Stier Family

Crazy Good Coconut Cookies

2011-12-20T10:06:00.004-07:00

I love coconut. Like a whole, whole lot. These cookies are so chock full of delicious coconut goodness that it's hard not to eat them all until I burst.

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C White sugar

1/2 C Brown sugar

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/4 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking soda

1 1/3 C Flaked coconut

Directions:

Put butter, sugars and vanilla in a bowl and mix until creamy. Add egg and continue mixing. Add dry ingredients and combine until well mixed.

Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

This recipe makes a flat chewy cookie. It's super yummy and makes me think of tropical warm beaches. Perfect for a cold winter's day!

Great Grandma's Chewy Gingersnaps

2011-12-13T10:38:00.009-07:00

I'm not going to lie. These are my favorite cookies this winter. My Great-Grandma Pfeifer made my mom these cookies when she was a girl, my mom made them for me and now I make them and eat them all by myself because I love them too much to share with my children. Not really, my kids love them too!

They make a chewy cookie with a little bit of a crust on top. Did I mention that I love them. Maybe you will too. They sure make your house sell Christmassy and yummy!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C whole wheat flour

2 1/2 C white flour

1 C butter - softened

1 C sugar

1 large egg

2 T cider vinegar

1 C molasses

1/2 C milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 T ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

Add sugar and butter together, mix well. Add egg, vinegar, molasses and milk and cream all wet ingredients until fluffy.

Sift dry ingredients together. Then add to wet ingredients.

Chill for at least an hour. Scoop balls of dough out and roll in sugar before putting on ungreased cookie sheet. Cook 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on racks or brown paper bag. Enjoy!

A few recipe notes...

The last batch I made, I did not have any whole wheat flour, ground ginger or ground cloves. I made them anyway. So I used 5 cups of white flour instead of the whole wheat and white flour combination listed above. Instead of ground ginger, I took my wrasp and grated about 1 tsp of fresh ginger. Instead of ground cloves, I used 1/2 tsp of allspice. They turned out delicious.

When my mom would make them, she would first grease her cookie sheets, then put the dough balls on the directly on the them. She would take a glass that had a pretty cut pattern and dip it in sugar and then squish the balls down with the sugar coated glass. These made for pretty cookies, but I think my way makes for more chewy cookies. If you flatten them first they will be more crunchy. So if you are a fan of crunchy cookies smash them first. If you are like me and like them to be chewy with a crunchy surface just roll the balls in sugar and put directly on an ungreased cookie sheet prior to baking. You don't need to grease your cookie sheet as the sugar will help them not stick.

Also, if you would like a molasses cookie instead of a gingersnap, just leave out the ginger and they are still divine!

The most important thing?

Eat lots of them. Dip them in milk and enjoy!

Maybe tomorrow I'll share Ben's favorite cookie this year; Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie.

Merry Christmas!

Knights, Ben and Baseball

2011-10-25T08:46:00.007-06:00

Ben & Ben's show is going to be airing on National Geographic Channel in under 30 days; November 15th to be exact! Nat Geo has started an advertising campaign and we are going to start seeing ads pop up. We saw one behind home plate in the 5th World Series game last night. It was so exciting. It's getting to be a reality!!

So I was looking through some old photos and found this shot of my handsome husband. He hates when I post photos of him, but I'm rebelling and posting it anyway. He's so cute! I'm so proud of him. He is a really great husband and a fantastic father to our babies. I hit the jackpot the day he walked into my life! I love this guy!

Yellow

2011-10-17T12:52:00.004-06:00

Mag's favorite color is yellow. He wanted to paint his bike yellow so he went ahead with that project (with my blessing). Then when he was done, he decided he didn't want a brown doggie, he wanted a yellow doggie. Next he decided he wanted to be yellow too. It was a very yellow day!

Mr. Waffles; Our New Family Member

2011-06-02T23:58:00.003-06:00

So we got a dog. It just happened. Kind of by default. He had three previous homes and they just didn't work out. We were going to take care of him for a few weeks before we brought him to California to a new home but now he's staying here in Utah with us. He's an adorable and sweet little dachshund and we have named him Mr. Waffles. He's kind of warry of strangers and is afraid of basketballs but for the most part he's quiet and good. We're still working on housebreaking him. He'll get it soon.

