Potter Week

Amy playing with the only thing her size

 This last week we made our annual trip to Washington to visit my older sister and her family. We love doing girly stuff with "the girls" when we go & look forward to this trip each year while Daddy works long hours for harvest season. This year we made our trip a little earlier than usual because my sister is having baby #6 and we didn't want to stress her out, so we came 4 weeks before the due date to help get ready for baby.

Lucy doing the monkey bars

 Some of the usual things we do when Auntie Christine comes to visit are painting nails, doing each girl's hair (4 of them) each day, watching movies, hitting up the local park, etc. But a few new things were added to the agenda this year. We tried making our own lip gloss and using clay you bake in the oven to make key chains. The lip gloss was a big hit, but we left the key chains until THE VERY LAST SECOND, so those didn't quite turn out because we were so rushed, but I think we all had fun attempting it at the very least.

Camilla

 Here we have pictures from our day at the local park where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. Don't ask me where the pictures are from everything else we did, but just take my word for it that we had a blast!!

Serious Camilla

 My sister and I were also able to get out and sort through the baby clothes which is always fun. And my brother-in-law volunteered to watch all seven kids so my sister and I could head out to do some shopping kid-free. That was soo amazing! We went to a place called Craft Warehouse first. Need I say more?! This place was huge and awesome!! They had so many things and ideas, it was so fun to just browse and talk about the different ideas we saw. My sister was kind of wanting a new nursing cover, one that was large and kind of cutesy, so we found her some adorable purple and teal fabrics to make a reversible one. I also found two really cute fabrics that I just bought (they were only $4/yd) for some project in the future, be it a nursing cover, carseat canopy, or something else. They were just too cute together to pass up. Then we hit the big jackpot for the day. I found a huge (2 feet by 3 feet) framed mirror that has a really neat design in the frame in a pewter-ish finish. And the best part? It was 50% off! So I made my first major house decoration purchase. My plan is to hang it in the front room with a large shelf below it and then various decor items on the shelf that will be reflected in the mirror. I think it will be super cool........when I can get it all together. I have some inspiration, so we will just wait for the funds and time to follow.

This is the REAL Camilla

 This trip was also really great because I was able to stop and see two different really good friends on our way. One set we hadn't seen in almost two years and the other it has been at least six months. These are both dear friends from nursing school and both have kids my kids could play with. The friend we stopped to see on the way home we actually spent the night and part of the next day with, so we took the kids to play at a really awesome park after we mommies had our fun looking around Hobby Lobby. That place is dangerous!! And before heading out, I stopped to shop at the factory outlet with the kids getting stocked up on great clothes from Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Carters. I was hoping to find something for me at Dress Barn, but no such luck this time.

Natalie

Karalie trying to do the monkey bars just like her big sister

 So, all in all it was a fabulous trip! We were so sad to leave as it was shorter than usual thanks to Sam being in preschool now, but it was enough to just see our family again. Things like that are important. It is good for us to get away and have something to distract us from how much Daddy is working and it is also a relief for Robert to not stress about how much he is gone from us and just focus on the job. I think he also secretly enjoys five days of bachelorhood, but that's just me ;)

Sam

Caleb

 So that's all about our last week. The kids did awesome on the drive there. The drive back was a little tougher, but still really good. Today we've been winding up for more errands, YW stuff, preschool, and canning season. Started it off with freezing 5 dozen ears of corn - yum! And for those of you who are skeptical of cooking your corn in the husk in the oven, it really does work!! And I feel like it saves so much time! If you have no idea what I am talking about and want to know more, just give me call and I'll convert you! :)

Sam showing off

Amy trying to figure out how to play on all the big stuff

Busy Week Catch-Up

 Again it has been a busy week for us here in Idaho, so we are playing catch up. Monday morning we picked up Grandma and Uncle Kurtis from the airport. Daddy was able to take most of the day off and so we introduced Uncle Kurty to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and all that it has to offer (mainly the good food)

 Tuesday was Sam's first day of preschool. He was excited, just not about me taking his picture, so we got him started with a picture with Uncle Kurtis since it was almost his first day of school, too. Sam is in preschool three mornings a week now (TWT) and is enjoying it lots so far.

