Those Haskell Boys

Wes Haskell gave his mission report today. I just have to say how impressed I am with the Haskell boys! My boys just kept talking about Wes and his stories and his testimony when we got home from church. I remember one of the very first Sunday's after we had moved to Elk Ridge was one of the Haskell boys farewells. It was either Ryan or Justin, can't remember which. At that time, Wes was just a very little boy, but I very much remember him and Kyle talking at that farewell and coming home and talking with Sean about how impressive their testimonies were at such a young age. They have all been great examples to my boys and as they have grown into leaders for them I am still impressed. Ryan has been their scout leader, they have home taught Andy who is the Elders Quorum president and been able to be in his home and have learned about service from him. Justin has spoke to them at youth conference and also bore his testimony when he is around with such a great Spirit about him that he has made a great impression on them. They remember Kyle and Wes as missionaries and great examples and talk often about their mission reports and remember things that were said. Sometimes I don't think they are listening in church, but I know they are always listening when one of the Haskells is talking because they talk about it later. So, thanks for raising such great sons Lee and Maxyne. Thanks Haskell boys for being great examples to my boys.

Intelligent thoughts

I just had a thought and decided I would post it here so I don't forget it.

I was at the store about 3 weeks ago and they had cheddar cheese in 2 pound bricks on sale for $2.79! That is an amazing deal. So I quickly snatched 4 or 5 of them and brought them home and froze them. I freeze bricks of mozzerella cheese quite often and don't have any problems with it. I seem to have forgotten that when you thaw it out and try to grate cheddar cheese after it has been frozen, it just crumbles.

So, lesson learned, don't freeze cheddar cheese! But this morning I had the thought that if I grate it before I freeze it, the problem would be solved, so next time I find an amazing deal on cheese, that is my solution. We shall see if it works.

Friday Fun Night

I got to go scrapping with my friends tonight. We have so much fun together and learn so much. Thanks Janice for being our hostess and for the great template. We had 8 of us there and there were good times and yummy snacks. I just love the popcorn Heather. Janice is missing because she is taking the picture and Gerri came after the photo session, so she isn't in the photo either. We get together once a month to share and have fun and I love these ladies! I'm so glad I got them all converted to digital so we can fit 8 of us around one table. In the old paper world, we would only be able to get 2 of us in that amount of space.

I made 3 pages, one of them I didn't quite finish with. One of them is now posted in the post - Valentines Day part 2 and I'll post the other one later.

starting from the front left - Cindy, Lisa, Me, Janice's chair, Liz, Judy, Heather, Gerri's chair

Final Night of Digi-Scrap Class

I'm kind of sad that my class is over. Tonight was the last night. I did manage to get everything in that I was going to teach, but I think I might change it up for the next class. I was asked to teach the class again in the Fall so I think I might change the lessons around. It is kind of hard because there are so many different levels of computer knowledge among the students. So I felt like I was ignoring the more advanced students to help those that were having a harder time. It was a good experience though and I learned a lot about the method to use when teaching. I think the next one will be more successful. Sorry to those of you that were guinea pigs for me to teach this first time.

I think it is fun that the school district offers these community education classes. There are all kinds of them going on and I think it is a good program for the community to have going.

Blue & Gold - Trevin did IT!

Tonight we had our annual scout Blue and Gold banquet. This is the 100th year of scouting in America, so it was a big deal. They had a yummy rib/baked potato/salad/roll dinner with cake and ice cream for dessert.

After we all ate, they gave out the scout awards. Trevin has been working very very hard and just Monday was able to finish everything up for his All Twenty award. So he got that along with his Arrow of Light and his Webelo's badge. Then he crossed the bridge to signify going from cub scouts to boy scouts. I can't believe he is already old enough to be a boy scout!

I'm so proud of him for all he has accomplished.

Every year, they have the scouts all make cakes for the blue and gold banquet and then they auction them off after the dinner as a scout fundraiser. They had a real auctioneer this year so that was pretty cool! It was fun! This is the first year we ended up with a cake other than our own. Trevin's cake looked nice and I forgot to get a picture of him with it. Oh well.

Homemade Bread

Doesn't that look yummy?! My mother in law has a really yummy homemade bread recipe that my family just loves! I have always had a problem, not sure what it was but I think I didn't let it raise enough in the pan or else I was putting it in the oven before the oven was totally up to temperature, but I could never make it look good. It always split towards the top on the side, like it was still trying to raise after it started cooking. So this last week when I made it, they all turned out beautiful! So, I just had to take a picture and scrap the recipe since I finally had decent looking loaves. I love that I know how to cook and that I enjoy it so much! I'm sure my family does too. I'm grateful for a great mother, mother in law, and sisters and sisters in law, and friends that are good cooks too that always keep me supplied with great recipes to try.

It's all moved!

The store that Heidi and I sell our digital scrapbooking kits at is having a major facelift this year. They have decided to upgrade the store, forum and gallery. So, all weekend I have been helping move threads from the old forum to the new forum and re-uploading all of my past layouts to the gallery so that it is full for the grand opening of the new stuff on March 1st! It has been a chore but the new forum and gallery are so much nicer and easier to use than the old ones with lots more options so it will be good! I'm really dreading having to get all the new kits in the new store when that comes up! Maybe we will have to retire some kits at that time so we don't have to move them.

It has been so fun growing with the store this past year and being able to do something with Heidi even though we don't live close to each other. We talk almost every day now via email and I even call her sometimes too! It has been a fun experience.

The kit above is our latest! I love how it turned out although I was skeptical at first. We had a special request from someone who has a freind whose horse raced in the Preakness horse race for a horse race kit. She had very specific things she wanted in it. We decided to encompass horse derby races, equestrian, English riding lessons, and Steeplechase races all in one kit. I've never seen any kits like this and I have seen a few requests in other forums for riding lessons kits that weren't cowboy kits, so hopefully it will sell ok even though it is pretty specific. I thought it turned out really pretty.