"Mom's head is in a pot"

I have been learning the benefits of healing with "essential oils". Getting over walking pneumonia I am trying to open my lungs with eucalyptus so I make a tent over steamed water with essential oils dropped in the water. Wade called to talk to me and asked Laurisa where I was, she responded, "Mom's head is in a pot!"

Gratitude Door

Our Gratitude door was inspired by a book I read by my cousin Kristen Oaks titled "A Single Voice." It is an amazing read for not only singles but everyone! It is filled with so many inspirational stories and scriptures that can help us in our daily lives! I was very inspired by her chapter on Gratitude. She shares a story of a friend who under went cancer treatments and the things she was most grateful for. She put a large piece of paper on her door and everyone that came in or out recorded one thing that they were grateful for. So we decided to try it Jan 1st. It has been such an incredible month sharing our everyday grateful moments. It is amazing the many blessings we have in our lives! I realized while reading this book how many people have shared their life's lessons with my cousin and in return she has shared her life lessons with us in her book. I am so thankful for her book, she is truly an inspiration to me! I think that is truly the life lesson that inspires me most,is that we are all here to learn from each other! I think that is why I enjoy blogging so much because I learn from all of my family and friends who continually inspire me! I encourage you to make a gratitude door. The quote that she shares that the lady learned is that,"we cannot be unhappy and grateful at the same time." That is so true! It is contagious, even friends wanted to contribute to our gratitude door when they visited! It has been such a blessing in our home that I think we'll continue our gratitude door at least another month and hopefully continue in our hearts always!

Dress Designers

Laurisa's friends from her Light group begged her to come to their school dance(Mountain View) this weekend. It is a girls ask guy dance, so she asked a guy from Light that goes to Mountain View.
The next step was to figure out what she was going to wear! Us girls always have this dilemna! Well after Laurisa and I brain stormed we decided to take an existing dress from her sophmore year school dance and redesign it! We had so much fun doing this project together! I always have so much fun with Laurisa, she makes everything fun and she is so very creative!

Before

Laurisa tried not to smile like they always do in before pictures but she couldn't do it--so surprising (she doesn't know how to not smile.) We took this picture after we had already cut the under fabric short,removed the flower and the gathered fabric going down the side.

After
Wawh Lawh!!! Wow this dress really came to life with a little altering!!! Short dresses are more the style this year!

Trip to Utah

Wade has been traveling to Utah once a month for the past 3 years and has always wanted to take me with him, he finally earned a companion pass for this new year so I can travel wherever he goes through the year FREE! So I am now his companion flyer! Wherever he goes I go! It was so much fun to go with him to Utah! We stayed at the Marriott at Thanksgiving Point and enjoyed time with family!

While Wade worked we had a sister day and decided to take a cooking class together. We are all trying to use more grains in our cooking, so we took a class from a lady that wrote a cook book called "Cookies for dinner" We learned a lot and had a lot of good laughs! My sister in laws are the sisters I never had but always wanted. We always have so much fun together and enjoy each others company no matter what we do!

That night we all went out to eat at Rumbi Grill. It was fun to be with family. My nieces and nephews entertained me with their chopsticks! It was great to catch up on each others lives! We spent the night at the Marriott at Thanksgiving Point! The next day we went to the dinosaur museum, IMAX theatre, and shopped until we had to catch our plane. It made for a great little get a way! I like being Wades companion, can't wait for our next adventure together!

Visitors from Utah

Friday night we were able to have a family pizza night with a visit from the Kesteloot's. It was so fun to see them and spend time catching up on our lives! All the family came; Nana and Paul, Tom and Holly and Waylan, and Joslyn and Golden. We love anytime we can get together and it was really a treat to have Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen with us!

Organizing

I spent a day organizing all of my grains so they can be accessible in my pantry! I just love feeling organized in my pantry, it energizes me to cook! I love these peet containers because they hold a 10 lb size can from the cannery and they are clear so you can see what is inside them! I am enjoying grinding different kinds of grain into flour and putting them in my recipes! My pizza recipe I added spelt and teft and it was yummy. I also bought a cook book called "COOKIES FOR DINNER" which has recipes with 6 different grains milled unto flour. I am going to Utah this week and am going to take a cooking class from her so I will let you know any good ideas I come away with!

Backyard Vacation

Since the housework was done, and the children were away I decided to take a vacation in my backyard. I read a book sitting by my pool in my hammock! It was the most beautiful day--- 75 degree's and I always enjoy a good book on vacation so I took advantage of the perfect vacation day in my back yard!