Oh and PS

Yes Tara and MK, that is my swagger wagon in the background. Whoop! Whoop!

Mia's First Day of School

Walking into the house

She picked out her backpack all by herself

It's bigger than she is but that was the one she wanted

Love her!

I'm freaking out! I can't believe Mia is old enough for preschool. Uh, where has the time gone?

She is the cutest preschool going girl ever! I love her and am so proud that she can go. She's a little younger than the cut off age but the teacher loves her...and me...;) so we got in early. She did great. She was a bit hesitant and clung to me for a few minutes and then jumped right in there and started participating. I freaking love that kid!!

FOOD

Baked Zucchini Fries

Baked Chipotle Taquitos

Spicy Honey Chicken YUM!

Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

Brazilian Lemonade...for the hubby

(All these pictures are from Our Best Bites)

I've finally gotten my love for cooking back. I don't know what my deal was but I just did not want to cook. Smells, handling meats, the clean-up...that's what she said! HA! Sorry mom! They all bothered me. But I've finally bucked up and the last few weeks have been filled with delicious food. Old recipes, new recipes. Our house is the place to be around 6pm. I'm not boasting at all...I give all credit to my mom for teaching me how to follow a recipe and Our Best Bites They have some of the best dishes I've ever had. Good, clean flavorful food. Yum. These have been some of our favorites so far.

All Sorts of Random

Shane's 1st birthday...all tuckered out with Uncle Clint

PUNK! She ate the tops off of at least 6 cupcakes. And my dad just sat there laughing and watched her do it. He's a punk too!

One of my favorite pictures of Sheena. This shows her personality perfectly!

It was a sports party...basketball cupcakes

Baseball and Football cupcakes.

These took some time for sure but they turned out cute.

Swimming, strawberries and a corn dog; loving life!

Mia and her newest cousin, Peyton

Relaxin and snugglin to a movie

2011 Hoopfest champs! Whoop! Whoop!

4th of July. "Bubbers" (that's what Mia calls him) was tired

Brad and Kendall with Landon, Kailyn, Dominic and Mia

The fam

Chattin away

Aaron and Peyton

His first popsicle. He was on cloud 9...till it was gone.

These videos are hilarious. Take the time to watch them. My boy is a dancer! I love it. He's so awesome!!!

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

Our Best Bites

Made these little gems for dinner tonight. Oh my amazing. I'll never eat frozen pizza rolls again. Mia and Shane scarfed theirs. Our Best Bites has some of the most delicious food. My mother in law bought me their cookbook for Mother's Day and I've made something out of it for almost the last week straight. So good!!

“Do it” Switch

My Elder's Quorum President challenged a handful of us to read the scriptures every day this week and post our thoughts to the Elder's Quorum Blog. Here is my entry:

My thoughts come from the talk by Elder Uchtdorf in the April 2011 Priesthood Conference entitled, "Your Potential, Your Privilege".

I was actually impressed to listen to this talk in the weeks leading up to this challenge. I have listened to Elder Uchtdorf’s talk probably 5-6 times in the past few weeks. It is inspiring. As I prepared for this blog post I wondered why this talk continued to return to my mind? I listened to it again tonight and asked the Spirit to guide my thoughts. I soon determined that my “do it” switch has been set to "later" for the last couple months, if not years. I am not living up to my potential as a holder of the Priesthood.

“The words written in the scriptures and spoken in general conference are for us to “liken them unto [ourselves],” not for reading or hearing only. Too often we attend meetings and nod our heads; we might even smile knowingly and agree. We jot down some action points, and we may say to ourselves, “That is something I will do.” But somewhere between the hearing, the writing of a reminder on our smartphone, and the actual doing, our “do it” switch gets rotated to the “later” position. Brethren, let’s make sure to set our “do it” switch always to the “now” position!”

The Bishopric visited our home almost 3 years ago and Bishop Barker was inspired to have us “Do More” in the ward and in our lives. This photo hangs in our hall way to remind us to follow that counsel.

With all of these reminders, why am I not doing the things I need to do on a daily basis? I need to DO MORE! President Uchtdorf answered my question by challenging us to “study the owner’s manual” by rereading sections 20, 84, 107, and 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. These scriptures outline the Priesthood, A Priesthood of Service, A Priesthood of Humility.

“Brethren, we are faced with a choice. We can be satisfied with a diminished experience as priesthood bearers and settle for experiences far below our privileges. Or we can partake of an abundant feast of spiritual opportunity and universal priesthood blessings.” President Uchtdorf

The Priesthood is an action word. It is my only hope that I can take Bishop Barker and President Uchtdorf’s counsel and live up to my potential to DO MORE.

I Want This

Sew Kind of Wonderful is having a giveaway for this darling square. I know her through church and she is incredibly talented! She makes some of the most amazing quilts I've ever seen. I think I want to ask her if she can make me one for my bed but I can't decide what colors I want for my room. We'll see...it's a big project. Anyway, check her out. You won't be disappointed!