Cute Halloween Cookies

I found these cute mummy cookies on this site, and I had to make them (even though I think it is totally blasphemous to cover something so delicious as an Oreo cookie with (*cringe*) white chocolate). You need to see the ones she made though, they are much, much cuter!

The other cookies are just 2 Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle, then dipped in chocolate and drizzled with melted butterscotch chips. There is nothing really Halloweeny about these ones except that I thought that the chocolate and butterscotch looked like orange and black.

In all honesty, I couldn't even eat the mummy ones, I pawned them off on Luke. They are cute, but I just can't eat that white chocolate. But the other ones are pretty tasty, and they look cute together! =)

Halloween Countdown

Now that we have a little one running around it's time to start hyping up the holidays! I thought this countdown was the perfect way to get Luke excited for Halloween.

I found my inspiration for this from a couple different blog posts. Here and here.

This was an exciting project because it was soooo cheap! The blocks are made from a 4x4 that I had cut into about 20 pieces. And the base is a 2x4. I think the 4x4 was $7 and the 2x4 was $3. But that makes enough pieces for 10 of these. So the total cost of the wood is $1 per countdown. Not bad!

I had my brother's wife over and we each made 3. One for us and a couple for the girls we visit teach. The only thing I would recommend is doing it in stages. Cut and sand the blocks one day, cut the sqares of scrapbook paper another day, etc. We did it all in one day, and it got a little exhausting.

39 days to CANDY!!! Happy counting!

Snapshots of Alaska

I have traveled to so many different places in my life and for some reason, out of everywhere I have been, I really feel a connection to Alaska. I don't know how to describe why this particular place sticks out to me more than others I have been to. So I'll just trust in the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words."

500 Days of wardrobe envy!

Todd and I aren't very good at watching movies when they come out. It seems like good movies come in waves, so when good ones come out we don't have enough time to see all of them. Anyway, we juuuust got around to watching 500 Days of Summer. Holy cow! Such and amazing movie! I know a lot of people didn't like it because of how it ends up, but it's such a true story! Things don't always work out the way we imagine they will, but they always work out for the best. I thought that was a super powerful message.

I have been becoming more and more interested in clothing design lately and I was drooooooling over Zooey Deschanel's wardrobe in this movie!

I love how all the clothes are feminine, but still really modest and comfy (I'm guessing). After all my holiday craft making is over I am seriously going to start working on recreating her entire wardrobe for myself!

Especially this dress:

Isn't it soooo pretty? I will keep you posted about my attempts to own every clothing article from this movie! =)

UTAH

Oh Utah, the only words that I can think of to describe this state were said by one of Todd's mission companions, "Utah's lack of culture is a culture in and of itself." Well said, brother. Well said.

Does anyone else think it's strange how many Ranch Exits there are off the 15 on the drive to Utah?

Anyway, we went to Utah this summer so the kids could see their Great Grandma Viehweg, and to surprise my sister on her birthday. She (Laurel) kept begging us to come visit her and we kept making up excuses, knowing all the while that we really WERE going to go see her. Her reaction was priceless:

Laurel has this thing that we have lovingly entitled "the cry-smile" or the "cryle" if you will. It's when she cries and smiles at the same time. It cracks us up, and it is what got us through that miserable 9 hour drive!!! Thanks Laurel!

We hung out with Laurel a lot...

And the kids spent lots of time with Great Grandma Viehweg.

They loved her stash of old toys.

I love my Grandma's toys. She has a big stash

that my Dad and his brothers used to play with

when they were younger.

When I would come to visit her when

I was little I would play

with them, and now my little boy plays with them.

They have been enjoyed by 3 generations!!!

One day while we were in Utah I got feeling pretty bad for Luke

and all the sitting in the car he had been doing all week.

As a reward I introduced him to one of my favorite treats:

...it was pretty messy

But he deserved it!!!

Wheat Pillow

The Problem:

Sometimes people ask me, "how are you so skinny?" What do you say to that? Why do people ask that??? I know it is a compliment, but I never know how to answer that question. 'Uhhhh, I eat whatever is in front of my face.' I have never been a fan of diets. I refuse to give up delicious food for the sake of my figure! Anyway, I now know how to answer that question: My body will not let me stop exercising!!!

Our family has a history of really bad back problems. I have been subject to them quite a few times and it is literally crippling. Working my core relieves the strain on my back and as long as I do it consistently I don't have any problems. Well, that's a problem...because I am a big fan of loafing. Long story short: I haven't been diligent in my pilates and now I can't even lift my baby!!!

The Solution (or part of it anyway):

When I was growing up my parents were super cheap (sorry parents! It's true). In the winter it would get pretty cold in our house, and I'm also ultra sensitive to cold, so by 'pretty cold' I mean, like, probably 67 degrees. Anyway, in high school I discovered The Wheat Pillow

...or so I call it. It's basically a reusable heating pack made out of wheat. I would put mine in the microwave for a couple minutes and then put it at my feet when I went to sleep and it would keep me warm through the night. I love wheat pillows!!! I think those were the stuffed animals of my high school days. I couldn't go to sleep without one in the winter, and it was a sad day when I had to retire it for the summer.

They are really easy to make:

1. Cut out fabric and sew inside out leaving a 3 inch(ish) gap

2. Grab yourself some wheat! (We happen to have it on hand from our emergency food storage, but it's super cheap to buy if you don't already have it laying around.)

3. Use a funnel to put wheat into the opening of the pillow without spilling it all over the place. Don't fill it too full, mine is probably 2/3 full of wheat, if that.

4. Sew the hole closed and bask in the sweet, sweet warmth of the almighty wheat pillow!

It is great for sooo many things! I use it when my back hurts (it can be used hot or cold, for cold use pop it in the freezer for a half hour), I pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes before I have to leave on a cold morning, so that I have something while the car takes 20 minutes to heat up, I also used to take it to work when I was working sports games in the winter.

As we speak my wheat pillow is on my back relieving my pain and hopefully (fingers crossed) buying me some time until I have to start exercising again! =)

My Mom and Dad watched Luke while we were on our cruise in Alaska. I am so grateful to have them around. I know that they will take good care of him because they took perfect care of me!

Luke came home from the cruise and he would say "pillow game! pillow game!!!". I asked my parents "what the heck is 'pillow game'?" Apparently you just pile as many pillows as you have on top of him, and he gets the biggest kick out of it!

I know that my parents are awesome, but I am surprised how good they are with Luke! He has waaaaay more fun with them than he has with us (and we are a party to hang out with, alright?). I never grew up close to my Grandparents and I am so glad that Luke gets to!

Cool photo editing trick

A few months ago I found a tutorial here on how to add a background to a plain photo. I wanted to try it, but never got the chance. Untill....

I had the awesome privilege of taking photos of my friend's new baby. Look at this little guy! Have you ever seen a baby boy this cute!??! I'd say he's in my top 3 of cutest baby boys!

before

I didn't feel like a plain black background was good enough for this cute little face. So I went on google images and found a polka dot background (Note: I do not know the legality of doing this, do it at your own risk! =)) And laid it on top of the picture and then lowered the opacity and erased it off of his face, and...

Tah dah!

after

I think it brings out the cuteness of the picture a lot more. I am not very good at this technique just yet, but I am excited for the possibilities it opens up. Anyone could take a picture of their baby on a plain white wall at their house and, with some simple editing, make it look like something that was done at a studio!