Hi Ho! It's Off to Work They Go!

The kid's outdoor swing set desperately needed to be re-sealed and stained. I have been so crazy painting the entire house from top to bottom I thought that I'd never get to it, so the kids volunteered!!! They did a pretty good job and got 1/3 of the way done but had to stop. It has been just tooo hot here lately. I was just so excited that they were willing to do that much!

Yosemite

Me , Jenn, and Belinda on my first girls trip with friends and first time at Yosemite.

Not a lot of wild life so it was cool to see and I had to take a picture. Almost all the wild life we saw, I got them on film (some deer, squirrels, and birds). It was a really short trip there and back when you don't have a car full of kids. We never listened to the radio. There was just too much to say! We stayed for 2 days and that was perfect for me. I didn't have to worry about the kids and Jenn + Belinda are in such great shape I would have died if I went on another hike. They were totally fine and I was so soar.

This was a Difficult hike for me to Yosemite falls but to in shape people it was a "nice hike":) Jenn and Belinda's love for Yosemite was catching and I find myself wanting to go back every year with my family.

We got pretty close to the falls and did a little off-roading to get closer.


See that little speck in the upper-left hand corner? Someone was actually going across the falls on a rope. There are no climbing restrictions in Yosemite!

Maybe next time when I'm not pregnant I will hike Half Dome.

Mirror lake was beautiful. The hike was really easy but after having gone on a hard hike the day before and a day of bike riding, anything seemed hard.
Jenn contemplating going over the rock slide instead of going back...Belinda said that she was fine scaling rocks but she didn't trust the pregnant lady...we walked back.

Yosemite was so awe inspiring I felt a great spiritual awakening. It didn't make me feel insignificant among God's creations. It made me think that if God spent this much time contemplating down to the atom how awesome and what a masterpiece this place would be..What a great amount went in to putting me here at this place and this time?

My purpose as well as all our purposes must be great indeed. Down to the Atom!

FREEBIE TIME at CraftersGuru!!!

I'm having a FREEBIE give away at http://www.craftersguru.blogspot.com/ in honor of my very first product review! Check it out and sign up there to enter. The whole wheat products are really good, easy and convenient! My daughter made the muffins herself!

My favorite products are the muffins and zero calorie sweetener! The sweetener has no bad or weird after taste and is the best zero calorie sweetener that I have ever tasted! It's not made from chemicals, but from fruit extracts! Cool :)

Why Do Pregnant Women Feel the Need to Paint?

For every pregnancy I am compelled to either paint or drastically change my hair style! After my first 2 kids I changed chopped off my hair and painted a little. I moved to strictly painting after that because it takes me too long to grow my hair out. So guess what? Since I am pregnant again I had to paint almost my entire house! I have to admit when I take on this much I usually get help. My sister usually rescues me from my folly. I always go into it thinking, "It's such a little house! It will only take me a day or two!" Hah! Ha! Haaaa! Is all I have to say about my clouded and crazy pregnant mind! It took almost a week of hard work..and I had help too. I went from a dark color to a light color and that requires priming and then painting. That is twice the work!Now for the next challenge! Looking for fabric for curtains and giving my home a face lift. I want to simplify, have a totally new and clean yet artsy look. Will show pix when I'm done :)

Happy Birthday Charlotte!!!

I can't believe our Pixy Shoo-Shoo is 7 years old today!!! I remember clearly the day we found out we were having a girl. Rick and I were sure she was a girl but the ultra sound was the true test. I took Nina (then 5) to see the ultra sound with me. She wanted a baby sister sooooooo badly. She had been praying every night for one. The entire family was rooting for a girl. I even had the perfect name picked out, Charlotte, because it was the name of my beautiful and wonderful mother and it happened to be a beautiful name too! As the ultra sound tech did her measuring she asked me what I thought it was. I said,"Girl"with confidence! When she was done she confirmed GIRL. Nina was soooo excited she started to get teary eyed (me too). When we returned home, my sister was there. She had been watching the two boys while we were gone. I told Nina to cover her face and run up to her room crying (I new she would be a dead giveaway if I didn't have her leave and hide her face). It worked like a charm. My sister sadly said, "Oh, It's a boy!" Then I said,"No! It's a GIRL!!!" And we hugged and jumped and dance around the room9totally Baliwood like, no joke). And when she came into the world she melted her Daddy's heart from the moment he saw her. He has a way with the babies right after they are born. He just starts singing and talking to them and they look at him and stop crying. It is soooo cute, you have to see it to believe it!

So Happy Birthday my baby growing up too fast! You are a little pixy straight from heaven!

These are the moments!

These are the moments that make being a Mom seem like I am actually doing something. My daughter this morning made her own breakfast!!! She didn't have to ask me how to do a thing. She just did it! I am so proud of her. Her younger brother even asked if he could learn. That is my goal as a mother! To prepare them to be self sufficient, self reliant and able to function in the world on their own as good righteous people!!!

Yesterday Charlotte was a Winkie in the Wizard of Oz play. She certainly is a little pixie and full of sweetness and energy! After the play she wanted to go to The Habit. I have no idea why they love it sooo much. It has OK food for outrageous prices. You walk into an upscale fast food joint and they charge you Elephant Bar prices! Insane! Anyways, she loved it and I choked on the price!I finished a pair of earrings and necklace for a friend who is sadly moving away at the end of the month. Lisa is soooo sweet, real, down to earth and just fun to be around. We are soooo going to miss her and her cute family.

When Sam got home we made homemade donuts together. He liked it so much that he wants to make them for his How To class presentation! Thanks Heather for the idea for CraftersGuru post idea!Here it is Facebook friends. I finally figured out how to make the brownie wands. I baked the brownies (added an extra egg to make it less gooey and more dense and cake like), let them cool and then pressed a star cookie cutter into it and gently pulled out the brownie star. I then tried to coat the entire thing with candy melts but felt like it was too messy, didn't really adhere to the sides and used to much candy melts. So I just melted the candy in a pastry bag, cut off the tip and piped it on the top of the star. I then quickly added sprinkles and the heart center. The candy sticks were too thick (I did something else with those), so I used white sticks and inserted them gently into the center of the brownie star and secured it with candy melts at the base. I wrapped it in a clear bag and tied it with curling ribbon (seriously the curling ribbon took most of the time, I would just curl 3 strips instead of 6). she loved them sooo much they were off to school the next day. She told me that everyone would be jealous because every one else just brought treat bags and cupcakes. These were new and cool! (How sweet is that little girl).

So with the left over Candy sticks I added royal icing flowers (I had made these a couple of weeks ago for cakes) and attached it to the stick with royal icing leaves. These will be for her class at church (they will take a few days to dry). So needless to say that I was tired by the end of the day! And Oh! One more major accomplishment for the day. This is big because it rarely happens. I made an actual grown-up dinner last night. It was baked potatoes, veggies, and ribs! my kids thought it was cool! I've been making quick and easy stuff (or survival night meals) for far too long.

A New Necklace Design

I finally finished a necklace that I made for Rachelle. For the chain and clasp I used the chain of a key chain. I thought it gives it a modern look. Sorry the picture isn't very good. I just took a picture of it with my I-Phone, in not the best of light. Next time I'll take a better picture. Hope it inspires you to create something today :)