Summertime coming to a close...

…but don't get me wrong, it's still going to be blistering hot.

As usual, we had a memorable summer - we definitely have our fair share of fun!! I'm just going to come right out and say it - my family is super rad.  It's a good thing, too, because we've spent a load of time together.  

The annual trip to Colorado didn't disappoint - more beautiful than ever!!  

Made a pitstop in Moab and loved exploring this gorgeous desert terrain.  AND…discovered Love Muffin Cafe.  (best breakfast. EVER.)

Dinner at the Beaumont with the coolest people on the planet.  Missing my soul-sister, Kristine, so technically this isn't the complete group of coolest people, but she was in our hearts and that's kind of like having her there, but without her beauty and perfectly inappropriate behavior. ;)  I miss her on so many levels.

Six jeeps, twelve adults, 18 ½ children, hoards of food, and beautiful Colorado rockies.  

Perfection!!!

Don't hate me, but this was our view every single day.  We rented a house with panoramic views and it never got old. 

 Can't wait to do it again next year!!!

AND NOW SOME MORE SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS:

Our favorite summertime pastime.  Life makes sense during the summer - that's all.

Good times - almost lost MY ENTIRE FINGER.

"Let's sharpen the knives!" they say…"cooking is safer with sharp knives", they say.

Yes. 

**sorry so gross…but I want you to experience this with me…**

We played, "Let's Find Mommy's Finger In the Soup!" 

Nobody found it….nobody won…

4th of July nail painting with my girlies

(notice that most of my nail is back….all is well)

Like the Little Red Hen, I ground my own wheat, made my own bread, and ate it all myself!  It was SO blasted good!!!  I'll post my recipe later.  

My  little girl wanted to make a skirt - here's the start of something great!!  

Our school no longer offers Home Economics, so it's up to us moms to teach our girls how to sew.  

It wasn't that bad!  She's a natural!!

Thankfully, my mom was here to help teach her how to hand-hem a skirt.  The skirt was adult-sized, the length was too long, and since we didn't want to do the sensible thing and cut the extra fabric off, we hand-hemmed it and learned a few fun tricks!

I hope that she didn't get too freaked out by sewing.  It can be pretty intense at times!  She did GREAT!!

AND now she has something adorable that she made herself!!!!  

{woohooo!!!}

 Complete with adorable matching flower clip….for skirt or hair.

Fun tutorial here for the rosette.  Great little video!

 And this is what happens when the big girls are busy sewing….poor kid!!!  At least she wasn't being destructive.  Seriously, though, I think she's seen WAY too many Disney movies because….who sleeps like that?!  

And now….we are in our last week of summer before the waking up early, moaning, groaning, and the hatred of homework & routine starts back up.  And that's just ME!  The kids, on the other hand, are going to be giddy to start school in order to escape my never-ending thirst for assigning them housework.  I think that they're at the point of welcoming homework over housework.  

Until next time - have a HAPPY day!!!  

Projects coming along

Although winter is SO much easier for me than ever before, living in Southern Arizona, I'm a little bit giddy that January is half over.  I don't really know why, either - I don't want time to hurry past me, but it seems like Spring and Summer have so much in store and I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I saved some beautiful summer floral photos from last August and finally decided to edit a few of them and  make some photo art.  We were camping along the New Mexico/Arizona border with some family and I saw these teeny, tiny coral blooms.  They are probably weeds, but I thought they were gorgeous so I started zooming in and snapping.  You can't see how tiny the coral buds are since I blew up the photo so big, but the full bloom is smaller than a dime. 

I absolutely LOVE this print and someday, when I have larger walls to work with, I'll frame it.  In the meantime, I had it printed on foam core and used some Command adhesive to stick it up and it makes me SO happy!!  Beauty is all around us.

**  If you want a copy of this file, email me and let me know and I'll send it to you.  I can also send a blank photo and you can add your own text.  :)  **

 And....is there anything better than a sandwich on homemade bread?!  Well, probably so, but since I try not to eat bread very often, this was a rare moment that needed to be captured.  My kids LOVE it when I make homemade bread - I really should do it more often.

