Thanksgiving 2019

Winter is officially here. And although I thought that during the week of Halloween when the temperature shot down to 20, now there’s snow everywhere… So, I guess that’s that. Only about 4 more months until the snow is gone again, but who’s counting. Haha!

Well, one positive about the snow is that we were gone in Arizona when it came! Our neighbor texted us to see if our power was out and it made me in an even more thankful mood that we were gone. Lol.

Aside from the warmer weather, the best part of our trip was that we got to have a family reunion and visit with everyone in my family (Except Angie and her family since they couldn’t come. We did get to see them this past week though which was fun!) 

We drove down on Saturday, and stayed at my brother, Taylor’s house. On Sunday, we went to church and did a small hike by their house. Right when we started the hike, David said, “Okay. Who brought the knife?” That caught me off guard but he explained that he wanted one so he could cut into a cactus and see what was in it. Haha! We had to explain to him that that’s not allowed in Arizona and he was a little bummed out, but still happy to be able to get closer to one.

During the rest of the week, we did a lot of fun things! With an entire week to spend together, we went to Top Golf, watched Frozen 2, went mini golfing at Castles and Coasters, went to the World of Illumination light show and played lots of board games and minecraft in between. 

Oh yeah, and stuffed ourselves full on Thanksgiving day! 

Another fun thing we did was have a minute to win it contest. We did this at our last family reunion and Tay asked if I could put some games together and we could make it a tradition. In the end, Tay and Christina’s family won, so they’ll be the family to beat next time! John and I will start practicing our balloon balancing and sabotaging strategies now, so watch out guys! Haha!

The drive home was like the drive there except that we gradually had to put coats back on instead of taking them off. And now we’re surrounded by snow again.

Until next time, sunshine. 

Halloween 2019

Today is the day we’ve been looking forward to all month!

It’s the day that candy goes on sale at Walmart at midnight… Haha!

Ok, ok. What we’ve really been looking forward to is trick or treating! Unfortunately this year, it has been the coldest Halloween in Utah so far (like 20 degrees freezing). I used to think Halloween got a little bit chilly in California growing up, but after living in Utah for a while, I wish I was in California trick or treating again just so we could be warm again!

I think if it continues to be this cold each year, I’m going to have to make my kids dress up as yeti’s from now on… or Chewbaka since Star Wars is “in” again. We’ll just be Chewy’s family. Lol.

This week started off with a lot of last minute costume fixes since I decided on Monday to add some leftover sparkly tulle to the princess sleeves I put on Brooke’s dress. I also had to run to the store for a new tiara since Brooke accidentally broke hers…

With how busy we were, I didn’t get around to making the costume I wanted to put Aaron in, but luckily, I found an old tiger costume we had from when David was little. Someone at our church’s chili cook off and carnival mentioned that it was perfect for him to be Tigger since he likes to bounce a lot whenever I’m sitting and let him stand on my lap. So, in the end it was a good fit for our cute little bouncing boy! 🙂

As a side note, Aaron got his first baby tooth this week! So far all of our kids have gotten their first teeth some time after 9 months so we were wondering when it would be showing up! He also loves to eat! If he sees anyone eating anything, he will start to whine for some. He’s such a fun little guy!

Back to the chili cook off… we decided to bring chili again this year because we knew that not very many people brought chili last year and they ran out. Although I made chili on my own the last two years, this year John did most of the work and it turned out to be the best chili we’ve made so far. (I’m just not very good at making chili but I guess John is. Haha!) In the end, only 3 other people brought chili… So definitely not enough again… Either way, we ended up winning! I joked with John that we only won because hardly anyone else brought chili. That might be partly true, but we were still happy with how our chili had turned out this year, so it’s all good.

For trick or treating, Aaron was a tiger (as I mentioned), Brooke dressed up as a pink princess and David dressed up as a sheriff. We went around a shopping center near us that does trick or treating every year and also went to a nursing home in our area. The nursing home was all indoors and was actually pretty hot inside which was a nice change to how cold it was outside!

Later in the evening, John went to class (he only has a month and a half left!) and the kids and I got ready to head out. Some of our neighbors came by before we left and their kids, who are friends with David, asked if he could go with them. After David left, Aaron, Brooke, and I went around our neighborhood. We zigzagged down our street and just got to the end when Brooke decided it was too cold and wanted to go home which was fine with me! I was glad that David went with his friends because he would have been bummed out if he went super slow with us. We ended up getting back home the same time David did, but he went to at least 3 times as many houses as we did.

By the end of the night, David and Brooke each ended up with a gallon sized ziplock bag full of candy… so yeah, it was a pretty good year. And fingers crossed it won’t be as freezing next time!

Pumpkin Patch 2019

With John’s classes being so crazy this month and a final, midterm, and multiple big class assignments due this past week, John finally got to a point again where he could take a slightly slower day today. And by that, I mean that he only did 3 hours of homework in his free time today… And with the rest of his free time, we were able to go to the pumpkin patch!

