Rick Harrison

9. Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood - Laurie Notaro
Laurie has a great self deprecating sense humor and ability to see the absurdities of life. I laughed out loud as Laurie described her husbands “man hands”!

10. Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America -Morrison

11.Summer at Tiffany Marjorie Hart
What a fun quick read!  This is a non-fiction account of Marjorie’s 1945 summer job at Tiffany.  She and her girl friend were the first women employees to be “on the floor”, they worked as pages.  In addition to fantastic encounters with celebrities, is a detailed description of daily life during the war years.  Anyone who loves nostalgia and historical account will enjoy this book.  Well written and easy to read.

12.The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards (author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter) At first I didn’t like the book, as the story began I really did not like the main character Lucy.  I kept reading and gradually began to not like her a little less.  Once the mystery began to unfold I found the story to be very interesting.  The discovery of a long lost relative that was hidden from family history.  A relative who had ties to the Women’s Suffrage Movement and showed great strength and grit through hard times.

13.The Fire Chronicle (Books of Beginning) here is the review I wrote for Book One (The Emerald Atlas).  I finished Book Two just as fast and enjoyed it just as much! I realize this book is meant for a far younger crowd than the middle aged mother of 3 that I am, but I really enjoyed this book. It was a birthday gift for my 9yo son and I wanted to read it along with him…well, I ended up reading WAY ahead (finished the 400+ page book in 3 days). He is a fine reader but doesn’t enjoy reading for pleasure. Some of the language and sentence structure was a bit difficult for him to grasp (for example: “…Kate couldn’t hear, and it was as if a heavy curtain was drawn around her mind, obliterating the man in the doorway, the light, her mother, everything.” he had trouble understanding that this was describing the girl falling asleep). However I think any child who is really well read and understands the cadence of the written word will surely be able to understand this book.

The story is very captivating and the point of view goes back and forth between people and time making the story that much more rich and exciting to read. It is set in modern times and the traits of each child make them very believable.

The only downside is that this book JUST came out…which means I am totally hooked now and have to wait who knows how long for the next installment!

14.The American Heiress: A Novel Daisy Goodwin.  Enjoyed this story- although it starts out slowly.  The reader can see a lot of things about the Duke that the wife simply doesn’t see and for that reason it is easy to get an idea of how the book will progress, however I found the ending to be quite a surprise!  A refreshing surprise!

My kids had Spring Break earlier this month and spent a week in WY with their Mimi & Papa.  We were all so excited for them to have this experience.  When talking with a girlfriend of mine about our spring break plans she told me she was jealous and wished she could ship her kids off for a week.  I have days were I totally understand that sentiment (lots of them!) but the funny thing is I never thought of this trip that way.  I never looked at it from the perspective of “wahoo, kids are gone for 7 whole days!!!”  I thought of it more like “My kids are so lucky to have grandparents that want to spend time with them, they are all going to have such an adventure”.

And adventure they did!  From Arizona they drove to Wyoming, I was told after the fact (which was a good thing) that there was some pretty treacherous road conditions due to snow along the way.  But, my in-laws swear my kids were great in the car, all 3 days.  Which did make me wonder why they are such beasts on the 6 hour drive to California with us?!

Once they arrived we never heard from our 8yo daughter, but my sweet almost 11yo son called us nearly every day.  One day he told me he called because he loves me and wanted to hear my voice. Ahhh, he was my favorite that day!  They went sledding every day, enjoyed unlimited technological gadget usage, went bowling and best of all he told me, “I’ve drank soda everyday mom!“

I flew up on Thurday to fetch them (they both are too chicken to fly home alone) and spent the weekend with them in Wyoming and a few days in Idaho with my aunt. I enjoyed my weekend with them very much.  I felt like a good mom for the first time in a while.  I had lots of energy and played nearly every game and activity they asked me to (well, I was done after 2 rounds of “run-around” their made up hide and seek game).  I pondered why that was, why I had more time for them.  I’m sure being away from home and all of the “things” that need to get done helped, but really it was that the three-year old wasn’t there.  I adore her sweet little person, but I didn’t realize until I spent time with the older kids (without her) that she really takes the bulk of my mental and physical energy.  Three year olds are very demanding!

I feel so grateful that I was able to have some time alone with them, just the three of us.  I think they enjoyed it too!  They were both so sad to leave, they loved every minute of being with Mimi and Papa, from the late night bed times to the undivided attention.

