Lots and lots O' peanut butter!

Do you have any idea how many recipes the there are out there with peanut butter in them? Well, I can now say with  certainty, that there are ALOT of them, and ALOT of them are REALLY GOOD!:)

About a month ago I was asked to serve on a committe to help with the refreshments for the re-opening of the LDS church's peanut butter factory here in Houston. This open house event was kinda a big deal. I didn't know much about the PB factory, but I guess it serves the LDS church as well as the Houston food bank, and makes over 95,000 jars of peanut butter a year. I believe all these are given to those in need at no cost.

They got a new peanut roaster, and renovated the whole factory and last week it was re-dedicated and some VIP's were in attendance for that and the open house, some politicians, church leaders, those overseeing the foodbanks.

We had a few meetings for the refreshments, got to try some of the recipes, (it was 9am, and there was alot of chocolate and peanut butter....I was in heaven!:) we decide what we were all making, and a week later we headed out to the factory to get an idea of the set-up. 

The set-up meeting was over spring break, so we had lots of kids with us, and when they were each given a jar of peanut butter they were so excited! Halli and Peyton opened theirs in the car and just kept eating it out of the jar, and loved it!

Did I mention the amazing group I was asked to do this with? These are some incredibly talented girls, but I knew that already. There was Stacy, her mom Susan, Allie, Laura, Jen and Andi Cook, our fearless leader who had the vision of everything from the start.

Last wednesday we all got together in the morning to set everything up. This was after lots and lots of cooking the day before. I think I probably had the easiest recipes, but some of the other foods were AMAZING and SO delish! (not that mine weren't good, they were just more simple compared to what some of the other girls were making).

The floral centerpiece filled with peanuts....gotta tie those in any way we can! Those jars around the flowers hold whole peanuts, shell and all, peanuts with the red casings, and peanuts ready to eat!

The whole shabang....it looked AMAZING!

Steak Satay in a peanut sauce, I think these savory foods were my favorite so yummy! Andi made these and her son grilled them right at the factory so they were good and fresh and smelled wonderful!

Allie made these spring rolls with a hoisen peanut butter sauce....so, so good! I loved having some of the leftovers of these. Maybe someday I'll get brave and try to make them myself, but they look intimidating!

Stacy made these awesome wraps with a creamy peanut butter sauce, again...so good!!

Jen owns her own cupcake catering business, and she made these yummy peanut butter cupcakes. These are the one thing that I don't think I ever got to try, (although I wish I could have) but I'm sure they were delicious and they looked SO beautiful!

Andi made these awesome cheescake peanut butter pops...gorgeous, right? They're better than they look too!

Laura made these amazing peanut butter/brownie trifles, I can't believe how gorgeous some of this food is, or that I'm using the word gorgeous to descibe food!:)

Buckeyes and chocolate cookies with a peanut butter center

The whole table filled with goodies galore!  Stacy's mom was in charge of the drinks...yes, drinks with peanut butter, but she couldn't be there that day.

Here are all the ladies involved, looking sharp and ready to hostess, and then there's me in the middle messing up the gorgeous group of girls in my shabby attire.:) I didn't stay to hostess cause I had little JJ to get home to.

The hostess group with Andi now in the mix. she was on a flight during the set-up and was able to make it just in time for the open house. 

It was alot of prep, and work (especially for all those who stayed), but I was so lucky to be able to serve with such an amazing group of women and fmore importantly, for something that is such a huge blessing for so many people. 

Spring Break & St. Patty's day!

I didn't take too many pictures during our spring break this year. There was lots of playing at the park, lots of errands, and definitely not enough naps considering how little our kiddos are!

I did however take lots of pictures on one day in particular. I didn't celebrate St. patricks day at all when Halli was younger, but one year, some leprechauns came and turned our milk green, dang them!  Ever since, Halli is in love with this holiday and every year gets a little more extravagant.

We started the day with a visit from some leprechauns. They left gold coins outside the girls bedroom doors, and on top of the toilets where they left a special treat of green water...yum!

A yummy breakfast of lucky charms and green milk was had, and the kids got dressed in their matching "pinch proof" t-shirts. Super fun and super easy to make too!

After that is was off to the park to celebrate our twin cousins birthday. 

The birthday girls looked cute in their birthday shirts. They don't really know about st patricks day, cause they usually do birthday stuff, but I did warn their mom that they better be wearing some green, cause Halli likes to pinch!:)

We had tons of fun and our spring break was some of the best weather ever! JJ got to ride in a swing, I'm not sure he loves it as much as the girls did, but he didn't hate it either.

