Last Cake Class

Last night was my last cake class. We had to take a cake to decorate as our final project. There were some really cute ideas. Mine wasn't as creative as the other girls. They did a fabulous job. I had such a fun time learning new techniques. We just might have to see if I do the next course!!

Friday night, I got to go up to the cabin with some of my friends for a girls night out! We had so much fun, ate lots of good food, stayed up way too late chatting, went on a 4wheeler ride, rode the swing, what more could a girl ask for!!! Thanks gals for a great time! It was a much needed break!

Missing in Action

Yes, we are still here and I do still like blogging!!! It has been a crazy week. We got the swingset and the day before Jared put it together, I took out all 400 pieces of wood and labeled them to make it easier to put it together. I didn't label all 400,000,000 screws, but it was okay!! :)

Anyway, after much cussing, much yelling at the kids to get away, much patience testing, IT IS DONE!!!
Jayce LIVES int he little swing. She loves to go HIGH, and she means high!! Kylee loves all of it.

I had my cake decorating class last Saturday and we just did some different cupcakes. Here is a cute picture.
My sister had her baby in April and then Jaxon's birthday was in May. I told her that I would do Jaxon's cake for her so that with three little ones now, she wouldn't have to stress about it. Andi told me that Jax is into dinosaurs, so I attempted a dinosaur cake. Here is how it turned out. Not too shabby!!

My Cake

Last night I had my 2nd cake decorating class. We had to take a cake to decorate at class. I took mine all frosted and put together so then all I had to do at class was decorate. I was so glad I did that because the teacher was about 40 minutes late. She got stuck in traffic somewhere in Provo and felt horrible. Things happen right. Anyway, we practiced writing, flowers, dots (I hate dots, can't seem to not get the dot to make a point!), and the beginnings of the rose. It was so much FUN! I think I am really going to enjoy these last classes.

Here are some pictures of my cake. It turned out pretty good! I couldn't wait to dig into it last night. It just looked so yummy to me!!

Are You Kidding Me?

Last week, we went to Toys R Us and bought a new swing set for the girls. We had gotten the trailer from my parents to take home the 4 boxes that weight OVER 150 pounds!!! When we got there ready to pick it up, they said they didn't actually have any of the swing sets in their store, but that it would be in next Thursday (two days ago). Jared called them on Wednesday and they said that it MIGHT be in on Saturday, but to call Friday and make sure it was on the list. Well, I called yesterday and they said there was a problem with the truck and they wouldn't know until Saturday if it was on the truck. Are you kidding me? What is all of this run around? I am starting to feel the same as when we bought our treadmill the day after Thanksgiving, but got the run around for 2 MONTHS. We didn't get our treadmill until the end of January. This better not happen with our swing set!!

Anyway, Jared called Toys R Us last night on his way home from work and this is what they said! Their truck won't be in until Monday. Then the lady proceeds to ask Jared if that is okay. Jared says NO WAY!!! The supervisor is supposed to call Jared today and help us out. This is so ridiculous!

A Great Night!

Last night, Kristy and I went to the Home Depot free clinic for ladies to learn about our gardens, lawns, potting plants, all that fun stuff. They had 59 people sign up....

Kristy and I were the ONLY ONES THERE!

It was actually very nice. We got some one-on-one advice and got to ask lots of questions. They had a drawing for the pot that they planted to show us how to do it. Kristy won!! The super sweet friend that she is, she gave it to me! Thanks a million Kristy!! We also each got a watering can, new gardening gloves, and a nozzle for the hose. We had a great time and I am so grateful that Kristy could go with me!!

Now It's My Turn!

I have LIVED at the doctor's office this last week. Jayce had croup over the weekend. I thought she was getting better, but then on Monday she woke up with gross goupy eyes! I took her in AGAIN and the doctor gave us some drops and also told me that her throat looked horrible. He tested her for strep. Luckily it came back negative, but still, poor thing. Emily has been sick also. She mostly just has an icky runny nose and a horrible cough. I hate coughs. They sound horrible, but I know that they are doing their job to keep the congestion out of their lungs.

Anyway, now it is my turn. I have been sick since last Saturday and hoped that it was just allergies or a cold that would go away in a couple of days. Well, last night I was HORRIBLE. I remember sleeping and thinking, Les, take it easy and breath slow so that you can keep breathing. Isn't that horrible! Ick. Anyway, it is my turn to head into the doctor. Why is it so much easier to take your kids in then head in yourself?

