BillionClicks.org

A couple of weeks ago, all of us sisters went to the Time Out for Women in Albuquerque, NM.  I posted about it last week.  We had so much fun!  There are so many speakers that I absolutely loved, in fact, I loved them all!  I just wanted to take the time to talk about Hilary Weeks and a project that she is doing right now called BillionClicks.org.   

I think that this is such an excellent program that I shared it with my family for Family Home Evening Monday night.  For those of you who don't know, every Monday night we gather together as a family and spend time together.  We sing, have a lesson, activity, pray and always end with a treat!  Anyways, my older kids knew that I had something special to share with them all week and they knew that it involved a clicker and they were so excited about it!

I shared this video with my family.

And then I explained that I have a clicker that each person will take for a day and will "click" their positive thoughts onto.  We will then record our "clicks" onto BillionClicks.org.  They were all so excited!  The only problem is that I only had one clicker and they all wanted to go first.  So we had to come up with a rotation schedule and these boys are really clicking away!

Next week at Family Home Evening we are going to discuss the difference  that clicking made in our personal lives and the difference in our home this experiment makes.  I really think that this was an inspired program that will aim our focus onto the positive things in life.  There are so many distractions in life that can get us down and make us feel useless and worthless.  But with all of the blessings and opportunities that come our way everyday, it's important to acknowledge and focus on the positive things. 

Hilary Weeks and our Sisterhood!

So go ahead and CLICK away!

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Iron Rake Jewelry Holder

I was walking around my parents yard the other day exploring their collection of antiques. I found this rake head and thought it would be perfect to hold all of my necklaces that always get tangled. It works perfectly and I love the way it adds a vintage flare to my room!

General Conference- VT Ideas

General Conference in next weekend- here are some gift ideas for your Visiting Teaching in case you have not done it yet.  

Here is a General Conference Packet that I did for my sisters last conference.You can find the entire post HERE!

Here is another General Conference Goodie Bag done by Everyday Food Storage.

Blue Skies Ahead also had a really cute idea for a General Conference Gift.  You can find it HERE.

All of these ideas are SUPER cute and cheap to do.  Giving little things like this to your sisters really goes along way.  Good luck with your Visiting Teaching!

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Friday Feature: Sister Savings

For those of you who live in Arizona and would love to save money while doing your grocery shopping, then I have the website just for you.  It is called Sister Savings.   

Now what I really like about this site is that you don't have to clip coupons.  I have clipped coupons for years and saved so much money, but it does take some time.  Now think about all the time you will save by not clipping those coupons and letting Sister Savings do the work for you!

But it's more than a website for saving money at the grocery store.  She also has menu ideas, recipes, food storage, gardening and so much more!  So you don't have to live in Arizona to take advantage of Sister Savings.  There is something for everyone!

So go ahead and stop on by Sisters Savings website, you will not be disappointed!

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Portabella Pizzas

My husband is on a really strict diet, so I have been trying to find ways to keep things fun and interesting.  This week I made some Portabella Mushroom Pizzas that he absolutely LOVED!  Here is the recipe...

Portabella Pizzas

Ingredients: 
Large Portabella Mushrooms (each mushroom is a serving- so if you have 4 people, you need 4 mushrooms)
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce or Canned Tomatoes

Toppings of your choice-  (we used cooked turkey bacon, pineapple, olives, ect)

Directions: 
Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove mushroom stems and set aside. Place mushrooms on a baking sheet (I lined it with tin foil and sprayed with cooking spray- less of a mess.) Bake mushrooms for 8 minutes.  While mushrooms are baking- get toppings ready. Remove mushrooms from oven and blot the excess liquid from mushroom caps.  Add sauce, cheese and toppings to your mushrooms and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
 

 I also used the left over toppings for a salad that was really yummy!

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Time Out For Women

This past weekend we all drove to Albuquerque to attend the Time Out for Women Conference.  We had such a great time and built many fun memories.  Our mom joined us along with our sister-in-law, Karlee.  She is so beautiful and so fun!  We missed hanging out with our other sister-in-law, Larissa, but she is getting ready to have a baby.

We stopped at this fun place to eat called Sparky's in Hatch, NM.  The food was great and the atmosphere was upbeat.

Brittany ordered a Root Bear Float that was tasty!

Brittany and Mom

The BBQ was yummy, especially on the pulled pork sandwich!

Karlee, Briana, and Bridget

When we left the restaurant, the line was out the door and the parking lot overflowing! We wanted to get a picture of us in front of the building with the Colonel from KFC, so we asked a group of military men to take our picture.  We were a little off centered, but it worked.  

