Blue Skies Ahead

Fit Friday...Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Snack!

2013-06-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to Fit Friday at Blue Skies Ahead!! I know, I got you all excited about Fit Friday posts, did one...and then NONE since :) I have continued my quest to get fit, and its going great! I've dropped about 25 lbs and have 10 more to go before I reach my goal. The hardest part is definitely waking up at 5 every morning (or earlier!) to get to the gym, but once I'm on the road I love it!

Today I wanted to share a really yummy snack I came up with the other day.

I think snacking healthy is THE hardest thing for me when I am trying to lose weight. I do great on my meals all throughout the day...but then dessert time hits and I want to eat that yummy stuff that everyone else is eating! The obvious solution is to have EVERYONE in the house eating healthy stuff, and this quick, simple dessert was something the entire family enjoyed.

Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Snack!

This is ridiculously simple. I just made a box of sugar free, fat free Cheesecake pudding. Then I added a few strawberries and a couple of graham crackers for the "crust" :) The kids LOVED dipping the strawberries and graham crackers, and I loved feeling like I got a yummy treat like everybody else. Plus...cheesecake IS my all-time favorite, so this was a pretty good substitute :)

For a 1/2 cup of pudding, 2 graham crackers, and a couple of strawberries you are just over 100 calories!

So please share...what are some yummy snacks you treat yourself and your family to when you are trying to GET FIT?! :)

King Benjamin Family Home Evening {Following the Prophet}

2013-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!!

It took me a few months, but we finally got back to our scheduled FHE's, picking up where we left off in the Book of Mormon. This week we learned all about King Benjamin and the things he taught his people. We also used it as an opportunity to review one of my favorite talks from General Conference, and encourage the our family to strive harder to follow the prophet.

We started off with this fun printable I threw together.

Haha! I know, the Keep Calm signs are totally overdone...but I still thought it was cute :)

Then we read the story of King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon Stories. We really tried to focus on some of the specific things King Benjamin taught his people, like teaching them of the coming of the Savior, teaching the parents to help their children learn to be obedient and to not argue, and teaching them to serve. We spent a few minutes talking about how as the people listened, they felt the Holy Ghost in their hearts confirming the truthfulness of these teachings. Because of that feeling...they NO longer wanted to sin! We talked about how we should be striving to feel that way, not only NOT sinning....but losing all desire to as well.

Then we talked about how back then, the families had to come all the way to King Benjamins tower to hear him speak and teach. They came in their tents and turned them toward the King. I told the kids we were going to be as the Nephites...and turn our tent toward one of our modern day prophets, and hear what we needed to be taught.

I think its time for a new/bigger tent! ;)

The kids all piled in and we pulled up Elder Scott's talk from the last General Conference. It is entitled For Peace at Home...and it was one of my favorites! I loved how he spoke to the children, and listed specific things we need to be doing to have a Christ-centered home...the true way to have peace.

After a long day of fighting, grumpiness and exhaustion from ALL of us, I am always searching for ways to have just a little bit more peace :)

After the talk we discussed how important it is to follow the prophets. And the only way you can follow what they say...is if you KNOW what they have taught. We talked about the importance of gaining a testimony of the prophet...and once you have it, to sustain him not ONLY with your hand...but with your actions as well.

Honestly, this was one of our tougher family nights. The baby was screaming, the two-year old thought it was hilarious to run and jump on the outside of the tent squishing everyone inside, and the 8 year old was crying about her sunburn :)

BUT!

The next morning the kids were fighting and Britton said..."Don't you remember what we learned last night?! We aren't supposed to fight...the prophet said!" :) So maybe, just MAYBE, its sort of working a little bit somehow :)

8th Birthday Special Celebration!

2013-05-31T10:18:00.001-07:00

Even though I can still hardly believe it, a few weeks ago my daughter Skylar turned 8 years old!!

In our faith, 8 is a big deal! We believe when children reach the age of 8, they become accountable. This means they can now understand the difference between right and wrong, and they can choose to be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

It is an exciting time, and I wanted to put something together for Skylar that was fun but also meaningful as well.

For a few months before the big day, Skylar kept saying she didn't want a party...she just wanted a day at the spa with me :) Um...YES! Sounds good to me! ;)

The more I got thinking about it though...I realized what a wonderful opportunity this was to express something so important to my precious little girl. Instead of spending a whole day focused on our Outer Beauty (which is fun and wonderful!) I wanted to take the day and focus on ALL of the things that make my little one TRULY beautiful.

When we got in the car, I told her to get ready for a Day of Beauty! Then I handed her this note rolled up and tied with a ribbon.

She was SO excited, and could not wait to find out where we were going!

