Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was Memorial Day. My Aunt Becky, Uncle Brad, and their kids Michael and Abby came to visit. We all spent the weekend out at my dad and Linda's house. We had a blast even though the weather decided to rain 60% of the time. 

Maddy is always happy when her Uncle Zach plays with her in the pool. She had him holding her all different ways while jumping in with her. Once they surfaced she'd quickly swim back to him, grab his neck and kiss his cheek. 

He is such a fun Uncle even if he's only 14. She has him pretty much wrapped around her finger. Finally on Sunday the skies cleared up midday and we were able to have a real pool party all afternoon into the evening. Aunt Ev and Uncle Rick came over and we cooked out and threw people into the pool (a staple game at these parties). 

Michael was actually being tossed in at will for this pic. 

Time spent with this family, and at this house, remind me of the best of my youth. Ever since getting this pool put in we have had the best summers with fantastic company. Marc and I agree hands down that these moments are among our favorite memories to make. 

After the weekend was over we went home and Becky and Brad came out to our house. We were celebrating Abby's birthday on Tuesday, by going to the waterpark nrh20. It had only just opened for the season that weekend. Tuesday was still a school day so the park ended up only having about 75 other people there. We basically had it all to ourselves. Lines were non existent, the wave pool have at best 20 people in it. It. Was. Awesome! We stayed for 7 hours, played our hearts out and lost our voices screaming from the fun. 

That was our big holiday weekend. I hope yours was fantastic too. 

 

Wedding Vow Artwork

I bought this canvas at least three months ago with intentions to cover it in fabric as a headboard in our room. But then every time I shopped for fabric nothing spoke to me ( what, you've never had fabric speak to you?) So it sat in my kitchen since then, just waiting for inspire to strike. And then it did. I was telling a friend a story about our wedding vows and how much I loved what we said during the ring exchange. Those words stuck in my head for days and I spent a few times daydreaming ideas of how to incorporate them into the piece. A few days later it became clear, they weren't a part of the art, they were the art. 

I shopped for the paint colors and quickly got to work with the help of my sweet friend Jill. Being able to free hand the words made it very easy to get it done in one afternoon. 

Here is the finished product, forever reminding us that our wedding rings are a pledge that we have chosen one another above all others.

Redo project

Last weekend my stepmom, Linda, gave me some items from her house. I knew I could revamp it somehow and make a super cute display for my house. It was a basic large white frame and a big iron easel. So I had hubby spray paint the frame bright red and I put scrapbook paper on the background. I shopped Hobby Lobby for a good print to use and ended up finding a great wall decal half off. 

Then I placed the decal in the middle and viola- instant art. I added it to the stand and now it's a focal piece in the corner of my formal dining room. 

 This project was such a breeze it gave me hope for future ideas. 

First time using iron on pencil

I've recently gotten into embroidery. And found that I super love it. But after stencil ing my designs straight on the fabric I found that I would rub them off as I worked on the project. Enter the iron on transfer pencil. 

It seemed simple enough. Print your pattern and trace it backwards like this :

Then you simply iron on the paper like this: (but make sure to hold the paper in place and only press down, if you move the iron across it creates blurry lines.) you can lift the side that isn't being ironed to check the progress. 

And presto- done and now you have a permanent pattern on the fabric. 

I'll post pics of the project as it gets worked on. 

**tips** trace firmly to create darker lines and press lighter with the iron to avoid slightly burning the fabric, or maybe lower heat. 

Maddy's milestone

My sweet girl had a big event today- her first school field trip. If you've read my old posts you know that we used to home school, so the fact that she's in public school is hard enough, but adding a field trip that included an hour long bus ride without me have this mama high anxiety. But she did good, and I did ok. I am so thankful to have a husband that adores being a daddy and took the time off to go with us today. We had a great time at Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch. 

She got to pet horses, camels, llamas and even a zorse (zebra horse). 

She got to learn all about lemurs and kangaroos up close. 

It was a great day with my fantastic family.

It's been a long time

I haven't been a very good blog owner. I've left it sitting alone in cyber space for over 2 years. Just my old thoughts and ambitions all ignored and forgotten til now. The Lord's been working in me for a few months to start blogging again. Not because other people need to hear what I have to say, but more that I need to get some things out of my head and worked thru and ultimately given to Him.

Life has been a raging white water adventure over the last few years. Seems like we go from out of the frying pan into the fire. But we have been good at staying high spirited along the journey. For the most part. I've come to realize that it's much easier to handle whatever you are facing if you stay focused on God's goodness and faithfulness. I have been able to get over my circumstances much easier when I've remembered who is is control of my life and who has authorized each event.

I can't wait to share with you what God has been doing in my life, in my heart, and for His glory.