This is my very first dog experience. Ever. It's a bit different than a cat. That's for sure!

Eva Marie LOVES to hold his leash. Loves, loves, love it.

This is one of my favorite things about a dog.

A Year Gone By

2011-06-02T23:28:00.006-06:00

Eva Marie and Miles turned one! How did time fly by so fast? Here are a ton of photos from the birthday fiesta.We finally gave up on whacking the pinata and just let the kids tear it apart. They loved it!

Uly and his loot!

Eva Marie is eating the gum drop out the center of this sombrero cookie. The cookies were a hit. I love that in my family the licorice flavored gum drop cookies were the most popular!

The recipe is one that I really liked. It's my new favorite sugar cookie recipe. I have made it a few times since the birthday party.

Cake is good on a plate so why wouldn't the plate be tasty too?

Birthday cake!!!!! Eva Marie learned a new cake eating tactic from Miles.
Perhaps she feels threatened? Your cake is safe, baby. It is all for you!

Eva Marie's first experience with a lollypop. She loved it.

Such a handsome little guy! It's so fun that these little ones share a birthday.

Fruit Salad... Yummy! Yummy!

Decorations...

Baby + Dirt = True Love

2011-04-18T12:56:00.004-06:00

Eva Marie loves playing in the dirt. She squishes it. She smells it. She tastes it. She rubs it on things. She loves dirt.

I Love Sewing

2011-02-16T18:33:00.009-07:00

I think I need to print this out and hang in my sewing area. I made it using a vintage sewing machine and the 2011 Pantone palette for women's fashion. It might be a good reminder.

If anyone wants a copy you can download a pdf here

Addendum:
Here is a knitting version for you, Cutzi. :)
I am having trouble with how it looks in Google Docs. The heart looks mottled to me which I can't understand because it doesn't look mottled on my computer. If you download it and it does look mottled to you, I can email you a copy that shouldn't look like that.

A New Year

2011-02-02T19:25:00.016-07:00

I have really been so bad at blogging lately, it is not even funny! I pretty much gave up on MomShots. It ran its course. I'm kind of sad about it but I have way more pressing things on my brain.

My latest photography related project is a photo a day for a year. I did really well for the month of January and am excited to keep going. The goal is to help me learn to be more creative and be better at photography in general. It has been fun. Some days I have a harder time than others but I really see the benefit of keeping up with this massive project.

I am blogging each entry on the Active Artist Network. Which in itself is fun because it makes me feel like an actual artist instead of a person who just pretends to be, which is what I have always told people when they asked me if I was an artist. I like that.

The kids are growing so much. Ulysses just turned 7. We went to Pirate Island Pizza and had a little party with the McPhersons. It was fun and Uly enjoyed it. That's the important thing.

Ben's been really busy. They sold the Knights of Mayhem show to the National Geographic Channel and shooting is starting this week, I believe. He's not doing the shooting so he can work on other projects. There are other projects in the works and we are hoping and praying that something starts sending some cash our way because we are out of it again. That's the way of self employment, for now.

Ben and I are working hard on counting calories and exercising. We really want to make 2011 the year we lose our weight and get back in shape. It has been fun. Plus we are seeing progress. Ben's lost about 17 pounds and I, 16 since we first started. That's encouraging.

We had a houseful at Christmas and after. That was wonderful. We really miss living near our family. It is always fantastic when they visit. It's always much too short.

That's what is happening for now. Good stuff. Normal stuff. Not very eventful and that's good.

Here are a few photos from the past month or so.

Eva Marie and Great Grandma. They are both in their jammies and I'm sure Frannie would not like me to post this online because of that but I think it is just so sweet. I hope she'll forgive me if she ever sees it.

We have been spending a lot of time going out into the desert and going shooting. It is a favorite family pasttime and one that I am sure will continue to be a favorite for the rest of our lives. That's hard to avoid when you have four boys in your family! Here is Uly shooting the .22, which he is getting very good at. The whole using the sites to aim clicked last time we went and he shot five targets right in a row. That's my boy!

Mag dressed as a robot.

Uly & Gar sticking out their tongues and touching their noses.

