Family Night at Silver Lake.......

We took a drive up the canyon to Silver Lake last night. We sure love this place! It has been a family favorite for years.

Enjoy the many pictures......

See the moose in the background? We almost always see a moose when we come here. And I love Kate's face in this picture!







The perfect night for a walk around the lake.













(Do you love Katelyn's face is this one? She was mad because dad just wanted a picture with mom!)

Parties!

This month is a month of birthdays in our family. Cousins, aunt, uncle, sister, and Great Grandpa!

We recently celebrated Grandpa Zierse's 90th birthday!

Lots of his family and friends came by to wish him a happy birthday. It just happened that the party was on the day of the Utah vs BYU football game. Since there are fans of both teams in the family, the room was decorated appropriately! Notice the table in this picture has BYU written with blue tape.


Lots of visiting!

Jace was on present patrol!

Katelyn (no need to mention what table she sat at!)

Bill (Kelly's dad,) Lyenna (Kelly's sister,) Grandpa Zierse, and Kelly.




Grandpa Zierse is from Holland and so the wife of Kelly's cousin made this lovely cake of a windmill and a field of tulips. It was so sweet!

Grandpa and the cake!

Kelly's grandpa loves BYU and when we saw these BYU pillow pets, we had to get him one (it was hard for me to pass up the Utah pillow pet for this one, but I figured since it was for a sweet 90 year old man, it would be okay!) He loved it and wanted his picture with it.



A few days later, we celebrated Kate's birthday. Of course she wanted a princess cake.

She also got princess bubbles and a princess purse.

Mommy and Jace enjoying the party!

And she got her very first bike. She loves to ride her bike!

We had a good time celebrating this month!

Happy 4th to Katelyn!

Four years ago today, Little Miss Kate entered our family!

Here are some favorites of Katelyn's

Favorite colors:
Pink
Purple
Yellow
Green

Favorite things to do:
Dance
Swim
Go to the park
Sing

Favorite foods:
Pizza
Cereal
Mustard Sandwiches (yep, mustard on two pieces of bread!)
Eggs

Four of her best friends:
Camberlyn
Ryker
Abby
Raylie





Her favorite TV shows/movies:
Jake and the Neverland Pirates
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
The Little Mermaid
Tangled

Four things that I love about Kate:

Watching her play pretend and listening to her sing. When she sings "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," she says "how I wondered what you are." Makes me smile every time!

I also love how kind and loving she can be. Like when she comes up to me and says, "I love you so much." Or when she runs up and gives her little brother a great big hug.

I love her fearlessness. Don't get me wrong, she is as shy as shy can be and most the time she will only talk to you on her terms. But she isn't afraid of many things. Like swimming or the rides at the amusement park. I love how she gets so excited about those things. I also love how she can be so girly one minute and then play in the dirt with the boys the next!


I love her laugh! I could listen to her laugh all day (which is much better than the alternative!)

Happy #4 Katelyn!

S'Mores Cookies

These are YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!

1 Pkg graham crackers


6 T butter, melted
1 T sugar
dash salt
1 C butter, softened
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T milk
2 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 1/2 C flour
2 1/2 C chocolate chips
24 large marshmallow
4 small Hershey bars







Crush graham crackers into fine crumbs. Add 6 T melted butter, 1 T sugar, and dash of salt, set asside.

Place softened butter and brown sugar in large mixing bowl. Beat until creamed. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix 2 minutes.

In separate bowl, combine soda, powder, salt, and flour. Add to creamed mixture. Mix in chocolate chips.




Pour graham cracker mixture into cookie dough. Smash dough in with wooden spoon. Don't completely mix them in.






Roll into 2 inch balls and place them on lightly sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes, until cookie begins to crack.





While cooking, cut marshmallows in half and break chocolate bars into individual pieces.


Remove cookies from oven and press marshmallow into center of each hot cookie. Return to oven and bake for 1 1/2 more minutes.



Remove once more and let cookie sit for 2 minutes. Press one Hershey piece into center of marshmallow.

Remove cookie from sheet to cool.

Enjoy!

My Long Awaited Window Project!

Have you seen old windows being used in home decor? Well years ago, my friend in Arizona found an old window and made it into a beautiful frame.

Ever since then, I have been dying to make a similar project. I hadn't been looking too hard until lately. My mom was in Rexburg and told me she was going to a flea market of sorts. I told her to look out for an old window.

Lucky for me she found this one!

Here it is at the beginning.

I gave it a quick sand and then painted it
with some left over paint from my bathroom.


Next, I sanded it again.

I sanded it just enough to let the wood show in some places.

Next came the glazing. Glazing or staining always makes me nervous!

Here it is after I glazed it. Looking so good!

The only downside was there was no glass. I went to Lowe's and had some custom glass cut, which was reasonably priced, I thought.

I have been seeing lots of different types of subway art. I wanted to put something family oriented in one of the openings.

I found this free and cute printable from Pinterest.
Side note.....have you checked out Pinterest? Love it!

I love the way it turned out! I just want to keep looking at it. Also, part of what makes it so beautiful, are the pictures that my neighbor took! Love the way they look in here!