Super Yummy Chocolate Cake

This cake was awesome... and not too fattening as far as chocolate cakes go. The kids gobbled it down in about 5 minutes.

Chocolate Snack Cake

1 sm pkg instant chocolate pudding
2 c milk (I use skim)
1 chocolate cake mix
1/2 c chocolate chips

Whisk dry pudding mix and milk together for 2 minutes. Add cake mix. Beat until well mixed. Spread into a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. (I used 2 8x8 pans) Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until done. Let cool. Yum Yum! Next I'm gonna experiment with other flavors :)

When I made the cakes into 2, my plan was to freeze one and use it later. The kids ate the one cake in minutes and wanted more, but I told them too bad, it's in the freezer. Today they had friends over and asked if they could have cake after lunch. I pulled the other one out of the freezer and the kids ate it frozen just as fast as they ate it warm yesterday. lol... guess I didn't need to freeze it for only one day. Also, it would make great homemade ice cream sandwiches.

family night

We had a virtual family night last night... Ken's kids were visiting him for the weekend, so we decided we needed to have family night all together. We had our web cams open and our speaker phone on and we had a fun time all together. I sent him the file with our activity (a word find of the 4th article of faith I made), so we were all doing the same thing. Members of each household participated. It was a lot of fun. It's good for all the kids to feel like a family. Tanner made the refreshments at their house, and Caleb made them at our house. Caleb and I made one of the best cakes I've ever had. And one of the easiest recipes ever. Caleb made it all by himself and I just popped it in the oven.

I love these pics of Caleb. Oh to be young and find great pleasure in the simple things without worrying about the fat content or getting messy.

I'm a supernatural and vampire nerd

As you can probably tell by my choice of what I like to watch & read, I love things of the supernatural realm... I adore vampires and love to be scared every now and then, as long as it isn't real.

So, I only have two TV shows that I watch... Supernatural and Moonlight. Sadly Moonlight is not coming back for a second season. I kinda figured when there was no cliff-hanger at the end of season one. Seriously, someone dies at the end of each Supernatural season, which was only 16 episodes long this year due to the writers strike :( Last year it was Sam, this year it was Dean, who is now in hell... obviously he'll be back next season. There were rumors of CW picking up Moonlight, but I guess they decided against it. Sad. I guess Thursday nights will be the only time each week I have to sit in front of the TV... lol

I watched Interview With a Vampire the other night for the first time in years. I wasn't going to since it's rated R, but I did anyways (I'm bad, I know). The funny thing is it was rated R for the vampire gore and violence. It came out 10 or so years ago... and the gross stuff wasn't any worse than what the CW shows on Supernatural every single week. R rated back then is every day TV now. Our world is sure going downhill.

Also, I'm pretty excited for the Twilight movie to come out this December. Not too sure about the guy they cast as Edward, not really how I imagined him, but it should still be pretty awesome. And I have to say... all the crazy people fighting about who would win in a fight, Harry Potter or Edward Cullens are really silly and have too much time on their hands... They are the real nerds.

I love our school!

I went to a school meeting tonight, and I have to say, I love our school... I'm so excited to be jumping back into it this upcoming year. I haven't really been able to do much this year and I miss it. I'm can't wait to be involved with the Family Engagement Committee. It's a great group to be apart of. I'm so very grateful that my kids go to such a fantastic school.

Tuesday already???

Is it really Tuesday already? The weekend flew by. It was a pretty good weekend. I blew off the yard sale, which was a good thing cuz Friday night we found a cheap plane ticket and Ken came to visit for the weekend. He flew in on Saturday morning and went home last night. We worked on lots of projects for my new job. We also went and saw the new Iron Man movie which was pretty good. It was really good to spend some time with him. The next time we'll see each other is probably around the end of June.

I'm getting super-duper busy with both jobs. My new job is really fun and I'm gettin all kinds of stuff planned... it'll be awesome. Starting in a couple of weeks I'll add another job to my crazy life. I'll be teaching a theater workshop for kids.

