Crafty

It has been a while since I've blogged....because October has been a month of excitement and heart break all in one and although lots of people I know share inspiring stories of enduring, I just sit back and keep the faith in silence. At the same time being so thankful for friends and family that are there through it all...especially an amazing husband.
Plus, I usually use my blog to show off cute nieces and nephews and fun trips I am blessed to go on. But not today....today I am showing off my craftiness.
I tend to get excited/proud of myself when I have finished making cute cards, examples to follow. I think it's just the sense of accomplishment. I actually have a hard time giving them away sometimes.

So you can imagine my excitement after making fabric pumpkins with my friend Mindy. Mindy gets the Martha Stewart magazine and she let me crash her craft idea and make some too. Let's just say the instructions took up less than half a page...so we had to be creative for some of it but they turned out darling! I think we might make more....we also went to a craft fair and decided, why pay for crafts we can make ourselves...so maybe we will try something else next time. Not saying I could make them as fast or cute...but I can certainly give it a shot.
The green one was our practice pumpkin. Although it turned out pretty cute, I realized it wasn't stuffed enough. On the second attempt with the bigger orange pumpkin...I found the fabric wasn't the best, so it was challenging to get it closed tight enough. Pumpkins were almost thrown...but I took a breathe and persevered and I won in the woman vs. craft challenge. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to future craft adventures.

I may have a problem!!!

I can't stop eating the delicious peach salsa I made yesterday. My sister-in-law Holly brought me some peaches for my birthday and I used her recipe to make the salsa. It was my first salsa attempt and even though Jim, my sou chef, and I had some differences on how it should be done, it turned out really tasty. Today I took some to my teacher friends cause I was subbing and they loved it too. I ate a ton last night, it was basically my lunch today, and my after school snack. I think I need to walk away.
Here is the link to the salsa. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peach-Salsa-II/Detail.aspx. We changed it a bit. We didn't put in as much cumin, vinegar, jalapenos, or garlic and left out the pectin and last 3 1/2 cups of sugar.

Also, some special shout outs for other people that made my birthday special. My sister-in-law Suzanne took the September birthday people out to dinner. So Suzanne and Mike took two of their nieces and me to dinner to Texas Road House. It was fun and all 3 birthday girls took a turn on the birthday saddle. I love Texas Road House, it is delicious! She has some funny video on her blog, it's the Biker Diva blog in my friends list, check it out.

#1 birthday winner was my husband Jim. I told him I had bought my own birthday present, so I wasn't sure he was going to do anything. He got off work early, got me beautiful flowers and made dinner and baked me a pumpkin cake from scratch. He was sweating to get it all finished by the time I got home from teaching pilates. He had a problem getting the cake out of the pan, so half of it was in pieces but he tried his best to ice the rest and write Happy birthday on it. It wasn't the prettiest cake but it was delicious! He was so sweet and it meant so much that he tried so hard.
It was a great day! It's nice to be special for one day!

Green at last

So last year for my birthday I said all I wanted was to have my yard finished.
Yeah....that didn't happen. So as spring rolled around I start begging my husband for a yard so I can enjoy being outside in the summer. He promised we would have it in by Sept. That was not soon enough for me. Then, typical to building a house, the powers that be started suggesting that they would put the yard in, in June. June was too rainy....okay, July....NO. So they really started sounding like August was going to be the month. I think, great, just in time for my family to come. They worked on my dirt, weeds, rock wall, and sprinklers....but still only had dirt for my family.
Then, like from the heavens above, the sod showed up a few nights ago...so this is the picture I took because my dreams were about to come true.
Hallelujah, my husband was true to his promise and I did get my lawn before Sept. Yesterday I went from dirt pile to yard full of lush, green, grass. OK....maybe it will take awhile for it to be lush...the sod was a little dry, but it's grass. Hooray for grass! This is the finished product. Now I can have friends over for BBQs and other fun things. Now I can sit on my porch and enjoy the quiet peace while surrounded by grass. Now, I can stop bugging my husband! I'm sure he is thankful!

MY LOVE! MY LIFE!

This is dedicated to my husband, even though he scoffs as I write it! Tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary! It goes by so fast. So to celebrate he planned a weekend away in Park City. We drove through Salt Lake and ate at The Melting Pot, which was delicious! Then on to Park City to relax, and we did. We stayed at a great hotel on top of Park City, hiked in the morning, got massages, and read books for a while on the patio over looking all the ski hills, then did a little shopping, and ate dinner. It was a fabulous lazy day. But as cheesy as it is to say, everyday is great with Jim. Honestly, waiting for him to come in to my life was worth it. We have so much fun, but we also appreciate each other. I love being around him cause he is always positive. He has a great attitude about life, he works so hard, is honest and tries to be fair with everyone, he lets things go, he is good to me, he likes to travel, he is amazing, he is my best friend and my favorite person to be around!
Here are a few pictures of us the weekend before in New York with his sister, Heather and her husband Don. Also, in Boston for a soccer game, so we did a duck tour before....and I needed duck lips to do my duck call.