Our first destination was all about celebrating her Beautiful Mind! We went to our local Children's Museum and then picked out a fun new book at the bookstore. She loved every minute of it, and I really emphasized all the things I love about her mind...how good she is at reading, what great imagination she has, and how she LOVES to learn!

The next stop was very special. After a yummy lunch we went shopping for the perfect white dress for my little girl to wear to her baptism! While we were shopping we talked all about her Beautiful Spirit, how proud I was of the choice she was making, and what a good example she was to her brothers and sisters.

Yeah...I totally cried :)

Finally, we finished the day with some good old Outer Beauty too ;) A trip to the salon for manicures and pedicures was the perfect way to end our day.

I cannot tell you how wonderful this day was. We are raising children in a world that will teach them the MOST important things are just that...THINGS! I am so grateful I had an opportunity to share with my daughter was makes her TRULY beautiful. Yes, I think she is gorgeous...but she is so much more than that. She has a heart of gold, and TRUE desire to choose the right. She teaches me about forgiveness and love every single day.

So I would love to know...what have you done for your childs birthday that has become a special tradition in your family?!

Last Day of School Gift!

2013-05-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Last Day of School!! At least for us it is ;) Can I tell you how ready I am for summer break?! Oh the idea of NOT having to wake up my kids and get my baby in his carseat to drive carpool in the morning just makes me smile :)

To celebrate I threw together these simple, inexpensive little gifts my kids got to wake up to today. They were so excited to come down and see these sitting at the table!

I thought my kids could use some buckets full of summer fun!

I just went to Walmart and grabbed buckets, chalk and bubbles out of the dollar section. Then I found some inexpensive flip-flops and topped it off with our favorite popsicles. And yes...I was an irresponsible mom and let my kids have popsicles for breakfast :) Welcome to summer!

Of course, I HAD a cute printable to attach to the buckets...but my ink ran out :( SO...here it is if any of you want to use it!

Are you ready for summer at your house? What fun plans do you have to keep you and the kids from going crazy?! ;)

Crazy Hair Day Ideas!

2013-05-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted anything!!

Life here has been hectic, wonderful, crazy, and LOUD :) So goes life with five kids I guess. We have been doing lots of fun things...but I have not been able to find time to gather my thoughts and come up with a coherent post ;) I finally had a free minute and wanted to share our fun Crazy Hair Day Ideas.

Unlike many of you awesome moms...I am TERRIBLE at doing my girls hair! I wish I could do all those fancy ideas I see on hair blogs, but it is just completely beyond me. I knew I wouldn't be able to create the masterpiece my girls were hoping for without some help...so this is what we came up with!

Luckily we still had a bunch of pipe cleaners that were sent to us from the awesome people at CraftProjectIdeas.com. They added the perfect touch to our Crazy Hair-Do's!

For Kendall I just put her hair in a bun of top of her head and then wrapped a bunch of pipe cleaners around my fingers to make them curl. Then I stuck them through the elastic around the bun and in the center of the bun. It made for a BRIGHT, crazy hair do :)

For Skylar's we did basically the same thing...but since she has much longer hair I did little twists all over her head and used a few more pipe cleaners. I LOVE the finished look! That is some crazy hair :)

Oh...and while I was busy making Skylar's hair crazy this morning...my little guy was making his a little crazier too...

The stinker got out the scissors and gave himself a nice little bald spot right up front! He looked so sad about it I couldn't help but laugh!

Do your kids have crazy hair day at their school? If so, have you ever used anything creative to add to the CRAZY?!

Teacher Appreciation Treat Ideas

2013-05-07T08:48:00.003-07:00

Yeah, yeah...I know, I'm a little late with these Teacher Appreciation Treat Ideas. But I'm all about keeping it real on this old blog...and I did not make these bad boys until 11 last night :) So if any of you are procrastinators (like me), or maybe just plain forgot (possibly me as well) here are two quick ideas for you!!

Our room moms this year are AWESOME, and sent out great, detailed emails telling us the theme for each day of appreciation and some of the teachers favorites. Today the theme is the teachers favorite treats, and this is what we came up!

Skylars teacher loves Diet Mountain Dew, so we just came up with a cute tag, wrapped it around the soda and attached with washi tape. Then topped it off with a little bit of Bakers Twine and it was ready to go. You can click, save and print on the tag below :)

Kendalls teacher is pretty easy to please...this wonderful lady LOVES chocolate! We just grabbed a few candy bars, stuck them in a cute fry box from Pick Your Plum, added a strip of washi tape, and topped it off with our fun printable tag.