On a little side note, I am headed to a gardening class at Home Depot tonight to learn how to take care of our lawn, plant some pretty baskets, and grow a garden. I don't have much of a green thumb, although I would like to think that I do!!! I am going to get my veggies planted this weekend. I want to plant zucchini (and only 2 plants this year instead of the 6 I planted last year!!!), squash, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers (great for pepper jelly, YUMMO!!), and I want to try some green beans this year and cucumbers. I want to make my own pickles and fresh green beans from your garden are the BEST!! Anyway, wish me luck! I am going to plant my garden while Jared works on our new swing set! We are supposed to pick it up Saturday morning and then it is of to Work Work Work for ol Jar!!! He finished a basement, he can put together a swing set!

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to tell my mom, my mother-in-law, grandmothers, sister, sisters-in-law, and friends that are mothers

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

You all are such an example to me and I am so grateful to know all of you! I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy this time that we have to be mothers!

For Mother's Day, Jared and the kids gave me some cake decorating classes. I am so excited. I love to make and decorate cakes for my girls' birthdays, I just don't have any technique whatsoever, so I am really excited for these classes. I went to my first class last night and although I felt miserable because I am so deathly sick, I really enjoyed the class and think I am going to have a great time!!

1ST RACE OF THE YEAR!

Today I ran my first race of the year! Payson had a stake run, well, there were 11 stakes involved. Jared and I were going to run it together, but last night Jayce came down with the croup and I just hurried and went, ran, and then came right home! I ran the 5k in 30:20, which is about a 9:49 min/mile! That is pretty good for me! I was really happy and had a great time! I passed a BUNCH of people and that made my adrenaline kick in! YAHOO!!

Does It Ever End?

Tuesday afternoon, Jared and I finally went to the toy store to look at swing sets. Our kids are loving the outdoors and have outgrown (or become bored) with our little slide. Kylee is forever constantly asking me to go in the front and ride her bikes! I would love to have a swing set for the kids in the back so that I don't have to worry about them so much.We decided on this swing set. It might take us a little while to put it together, but I think that it will be so worth it in the end, to see the kids play on it and have a blast!

was so excited to get it that day and start laying it out for Jared and getting it ready to be put together, but oh no! Even though they said they had one in the store, when they went to bring it out to us, they didn't have one, so we have to wait until next week to get it and then next weekend to put it together!

I have anticipation anxiety disorder!! Once I get something in my head, it is VERY hard to get it out!!! I have to do many things to distract myself. So, what am I doing to distract myself from not wanting the swing set here NOW? Taking the dirt out of my garden so that I can lay newspaper down to prevent weeds and grass from coming up! And then planting my garden!!

I Love Spring!

I absolutely love Spring. I love letting my kids go outside and play, I love seeing my flowers come up and give some color to my front yard, I love listening to music with the windows open in my car and singing at the top of my lungs!

Kylee loves my flowers. She loves to pick them and pretend they are her flower for her wedding. One of her little friends was over and they picked a bouquet of flowers for their wedding! I get so angry at her for picking my flowers. She tells me not to pick the dandelions because then we won't have anymore flowers left!!! :)

This morning, I was cleaning the house and both Jayce and Kylee were outside riding their bikes. I came out to put some stuff in the car and she gave me another bouquet of flowers! Actually, I didn't realize I had so many flowers to make so many bouquets!! Anyway, she gave the bouquet to me and told me they were for me. Again, I was angry inside wondering if she was ever going to not pick them. Then it hit me! I LOVE getting flowers from Jared, so why not use my own flowers to make a cute centerpiece! I have lots of champagne glasses from my wedding that we NEVER use and I decided to put them to use and look at what I got.

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Green Week!

This year, I decided to help the Earth and do some "green" things. I had read this blog sharing some ideas on how to go green. Here are the things that I tried this week!

I made some reusable grocery bags (I am still working on them, I have put them off hoping that I can finish them in my NEW craft room!!) to take to the grocery store. They turned out pretty darn cute!

I would leave the lights off in the morning and just open the blinds to let the sun come in! I really like this. The only time I really used the light was when I would get up and read in the morning, and in the late evening hours as the girls were going to bed!