Tonight I went and helped the young women in my ward sew pioneer skirts for trek. It's put me in a sewing mood. Too bad there's no time for it. There's a pioneer thing going on in a couple of weeks and I'd love to do a craft booth for it. The booth rental is really cheap. Guess I can't do everything.... unless.... hhmmmm.... maybe I should take my sewing to work..... or I could just stop sleeping :) We'll see....

Yummy!

Blueberry Cobbler
I made this up the other night at 10pm when I got in a baking mood. I took it to work the next morning and we gobbled it up with cool whip... It was super yummy!

1 large jar blueberry pie filling
1 lemon cake mix
1 1/2 cubes butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour the pie filling into the pan. Sprinkle the dry cake mix on top. Pour the melted butter all over the top of the dry mix. Do not stir. Bake for 45-55 min. Serve warm topped with ice cream or cool whip.

Visiting Teachers

My visiting teachers came over last night. I so appreciate their visits. I miss having friends to sit and chit-chat with. Even though I work with people, it's not the same thing as having a fun girlfriend to hang out with and visit with. I really miss that. I hope my visiting teachers know how thankful I am for them.

Renaissance Spelling Bee

All three kids participated in their grades spelling bee this afternoon. They each were chosen as one of the top five spellers in their class to be able to participate! It was a good experience for all of them. Alyssa went pretty far. I was proud of them all... they are so smart! It was quite the time for me rushing from one class to the next trying to get to each room before they each spelled their word. (Dang Nina for having her class upstairs.) Afterward we went and ate pizza at Costco to celebrate. I was feeling like a crappy mom though.... I forgot my camera :(

Yard Sale Saturday

I'm having a yard sale on Saturday... I'll be so glad to get rid of the junk in my garage. Yard sales are a pain to have, but I might as well make a little cash while cleaning out everything. I've been organizing my boxes and going through stuff every day... I get the worst allergies from all the dirt. B.J.'s clearing out all her stuff too. Yippee... a clean garage is on the way!

How well do your kids know you?

I realized last night that my kids don't know me. They know I'm their mom. They know I take care of them, but they don't know that I'm a person. We had family home evening last night. I had to work all day, so I had Nina choose a topic from my family home evening packets and get it all planned. Since it was Mother's Day on Sunday, she chose the topic of "Mothers". We had our scripture, lesson, story, etc. and everything was all fine and dandy, and then we did the activity. For our activity Nina had a bunch of strips of paper that had things on them like: Name ____ things Mom _____. And then they had a die. Everyone took turns rolling the die and picking a strip of paper. I got to watch and tell them if they were right. Here are some of the answers... Name 2 things Mom does well: "cooking and laundry" Name 4 animals Mom likes: "Does Mom even like animals?" Name 1 thing Mom likes to do during the summer: "take care of us" Name 3 books Mom has read: "The Book of Mormon, that Holy Ghost book I saw on her bedroom door and ???" It was hilarious... answer after answer proved to me that my kids don't really know me as a person. You should have seen the blank looks on their faces. They just know me as "Mom".

I've decided that for the next few weeks during our family home evening opening exercises we will have a "family member of the week". The have to do a presentation on themselves with a poster and everything... just like the student of the week at school. We'll find out all about each other... favorite color, food, tv show, etc. I thought it's a good way for us to all get to know each other just a little better.

My Ring

You know, I love my wedding ring. I get compliments on it almost every single day, and I can tell why. It is one of the most beautiful rings I have ever seen. I will just sit and look at it some times and it gives me warm fuzzies to think about Ken and how much he loves me and wanted me to have the ring I fell in love with. I'm so thankful for him and I'm thankful for how much he cares about me and wants the best for me. I know that we are going through a rough start, living so far apart and everything, but I'm grateful for him, his love and his friendship. Thanks Ken.... I love you and miss you!

New Job

Well... I got the job I wanted. I will now be working two jobs throughout the summer. I'm gonna be super crazy-busy, but it'll be nice to get ahead and put a little money into savings. They hired some new girls at work, so I'll only be doing 20 hours a week at each job, but it'll still be a lot for me with two jobs and three kids.