I couldn’t have asked for better in-laws.  They adore my kids and even better than that, they really enjoy spending time with their grandchildren. I am so grateful that my children can have these experiences with them, my children will be better people because of it.

p.s. if you are ever in Swan Valley, ID with kids- the square ice-cream was a hit! (thanks for the tip Jody!)

Looking for a fun Easter craft?  I thought this might be a good time to re-post the Sequined Bunny Tutorial.  Original post with pattern and directions HERE.

Growing up we really only had dinner rolls for holidays or special occasion dinners (ie company); and they were almost always store bought.  When I got married I learned how much my husband LOVES dinner rolls.  His mom made them often and they never lasted long in a house with five children.  She served them anytime we came to visit and they are really soft, buttery rolls- very good!  Within my first year of marriage I asked my Mother-in-Law for her roll recipe and went to work trying to make them.  The recipe yielded A LOT of rolls and I remember it took FOREVER to make (start them mid morning if you want them for dinner type of rolls) and it called for boxed mashed potatoes (something I never seemed to have on hand).

Every few months I would try again to make them and they never turned out like my MIL’s despite all my practice.  A few years later we moved to Arizona and I met my dear friend Sara.  She invited us over for dinner and made the best dinner rolls!  I asked her for the recipe- thinking I’d give dinner rolls another try.  She told me the recipe came from her aunt and they had adapted it and altered it together to create what she now used.  The recipe was called Moments Notice Rolls.  They take about an hour and a half start to finish- yup, you read that right-and yes, they are yeast rolls.

I’ve been making Sara’s recipe for years now and I have shared this recipe with countless friends.  This is the recipe that I adapted to create my Soft Cinnamon Rolls (that is all over pinterest now!)  This recipe yields about a dozen and a half rolls and can easily be doubled.

Moments Notice Rolls
1 1/4c WARM water
1/3c oil
1/4c. white sugar
2 Tablespoons yeast (I use rapid rise)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
3 1/4c white flour

Mix warm water, oil, sugar and yeast together and let sit for 15 min. This should be long enough for the yeast to activate.  FYI if you (like me) keep your yeast in the freezer, bring it to room temperature before you use it in this recipe.  Yeast should be bubbly like this after the 15min.

With a wooden spoon mix in salt, egg, and flour.  This dough will not be soft and smooth like bread dough, it will be sticky.  You may add a Tablespoon or two of extra flour to make it easier to handle.  It should stick to the spoon but not be runny.  Let rise in a warm place for 10min.

Lay dough on a floured surface and roll into a rectangle about 8″ x 12″, dough should be 1/4″ – 1/2″ thick.  Cut your dough into 2″x4″ rectangles.  Roll the rectangles up (like a jelly roll) and then fold them in half, creating a smooth dome on one side.  (all measurements are approximate, if your rectangles are bigger or smaller that’s fine- do what works!)  Place the dome side up on a cookie sheet or baking pan.

Create a proofer in your own oven.  Preheat your oven to 170, when the oven reaches 170 turn it off.  Place a bowl of hot steamy water (be sure to remove the bowl before baking!) on the bottom rack of your oven and place the rolls on the top rack.  Close the oven door and let them rise for a minimum of 20min, longer if you have the time.  Bake at 425 for 12-18min- you don’t want them too brown or too doughy.  If you are so inclined (i usually don’t) brush the tops with butter before you serve.

They are perfect for Sunday dinner, chicken salad and my favorite  lunch of a slice of tillamook cheese and mesquite smoked turkey!

p.s. all temperatures are measured in Fahrenheit

I’ve been quite busy lately working on different projects- mostly for pleasure.  It feels really good to have created; added beauty to my space.

Inspired by Amy’s amazing work.  There is a funny story that goes with this project which I will share as soon as it is complete.

Company was coming….it had been over a year since we repainted the living, it was getting embarrassing that we hadn’t updated the pillows to match the new color scheme.  The fabric is from JoAnn’s and I made my own piping.  The pillows went together really fast, an hour each and that includes piping time and zipper time.

This is for a brand new project, coming to an online store very very soon!

Baby got a new dress via vintage Simplicity 4878. It looks adorable on- trust me.

Then there were creations of the culinary kind.  I printed out my daughters name on paper, used a exacto knife to cut it out, laid it over the cake and went crazy with the sprinkles.  It worked, kinda.

I wanted to try that  Jello Frosting recipe that is all over pinterest.  Worked well (super easy), the kids liked it and it tasted similar to 7min frosting.

My goal this week is to find a winter coat for my trip up North, where the snow doesn’t melt until June. Having lived in the desert for 10+ years, my supply of winter clothes is dismal!