Yarn Octopus

You can teach your kids how to braid & tie bows with these cute octopi

These are a few we have made



This one is Dallin's He wanted his to have a smile face on it :)

Making a yarn octopus is a fun craft to do with your kids. At this gals blog 100% Cottam, she is always finding great ideas!! Click here to visit her blog and get the instructions. She found the idea in a Family fun magazine :) You can scroll down her side bar on the right of her blog and find more good ideas in the title section of 'Pullin a Martha'

This craft is easy and the kids love it. We took our octopi on our road trip and to church on Sunday and it was a perfect quiet activity for them to do. I think it is theraputic just to play with the yarn like hair and enjoy braiding :)

Ricks College Roommates from 1998

Marci, Maren, Mindi, Me, and Rachel

our cute kids :)




We had a little reunion this past weekend. It was so neat to see everyone - 4 friends and there spouses and eleven kids and two more on the way (from Maren and Mindi) WOW What will another ten years bring? The kids had a great time together! Dallin loved being with Remington! And he really wants him to come back to our house :) Maybe next summer they can get together. On Thursday we all met at the Twin Falls Temple for a tour and it was beautiful. Hopefully our kids will remember going inside. It was so nice to visit with everyone! On Friday we went swimming, had a picnic, the kids were able to ride on a horse at Rachels and they played and played and played some more. Both nights we didn't go to bed till at least midnight and my kids are exhausted. They're actually even sleeping in this morning. It is almost 7 am and they're not awake yet. The weekend went by to fast but we had a wonderful time. Thank you Marci and Rachel for planning our get together and for letting us enjoy being in your beautiful homes. You all are amazing and i am so grateful for our friendship!!!

Scatter sunshine all along your way; Cheer and bless and brighten Every passing day

Thank goodness for yummy treats

This picture is for my mom, we have been dehydrating bananas. My kids eat dried bananas like they eat candy. They love 'em! It's a yummy treat for them, and it's a plus because it's healthy.

Homemade french bread with fresh raspberries on top

&

(the not so healthy treat)

We have been making Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

Crunch together -

6 c. corn flakes

2 c. P.B

Bring to a boil-

1 c. Karo Syrup

1 c. sugar

Pour over the top of Corn flakes and P.B - Mix together

Drop by teaspoons on waxed paper

Enjoy!! This recipe is a family favorite!

When my mom was seven years old she had a paper route and a nice elderly lady on her route Mrs. Howard made these cookies for her. Thank you Mrs. Howard :) This recipe will continue to be passed along for a long, long time :) Simple and soooo gooooood!

My Family

We have 18 days until we run our Salem Days fun run 5k

Are you ready?

We need the Utah Penhallegon family to go in and register for us. The family price is $40! The

sooner the better. Here is a link for information on where you need to go --- Salem City

And the 5k starts at 7:30 am not 7

Thank you!

I love our willow tree

When we moved into our house almost three years ago, I thought our willow tree in our back yard was tiny and ugly and i remember telling Rolo that we could just pull it out. But look at this tree, it has grown a lot the last two years. And the kids love it!!! It is the perfect size to climb and we made a little swing for them this weekend. Dallin loves jumping off the slide onto a branch and swinging. It is a great tree for little monkeys to climb and swing on!!

The pictures are a little blurry because it is only 7 am when i took these pictures of the kids. The sun was just starting to shine ;) They woke up way to early 5:40 am and they already want to start swimming in there little pool. My little turkeys / monkeys / i mean kids. They woke up so early because I put them to bed at 6 pm last night :) They are making sand cookies for breakfast! I should probably stop blogging and feed my kids there second breakfast. They already have had cereal and now that it is almost eight they're ready for more!

Today is going to be a LOOOONNNGG Monday

Wish me luck so that my kids might take a nap today

Adorable dresses!

O.K i would like to sew some DRESSES like these for my little Princess!

i took a picture of my first sunflower for the year in my backyard

i got a little distracted while washing my dishes and noticed a sunflower blooming outside :) i'll get back to work now :)

At PICNIK you can have fun editing your pictures. I thought this flower looked like it was playing peekaboo ;)

. . . always believe the best in everyone - it's so much easier than trying to figure everyone out.