Happy Day

Today's been a pretty good day. The kids went and spent the day at their dad's house. I took my mom out to lunch. We ate all-you-can-eat sushi. She had never had "real" sushi before, so it was a lot of fun. We stuffed ourselves and laughed as we both tried to manage chopsticks and giant-sized pieces of sushi that will not fit in our mouths in one bite... I guess I need to be a big-mouth like Ken to be able to do that... lol.

We spent some time wandering around DI. I found some vintage cushion thingys to go on my kitchen chairs and a couple of pretty pink rose topiaries. After I dropped her off I stopped by Kohls to see what kind of clearances they had. I'm bored of my jewelry and found lots of cute jewelry for super cheap along with a really adorable dress. I had a gift card I got from my mom for my b-day, so it was extra fun.

I had a job interview yesterday. I think it went pretty well... it's a job I think I'll love. Not sure if I'll quit my other one or work two for the summer to get caught up on things. Hopefully I get it. It's a job I'm pretty qualified for, so I'm crossing my fingers and should hear back on Monday or Tuesday.

This pic is me in my new ARMY t-shirt. Gotta love those military boys!!!

flowers

Ken had beautiful flowers delivered to me for Mother's Day. He had them delivered to my work yesterday (my day off... lol). The girls working didn't know what to do with them, if they should take them out of the box or what. They ended up just putting them in the fridge up in the board room. We had no scissors (somehow they all disappear as fast as we buy them) in the entire building to cut them out of the box or to cut the bottoms of the stems off with, but after searching everywhere I found a pocket knife in the "lost and found" box. Once I finally got them out, they were really pretty. Thanks Ken!!!

TAG!

I've been tagged :)

3 Joys
1. my kids
2. Ken's visits from Nevada
3. sleeping in

3 fears
1. snakes in my bedroom... yikes... hopefully I don't find any more
2. suffocating, drowning, closed-in spaces, being held down, whatever... I'm EXTREMELY CLAUSTROPHOBIC
3. not being able to provide my kids with everything they need

3 goals
1. get to a size 6... I've gone from a sz 16 to a sz 10 in the last year, a couple more sizes to go :)
2. buy a house... I so miss living in my own house :(
3. live in the same state as my husband... what a unique idea... lol
4. finish my website (I couldn't decide on just 3)

3 current obsessions/collections
1. I collect & am obsessed with everything vintage... vintage gloves, shawls, jewelry, clothing, cookbooks, lamps, scarves, accessories, postcards, magazines, fabric, lace... I love vintage!!!
2. The colors pink and white... I love the color pink more and more all the time. And I love to paint things white... my chairs/table, my bar-stools, picture frames.
3. vampires... don't ask

3 Random Surprising Facts about Me
1. When I get scared in my house, I'm really tempted to put salt on all my window sills and door-ways, including the one into the creepy dirt-floor storage room.
2. I love to sleep... I wish I could sleep in every single day... I could sleep for hours and hours if everyone would just let me... (crazy kids, think they need a mom around) lol
3. I only like to read books if I can read them in one sitting. I'm a quick reader, averaging about 100 pages an hour and I'll start a book after the kids go to bed and stay up well into the night to finish it. That means I don't get to read much, cuz I need my beauty sleep, and I just can't put a book down once I start it.

Sabina and Kassy... you've been tagged... your turn :)

field trip

I took the day off work today and went with Alyssa on a field trip to Thanksgiving Point. We have a membership there, so we go quite a bit. I rode on the bus with 75 second graders... what fun... lol. We went to the dinosaur museum, an Imax 3-D movie, the farm country and the children's gardens. My group had Alyssa and her two good friends. Alyssa and I both got allergies, so we took benadryl at the farm. As soon as we got home, we both fell into a drugged sleep. We slept from 2:45pm until 7:30 pm. I feel bad, Nina and Caleb got home from school and had to fend for themselves. They watched movies, played outside and ate cold cereal for dinner. Poor them... lol.