 Amy has really bonded with Kurtis and it is so sweet to see how she loves her uncle. Lately this little gal has been getting really sleepy around 11, so we try and hold her off until lunchtime and then she can have a nice long nap after, but as you can see she doesn't always make it.

 Then a friend of mine I went to nursing school with is expecting her first baby and so I offered to do the cupcakes for her baby shower (her older sister is in YW with me and was hosting the shower). The theme was sports and so we did Devilishly Good chocolate football cupcakes and Lemon Lover's White Chocolate baseball cupcakes (mini M&M's for the stitches for those of you who were wondering) Very fun!!

 And then for her baby gift I made a gathered carseat canopy/cover thingy. Her baby is due the first week of November so I thought this would be highly useful. A friend of mine and her mom came up with this idea to gather the bottom and top of the canopy with elastic so that when the wind blows the blanket doesn't flap around, but it attaches to the handle so it's also not right next to the baby's face. I love the idea and am saving it for a project to do for my next bundle of joy.

 The colors are kinda random, but I found the grey dotted fabric and loved it, but it was hard to find anything that went with it without it being too bland. So I decided to go bold instead.

 We also moved Jake and Stacey back to Rexburg this week - so fun!! It is going to be great having family back close again to do dinners and fun stuff with!! We ended the week with one last trip to the state fair. Here is a picture of my sugar flowers which did win first place, but only because I was the only contender in my category. But I got some good feedback from the judges, learned alot from the two professional entries, and have some great ideas for next year's entry. And I can't lie, it is fun to have that big, blue ribbon to show for all my hours of work!

 Here are Sammy and Daddy waiting in line for the caterpillar ride (a kiddie roller coaster)

 Me and Amy hanging out watchin' the boys

 Uncle Kurtis took Sam on this slide to use the last of the tickets we had and I think they both were taken by surprise with how fast they got going! :)

 Lastly, before we headed to the annual Demolition Derby we let Amy play for a little bit in this free baby playland area. She loved this little car until she couldn't figure out how to make it go forwards, then she got frustrated.

Some of the food we tried this year included: Prime Steer burgers (always a must), Foot long corndogs, Inside out burgers, Indian tacos, Corn on the cob, Tiger ears (another must), Funnel cake, giant Cinnamon rolls, and last but not least, Reed's dairy ice cream!! Ahhh, the fair. We love it! But it is a really good thing it is only once a year!

Completion feels GREAT!!

 So I was just going to do a quick post with these two preview pictures and then post the great pictures with the big reveal, but Blogger wasn't working and I am so excited about my flowers, I'm going to post them anyway and just let you know later how it all pans out.

 The theme for the sugar flower entries this year was Fantasy Flowers. So I decided to really play up the colors. It turned out pretty well. I got ALOT of practice. This took me about three solid days of working from morning until late lunch, while the kiddos were napping, and then again when they went to bed (so only stopping for lunch and late afternoon/dinnertime). I am SO glad for it to be done! My fingers have blisters from wrapping so many stems! I forgot to do final counts before putting everything together, but here is what I know: 60 leaves, 5 roses, 10 carnations, 15 mums, 2  lilies (12 petals and 6 leaves), and then not quite sure how many red/black blossoms (I think around 30)

 And here is the back of the finished product.

 The front

 Side 1

 Side 2

And a top view. Pictures don't do this justice (esp with my crappy camera that can't focus worth a darn), but you get the idea and I hope it does well at the fair. But I have no idea since I've never entered before. But at least I tried and I am excited and proud of my work! Wish me luck as I try to transport it all the way down to Blackfoot (45 mins away) and hope we don't have any misshaps! :)

Enjoying the Lull

Sorry no posts this week, we really haven't been doing much except enjoying the last of the warm weather and the lull in between things. Robert finished grain harvest, but starts killing potatoes on Monday. At least spud harvest (so the really super long hours) doesn't start for a few weeks yet.

We were able to go visit a friend who had a new baby, play with friends, and last night I took Sam to an outside movie someone in the ward did as an end-of-summer party. They rented a projector and big blow-up screen and watched "The Lorax" (good movie if you haven't seen it). He loved it! Robert stayed home with Amy, which was really good since it was super late (for her) and because of the wind it was quite chilly.

