Brianna has turned the big 1-7!

Oh Mylanta! Time just needs to stop right now! :)
Brianna is such a fabulous young lady and quite the athlete. She just started as a Junior at Grand County High and our second to youngest sister. With juggling school, work and all sorts of high school sports, she shows us everyday what a bright future she has ahead of her and that nothing can hold her back.
Brianna always has such a positive attitude and is always figuring out ways to make situations better. She is just so fun to be around.
She is a favorite with the nieces and nephews and they always want their "BoBo".
Brianna we are so proud of you and can't wait to see what the future holds for you.
We love you so much!
Have a very Happy Birthday!

Thought I Would Share...

...this wonderful quote by James E. Faust:  

 

"I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the 'highest place of honor' in the Church and in the world. One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity. Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.

"One of your particular gifts is your feminine intuition. Do not limit yourselves. As you seek to know the will of our Heavenly Father in your life and become more spiritual, you will be far more attractive, even irresistible. You can use your smiling loveliness to bless those you love and all you meet, and spread great joy. Femininity is part of the God-given divinity within each of you. It is your incomparable power and influence to do good. You can, through your supernal gifts, bless the lives of children, women, and men. Be proud of your womanhood. Enhance it. Use it to serve others."

 

 

My Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I found this recipe while blog stalking once, and I have been making my chocolate chip cookies this way ever since! Seriously, they are so good.

First things first!

-Only use Guittard Brand Chocolate Chips (I always use Milk chocolate, but you semi-sweet lovers can do what you want!)

-Don't be afraid to throw in some Tollhouse Butterscotch Chips in every once in while, you know, to keep things interesting.

-Use Jell-O brand vanilla instant pudding

Recipe:

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups salted butter, softened (1 lb, or 4 cubes)
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or one bag)
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

-Amber

Happy Birthday, Linda (Mother In-Law Extraordinare)

Linda is by far one of the most special people I know!
She has strength, poise, beauty and she is such an adventurer!
She can quote movies with the best of them and as everyone in the family will tell you, she is an honorary "Ballard"! The entire family just loves her fun personality, fearless attitude and her "Goooo" (road trip food, river rafting food, snacks, etc..) which are always, simply devine! (I try not to tell people how amazing of a cook she is so I can keep it all for myself).  Oh Well!

Thanks for everything you do, Linda!

You mean so much to us and we hope you have a great day!

Love you!

If Perfect Is What You're Looking For, Then Just Stay The Same

I don't need to remind everyone how much I adore my cute husband Chad ( or Chaddy- Pants, Beef, Cha-Cha, The Chad-Meister, Gnomey, etc..). I could go on forever...
He is SO sweet. He possess qualities that I wish every man had. No matter how much I complain about wanting to be thinner, taller, etc, with out fail he is there tell me that I am perfect just the way I am, and that he loves me for who I am right now and not for who I keep trying to be. Yesterday, Chad e-mailed me this music video and said he listened to it while driving home, and that it reminded him of me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PLB180C08CB0C3268B


I hope this is a good reminder for ALL of us women. We have so many good qualities that we take for granted because we are so busy focusing on the negative (which most likely, aren't that negative).

Love you all, and you too Chaddy-Pants!

-Amber

Merry Christmas!

Chad and I are working on a little Christmas project (gingerbread house). Yes, we know its not for 4 months, but we have to get started on the plans now if we want to enter it into the Festival Of Trees and earn a million dollars for Primary Children's Medical Center. Chad being a sexy Architect and all, we are drawing it up on his super cool architectural software and well, we are pretty excited about this!
Once we get the plans figured out, I am going to become a baking lunatic like that bothers me and I am going to learn how to make the best gingerbread in town and frosting that could hold anything together. ANYTHING.
Also we need to figure out a way to earn money/get sponsered for this project.
We will post our progress!

-Amber

Kelsie's Birthday!

Tomorrow is Kelsie's 20th birthday!

Kelsie was born August 2nd in Moab, Utah. With her huge brown eyes and hilarious personality, she was an instant family favorite!
Kelsie loves adventure and she is very spontaneous. Whether its hiking, river rafting through moab, or going to Hong Kong, she is always up for a good time! She also has great taste in fashion and always looks super cute (this girl can pull off anything)! Currently, she works for Delta Airlines and plans to start going to school again soon. Kelsie is very funny and is always up to something!
We love you Kelsie!
Hope you have a great birthday and that 20 is your best year yet!