My newest venture - oil painting.  {what???!!!}   I've ALWAYS wanted to learn how to do it, so I signed up for a class here at our local community college.  I LOVE the instructor, she's so incredibly talented and fun to work with, and I'm having such a good time learning how to work with this type of painting style.  

If there's ever something you want to learn how to do, chances are that there is someone who can teach you.  You just have to make it happen.  It's hard to do when life gets so busy, but learning how to do something new is a skill that you'll have forever.

Also....I didn't buy the best paints out there, but these are working just fine for a beginner.

 And the good news....I finally found the outlining color for my sunburst squares.  {GASP!!!}  Do you know how long I've been huting for this color?!  I found it at Hobby Lobby - and it's the perfect color I had envisioned for this project.  I love you, Hobby Lobby!!!  I wanted something ultramarine - not blue, not turquoise, not seafoam - do you know how hard that is to find?!  Well, for me it's hard because I'm 2-3 hours away from civilization.  But there it was....patiently waiting for me.  It was meant to be.

I'm at my half-way mark, I have a LOT to go, but it's happening slowly but surely.  It's my treat if I get my work done at the end of the day!  What a nerd.  I can't wait to show you this blanket when it's finished.  It will be one of few projects that I will have actually finished.

Maybe I have gotten myself in a mess here, but I can't help myself.  I love to create.  

Happy Creating to all of you!!

Making Me Happy

Totally tickling my heart!

It's the little things that entertain and excite me.

 

I love these.  Santa brought them.  And the fact that they're called "lollypops" makes them even better than a standard "sucker".  Suckers are so lame after you've had one of these. Back in the olden days, when I was young, we had a See's Candies in our shopping mall.  Mom would buy me a Happy Meal from McDonald's because I was always collecting a toy of some kind....(Muppet Babies and those cute little Stompers trucks) and then we'd happen to mozey over to See's for the daily sample.  Never have I ever had chocolates this good.  EVER.

If you're feeling like an early Valentine treat, go on over to See's and getcha some.  (and if See's sees this....I like the milk chocolate coconut truffles.)  Too bad I don't get endorsement kickbacks....this would be one place I would be first in line to sign up with!!!  haaaahahaha!   But seriously...  

The other thing making me happy...

the Sunburst Granny Square

Well, these are going to be square eventually.

When I get a little time to myself, I stitch a few here and there.  Long car rides, lazy Sunday afternoons - it's the perfect activity.

{GASP!}

Aren't these darling?!  I love this pattern, I love the colors, and I'm thinking of stitching the whole thing together using a light aquamarine color.  I haven't found the right yarn, but I'm looking.  It's for my daughter's birthday {don't tell her!!!} and the colors are perfect.  (Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand yarn)

I found the original idea on Pinterest....crazy, I know!....and fell in love immediately.  Head-over-heels in love.  Jenny from Nittybits posted the perfect instructions (and gorgeous photos) so it was super easy for me to learn how to do these.  I LOVE her colors, too!  I want to make a bright, colorful one next!

Super exciting - I'll post more photos as I go along.  I can't wait to see this all finished up!  It's so rewarding to create something beautiful, to watch the progress, and see the finished product.  

Have a happy day!!

-Abby

Little Details

Sometimes, a little bit of detail can brighten up any space.

In this case, some bright, happy, cheerful blooms!

Such a simple thing to brighten up a dull winter day.  Even in this beautiful, sunny place, a splash of colorful flowers like this is just the thing to perk things up a bit!

Also....joining my Katie Daisy collection.....

...is this new piece.  {gasp!!}  It's PERFECT!!

It's amazing how a beautiful piece of art can brighten up a little space.

This happy creation is right above our dining table, first thing to greet us in the morning.  Right next to my sunflower pictures from Michigan.  

This one (below) is in my daughter's room.  A $5.00 frame & some spray paint is all it needed to burst into splendor.  I can't say enough how much I LOVE this piece!!!

Here is Katie Daisy's shop, The Wheatfield, where I am looking forward to purchasing more art.  LOVE her.  