Also this week I finally decided to do an entry for the state fair next week. I will be doing sugar flowers. The theme is fantasy flowers, so I am going to have alot of fun with color - hopefully it will go as planned, though! So that is what the picture above is all about. While Sam went and played with some friends in the ward, I got a start on the many, many leaves I will need to make and I was able to color all of my gumpaste. Now I need to make the bases for the roses, carnations, and mums so they can dry over the weekend and I can get crankin'.

I also am making cupcakes for our ward birthday party tonight and a German chocolate cake for a friend's birthday tomorrow. We get next week and then Grandma and Kurtis come back to visit, Jake and Stacey return for school, and Sam starts preschool. Oh how the time flies!

Something for Kaylie

 Our local grocery store had a huge fundraiser to support Primary Children's Medical Center this last Saturday, so we decided to join in. I don't know why, but when I saw the posters for the 5K race, I knew that we needed to do this for Kaylie and that I wanted to do it with my two kids. I know, crazy, right? But we did indeed do it despite the early hour (meaning grumpy kids) and lack of training. We somehow made it to the end with only a few trips running back for Sam for various reasons.

 I was able to find us all grey shirts and spent way too much time the night before printing, tracing, cutting, ironing, and painting the "Team Kaylie" onto the back of each of them. But it felt good to do something together for our angel up in heaven and I thought about her alot as I ran. After the race we went home and changed so we could hit up the 25 cent sale at the consignment store in Rexburg. This is such a sweet deal! Every item they have out is a quarter! And this time around I was able to find stuff for all of us and even some for my sister and her kiddos. At 25 cents a pop, why not?!

Then we headed home for lunch and naps (which we all needed desperately). After we got up, we went back to the local grocery store in hopes of being there for the raffle drawing to see if we won any of the cool prizes. Turns out they didn't do it when they said they were going to. But Sam got to throw balls to dunk an employee, get his face painted with a spider and web, and jump in the bouncy house. Then we headed over to the Early Iron car show. It has been the Jefferson County Fair this week and the grand finale is a car show of all sorts of cars, trucks, tractors, bikes, etc. The kids liked it pretty well and we really enjoyed getting a jump start on fair food by enjoying funnel cake topped with strawberries. It was a long, full, fun day! And we ended it the best with a trip to Sam's Club with Daddy for dinner and a new movie ("Hunger Games"!!)

*Sidenote* I did decide at the very last second to enter the "Death by Chocolate" contest that I won last year with my Almost-Too-Much-Chocolate cake. I decided since it was free to enter and I had some cookies left over from Book Group, I would go ahead and try. They were my Ande's Mint Cookies. I think they are to die for. But apparently it is quite difficult to surpass chocolate cake with chocolate cookies or candies because only cake entries won the top awards. Next year I will just do the cake again.

YW Bag

 I know, ANOTHER post from me. I've been a little post crazy lately. Oh well. I really wanted to share this with you because I am quite proud of myself. Ever since being called in to the YW, I have struggled to carry everything we need for church in our one bag. So I decided I would solve this problem by making myself a super cute bag just for YW stuff. I found the fabrics fairly easy and they have been sitting down in my craft room for over a month now waiting to be used.

Today being Saturday I had quite alot of time to fill with Daddy working, no swimming lessons, no errands to run and no one to do a playdate with since most people consider it a family day. This morning me and the kids super cleaned the house, which was good because it hasn't been really cleaned since before Girl's Camp. Then, while the kidlets took nice long naps (thanks to both not sleeping well last night) I decided to get to work on my bag. I got my inspiration from a Make-It & Love-It project and our current church bag I won at an auction to support our library. There are a few things that I would like to tweak next time: how to finish the bottom so there is no seam, how to do the squared-off bottom, and figure out how to get the batting and layers of fabric to all stick to each other. But some things turned out really well, too. I was proud of myself for figuring out how to do the pockets on the inside of the bag without seams showing (something I have in the other bag, but the tutorial I was following didn't). And just how it came together was super awesome. I had also found some yellow fabric with tiny white flowers all over it I was going to incorporate, but I just couldn't see how it would fit, so I left it off for now. I'm considering making a fabric flower or something to designate the front from the back and maybe that is where I could use that? A fun and much-needed project to get me back on track!

