VOTE for ME!!

Just for fun (and seriously, it really is just for fun) I have been entering a cupcake contest online; Cupcake Hero. Every month there is an ingredient announced that has to be incorporated into the cupcakes somehow. Then people vote for their favorite cupcake and the blog owner picks her favorite and those two cupcakes go head to head. The blog owner bakes both cupcakes and her friends and family eat and vote for their favorite.

This month the ingredient was peanut butter and I entered twice because I just couldn't decide! So you can check out my two entries HERE (Sundae Cupcakes) and HERE (Caramel Apple Peanut Butter Cupcakes). Don't worry, you are just going to my recipe blog, sallys-smorsels.

Check out my cupcakes and then go HERE to vote for your favorite. There is a list of all the cupcake entries, with pictures, etc. that you can look at. And then on the right side is where you can vote. Do it!! It will be FUN! It's free, no spam mail, no personal information shared, no joining anything. I enjoy the challenge of creating a fun cupcake every month and I'm just doing this to see if anyone actually votes! Voting ENDS December 6th - so HURRY!

Welcome Abigail Ruth!

A big scare and 6 weeks early, Abigail "Abby" Ruth Street arrived on November 28, 2009 at 2:28 pm. She weighed 4 lbs 2 oz and is 16 & 1/2 inches long. Congratulations to my sister Amy and her hubbie, Barry.
She is so tiny! The binky is almost half the size of her head! It's sad that her big brother and two big sisters will not be able to meet her until she is ready to go home. I can't wait to see the new family picture!

Abby is doing great. She is already off of oxygen and is learning to eat. Amy had to have an emergency c-section when her placenta stopped giving Abby oxygen and nutrients. We are all so happy for prayers, family and promptings of the spirit. And especially that Barry was home from his 6 weeks of training for work.
Yeah for miracles!!!

I'm a blogging slacker!!

I admit it. I've been going through this phase of not liking to be on the computer, at all. I think it's the 100 papers a day I grade and then enter into the computer. Maybe it was all the report cards and Education Plans I had to do for school. Or maybe it was because I was sick and didn't want to do anything that made my brain have to think.

But whatever the cause...I'm back. We still don't have our swanky camera back from getting fixed so I made a blog for any pictures we took. Basically, we have been working, surviving being horribly sick and I survived another Parent Teacher Conference!!

Check out the next four posts...they are all new!!

School Pictures

Yep...it's that time of year again. I got so many comments on last years school picture post I thought I should put up this years version. So here it is. I tried to change my hair style but it doesn't look too much different.I'm still wondering what in the world I'm going to do with all the pictures they give teachers, for free. I have an 8x10, 6 - 5x9's, numerous other sizes including wallets and even stickers. Some are black and white, others have my name on them. CRAZY! Anyone want one?? LOL!

Halloween

HaPpY HaLLoWeeN!! This year I begged, pleaded and begged some more for Brian to be Hans Solo and my sweet hubbie agreed. I am trying to be Princess Leia in this picture but I was sick and just wanted to go back to bed. However, we had been asked to help chaperone a dance so we got dressed up and went. You can't see in the picture, but my hair turned out really cute! So, we started out Halloween by chaperoning the dance the weekend before Halloween...



And on Halloween we went to our ward trunk or treat. It was fun as always! I LOVE handing out candy! We shared candy with Kyle and Kristen and Crystal, Tim, Gavin and Quinn joined us too. Here is Brian showing off his Star War skills.

I didn't feel like getting all dressed up again so I went as a Canadian instead! Naturally curly hair is so strange...look at the difference in curls on both sides. Weird!


After getting a ton of loot at the trunk or treat, Gavin, literally, drove us home. He had a blast but there was this one mom, who was out taking her kids trick or treating, who gave us the most horrible look. We laughed hysterically and joked that we were providing the tricks tonight.

Then we, of course, ended the evening by playing the Wii and eating candy. Don't worry, we had plenty for the trick or treaters that came by!

Here is Kristen trying out our new Wii Fit Plus game. It's always fun when the Wii comes out! It was another marvelous Halloween!

Canning

Two weeks ago I did a bunch of canning. LOVE IT!! I had bought a whole bunch of tomatoes at the Farmer's market and had lots of apples from my Cousins Heather and Jason's tree. Brian and I are not apple sauce eaters and really aren't into apple pie so I debated what to do with the apples. I have LOTS of recipes to use them in, but that would be a lot of baking. So I got the idea to can them the way I would use them from my friend, Tresa. And wah-la! And no, there wasn't only three jars. I put up 8 jars of tomatoes and 10 of apples. Thanks Mom, for teaching me how to can!!

Bowling with Kristen and Kyle

The other weekend we headed out to dinner and bowling with Kyle and Kristen. It's been FOREVER since I've been bowling and SHEESH, is it ever expensive!!!

Here are some happy bowlers. Another thing I didn't know about bowling...those of you who know Brian, know he is the WORST backseat driver ever! Well, you could also call him a backseat driving of bowling. And as you can see in the last picture, I was not in need of pointers.

Kyle and Kristen enjoying someone's bowling skills. My favorite part though, is the couple in the background of the picture totally making out!

Looky - looky! Who is the bowling pro??? Yeah me! :)

Saving $ $ $

Okay, what you see is...14 boxes of cereal, 6 big canisters of oatmeal, 2 boxes of granola bars, 6 sacks of cat treats, 3 bags of chocolate chips, 2 bags of Reese's peanut butter chips AND 2 toothbrushes. Now why am I showing you this? Well, the grand total of these groceries came to about $140.00 and I only paid...$40.00!!!

It's this new system I learned about, GrocerySmarts. Basically you just match weekly coupons up with sales and save big time. LOVE IT!!