MOCHA MORNINGS

This morning we awoke to find our scout elf, Buddy, had arrived back at our house for another holiday season. He even made breakfast and brought with him a dusting and flurry of snow! I just wonder what mischief he will get into this year? Reporting back to Santa every night, we just never know where we will find Buddy when we wake up each morning. Let the fun begin!

I have so many pictures on my iPhone I am out of iCloud storage to back them up. I am terrible about taking the time to upload them to my computer and every now and then I have to go through them, delete the duplicates and blurry ones to gain some space. However, the surprise self portraits I find in my photos of my precious little Jaxon are the ones I will cherish forever. Not only does he love to play angry birds and watch Netflix, but he obviously loves to play photographer and take pictures for what is now mommy's self-portrait collection.

Our first official snow, highs in the 20's, college basketball on ESPN, hot chocolate, crockpot soups, ice hockey, cozy sweaters...winter we welcome you.

It's hard to even explain how stinking excited my little boys were to play hockey today with the Quake hockey players. It was a pretty awesome event in that kids ages 4-9 got to try hockey for free, were provided equipment to use and got cute hockey jerseys to take home! Considering my boys have never skated before, I think they did really well for their first time and with the help of their billet brother, James, even managed to get a few hits to a puck. As with everything else they try, they are now addicted and asking to go to "ice skating school"! Here we go...

Football, tacos, boys and a night of pumpkin carving...I love Sundays. This year we had a three new faces to join us for our traditional pumpkin carving; James, our billet son from Minnesota, and two of his teammates, Sam from Minnesota and Josh from Michigan. Lots of laughter and great memories were made tonight and that makes this mom's heart smile. Happy Halloween!

...it's a k entucky thang.... #8...going for #9 b ig b lue n ation there's nothing else like it. tradition. ky is basketball! 2012 national champions!

I've read the book and now I am totally stoked about the movie coming out this week!  The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is on my  2012 Reading List  and of course I had to get it read before the movie was released.  I decided to listen to this series using the audio version and once I started listening, I couldn't stop! Once I finished the first book I immediately had to get my hands on Catching Fire and then of course Mocking Jay, books one and two, respectively, in The Hunger Games series.  I absolutely fell in love with the characters and felt such sadness when they were competing in the Hunger Games and so mad at the Capital and the game makers for creating such a horrible event.  Of course, I am a hopeless romantic and absolutely adore Peeta and his love for Katniss and that he would do whatever he had to do to protect her throughout the games, even though at the end they both knew there could only be one survivor.  It truly is a wonderful ser...

What team are you cheering for this year?   photo credit Yep, it's already that time of the year again when you are thinking about what yumtastic foods you are going to fix for the big game.  Last year you probably made wings, and this year you'll probably make some...well, wings.  Go ahead a make those wings and chill your brews, whip up some guacamole, and cut up some raw veggies, but while your at it you might as well add a little spunk to your game and try some fantastic new game foods your guests are sure to enjoy! Earlier today, over at  Ridiculously Delicious , I posted some really delicious foods that will ensure your Superbowl party will be a hit.  I've got a Taco Pizza recipe that looks and tastes amazing, some wings that will knock your socks off, a cheese dip that is man tested (so you know it is good), some brownies that will disappear before you even get one, plus much more.  So head on over ( click here ) and grab some Ridiculo...

With the Superbowl only days away, and more than 100 million people gathering to watch the big event in their homes, my goal is to make your bash the party to remember.  The number one thing the Superbowl does is bring people together (which could be both a bad and good thing), so fire up the grill and break out the hot wings and cheese dip folks because it's time for some football! According to an article I was reading in a Billings Gazette  insert, there are some rules that you can follow to ensure your party-goers have a foolproof time. FOUR RULES FOR A FOOLPROOF TIME: 1.   Give guests a choice of party zones.   Who says you only have to have one viewing area?  Have more than one TV set up and tuned into the game.  One can be used for those die hard football fanatics who want to see every play and call of the game and the other for the chatters and snackers.  A basement or a media room would be perfect for the die hard fans and then a TV in the...

Every mother loves to brag about her kids, so I am taking a minute to brag about mine.  Our oldest is 15, a freshman in high school and part of a very athletic freshman class.  They went undefeated in football and so far they are undefeated in basketball.  They are being told they are the best freshman team in Wyoming, which makes all of us parents really proud.  As I have mentioned in a previous post , our small town of Cody publishes EVERYTHING in the newspaper.  So, you can only imagine how happy I was that our son Dillon got recognized for his points scored in a recent game and equally as happy he didn't have to suffer from humiliation of his mom being recognized for speeding through town.  (thank you again Ms. Policewoman for only giving me a warning!)  My only complaint about the paper is that every time he has been mentioned in an article they have spelled his name wrong.  I guess that's what I get for trying t...

