Italian Sodas-Yummy!

Have you had an Italian Soda? They are yummy!I have had them in fancy Italian restaurants before but when my Gabby came home from a manners dinner with her young woman's class and was raving  about the Italian Sodas they served she had to find the recipe and of course thanks to pinterest she was successful. Here is the one we found...my only change would be choosing to just use the half and half the recipe calls for instead of the fat free version I purchased. That being said even with the fat free half and half it was still So SO good!! 

Italian Sodas

You will need:

Torani flavors of your choice 

Half and half

club soda

and ice cubes

Add 3 ice cubes to your glass

Then add 1/2 C of club soda

followed by 3 TBS of flavorings and

1 TBS of half and half. 

Top with whipped cream (optional)

Stir and 

ENJOY!!

I think this would be so fun at a party! Make your own style!!

Ensign Peak

We made a goal as a family to hike once a week all summer long. Our hope is to try and enjoy the lovely mountains and trails around our state. What a waste if we don't! I am going to be sharing some of our favorite hikes here.

 The first hike we took this year was Ensign Peak. This hike is basically our first one every year. And it is rad! The Ensign Peak trail is pretty short and pretty steep in some places. There are a lot of loose rocks and pebbles on the trail so you can slip on the way down. So be careful! The kids do really well on this hike. Lola stands up the trail and yells at me to keep going and that I don't get any more breaks. So fun... 

Just check out these views! You can see for miles in basically all directions. So awesome. The kids swore they could see to Africa. We tried to explain why you couldn't see Africa. Five frustrating minutes later they still didn't get it. Remind me next time that it isn't worth the effort! ;)

It is also really great at night. Last year we went up at dusk. We watched the sunset and then used head lamps to hike back down. That was crazy fun. The kids loved the headlamps and the view was one for the books.

I will be the first too admit that I am not in good shape. Like at all. Hence the one pull-up challenge. But I really enjoy hiking and this one is a pretty great hike. I do have to rest my calves a few times on the way up. If I head down too quickly then my knees are aching by the time we get down. But it was well worth it. 

If you are local you need to check out this trail for a quick fun hike. And if you are visiting then it is a must see! 

Swimsuit Cover Up-Victoria's shhhh....A knock off tutorial

We do a lot a swimming in the summer.  Enough to necessitate a cover up for sure.  Did you know that Vicky's secret charges 50 bucks for one like this??  It cost me less than $10 and I didn't even need a sewing machine?! 

Here's the easy tutorial:

You will need:

enough knit fabric to go around your body 1.5 times

a needle and thread to match your fabric

scissors

something to make the round of the arm pits 

(I used a dessert plate)

elastic 

(we used hair elastics) 

What to do:

open the fabric and then fold it into quarters

Cut 3 strips off the end that will be braided together for the straps.

 Using the elastics to secure the strips of fabric braid the piece into a nice long braid.

 See,,,just like this...

 Fold the fabric in half (pin together if you need to) and then cut both thicknesses to provide an  armpit hole for each side (the top corners)

Open up a hole in your braid and pull a little bit of the corner of your knit piece into the braid. 

Fold the little pulled through corner over the strands of the braid and stitch down with your needle and matching tread. Cut off excess after it is stitched down securely.

 Measure the length of the braid over the shoulder for size, cut and secure with a knot or the elastic so the braid doesn't come undone and then sew and repeat the steps above on the back side as well. Now repeat for the other side. 

To wear, wrap around the back and slide the "arm holes" across to opposite shoulders. 

PS... Thanks Gabs for "showing me love"!! You are a doll and a half! I love your happy happy face!! and your sweet willingness to help!

PSS... We cut about 4 inches off the bottom of the cover up after the pictures were taken. 

Watermelon is bomb!

It is officially summer! YAY! I have to admit that hot summer days are not my favorite. Cool summer nights are more my bag. I love sitting in the backyard and having the day slowly fade away to night. I love the cool down really. Lets not kid ourselves. I do love eating a really cold piece of watermelon on a hot summer day though! Watermelon is so good for you! It helps hydrate you big time. It also has vitamins a and c in it. Plus it is chock full of lycopene. Not too mention the potassium or the amino acids arginine and citrulline. Awesome stuff! Lets celebrate the watermelon!!

