Go Cougars!!!

I have had butterflies all day thinking about BYU's game tonight. It would be so awesome if they won. I'll be cheering them on from my living room. Go Cougars!!

Who I Am

One of the things I struggle with is the gap between the ideal and the real. For example, ever since I was a young teenager I have had a vision of who I wanted to be when I grew up-- a published author, popular public speaker, fabulous decorater and homemaker, and a perfectly patient and loving wife and mother. My house would always be immaculate with flowers in the yard and decorations for every holiday. Needless to say, that is not quite the reality of who I have become. And sometimes it gets me down. I want to be spectacular, exceptional, and wonderful. (Hence yesterday's quote.) But since that is not what is required of us, I am trying to let go of my unrealistic expectations and to embrace the genuine, down-to-earth, everyday goodness of who I really am.

• I am kind. I try to treat others the way I want to be treated.
• I can do a lot of different things. Some of my "talents" are-- reading, knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, embroidery, running, yoga, finishing furniture, water skiing, blogging, cooking, organizing, decorating, cleaning, yard work, scrapbooking, teaching.
• I care about what people think of me. I want to be liked and understood.
• Although I am easily frustrated by my faults and imperfections, I continue to try to do better. 
• I am happy in my comfort zone. It's hard to push outside of it, but I am really proud of myself when I try. (Like when I first started running.)
• I don't have an abundance of energy-- so I try to work efficiently and to be selective in where I focus my energy. I usually get the important things done.
• I get really grumpy when I get overly tired. So I try not to get too tired. :)
• I love it when things are all clean and tidy. It makes my heart happy. But sometimes I choose to let things go a little.
• I appreciate simplicity.
• I am reliable.
• Nature inspires me. Every sunrise and sunset is a reminder of how much our Heavenly Father loves His children. I try to notice the beauty around me and to find joy in it.
• I am good at time-management.
• The members of my family are my best friends.
• I am naturally shy. But I try not to be.
• I really am a child of God. I know He loves me and wants me to be happy. I am happiest when I exercise faith in Him and in His will.

Something I needed to hear

Vintage Sesame Street

Chloe and I spent the morning watching old Sesame Street skits on YouTube. They brought back good memories. Chloe's favorites are Ladybug Picnic, The Aligator King, and the Fairy Alphabet.







Did you watch Sesame Street? What are your favorite skits? There are so many good ones!! (C is for Cookie, Rubber Ducky, Funny Farm, Daddy Dear, My Martian Cutie.....)

Greek at home

I love Greek food, but have only ever eaten it at restaurants because I didn't know how to make it....until tonight. And the most amazing thing is that my kids liked it, too!!! (And they are really picky.) They gobbled it up-- feta cheese and all.

I made Chicken Souvlaki Gyros & Greek Lemon Chicken Soup. (Both recipes from allrecipes.com.) The Gyros recipe says that it feeds 4, but I would guess it could feed about 8 at least. We only ate 1 1/2 chicken breasts between the 7 of us. And I omitted the chicken soup base from the soup because I didn't have any. It was still good. Really, really good.

Summer & Tanner Dancing

The girls and I were looking through pictures on my computer and we came across this video. It absolutely deserves to be shared. (Audra, I don't think you have even seen it yet.) It's from Christmas, 2009.

Bowl Game scarf--finished

I finished my bowl game scarf a couple weeks ago (long after football season ended). But when I finished it we were experiencing a wonderful warm spell and it was too hot to wear it. Today we had a little drop in the temperature, and as much as I love warm weather, it was nice to have a chance to wear my new scarf.

Not giving up

On Sunday we tried making fudge again. This time I let David tackle his Nana's recipe and I made my Grandma's Rocky Road. They both turned out!! David says that his batch wasn't quite as creamy as the way Nana made it, but now I have an idea what he is going for-- fudge so smooth and creamy it literally melts in your mouth. My Grandma's recipe is (almost) fool-proof and so, so, so good. My Aunt Elaine sent it to me (along with a perfect batch already made up!!) and I owe her big time. We have decided that David will master his Grandma's recipe, I will master my Grandma's recipe, and then we'll teach our girls and they can pass them down to their kids. Because these recipes deserve to be preserved.

Music to clean by

I usually listen to music when I clean. Today instead of listening to my normal tunes I put on some classical music-- the kind of songs you usually hear in the background of movies when there are scenes of exquisite vistas or poignant romances. It elevated the tasks I was doing from menial to grande. (Except it was a little depressing when the Funeral March came on.) :)

Easter Dresses To Be

I have been thinking since January about what I want to make for my girls' Easter dresses. I was feeling really ahead of the game, but now that it's March already I realized that I better get going. (I know some people are able to bust out dresses in a few blinks of their eyes, but I'm slow-- and I have five dresses to make.) :) I got all the patterns planned out, took my girls' measurements, did lots of math, and finally made it to the fabric store this morning. I'm crossing my fingers that what I got will translate into gorgeous dresses.

Here is the stack of fabric I came home with:

McKenna doesn't like to be too matchey-matchey with her sisters, so I am going to make her skirt in the solid blue. (Still trying to nail down exactly what style I'm going to make it.)

Lydia is also getting a skirt. The main body of the skirt will be in the stripe and the bottom edge will be in the blue. I hope I can find something beautiful for both her and McKenna to wear on top. (Any suggestions?)



Summer and Emily's dresses are the ones I'm a little stressed about. I am cutting and pasting pieces from different patterns to create the look I want. This is my plan. Hopefully it works out.

Emily's dress will have a blue accent and Summer's will have the pink.

And I'm still trying to figure what pattern I am going to use for Chloe. I was going to do a tiered dress for her too, but the combination wasn't working out for what I planned. Instead I think I'm going to make the main part of her dress in the floral and then just do a pink ruffle on the bottom. (Or something...)

My goal is to have them all completed this month. Wish me luck!!

Hair for Whoville

Like many schools around the country, our school is having Dr. Seuss week in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. Today was crazy hair day. Summer was the only one of my girls who wanted to participate. She went with more of a Medusa theme than Cindy Lou Who, but either way she was definitely "crazy" (and cute!).