A Batman birthday party

This post is coming a tad late, a month and half to be exact. My little guy had his 4th birthday the end of March.

 Having just moved, we didn't really have any friends to invite, but we did have tons of family which was so nice. 

My heart would break just a little when people would ask him who was coming to his birthday and he'd say his best friend from Florida. 

But even with the lack of friends at his party, I'd still say he had a blast. 

For months he had been telling me he wanted a Batman birthday. 

And that's just what he got. 

Nothing huge, nothing extravagant. Just a party filled with yummy food and a large, loving family...and cake. A lot, a lot, of cake.

Happy birthday, my little man. You are my world. I hope you'll always stay my sweet (mama's) boy.

Why hello!

Hello, my long lost blog.

 I may or may not have fallen off the blogging bandwagon. After the move, I became very unmotivated to do pretty much anything.

 I lost interest in crafting. I lost interest in baking. I lost interest in taking pictures, and I lost interest in updating social media. 

There were times where I felt like deleting everything. 

And then there were times where I was pumped and ready to jump back in to everything social media related.

But then there was the feeling of being overwhelmed with it all which... overwhelmed me. 

That's when I decided that I needed to take a break from blogging.

I needed a break from posting copious amounts of pictures on Instagram. 

I just needed to have a short break up with caring about posting my life. 

Does that make sense? Can anyone else relate?

 Now that I've had my few months break to rejuvenate, I am ready to get back into the things I enjoy doing. 

I have so many projects on my mind that I can't wait to share with you guys over time. And I'm hoping most of all, that one BIG idea will come together shortly so I can share.

Thanks for sticking around and I hope I can continue to update and share the things that are most important to me in my life with this little blog of mine.

Now, with all of that being said, I want to recap our weekend. 

As I'm sure you are all aware of, it was Easter weekend. 

And Evan was an egg hunting machine. 

He thoroughly enjoyed shaking, opening, and explaining what was inside each and every single plastic, Easter egg. 

(Thanks, YouTube Kinder Surprise eggs)

The Easter bunny knew how much fun he'd have doing this, so he made sure to put just a few M&M's in each egg so that way he'd have a crapload to find and open. And yes, I like to use the word "crapload." I'm classy like that.

Along with it being Easter,  we also had the opportunity to hear from our Prophet and Apostles  on Saturday and Sunday during our LDS biannual General Conference. I thought it was a great way to spend Easter and kind of hope it works out this way every year. If you'd like to re-watch or read any of the amazing talks, you can do so here.

A fun tradition that I know most people do, is bake homemade cinnamon rolls during this time. And while I fully embraced that last year, this year we did something a little different. We had popcorn! Lots and lots of delicious popcorn. 

I placed an order through this cute little company called Mom and Popcorn a few weeks ago for Evan's birthday party. I was so thrilled with all of the yummy flavors they sent us for it, that I may or may not have kept a stash so we had some to munch on during the conference talks. 

 

Is it weird to think that popcorn is beautiful? Because I do. 

And while it was almost as impossible to choose just 6 from the 50 unique popcorn flavors, I was thrilled with our final decision.  We chose to serve up vanilla, watermelon, pina colada, Denver Style (caramel and white cheddar), tomato basil, and my favorite out of them all, parmesan and garlic. 

 Oh. my. yum! This stuff is addicting and I will for sure be using them again for parties, events, and for straight up snacking on.

And a big, big thank you to Mom and Popcorn for their awesome service. They were so easy to work with, and delivered top notch goodies. I already have my next order lined up and it will most definitely involve chocolate... a lot of delicious chocolate!

Go check them out here and make sure to comment below the flavors you're looking forward to try!

Life changing berry sauce

I am not even exaggerating a little bit when I say this stuff has changed my life. 

It's almost like having summer in a jar

 ( I know I skipped a season)

I seriously want to pour this sauce over everything. 

And I may or may not have been eating it by the spoonfuls. 

This is so easy to make and you're taste buds will love you forever for adding this to...well everything. 

I made this for a family we were having and we served it over cheesecake with fresh berries.. But I can guarantee it would be delicious over pancakes, crepes, angel food cake, yogurt, a spoon...

You get the point. 

Go ahead, make yourself a batch and maybe even a few extras for your neighbors!

Ingredients

1lb bag of frozen mixed berries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until berries are thawed and soft. Stir occasionally and lightly mash with a wooden spoon, or masher.  Remove your saucepan from the heat and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. Place berries and sauce in a blender. Blend until smooth. You can either serve it as it is, or if you're picky, strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the berry seeds. Store in a glass mason jar and serve over the dessert of your choice.

A Valentine's Day Drink

Valentine's Day quickly creeped up on me. 

I thought I was prepared and ready for it, and then found out that we'll probably end up spending the morning, day and night moving. 

I can't say I'm too bummed about it though. 

Because that  just means we're getting one step closer  to settling down.

It also helps that I've never been a huge celebrator of the holiday. Don't get me wrong though, I'd never turn down a box of See's chocolates and a chance to go shopping.
And I do love any excuse to bake and craft,  so I guess I will fully accept this holiday with open arms.

Now on to the simplest mixed drink around. 

A Shirley Temple.
This drink brings me back to my childhood. Especially because I think that was the last time I had one.

 This is perfect for anyone that needs a last minute idea for your loved ones.
These adorable, sparkly drinks are sure to brighten up the day for your cute little ones and also for your hunky older ones.

What you'll need

Mason jars
Mod podge
Sponge brush
Glitter
Heart gummy candies
Wooden skewers
Lemon-like soda
Grenadine

To make your jars: 

Add a thin layer of Mod Podge to the bottom of your jar. 

