Our crazy, busy summer

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Time has just flown way too fast. Here are some highlights of our summer so far:

1. Sierra attended girls camp - her first year as a YCL.

2. We traveled to Utah for our annual summer visit. Spent a week with my dad, went to the pool with some cousins and of course visited Great Grandma who turned 92 in March (and still looks wonderful)

3. My nephew Paul drove back from Utah with us and spent a couple days hanging out with Jake and Alexis. He took them to the movie, the mall, the aquarium, the botanical gardens and swimming

3. Sierra attended EFY at University of Utah for a week and had a blast.

4. Next week we get to go register for school. Our school starts in 3 weeks.

5. Found a great decor item while in Utah that I brought back with me. It's one of those repurposing items - so watch to see what it is and what I do with it :-)

6. Sent a friend off to Afghanistan for a year to serve our country.

Let me know what you've been busy with this summer.

Colors in my yard

I've been going to post this for some time and keep forgetting. Here is some eye candy for you from my yard:



These are miniature roses.







No idea what these are called but I love them.

One of many roses:

Hope your having a wonderful spring/summer

It's officially HOT here !!!

So yesterday I was out running errands and doing my normal saturday afternoon things. I knew it was hot but I didn't think it was this hot:



This was when Jake and I were heading home from the grocery store - Yes the time is right- it was almost 6 o'clock in the evening. Normally we don't see days like this, we may get to 100 degrees maybe once or twice during the summer. I think we may be in for a hot one.

Where's the lemonade? I guess you could say summer has officially arrived here.

Homemade birthday gifts

Sierra's friend Rachel (see previous post) recently had her 17th birthday. We wanted to do something special for her but wasn't quite sure what. We decided that we wanted to make her birthday gift this year. So we dug in the craft room for supplies I had on hand and came up with two separate gifts. The first was a keepsake box. We started with this:


And finished with this:

We did have to buy a few items: the tin and the flower on the front. Everything else I already had. Now Rachel has a box for all her "keepsakes" or "treasures".

Next it was on to this: I hate to admit it but this project cost exactly $.60 - don't call me cheap, just thrifty. I found the frame at a yard sale last fall for $.10 and just knew that it would come in handy for something - just didn't know what at the time. The letter was $.50 at Micheal's and the ribbon and the spray I already had on hand , so that cost doesn't count.

So this:

turned into this:

There is no back on the letter it just hangs there freely.

16 and a first date

Sierra turned 16 a couple weeks ago and things have not been the same - She's ready to drive - in fact she has her learner's permit. And the biggest event was her first date.

Two of her really good friends surprised her with a date on her birthday. As part of their gift to her, they bought her a dress and came to the house to do her nails and hair. She was completely in the dark as to what was going on. They even arranged the date.

It just so happened that at the high school that night was the prom, but they decided to have their own prom. They first went to Joseph's house for dinner, then to Katie's house to learn some dance steps and then to Rachel's house for ice cream and games. She had a great time.

Here are the cute girls all ready to go - now if the boys would just be on time:

(Sierra, Rachel, Katie)

AHH - the boys show up - with flowers:

(Joseph, Sierra, Rachel, Collin, Katie, James)

Sierra and her date Joseph:

A year later and a bunch of yarn

Yes, it has taken a year but I finally got this afghan done. It has been a long time in coming. I couldn't even tell you how many skeins of yarn it took - I quit counting after 8. What projects have taken you at least a year to complete. I would love to hear about them.