I WON!

Today was our Ward's Memorial Day picnic. There was a dessert contest, not many people participated in it....only 4, but my cake won! I made a "Put the Lime in the Coconut" cake from the Food Network (recipe found here). I saw it on TV a year ago and thought it looked really good. It was unique and everyone said it had a very fresh taste. I thought it was delicious and will definitely be making this again.

As usual, I altered the original recipe. Instead of making the cake from scratch I bought a coconut cake mix, I also used half of the sugar it called for in the glaze. The cake was very moist because I made a sour cream/lime glaze that it soaked in over night. It is frosted with homemade cream cheese frosting, then patted with coconut all around.

I can't believe I forgot to take a picture before everyone dug into it. It looked so pretty! Oh well. I won 4 tickets to for a Columbus Clippers MiLB baseball game in June. It will be a fun family activity.

Teacher Appreciation

Dallin is FINALLY done with preschool and headed to Kindergarten!!! All of my kids will be a year behind due to fall/winter birthdays!

I made these little boxes this morning for Dallin's preschool teachers as well as the two preschool directors. I used my cricut to cut out the popcorn box, the tag, and the "super teacher" paperdoll. I attached the paperdoll to a pencil, tied the tag to a rice crispy treat, and added two gel pens. The teachers thought the paperdolls were hilarious. It is fun to make little things like this for his teachers. I've done them for almost every holiday/occasion this year, but it seems to always be last minute. Like...the morning of!

My Favorite Shoes!

This little pair is my favorite out of all of the shoes I have made and sold. I gathered the fabric together to use as a demo pair for tonight's Enrichment meeting, but I couldn't wait and just sewed them up for Kaylee last night, lol. The fabric was so perfect! This pair is made out of 3 different fabrics, 2 from Grandma and 1 that I already had. I love how they are little scrap shoes. I sewed a little flower button on the front of each shoe. Just wanted to share :)

Picture Frame Jewelry Holder Tutorial

 Derrick took the boys out this afternoon to get Mother's Day "stuff". Hmm...not sure what that means since I told him that I wanted a backscratch from him and homemade cards from the kids....so we'll see what they come up with at the store, lol.

So I had a little time to myself (and Kaylee). I made myself a long-needed earring holder. As I was putting my earrings on it, I realized that I had a lot more than I thought, but most of them were tarnished and my necklaces have knots in them from being thrown together in a little box. So when I work out that mess and clean my earrings, I can fill my holder up a little more.

For this project, I used an old 4x6 hinge frame that I think I got at Walmart for a couple of bucks. It was on my dresser. I also used rubber cement, scrapbooking paper, and one of Derrick's mesh trays that he uses on the BBQ. You could use any kind of mesh or even some plastic needle point stuff (not sure what it is exactly called). I just know I've seen that mentioned on other sites for earring holders!

Downloading pics from blogger is getting really annoying! They have to be med-small and they sometimes flip like this, oh well.

I took the glass out of the frames and attached scrapbooking paper to the cardboard backings.

I then cut the mesh to size and replaced the cardboard backings. You could just leave the backing off and staple the mesh to the frame. It would give you more room to hand your earrings on later on, but this works and looks cute.

Almost done!
I added a couple of small hooks for necklaces. I only had brass hooks.

Then attached a wire on the back to hang.

All done! My friends Stephanie and Tiffany came over awhile ago and we made earrings. It was a lot of fun, I think we'll do it again! I just bought a earring pack at Joann's with all of the wire and backings and a couple of packages of beads. Derrick and the boys gave me two more little packages of beads for my birthday and we fished through the kid's craft beads and surprisingly found a lot of cute ones in there! Very inexpensive. You can totally tell which earrings Derrick attached to the hooks and which ones I attached. Let's just say I have poor motor skills with little tools, lol.

Total cost for this project? Free!

NC Pork Sandwiches

Just getting caught up on my recipe blog tonight!

Our best friends in Kodiak introduced us to these sandwiches. He was from North Carolina and made these for us on Christmas Eve one year. Leaving their family was the saddest thing about leaving Kodiak. We were friends and neighbors in Sacramento for 2 years, then both transferred to Kodiak in 2004!

These are very tamed down from the full vinegar flavor that they use in the south. Delicious!

1 pork roast, pork butt

1 can chicken broth

Cook in crockpot on low for at least 12 hours.

Pull roast out, de-bone and shred meat. Add apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup at a time until it is tangy to your liking. I usually use 3/4 c. - 1 cup.

Sprinkle red pepper flakes to your liking, I usually use 1 1/2 tsp.

Pile onto a roll and you are set! I like adding bbq sauce and pickles to mine. Derrick eats his with just the pork. Our friends add coleslaw and pickles on top of the pork. Enjoy!

Family Home Evening Board

I had fun making this Family Home Evening this afternoon. Aaron helped me and made his own little super-hero to play with at the same time. Dallin came upstairs and got into the action too. I decided to do something different than the typical vinyl letter/board with nail pegs on it (NOT that there is anything wrong with that one! I just wanted something different...and free! :)

I cut out the super-heroes with my Cricut. I glued them onto a piece of thin cardboard that was covered with scrapbook paper. Then I added the letters, covered everything with contact paper, and attached velcro tabs on the chest of each figure. The badges/logos are laminated and have velcro on the back to attach to the chest. Each week, the badges rotate! The kids loved it, and I like Aaron's crazy hair, lol. I used the Raggedy Ann hair cutout for that one.