Caramel Brownies

This week I made my favorite caramel brownies with the boys. They love helping me with these brownies because they get to unwrap all of the caramels and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. This is a great recipe to do with kids, it's so easy and most important, they are delicious!! One of my cute friends gave me this recipe about 4 years ago and it is still one of my favorites. I always have the ingredients in my house and can easily make treats for someone or some event at a moments notice. However, I must say that these brownies are much better if you make them a day ahead. As you can see from the pictures below, this is what you look like when you try to eat them before they are completely cool.

Here is the recipe:

CARAMEL BROWNIES

Ingredients:
1 package German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 cube butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 package (14 oz) caramels
1 package chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cake mix, butter and 1/3 cup of milk. Press half of mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 8 mins. Melt caramels and 1/3 cup milk together over medium heat. Spread caramel mixture on top of cake. Sprinkle chocolate chips over caramel mixture. Drop remaining cake dough (spread out with fingers) and bake 18 mins. Let cool before cutting. Enjoy!!

Thank You, Eric!

Tim's brother, Eric, watched the boys for us this weekend while we went to a movie. He shared the following story in his weekly newsletter (which most of you have already probably read), but I had to add this to my blog as well for journaling purposes. Thanks for the fun story Eric, but mostly thanks for having fun with the boys while we enjoyed a movie!

Story By Eric Jones:

All of these events take place on the night of January 26, 2008. When asked to babysit my nephews I agreed knowing that it would be a nice break from my long day of homework, I didn't even get finished. Around 6:45 PM two young life forms named Payton and Parker were left in my care, not even Jenny was here. Their parents went to see a movie that night so they needed somebody that doesn't do anything. In I come. A homebody if you will. The night started out just as any other night with young kids, we brought the toys out to play as well. Having fun is easy when you are a kid but having a serious conversation is not so easy. So I posed a question to Payton, I asked him I asked, "Payton will you be voting in this up and coming election for our next President?" He did not respond with an assured yes, he simply said, "I don't think I vote." He continued, "I think that voting is for grown-ups." I had to agree with the young child so as not to confuse him. I then asked, "Do your parents vote?" To that he responded, "I don't think they do now." With an interesting tone he stated, "I think that they voted before we were born though." Then Parker stepped in with his two cents saying in his best English, "Yes mom vote she take me last time vote." I thought that was great that young children were taught of the importance to vote. Although I think that if kids were allowed to vote Dick Norse would win every year as a write in candidate. I was then ordered to build a lego house. Payton then said, "I am hungry." I told him that he was in luck because around the corner the McRib is waiting on us to eat him. I told him though that I didn't have the car seats. He told me that they could sit in the back seat all snug in their seatbelts and that would be fine. After he put some thought to it he felt it would be wise to call his mother. I told him that wasn't possible because she was in a movie. He said, "Well I guess I am not hungry then." I told him, "I can make some Mac cheese or something else." With a glad heart they both jumped for joy wanting some Mac cheese. Meanwhile I had put my Engineering skills to work and completed the lego house complete with a snake arm to protect against evil and a driveway to park the space ship, the bus and Parker's car. It was pretty awesome there are pictures of the job well done online. While they ate they wanted to watch a movie. Parker kept walking around saying, "Is mermermer on?" That's what I understood. After about 5 minutes of that I asked Payton what he was saying to which Payton replied, "He wants to know if the Little Mermaid is on." I told him, "No, that I had put on Condor Man because that was my favorite as a kid and all kids should watch it." He responded that it was too scary for hims. Turns out kids of the future don't like what kids of the past liked.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I'm so grateful for our beloved Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley and the incredible life that he lived. I was so saddened by the news of his passing, but mostly grateful for his wonderful teachings and his influence in my life. I loved his quick whit and sense of humor. I'm so grateful that he was able to reach out to the world and cross so many boundaries that had never been crossed before. I'm grateful for his extraordinary energy that he had in carrying this work forward. I have to say that as the news sank in I was not moved to tears until I thought about the reunion that he is now having with his sweet wife, Marjorie. They had such an incredible relationship. It was always a pleasure to hear him talk about his wife and his relationship with her. I'm so grateful for our knowledge of eternal life.



Today as we are without our beloved prophet, the song, "We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet," keeps resonating through my mind and I can't believe how blessed we were to have President Hinckley presiding over our church for as long as he did. Words can not express what an amazing man he was.

Till we meet again!

New Posts...

In case you're interested, I added a couple new posts in down below. I have to keep my journal in chronological order.