How amazing is this watermelon cake from Sprinkle Bakes? Well pretty much all she does over there on Sprinkle Bakes is amazing!

Obviously these Kate Spade watermelon ballet flats are awesome!

But these cute ones are more my speed. And price range HA!

These say they are kids studs but I would totally wear them!

With this crazy t-shirt!

This is killing me with the cuteness!

Cute watermelon drinking glasses.

This smoothie sounds so refreshing! And its from Oprah so you know its good ;)

How about a tasty bit of grilled watermelon?

This list is just a tiny dip of the toe of the watermelon goodness out there! Watermelon rocks. No wonder it is a favorite summer fruit. Now I am off to enjoy some much needed rehydrating watermelon.

Christmas is Coming! Are you getting ready??? Come see how!!

It is approx 6 months until Christmas!! 

I am so excited! 

I should tell you that as you get to know me better you will discover that I am a Christmas nut...I really do love the entire holiday season and Christmas is the entire month leading up to the actual Christmas day for me. We do daily advents and focus on quality time and family togetherness.  All of this takes money and can really break the bank if you are not prepared.  

Awh...now on to the reason for this post....

My husband and I made a vow when we were first married that we would not ever go into debt for Christmas. We felt like having to pay for Christmas for the year if not many years after would steal the joy the gifts etc were given for in the first place. This would require putting money away. Savings.  Not an easy concept for us until recently. I discovered a company called Smarty Pig a few years ago and it has been life changing. What is smarty pig you ask?? It is a set it and forget it savings website that will help you set a financial goal (it isn't just for Christmas) and will come and withdraw money for you (when you ask them to) and put it in a savings account for you. They are FDIC insured and secured with VeriSign which is the strongest encryption available so you can trust that you and your money are safe. SO... I now decide on a budget in Jan (see I told you I'm a Christmas nut) and I do my best to make sure I have thought of everything we may need money for. Including parties, special foods, like our Christmas Eve munchies, decorations that need some updates, neighborhood gifts etc etc etc. Then divide it by our paychecks coming and wah la I know what amount my withdrawls need to be.  NOW... I know it isn't Jan but every little bit helps. YES? We still have 6 months to get a little nest egg started and every little bit helps right?? 

Go check them out HERE! 

PS. I am not being paid or receiving compensations from Smarty Pig. I just found a great thing and want my friends to know about it. Cool? :)

French Fry Pizza

I keep telling myself that I am going to start eating healthier. It is a constant reel going on in my head. But then, oh but then, something like this happens:

French fry pizza!!!!!!! Those exclamation points are really necessary because this bad boy is awesome! It is definitely a once in a while treat. Let me tell you first hand that it is worth the calories. The crunch of the crust and the cheesiness of the cheese and the yum of the fries...... It is a thing of beauty. We used cheese pizza but I am sure that it would be great with other kinds. The cheese seemed to help "glue" it all together however. We also used shoe string fries because really that seemed logical. Steak fries seemed like they would be a little too hefty. Plus I can't ever seem to get the crinkle ones crispy. So on to the recipe? Like that is really necessary but here we go! 

French Fry Pizza

1 Digiorno Pizzeria style cheese pizza

1/3 bag Ore Ida frozen shoestring fries

Bake up the french fries to the longest time given on package instructions. Layer hot fries on top of frozen pizza. Bake according to longest time on pizza package instructions. Pull out of oven and let cool for a few minutes. Cut up and enjoy! 

Really you can use any fries and any pizza. I really loved that specific Digiorno pizza because of the extra herbs and spices on it. And the fries crisped up and then melded really well with the pizza. Don't expect the fries to be crisp on the pizza though because they really aren't. The pieces that are hanging off the edge and up in the air will be! Crunchy little surprises. The pizzas instructions said to put the it right on the oven rack which would probably make it even more crisp but I didn't want fries falling off and starting on fire in the bottom of the oven so we went the safe route and put it on a pan. I am sure it would be delicious and just fine right on the rack. 

A camping hack!! What? No more dishes!! YES!

 Awh camp sweet camp....Our family loves camping!! We love being together and disconnecting from all the devices and truly enjoying each other. Look....we even carved our sentiments into the sand.  Awwwhhhhh......................................