Again, feel free to print off the tag below! :)

I have spent some time helping out at the schools musical they are putting on this week and it has been SUCH an eye opener to the truly amazing people we have working with our children! I hope these teeny little gestures help them to know who grateful we are for them and put a smile on their faces :)

Fit Friday...Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins!

2013-05-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!! A LONG time ago, before I got pregnant with my 5th baby and was trying to lose weight after my 4th baby, I started doing Fit Friday posts. I tried to pick one area to focus on each Friday that I was striving for in my quest to yes, lose weight, but mostly...to get FIT! Beyond losing that baby weight I wanted to really achieve some serious fitness goals, for me that ended up with me running two half-marathons before getting pregnant with baby #5 :)

Well here we are, 2 years later and I am in the same boat again! Baby Cohen is 5 weeks old, and I am ready to get FIT again! Yes, I really want to be able to fit into my skinny jeans again, but mostly I want to be able to do the things I had pushed my body to do before that I never thought were possible. I miss feeling that strength and endurance, so I am going to get it back darn it! ;)

Is anybody else with me?? Maybe you are like me, just had a baby, and need to lose that 15-20 pounds? Because, we all gain 50 lbs when we're pregnant, right?! Humor me people! ;)

Maybe you feel great at the weight you are at, but you want to push your body to limits you never have before, whether its running, biking, or just trying something new!

Maybe while you were pregnant you let ALL of your families healthy eating habits go, and you are determined to get back on track! Again...humor me people, thats what happened at our house!

If you can relate to ANY of these things at all, Fit Friday is for YOU!!

Today I am tackling BREAKFAST!! You know...the most important meal of the day? I am SO not a breakfast lover. I pretty much have to force myself to eat, but one thing I do love is a good muffin! I mean, obviously, a HUGE Costco muffin would be my first choice, but since this is called Fit Friday I knew I needed to come up with some other options ;) My kids love muffins too, so I hoped I could find a recipe that was pretty healthy that we could all enjoy.

I found a great recipe HERE that sounded really yummy, and with a few changes we created something we really loved that we have already made twice this week...

Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

The original recipe doesn't call for strawberries, but I figured if I threw a bunch in I could cut some of the sugar...and who doesn't love the strawberry banana combo?! ;)

Here is the recipe:

2.5 C Old Fashioned Oats (not cooked)

1 C lowfat vanilla yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 ripe bananas

6-8 large strawberries

First up, throw everything in your blender besides your strawberries. You are going to want to chop those up and set them aside.

Once your mix is all blended up, pour into greased muffin tins (or use some super cute cupcake liners you have laying around ;)

Then grab those chopped strawberries and sprinkle them generously on top of each muffin. Doesn't that just look awesome?

Then you bake these bad boys at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, watching closely and checking with a toothpick to see if they are done. Mine cooked for exactly 15 minutes and came out perfect.

I'm telling you...these were GOOD! Plus, you have to love that they have NO flour, butter, or oil. The original recipe said they freeze great too...we ate all of ours so I haven't tried that yet :) I calculated these muffins to be a little under 130 calories each, and with the oats they are filling enough to get you through the morning!

Thanks for checking out Fit Friday today! I would love to know...what is your favorite quick, healthy go-to breakfast that you and your family love?!

Fantastic Thursday Link Party with Five Little Chef!

2013-05-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!!

I am so excited today to be co-hosting the Fantastic Thursday Link Party with Five Little Chefs!

If you haven't checked out this blog before...you need to now! So many great recipes and crafts...and the best part of all?! These gals are passionate about allowing and teaching their kids to do all their own creating, in and out of the kitchen.

But enough about us...this party is all about YOU!! We want to see what you have created this week, and we are ready to be inspired!

To play along all you need to do is make sure you follow along here at Blue Skies Ahead and of course with Five Little Chefs. Then link up your latest and greatest and check back next week to see if you and your fabulous project have been featured :)

Are you ready? Let's see what Fantastic things you are doing this week! :)

Birthday Breakfast...Angry Birds Battle for Breakfast!

2013-04-30T07:32:00.003-07:00

THIS little guy turned 4 last week!

How cute is he?!

As per family tradition I planned a fun birthday breakfast for him. One of Brittons favorite things to do is play Angry Birds on my phone, so picking out the theme of his breakfast was pretty simple ;)

Of course, we had to have a fun activity to go with it, so we came up with the Angry Birds Battle for Breakfast!

This was what Britton woke up to on the morning of his birthday. I always have the table set and all the yummy breakfast food out. I bought lanterns at our local party store and then printed of the birds face templates HERE to make our very own Angry Birds. Britton really loved them...in fact they are still hanging up today ;)

This time though, when Britton came down to eat....there was NO FOOD!!

After closer inspection, we found this note from the Pigs!