Gar & Mag hugging. When Uly is at school, Gar & Mag can either be the best of friends... most days.

Ben & Gar. Dad's phone is the coolest. Aren't they handsome?

My favorite little pirate.

Eva Marie and her favorite toys.

More brotherly love; Ulysses & Garland.

Lavender licking Space Dust aka Cheeto cheese off her face.

Well that's about it. Of course there are a million more photos just dying to be put online but they probably won't ever see the light of day. That's what happens when momma is a photo taking fool!

Christmas Countdown a.k.a. Our Advent(ure)

2010-12-01T11:10:00.008-07:00

A few years ago The Best Mother in Law in the World gave us a beautiful Christmas countdown house. It is absolutely adorable and will be a treasured decoration for years to come. Especially now that I decided to do a Christ centered countdown instead of a candy centered countdown. My kids won't be playing with it when my back is turned (or at least that is what I am hoping). Last year I tried the candy thing and after a few days of it being up, the kids broke off the Santa. Thank goodness for superglue! I'm hoping to avoid that kind of destruction in the future.

I have been thinking about this Christmas countdown for a few weeks and finally found a countdown that I liked well enough to use. I wanted an LDS theologic base and activities for my kids to do. Google introduced me to an old issue of The Friend from 2000 that had a great countdown. You read a few verses of scripture and then do the activity for that day. So instead of creating my own, I decided to use this one since it met all of my needs. I am not doing the nativity puzzle although that is a cute idea too.

I updated it with the current Prophet's name and included all of the scripture verses listed so we can read them directly off the paper. Then I printed out the list and cut into strips, rolled or folded them up and stuffed them into each day's box on the Christmas countdown house.

I think it will be a big hit and also be a great way to bring the Spirit and focus on Christ a little more frequently in our house. I am looking forward to tonight's first little door opening.

If you also want to do this with your family, I made a PDF that you can download here.

The Great Pumpkin Experiment

2010-11-15T16:30:00.005-07:00

I am just going to come out and say it; I am not a fan of pumpkin pie. I have yet to take a bite of pumpkin pie and be wowed by the deliciousness. I would rather eat a cherry pie any day. You may have noticed that my feelings toward it has not ever stopped me from eating it. It IS pie, after all. Who says no to pie?!?

So with this being the case, I have not really been big on pumpkin. I love the orange skin and the fun that can be had by carving them. I love the feeling of squishing pumpkin guts between my fingers. I have not been big on eating pumpkin...

until this year.

I went to the grocery store with Magnus and he found these adorable little pie pumpkins and so we got one for each kid. They have been sitting on the table or on countertops since, as decoration. It was time to either use them up or throw them out.

I chose to use them. I chopped them up with a serrated knife into large chunks and scooped out the guts. I put them in a large microwavable bowl, added a half inch or so of water, covered and cooked for 10 minutes. Then I put them in a collander to cool for a few minutes. When they were cool enough so that I didn't run screaming from the kitchen when I touched them, I peeled off the skin and put all the soft flesh into a bowl. Next I got to use my potato masher and squish the soft flesh into a puree'. Easy and fun.

Now that I had this big bowl of pumpkin goop I had to find a use for it. This has proven very easy, fun and delicious!

We are big porridge eaters at our house. That could be an insult except that it is just too yummy. I decided to add some pumpkin to our porridge one morning.

Pumpkin Cornmeal Porridge
4 C Water
1 C Cornmeal
1/2 C Pumpkin puree'
1 C Sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 Eggs
1/2 tsp Salt

Put water, salt and cornmeal into a pot and bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally with a whisk to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan and clumping. Reduce heat to medium low heat. Add pumpkin and sugar. Put a lid on the pot and let the porridge cook down until it is the consistency of nice oatmeal. I like mine kind of thick. I think it is less messy that way. At this point turn off the heat and add the eggs and spices then whisk until the eggs are fully inorporated and your porridge has a nice custard consistency. Usually the heat of the porridge is enough to cook the eggs but if yours are still slimy turn the heat on and make sure they get cooked. If you whisk the eggs in well you won't even know that eggs were included. It's my little secret porridge ingredient, adding protein and a great consistency.