{These two are ordered & on the way.....squeal!....}

...and this one is next...

All Kinds of Fun

 Even though I don't have all of the time in the world to do everything I want, I can at least look back and say I've done SOMETHING!  That's better than nothing, right?  I keep trying to tell myself that.  Here's the random stuff we've been up to:

So check this out----I totally built that little kitchen with my bare hands!  And a screwdriver. And an allen wrench.  It was intense.  I never want to do something like that again.  It was one of those projects where I say to my honey, "Hey, honey--look what we can do together!"  .....  silence  .....  so as I said before, I did it all by myself.  I might not be Mother-of-the-Year all of the time, but right now I am. 

{and what of that sweet carpet I have...??!!  Pretty rad, right?!} 

My Primary calling keeps me constantly busy.  We had a special teacher's inservice meeting and I wanted to give them a "Little Bag of Tricks" for their classrooms.  I had 2 teachers show up.  ?!?!!!??  

Most of them got my little gift anyway, but I was, indeed, a little miffed.

  Inside each file folder packet is: a beanbag with game ideas, fishing pole with magnet, a boy & girl puppet stick (for choosing helpers and such), and a quick glance lesson helper page.  

These folders stay with each class, so if we get new teachers, they don't get to keep it.  However, it's a fun little packet for those days when the kids need a little something fun to make classtime easier.

I'll make some printables for you to download if you want them.  I LOVE the beanbag games!!

More desert crusin'.  We just...can't....get.....enough....

end of summer colors.....so pretty

Never, in all of my life growing up in the desert, have I ever seen a Gila Monster in the wild.  (pronnounced hee-la)  I was an idiot and didn't have my camera settings where they needed to be, so the 800 other pictures I have of this guy are a total blur.  {doh!!!}  Man, was I ticked.  

 But the COLORS!!  So different than what we're used to, and we love it.

County Fair - lovin' the chickens.  County fairs are the best, right?!  I want a cute little chicken coop with some little ladies of my own to take care of.  They give me fresh eggs, and I give them a home with TLC.  It's a dream...but not sure if it will ever happen.  There is a 'no chicken' clause in the neighborhood where we want to build.  ?!?!  NOW what?!  I'm totally bummed.

My little tornado continues to make life so very, very interesting and chaotic.  I love her so much...and at the same time want to bash my head into a brick wall daily.  I need to remember to keep the waterproof mascara put up higher.

Chillin' in Tombstone waiting for our amazing food.  What a fun place to visit - and the drive was beautiful.  Did I mention how good it is to be home?!

And...my  heart is broken....because our adorable Sister Missionaries got transferred.  They are some of the greatest friends I've ever had - I miss them terribly and it's only been a few days!!  They even let the Primary kids dress them up during singing time and, as one could imagine, the kids thought this was hilaaaarious!  We have two amazing choristers with some great ideas.  So lucky.

Sister Chidester & Sister Farnsworth.  Two Texas beauties.

So much laughing, so many great visits.  

Oh, how I love these girls!!!

{don't forget to invite me to your weddings, ladies....I'll still be here....huddled in the corner.....mourning your absence.....}

And now...I'm sure everyone is getting ready for the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday festivities that start in October and snowball for the next 3 months!  It's fun, busy, and exciting - all wrapped together. Kind of like fluffy hamsters on methamphetamines rolling around in a ball, right?!  Just bouncing, running around, all cute.   Okay, maybe that was a bad example.  Happy Holidays, though!!  Since it all starts in October, I figure it's totally acceptable to say that right now.  {plus, I wanted to say it first before anyone else.}

Is anybody going to tackle the Advent Calendar this year?!  It's not too late - GO FOR IT!!  

This is going to be my project during the Holiday insanity - think I can take this on?!  

I found it on Nana and Company - LOVE her.  And I love this garland.  I'm not willing to make felt food for my psycho toddler because she would either ruin it or discard it...which would make me sob hysterically - but I'm totally willing to make this garland as a new little Christmas decor.  Here's to hoping that I actually make it  happen!!!

Happy Times!!

Love to all of you!!