So to get his yummy Birthday Breakfast, Britton was going to have to use his Angry Birds to Battle for Breakfast!

Over in the corner King Pig had all of our breakfast hostage, and Britton was going to have to battle to get them back.

I found these pig paper plates and on the back of each I wrote one breakfast item like muffins, chocolate milk, cereal, yogurt, etc.

Then I taped them up on the sliding glass door, gave Britton his favorite Angry Bird and sling, and let him go at it! Every time he hit a pig we would take it off the window, and he could choose that item from the basket to eat.

By the time he was done he and his Angry Bird had won the Battle for Breakfast!!

Not only did my guy get a yummy breakfast, but he had a LOT of fun getting it too :)

I love my sweet little guy, and I hope he loved his Angry Birds Breakfast too :) If you want some more Birthday Breakfast inspiration check out our Build-Your-Own Breakfast Sundaes and stay tuned for more fun ideas...its birthday month at our house!!

Plant and Flower Week at the Tulip Festival

2013-04-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Every year our family treks out to Thanksgiving Point and goes to the Tulip Festival at the end of April. I always try to plan it so we go the week we are learning about plants and flowers...it is a great way for the kids to see up close and enjoy all the things we have been learning about all week long.

We went last night and had a fantastic time! You never know what kind of weather you will have in April, so we were thrilled we just needed warm jackets and that SO many beautiful flowers were in bloom.

The first thing we do when we get there? I always make my kids take a picture at the top of this beautiful hill :)

I bet you can guess what they always do next....;)

Then comes the fun of walking back UP the huge hill :)

Once we are done with the hill we are off to explore all the beautiful flowers and gardens.

Isn't it such a gorgeous place??

These two cuties were there too...they just were lucky enough to have daddy push them around the whole time!

We had a great time enjoying the beauty of Thanksgiving Point, and picking out which were our FAVORITE tulips! These pretty pink ones were mine...

Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Power of Prayer Family Home Evening {The Prophet Enos}

2013-04-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Family Home Evening was short and sweet...but so important!

Tonight we talked with our children about the power and importance of prayer, teaching them the story of the Prophet Enos and what he teaches us about prayer. We read about him from the Book of Mormon Stories and then discussed one of my favorite newly-discovered quotes (you know I had to make a printable!;)

This quote from Corrie Ten Boom has really impacted me lately, and the way I pray. I explained to my kids what a steering wheel is for, and what a spare tire is for. I asked them whether we pray to our Heavenly Father ALL the time, so we can have his guidance in our lives, when things are good AND bad...or do we only pray to Him when we need something, like when we would use a spare tire. That thought has hit me lately as well...am I trusting Heavenly Father to lead and guide my life...or do I forget about Him and praying to Him until I am in a moment of need?

We talked about how important it is to remember to pray not only when things are tough...but also when things are GOOD!! We also talked about how our prayers need to be meaningful...not just the same repeated prayers over and over. To help with that I thought it would be fun to have the kids list a few things that they want to thank Heavenly Father for, or things that they feel they need to ask Him for.

I found these buckets I had in my basement and filled them with rice. Then I got out some chalk and these fun little chalkboards on sticks and we took turns listing things we want to be better about including in our prayers.

Once we came up with our items we put our buckets up on our mantle so we can remember throughout the week to try and make our prayers more meaningful and more full of gratitude.

We closed by each sharing an experience where we KNEW and FELT that Heavenly Father had heard our prayers and answered them. It was so wonderful to hear my children's sweet and tender experiences with prayer already, and it encouraged me to be more vigilant and genuine in my own personal prayers. I say it often, but I feel like these kids are teaching me so much more than I could ever teach them!

Painted Bread Flowers

2013-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday friends! Hope you all had a lovely weekend :) We are kicking off our Spring and Plant Week today, and we are excited! I didn't actually have anything planned for today, but when the kids started whining about being bored I threw this together. They loved it, and I actually had a lot of fun too ;)

Painted Bread Flowers!

I had pinned this awesome idea forever ago from Share and Remember, and have been waiting for the perfect day to use it...today was that day!

All you need to make your own Painted Bread Flowers are slices of bread, milk, food coloring and a flower cookie cutter.

I used the Neon Food Coloring and just did 2-3 drops in each cup of milk and had the kids stir them up.

Once you have your "paint" ready to go, hand your kids a paintbrush and let them paint away. We only eat wheat bread so that was what we used, but the colors would be even brighter if you had white bread on hand!

The kids thought it was SO silly that we were painting bread...with MILK! They loved seeing the different colors show up on the bread and see what designs they could make.

