A beautiful day

Did you think I had simply disappeared?
Well, no such luck.
Simply busy with life. 

In the last week we have had freezing temps and 90° weather. We have seen snow, crazy wind, rain storms, and tons of hail {more than I have ever seen in one storm….ever} It has been a crazy start to spring to say the least.

But yesterday,
yesterday was a beautiful day.
Everything was dry and the wind was wippy but not too bad.
68° and perfect.

So we stopped by the park on the way to run some errands. We enjoyed the blooming trees.

The boys had fun playing with our old fashioned toys. I don’t know what you call these other than sticks and rings, but they are lots of fun. Note Josiah’s face as proof.

You basically use the sticks to launch your ring into the air and then catch it with your sticks again. You can play by yourself or as a group.  It was so sunny that it was hard to see the ring once it was launched.  I’m not complaining though.


Josiah decided the other day {when it was raining} that he was ready to do the zip line  All. By. Himself.  He is so so timid in large motor activities, but he did it and was so proud of himself.

Love the concentration on his face.

The boys loved finding these huge acorn tops.  I love those sweet little hands.


It was a beautiful day!

*******

Keep your face always toward the sunshine
and shadows will fall behind you. ~
                                                   
Walt Whitman

Sweet Words

Love this etsy shop. You can find this print here.

Worth tumbling about

I had quite a few awesome things I tumbled this week.
I thought I would share.

The Joyful Chaos talks about finishing Leviticus {we are currently working through a sermon series on Leviticus so this is perfect timing}


love this from Jesus Freak

This cinnamon pull apart bread looks so yummy from Hometown Girl      

Here’s a little lesson on Buttercream from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Love this print and Little Bit Funky shows you how to make a fabric covered photo mat

I will definitely be trying these BBQ chicken sandwiches and oven fries from Smashed Peas and Carrots    


Natty by design has an awesome Roman shade tutorial


Sarah at Clover Lane talks about simplifying. Lots of good questions to ask yourself.


I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

To Do

Some things for me to do…..someday

To bake {and eat}:

My daughter loves neopolitan ice cream so I think she would probably {love} this cake by Sweetapolita.

These Orange Poppy Seed muffins from Make it Do look delicious. This might be on the to do list for tonight.


To Sew:

These fabric bins could certainly be useful around here….and cute! You can find the tutorial at The Sometimes Crafter.

I would love to have one or two of these casserole carriers. I make desserts for church every Wednesday night and I always do it at the last minute so they are HOT. Two of these carriers would be super handy. The tutorial is at 2 Little Hooligans.  

To create:

I may never actually accomplish this, but I think this memo board is just so cute and unique it makes me smile. If I ever find a random crib spring I will definitely know what to do with it.  The tutorial on how to make it is over at Pure + Lovely.   

To think about:

It was about 9 years into our marriage before we made the splurge to have cable TV. I still think it’s a bit ridiculous to pay so much for things I/we mostly have no interest in. We have our favorite shows, but we generally DVR them to watch when it’s more convenient and we can fast forward through the commercials. It’s almost painful to sit through commercials anymore. Simple Mom had a great post on ways to watch your favorite shows without paying the cable bill. Lots of great ideas to think about.

Does anyone else start thinking about things they want to change in their lives and just get overwhelmed with the sheer number of things on the list? I do. So then I do nothing. Effective? Not so much. This is why I love Annalea Hart’s One Little Change. It’s all about changing one little thing at a time to make a big difference. I want to do this. I’ll be back to talk about this more, but for now I am contemplating what my First Little Change will be.

What is on your to do list?

Izzy

She is just the sweetest thing


A friend of ours was needing to give one of their puppies away and we just happen to be needing a puppy {or so the kids have been telling us for at least the last year} so, you do the math.

1 puppy needs a home
1 home needs a puppy
voila…we have a  new puppy!

We are so blessed to have been given this wonderful pup. Thank you so much to Jane and her family for letting us have her. She is so well mannered and great with the kids. Plus…..BIG plus….she hasn’t had an accident inside yet.

