Last minute Father's Day gifts!!

Jason! If you are reading this before June 16, I order you to turn back now!

Do you have a hard time thinking of what to get your husband/father/father-in-law for Father's Day?

I struggle with it every. single. year. Men are so hard to buy for!!

This year, I think I really found something great for Jason--something he will actually use and enjoy. 

I made him a personalized bookmark! This is perfect for Jason because he loves to read (he usually has about four books he's reading all at once) and he also doesn't believe in dog-earring books.

(We have differing opinions on this--I like my books to look well-loved, he likes to keep his in mint condition)

I used the collage feature on Picmonkey to make this--the grid was originally 8x2, but I stretched the bottom two squares into a rectangle instead. I added the pictures I liked and then added blocks of color and text. 

On the back are verbatim quotes from our kids about what they like about Daddy. I printed it out on cardstock and had it laminated together. Then I carefully trimmed all the way around, punched a hole in the top, and added some green ribbon. Total cost? $2.75. It was so easy and so fun to make and I think it turned out cute!!!

Potholder Organizer

My calling at church is the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator (but I still call it Enrichment, because nobody wants to go to extra RS meetings!) It's such a fun calling and I love coming up with activities every month. In January, we had a "Favorite Things" party that was basically just like a grown up show-and-tell for everyone to pass around their favorite things. I brought spraypaint (of course) and there were other things like cleaning products, favorite kinds of candy, cookbooks, you get the picture. My cute friend Tiffany brought a little organizer she had made out of a potholder and ziplock bags and everyone loved it, so we decided to make our own for our activity in April!

I couldn't actually go to this activity because it was the same night as my girls' dance recital, but I snagged some of the supplies and made one on my own to send to my sister-in-law Morgan, who is currently serving in the Chile Vina Del Mar mission! Her birthday is in a few weeks and I thought this handy little organizer would be the perfect gift. 

I got a huge package of really cute buttons for $6 at Joann--they were in the checkout lane, not with the buttons, in case you are looking for a big variety pack! They were all different sizes, styles, shapes, and colors. I picked out this big red one to go with a navy blue potholder.
After I sewed the bags in, I got to do the fun part--filling them up! I went to the dollar section at Target and they had a bunch of cute stuff.

I put in "thought bubble" shaped post-it notes...

A set of cute heart and arrow shaped paper clips and some bright binder clips....

And gray and white chevron tissues and an owl contact case. I also put in hair elastics, bobby pins, band-aids, and a fingernail clipper. I thought the stationary type things might come in handy when they are making contacts with people and might need to leave a note or their phone number on someone's door. Plus, they were too cute to pass up!
So if you are looking for an easy gift for a missionary (or a new mom, or a recent high school grad, or a teenager just starting to babysit), why not fill up one of these little potholder organizers with all kinds of goodies!

Missionary I-Spy

Jason's little brother is on his mission in Panama. He's been out for 8 months and we haven't sent him anything since he was in the MTC... whoops. Sorry, Austin.
Well, his birthday is coming up, so we thought we better put a package together for him. The girls all colored pictures and dictated letters to us and we filled an envelope with some of his favorite treats. I wanted to add one or two other things, so we made a mini tie keychain from an old issue of The Friend and then we made a special missionary I-Spy picture.
I gathered as many "missionary" things I could find from around the house and Tempe and Helena helped me fill in the gaps--hence the mini teapot and Rock the Vote button. We took a picture, printed it out, and I wrote a little riddle to go with it!

I spy Panama, a keychain tie and a key, too; three oil vials, A for Austin and We love you!

New mom gift: labor survival kit

So a few weeks ago, my dear sister in law Rachel had her fourth baby girl (in less than 6 years!!) I was so excited to get a new niece, so I decided to make a little gift for Rachel to help get her here. We had a playdate planned for Rachel's due date (her last baby was 5 days late), so I put a labor survival kit together the night before. Unfortunately, in the morning when I called to confirm our playdate, Rachel was already in labor!! She managed to make it through her labor without the survival kit, but I gave it to her that night when I visited to meet my sweet little niece.

This survival kit had something for before, during and after labor. Before: "labor cookies", which is really just gingersnaps with cayenne pepper--the spice is supposed to put you into labor. They are soooo good. I ate about 10 before I wrapped them up for the kit. During: a few headband elastics and a back massager. After: a book, some yummy smelling lotion, and a pack of thank-you notes (I always finish mine up while I'm in the hospital). I think new moms should be pampered while they are in the hospital!!