And this little one? I just gave her a cup of water to paint her bread and she was none the wiser ;)

I even got in on the fun too ;)

Britton was especially proud of his creation.

After they were all done painting we just toasted the slices for a few minutes to make one side crisp enough to use a cookie cutter on.

Not only was this a fun activity, but the kids loved eating their Painted Bread Flowers too!

This is a GREAT last minute activity, especially because you usually have all this stuff on hand!

Thanks so much for coming by today, we'll see you tomorrow with a new FHE and lots more plant and flower fun this week :)

"April Showers" Educational Spray Bottle Activity

2013-04-18T13:39:00.002-07:00

Today I wanted to share with a super fun and simple activity I did with my kids today tying in Spring Weather and also letter recognition and math! They had a blast, and we even learned and reviewed some things too ;)

I got this AWESOME idea from my sister-in-law Crista. She throws some amazing birthday parties, and at her last one she did a similar activity. As soon as I saw how much fun the kids were having there I knew it was something I wanted to do with my kiddos at home...with an educational spin!

This is our April Showers Educational Spray Bottle Activity!!

All you need to do this at your house is a cheap plastic shower curtain liner, some washable markers and spray bottles filled with water. I used duct tape to stick the shower liner up over the tub so the water could run down without making a mess. Of course, if it nice weather where you are at, this would be really fun to do outside too!

Then I took the washable markers and wrote different things on the liner. For my kindergartener I wrote different numbers. Then I would call out a math problem and she would squirt the answer with the water bottle until it washed away. It was such a fun way to test her on basic math skills while having fun too!

For my little pre-schooler I wrote different letters he has been learning and when I called out a letter he would shoot away! They loved watching the letters disappear, and what kid doesn't love to spray a spray bottle?!

And this is where I found Avrie while we were having fun...playing in the shower with marker all over her face :) NEVER a dull moment with that one ;)

Try out this quick and fun activity with your kids, they will love you for it! ;) Have a wonderful, springy day everyone!!

Mingle With Us Blog Hop!!

2013-04-18T06:46:00.002-07:00

It's Time to Mingle!

Hosted by Blue Skies Ahead, Happy Go Lucky, I Heart Crafty Things, and Keeping Up With Kristi.

This week's guest host is Katrina from Our Daisy Patch

We also have a fabulous giveaway for you this week!

Katrina is giving away $45 in Lilla Rose Hair Accessories. Have you heard of Lilla Rose? They have some great accessories so I know you all are going to love this giveaway. Use Rafflecopter to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are no rules to this blog hop. Just link up your blog's main page. Then have fun reading new blogs and making new blog friends. We would love for you to follow the hostesses in the first four spots and our guest host in the fifth spot.

We are always looking for co-hosts to join the party each week and post the party on their blog. Sign up HERE if you are interested in Co-Hosting! Grab our button and help us promote our blog hop by sharing it on your blogs, facebook, and twitter. There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center>
<a href="http://happy-go-lucky-harvey.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"></a></center>

We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us! We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other!

Cupcake Liner Umbrella Craft...and Healthy "Mud Dip" Snack!

2013-04-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today we did a fun craft and had a yummy snack that were all about our crazy Spring Weather!! Of course, living in Utah, that could have included SNOW...but I decided to stick with rain in hopes the snow is gone for the year ;)

I was inspired by Rachel over at I Heart Crafty Things to do this craft, she has done a bunch of adorable crafts with cupcake liners lately that made me decide I HAD to figure out something to do with all the ones I had on hand.

What you need for this quick and easy craft are some cupcake liners, pipe cleaners, glue sticks and cotton balls...easy-peasy!!

First up I put out all our different cupcake liners out and let the kids pick out their "umbrella tops". Then they chose what handles they wanted from the pipe cleaners sent to me by my favorite CraftProjectIdeas...LOVE the bright colors!!

Once we picked out all our supplies the kids got to work. First we cut a pipe cleaner in half and and folded the bottom up to make the umbrella handle. Then we glued that on to our paper. Then you simply fold a cupcake liner in half and glue it on top of the handle.

Then you'll want to glue the halves of the liner together to finish off your umbrella top!

After your umbrellas are all done you can add a few cotton ball clouds and then watch it rain!!

And by rain I mean spraying the picture with blue water ;)

Here are the finished products...I love seeing my kids pride in their creations!

While I was whipping up our yummy treat, my kids made their own "umbrellas" :)

We talked about how one of the things that happens when it rains, especially at our house, is we get LOTS of mud! Then I told they kids they got to eat some yummy Mud Dip for a snack...they were not super excited :) Until I told them what was in it ;)

For our Mud Dip I just stirred together a few spoonfuls of all-natural peanut butter, 1 TBSP of cocoa powder, a few sprinkles of crushed pecans, and some sprinkles of wheat germ for good measure. Then I sliced up apples and celery and let the kids go to town!