A Little More

 Ok, so here are a few more pictures from adding decor to our house. Another quote in vinyl that I thought would be perfect for the guest bedroom. (and yes, that is a pile of clean sheets sitting on the bed waiting to be put on) The quote is on a mirror from the dollar store, which give it a really cool look (vinyl on a mirror).

 Then I wanted to show you how our family wall looks now that we have the new family pictures up along with the new vinyl. If I could just find the right shelves I want for either side, this wall would be complete. Someday.

 Then here are a couple pictures of how I did Amy's hair the other day. We have fallen into a bad habit of only doing her hair in two styles. And we only style it every other day (if we don't have anything going on) to give her head a break and to remind me that she really does have hair. And beautiful angel hair, too.

But the other day on Pinterest someone found a post by a lady who had a baby with not alot of hair. Still way more than Amy's, but not enough to do all the fancy, cute things you see out there for little girls. Her post gave me a handful of good ideas to try so I don't get so frustrated. Those front ponys sure were hard and I'm sure her head was sore by the end of the day! And besides the fact that they aren't perfect, I like this look alot! I even had a lady stop me at DI not only to compliment Amy's hair, but also how hard it must have been to do it! So I hope to continue this on of making more of an effort to try new things with Amy's hair to keep it up and out of the way and to find hairstyles that keep ALL the hair in all day (that is our biggest issue with the old hairstyles; by the end of the day only a bit of hair was still in the pony)

More Vinyl Decorating

 So these pictures are mainly for my mother-in-law to see how the vinyl we cut turned out in the various spaces. But it's fun to share the little bit of house decorating I do with you guys as well. Up top is the new "Families are forever" because I found a font I liked so much better. It is more swirly and a little thinner, but I love it!

 Next is a quote for that large, empty family room downstairs. This vinyl is actually in dark brown, but it's hard to tell in the picture. Don't know what else I am going to do with all of that dead space downstairs. Probably just leave it like I have done everywhere else.

 Then the stickers we had gotten from Walmart for our mailbox had faded to black, which doesn't work well with a black mailbox. By luck we had bought a sheet of white outdoor vinyl to do something for a friend of mine, so we used the leftover to make a snazzy new name and address for our mailbox. It looks fabulous!!

And then just a quick picture of the amazing sunset last night as I was out putting the vinyl on the mailbox. The sun was actually quite a bit redder than this, but it still looks super pretty.

Bear World Adventures

 We've been to Bear World once before - when Grandma was visiting and we only had Sam. So we decided to use our 50% off cards and make a quick trip before swimming lessons and before Grandma and Uncle Kurtis had to head home. First off is the albino elk - very large head of antlers there.

Next, just one shot of the many bears we saw in the park including ones lazily strolling along the road and three or four surrounding one of the workers in a little Razor! It was great to get to see so many this time!

 Out the back window a quick shot of the wolves/coyotes that were in with the bears and for some reason were howling when we drove by. Pretty creepy!

 At the entrance to the gift shop, which you have to pass through to get to see 

the baby bears, the petting zoo, and the mini amusement park.

How the youngsters measure up against a full-grown Grizzly.

 I love how this picture turned out! Even though Amy isn't in real good, it turned out super cute!

 A beautiful swan.

 Turkey that was gobbling

A deer licking Sam's hand through the fence. But once we got inside we learned that this particular deer likes to eat people's clothes, or at least blue ones because that is what both Grandma and Uncle Kurtis were wearing :)

 Reaching really far to try and pet the little deer. 

These little guys were pretty skittish around people and not too open to being pet.

 Love this one! Amy finally warmed up to Uncle Kurty over the weekend, it was great to see them together!

A beautiful pea hen.

 Happy all around

Two baby bears play/fighting

And the race cars

 The tree ride (which just kinda gently took them up and down) there was also a roller coaster sort of ride that Amy absolutely LOVED. And thanks to Uncle Kurtis and Grandma for being such good sports and riding on the little kiddie rides with the babes.

It was really sad to see them go, but both will be back at the beginning of next month for Uncle Kurtis to start school in Rexburg. And then we will see Grandma and Grandpa in November for Thanksgiving here at our house!! We went straight to swimming lessons, then the free lunch, then errands in Idaho Falls. The poor kids were wiped out (ok, so maybe I was, too). Hope you all have a great week living it up before school starts again!