6 years ago...

On October 25, 2003 Chris and I married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple. It's hard to believe that 6 years have gone by already. We have gone through a lot of changes, some good, some not so good, but we are as strong as ever.

I love Chris with all my heart and am so glad that he asked me to marry him.

Who knew that I would meet the man I would marry over the internet living hundreds of miles from each other.

I am so grateful for all the blessings that I enjoy because of my marriage. We have a beautiful home together and 2 beautiful children that bring so much joy to our lives.

We celebrated our anniversary Saturday night with dinner at Red Lobster (this seems to be where we've ended up each year we've been able to go out for our anniversary) and then headed over to the Nightmare on 13th (so romantic I know!) We both enjoy haunted houses and it was lots of fun, they do a great job. We were able to talk my sister into watching the kids overnight so we made reservations to stay a local hotel and spent the evening and next morning all to ourselves.

When we came home Sunday morning we got a great reception from the kids, you would have thought we had been gone longer then just overnight. Gives me warm fuzzies and a big smile just thinking about it. I LOVE my family!!!

Here's to another 6 years together!! 

Raggamuffin...

Enough said!

Halloween sneak peek!!

Here's a peek at what my kids will be wearing next week. Minus the red wigs that I have yet to do. I finally found a place online to buy the stuff I needed to make the wigs, so now I just need to start cutting and sewing a bunch of red yarn.

I'm sure I'll be working on them well into the night tonight. I am trying to decide if I want to take them to Boo at the Zoo or not.

Nathan's costume was super easy, except for the zipper. (I hate sewing zippers in.)

The hat was super super easy and I got that all sewn up in about minutes.

I've had Audrey's costume done for about 2 weeks now. It was also pretty easy. Sure was easier then I thought it would be with the ruffles and all.

I am so super excited to see my kids all "dolled" up for Halloween. I've even ordered red and white striped tights for Audrey and socks for Nathan. Now I'm just hoping they get here time.
Oh, and I think I've finally talked Nathan into wearing this costume. We'll see how next week goes. 

Don't you just love HALLOWEEN!!!

P.S. Note to self: Next year no costumes with zippers or wigs that I have to make! LOL!

What's for dinner...

So I thought some time ago that it might be fun to start sharing some of my recipes with you all (okay, the one or two that read this), but hadn't taken the time before now. I figure since I've not done much blogging lately due to nothing much exciting going on around here, this would be the perfect opportunity. Of course I say this now and it's the start of the holiday season, so I am sure I will start posting more... but in the mean time I'm going to go ahead and share a recipe or two with you here and there.

I love really easy recipes and I have a bunch that I've grown up with, some I've "borrowed" from friends, and also ones that I've pulled off the internet. I do enjoy cooking, but I don't do so well with being creative enough to come up with my own stuff. So the recipes I will be sharing will not be my own, but ones that I do love and enjoy making. They are simple recipes, most with not many ingredients and are just easy to make. I think that's why I like them most.

When I started cooking on my own and trying out recipes from growing up, I can't tell you how excited I was  when something that I cooked tasted like my moms. It still bring a smile to my face, even after all this time,  when I make something that tastes just like when mom used to make it. The first recipe that I'm going to share with you tonight is one of those recipes.

Hamburger Pot Pie

1 lb hamburger

1/4 - 1/2 c. chopped onion

1 can (pint) green beans, drained

1 can (10 oz) tomato soup

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8  tsp oregano

salt to taste

Pie Crust

To start...if you plan on making your own pie crust, I would make this now and get it ready, or you can make it while browning the hamburger. I have made my own crust before, but usually buy it. I haven't quite mastered pastry making.

Brown hamburger and onion together. Stir in green beans, tomato sauce and seasonings. Pour into pastry filled pie plate. Add top crust and cut slits.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

And that's it. It's really that easy, and such a good meal. If you have a larger family or want to share with friends this can be made in a 9 x 13 in pan. If you do this, you will need to make your own pie crust and would just double the recipe. (This is how mom did it growing up.) Or you could just do 2 regular pies.

It's a good idea to let it cool for 5 minutes or so for the sauce to thicken up.I got a little anxious and as you can see it's a little runny.

And it didn't come out very well either, but it sure did taste good. Hope you enjoy it if you try it!

How'd you do that??

I've had a few people that wanted the info on how I made my scripture totes. I did take inspiration from others but did my own thing when I put mine together. I'm really not clever enough to think of something like that on my own, but am really good at copying :) I also do not promise for any of this to make sense, but if you need clarification on something...I'll try :)

How I did mine....