The nuts and cocoa powder gave it the awesome color and texture of real mud, but the peanut butter made it a YUMMY mid-morning snack!

And this is what I got to see after leaving the room for 5 minutes to switch over a load of laundry :)

Yep, we had an early bath time today! :)

Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead today! If you like what you see, follow us on Facebook and don't miss any of the fun crafts, snacks and activities coming up!!

Spiritual Crocodiles Family Home Evening {Jacob and Sherem}

2013-04-16T05:59:00.001-07:00

Man its been a LONG time since I posted a Family Home Evening!! It feels so good to be back on schedule, and last night we returned to our study of the Book of Mormon by learning all about Jacob and Sherem.

While I was looking for inspiration on ways to teach this lesson to my kids I found the idea on Sugardoodle to incorporate President Packer's talk on Spiritual Crocodiles. I loved the idea of comparing Sherem and his ability to turn people away from the gospel to Spiritual Crocodiles.

First up, we read from The Book of Mormon Stories Chapter 10, Jacob and Sherem. We talked alot about the different ways Sherem got the people to stop believing in Christ. He was flattering, nice, and very smart! We talked about how people got close to him, and in turn ended up losing their testimony of the Savior and becoming very wicked.

Then I introduced the kids to this YouTube video HERE. Just a note...there is some graphic animal violence you may or may not want your little ones watching. I felt it was okay for my family, but you know your kids so I would suggest watching it before you show your family :)

After we watched the video we talked about Spiritual Crocodiles. How just like the animals couldn't always see the real crocodiles, we have to be cautious of spiritual crocodiles that will hurt not only our bodies but our souls as well.

I made up this printable to hang up in the house for the week to remind us:

Then we went on a "Crocodile Hunt" to find some specific Spiritual Crocodiles that may be trying to take bites out of OUR testimonies! I hid these crocodiles all around the house and the kids got their binoculars and were on the search! Remind your kids...even though some of these crocodiles look cute and happy...just like Sherem they can be damaging to our testimonies and to our souls!

I included a blank crocodile so you could write your own things specific to the needs of your family as well :)

After we had found all our crocodiles we talked about how each of these things can hurt us and how important obedience is. I think the message hit home...when my little almost-4-year-old said family prayer last night he closed by asking Heavenly Father to make sure we don't get eaten by crocodiles :) Haha! Sometimes thats the best we can hope for, right?! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I have a lot of fun things planned for this week with my kids learning all about Spring Weather so make sure you come back and visit again!

Smiling this Sunday!

2013-04-14T09:33:00.002-07:00

Hello my friends! How are you this beautiful Sunday morning?!

If you are new to Blue Skies Ahead, every Sunday I try and pick a few moments that made me smile this past week. I truly believe there is SO much good in our lives...if we can remember to look for it :) This is my attempt at finding the good in my life!

The first thing making me smile this week is my 2 boys. Britton is almost 4 and Cohen is a whopping 2 weeks :) I love to see them together and the love Britton already has for his little brother. Last week I was out with my oldest daughter on a date when Paul sent me this picture of the two asleep next to each other. Made my heart melt just a little bit :)

On Friday night me and the hubs went out on a wonderful date night with our bro and sister-in-law. We wanted to thank them for helping us SO much while I was on bedrest and taking such great care of our kids. It was wonderful to take a little break and enjoy some adult conversation and yummy food!

Not a big surprise this guy is on the list for what is making me smile today ;) He really is the most precious little baby. And I do mean little...he weighs just over 6 lbs and the only chub on him is in those cute little cheeks :) He pretty much sleeps all the time and the kids are dying for the days when he starts to open his eyes a little bit more. I am just trying to treasure every moment...knowing he is probably my last makes every little thing that much more tender to me.

This little girl is making me smile this week too! Its so weird, she has always been the "baby" in the family. Even though she is the second oldest she always has acted younger than her years. In the last few months she has really grown up and is becoming such a beautiful young girl! She is doing great at school and I have loved seeing her read books to her little sister and help out more around the house. She has a VERY sassy personality, and we sometimes butt heads, but that little smile can melt my heart faster than just about anything else!

This week has been very interesting. We are right back into normal life. I remember with my first two babies, life pretty much stopped for 6 months until I felt normal again. HA! Not so with the 5th! This week is was back to carpool, grocery shopping, dance classes, doctors appts and everything else! There were wonderful moments of PURE content, as I would look around at my 5 kids and KNOW my whole family was finally here together. There were also moments of PURE insanity :) Avrie running wild at the drs office, Avrie undoing the deadbolt and running outside every second she got...hmmm, I'm seeing a trend here ;) Honestly, there were a few "Why in the world did I think I could handle 5 kids?!" moments this week!