What kid doesn't love the playground?

Especially when there are puddles to be splashed in! I love the difference of boys and girls, some jump right in, while my girlie girl Peyton takes a dainty step. The other girls might not be so dainty, but P-wee sure is!

Three of the Williams boys all playing in the puddle. JJ watched from the stroller, soon enough he'll  get to join in too!

We gathered all 13 of the cousins together for a group shot. It was kinda funny, and everyone at the park was staring at these crazy women trying to get their toddlers/babies/kids all lined up!

After we left there we headed back home and waited for some friends to come over for a very small and simple st patricks day celebration.

Some super cute girls decorating their shamrock cookies. Thats always a favorite activity, but I don't know if it's the decorating, or just that you get to eat them afterwards!

This is one of the only pictures I have of the t-shirts, but the girls all matched and they were super easy. Even better, once I washed them it completely came out, not a trace it was there! Some people might not like that, but I love it, cause we wouldn't have really worn them again anyway, but we always need white shirts!

This is Brook, or Brookie as Lexie calls her. She is such a doll and Lexie just loves her!

After the cookies, the girls went on a scavanger hunt, looking for the pot of gold. I love scavanger hunts, and the girls had a blast!

Some of the treasure at the end. I had to limit the kids, cause they all dug in and grabs tons of chocolate!

Little sweet tooth Lexie was in heaven with all her chocolate. She makes some of the funniest faces, it's hard to get a normal picture of her cause she's always making some funny expression, love it!

We finished off the night with a green dinner. Homemade green rolls (I never do that, so I had to add the "homemade" part, it's unusual for me!) creamy italian chichen with green dyed sauce, green beans and lemonade. For dessert there were delicious rainbow cupcakes, gotta love any reason to celebrate something!

8 Months

I don't know where all this time is going, but our little guys is already 8 months old! He's so dang adorable, loves attention, and has some powerful arms...he REALLY likes to hit EVERYTHING!

Please excuse his dirty shirt, I just took these after sunday evening, after church and dinner. He's a slightly messy eater!:)

He's got the MOST gorgeous blue eyes, and the softest little peach fuzz hair on top of that bald head of his.

He's finally deciding to attempt to get mobile, and is getting on his knees. But he definitely prefers to be standing or be in someone's arms.

I'm just in love with this chubby monkey. This week, I'm really hoping to finish his bedroom and move him out of my closet....finally! He's getting a little big for that cradle of his!:)

RS birthday party

In the LDS church (aka Mormons) We celebrate the founding of our Womens organization, the Relief Society, every March. This is the second year I've got to help put together this little birthday party, and it is SOO much fun! It's alot of work, but totally worth it!

As usual, I made way more work or myself than I needed to, and made two cupcake stands. If you want all the directions on how I did this, go here.

I am loving these super cute and colorful cupcake stands, and they're WAY better covered in these gorgeous cupcakes that some of the other women made. (They tasted just as good as they looked too!)

Another one of the women made this beautiful picture as a centerpiece for our Hor d'oeuvre table. This was the theme for the evening, "Women of Worth". It was a beautiful celebration of the women in our ward and how amazing they are.

I also made a fun pennant banner to hang behind the table, I love the extra color it added to the beautiful gym!:) I'm just glad it was way easier to make than I thought it would be!

Okay, lots of pictures of the cupcakes, and stand. What can I say, I love them!

The colors were all so bright and cheerful. It just made the evening more fun and it was so much fun to get to do all this with some truly incredible women!

The new Relief Society logo has "Faith, Family, Relief" printed underneath it, so we used that throughout the room too. This is truly what this organization is all about. What could be better than those three things?

We started out the evening with a little game. We "patted" ourselves on the back. Using a handprint cutout taped to your back, you went around the room and wrote something positive about each women. It really makes you think and appreciate the women who surround you, such a fun game!

Lucky me, my mom happened to be in town and joined me for the evening, so she took these pictures of everyone writing in lines on each others backs.

I didn't get any pictures of the program, but let me tell you, it was uplifting! Tamalyn, who put the video together is just awesome at what she does, and it truly made the night special. I am beyond blessed to be able to learn from some truly wonderful women who are such great examples to me. This includes my own mom, who just happened to be here for such a great evening. I'm glad I could share it with her, even if she only knew a couple of people there!