Uplifted? Check. Reassured? Check. Humbled? Check.

Semi-annual conference weekends are my two favorite weekends of the year.

Reason one, I don’t have to get dressed for church or wrestle with my kids in a quiet chapel.

Reason two, for 8 hours I am blessed to listen to the testimony and the knowledge of the righteous men and women that lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If you only listen to one talk from this conference, which I know you won’t only listen to one because that would be like eating one bite of a delicious chocolate chip cookie, but if you do only listen to one, listen to the word’s of our living prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

Reason three, it is an excuse to eat yummy treats, like cinnamon rolls and ice cream.  (This was Marie’s first ice cream cone. Just in case you wanted to know, you know, for posterity’s sake and all.)

Reason four, William is now old enough to comprehend what is going on. This year his grandma sent him a conference activity packet complete with ties to color (to match what color tie each apostle had on) and a game of conference BINGO.

Grilled Pizza

You can thank Rachael Ray for this idea. I got a free subscription to her magazine Everyday with Rachael Ray a couple of years ago when I bought a couple of her recipe books. Don’t get it. You can find everything that is in the magazine,  online for free.

Seriously folks. She is annoying, but she is also brilliant. I use one of her recipes almost weekly. You can find some of my favorite recipes from her here.

Back to grilling pizza. The recipe is here.

Some tips if you decide to give it a try:

• Have everything ready to go. You have to move fairly fast so that you don’t burn the crust.
• You don’t have to do store bought pizza crust. This is currently my favorite pizza crust recipe.
• Make sure that the dough is coated in olive oil so that it doesn’t stick to the grill.
• Keep the topping layers fairly thin, especially the cheese. If you pile on the cheese too high your crust will burn before the cheese melts.
• Use Monterey Jack instead of Mozzarella. This isn’t exclusive to grilled pizza, just a general tip. Yum. You won’t be sorry.
• Can you tell I have burnt the crust a couple of times?

We love pizza around here and I love to find new ways to have it (english muffins, french bread, bagels, tortillas, etc.) This is definitely one of our all time favorite variations.  Let me know if you give it a try!

Desperation

Spring is quickly approaching and soon after that SUMMER! Woohoo! Party!

One problem here at my house. Swimsuit weather. Ugh.

I really don't have a problem wearing a swimsuit in public. I grew up in California and went swimming nearly every single day through my high school years. Seriously. Between recreational swimming, life guarding, teaching swim lessons, water polo, and swim team I was in the water a lot. In the summers, not only was I in the water every day, I was usually in the water anywhere from 6-10 hours throughout the day. You can't have a complex about swimsuits when you wear one that much. I also didn't spend a lot of time looking for swimsuits and I certainly didn't spend a lot of money. Speedo and TYR were my brand of choice and I always bought them off the clearance rack. $25 was the most I would pay.

Fast forward 10 years. Sadly, I am not in the water every day. I still don't have a complex about wearing a suit, but now that I am not going through a suit every 6 months I have the freedom to be a bit more picky and perhaps justify spending a bit more than $25 on a suit.

I have a couple of suits, both of which are 3 years old or older, which is just crazy to me. I never knew suits could last that long.

Anyway, on to my point. Enter Lime Ricki. Darling suits. The best part? 30 days is hosting a giveaway for one suit! If I win one, I don't have to justify the cost. Sweet.

Check it out. Enter yourself. Oh, and tell her I sent you. I get extra points if you do. See I told you I was desperate.

Today

Brandon is as handsome and as incredible as ever.

I am the luckiest.

William made it through church without any need for penance cookies. *Phew*

Marie made it through nursery without giving herself a black eye.

The weather decided that lion is the new lamb.

Thank you!

Big huge thanks to everybody that voted for me over at Gourmet Mom. I won! Woohoo!

Springtime in the Rockies

Today it is raining/snowing. On Monday we woke up to a couple of inches of snow and it continued on and off all day.

A complete about-face from the weather we enjoyed this past weekend.

Friday night was pizza night, but I couldn’t bear the thought of wasting a moment of the perfect weather by eating dinner inside.

The answer? A pizza picnic!

We dusted off the grill, filled a table with all the necessities, did our best to keep the kids from eating all the cheese before it made it on the pizza, and grilled ourselves some dinner.

William was thrilled to top his own pizza with lots of cheese and pepperoni. Yes, William eats pepperoni. William loves pepperoni.

Brandon’s new favorite topping combination? Pepperoni and jalapenos. Yum. My favorite new favorite topping combination? Blending spinach in with the tomato sauce. It’s even better than the blended green peppers and packs in even more nutrition.Don’t be fooled by these pictures. Only seconds after they were taken the kids were off and running. They did eventually finish eating their pizza between laps around the yard.

Thanks for the teaser, Spring.

Next time, stay a bit longer.

Twilight? Been there. Done that.

Alright, I haven’t seen the movie … yet. Redbox tomorrow. Free Wednesday code during the month of March.

I have read the books. I couldn’t put them down and yet I couldn’t stand them. Why is that? Whatever the case, they were entertaining, but definitely not a series that I would read again.

Since reading them my jaw has dropped at the obsession. I am not trying to be a party pooper. I swear. I just don’t get it. The idea? Clever. I’ll give her that. The writing? Bad. The hero? Stone cold. Come on ladies. That turns you on?

Anyways.

This little list was comforting to me. I am glad to know I’m not the only one that missed the boat.

Top 3 Twilight Reviews--

1.”It is an insult to Harry Potter to even be mentioned in the same sentence with this book."
2. "200 pages: Nothing has happened. 300 pages: Nothing has happened. 400 pages: NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. Are you kidding me?"
3. "If you want your teenage daughters to grow up to have no self-esteem and a lifetime of abusive co-dependent relationships, then go ahead, buy this book."