It was also National Turn Off TV week! I told Kylee that it was National Turn Off TV week and that we would not be watching TV or getting on the computer this week. I have loved this because the girls have gotten into the habit of asking to watch TV first thing in the morning. We spend time together getting breakfast ready, getting dressed, getting the house straightened up! I might just have to keep this one going! :)

Happy Green Week!!

IT'S FINISHED!!! (Almost)

THE BASEMENT IS DONE!!! We had the carpet installed yesterday and had to hurry and finish baseboards the night before. Jared is working on the electrical today, just finishing up mounting the outlets and putting face plates on. We still have a few things to do such as paint the doors, get lights, put in the faucet for the kitchen, and shelves in all the closets. The bathroom isn't done, it just needs the vanity and the toilet, but at least once the electrical is done, we can move the kids down there. We are getting the couches and TV today!! WHOOHOO!! Here are some pictures.

Here are the girls helping Jared!
A view of the Kitchen area
The unfinished bathroom!! :)
My favorite! The girls playroom. I got the picket fence finished Thursday night!
The exercise room, another favorite. We put some of that rubber matting down where the treadmill will go. Where the carpet is is where I will put my sewing machine and table to do crafts and projects!
Another favorite, the blue room! This might become Jared and I's bedroom during the hot summer months!
Under the stairs!

MILESTONE IN OUR LIVES!

We, here at the Keisel household, have hit another milestone!!! It has been quite the chore to have 3 little girls and getting anywhere on time! One of the things that has been hard for me is that I have to buckle all 3 of them in their car seats! WHOWEEE!! We have hit a milestone. We got a new car seat for Kylee a few months back. It is just one of those car seats that uses the car's seatbelt. It was hard for her to buckle, because the seatbelt was so far down into the seat. Well, she learned a few days ago to do it by herself. And my little Jayce is Miss Independent and has to do EVERYTHING herself! They both can now get in by themselves and get buckled in so I have to only worry about little Miss Emily! What a lovely thing!

This just makes me Smile!

I saw this video and just LOVE it! I love the piano. I have gone to a concert of Paul Cardall and another piano player, but for the love of all I CANNOT remember his name. I feel horrible. Anyway, I just love to listen to the piano and could listen to it forever. I really need to get a piano so that I can somewhat practice!

Anyway, I found this video and could listen to this forever!!

Basement Update with PICTURES!!!!

Kim, this is for you!!! I finally got to taking some pictures. We still have a big mess down there, but the carpet is coming next Wednesday or Thursday so we have got to bust our butts this week! I might be asking for some babysitters to help while I get to some more painting (gotta do the baseboards and windowsills and door casings once they are put up!)

Anyway, it is starting to look good down there. Here is a picture of MY BLUE ROOM!! I absolutely love this room and might end up sleeping some nights down here! This will be our guest room for anyone wanting to come for a visit!! I just love the calming blue color.
This is another shot of the blue room. Jar doesn't have the lights hooked up yet so I couldn't get a REAL great picture, but it works right!! Hopefully you get the idea!
This is a picture of the exercise room that is just west of the blue room. We are going to put our treadmill and weights in here at one end and then at the other end, I get my craft room. Can I tell you how excited I am for this room. Right now my sewing machine is in the closet in Emily's room because I keep having to get it out. I am excited to put it somewhere and just keep it out and use it! Oh how fun. I plan to put a pegboard up on the wall above a countertop to put all my trinkets and things! YAHOO!! So, when it is time to craft, I will be ready!!Here is a shot from standing over by the kitchen area looking towards the TV room. You can see the doorway to the blue bedroom. I am in love with color of this wall too. The brown turned out so great! Jared was a little nervous about it and wanted me to get a can, paint a little on the wall, let it dry and see if it was really what I wanted. I felt comfortable enough that it was the color I wanted and it turned out great. I am going to be painting the baseboards, windowsills, window frames, and door frames a dark chocolate brown. I am so excited to see it all put together.Here is a picture of the countertop that will go on the cabinets in the kitchen area. The countertop we had originally decided upon was more of a bunch of different browns. Jared went to Home Depot and they had discontinued it, but they had this one, the last one and got it. I think he was a little nervous that it would look good and that I would like it. I LOVE it. I has some texture on it and it has some greens in it which makes me so happy becuase we already have lots of brown going on downstairs!