Potty Training

I have been hesitant to make this post because I don't want to jinx anything, however, after 2 weeks of no accidents I finally feel safe saying PARKER IS POTTY TRAINED!! I really can't believe it. We started just 3 weeks ago today. I really wasn't motivated to do it and neither was Parker, but I thought that we should at least try. Parker had started changing his own diapers. He was staying dry almost all day long and at night time so I thought that he was probably ready. My friend swears by the potty training in 1 day method so I gave that a try. Needless to say, it did not work for Parker. He was really excited at first, but honestly didn't care about the treats or rewards. He also wouldn't drink anything so he never needed to go to the bathroom. He tried to go to the bathroom the first day, but then after that he was burned out. He would scream bloody murder every time we tried to get him to go to the bathroom. So, after a couple of days. I was ready to give up. I tried to put him back in diapers, but he refused! He was a big boy and didn't want to wear diapers. He walked around in pull ups for a few days and we stopped pressuring him to go to the bathroom. Just about 1 week after we started the potty training process, that I thought was hopeless, Tim helped him go on the "big potty" (we were training him on the little training potty). He went potty and a miracle happened. He has not even had an accident since...what?!? He went from being completely terrified of the "big potty" to only wanting to go on the "big potty." Literally, he has not even had 1 accident in 2 weeks. It's unbelievable!! I trust him to wear underwear everywhere and he always tells me when he needs to go. I am so proud of Parker! Anyone who has tried to potty train knows what a blessing and a miracle this is! Yes, I know it's only been 2 weeks, but it seems like he's just got it figured out. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Shoe Shopping

It wasn't intentional, but this weekend we did quite a bit of shoe shopping. Tim really wanted some new shoes for work and the boys needed some new winter shoes. I just happened to find a couple pair of shoes on sale. So, our whole family ended up with new shoes this weekend, which is my idea of a pretty great weekend!

Parker's Shoes

Payton got 2 new pair of shoes


Tim's new shoes. (He's also been eyeing some Puma's which I'm sure he'll get soon!!)

My shoes were fun just because they were so cheap. These flats were only $9.

These shoes were only $16!!

Under Construction

As you can tell, my blog is currently under construction. I've been having so much fun playing around with my new Photoshop and trying to integrate that into my blog. If you see anything that looks ridiculous it's probably because I'm just playing around. I hope to have a new and improved blog soon. Also, I will be adding some new posts soon!!

Blessings

The last few weeks my life has been consumed by my church calling (okay, besides organizing, relaxing and all that other stuff that I have blogged about). More than usual, my calling has been particularly busy and challenging. With the class transitions due to a new year and our ward moving to a new building (which is much smaller than our previous one) I've had a lot of "administrative" things that I had to worry about, which makes it easy to lose focus. I am constantly having to remind myself of the reasons why I serve and the purpose of everything that we do. Many of you have heard me complaining, but today, I felt like I wanted to just express how blessed I feel to be able to serve in Primary. I truly am so grateful for my calling and for the opportunity that I have to serve. I am so grateful for our theme this year, "I AM A CHILD OF GOD." I really want to spend more time concentrating on helping every single one of the children understand what a marvelous blessing this knowledge is to us. I am so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful children, teachers and leaders who are amazing examples to me. I really need to express my gratitude (before Primary starts today) so that I wouldn't forget!!



Also, yesterday, Tim and I were able to go to the temple and do sealings. I feel so blessed to be sealed to Tim for time and ALL eternity. I'm so grateful for the blessings and the promises that we receive from our temple sealing. I am grateful that our children are sealed to us and that we will be a family forever. That knowledge brings me so much comfort and peace. I feel so blessed that we are surrounded by so many temples and that we have the opportunity to go often.



I also feel so blessed for AMAZING families. I'm so happy that we live close by all of our family (Sorry, Andi, you may not want to keep reading!) I'm grateful that we always have someone willing to watch the boys for us and help us out. Lately, it has been such a blessing especially to me. The boys love their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I'm grateful for the wonderful relationship that they have with them. I feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time with our families. It never feels like a burden (as I know it does for some people), but it is always so much fun to be with our families no matter what we are doing!

I could go on and on, but will share some more of my MANY blessings later!

Annual Bowling Adventure with Siebenbergs

Last year we went bowling with the Siebenbergs to celebrate Camille's birthday and we did it again this year. I think that 2 years in a row means that it has now turned into an annual event. I'm afraid that, whether Camille likes it or not, we will be bowling every year to celebrate her birthday. Luckily, we have so much fun with them no matter what we are doing!!

Brett & Camille

Payton & Makenna

Baby Samantha (She looks like a porcelain doll!)

Parker & Tim

Me & Payton

Friday Night Fun with Friends

It is basketball season, and as you all know by now, Tim does stats for Cottonwood High School's basketball team with my Mom. Every tuesday and friday night they have a basketball game. Sometimes we go with him and hang out with my Dad during the game, other times the boys just go and I get to have a night to myself, but tonight we decided to stay home and relax. Since we were just going to be hanging out at home I invited Caleb & Cade over so that their parents could go out and have some fun without the kids. The boys were a little wild tonight, but they had a lot of fun. These are our friends that live right behind us. We have a gate in our backyard so that the kids can easily run between houses. We love having them as neighbors and feel so lucky to have such great friends right behind us. Our kids get along so well and they love spending time together. These are pictures of the kids watching, "Robots." I think that they sat still long enough for me to take a picture. Shortly after this a popcorn fight broke out!