Tidbits about my week: Craving a whatCHAmaCALLit currently my favorite candy bar :) i really, really, dislike swim suit shopping, reading Anne of Green Gables, swimming at the lake, lunch at the park, yard work, picking lots of raspberries, blowing bubbles, riding bikes, playing in the sprinklers, notice that i have not mentioned laundry or cleaning :) Today i need to do some house work.

Here is another little tidbit i learned on Tuesday. Our Relief Society had a Hawaiian themed dinner and i wanted to wear a flower necklace and put a flower behind my ear and my husband informed me that there is a certain side to wear your flower. I looked it up, placing a flower behind your right ear means you are single and available and putting a flower behind your left ear means you are married :) I happily placed the flower behind my left ear with a bobbie pin, fun fun, i did not know the secret code. Who knew that? And a good way to remember that, is if you are married and have a ring on your left finger you put the flower behind your left ear :)

Have a GREAT day!

Feeling Crafty?

You can buy pressed flowers at a craft store or you can press your own! I would like to frame the letters of Penny's name in a frame and put it in her room.

This would be great for a gift idea.

B. inspired!

50 % Mommy

50% Daddy

Equals Penny - 100% perfect :)

A fun activity to do with your kids

MONKEY FINGER PUPPETS:

The Monkey & The Crocodile

5,4,3,2 little monkeys swinging in a tree Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can’t catch me!"Along comes Mr. Crocodile, jaws open wide and snap. 1 little monkey deep inside.

1 little monkey swinging in a tree Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can’t catch me!"Along comes Mr. Crocodile, jaws open wide and snap."You missed me, you missed me! Na na na na na!"

The kids had a great time with this activity! They loved being caught by the mommy crocodile :)

HAVE FUN!

Here is another GREAT IDEA found at supermom central blog she made a super de-duper Tee-shirt cape for her little boy! My kids love being super heroes! I am going to make some today and then they can watch the cartoon 'Super Heroes' and not have to wear my dish towels for capes ;)

Super "D" to the rescue!!!!

. . .take time to 'take pictures of' the flowers . . .

a bit of sunshine to brighten your day

the petite and elegant pansie

i LOVE the scent of sweet lavendar

a bit of country in my backyard

"Take Time to Smell The Flowers"

Joyful simplicities for July

• Have a picnic
• Hang and wave the American Flag
• Pick fresh raspberries and strawberries from your garden
• Enjoy an early morning outside
• Go to the lake
• Read a good book
• STAR GAZE Find a new star to wish upon

. . . a few of my favorite things to do for this lovely month of July. . .

The evening of the 4th of July

A beautiful sunset at Lake Lowell

Chillin' and throwing pops on the water dock.

Sparklers ( you can't tell in this picture but Dallin insisted on wearing snowman socks with his cowboy boots and PJ's. What a Kid!

Went back home and watched our neighbors light fireworks. They had a lot! No need to watch them some where else. Penny once again fast asleep as soon as she sat down on my lap. Penny has my genes of being able to fall asleep while watching loud fire works. If you're tired there is no keeping you awake.

We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!

The Fourth of July

The kids played hard ALL day long! They had fun with the chalk outside, they had a water fight, they had a good 'ol time running around in there underwear, riding bikes. The fourth was just a simple day but full of moments that you don't ever want to forget. I love seeing my kids play together, giggling and just loving every moment of being care free!

We took the kids to a small town parade! We sat down at the end of the parade and the kids were in a candy rain storm! They had baggies full of sweets. Yikes!


After the parade we went to an open house of a beautiful country home! The home was on a 1.9 acre lot. We like the IDEA of living a country life but that is as far as it will ever come. We want to live closer to schools,work and shops etc. It is always fun to look. Dallin had a fun adventure of finding a frog and trying to pick it up. He thought that was pretty neat. We met some nice people, enjoyed free hot dogs and water. Then we headed back home and Penny was fast asleep as soon as she sat down, dreaming of lots of sweet things i'm sure!