I went to Walmart tonight. I had them ad match Albertson's 10 for $10 sale going on right now. With the ad matched prices and the coupons I printed off the internet, I got 20 boxes of General Mills cereals and 10 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars for $16.23... lol. What an awesome deal! I'm sure the checker was annoyed, but Albertsons was out of everything and wouldn't do rain checks unless their customer service was open.

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday... I love it. I was ready for a change.

bag tag

I'm following Karalee's example and gonna play a little bag tag. So... I know we're all scared, but here's a peak at what's inside my bag. You'd probably be suprised and disgusted to know that quite often I have much more than this I carry around with me. When I'm on my way to work I often also have my lunch, my yo-yo quilt stuff and/or a book or magazine in my bag. My purse weighs so much I get a cart at the store just to put my bag in... lol. I'm glad I went through my bag today, cuz I realized I'm missing my first-aid kit and Alyssa's epi-pen. Here's what's in my bag today...

1. 2 things of face powder and a powder brush
2. Jones Soda candies
3. gum
4. ice breakers mints
5. Halls burst throat drops
6. several bobby pins and ponytail holders
7. a ziplock baggie full of gift cards/membership cards/coupons/etc.
8. hand sanitizer
9. 2 bottle caps
10. mascera
11. floss
12. mouthwash
13. tweezers
14. stack of blank index cards
15. index cards with web site stuff written on them
16. water bottle
17. 2 cell phones
18. Kohls gift card
19. oil absorbing face sheets
20. nail file
21. 2 pens
22. 2 lipgloss
23. 2 lipsticks
    
24. 2 concealers
25. 2 AA batteries
26. perfume
    
27. paperclips
    
28. keys on my keychain
29. extra car key
30. extra mailbox key
31. stack of blank checks
32. child support check
33. extra Smiths card
34. hand wipe
35. feminine products in a little purse thingy
    
36. loose change
    
37. my camera
38. school pics of the kids
39. hand lotion
40. dollar movie stubs
41. receipts
42. pack of mini gel pens
43. a recipe for tamales (that I didn't use)
44. an old shopping list
45. day planner
46. notebook
47. SS card application
48. dental insurance card
49. zoo membership info
50. Thanksgiving Point membership info
51. Tai Pan coupon
52. tonz of napkins
53. mirror
54. my wallet

huh?

I really love old ads. I could spend hours looking through old magazines or websites with old advertisements. This one was so random, it cracked me up.

Another boring day

Well.... Ken didn't seem to appreciate my last blog. He thinks if I got rid of everything on my gotta go list I wouldn't have a life. How sad... do I really only have bad things in my life??? I hope not. It was all in good fun. One of those days.. ya know the kind?

So, here I am at work. It's another dead day. Not much happening round these parts other than some big budget meeting the mayor is having in our performance hall. Super fun!

My List of Things That Must Go!!!!!

The morning radio show I listen to on my way to work has a segment that's called "Things that must go!" every Wednesday. I decided to make my very own list of things that must go. Here they are in no particular order....

Living far from my husband
Working every day
Car problems
Fighting kids
Exercising
Eating healthy
Budgeting
Waking up early
Symphony people
Moving
Going through boxes
Travel expenses
Ex-husbands
Dust
Being too busy for anything
Sick kids
Bills
Getting old
Spiders and snakes in my bedroom
Running to the store every day
Cold showers
Dishes and laundry that never end
Allergies
Tight fitting clothes
Messy kids' bedrooms

That is my list of things that must go :) Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Tamales

Today after church the kids went and spent a few hours with their dad. I spent the afternoon making home-made tamales. I started the meat in the crock-pot yesterday and let it cook for about 20 hours in a jalapeno salsa. They turned out so yummy! I'm taking them to work tomorrow. We decided to have a little party in the box office. The fact it landed on Cinco De Mayo made it even more fun!!! It's getting really slow at the art center for the summer. We gotta do something to liven things up :)

Yesterday was my first yard-saling day of the year. Didn't find any super great finds, but I did pick up a few things. I love yard sale season!!!

may day

Pretty sure it isn't supposed to snow in May... but hey, what do I know? We woke up to a freezing cold house and snow on all my flowers.