A taste of summer!

Today my great friend Melissa invited us to go to Thanksgiving Point Gardens. We loaded up our kids and our cameras and had a fun taste of summer...sunscreen and all! The kids had such a great time running, exploring, splashing & playing. We had a great time experimenting with our new cameras. Thanks for inviting us to go along Melissa!

Our friends at QuicKutz

I feel like the biggest part of our life that I have yet to blog about is work. Most of the time I am working on top-secret stuff I can't mention...(sounds kind of glamourous, huh?) We have both worked for QuicKutz for the last 5+ years and enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. Tonight we enjoyed dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, courtesy of QuicKutz, with the Sales & Marketing teams. We really do work with the most amazing people. It is so great to work with people you call your friends. Thanks QuicKutz for the great food, the enjoyable evening & introducing us to some very special people!

I did it! Yea me!!

This is a huge accomplishment for me. I mentioned before that I have suffered from yeast-phobia. I love to cook & bake, but whenever a recipe calls for yeast I shy away from it. I have attempted it in the past and ended up with yucky, ugly bricks that took a ton of time to make. Yesterday for Mother's Day my mom gave me some of the ingredients I need to make the recipe I told you about a few posts ago. (Thanks again Mom!) I woke up this morning excited to make some bread. I made cinnamon rolls and a strawberry-cream cheese braid. They are so yummy! (And, I think pretty good looking for my first attempt.) I believe anyone can make bread with this recipe! How exciting is that?
A few people have asked if I am going to post this recipe, but I think it is much easier to see it done for the first time. (It was a little confusing for me when I read it for the first time.) You can sign up for a class with the people that taught me, but I would also be willing to give anyone a hands on lesson. I am sure it wouldn't be as insightful and exciting as the demo that I got, but it would be free! You will have to let me know if you are interested.

Happy Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's Day...lots of time to spend with those I love. I am blessed to have such great women in my life. I have so many great examples in my grandmothers, mom, mom-in-law, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces, friends...I could go on. I am so thankful for my mom and the sacrifices she has always made for us. Really, I think she must be the most unselfish person I know. I am also so grateful to be a mom to my 2 little girls. I can't imagine my life without them!

Night at the ballpark

Last night we went to watch as cousins faced each other at the ballpark. It was Mariners vs. Reds or more importantly Parker's team vs. Braden's team. We were so excited to get to see them play in the same game. They both did great!
These photos were taken with a new lens that Kyle gave me for Mother's Day. I am lovin' it! I definitely need more practice (as you can see-there are a few focus issues), but that is one thing I am happy to do...practice, practice, practice. If I can practice on you, let me know. Krissy gets a bit sick of always having the camera in her face & Kendall is not so cooperative either.
Now, if you haven't heard about the cooking blog, make sure you read the next post. I was hesitant to put this up because I would still love to add some authors to that blog.

Something new!

I have been thinking it would be fun to start a recipe blog where we can all share some of our favorites. If you would like to be invited to this new blog just leave me a comment! I would love to set everyone up as authors on the blog. That way everyone can post any old favorites along with any new tasty recipes you come across. I am always looking for yummy, new, quick & easy things to feed my family. What do ya think? Are you in?

This might change my life!

Tonight I went with my mom to Relief Society. They had some guests come to teach bread-making techniques, start to finish in 1 hour. I didn't think my mom needed to go because she makes KILLER bread, but she insisted it would be good. Well, can I tell you...it was awesome! I left so energized and excited to make bread. I have long been afraid of yeast. The few times I have attempted to bake with it have resulted in disaster. Given my experience tonight, I just might try it again.
They have one recipe that can be used for 50 + recipes, in addition to regular loaf bread (breadsticks, rolls, baguettes, pizzas, main dishes, desserts...) They made 6 or 7 different recipes out of the 1 batch of dough they mixed up. We got to sample them all and they really tasted great. They teach it as a food-storage class since all the ingredients can sit on the shelf (or in the freezer) for a long time. It was impressive! Here is a link to their blog. I am for sure going to pass the info on to my ward RS Enrichment ladies. Mom, thanks for inviting me. I had a great time. I just might become a bread maker yet!

The perfect weekend

This weekend we headed north to Logan to see my sis and her family and to attend a wedding reception. It also happened to be our 12th wedding anniversary on Saturday. (It was also my parents anniversary...Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!) We had the best weekend. The kids all got along so great and we had the best time catching up with each other. We felt so lucky to get to hang out with both Mike & Hollie and Erik & Brittany.
The last 12 years have been so amazing! I couldn't ask for more. We have been so blessed. (I love you honey!)

Thank you President Bush!

In order to do my part to stimulate the economy I have done a little shopping! Just trying to be patriotic and American you know. My heart does go out to any of you (who will remain nameless) that don't qualify for the stimulus package. This is one time that it pays to be poor! :)
So...here is my new chair. It speaks to me. What does it say, you might ask? Well, to start with it said, "Buy me, buy me!" I am loving it. Hopefully it will stay looking beautiful for a long while...

Adams girls-night-out!

I organized a girls-night-out with my sisters-in-law for tonight. Four of the six of us were able to make it. We had a great time just browsing & shopping without any chasing & whining! We went to Gardner Village but it closed at 8, so we quickly ran over to Tai Pan, which closed at 8:30. AAahhh! We had a great time, I just wish it had lasted longer. Shaunee & Dani we really missed you.
I ended up buying the chair that I mentioned a few posts ago. Yea! Exciting! I can't wait to pick it up...tomorrow, maybe. We will see how the day goes. More pics will come.
I really have the best sisters-in-law, all the kind I would choose as friends. I LOVE you all. Let's do it again soon!