BUT...they were totally outnumbered by the smiles, laughter and joy we have had being all together. That is why I have to constantly remind myself to look for all this good...even amidst the chaos, it is always there!

Hope you are having lots of wonderful things in your life to smile about too!!

Mingle With Us Blog Hop!

2013-04-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's Time to Mingle!

Hosted by Blue Skies Ahead, Happy Go Lucky, I Heart Crafty Things, and Keeping Up With Kristi.

This week's guest host is Jourdan from Two Million Miles

<center>
<a href="http://happy-go-lucky-harvey.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"></a></center>

We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us! We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other!

Baked Rocks Crayon Craft

2013-04-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! How are you all doing??

Things here have been great...just busy, busy getting acclimated to 5 kids :) The little guy so far has been an absolute angel and the others are as crazy and fun as usual...but that is nothing new ;) I am feeling SO good, just grateful to have my little man here safe and sound. I am planning on getting back on a good schedule next week including a Weekly Theme for the kids and a new FHE, but in the meantime this is a really fun project we did at our house yesterday that ALL the kids loved.

Baked Rocks Crayon Craft!

This is a great craft if you just want to do something last minute with things you always have on hand. Hopefully you are like me and grow rocks in your backyard ;)

Make sure when you are choosing your rocks, you find the smoothest rocks possible. We didn't have success with half of our rocks because they were too rough.

Once you have your rocks, bake them in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. While your rocks are baking find those old, broken crayons and have your kids help you peel them.

When the rocks are done use a heating pad to place one on each paper plate and let your kids go to town coloring them with your peeled crayons. The hot rock will melt the wax and your kids will love "painting" their rocks with crayons!

Our favorite technique was to use two different colors and then swirl them together, making these cool colored rocks!!

This was a great way to enjoy time together while the little one was napping and it we had some freezing rain outside :)

I would love to know...what is your favorite go-to craft with your kids when you need something last minute?!

Gift of Marriage Printable {General Conference!}

2013-04-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful Conference weekend we had!! I was so inspired by the many messages shared and personally received inspiration and guidance that was a direct answer to my prayers.

One talk that I especially loved was from L. Whitney Clayton all about marriage.

I find that I am ALWAYS praying and searching for ways I can be a better mother. I'm embarrassed to say I don't always devote that same attention to being a better wife to my amazing husband. I was so inspired with the counsel given on ways we can have a better marriage, and this particular quote really stuck out to me...

I am so inspired to re-dedicate myself to doing everything in ability to strengthen our marriage...and in turn become a better mother as well :)

Did you have a chance to check out General Conference this weekend? If so, what stuck out to YOU? What are you inspired to work on in your life?

General Conference Ideas {Re-cap!}

2013-04-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!! I can't believe its already time for General Conference! This year I haven't been able to do my prep as early as I usually do...I blame it all on this little face ;)

SO worth it!!

However, I did want to share some of the fun things we have done in years past if you are new to Blue Skies Ahead. Conference weekend is something we look forward to all year long. I love spending the weekend with my family and listening to the words of our modern day prophets. I also love finding different ways to get my kids excited for conference....

THIS is a fun treat to leave out for your kids a few days before conference...also great for YW"s or primary classes too!

A fun spin on Conference Baskets...Don't let one minute of Conference go to WASTE!

A fun idea for post-Conference FHE...General Conference UN-Wrap Up!

Finally, one of our favorite family traditios...Conference Socks!!

I got some great ideas from different family members for things to do this year...hopefully I will have to time to share them with you all tomorrow! Thanks so much for stopping by Blue Skies Ahead!!

Smiling This Sunday!!

2013-03-31T07:22:00.002-07:00

Hmm....let's see. What in the world would I have to smile about today? ;)

Our precious Cohen Paul made his grand entrance into the world on Wednesday, March 27th at 9:41 p.m.! He was born at 35 weeks 3 days, weighing 6 lbs 2 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Absolutely perfect in every way. The delivery went so smoothly, once I was fully dilated I pushed through a few contractions and our little caboose was here :)

Because he was so early, he had to spend 6 hours in the NICU to make sure he could breathe on his own, take a bottle, and keep his body temps up. He was a champ, and after a few minutes struggling with that whole breathing thing he figured it all out, and came back to my room around 3:00 that morning.

Yep, that's me at 3:00 in the morning snuggling my little man. What a miracle he is to me!

