Making Monday: Peanut Butter Puppy Poppers

So, today I decided to make my own puppy treats. I found the recipe here. It was really easy, and this recipe only called for 4 ingredients. Bear loved his little treats, and it's nice knowing exactly what he is eating. It's also cheaper than buying dog treats at the store.

Does making my own dog treats make me a crazy dog lady??? Maybe. But I have come to terms with it, and I now embrace my crazy dog lady attributes.

Grandpa Ricks

While I was at home, I went through some old photos of my moms and took some of her extras. I think is my favorite picture of the bunch I took back. This is my Grandpa Ricks holding myself & my cousin Tonya. We are a little over 2 weeks apart.

Braided Rag Rug...finally finished

I finished my rug. I am so happy with how it turned out. It took so much more time than I had anticipated. What a fun project to have finished. My mom said my Grandma Ricks would make these all the time. It was fun to finish a project that I know my Grandma had also made. It brought back some memories for mom.

Craters of the Moon

While we were in Idaho, we decided to go to Craters of the Moon. I hadn't been there in a long time, and Caleb had never been. It was really cold. The wind was blowing and they had gotten snow there earlier that morning. I think next time we go, we will choose a warmer month. We got to go in a couple caves though and drive around the park. It was definitely worth battling the cold. Bear came with us, but he knew how cold it was outside and stayed in the car the whole time.

Idaho week

We just back from Idaho. We had such a great time. A post with pics coming soon. Check out my mom's blog for some pics until then. It's so much fun to spend time in Rexburg and just relax.

Making Monday: Sherenschnitte

My friend Cindy does paper cutting....called Sherenschnitte. She has a template available on her Sherenschnitte blog every Tuesday. I decided to try one out. I think it turned out pretty well. Click here for this template.

Art Weekend

Melanie's birthday is in November...so for her present I decided I would take her out for a Saturday afternoon and we would take some mini art classes. We took the classes through Nicole's classes Art Weekend in Salt Lake. We took a Screenprinting class and a bookbinding class. It was a lot of fun.

The screenprinting class was really great. Andy, our teacher, taught us how to make our own screens and how to basically set up your own screenprinting workspace in your home bathroom/garage/kitchen...whatever space you have available.


Andy getting ready to start printing.


Melanie printing her bag.

The bookbinding class was more of a refresher for us. Both Melanie and myself have taken bookbinding classes before. It was fun to go to the class and come home with a finished book.

Ben & Oliver came down with Melanie too. They decided to stay the night on Friday because we had to wake up kind of early for our classes.


Oliver and I played Checkers and Chinese Checkers. He was pretty good and beat me every time we played. :)


Melanie, Ben and Caleb played Rock Band.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Some of my card designs are up on Shutterfly again this holiday. You can find the cards here. Here's some of my favorites.

Making Monday: Wheat Bread

This is the best Wheat Bread recipe I have every tried. I got it at a church event. The recipe makes 4 - 5 loaves, so cut the recipe in half if that's too much. Or freeze the extra loaves for later.

Wheat Bread
(350 degrees for 45 minutes)

5 cups warm water
1 T salt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
13 cups flour
2/3 cup oil
2 T yeast
1/2 cup warm water

Put 2 T yeast into 1/2 cup of warm water, let stand for 10 minutes. Put in a large mixing bowl 5 cups warm water, honey, molasses, oil, salt and 7 cups of flour. Mix well.

Add yeast water and 3 cups of flour, mix, add the last 3 cups flour, knead for 10 minutes. Shape loaves and place in 4-5 greased pans. Let raise 1/3 the height of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

What we have been up to...

It's been a little while since I blogged. Here's what we have been up to.

Caleb and I went to his friend Spencer's ring exchange and wedding reception. It was really beautiful.

and they had a photo booth. What a great idea for a wedding. when you took the photos it made 2 copies. One you keep and one goes to the bride and groom in their guestbook.


It's been getting cold here so Bear has been wearing his new sweater vest.


We went to a haunted house with our friend Cory and his wife Kaitlan. Castle of Chaos & Nightmare Mansion. It was a good time. They were both a lot of fun.

I went to the Sounds with Bev, Mindy & Ryan.



I went to "Is he Dead?". A play with Mindy. It was a good one. Written by Mark Twain, a comedy about an artist who fakes his death because artists seem to only make money when they die.


Bear helped Caleb list some baseball cards on e-bay.


Bear dressed up for Halloween. He was a shark. His costume actually was a bit too small by the time halloween came around. He didn't love wearing it, but he liked to chase the fins.