Thanksgiving

 Chase and I are stranded out in Salt Lake City with no reservations. I am shaking I am so mad. There are no mashed potatoes and it's 2:00 o' clock.


  My dad is in a drive through attempting his best Spanish to order his cheese and bean burrito from Del Taco as his anxiety starts to settle.




What do these two sentences have in common?


MY THANKSGIVING.




I am aware that this post may come across as if I am a spoiled brat, as it should, because that is exactly what I was on Thanksgiving. Chase and I had the opportunity to go to California with my In-laws but decided to spend Thanksgiving with my parents since they would be all alone. This year was my family's off year, meaning everyone goes to their In-laws and my parents are leaving on a mission next July and I just hated the thought they would be by themselves. So my parents and my family decided we would go to Chuck-a-Rama. I know, I know, you may be thinking ew gross! but the food is good and the price is cheap. So, Chase and I are about 3300 s. when my mom calls to tell me that the line to Chuck-a-Rama is wrapped around the building and she is going to start getting in line. Then I get another phone call as I am at 600 south saying that my dad doesn't want to wait in the car while my mom waited in line so he is going to go through a Del Taco drive through and go home. She then tries to blame my Dad's behavior on his medication since he just had knee surgery but I know him to well and know that he just is too impatient to wait in line. I love him dearly, and I am more like him then not but when it comes to waiting in line he says it is his Achilles heel.


So now Chase and I hurry and pull off in Salt Lake City to find somewhere to eat by ourselves. We went everywhere to find out that it is either a 2 hr wait or you need reservations. I am so mad at this point thinking, "seriously, he couldn't of waiting for 20 minutes and we could of been in California." I eventually called my oldest brother who offered us to come to his in-laws and so we started heading to West Valley. We almost get their house when Chase keeps asking me, "please, let's not go. I feel awkward. I don't know them that well, it's a time to be with family so let them be together...." So, I gave in and by this time we could of been to Chuck-a-Rama and have digested our food. It is now 2 hrs later and we end up at Cracker Barrel in West Valley where we sit down to be promptly told that they are out of mashed potatoes and at this point I just start laughing because there wasn't anything left to do. Chase and I were done arguing over where to go, Jaxon is ready for a nap, and my dad is probably wiping his bean burrito off his face. As I sat there with Chase across the table, I knew I had  A LOT to be thankful for and there was no reason to be so upset that I wasn't with my family because as I looked at Chase and then to my left at my baby (who is screaming) I just thought of how blessed I am. I have two healthy boys in my life. I had a car to drive around for 2 hrs looking for a place to eat. I ATE food, where many went hungry. I knew I was being selfish at that point. I am so used to having a HUGE feast at my parents surrounded by all my family who I adore so much and there are so many people out there that don't get to even experience that kind of love once in there life.


After we finished our food and Jaxon ate his own body weight in food :) We decided to go to Bountiful and visit my parents. As we sat on the main entrance floor talking about the days events we just started laughing. This is definitely a story I will tell at my Dad's funereal! My mom and dad felt bad so this last Sunday we had a redo on Thanksgiving dinner. So in the end I got my banana cream pie and mashed potatoes :)

My family's Sunday Thanksgiving was a typical Blaser get together. Lots of food and noise :)

My oldest brother

My cute niece

I promise my voice doesn't normally sound like this... or maybe it does, ahhhh (listen to video below)

First "Real" Hair Cut

This blog has started out as an outlet for ideas and projects that I do but I have recently received emails asking to share more about me and my family. I do have a family blog already so I don't want this to turn into a copy cat of that blog but I will start posting a little more about me and my family. To start off I wanted to share with you my son's first hair cut. The first time I cut it and it didn't go so well...


Do you all remember this post

Ya that is why I took him to Cookie Cutters this time. They were so fast and Jaxon had a lot of fun once he figured out the sucker goes in his mouth and not his hand. The downside to the sucker is after he had a bunch of hair stuck to his face :).  I won't lie and say I didn't get a little emotional I know he is my first and I wonder if I will ever love my other ones as much as him because he is my world!