I really loved the pumpkin patch we went to last year with my dad and two sisters, but as great as it was, it’s a bit of a drive to get to compared to other places we could have gone. This year, we opted for a closer Pumpkin Patch that saved 20 minutes of driving, ended up having more activities, and was in a pretty similar price range as the one from last year! All in all, it was a win.

The only downside was that an early frost ruined a lot of the pumpkins. David got one from this place on a field trip last week and it’s already a little squishy… So although we went to a pumpkin patch, we didn’t end up getting a pumpkin… Oh well.

Luckily, Walmart has a Pumpkin Patch too… Their’s just happens to resemble a large cardboard box. Lol.

With so much to do, our kids had a blast! Some of the things we had fun with were the slides, corn pit, jump pad, hay maze, corn maze, hay ride, mini wagon ride, and looking at all of the animals.

We did the medium sized corn maze which was just enough for our little kiddos although Brookie kept saying we were lost. Haha! They also had a mystery game you could play while going through the maze. It was in the style of the “Clue” board game where we would find signs throughout the maze that would eliminate suspects, weapons, and places until you got down to one answer in each category. We also made it to each checkpoint so our kids got a little piece of candy at the end!

At 4 pm Woody and Jessie along with Anna and Elsa came for pictures. At that point, the wind picked up and it started to get pretty chilly so we got a picture and headed off.

David really wanted to buy a caramel apple (Let’s be honest. So did I…) and I probably would’ve bought one if it didn’t get so freezing right when the line got twice as long! In the end, we came home and made some homemade apple pie caramel apples. Two of them turned out great and two of them just looked like the Evil Queen’s poison apples from Snow White… At least they tasted good though! Haha!

It was such a fun day to spend as a family and also gave us a good break from such a crazy week! Now all that’s left is to pick up some pumpkins to carve next week. Unless we want to take our chances with the squishy one… Ew.

BYU Mint Brownies and School Starting!

Everyone has certain foods that bring up memories or remind them of places. And if you don’t, you should…

For me, cinnamon raisin bread make me think of my Grandma Cail’s house, blackberries make me think of camping in California, and mint brownies make me think of BYU.

Although this isn’t the only food that brings thoughts of BYU to my mind (creamery ice cream and j-dawgs, anyone?) it definitely brings back the nostalgia of walking from the freshman dorms to The Creamery on 9th and passing the tempting 33 cent brownies in their glass case on my way in. I’m sure it took a lot of combined Freshman willpower not to buy them all up every day… No wonder gaining the “Freshman 15” is a thing! Lol.

Well, now that I’m done with school and not passing the creamery every day, I don’t have to continue to be tempted by those yummy treats All. The. Time… And since BYU Magazine has published the recipe, I can make them whenever I want and choose to be tempted by yummy brownies. At least this time it’s a choice rather than a consequence of buying a gallon of milk. Haha!

I will say, these brownies are super fudgey and delicious but I was surprised by how much sugar and butter was in them. Next time I make mint brownies, I may use a recipe with less butter and sugar (even just a box mix would have less!) but still use their mint icing recipe.

The actual recipe can be found here: https://magazine.byu.edu/article/byu-mint-brownies/

Not only are these brownies super tastey, but it’s also a fun way to celebrate my youngest sister finally starting her first college semester at BYU as well as John starting the last semester of his MBA and David starting 1st grade!

I’m pretty excited for all three of them, but for pretty different reasons. David was the most excited for 1st grade so he could have lunch in the lunch room now. And tomorrow he’ll get to bring one of these brownies! We’ll have to give him his fill now so he’ll be immune to them by the time he’s old enough to attend BYU. Haha! 😉

Brooke turned 3!

Say goodbye to the terrible two’s! Because Brooke is now a threenager! Haha!

In all honesty though, she has been a pretty good two year old and we’re excited to see how this next year will go! 

On Brooke’s birthday, we had to help Julia move her stuff into her new classroom, so we went to the park and then had a movie day for the kids in Julia’s classroom while we organized everything. 

Once we were done with that, we went home and had Brooke’s birthday dinner. She picked chicken nuggets and french fries! Hooray for an easy dinner! Lol.

We also had a barbie cake! Brooke blew her candles out before we got the chance to sing to her, but she didn’t want me to relight them and we sang to her a few different times earlier anyway. 

This year, she got a dollhouse and some barbies for her birthday from us and a few other gifts from other family members. Since John had to go to scout camp and missed her birthday, we had Brooke wait to open a few of her presents until he got home.

So far, here are a few of Brooke’s favorites as she told them to me:

color: pink

movie: whatever she’s watching at the time

to do: play games

food: hamburgers, french fries, cake

treat: candy, root beer

princess: snow white

I’m pretty sure a lot of those answers change daily, but you can always bet on pink being her favorite color! Haha!

Some other fun details are that she loves to wear tutus and is always changing into her swimsuit because she’s “a ballerina and a princess”.

She’s a cute, fun girl and we love having her in our family!

A Month of Fun

July is usually a busy month in our family, and this year was no exception!

We started off with the 4th of July. David got so excited, he started jumping around and banged into nmy front teeth. Ouch. Also, we almost o couldn’t do fireworks because of rain during the day, but luckily it cleared up by the evening!

