Counting My Blessings

I have been the recipient of some wonderful service as of late. I really just feel so blessed.

My neighbors son helped bring in my groceries a few weeks ago. A neighbor towed Chris's car home and then fixed his car after his clutch went out super late at night. My Mom and my Mother in law watch my son while I work etc. etc. etc.

The most recent incident was this morning. I was running late for work because I couldn't find my keys. I finally got on the road and didn't get very far before I realized I had a flat tire. And I don't mean just a little flat... like flat to the ground flat. I pulled over and called my Mom to see if she could come pick me up and as soon as I got off the phone a car had pulled over in front of me and was backing up to my car.

Breaking down on the side of the road by myself or with my kids in the car scares me to death. I'm sure for obvious reasons.

Anyway, this nice man got out of his car and tells me he has a car jack that will make it easier. I was so tempted to tell him that I didn't need his help that someone was coming to get me.... but then I stopped and decided to accept his help. I really have a hard time accepting help sometimes. I don't know if it's because I'm embarrassed that I might need help or what it is but I really struggle accepting help.

It took us a little while to figure out how to take my tire off. I've changed a tire on a car before but it's been a long time and it wasn't on the car I currently own. I also happen to be wearing a skirt today... not the best attire for tire changing. Basically this sweet stranger changed my tire for me and got his nice work slacks dirty.

I told him "Thank you so much." and his response was that he hoped someone would do the same for his wife. I was so touched by his response.

He told me about his sister that lives in LasVegas. Her car broke down in the middle of an intersection and people instead of helping her, honked and yelled obscenities at her and told her to get out of the road. I can't even imagine how stressful that would be and he didn't say anything about kids but I wouldn't be surprised if she had kids in her car at the time. He said she just cried until her husband was able to get there to help her.

I am so grateful that my kids weren't in the car when my car got a flat tire and that I wasn't on the freeway and that this sweet stranger took the time to change my tire even though he probably ended up being late to work and got his pants all dirty.

I hope I can be there for someone else when they can use some help. I hope I can teach my son to be the kind of man that would stop to help someone in need.

Floral Nails

Yesterday Gavin took a long nap and I decided to do something fun. When I showed Amanda (my sister) she told me I should do a tutorial on how to do this. It's so easy and it's a fun look. Everything floral seems to be big right now.

 



To begin you need to gather your supplies. It requires lots of special tools (wink wink). I am not super picky when it comes to nail polish. I usually use cheap drugstore polish but every once in a while I will get nicer polish or usually if I have nicer polish it was most likely gifted to me. Today I decided to use China Glaze in Four Leaf Clover. You will also need toothpicks and three different colors of acrylic paint two make the flowers (one light and one dark) and one for the leaves. I decided to use gold for the leaves. You will also want a clear top coat to put on at the very end.

Step 1: Paint all of your nails. Once painted let dry.

 



Step 2: Once your nails have dried take a tooth pick and dip it in the darker of your two colors. for me this was the coral color. make two small dots where you want your flower to be.

 

 Step 3: Then take the lighter of the two colors (white) and make two more dots with a different tooth pick.

Step 4: Take a new toothpick and swirl the two colors together in a spiral motion.

Once you have swirled the two colors together it will look like this >

Repeat steps for additional flowers.

Step 5: Once the flowers are complete you paint the leaves on with another toothpick. (So very complicated haha)

 

Step 6: Once the flowers are dry you can clean up any paint that strayed with a q-tip and nail polish remover. Paint with a topcoat and you're all done!

 

Etched Casserole Dish

I don't know how I missed blogging about this. I was thinking today about the amazing things you can do with a Cricut and realized I never blogged about the casserole dishes I etched.

For Christmas I decided to give family members personalized casserole dishes. (I'm wishing I would have documented better.)

I would like to mention that this does not work on all glass casserole dishes. I first tried it on one of my own Pyrex brand dishes and it didn't work... at all. So if you are wanting to make your own personalized casserole dishes don't buy the Pyrex brand because it won't work.

I used the Cricut to cut letters out of contact paper. This part of the process is the most time consuming, trying to get the letters the exact right size and getting everything to look just how you want them to. You have to do everything backwards (enter letters into cricket backwards ex: tduarD for Draudt and make sure the 'flip' button is on) and use what is left after you take out the letters that you would normally use and then peel off the backing on the contact paper and attach it to the bottom of the casserole dish. I found it was easiest to lay the contact paper on the counter and then put the casserole dish on top of it... it's just easier to make sure everything is centered and where you want it that way.

After you have attached the contact paper you take Armour Etch and paint in the letters with a children's paint bush. Set timer for 10 minutes and wait.

After ten minutes wash off the Armour Etch with soap and water and voila! You have a beautiful personalized casserole dish ready to use.

If you are giving this as a gift you can do what I did and bake goodies to fill the dishes with for all to enjoy.

