floors:

here is the floor, before



and here they are after!




awhile ago i mentioned that i made a coconut cream pie and it turned out really well...so here's the recipe for that in case anyone wants to make one for the holidays, i thought it was delicious and it passed the wilson test...they love pie so that's saying something!

Coconut Cream Pie

(i think i got the basic recipe from All Recipes and then changed things according to the comments people left)

1 can coconut milk (like 15 oz or something) add half and half to get 3 C of liquid
3 eggs
3/4 C white sugar
1/2 cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C flaked coconut, toasted
1 tsp. coconut extract
2 (9 in) pie shells (deep dish)
cream for the top...see recipe below

in a medium saucepan, combine half and half, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, flour and salt. bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. remove from heat, and stir in 3/4 c. coconut flakes and coconut extract. (i let it cook a little longer to make sure it was as thick as i wanted it to be) bake pie shells as directed...when they are cool, pour custard mixture into pie shells. chill 2-4 hours or until firm
make the cream

1 C. heavy cream (i think i used the rest of my half and half since i didn't want to buy heavy cream and it worked fine)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2T. confectioner's sugar

in a large bowl, whip cream (or half and half) until stiff peaks are just about to form... beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. make sure not to over beat or the cream will become lumpy and butter-like.

TIP: before making this, chill bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes...works really well!

spread on pies and enjoy! top cream with a little more toasted coconut!

to toast coconut: spread on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring it up occasionally

love it..

**love my screen door, open in the mornings and when making dinner and at night...love it!
**love, extra LOVE this cooler weather...
**LOVE Halloween, and black and orange and that my baby has a Halloween birthday so i can have an extra fun time planning the party!
**love that i only have a few loose ends for costumes to wrap up...
**love that the tile replacement is finally DONE! yahoo! i'll take pictures tomorrow in the daylight so you can see it...it's pretty!

goings on...

we usually have such busy days that after we get the kids to bed i feel like there are probably things i could do...but i'm not gonna. is that bad? i just feel like lounging for an hour or so and going to bed! i still get things done at night, that is prime time for me to sew and do some cleaning normally, finish up laundry, actually talk to kendall you know...but man, i am just run down lately!

on a different note, those that have been to my house may have noticed the slight crack in our tiles in the entryway (total sarcasm, the crack may as well be the grand canyon, people)...well next time you come over, it will be gone! yahoo! the guy who owns our house assured us that it would be fixed before we had our baby (blake) well, now it's almost blake's first birthday (tear, sniff!) and it's finally getting done, but i am not complaining, i am just glad little man doesn't have to hurt himself on the broken tiles!

today i did some covert operations on our toys...we had to move all the toys out of the toy closet downstairs in preparation for the tile guy to come and tear up all the tile, so while we were taking all the toys out of there, i took the opportunity to quickly go through them and take out things that were knick knacks or never played with etc. i also ventured into the kids' rooms and did the same. and i bet they'll never notice! do you do this too? i did it while they were playing around me, too! just goes to show, sometimes it's better to do stuff in plain sight than try to hide it!

3 bags to take to Savers!

we are starting to get into more clothing that ethan wore that blake can now wear...and it is SO cute! i don't know...something about knowing it's a hand-me-down actually makes it cuter to me. and blake in long pajamas is just really cute to me anyway. because he hasn't worn them since he was a baby baby...it's just been too hot in AZ for that! but here's a flash back.....


here's ethan when we still lived in UT...i just love these pjs!

and here's blake tonight...avery wanted to get in on the picture action but i caught her touching her nose...not picking...just touching:)



the boys still definitely look like brothers to me...but i feel like blake is starting to diverge some and become his own man....what do you think?

picnic...

the kids wanted to have a picnic outside the other day...blake got in on the action too:)


and trying to get blake to cooperate to help me take pictures of the smallest trick or treat bags was challenging to say the least.


needless to say, we didn't get a satisfactory picture with him in it!

digging myself out...

whew! i embarked on a craft show last week, not super last minute-y but kind of so my days and every bit of spare time i could squeak out were spent sewing sewing sewing. my mom switched sewing machines with me when they came and watched our kids when we went to our reunion so the new machine and i (who doesn't have a name yet...suggestions?)got really well acquainted.

the show was...a good experience...i gave out some business cards...sold a few things but nothing overwhelming. the problem was that i signed myself up to do this, bought some halloween fabrics to make things and then found out there was only one show in october (not two as i had previously thought) so i worked furiously for about three days...i mean, it was actually astounding to me how much i made! i was rather proud of myself and i put in so much time that i think i was overestimating what might happen at the show...i don't know. and then when it was over i was bummed. i was. i'll just say it. i slept for two hours the night before so that probably had something to do with it.


but here's the thing. i don't make things so i can sell them (per se...that would be nice though:)) i make things because i have an actual need in myself to create things. it is important to me to create things, it's thrilling to make something from raw materials (be it baking, cooking, sewing or whatever). i really enjoy it. the whole process, the whole shebang. i learned this about myself this weekend (again...i keep relearning things:) the process of making things helps me feel connected and balanced as a whole. i'm not sure why it is this way with me, but it is. and i like it. so i'll keep trying to sell things...because it's fun when something sells but the whole REASON i make them...isn't for money...it's for my own sanity and love of the creation process.

so if anyone needs a halloween trick or treat bag or halloween bunting...let me know:)

crazy rain...

we have been in an intense rainstorm today! it has been pretty great to watch. it thunder stormed yesterday but today it has been all day and it hailed! our street in front of our house looked like this after the first round of rain...

the new shelf...

we have a wall in the kitchen that was kind of boring and i needed more "shelf" space so i went to DI and found this...

then i painted the shelf a charcoal color and spent a lot of time doing the dots on the decorative part with the pegs...

but i like how it turned out a lot!

we are getting our halloween decorations out around here, i had to hold the kids (and myself) off until oct. 1 but then we broke them out and have started getting them up and around:) so fun!

kid-isms...

today we were discussing that telling lies is not a good idea and it makes our Heavenly Father sad and avery said,"will He put me in time out?"

good question!

ethan has been a little bent out of shape that grown-ups can do "whatever they want" (in his mind anyway...) and he expressed this the other day and i said, "no we still have rules, we can't do WHATEVER we want" and he said,"the only person who can do whatever he wants is a king, and the only King around here is Jesus!"

Avery had done something supremely weird, dangerous, painful and/or messy (i honestly can't remember now what it was) but i said, in a very nice way, that next time she needed to use the good brains she had in her head to which ethan very quickly responded, "avery has more than one brain?"

gotcha mom!