Sprinkle a generous amount of glitter, and tap the excess off. 

Continue this for however many stripes you want, using different colors.  

Set aside to dry for an hour.

 

To make your drink: 

Assemble your heart gummy skewers. 

Pour 1 TBS of Grenadine into your glittered mason jar. 

Top it off with your lemon-lime soda and garnish with you gummy skewer. 

 

Serve it up and 

have a happy Valentine's Day!

*Moment of truth, I thought it was Friday. Whoops

Weekend update

 This weekend was filled with a few cousins and few good donuts. 

Evan and I headed up to my parents to go get some early celebratory donuts for my parents (almost) moving into their new house. 

We won't go into details but donuts felt necessary so we made it happen. 

We traveled up north to hit up the Dunford Bakery. 

Once you walk in, you're welcomed with the delicious smell of freshly baked donuts. They then have trays of stacked donuts that you can choose from. 

It's a fill up your own box, kind of service.

 My nieces were in heaven with the abundance of baked goods, and Evan only wanted the chips.

 Ha! 

He took one bite of his donut, said yuck and dug into a bag of plain potato chips. 

He is definitely my mini me. I hated donuts growing up and would always choose salty over sweet. 

If only that were still the case...

 

 Donut eyes, it had to be done.

Later that day, we headed back to Provo for some "Fire and Ice" event that was happening at the Riverwoods mall. 

They had a few small ice sculptures that seemed to melt faster than they were suppose to because of this odd, warm, winter we're having. 

There was some music and a few vendor booths that were set up. To be honest, it was bit underwhelming but Evan still had a fun time and that's all that mattered. 

I'm looking forward to fall time again when they have some fun activities going on. 

It's only 8 months away....

And somewhere along the way, my almost 4 year old turned into a teenager. He looks so old to me in the picture on the left.

Cupid's Arrow Cake Pops!

Happy February everyone! 

Can anyone else believe that January has come and gone? This year is already going way too fast. 

I can't say that I'm too sad about it at the moment though. 

I am so looking forward to finally moving in to our place and setting up our home. 

And it'll be nice to get back to some normalcy.

With that being said, I thought it would be fun to celebrate the beginning of the month with a little Valentine's Day post. 

Any excuse to bake, right?

What you'll need

24 cake pops (recipe and instructions here)
gold sprinkles *
1 sheet of gold glitter paper
glue gun

*After you dip each cake pop, sprinkle a small amount of your gold sprinkles on the tops. Make sure your chocolate is still wet, or else they won't stick. Set them in your Styrofoam to dry.

Once your cake pops are dry, it's time to assemble your arrows. Start by cutting out the ends of your arrows in your gold paper. 

I cut little slits on the sides to show some feathering. 

Place a small dab of glue on at the end of your stick and glue on one of your arrow's ends. 

And that's it! Now you have some adorable treats to serve up for your special Valentine.

And one last thing while we're on the topic of Valentine's Day.

Has anyone checked out Minted's Valentine's Day card selection? 

They have some seriously adorable foil pressed cards that I'm slightly obsessed with. 

Here are just a few of my favorites.

| 1 | 

| 2 |

| 3 |

| 4 |

Go check them all out, you won't be disappointed, I promise. 

skiptomylou madincrafts keepingitsimplecrafts tipjunkie sugarbeecrafts mandysrecipeboxblog

ladybug-blessings nap-timecreations homestoriesatoz memoriesbythemile

hunwhatsfordinner raisingmemories 
cupcakesandcrinoline  simplydesigning 
iheartnaptime 

Merry (late) Christmas!

Okay, I am slowly getting caught up. I can't wait until we are in our own space and I have unlimited access to a computer. But in the meantime, thanks for your patience and sticking around with all of the slacking!

This Christmas was like any other we've had before. 

This year, we were able to spend it with both sides of the family. 

Most of Conryd's family lives here in Provo, and has for years. And my parents just moved to Utah on Thanksgiving. So we now have both families within a short driving distance from each other. How great is that?

We spent the first half of the day with Conryd's side, opening presents and eating lunch together. Evan loved being the center of attention and all of his cousins were sweet enough to let him open up their presents for them. Evan didn't care if they were for him or not, he just really enjoyed tearing up that wrapping paper. After the gifting festivities were over, we had a delicious lunch prepared by my sister and mother-in-law. I think it was safe to say that everyone over ate and felt fully satisfied by the end. 

The second half of the day we headed up to my parent's to open a few more presents and to have dinner with them. It was a quite, quaint, night and was the perfect way to end a crazy day. 

I can't wait to spend all of our Christmas' with family.

Here are just a few pictures from Christmas Day.

There was zero snow on the ground until the night we flew in. That night, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. It was a Christmas miracle.

 I've said it before and I will probably keep on saying it, but we are seriously so good at taking family pictures...

At this point, Evan was still convinced that he didn't need to wear a jacket.

Does anyone else family do Christmas crackers? I know it's a South African thing and I am fully embracing it. I mean, they come with these adorable gold crowns. Win.

 

We went and saw the "tree of life" in Draper. We didn't get very close because it was so- cold and we didn't feel like treading trough the cold, snow to get any closer. This was also the first time I've ever seen Evan shiver and tell me, "Mom, I'm so cold!" Welcome to Utah!

This was technically the day after Christmas but it had a giant tree in the picture, so I had to post it.

I am quite sad to see this season go. I feel like I didn't get to fully embrace it because of all of the craziness.
I guess that just means I will just have to go all out next Christmas. Oh darn.

Until next year...