The recipe I used for the cinnamon rolls was from food.com. I followed the recipe pretty closely but used butter instead of margarine (I think). I had the worst time trying to get the yeast to rise and realized (after some research) that it doesn't rise as much as normal bread because the dough is sweet. So, don't freak out if it doesn't seem like it's rising as well as normal bread or roll dough.

Good luck!

 

Sister Andrea Draudt

Last week Andrea got her mission call to....
(If you're reading this blog you probably already know)............................................  

BILLINGS, MONTANA!!!!

We could not be more excited to have a missionary in the family. Chris has said for quite some time that he hopes that Andrea goes on a mission because there is just something so special/neat/cool/etc. about having a missionary out in the family. 

One of my best friends little brother and his wife both served in the Billings, Montana mission and they both loved their missions. We know that Andrea will learn so much and will be such a great missionary!

There is even a Temple in Billings!

Before the temple was completed in Billings members would have to travel
all the way to the Idaho Falls temple an 6-8 (or more) hour trip.

The missionaries in Billings Montana have started using facebook and
blogging to help share the gospel. You can see a list of their blogs here.

Since I don't know much about Montana I decided to look some things up. Some things I learned include...

•  Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.
•  No state has as many different species of mammals as Montana.
• It is illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays, and illegal for unmarried women to fish alone at all.
• Montana is nicknamed the Treasure State.
•  Montana holds the world record for the greatest temperature change in 24 hours. On January 14-15, 1972, the temperature went from from -54°F to 49°F.
• The most visited place in Montana is Glacier National Park, known as the crown jewel of the continent. It lies along Montana's northern border and adjoins Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, forming the world's first International Peace Park. (I want to go here.)
• Miles City, Montana is known as the Cowboy Capitol. (Andrea ;D) 

These facts and more can be found here and here.

How exciting to go to a new place, meet new people, share the Gospel and be on the Lords errand. We are so proud of Andrea for her decision to serve the Lord.

My Blog is so Random

My blog is so random.

One of the mommy bloggers I follow is having phone call seminar on blogging. I was just looking at the topics of her seminar and some of them include choosing a topic for your blog, having a focus, photography and advertising among several other things. Wow... that's all I can say... wow. I guess if you're going to get paid for your blog there is a lot that goes into it.

I obviously am not getting paid for this. lol. It is mostly just me blogging about our little family and the adventures or not adventures we have. I don't have some amazing outfit on with professional pictures or a hilarious story and a new creative craft every time I blog. Sometimes I wish I did.

Growing up I was always taught how important keeping a journal is and I figure this is as close to really keeping a journal I'm going to get. I have definitely missed some things but I've done better at this then I ever did with an actual journal.

So, all in all I think this blog is serving it's purpose. I can document the things going on with us and share with those of you that want to know (Amy) and throw in some crafts every once in a while.

Friday Night Fun

Jump!

Park Picnic and Sheels

This weekend was so much fun. Gavin gets so excited when his big sister comes. They are so cute together! 

Saturday morning we all got up and got ready and went to the park for a picnic breakfast. Daddy and the kids had bagels with cream cheese and fruit and I went for a run. We had so much fun throwing balls and riding scooters and playing on the playground.  It was a little windy but still such a nice day. We are so ready for warm weather and we all love being outside!

We also made it over to Sheels. We hadn't been over there before and had a great time. It seemed like a cross between Cabelas and Dicks. It was fun to watch the Ferris wheel and see the fish tank.

The fish tank was awesome and they had a someone in the tanks scrubbing everything with a toothbrush.

 

I love this picture and his cheesy grin. Gavin loves trying on hats and we couldn't find a BYU hat in the right size but this UofU hat fit perfect.

The flash on my phone is so bright so I get a lot of pictures like this.

Gavin was in heaven with a hockey stick and more balls than he had ever seen. He would pick up one ball and drop it on the ground and pick up another and do the same thing. His sister thought it was pretty funny and was good enough to pick up the balls.

Gavin wasn't so sure about the bear. Brookie on the other hand loved the bear but wouldn't go near the robotic Abraham Lincoln. She wouldn't even stand close enough for me to get a picture. haha

Haven't been up to much.

We haven't been up to much lately. And I haven't really felt much like blogging.

I've started running at the rec center which Gavin usually only tolerates for a half an hour and then he's done. He's such a sweet boy with lots of energy and sitting in a stroller going around and around in a circle is only fun for so long.

Gavin's favorite toy as of late are some 3D glasses with the lenses popped out. He loves to take them off and put them on all day long. 

We got to see Brooklyn this weekend Gavin was so excited to see his sister, you could tell he had missed her. He squealed with excitement the whole way home after we picked her up. She is such a good big sister.

Hanging out at the mall waiting to pick up the other little munchkin.