I am a Child of God-Wall Hanging

I've always LOVED the picture of Christ and the Children. But now that my little Tate is in the picture, (Do YOU see him back there) I love it even more! My sister Christina came over today and we played around with Photoshop, a little mod podge, and some wall plaques that we found at the Dollar Store. Here's what I came up with... I hung them up on the wall in Tate's bedroom as a constant reminder that he is one of God's precious children.

Day 162-New Paint Job for the Porch Swing

My Dad is a carpenter and he came up with this porch swing pattern years and years ago. For Christmas a few years past, he gave Bryan all of the materials to make a swing and he walked him through the whole process. We had it up at our Gold Canyon home, and then had to take it down when we moved.

Since it was stored outside uncovered, it needed a new paint job. It's hard to tell from the picture, but I painted the porch swing a light blue and I sanded it to give it an antique sort of look. I like how it turned out, and it's nice having somewhere to sit in the backyard.

Day 161-Marshmallow Balloon Balls

If you've never eaten a BALLOON BALL then you are definitely missing out! My Mom makes these every year at Christmas Time to give to her neighbors. I had it planned to make them to sell at the Benefit Auction but didn't have enough time to make them. Since I already had the ingredients, I figured that I mine as well make them anyways. Do you want the recipe? If it looks familiar, it is. Honestly it's the exact same dough recipe that I use for my dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients for Dough:

3 C. Milk
1 C. Potato Flakes
1 Tbsp. Salt
3/4 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Butter
4 Eggs
7-8 C. Flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. Yeast

Instructions:

Scald Milk, Melt Butter. Place potato flakes, salt, sugar, milk and butter in mixer.

Stir briefly and bring mixture to a lukewarm temperature.

Add eggs, yeast, and flour 1 Cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Mix until dough pulls away from the side.

Place dough in a large greased bowl, cover lightly with saran wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Smash dough down, and form balls for rolls.

Some More Ingredients:

1 Bag Marshmallows

4 Cups Granulated Sugar

4 Tbsp. Cinnamon

4 Sticks of Melted Butter

More Instructions:

Combine Sugar and Cinnamon. Dunk marshmallows in melted butter and then completely cover in Cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place covered marshmallow inside of dough balls and close them up by pinching the bottom and twisting it shut.

Next dunk dough ball (with marshmallow inside) into melted butter and then immediately into the cinnamon sugar.

Continue the same procedure until all the marshmallows and dough are used up.

Place dough balls (with marshmallows inside) onto greased cookie sheet. Don't bake more than 12 per cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 19-22 minutes. Remove from oven and dump them upside down on waxed paper.

*When you bake them, the marshmallow melts inside leaving the roll hollow. Sorry the recipe is sort of hard to follow. I promise that they aren't hard to make, it's just hard to write down how to make them.

Day 160-Gummy Worms in the Cacti

This is Tate's most recent attempt at catching a bird... When I first noticed them today, it took me a second to figure out what was hanging on the cacti needles. But when I saw that they were gummy worms, it all made perfect sense! Like I said BEFORE, Tate REALLY wants a bird.

(Those gummy worms must have been hanging up there for over a week)

Day 159-Arizona Science Center + Gold Canyon Playing=Full Day

Since Bryan had the morning off today (YEAH) we headed out (just our little family) to the AZ Science Center. It was completely awesome! They had so many different exhibits, we only got to see maybe 1/2 of them... Probably the one that stuck out the most was the dissecting the cow's eyeball demonstration. It was completely disgusting if you ask me, but I know that Tate would disagree. HE LOVED IT! After the demonstration he got to hold the different eye pieces (with gloves of course)-EEEWWW. I think that Bryan liked it about as much as me.
Tate got to climb a rock wall for his very first time, so that was exciting! He made it all the way to the top-and then shouted, "I won".

Bryan had to leave to work :( so Tate and I headed out to Gold Canyon to feed the dogs we've been caring for. We decided to stop at the park Tate used to play at when we lived there. Since there wasn't anyone else there... I swung on the swings too and I also played around with my camera. It was such a gorgeous day out-gotta enjoy it while we can.

Day 158-Relaxing Sunday Evening

We had a wonderful Sunday evening spent with Bryan's family. Dianna made some amazing food straight from their garden (you can see their corn field above). The corn was the very first of the season, and it was oh so yummy! Keith made some fresh homemade peach pie (with peaches right of the trees). I'd have to say that I've never tasted better pie before.

Lots of family came to visit (some of which we don't see very often)... It was ALMOST like a family reunion.

Day 157-Family Room & Cool Decorating Tip

I promised to show some pictures of our new house (Sorry they are kind of grainy). This wall is HUGE, and I didn't want to spend a fortune on a giant picture... So I just did a cluster of family pictures and such.

It took me forever to get the pictures straight on the wall and centered under the couch. The day after I finished I found THIS awesome tutorial on how to hang a picture collage. Ahhh, if only I had known that sooner there wouldn't be so many holes in my wall. Oh well:)