What I have been up to

I love to blogstalk. I don't know if that is a real word, but it's what I do. My husband blogstalks differently than I do. For example, he LOVES this blog. I however, like to blogstalk people who are crafty and give me tutorials about how to copy them. The sad part is that I spend WAY too much time stalking, and not enough time doing.

About a month ago, I found a blog post about making camera strap covers. While I had seen a few of these before, this one caught my attention. It might have been the ruffles, but I knew I wanted to make it. I even went as far as to buy the fabric. Everyday that fabric would look at me from the TO-DO pile. (I know it's against all the laws of nature, but that pile NEVER shrinks!) Ever since getting my camera (last THANKSGIVING) I have wanted to make a cover (or four). FINALLY, last night I did it. There are a million things I should have been doing instead. (If you come to my house, please IGNORE all the weeds.) But now, when I look at my TO-DO pile, the fabric is no longer staring back at me. (only the fabric I bought 2 months ago to make some throw pillows.)
It's hard to take a picture of your camera let alone your new camera strap. Smart Donna would have taken a picture before I put it on the camera, but then again for some reason, I never seem to listen to smart Donna.

I love the ruffle all down the middle. I like the colors too. (even though my camera is black and the fabric has a brown background.) Good luck getting to the bottom of your TO-DO pile!

Oh Lady.

Often times my sweet husband will say, "I want Lady's life." I am not sure if this moment was one of them, but for some reason I can picture my JoJo, sleeping with his head in a pizza box and also being totally content.

Simple Pleasures of Summer

The simple pleasures of Summer. While watering my flowers, this HUGE butterfly decided to join me. She stuck around for about 15 minutes; long enough for me to grab my camera and take a few pictures of her. This is the part of summer that I love. I LOVE my new camera. The only editing I did was some cropping. LOVE IT!

Fourth Of July Invitations

I LOVE to celebrate the 4th of July! The first summer we lived in our house, we tried to have a 4th of July Party and well after much planning and LOTS of food.... nobody came. I am sure it is because most people around here have LOTS of family around. For some crazy reason, I thought that this year would be different. So far, not so good. I have handed out some invitations, but so far, nobody has RSVP'ed. Sad day. Oh well. At least I had fun making the invitations! Here is a tutorial if you would like to make some for your next 4th of July Party.

For each invitation, you will need 7 Popsicle sticks. I kind of like the "not-so-perfect" ones. (They add character.) For each flag, you will need to paint 4 red sticks and 3 white ones.

Divide your sticks up so that you can paint all of the red ones at the same time and all of the white ones at the same time. (I didn't worry about painting the sides. I like the rustic look... or maybe I am just lazy.)

Once your sticks are dry, arrange them in groups of 7 with 4 red and 3 white in each group. Be sure to alternate the colors. Then separate the top 4 sticks and using a foam brush, paint the left hand side of 4 of the sticks with blue paint. It helps to keep them together and paint them all at once to keep a strait line.

Make "flags" with all of your sticks. Remember that they don't have to be perfect. That's part of the fun!

Using a silver paint pen, draw some stars on each flag. I liked to alternate 3 stars on one line and 4 on the other, but there really isn't room for all 50!

Print the information for your party on the sticks.

Bundle each flag up and tie with some fun star garland or ribbon. These invitations have to be HAND delivered! I hope you have fun making these!

I hope that this year I am not making NY hotdogs just for 2! Please stop by on Saturday and celebrate the 4th with us!

Fiesta Chicken Chowder

We LOVE this soup! It is one of our new favorite! (My hubby, who could care less about soup, asked if we could make it again!)

Just so you know, it is SUPER YUMMY with black bean chips!

If you want the recipe, check it out here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Fiesta-Chicken-Chowder

I dare you to make it!

Potting Station I Have Missed You!

I LOVE SPRING! I also love to plant in containers. As a young adult, I worked at a gardening center in NY. While it was hard work sometimes, I learned SO MUCH and loved almost every minute of my job. I miss those days, but now I get to play in a yard of my own. A few years ago, Jonathan built me a potting station for Christmas. Maybe he was sick of me planting containers on his table saw...Anyways, I LOVE my potting station and all the things I have created on it.

I also love cooking. What fun it is to create a dish with fresh herbs picked right from the kitchen! Someday, in my next house with a BIG kitchen, I will have a plant shelf in the kitchen window with herbs on it all year round. {Not that I have been planning out my next kitchen or anything. Did I mention the double wall ovens and the 6 burner stove?}

Did you ever have a plant read your mind? No, I'm not crazy, but I am pretty sure that this moss growing between the pavers on my patio knew that I wanted him there. Jonathan and I even talked about planting some, but we thought that was a bit over the top... and now look who has crept into our garden! I might start thinking really hard about Peonies in the front yard...

Easter in Vegas

So by now I am sure you have figured out that my nephews are a big part of my life. I love them to pieces and treasure watching them learn and grow. Sometimes I just want them to stop growing up so fast. This is the first year we could spend with the boys, and it was so much fun! The Easter Bunny brought the boys some new jammies and sunglasses and of course LOTS of candy! Peeps for breakfast never killed anyone!

One of Rebecca's neighbors organized a neighborhood Egg Hunt in the park. It was a fabulous idea! Parents donated a dozen filled eggs for each of their kids and the dad's went to the park early in the morning and hid them. After all the eggs had been hidden, the mom's and kids came to the park to find all the treasures. When all the eggs were found, everyone enjoyed a potluck breakfast! I can totally see doing this in Idaho, but we might have to put snow pants on the kids first.

I just love these boys! These hug moments are far and few in between, but they are sweet.

One thing that I love about being a kid is how easy it is to have fun. I watch my nephews play on the same playground with new found eyes every time. They don't worry about tomorrow or even yesterday. They can find joy in such simple things. I guess when the Savior told us to be like a child, there are many ways that could be.