My brain is spinning

You know that feeling, right before you leave on a vacation, your brain is spinning/swirling around trying to remember anything you need, might possibly need, or things you probably won't need but pack it anyways.

That's exactly how I'm feeling right now. Kali and I are taking a sister road trip to Idaho and we are leaving early in the morning. Exciting? Yes. Racking my brain to remember every little item I might need? Yes.

Of course, I am leaving Julian here, and I must confess that I will miss my little man. Almost a whole week without seeing him, or the kids Kali watches will be definitely weird. I really love those kids. Although, this is a much needed vacation and I am SO looking forward to it!

Prayer Request Update: Ruby {the baby I mentioned in my last post} has been diagnosed with infant botulism. She is still in the Seattle Children's hospital, and will continue to be there for several weeks for recovery. Slowly but surely she is showing signs of improvement. Thank you all for the prayers and I ask you continue to pray for her! God has truly blessed them with a great hospital to care for her every need.

A few things

As I sit here typing, the wind is blowing and the skies are gray. Not exactly a 'cheery' April day as I was hoping. Last weekend, the ladies from our church went to the west side of the state for a ladies conference. It was raining almost the entire time we were there, and ever since we got back to the east side it's been gloomy and gray. I guess we must have brought it back with us.

Even though I grew up on the coast, I confess that I enjoy the warmth and cheerfulness of the bright, sunny days, more than the comforting feeling of home that rain brings me. All that being said, I'm crossing my fingers the weather gets better soon!

As I mentioned, the ladies of our church went to a ladies conference last weekend. As always, it was tons of fun to spend time with the ladies and meeting fellow Christians.

The theme was 'somewhere in time' and they try to get the ladies to dress up according to the theme. All of our ladies dressed up and it was so fun to see the different decades around the room.

Out of over 200 ladies present, I was drawn for one of three door prizes! That was great, especially since it was a basket of ice cream sundae fixings :)

We did our yearly 'spend a full day shopping on Saturday', since we were close to lots of shopping. It's always fun shopping with friends!

We are in the middle of our Mission's Conference this week with Bro. Jayne from Long Beach, WA. It has been a blessing to have him and his wife with us this week and the messages God has given him have been great!

On a little side note..I have a prayer request regarding this sweet baby (she is the one I'm holding in the picture above)

Ruby is about 7 months old and she has been in the hospital for about 2 days now, she flew to the hospital in Seattle for further care today. She has been very lethargic, weak, and not wanting to eat anything. It came upon her very suddenly and of course it has her parents and our whole church concerned about her. Please pray for God's healing hand and that the doctor's would have wisdom on what exactly is going on in her little body. Thankfully, we have an awesome God, Who has everything under His control!

A cousin's visit

We don't get too see our {quite large} extended family very often, but when we do it's always lots of fun! Our cousin, Selma, had her spring break in March and was able to spend most of it with us. Kali and I made a mini-road trip out of it to pick her up in OR. We left on a Friday night and came back Saturday, which makes for a very long weekend {about 7 hours each way}.

Of course, we were able to get together {and have a very short visit} with some of our family that lives in Oregon too! It's always great to see them!

As always, it was so fun to have Selma around for several days!

Memo Frame

After receiving some inspiration from Shanty 2 Chic, I set about making my own DIY memo frame.

I found a thrift store frame and painted it white. Then, used twine to criss-cross across the back, keeping it there with a staple gun. Finally, I made some fabric flowers to go on the corners and as easy as that you have a DIY memo frame. Trust me, if I can do it, so can you!

Right now, I just have a few pictures on it, but you can add notes or anything else you want. We had a wall in our kitchen that was just begging for something to be on it, so that's where mine went!

I'm baaaack!

After almost 3 weeks, I come back to my little corner of the internet. It was an impromptu 'blogging break' but it's nice to have a break every once in a while. 

First off, Happy April!! I cannot believe it's April already, because we just started March, didn't we?! Although, I can't complain about the wonderful, sun-shiny weather we have been enjoying. Plus, April is already promising to be a busy and fun-filled month!

We had a great Resurrection Sunday, celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ conquered death and rose from the dead! I am so thankful the gospel message doesn't end at the cross. 

{Over the past two Sunday's, THREE of my junior church kids have made a profession of faith! SO exciting and blessed to be used of the Lord in their lives.}

I made these cute and yummy cupcakes for my junior church kids to enjoy!

April fools day was filled with fun pranks and laughter. I really haven't done too much in years past, but this year I was in the pranking mood. :) When someone opened the fridge for something they saw these little eyes looking back...

Some other pranks included tissue paper stuffed in the toe of shoes, plastic wrap on a shampoo bottle, safety pins holding together clothing {so when you pull one out, several more come out too}...

Kali decided she would fight back and put salt on my toothbrush, luckily I caught it before it went in my mouth.

Kali and I were laughing about it, but Braxton reprimanded Kali saying, "Salt doesn't go on toothbrushes, it goes on food!!" Silly boy.

I did see a prank online that you put chicken bullion in the shower head, so when you turn in on it rains chicken broth. I decided that might not be appreciated too much :)

Tasty Toast

Ok, Ok. I know what your thinking.

"She's writing a blog post about toast?!"

YES.I.AM

BUT, it's not your typical pop in the toaster and slab a little butter on it, toast.

A different and yummy variation to the classic breakfast food. 

First, we have coconut toast. We have had this in our family for years and it's so yummy!

6 slices of bread

1/2 c. flaked coconut

1/3 c. sugar

1 stick butter, melted

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Combine coconut, sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla. Spread evenly on bread, place on cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Next, we have cinnamon toast. This makes me believe I have been making cinnamon toast wrong all my life. Plus, the 'Pioneer Woman' came up with this recipe, so you know it's yummy.

8 slices of bread

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

dash of nutmeg {optional}

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Spread evenly over the slices of bread. Place the slices of bread on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Then, turn the broiler on 'low' and broil until it's bubbly.  

And that's it! Two yummy toast recipes that are fast and easy to make.

Oh, did I mention they are low-calorie and fat-free?

No?

Ok good, because they aren't.

::Hello Monday::

::Hello green breakfast smoothie::

::Hello sleepy Julian::

::Hello lovely shower curtain. {The shower door was taken down and replaced with a curtain}::

::Hello cute dragon::

::Hello secret prayer sister. Thanks for these, they definitely hit the spot::

::Hello quiet time with my Father::

::Hello comfy maxi skirt. It feels like I'm in my pj's all day, but socially acceptable::

::Hello lovely blue skies, makes it nice for a evening run/walk::

::Hello pandora, thanks for the fun music while cleaning::