Bunting Flag Tutorial

1. Draw your pattern on your fabric. I doubled up my fabric to give me 2 half circles. I used a picture frame to make my banner but if you want to be more "professional" :) and want the typical triangle shape you can find the template here.

2. Add any detail you want to the right side of the fabric

2. Then sew the right sides together. ( if you are a beginner remember to sew then back stitch then forward again to seal off the stitch)

3. Continue step 2 until you have all your flags completed. Then turn them right side out and pin them to your biased tape. I used a ruffled biased tape, it will cost more but adds more flair to the finished project.

4. This is the easy part. Sew all the way down the biased tape and your done.

*** special trick my friend taught me. Notice how I pinned my fabric flag to the biased tape (pic below).  If you pin it in sideways like I did then you can just leave them in and the machine will sew right over it. So at the end of the project you can take the pins all out at once.

To see another great tutorial on bunting flags check out my friends blog @ All Things Lovely...

To see the party I used this banner for click here.

To see more of my parties go check out "let's Party" on my blog.


Guess what my baby was doing while I was sewing away...

Learning how to eat with a spoon, but as you can tell he got sick of the spoon and found a faster way to eat it

Thanksgiving Dessert Table

I am not doing a Thanksgiving dessert table this year since my family is all going to there in-laws except my husband and my baby. So it looks like Chuck-a-Rama for my parents and my little family. Hey wipe that gross looking smirk off your face, I actually like chuck-a-Rama :) So in honor of Thanksgiving coming up I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what I WOULD do if I had to do a dessert table. 

I love the shredded newspaper in the next display

Pictures via PInterest

P.S. My family is doing a real Thanksgiving on sunday and I will be making this for it and these.

Pie Pops

These are so easy to make and perfect for kids to help. I like to get kids involved with cooking so at dinner time, or in this case Thanksgiving, they feel they have helped out. I also like that it is a perfect portion of pie in every bite, but the downside is I found myself eating more then just 3 :(

What You Need:
* pie filling
* pie crust
* 1 egg white
* sucker sticks

Directions:

Step 1: Cut out the shape you want and fill with a small amount of pie filling and add a sucker stick.

Step 2: Cover with other side of pie crust and using the sucker stick score the edges of the pie pop.

Step 3. (optional) Using the extra dough cut out a fun shape to decorate your pie pop with and after step 4 add it to the pie pop.

Step 4. Brush on a little bit of egg white to give the pie crust the glistening look when it comes out of the oven.

Step 5. Then Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

Step 6. ENJOY THE GOOEY GOODNESS.

Cookies and Milk Party: #2

This party was for a client who wanted black, white, and red. She wanted the same theme as Jaxon's party (cookies and milk) but what was so great about this party is I just did the set up, party favors, and a few of the cookies and she did all the rest of the food. 

Baking, decorating, and hosting your own party is hard so if you need help please feel free to contact me here.

All for this birthday girl...

***To see more cookies and milk ideas click here

***To see more of my parties click on the Let's Party tab.

***To see a tutorial on how to make the banner click here.

Olive Garden Soup

This is HANDS DOWN my favorite soup. It is super easy to make and oh so delish!

I call it the Olive Garden soup but it is really called Spicy Tuscan Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Spicy Breakfast Sausage
• 1 whole Medium Red Onion, Diced
• 2 slices Bacon, Diced (optional)
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3 whole Medium Potatoes
• 1 quart Warm Water
• 3 cubes Chicken Bouillon ( I use the picture below instead of the cubes)
• ¼ bunches Kale, Roughly Chopped
• ½ cups Heavy Cream
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Directions:

*Crumble sausage into a Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat until cooked through. Drain and set the sausage aside.

*Chop onions and dice bacon; add to the Dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are clear. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

*Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4″ slices. Add warm water, bouillon cubes and potatoes to the Dutch oven and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are almost done.

*Add remaining ingredients as well as the sausage and simmer for 5 more minutes. 

Sweet 16 Birthday

Why does my sweet niece (aka my mini me) have such a surprised look on her face? 

That is because she walked into her surprise sweet 16 birthday party to see all of this...

Doesn't she have the best mom for throwing her this party! I think so.