Easter Cookies

Our "painted" cookies...a little stretched out after
the cookies deflated but still cute and edible!


Blaine, Hannah & Garrett painting the cookies.



Garrett hard at work to get his cookie just right.




Hannah painting with red...she painted almost
all her cookies red. (Closest color to pink!)


So, this year I have to work Easter and we have been super busy right up until now. I don't think we will even dye eggs this year (sad, I know) but I decided we should make some Easter cookies and paint them. I got new Easter cookie cutters that I wanted to use. I made some sugar cookie dough, rolled it out and cut out the cookies. Then, the kids and Blaine and myself got to paint the cookies. Then you bake. We used to paint cookies when I was growing up and I thought it would be fun with the kids. The "paint" is just egg yolk mixed with very little water and food coloring. It makes really vibrant colors. You just paint your cookies however and bake. Then you can eat them and they are already decorated. The cookies I made were good but puffed up when baking...so when they deflated, the colors cracked. Next time, I'll try a shortbread cookie that doesn't puff. They tasted good anyway and the kids had a blast! I think Blaine even had fun! :)

And here we have Idaho...kids anyway

So here it is, 4:30 pm on a Tuesday afternoon. It is about 60 degrees F and my kids are definitely from Idaho. How do I know this? Well, we have snow still on the deck, the sun is shining, and where are my kids? Sunning themselves, half dressed, in the back yard on lounge chairs. Garrett even asked me if I would make some popsicles! Well, that's one way to know if you are from Idaho...if it is above zero degrees, you don't need a coat, and if it is above 50, well then its downright hot! (Especially in April!)

Monster Trucks

The dino eating a car. No fire in this pic but it usually
had flames coming out his nose.


Blaine & me, Brent & Terresa



Garrett, Jayson & Remi wearing their ear protection.



So, in true redneck tradition, we went to see Monster Trucks on saturday. We took Garrett and went with my brother Brent and his wife Terresa and their kids Remi and Jayson. My aunt Jerri and her friend's little girl, Lexie were also sitting with us. The kids were so excited to go. I have admit, we went last year and I enjoyed it as well. Garrett has been talking about it for the whole year. So, we went to eat at Golden Corral prior to the big event. Ever been there? The name suits. There are no booths, only tables and they pack the people in so tight you feel like part of a herd of cows moving around. The food is decent, though. I just hate being so close to all those people. Blaine was great and made trips to the food area to get me things...I didn't want to wade through all the people. One funny note-we stopped in the restroom at the restaurant to do our business. I washed my hands and decided to use the air blower hand dryer instead of paper towel. I turned it on and just started laughing my head off. First, it was so noisy-reminded me of jet airplane engine. Then, I put my hands underneath. I'm suprised my hands are still attached to my arms. The air was blowing so hard it made the skin on the palms of my hands ripple. Now thats power! Anyway, we got the to Monster Trucks and found our seats, which were awesome! 1st and 2nd row. We put the kids on the front row and the adults just behind and we could see everything. It was a good time. They had a car-eating, fire-breathing dinosaur and the monster trucks all were totalled by the end of the show. It was great. They did do some motorcross races in between the trucks and that got old by the end. They had some 4-6 year old kids on 50 cc bikes. They were so cute and could hardly make it up the hills! Anyway, we had a great time and I'm sure the kids will be talking about for another year!

New Floor!

Kitchen/laundry room floor before


Kitchen/laundry room after



Entryway -after (sorry no before pics)


So after our flood in February, the floor warped and it became an uphill climb to the dishwasher. After talking with our insurance (why by the way are GREAT!!!) we got an estimate and looked into getting some new floor for the kitchen, laundry room and back bathroom. My brother recently put some stuff in his house called Flex and I really liked it so we checked it out. We decided to go for it and the guys came yesterday and today. It is done now and looks awesome! I can't wait until Blaine comes home and we can put the fridge and dishwasher back, along with the washer and dryer. It is so exciting to get new things. We put some of the same stuff, a slightly darker color, in the front entryway as well. I am so excited, can you tell? We are lucky to have a basement kitchen that we could live out of for a couple of days but I'm ready to be back upstairs. Yippee!!