Scoop into bowls and enjoy. Add nuts, raisins, cream or butter. Enjoy!

Another recipe that I think is a fun use of pumpkin is in brownies or cake. You can replace the oil in any brownie or cake recipe with pumpkin and it is delicious. I am out of cocoa powder but have some Nestle Quick powder mix and found a recipe for brownies here. I changed that recipe to this one. It was a hit. In fact, I'm pretty sure we are eating this for dinner tonight. It's got whole grains and a vegetable so that's OK, right? :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies
1 1/3 C Whole Wheat flour
1 Cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 C double chocolate-flavor Nestle Nesquik powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Cup Pumpkin puree'
1/4 C water
2 large eggs

3/4 C Almonds
3/4 C Pecans

Mix well and pour into 9x13 baking dish. Pulverize the nuts in the blender or food processor and spread over top. Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes.

My kids devoured it.

What do you like to do with pumpkin? Any favorite recipes?

Give Thanks

2010-11-14T23:44:00.004-07:00

I need to focus on giving thanks more often. All the time. Today in Relief Society a sister was talking about giving thanks with every breath we breathe and with every fiber of our being.

I love that.

I have moments of giving thanks. Every night at dinner we have been discussing things we are thankful for. Ulysses has been reminding me on nights that I forget (like tonight).

We have been discussing being thankful for things like our teeth, feet, each other, Jesus Christ, cars, Daddy, forks, thumbs and fingers, robots, imagination, school, warm houses, windows.

It is so fun to discuss why we are thankful for these things. It seems to bring an awareness of everyday objects in our world to my children. To me too.

I need to give thanks more often. I need to breathe thankfulness. Especially right now. Some days it is really hard to have Ben working so hard and away from home so frequently. It's not something I can really vocalize. I support him and want to encourage him to pursue the career that brings him so much joy and love that he has been able to support us. But sometimes I feel very alone living here in Utah. I am tired of struggling and miss the days of living in San Diego where we had health insurance, a beach within 10 minutes and friends and family so near. I have no beef against Utah. I just don't like that alone feeling.

I am thankful for the beautiful seasons in Utah. I enjoy that immensely. San Diego doesn't have that.

Today is one of those days. There is no particular reason. I just am having a hard time being patient, loving or even caring about things that need to be cared about. I'm sure its hormones. It'll pass. Whatever.

I want to print this image and put on a notebook. I am going to try to do that tomorrow. I was thinking that it would be a fun visiting teaching gift. Which is actually laughable since I am the world's least diligent visiting teacher. I could go off on a rant about visiting teaching but I will exercise restraint right now. Let's just say that I need to think really hard about it to find something to be thankful for.

Oh! I got it. I'm thankful for visiting teaching because it gave me a chance to make this notebook cover.

Ok. I have to stop typing because I keep deleting the things I am writing. I try not to complain to other people. Maybe by writing a blog post it will send my thoughts both written and unwritten off into the ethers of the Internet and I'll feel better. I better hit the publish button quickly!

Simple Woman's Daybook Early October

2010-10-06T10:09:00.009-06:00

My Simple Woman's Daybook entry is inspired by this wonderful site.