This is what you'll need...
*1 placemat ( I got some at the dollar store, Target and Walmart. They can be found for $2 or less)
*3 feet of ribbon for the handles (I used 1 inch wide)
*a little over 2 feet of ribbon for the accent stripe (I used a little wider ribbon, up to 1 1/2 inches) on the red  one
*1 silk flower
*safety pin
*thread

To put together...
1. Cut the ribbons for the handle 18 inches long
2. On each end of your placemat measure 3 1/2 inches in from the side and 2 1/2 inches in from the top and pin on your ribbon to create a hangle on each end of the placemat.
3. Sew on handles. I started on the cut end sewed to the and went around so that my thread ends would end up under my accent ribbon.
4. Cut accent ribbon to width of placemat, this will cover the cut ends of the handles
5. Measure down 2 inches from end of placemat (same side as your handles are on) and pin on your accent ribbon.(On the red version I didn't have any wide ribbon so I used one that was a little narrower then the handle ribbon and then a checkered ribbon that I had.)
6. Sew down both sides of ribbon.
7. Fold placemat in half with the handles on the inside. Match up sides and sew down them. I sewed in about a 1/2 inch so I didn't have to compete with the seams of the placemat.
8. (This is where it get's tricky and may not make sense) To make the corners squared, push the seam open and pin. Measure up 2 inches and draw a line. Sew on the line you drew. You can now cut out the excess leaving a 1/2 in allowance  or leave it there. (I'll take a picture and post it once I make another one since I've already turned in the samples I made).
9. Turn right side out. Put your scriptures or other books, items etc you want to carry in your cute bag and enjoy.

I really hope this makes sense.

Here are the websites I checked out when I was getting ideas...
Tote I, Tote II, Tote III in case you want to check them out.

Ta Ta for now!

Fun and Easy!

One of my callings at church is on the Enrichment committee and for our next activity we are doing a Festive Friday instead of the usual Super Saturday. We'll be having a progressive dinner and then heading back to the church to craft the night away! I'm so excited for this activity!!

Seeing as how I am part of the committee I get to help with planning, food and one of the crafts. The sewing craft of course. I will be helping the other ladies create some super cute scripture totes out of simple placemats. I myself had not made one of these until last night... and I made 2 of them! I have been admiring them for some time and I'm glad that I was able to take on the task of making some to sample. They are super simple. The first one I made took me about an hour to put together and all while doing dinner. The second one took about a 1/2 hour and probably would have been quicker if I hadn't had the kids trying to get my attention the whole time.

Here's the before picture...

I was given a few websites to check out with samples and looked at a friend's version on her blog, then decided to try one out myself. The first one is cute...

but I ended up making a few adjustments for the second one...

I really love how they turned out and I have more supplies to make a few more. Who knows how many I'll make before I'm done. 

Now back to Halloween sewing and costumes!

What's keeping me busy right now...

I am in the process of getting the kids Halloween costumes complete. If all works out as planned there will be a cute Raggedy Ann and Andy duo visiting the neighbors this year.

Here's a sneak peek of what you'll see...

The blue floral and white fabric is for Audrey's costume and the blue and red gingham is for Nathan's. Still trying to figure out how to make the wigs. The pattern calls for stretch tricot and neither Joanns or Hancock fabrics carry it.

And here is a picture of my not so helpful helper.

She so wants to help, but of course is more of a hinderance then anything.

It's amazing but with her "helping" me out most of Saturday and some of Sunday, her costume is complete... sans wig of course.

Along with Halloween costumes we are also in the process of getting out all our Halloween decorations and I'll be working on some other Halloween sewing once the costumes are complete.

Lots of fun going on in the Hepworth household for sure!

Idaho...

The kids and I (Chris was heading back from work in AZ) went up to Idaho the weekend of September 26th for my niece Jessica's Baptism. It was a fun weekend spent with family. The kids absolutely loved it and Nathan's even asked to go back to grandma's house. Here's some of what went on...

Audrey having fun drawing at grandma's table.

Jessica and her dad after she baptized and confirmed. We are so proud of her and the decision she made.

After the baptism we headed over to my brother and sister-in-laws house to hang out with family and eat. The kids had so much fun. Audrey spent most of the night going up and down the stairs and once we got to the house, didn't hardly see Nathan at all. Nathan and his cousins spent most of the time til we left in the play room.There's Audrey and cousins Alyssa and Spencer playing on the stairs.

A brief shot of Nathan as he came down stairs for just a quick minute.

There was a BSU game going on so one of the Uncles took Alyssa and put her in her cheerleader outfit. Such a cute girl and I love those big blue eyes!

Spencer playing with Audrey.

We sure do have fun when we get to visit and play with the family.

Thanks Evon and Angela and Jessica for inviting us to come and be able to take part in such a important decision in your life.

Thanks to all our family for spending time with us. We love you!!