Cute right?? Yep. I love camping BUT....I really hate (oh wait my mama told me not to say hate) OK...I really strongly dislike, with a passion, washing dishes while camping. Needless to say not ideal and kinda yucky actually.  Well....once again necessity being a mother...here is my solution. (with the help and giant brain of my cute hubs we make a great team he and I; I must say) 

First we added about half an inch to an inch of water to the bottom of our cooking pan.  Then we put a Reynolds crock pot liner (you know those things intended to keep your crock pot/slow cooker clean)into the bottom of the pot over the water like you see below.  As you can see, its not made to fit inside our smaller than a crock pot pan, but it really does work. I promise. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking....

BEAUTIFUL!! 

Please note we have only tested this over the camp stove. No idea what other cooking methods would do....Enjoy!!

I miss my kids!

I had a completely different post planned for today. I got home from work yesterday and after taking Nick to work I started working on something for le blog. Then the kids asked me to play with them. How could I say no? I dropped everything and played with them and read them some Harry Potter. It was the best! SO this post is going to be about me whining about missing my kids. You have been warned and I apologize in advance! 

Any other full time working mothers out there? Or part time? Or work from home mothers for that matter? Let me first say that I don't mind my job. I am grateful that I have it. It is helping to provide for my family and that is not something to sneeze at! It is a huge blessing that I know some people don't have. Again, I am grateful. 

That being said it is so hard! I miss my kids. So bad. It makes my heart ache to leave them. The place that I work has a rotating schedule so it is different every week. I don't have the luxury of having every weekend off. As a matter of fact this weekend will be my first off in two months. That is tough. It means that I miss out on lots of things that the kids and Nick get to do together. They are experiences that I am glad they get to have but I wanna go tooooooo!! It is a hard thing to have your son tell you that you need to quit your job. Or to have your daughter ask you to stay home from work most days. There is probably a good life lesson for them somewhere in there but all I can say to them is that I wish I could quit and stay home with them everyday too. They are getting tired of the "mommy has to do this to help take care of our family" line. It is the truth but it is no fun. Being a responsible adult sucks sometimes.

 The other issue is that when I do have a day off I stress out about it being fun and memorable. Anyone else have that problem? I am putting a lot of stress on all of us to have a fun time together. Which inevitably means that no one has a good time. The biggest of all ughs!! I need to get into the mindset of whatever happens happens and at least we are together. That is all I want really. I want to just be with them playing and reading Harry Potter.  

Don't even get me started on missing my husband. Oy. 

Okay I think my whining is over for today. And I promise to be back with a stellar post next time! Thanks for lending a listening ear. 

Any tips and advice? Does it ever get easier? Because quite frankly I feel like it is getting more and more difficult.   

My water proof picnic blanket -A tutorial (sorta)

I am sure you remember our post on Free Movies in the park but if you don't you can check it out here... Well, we have been attending, and have been enjoying the fun, but have run into two little problems. 1) the blankets are getting a little moist as we sit on them in the grass and 2) we are having a hard time getting them to stay put. (read between wiggly kids and people walking through our party the blankets were a bunched up mess) SO....they say necessity is a mother and it must be true because I came up with a solution to both little troubles; my version of a water proof picnic blanket. How you ask?? I sewed a cheap blanket to a tarp.  HAHA!! 

Pretty simple but very effective and I'll show you how. 

 What you'll need:

a tarp (we used a heavy duty 8x10 tarp)

a blanket (we used a cheap $5 twin size blanket from Wallys)

thread

the usual sewing notions

tent stakes

OPTIONAL: a tent stake mallet

First we laid out the tarp and 

then centered the blanket on top of it. 

Next we pinned and pinned and pinned. 

(you will want a lot of pins) :)

Then once it was pinned we simply sewed around it to 

attach the blanket to the tarp.

 NOTE: it is big and kinda heavy...you may want assistance just holding the bulk of the materials and to help maneuver it while you sew.

Now we can use the grommets in the tarp to stake down our blanket and never worry about whatever is on the grass seeping up to get us.  YAY!! AND it will stay right where we put it. HOORAY!!

Gabby is so helpful staking down the blanket and all....

Don't they look so happy to be nice and dry?! 

I plan on storing the mallet, stakes, and blanket in a cute reusable shopping bag and keeping it in our van for ready to go capabilities.