FOR TODAY; October 6, 2010

Outside my window...
Is my weed ridden back yard. I would very much like to replace the weeds with grass in the near future. I had a contractor give my a bid but Ben thinks he can do the work for a whole lot less. I know he could, but will he? He's so busy. It's really hard for him to find time to do anything around the house.
I am thinking...
That I really need to find someplace to drop of Mag and Gar this afternoon. Uly has his appointment to get his cast on his broken arm and I don't want to bring all the kids. I am having a hard time finding someone. I could sure use Olea right about now! Oh well...
I am thankful for...
That Uly needs more fiber in his diet instead of an appendectomy. He woke up in major pain last night so I ended up taking him to the ER. Again. We did this back in December 2009. We thought it was probably the same thing, trapped gas, but there's always that slim chance that if you don't act then is turns out to be something serious. Grrrr. Three hours at the hospital in the middle of the night makes for a very tired momma!
From the learning rooms...
I am trying to fit Kindergarten worksheets into Gar's days. He loves doing them. I need to make them more of a priority. I am also trying to read with Uly more. He is such a good reader, it surprises me. I think he'll be reading chapter books by the end of the school year. I need to help him practice so we can reach that goal.
From the kitchen...
I was feeling bummed out yesterday morning so instead of doing something healthy or productive, I baked. I made a pumpkin spice cake. It was amazing. There is only a few pieces left. I can't do much with beef, chicken or pork, but I can sure spice up a cake!
I am wearing...
Sloppy pajama clothes. Ben's big In-n-Out t-shirt and some stretch pants. I am thinking I'll take a shower and get dressed here in a bit. I think I'll wear my maternity Gap jeans and one of the new blouses I bought at the Gap a few days ago. I'm a Gap billboard. I have to take in the shirts in the lower armscye and/or put a dart in the bust area. The fit is a little off but I think I can fix them so that they look OK and are comfortable still.
I am creating...
Halloween decorations. I have two ideas that I'm mulling around. A garland using halloween themes clip art from my new favorite graphics site, the Graphics Fairy. I also like these two ideas: Spirit Jugs and the House o'Lantern. Our house is set back from the road and I am thinking I need some kind of inviting project so that trick or treaters will know to come down our driveway. I also need to start thinking about and working on costumes for the kids.
I am going...
Crazy.
Today I am taking Uly to the orthopedic surgeon to get his cast on. This doctor seems to be much better than the one Gar and I went to. This is Dr. Callahan and he is actually doing something. Dr. MacArther didn't straighten Gar's arm and it is still a bit bent. He says that Gar will grow into it but I'm not sure. I feel like I paid a whole bunch of money for him to not do a thing.
I am reading...
Ulysses by James Joyce. After a while I feel like I finally got the hang of how it is written but it is still taking me a very long time to read. I am reading it in little nibbles. It's on my phone. I love being able to read books on my phone. It is very convenient. I really don't miss turning pages or holding the book. I love having my book with me at all times and not having to remember where an extra item is.
I am hoping...
That I can stay cheerful and happy with my kids today. I am also hoping I can find somewhere to dump my two craziest boys for a couple of hours. Maybe Kristina can help me. I hate to ask her. She has her hands full already. My babysitter girls are all busy tonight. Maybe my visiting teachers. I don't know. I wish my kids could just be well behaved so I didn't have to worry about this!
I am hearing...
Eva Marie grunting and making guttural noises at her fingers. She just sneezed. Cute little sneezes.
Around the house...
Things are mostly clean and mostly tidy. I feel like I'm doing a better job of being on top of that than I was. Some days are better than others.
The family room upstairs is littered in Kleenex. I don't want to see how bad it is. Mag grabbed a box of tissues and took it upstairs. Then he proceeded to pull many of them out and throw them around. He didn't make it through the whole box, thankfully.
One of my favorite things...
Is sitting on my bed and reading blogs that inspire me to make more projects. They also inspire me to blog more but I don't listen to that inspiration.
I have been thinking about blogging a lot lately. I loved working on MomShots but I can't make it fit into my life right now. It's kind of depressing. I had so many fantastic ideas for that site when I first started it but due to my lack of knowledge and lack of funds none of those ideas really got off the ground. Now there are other photography sites that have since sprung up that do exactly what I originally intended. It kind of leaves me feeling deflated and not inspired to work on MomShots. I really needed a partner for this project. I think it originally had a lot of potential. Now it's just tired. Another one of my projects uncompleted. Maybe it is complete. It is time to move on though, me thinks.
A few plans for the rest of the week:
Figure out some outfit for the kids to wear so I can take their picture for Christmas.
Work on Halloween costumes and decorations.
Get more exercise.
Smile more.
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

I wish it were in more in focus. I really need to focus (pun intended) on that more.

Four Months

2010-09-23T10:36:00.010-06:00

Eva Marie is growing up so fast. She's laughing, cooing, grabbing her toes and is such a joy to our family. She is a fantastic sleeper and can actually sleep in her own bed (unlike some certain brothers of hers). She wakes up at night to be fed around 5 in the morning but goes right back to sleep and stays that way until about 9:30. She could not possibly be a better baby.

Handsome Boy...