Here is a picture of the cabinets with the tile in the Kitchen area. I can not hide my excitetment anymore!
Another faraway picture of the cabinet area. Don't mind the mess! I tell you, we still have lots to do, but it coming right along!
Here is the bathroom with the shower that Jared is working on! He is tileing the bathroom tomorrow night!
And I think my other favorite room. The girls' playroom for a few months and then their bedroom! I am not done with the picket fence, I need to paint the white that does horizontal behind the fence slaps, but I just love how the picket fence turned out!

Happy Easter!

We had a really great Easter weekend. Most of it was spent in the basement. In the girls' room, I painted it green and then was waiting to paint a white picket fence on the wall. I got that done on Saturday and it looks so fun! Don't you all fret, picture are coming. Hopefully I can get down there tomorrow and get some pictures of things coming right along! We still have lots to do, but the carpet is coming either the 25th of April or the first Saturday in May, so we need to get things going!!!

My in-laws stopped by on Saturday morning to give the girls their Easter gifts. It was so nice to visit with them and the girls were SOO excited that Grandma Judy was coming.

I had to teach on Sunday and it was awful! NOTHING, I mean nothing went right. I cried the whole time and actually left my class while they were writing some things down to gather myself together! It was so awful and I just felt HORRIBLE!!! We then spend a quiet afternoon at home and then went down that evening to visit Jared's grandparents. It was nice to get down there and see them! My girls love to visit Grandma Lund! I think Kylee wants to have her party down there!!

We hope you all had a great Easter! Here are some pictures of the girls in the dresses! I can still buy them all matching dresses. How long with that last before I can't find one girl a dress they same style!

Sunny, But Not so Warm St. George

We headed off to St. George this weekend. My mom, my girls, and I headed out Thursday morning. Jared took off Thursday, but stayed at home and worked on the tile in the basement. He got it all done!!! It looks fabulous!!!! He did an excellent job. Jared and my dad came down Friday morning and then my mom and I headed out and got manicures and pedicure! Such a nice little treat for us! Kevin, Tyler, and Christine came down that night. It was so nice in St. George. It wasn't real warm, but it wasn't cold either. Just a nice trip. Everyone left Sunday afternoon, and my mom, my girls, and I came home yesterday afternoon. We need to get down there again! I think I would really like to live in St. George!

Happy April Fools Day!

I have never been one that was good at playing jokes on April Fool's Day. Last night we had Young Women's and Kim played a GREAT trick on the girls!! We made Easter Baskets, live Easter Baskets.

I have planted Easter Baskets for about 3 years now and have just gone to the nurseries to buy the wheat grass seed. I decided to do an activity with the girls and plant baskets. I did some calling around to find out how much the seed would be and if we could do it within our budget. I called Good Earth and they sell it in bulk. It is $.89 a pound and the lady told me it was just whole wheat. I called Cynthia because she grows her own for her juices and she said she just uses her food storage whole wheat. I guess I never made the connection that it was whole wheat, wheat grass, see the connection!!!

You soak the wheat in water for one day and then drain the water. For the next couple of days you put it in water and then drain the wheat, don't leave it sitting in the water. When the wheat seeds start to get some sprouts on the ends of them, it is time to plant. Put about 2 to 3 inches of soil in the bottom of your saran wrap lined baskets, place a single layer of wheat seed on tope, and then put a skiff of dirt on top. The next day you will see the sprouts coming up! Such a fun thing to do this time of year when all the flowers are coming up and to get us out of the winter dulldrums!!

After we planted our baskets with the girls, we had treats, brownies! Or so the girls thought! Kim had bought some sponges, cut them into squares and then frosted them with chocolate frostine. They looked like the real deal!! It was HILARIOUS to see the girls try and chew through the sponge!! I am laughing my head off right now thinking about it! They were good sports! We then really gave them real cake!

Date Night with Jar!

Last night Jared and I got to go on a date to the temple. I am so embarrassed to say that it has been a long time! It was SOO VERY nice to be able to go to the temple. With all the chaos going on around in the economy, trying to raise 3 little girls, and trying to magnify my calling, I always am feeling a little pulled! At the temple last night, I was able to let go of all of those things and just go and enjoy the peace and to enjoy some great time with Jar! I am so grateful for the gospel and the joy that it brings to my life!!