Another Organizing Project...

This little organizing project that I did was something that I've wanted to do for awhile and was so excited to actually get it done. I made tags that hang in my children's closets so that we can keep their clothes organized.

First, I made tags for everyday of the week. At the beginning of every week, we pick out their outfits for the entire week. I let them do this with me so that we don't have any disagreements later on in the week. Before I made the tags I would just hang the shirts that we picked out in order in their closets, but then I was really the only one who knew what order they were in and by the end of the week they would often get mixed in with the other clothes. The tags are wonderful now because Payton can read and see which shirt he is wearing for which day. I don't have to lay out his clothes anymore. He just has to go and pick out his "Friday" clothes. This is also a great way to teach children the days of the week. I have the tag in the closet with his shirt and then I also have a label in his drawer on top of his pants. We've used them all week and it's been wonderful!





The other thing that I did was made hanging tags for the sizes of my children's clothes. I have all of the baby clothes and clothes that the boys have grown out of hanging in the closet in corresponding size order, but I can never remember where one size starts and the other ends. So...I made tags for each size. Including, future sizes. This way as I buy clothes for the next season or the next size up I can keep track of them.

Highlights of Payton's Time Off Track

Payton has been out of school since Christmas Break. I was so excited for Payton to be on "A" track so that we could have this time after the holidays to enjoy ourselves, get organized and recuperate! That is exactly what we have done. Besides recuperating and organizing, we have been able to do some fun things. Here are a few of the highlights:

We went to the Clark Planetarium with the Carley's. The boys had so much fun learning about the planets and checking out all the neat things. We also watched a movie about a rocket ship. It was a nice "refresher" course for me. I think I learned just as much as the boys did!




This was my favorite part! They have a little place where you can pretend like you are a weather forecaster and see yourself on t.v.




We also went to the Living Planet Aquarium. The boys had a lot of fun seeing the sharks, the octopus, the jelly fish and the trout (seriously?!?) The boys did have a great time, but it really was not worth the money. I couldn't believe how much trout they had. It was pretty funny! It was a field trip for Parker's play school so it was fun to be with all our other friends. Afterwards, we went to lunch with Tim, which is always a special treat. It was a super fun day!




I've been wanting to take the boys on Trax for awhile now, but we haven't had a chance. I've taken them before, but neither of them remember. We decided that we would ride the train downtown and take my Dad (Grandpa) to lunch for his birthday. Erika had the day off and decided to join us. The boys were so excited about riding on the train. Parker was a little nervous. He kept saying, "I don't want to ride the Polar Express. The conductor is mean!" When the train started going Parker said, "It's too fast. Tell them to slow down." Payton loved it. Of course, we picked the COLDEST day of the year to ride the train, but we bundled up and it wasn't too bad. We got lunch at the cafe in the City & County Building (where my Dad works) and ate lunch in his office. My Dad loves to do treasure hunts with the boys. So, the boys left with a few dozen mints and about half way home we noticed Payton had a pedometer on his pants. He said that Grandpa gave it to him. It said that we had walked 2014 steps since we left his office. Wow!! We did take a detour before getting back on the train to Les Madeleines for some yummy cookies. It was worth enduring the cold! As you can see from the pictures, we all had a great time. Parker really enjoyed the ride home.






Payton and Parker also got to sleep over at Grandpa Kent's and Grandma Ann's house. Payton was so excited to play "Star Wars Legos" all night long and that is exactly what he did. He was able to pass all the levels, which was a big accomplishment for him. They loved sleeping over and playing video games. The next day when I came to pick them up we (Grandma, Payton, Parker & me) went and saw "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." It was a cute movie. Again, Parker was exhausted and feel asleep. I think that he's ready for Payton to go back to school so that he can get back on his regular nap schedule.




My cute friend, Beverly, who I used to visiting teach and now I just visit for fun, invited me to bring the boys over so that she could give them their Christmas presents (a little bit late) and make them ice cream sundaes. Beverly still had her tree up because she is still celebrating Christmas. The boys had fun looking at her decorations. She got one of her nativity sets out just for the boys to look at. They loved eating the ice cream sundaes she made for them and playing with her toys. She is such a sweetheart. I love visiting with Beverly. I love our conversations. She helps me keep my own life and priorities in perspective. We had a fun day visiting with Beverly and, of course, the boys left with a nice big bag of presents from her!!






I have LOVED Payton being off track. We have had so much fun! I know that he needs to go back to school and it will be great to get back into our normal routine, but it has been such a wonderful break. I definitely feel like we had a good mix of fun, relaxation and organization (of course)!!