Next was John’s birthday! We celebrated it a day early since we were leaving for the Tetons on his actual birthday. We had his favorite “Jello Cake” and gave him a new board game as a gift. We also had an MRE cake while we were camping that Angie’s husband Eric brought to celebrate all the June and July birthdays! SO, that was a first! Haha!

We spent the next week with most of my family in the Tetons. We hiked, chilled at camp, canoed, went to a BBQ, got huckleberry shakes, and mostly got eaten alive by mosquitoes. Or at least I did… Maybe next time I’ll remember to put on more repellent!

We also spent a few hours at the Jackson Lodge watching the US Women’s National Team win the  World Cup! I have never been a fan of any sports team and usually don’t even like to watch sports, but this year, Tami made me a fan. She was at our house during a few of the games so we watched them together and it was great! I definitely am a new fan of the USWNT! I don’t think that’ll change my habits for watching other sports though… Sorry.

The day we left the Tetons was my mom’s birthday and then the next day was mine. We spent my birthday at John’s parent’s house since they wanted to have a family meeting to decide on new family traditions and things since the family is getting bigger each year!

For my birthday, John got a good deal on a standing mixer! I’ve been wanting one for a while since I bake so much and am getting busier with 3 kiddos now. It definitely saves time and is super nice to have!

Later that week, I took the kids to the Pioneer Day parade in Bountiful while John took the final for one of his classes. Then, the next week, we celebrated the 24th of July at John’s parent’s. We didn’t end up doing any fireworks, but we could see a ton going off on our way home which was fun.

We finished up the month by finally taking the kids to the children’s museum (David had a pass he got from school) and then to Bahama Buck’s (another free coupon from school).

With July done, we’re hoping to fit in one more short camping trip before John starts his last semester. This time, we’re uninviting the mosquitoes. Haha!

Retirement Sign

So, this past October we celebrated my Aunt’s retirement! And where better to celebrate one of the happiest days on earth than in the “Happiest Place on Earth”?!

Yeah, that’s right. Disneyland!

We had a blast! It was so fun to spend time with my mom, sister, and aunt. The first day we got to LA, we had a surprise party for my aunt to kick off the party week! One thing I made for her was a wooden sign that had “Retirement Rules” on it. It was actually waaay easier than I thought it would be and turned out really cute!

I made it using a pallet that John and I got from a company that was getting rid of some of theirs. So I guess we could pretend we’re high end and say it was made from “reclaimed wood”… Ooo, I feel so fancy ;). John helped me pull some of the wood off of it and cut it all to be the right length.

After that, I used screws and some flat brackets to secure them together and then stained the wood.

 

 

I left the wood overnight just to make sure it was definitely dry enough to work on (even though it wasn’t super wet) and started by writing the words out using a pencil. I also made a template to practice with before I wrote on the actual wood, just to make sure I had all the spacing right.

Once I liked how I had it, I went over the pencil using a paint pen and erased any pencil marks that were left.

All that was left after that was to screw in the metal hook part that will make it so she can hang it on the wall.

I know. I’m so specific. You can really tell how often I actually use these things…

 

Anyway, I thought it turned out great! And my aunt loved it! She’s going to hang it up on her wall and enjoy some very fairly earned time off.

Halloween 2017

Halloween was a success! Although for some reason, I found that more people dressed up on the actual night of Halloween than for our church’s Halloween party. That would be totally fine with me if I wasn’t one of the only five adults that dressed up this year…

So, David decided to be Mike Wazowski from Monster’s University (or Monster’s Inc. 2). Since, Brooke is too young to choose, that means I got to make her into whatever I wanted.

We went for a family theme and John and I dressed up too. John was Don Carlton, I was Ms. Squibbles (the mom), and Brookie was one of the pink girls from the PNK group.

For a first time using curlers (I actually had to buy some), I thought I did alright! For the costumes, I ended up buying David’s from someone online, while making Brooke’s costume myself.

For John and I, we just found some things at the thrift store to put ours together.

The only thing that would’ve made it better is if more people had seen the movie and actually knew what we were dressed as… Seriously, it’s a pretty cute movie if you haven’t seen it!

About Me

So, as far as “Debbie’s” go…

I’m pretty typical of what most are apparently into.

Baking, Crafts, Being nice…

Yeah. That’s me.

Except that I’m not your 50 year old

school secretary at the same time.

So what is this…

A “baking” blog? A “craft” blog? A “how to make anything from cheap, free stuff” blog?

Well, to be honest, it’s kind of a mix of everything.

Growing up, I had a brother who was awesome at piano, a sister who was the valedictorian of her graduating class, another sister that played soccer and was the MVP of her entire high school, and a younger sister that is pretty much a combination of all three of those.

I was none of those… But I’m honestly fine with that!

Rather than spend all my time in a few things and trying to become an expert in them

(not saying my siblings did that… except for maybe the soccer playing sister. lol) I tried lots of different things.

There was just too much I wanted to do and learn in this life!

So, back to “What kind of blog is this anyway??”

It’s kind of an “anything I feel like at the time” blog…

But DON’T worry!

It’ll still be a lot of fun! 😉