2010-09-21T09:13:00.002-06:00

He's my handsome boy.

He's the best husband I could ever have dreamed of. I sure love this guy!

The Simple Woman's Day Book: September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T08:52:00.003-06:00

September 13, 2010.

Outside my window... Is a wonderful view of the mountains of Pleasant Grove. I can see the G monument on Little Mountain. We climbed the mountain yesterday and almost made it all the way to the top. It was a lot of fun but kind of scary coming down.
I am thinking... About trying to be organized and motivated. Trying to find the time to create, rest, clean and give all my babies the attention and love they need.
I am thankful for... A husband who follows his dreams. I am thankful for happy children.
From the learning rooms... We need to begin our preschool activities. I am going to try to help Gar with one workbook page today, read Gar and Mag a story and go for an exploring walk.
From the kitchen... We ate a couple of delicious peaches and one super yummy pear for breakfast. Mag and I picked them off the ground as we walked home from taking Uly to the bus stop. I am thinking of trying to germinate the seeds and put them in pots. They have to sit in the fridge for a few months so I don't know if I will remember or if I will lose interest. But oh so yummy! Also, Gar and Mag were pretending that they were frogs. They each had a bowl of flies in milk for breakfast (coco pebbles). It was fun. I love the imagination in these little heads!
I am wearing... Comfy clothes; maternity knit pants that I cut off the extra waist fabric, a magenta t-shirt (that was a long sleeve shirt yesterday until I cut of the long sleeves) and a magenta and red striped hoodie sweater. My Chocos too.
I am creating... I have a list of sewing projects that I want to complete this week. It includes three skirts and an apron with matching pot holders. I copied the pattern of Olea's Korean apron and am making it out of an old cream with red paisleys sheet. I want to make matching pot holders and give them to Olea for a house warming present. I also want to make a Halloween wreath for my front door or wall. You take a picture frame, put some dried twigs in it and paint it all black. Then hang it with a black ribbon. I need to make it. I have been thinking about it for about two weeks.
I am reading... The Art of Homemaking by Daryl V. Hoole. So good! So inspirational. I need to buy my own copy of this book so I can give it back to my sister in law, Katie.
I am hoping... To lose a few more pounds by the end of the week. I am planning on running every day this week and also punching the bag and doing some other exercises every day, Monday through Friday. I am almost out of this pants size and would like to just hurry up and cross over the size threshold!
I am hearing... SuperWhy on PBS. It's a great kids show. I like it and Gar and Mag seem to like it too.
Around the house... The house is mostly in order. I need to go around and pick things up, do the dishes and take care of a mountain of clean clothes. I love washing clothes but HATE folding and putting them away. It's so tedious.
One of my favorite things... Is snuggling with my new baby. Babies are the best snugglers in the world. It also helps that they are so cute!
A few plans for the rest of the week... Sewing. Folding. Exercising.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing... These are pickles I made last week. I still need to figure out what to do with a giant zucchini I have. Should I make relish? Should I just grate up and freeze? Probably freeze. Maybe I will make half a batch of relish too. I don't know.

The Business of Being a Stay at Home Mom

2010-09-02T13:22:00.002-06:00

Sometimes it is really, really, really, really hard to get motivated to do any of the "mom" jobs around the house. All I want to do is hang out with these cuties.

Some days I just want to sell them to the gypsies. But not today! I just want to snuggle and ignore the laundry, ignore the fingerprints on the windows, ignore the smudges on the floor. Today is the best kind of stay at home mom day.

Grade 1, Day 1

2010-09-01T11:35:00.003-06:00

Bang! Bang! Bang!

2010-08-30T00:40:00.004-06:00

This has been our current favorite family activity lately. Every spare moment that we have all together (which are very few as of late) we gather the kids and go out to the West side of Utah Lake and go shooting. One of our favorite things about living in Utah is the abundance of public land. You are never very far from public land in which you can camp or shoot. I just hope we can take advantage of that often.

Here are all the boys shooting the Mossburg 12 guage, with a little help from their dad.

