How to make roses from maple leaves

I was looking up Halloween toys and came across this tutorial. Looks really cool. Now where can I get a bunch of maple leaves???

How to make roses from maple leaves

Shared via AddThis

Peachy

I got some peaches from a lady in my ward and I decided to do some more canning. Peaches are easy to do. But I did have three burners going for like hours it seemed like. I was boiling by the time I got done.

I got 7 bottles of peaches, 3 trays of fruit leather, lots of peaches to just eat and a really yummy PIE! My first peach pie! It was way good. Thanks Becky for the suggestion.

I love adding to my food storage.

Ranch anyone

This title makes it sound like a post about my families Ranch in southern Utah but no it's about the different kind of Ranch.

kathryn LOVES Ranch Dressing!! It's been on her mind all week at bed time. She doesn't want to go to bed without her nightly dose of Ranch dressing. The first night I gave her Ranch with Green Beans. I can't just let her eat ranch thats weird. The next time I gave her the rest of the pizza she didn't eat with Ranch. Silly girl. And tonight she was crying for it but she had ranch for dinner with her pasta so I thought that was good enough.

I guess I should have known as a few weeks ago Matt and I went to Native New Yorker for Wings and kathryn got her straw from the lemonade and was drinking the ranch dressing. Then that wasn't enough she picked up the little cup of ranch and drank it like a cup.

I remember growing up Ranch being my favorite condiment too but that was when I was older and knew it tasted good on potatoes, french fries...

Well anyway I have a Ranch lover! I guess it could be worse she could be craving musturd... EEWWWEEE!!!

Domestic again

I've been domestic again.

We went to Snowflake for the long weekend, my birthday, and to see one of my foreign exchange students. I didn't make it to Eager this weekend. We had a good time. It rained on Friday and was quite cold. Then Saturday we all went up to Showlow to go bowling but the wait was like an hour so the Parana's and us went to the fish hatchery while Brian and Julie and family went shopping. The road to the actual hatchery was closed so we decided to walk along the little stream. It was so pretty. Kathryn wanted to be in the water the whole time and finally at the end I let her put her feet in. We saw the beginning of a river. The stream we walked along starts next to the hatchery coming out of the rocks and then actually makes it to the Little Colorado. It was neat to see the beginning of a river. A worker for Game and Fish came up while we were there and we got to see him feed the fish. That was crazy. These fish looked like they must be starving. Then he gave us a ride back to the car. I was actually grateful for the ride. It was quite the walk.

That night we went to Brian and Julies and watched Ink Heart on their Big Screen. I thought it was a great movie. Oh yes you can't go and visit Mick without getting a root beer float smoothie!

On Sunday I wore my shirt I made and Grandma Weir was so impressed. She told everyone we sat next how talented I was. I like to impress the in-laws. We had my birthday dinner together at Brian's. I made Chicken, bacon, Tortellini, and Brian had made BBQ chicken, potatoes and broccoli. It was a nice dinner. After that we went to the grandparents for cake and ice cream. and Games! I am now the big two nine. We played Uno. Brian and Matthew Lost!! Chelsea Won!! Dallin was mean to Carolina giving her all the bad cards he could.

I learned a new game that Brian got called Keat. It is a laser light game trying to kill the Pharaoh. It was a cool game. That will have to be the next game Matthew and I invest in.

To the Domestic part

On Monday Mick let me pick all the tomatoes I could and green beans. I got two big bags of green beans and a huge box full of tomatoes. I told them I was going to can them. And I sure did!

On Tuesday I canned the green beans. I borrowed Shelley's pressure canner and set to work. It was fun. I got 6 pints out of the two bags I had.

Today I did the tomatoes. I was going to do it at Rachel's but I never got a call back so I decided to do it on my own. I peeled the tomatoes using the Hot Cold water method then packed them in jars. I got 10 quarts of whole tomatoes and 4 pints of salsa.

Look at this I even reused a jar I already had.

It is such a gratifying feeling to have accomplished so much. All on my own. I have been relying on Rachel's expertise to long I guess. Next week I'm doing peaches. If anyone wants to come help I'd love to show you how to do it and then you get to take some home to add to your storage as well.

Added to my food storage

10 qts of tomatoes

4 pints of salsa

4 pints of green beans.

Priceless!

The trip home was like 2 hours longer cause of holiday traffic. Kathryn fell asleep with the book on her face. Matthew said she's learning fast. Learning by Osmosis already!

3 years Down, Eternity to go!