This is us at the beginning of July with his family on the Oregon Coast. It was chilly up there but a great time.
I love you and feel so lucky to have you in my life! Happy Anniversary!

New Niece!

So I took off to the Great White North a few weeks ago, eh! It was good to hang with my family and see my new niece, Sophie. She is a doll. I love spending time with my family we can just chill.
Me, the proud Aunt!

Little Sophie all wrapped up!
Such a good baby all snuggled up in her blanket. Her older sister and brother will be so good to her. Proud big sister!
Good luck to my sister-in-law keeping up with Levi and a new baby! If anyone can do it, she can! Levi LOVES grandpa and always yells for him. It's cute.
This is what happens when Tami and I are babysitting. He was in the closet eating a cookie. He loved it in there...probably cause he found the stash of treats! I didn't take any pictures of Kionah and Levi running down a big dirt pile over and over again, crashing at the bottom. Let's just say there was a lot still in Levi's diaper later. Good times! It was their favorite game. That or feeding and riding the horses. Always fun to play with my nieces and nephews! Love you guys!

Remember when...

Ahhhh....remember when I had fun trips to blog about.....now I am stuck blogging about being trapped inside my house. Last time it was the wasps...this time the weather. I almost remember what it was like to see the sun.....I miss you sun!
So about a week ago we had a huge thunder and lightening rain storm. I got excited, I love thunder and lightening. We had a power surge and a few minutes after I tried to pin point the buzzing sound I could hear. I found that the surge had turned on the tub jets. That can't be good for them to be on with no water. Other than that no problems, thank goodness cause lots of people in our area had to deal with flooded basements. Remember when I got excited about thunder and lightening...I do...but after a week straight of storms, some thunder and lightening, some just rain....I am not as excited when I hear the pitter patter of rain drops or light flashing in the sky. Like most things in life, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
I forgot to bring in my patio chair and now it is stuck in the mud. I don't have rain boots (or wellies, as our Irish friend who is visiting calls them) so I can't go rescue it and the puddle hasn't gone away for over a week. I am thinking about buying some boots today and possibly a row boat. I do not want to be one of those people who has to get rescued from the roof of the house. Okay...that might be a bit dramatic...but...honestly, it's a lake in my back yard.
So while I am stuck indoors I have been studying pilates cause I am getting certified to be a pilates instructor using the reformers (pilates machines). Kind of intense and challenging but good. Thanks to all the friends that have let me practice my teaching skills on them.
The other thing I like to do is make cards. My sisters both are cute little card makers. But Tami is a card professional....her cards look amazing. Mine never look as good as hers, but I still feel proud when I finish one. It takes me forever and a lot of times I only make one or two. My sister gets a pattern and makes a bunch of the same one so she has them on hand. Not me....I make one or two and then don't want to give them away....but I still give them away, hoping the recipient will appreciate how amazing the card is. Here is the card I made for my nephew Josh (yes I am claiming him even though it's Jim's nephew). Josh graduated from High School last week. So proud of him.
I hope the weather improves soon or I get to go somewhere on a little vacation. That would be lovely!

Surrounded

What is it about our house that keeps wasps making their hives in every crack outside our house. For weeks we have been knocking down hives and spraying, hoping the wasps get the hint. I first noticed hives at both sides of my garage door.
So, as a good wife, I yelled for Jim to take care of the problem. Here he is....my hero!

At first we just knocked them down...and by the next day they had built a new hive in the same spot. I had to take more drastic measures! Step two....I tried to research on the Internet and found out that we have lots of Paperwasps surrounding our house. Step three -The solution was to buy RAID for wasps, so I did. As Jim walked around the house, he found multiple nests on all sides on the house. I can not feel relaxed outside on the porch if I am in a constant state of wasp watch. The Raid is supposed to work for a few weeks so they don't build their nests in the same spot....for the most part this has worked, except for the door to my porch. So this is what I am greeted by when I want to go out back.HELLO!And now the wasps are getting trickier.
But I am on to them....of course I have to buy another can of spray cause trying to stop them from building is a full time job! We are on the run after Jim tried to knock down a nest with 4 wasps on it and the can of Raid was empty. We are SURROUNDED! HELP!