Travel Organizer

One thing that drives me absoultly nuts while traveling is how cluttered and dirty our car can get. This would have been a great thing to have on our trip to Utah. Such a great idea that I may have to tackle before our next roadtrip!!!

picture via Fabulous on a Teachers Salary

Find the tutorial here

Pillowcase Fun

At one of my family reunions this past month, I was in charge of organizing a craft for 11 little kiddos. I instantly thought back to over a year ago, the night before my brothers wedding at a cousin pajama party. 

That night we each decorated our own pillowcases with paint, markers, jewels, glitter, etc.....  The possibilities are endless with what you can use. We then went around leaving messages for each other. Think of it as yearbook signing with pillowcases! It was SO much fun and seriously all ages were easily entertained!! It is such a great thing to have since most of us live far away from each other!! 

I knew this would be a great idea for my little nieces and son. The kids got so into it and even had all the aunts/ uncles and grandparents sign too. Instead of paint, however, we used fabric markers to decrease the mess. Such a fun, simple idea that kept all of us entertained!!

Arlene's Raspberry Pie

Arlene was my adopted Grandma. She and her husband were our next-door neighbors growing up. They were unable to have any kids of their own so we took the liberty of becoming their "grandkids". I was around three years old at the time. They have been family ever since. 

Birthdays, baptisms, parties, Christmas- they were always there. 

I loved to sneak over there first thing in the morning to share a bowl of Wheaties with Harold, this would freak my mother out when she would go into my room and see my empty bed!! Unfortunately, both have passed away, however, the great memories we shared with them will always be with us.

One of my families fondest memories of Arlene was her Raspberry Pie. She made them every year in July and believe me, it was like Christmas for us, something we looked forward to all year. Her raspberry pie was THE BEST, and only used freshly picked raspberries from her garden. We devoured them the second she brought them over, they were that good. I remember one time I had been gone when the pies were delivered (big mistake) and when I got home, I found that one of them was completely eaten.... by my brother. Let's just say he was in big trouble :)

So to carry on the tradition of eating Arlene's pies in July, I decided to try and make them on my own. 

The recipe is surprisingly simple and the pies turned out great (of course they can never beat the original)

So here is the recipe, exactly how she made it. I'm sure there are many ways to change it up, but this is what tastes good to me!

Arlene's Raspberry Pie

1 Graham cracker crust 

1 large package of Raspberry Jello

1.5-2 pints of raspberries

1/2-1 Pint Heavy Cream (homemade whipped cream is a MUST)

Prepare Jello according to package directions.

After about 1-1.5 hrs in the fridge, add the fruit and place in the crust. 

Continue refrigerating another 2 hours or so

Prepare homemade whipped cream (I beat it for about 5 min, add some powder sugar and some vanilla)

Spread on top, you can never have too much!

That's it. Pretty simple, but such an amazing taste!!

Hope you enjoy it 

Sun Dried Tomatoes Anyone??

Here is what happens when you are too lazy/ kinda forget to ask someone to water your plants when you are gone for a month. (At least we got some tomatoes out of  it before we left)

Anyone feel like this blog is looking like these tomatoes???? Well I have been visiting family in Utah for a month and didn't have time or desire to post while I was away, and that's ok right!! Enjoyed some great, well needed familiy time. I should have some fun posts up sooner than later.  Right now, however, I have 1,000- pictures to upload and sort out, + items in my Google reader, loads of laundry to do and items on my to do list. Man, vacations are tough! Hope everyone has had a great summer so far.