Matthew and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the 1st. We went to lunch at the place we had catered for our wedding luncheon. Niros Gyros. So yummy and they even gave us complimentry Baclava.

Then for our date we decided to go cheap and got dinner at the food court at the mall and then saw the Tuesday night special at the $1.00 theatre. We saw Terminator! Not your idea of a romantic date night huh! Well we decided we'd save up for a big nice anniversery for our 5th year together.

I'm so happy Matthew and I are together. We compliment each other in so many ways. And we made the most beautiful baby together! I can't wait for the next years to come and for the adventures we will have.

I love you Matthew!

New Creation

I made a new shirt last week. I got to wear it to church on Sunday. I love it. Thanks to Becky for the pattern and idea. It didn't turn out right at first but with a added ruffle and some smocking on the sleeves I have an awesome new shirt. I love making things. It's so much fun to see things come together at the end.

Kathryn is wearing her new dress I made for her and I'm wearing my new shirt. All I need is a new skirt to go with this shirt and we'll be totally homemade!!

Snowflake - Student Orientation

I went to Snowflake and stayed with Matthew's parents without Matthew 2 weeks ago. It was so much fun. I love going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Weir. Especially in the summer! We actually spent a lot of time outside. So nice except for the mosquitoes and the skunk that was around somewhere. Anyway I went up on a Thursday afternoon after dropping off Damien at Rachel's.

Kathryn did so well on the car ride. She slept until Payson and then was up the rest of the time. Just jabbering at me and making faces and reading books. I love that she reads books in the car.

I got to help Grandma make and bottle salsa while everyone was at school. We got some of the tomatoes from their Garden and some of the peppers. Mick has the best garden.

The reason for the visit was for my foreign exchange students. They all, 4 in the white mountains needed their student orientation. So on Saturday I took Carolina and Alex, staying in Showlow up to Eager to the Whitmore's for the orientation. It was so fun to get to talk to these two for two whole hours. Both are from Spanish speaking countries. Carolina from Mexico City and Alex from Venezuela. It was interesting the differences and the things they liked or thought was weird.

#1 they both had maids to do everything for them

#2 They both think it is better to where a uniform for school

#3 they think it is weird or that we Americans are so separated that we don't touch each other. Not even a hand shake when it is custom to greet everyone with a kiss on the cheek.

( I think we should do more of #3)

#4 They both said they liked the small town atmosphere.

So far I think all of the kids are having a great time. I will be going up again in a few weeks. and They should all be planning on going to the San Fransisco trip in October! I so will be there if it's possible!

I love getting to know about these other cultures. I hope next time I can spend a little more time with Rike from Germany and learn more about her and her culture. Since I get the 2 hour car ride with these other two it was like I didn't even get to talk with her. Next time perhaps!

Last but not least I got to visit with my good friends Michelle and Justin. They are in Pinetop/Lakeside. They came up to a park in Snowflake for the afternoon and I got to go visit with them for awhile. It was so nice to see them! I miss them so much but now I have a good reason to be up in their area while they are still in the cold country!

Watching a 4 year old

A few weeks ago I got to watch my nephew Damien for my sister. Melissa finally got to go on a honey moon with Stefan. They went to Cali for a week. I got Damien for 2 days and then he was off to another sisters house for 2 days and then to Grandma's for two days. Here is what we did, all in 2 days!!

First off we got ready and went to the Mesa Youth Museum. I got tickets again from the Culture passes. So we spent all morning playing at the museum. It had a monster exhibit that I totally loved but Kathryn and Damien were not so fond of that part of the museum.

After the museum we made our first fort in our front room. They had a lot of fun in this and it reminded me of the good ol days of my fort making days. Kathryn didn't know to duck when under the fort so I had to fix it a lot but they had fun anyway

I made pizza rolls for my Visiting teachy. Kat just had her 6th baby. I have grown to LOVE these pizza rolls. They are amazing! Recipe coming soon.

The next day I went with Becky and Amber and kids to a splash pad in Tempe. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast. These seriously are the best invention EVER!

We had to get the bounce house out for the end of it. Damien had more fun on this then I think he had on all our other fun activities.

It was fun to have a boy around. Well some of the time. I'm not used to having little boys in my bathroom. (if you know what I mean) Damien was fun to have around. With his incessant talking. It made me think about what it's going to be like when Kathryn is older and talking my ear off. Everything is gradual right. I don't have to be thrown into this!

I'm so thankful for families.