Eva Marie Ann

2010-07-21T08:35:00.007-06:00

Sunday the 18th, was the day that Ben gave Eva Marie Ann Stier her baby blessing. It was a beautifully warm summer day filled with many family and friends. We had a wonderful time celebrating this new little member of our family. Ben did a great job with the blessing (like usual - he's a pro!). Sacrament meeting was especially nice as well. There was a return missionary speaking and he had some really great things to say.

A few hi-lights from his talk were that people in Brazil use the word Blessing instead of how we use the word Luck. So instead of saying how lucky we are to have this wonderful new baby in our lives, I would say how blessed we are to have her in our lives. I really like this and am going to try to abolish the word Luck from my vocabulary and use Bless instead.

Another comment that he made was about the Plan of Salvation. He said that each of us has our own Plan of Salvation to return to our Heavenly Father. It is an individualized plan formulated for our individual needs and experiences. I liked how he put that because it really centers around the fact that Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of us individually.

After the great Sacrament Meeting we returned to our house and proceeded to eat a fantastic spread. BBQ pork, BBQ baked beans, coleslaw, rolls, smoked salmon, pasta salad, potato salad, pickled beets and cucumbers made by Aunt Pam and a few dessert breads. Then we had a super yummy carrot cake and homemade strawberry ice cream. So yummy!!!!!!! Everything was just delicious.

Here are a few photos of Eva Marie on her big day.

Eva Marie with Papa.

With Great Grandma Allen. It was such a blessing that she could be there for this special day. The circumstances of her being in Utah were not so happy as she was down for her sister's funeral but we were happy to have her with us on Sunday.

The little princess in her beautiful dress.

With me.

Hanging with daddy.

Diet Schmiet!

2010-07-14T09:36:00.007-06:00

Making this delicious coffee cake with Number 1 Helper, Magnus and enjoying gobbling it up with all my boys was a whole lot more fun than sticking to my diet.

Since I can't just cook a recipe the way it is written out, I had to add a bit of quick cooking oats an extra egg and a 1/2 Cup of dry milk. Next time I make it, I want to add a dollop (maybe 1/4 Cup) of applesauce. It was a tiny bit on the dry side. Just a tiny bit. But oh so yummy!

Summer Fun

2010-07-10T04:13:00.008-06:00

This is a double post since I just put these up on MomShots. These are some photos from the past couple of weeks. They include a couple from the 4th (actually the 3rd this year in Utah), the Pleasant Grove carnival in celebration of Strawberry Days and a little cookie making extravaganza.

3rd of July

2010-07-05T13:07:00.011-06:00

We live in Utah. No surprise there.

In Utah when a holiday like the 4th of July or Halloween fall on a Sunday then the community celebrates it on the Saturday before. It is kind of fun because then you get an entire weekend of festivities.

That was my surprise.

Ben has been working so hard on all of his projects that we couldn't get away to go up to my family Walker family reunion this year (which we celebrate over the 4th weekend) so we stayed close to home and had a fun little time. We went to Ben and Kristina's house for a little BBQ. Sarah and Kala'i were there with there kids too.

Good food. Good folks. Good fun.

After eating, we all left their house and found an empty parking lot behind the Highland high school to put on our own mini pyrotechnics display. They kids loved it. They thought they were in heaven.

My favorite picture of the night was this one of Gar holding a California Candle. That's like a Roman Candle except it doesn't shoot out balls of fire it just emits a nice shower of sparks. Unfortunately it is slightly out of focus. Oh well. Squint your eyes and it looks like it is supposed to be that way!

More out of focus shots, this one is of Uly. The sky is in focus though...

The crazy beautiful sherbet colored sunset.

Uly wearing the flag t-shirt he painted that day:

Uly & Eva Marie all dressed up for the 4th of July:

Marshall-Latu Family Pictures

2010-06-24T15:12:00.005-06:00

Here are a few of my favorites from a portrait session I got to do a few weeks back for the Marshall and Latu families. I had so much fun shooting this group. My favorites ended up being shots of the kids. Go figure! MomShots to the core!

Thanks for giving me the chance to shoot you all!

Please ignore the giant watermark. I have never used one before and I am in the midst of a learning curve! :)

Lavender - Her first scoot

2010-05-31T12:53:00.002-06:00

Lavender was sitting on the floor next to my dining table and suddenly she was under the table. She scooted backwards. It was very exciting!