We were so blessed to BOTH be able to go home 2 days later...doesn't he look so teeny in that big car seat?! I am so incredibly blessed with healthy preemie babies that beat all the odds!

We've been home for 2 days and it has been fantastic!! Everyone is absolutely smitten with out little man, and last night he even let me get 4 hours of sleep at a time ;) I feel wonderful and am so excited to have my whole family together and be able to be mommy again. Don't get me wrong...its totally crazy here, but I love it. We took ALL the kids to an Easter Egg hunt yesterday and it was crazy to be a family of 7 ;)

This Easter Sunday my heart is so full. As I look around at my not-so-little-family, I love them so much sometimes it takes my breath away. Then I think of the love my Heavenly Father feels for all of US...so much so that he gave us a Savior, His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Because of that one incredible act of love, I can be with these people that I love so much forever. So much to smile about today indeed :)

This Easter Sunday I hope you are feeling all the love and peace our Savior offers to us!

Past Easter Fun! {Re-cap}

2013-03-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share a quick re-cap of some of the fun Easter activities and crafts we have done in years past here at Blue Skies Ahead!

I hope if you're like me and looking for some last minute inspiration this may provide a teensy bit at least! ;)

If your looking for something inexpensive that your kids will love to find in their Easter baskets, check out our Homemade Bubble Bath!

Every year we have a traditional Jelly Bean hunt before the kids get their Easter baskets...one year I made these fun Mini Fabric Easter Egg Baskets perfect for all those jelly beans!

One of my kids FAVORITE activities was going on an Easter egg hunt...for their lunch!!

We made dying eggs a little more exciting using Kool-Aid and making Secret Message Easter Eggs!

Our new favorite Easter tradition, Resurrection Rolls, help kids understand the Resurrection in a fun and yummy way :)

Whip us these adorable Rice Krispie Easter Egg Treats

Finally, just a few weeks ago we made up this

simple and sweet Easter Printable reminding us of the real reason for Easter.

Easter Printable

There you have it! Lots of Easter goodness in one place...hope you are all having a fantastic week so far!!

April Fool's Day Mixed-up Menu for dinner!!

2013-03-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!! Happy Monday to you all :) Even though everyone in blog land is sharing lots of darling Easter ideas, I thought I would branch and share what we are doing for dinner at our house on April Fool's Day this year. Assuming that I'm not in the hospital having a baby...if so, it will have to wait for next year ;)

We did something similar a few years ago for an activity when I served in the Young Women's program of my ward. It was so much fun, and I realized the other day it would be perfect to change up for April Fool's Day.

First up, you need to decided on 8 different things you need for your dinner. These are the items we had for our activity. Then you attach a code word for each item...we used Book of Mormon terms for our YW activity, but I just used silly words for our April Fool's Day dinner.

Here is what each word represents!

Then I made our Mixed-Up Menu and laminated one for each of my kids.

The kids get to start off by circling two words with their dry erase markers for their appetizer. The funny part is...they may end up with a breadstick and a spoon, or a dessert and a vegetable :) Then they pick 4 more for dinner, and 2 for dessert. Make sure you only let your kids pick each word once, and you have a zany April Fool's Day Dinner!

Just right-click, save, and print away for your very own Mixed-Up Menu for April Fool's Day Dinner!

Potted Bulbs are the perfect gift this Mother's Day!

2013-03-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of iBulb for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I don't know about you, but this is a crazy time of year for our family!

We have 4 birthdays in a 5 week period, Easter Sunday, General Conference and Spring Break all within a month or two! Of course, right smack in the middle of all these wonderful events is a very special day...Mother's Day! Since my wonderful mother lives in California and I am here in Utah, I am always looking ahead of time for something she would not only love for a gift, but something meaningful that I know she will enjoy for a long time.

This year I think I have found just the right thing...potted bulbs! There are so many great things about sending a potted bulb for a gift. I love that you can repot these bulbs in any kind of container to fit in JUST perfectly with your home decor. My mom is one talented lady when it comes to decorating, so I know she would want something that flows with her beautiful home. I am thinking something like this...

I also love that this is the kind of gift that my mom will be able to enjoy for a long time, 'The great thing about bulbs is that not only do you get to enjoy them when they first start to bloom, but you can then replant them and enjoy them for years to come! My hope is that every time my sweet mom looks at those beautiful blooms she will be reminded of her Utah family that loves her so much! Plus, you can get potted bulbs SO many places...grocery stores, flower shops and garden centers. Doesn't get much easier than that!

If you are interested in doing potted bulbs as a gift for someone you love (or maybe just yourself!;) Make sure you check out THIS Pinterest page for lots of bulb inspiration and idea

For more info on bulbs and some great ideas check out potted bulbs now!