Another thing that is great for this kind of thing is a rice bag that can be heated up in the microwave. One of my labors just felt like super intense menstrual cramps and a heating pad would have been soooo nice to have in early labor! Even if you don't use it while you are in labor, they are wonderful to have after the baby has arrived and those lovely afterbirth pains are making you want to die all over again every time you try to nurse. How unfair is that? Seriously. You go through nine months of misery, who knows how many hours of labor and delivery, but no, it's not over, you still have to have horrible contractions for another week. Lame!!!!!!

And since little Dina arrived before Rachel got her labor survival kit, I made up this little "I am a Child of God" printable for her, too :)

PS: My mom is the best. She always sends me a book, fuzzy socks, chocolates, and a gift card for "after baby" clothes. Isn't that sweet?

Homemade gift giving: Library bags

I try to make at least a few of my kids' presents for Christmas every year (in 2009 I made almost everything).

Tempe and Helena love checking out books by themself. Love, love, love. Every week when we go to the library, they beg me to let them use my card by themselves while I stay in the children's section with Juno. They are very polite, and since we go to the library almost every single Wednesday, the librarians all know them and think they are the cutest girls ever.

So this year one of their Christmas presents is personalized library bags and their very own library cards.

{Tempe's is the purple moose and Helena's is the blue Disneyland castle.}

I bought the canvas bags at Walmart (3 for $6) and did freezer paper stencils on them. I used the new Martha Stewart line of paint at Michaels in the glittery finish. The paint is so awesome. It is pure glitter and sparkle and you can use it on any surface!

Now, some of you might be thinking I am crazy for giving my 3 year old and 5 year old their own library cards. We have some strict library card usage rules in this house.

1) The card is tied to the library bag. It remains tied to the bag at all times so that it doesn't get lost.

2) The cards each have a limit of only 10 books, and only books from the children's section. I can adjust the settings as they grow.

3) Even though there is a 10 book limit, my personal rule is we only check out books that can fit in the library bag. If the bag is full, then that's it: no more books this week.

4) At home, we keep library books in the library bag and the library bag on the bottom shelf of our gigantic bookshelves. That we way always know where books are. I estimate this has saved me approximately $10000000000 in library fines over the years.
What are you making for Christmas gifts this year?

Sugared cranberries

This is a great way to make use of fresh cranberries if you aren't a fan of cranberry sauce!

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups water

2 cups cranberries

3/4 cup extra fine sugar

1. Over low heat, dissolve granulated sugar in water and bring to a simmer. DO NOT BOIL {if the mixture is too hot when you add the cranberries, they will pop}

2. Remove from heat and add cranberries; stir to coat. Refrigerate eight hours or overnight.

3. If you don't have extra fine sugar, you can run granulated sugar through a food processor for a minute or two.

4. Drain cranberries; add extra fine sugar and toss to coat; refrigerate one hour or until set.

These would make great neighbor gifts--just package in parchment paper-lined tins!

Family Home Evening Basket

Here is one of my better ideas, if I do say so myself.

I put this Family Home Evening basket together when Jason and I were first married. I was tired of sitting down to FHE every week and realizing we needed scriptures, pens, paper, and other miscellaneous supplies that were scattered around the house. So to solve the problem, I found a cheap basket at DI and put all of our FHE supplies in it.

Included in the basket are the FHE manual, the new Gospel Art book, a battered old hymnbook, a set of scriptures, our family journal, an assortment of pens/pencils, "FHE in a Jar" (for those weeks when the planning happens about 5 minutes before FHE), and miscellaneous Relief Society handouts that I might someday use in a lesson.

And here is the basket with everything in it.

Now that we have kids, we also have a flannel board and what seems like dozens of flannel board characters. These don't fit in the basket, so we have a whole FHE corner on the windowseat behind our couch where we keep the basket and the flannel board.

I think a Family Home Evening basket stocked with basics (manual, hymnbook, "FHE in a Jar", and pens) and ideas of things to add (scriptures, Gospel Art book, and family journal) would be a GREAT wedding gift. So... somebody get married! Sean! Morgan! Tyler!

If you want to find out more about Family Home Evening, click here!