As soon as I saw her car, I knew I was busted. I had no idea what the speed limit was and I had no idea how fast I was going, but I just knew she was coming after me. No need to put on the break in an attempt to slow down because she had already clocked me and was in the process of flipping her lights on and making a U-turn from the spot she was sitting in. As she approached my vehicle I was praying the hubby had put the insurance card back in the truck after getting the registration a few weeks earlier. After frantically searching I found it, but not the registration, which she informed me was against the law not to have it with me! Great, just slap that fine on there to while your at it! I still have a Texas driver's license, our insurance card had the incorrect address on it, no registration in the truck, and I was clocked doing 43 in a 30. Yep, there was no getting out of this one. Instead of freaking out over my very first speeding ticket, or worried about how much it was goin...

Again, after much thought, consideration, reviews, and recommendations, I have compiled my 2012 reading list.  I absolutely LOVE to read, yet rarely seem to find the time to do so.  This reading list is going to be a HUGE commitment for me and if I achieve this goal I will be ECSTATIC!  I have America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money  on hold at my library and should receive it by Friday, and this afternoon I purchased Eat That Frog! from Amazon since it went on sale for 0.99 today for the Kindle!  I have linked each book to a description offered by Amazon, however these books can be purchased at any bookstore and most can probably be checked out  at your local library.  I chose Amazon because those of you with a Kindle can automatically purchase the book, if you choose to do so, with one click checkout through these links.  Happy Reading!     My 2012 Reading List: America’s Cheapest Family Gets you Right on th...

Why just set one New Year resolution?  I find that when I do this I either forget about it or get bored with it.  Instead I have chosen to set a number of goals in hopes that I will be able to accomplish most, if not all of them.  Also, writing them down, blogging them and/or posting them on a social network is an excellent way to actually remembering the goals you have set for yourself as well as feeling that you are being held accountable for achieving them.  This is the first year that I have publically announced my goals.  I am hoping it will inspire me to follow through with them and I hope it also inspires others to set and work towards their own goals.  2012 Personal Goals: Read through the Bible in one year using  this chronological plan. Keep Ridiculously Delicious updated weekly with meal plans and new recipes. Plan blog posts a week in advance. Eat healthy, exercise faithfully and drink a lot more water! Get at least 7 hours of sleep a nig...

This instagram calendar found at:  A Beautiful Mess Blog I find myself always thinking, "I need to make this" or "I need to try that" and for the most part, they never get done.  So, this year I am committing to doing at least 12 of those projects.  Hopefully, I will find time to do more as there are a ton of  DIY projects that I want to try, (not to mention that list has especially grown since I discovered Pinterest).  After much thought and consideration, these are the 12 that I am committing to for 2012: January:  Homemade English Muffins February:  Homemade Marshmallows March:    Made from scratch - dog treats for Roscoe! April:  Make your own - Windex     May:   Five minute Artisan Bread June:  Freezer Jam July:  Homemade Nutella August:   Homemade Hot Pockets September:  Homemade Liquid Hand Soap October:  Homemade Peanut Butter November:  Make it yourself – Fe...

I've been working on my goals for 2012 and will be posting them in parts, the first being tonight after I finish our New Year's Dinner consisting of the traditional black eye peas, kielbasa and cabbage, fried potatoes and sweet cornbread.  I have divided my goals into three parts, my 12 DIY projects for 2012; My 2012 reading list; and finally my personal goals for 2012.  I'm excited to share them with you and would love to hear what your goals are for this new year! For now, I am off to the store to do our weekly shopping (I blogged our menu for this week earlier at  Ridiculously Delicious ) and then home to play Candy Land and Yahtzee with the kiddos before dinner. Happy New Year to my dear family, friends and readers!  Make it a good one!

This week I am planning and organizing my Goals for 2012.  Instead of making one resolution that I would more than likely break, I am going to attempt several achievable goals.  In blogging them and making them public I hope to hold myself accountable in actually achieving them.  My husband and I are also setting our financial goals that we want to achieve as a family for the year.  I am looking forward to 2012.  I love beginnings and am ready to work towards becoming more productive, more organized and overall being a better mom and wife to my family.  Stay tuned...I will be posting them next week!