{I realize by saying that, she will automatically have one within the next 24 hours. Shame on me for mentioning it. I’m already regretting it.}

The kids are having a blast with her and as an extra perk, the boys are keeping their toys out of the living room floor. I do realize we have only had her for a little over 24 hours and this will probably come to a screeching halt eventually, but I’ll count it a blessing for as long as it lasts. I currently have the boys believing that she will devour anything that’s left out.  

She may, she may not, but they aren’t willing to risk it. 
won’t you join me in a little happy dance?!

Wish me well in keeping up with the accidentlessness {huh, spell check doesn’t think that’s an actual word…silly} we have enjoyed so far.

Do you have any dogs? what kind?
I’d love to hear about him/her/them :)

Blessings~

Bring it on

I am beyond ready for it

cooler days, even 75-80 degrees would be sweet
I’m tired of anything over 80
I wanna put the swimsuits away and know they won’t need to come back out.

I want orange and yellow leaves
I don’t even mind the idea of  raking them {ask me again in November when I’ve filled  my 364th bag, my answer might be different}.
right now it sounds like fun

I want to decorate with these

and eat 28 different recipes that call for pumpkin…..yum
like these or this or how about these

it doesn’t get much better than pumpkin!

These aren’t pumpkin, but they sure are tasty

do you eat candy corn and roasted peanuts?
you should totally try them if you haven’t already
but don’t complain to me when you are addicted…..just sayin’

these aren’t pumpkin either, but seriously they are soooo delicious.

I must make these glazed apple bars soon……very, very soon.

What do you look forward to during the fall?

Some sweets for thought

I really like to make desserts, but I don’t generally make them just for us because I can’t be trusted not to eat them all it’s not that good for us. During the school year I make a couple of desserts each week for our Wednesday family night at church and I love it because I get to eat a piece and the rest just disappears so I don’t have to worry about eating too much.

Well, apparently I am going through some sort of dessert making withdrawal.

I took a look at my tumblr page where I bookmark ideas I want to remember and what did I find…….lots of sweet stuff……literally.

I think I’ve made only one dessert all summer and that was to take to a cookout.

shame on me……..this must be corrected!

what should I make????

how about this blueberry crumb cake from PW?  This looks so tasty!

Slightly more time intensive, but I’m certain they would be well worth my time. Apple fritters from Prudent baby

These monkey squares from the Girl who ate everything look moist and delish! 

How about these banana monkey bars from A soft place to land. I’ll be honest and let you know right now that I won’t be delivering these to my neighbors like Kimba did…..just keeping it real folks.  {I do think it’s  kinda funny that I have two different things on my list that have “monkey” in their name}

I have very fond memories of getting chocolate dipped frozen bananas on the beach in California as a child so these…..these I NEED to make for my kids. You can find the recipe for chocolate-peanut butter dipped bananas over at Simple bites along with some other frozen treats. {maybe I have some sort of potassium deficiency….that’s now 3 with banana’s in them}

Last, but certainly not least are these delish looking snickerdoodle blondies from baking bites. Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies, but I really like the ease of making blondies so these are sort of calling my name.

What would you make or have you made any good desserts lately that you SHOULD share with me? I’d love to know.  

I hope you have a sweet weekend!

Sweet Shot Tuesday

Absolutely my favorite thing we saw in Colorado last week. 

This is the alluvial fan created by the rocks and debris from the Lawn Lake flood of 1982. It was an amazing site and the kids had a wonderful time climbing all the rocks and making their way up the side of the waterfall. The best part is we didn’t even know about it and just happened along this site as we were going on a scenic drive up the mountains. 

I’m linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday today

Birthday flowers

I told my hubby I didn’t want anything for my birthday so we could just save the money for our trip to Colorado, but he just couldn’t do it. These beautiful flowers awaited me when I got home from a baby shower yesterday. I am so blessed!

Farmer’s Market

The boys and I went bowling again this afternoon.
Corban was excited until he realized you don’t always win just because you are older.
We still had fun though.

Afterwards we stopped by the farmer’s market

I love looking at all the beautiful colors lined up and juicy…..
just waiting on someone to take a bite
I would much prefer to buy all my produce here than some old grocery store. As long as it isn’t one of those stands that has their stuff shipped in.
Really, I can tell it isn’t local when it has a produce sticker on it….I’m on to you people. Luckily, those stands are few and far between.
This is definitely one of my most favorite things to do during the summer {and fall}.