Brooke joined us from Amarillo when we got to our hotel.  We wanted to go and see the Albuquerque Temple.  However, there weren't enough seats in Mom's car, so Karlee sat on the floor.  We looked like a bunch of clowns piling out of a car in the circus!

Brooke, Briana and Karlee

Brittany and Brooke

Briana, Brooke, Brittany, Karlee, Bridget, Mom

Karlee, Brittany, Brooke, Briana and Bridget

Mom, Brittany, Brooke, Briana, and Bridget

Karlee, Brooke, Bridget, Brittany and Briana

Before the Conference started, we stopped by and ate at Chick-fila.  The cow came up behind Karlee and scared her so bad!  We were all laughing so hard!

We were so excited to see and hear Jenny Oaks Baker.  She played amazing!

We heard so many speakers.  Friday night, we listened to Dean Hughes.

After the meeting on Friday night, we ran into our cousin, Julie.  We didn't even know that she was going to be there.  So we were all excited and sat with her and ate lunch with her the next day.

Hilary Weeks performed and spoke on Saturday.  She did a great job and was so fun!  She talked about thinking positive thoughts and counting them on a clicker.  She started a website trying to get to a billion clicks.  So we all bought clickers to count our positive thoughts!

We all had such a great time and would definitely go again!

Julie, Karlee, Bridget, Brittany, Mom, Brooke, and Briana

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Square Foot Gardening

I don't know about everyone else, but I am SUPER excited for Spring and to plant a garden, have green grass and feel the warmth from the sun.  We had a girls weekend last week, and while I was gone my husband made me some big planter boxes for a Square Foot Garden.  They are not done yet, but I decided to post some pictures in case any of you are interested in gardening.  Square Foot Gardening is a super easy and efficient garden.  It is also ideal to do, if you don't have much space!

Here are the beginnings of our Square Foot Garden...

My husband made two long planter boxes- a total of 80 square feet.

 There will be more pictures to come as we progress with our garden!  I am SUPER excited!

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Burlap Music Picture

I made this picture about 14 years ago at an Enrichment Night Activity before I was married.  It has been hanging up in every house that I have lived in ever since.  Music is a big part of my life, so I have really loved this picture. 

 I haven't done anything to it until about a month ago, I painted the picture black and I love it!  I think it brings out the black in the music. And I think it looks so much better!  The frame was just a natural brown wood before.

So this was really easy to make!  We had this song printed off on a transparency type paper.  This song is found in the LDS Children's Hymn Book.   For the background, behind the song, I used burlap.  I taped the transparency and burlap to the mat and you're done!

I usually hang this up by my piano.  It's easy and beautiful!

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Step Stool Chair Makeover #2

Back in October I posted a Step Stool Chair Makeover that I did for my sons chair.  In the makeover I used some Iron-on Vinyl for the material.  It looked really good for a couple months.  My son, being 3 years old, constantly picked at it until the vinyl eventually peeled off.  So, I redid the makeover using some tooled leather vinyl. 

 Here are some pictures...

I really liked out it turned out and I think that it will definitely hold up better with my little boy.
Here our some pictures of the stool before...

To this... see the makeover HERE.

To this...

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Little Mae Designs WINNER!

We have a winner of the Little Mae Designs Giveaway!

True Random Number Generator 

  Min: Max:  

  Result: 27 

Hannah said...  I like everything in the store!

Congrats Hannah!!! 

Please respond within 48 hours.
If we do not hear from you, we will pick another winner. 
Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!

Also, Please remember to vote for us Daily!

Mother Goose Popcorn

2 C. sugar

2 Tbs. butter

3/4 C. milk

6 qts. Popped Corn

food coloring

Opt. Favorite Candy Oil or Essential Oil like peppermint

Mix sugar, butter, and milk- cook to a firm soft-ball stage*. (See Note at the bottom) Once you reach the stage, add your choice of food coloring. Add sauce to the popcorn. Be careful, it is HOT! - mix well. Let cool on cookie sheet. Can roll into balls. Store in an air tight container.

This is my moms recipe that we had growing up. It is so fun to eat and easy to make. You can change to color for different occasions. Fun stuff!

*Firm soft-ball stage- get a small cup and fill it with cool water. Then take a spoonful of the sauce and drop a small drop into the water. At this stage, the drop should hold its shape and make a little soft ball. Aprox. 230 degrees if you have a candy thermometer.

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