Cowboy Take Me Away

Friday evening we (Travis and I) headed to McCall with our good friends Jamie and Becky - no kids this time!  They were celebrating their 10th Anniversary and we just had our 5th in June and we didn't really celebrate, so we kind of were celebrating both of them this weekend.  Jamie had surprised Becky with the trip and luckily she wasn't disappointed that we were going with them.  We checked into our motel in McCall, then went to dinner at The Mill followed by a couple of drinks and games of shuffleboard at Beside the Mill (no kidding, that's what it's called and it is literally beside The Mill.  We got up 'early' yesterday morning for our 2 hour car ride to Deadwood Outfitters to go on our FOUR hour trail ride.  I've been on a horse only a handful of times in my life and though I wasn't really nervous, I wasn't really excited for it either (not as excited as Becky anyway - ha ha).We got all 'saddled up' (as they would say) and ready to ride up to a little lake.  Most of the ride was fairly flat and easy, then there was a part where we wound up the side of a mountain and at one point I made the mistake of looking at where we had come from a realized it was pretty much straight down.  Then we got to the top and had to go down the other side to get to the lake only we didn't so much wind down, rather we went straight down.  I thought for sure we were all going to just slide right down hitting the horse and rider in front of us and end up in one giant horse/person pile at the bottom.  I decided at that point to just trust 'Tiny' and I literally closed my eyes as we finished going down the hill as if I was on a roller coaster not a horse.  Side note: Tiny was NOT tiny.  Think a man with the nickname Tiny and you probably picture one of the biggest men you've ever seen...same thing with this horse I was on.

We took a much needed, little break at the lake, had a drink and some snacks that the guide brought for us.  My knee was killing me and I could barely walk, but within 5 minutes or so it was just fine.  My ankle, which I was most concerned about, thankfully never hurt at all.

The entire trip as a whole was an absolute blast and hopefully we'll get the opportunity to do it again sometime.  Travis thinks we need to make it a tradition for the 4 of us to go yearly so we shall see!  I'll post pictures of the rest of the trip at another time, so stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday - Brittany and Aaron Frazier's Wedding

August 8, 2008

Let's Party!

I am doing my first Pampered Chef (in home) party in over a year tomorrow.  I'm very excited for it, but don't have anything ready yet!  I always have dreams leading up to shows where I forget things (like don't have any of my products, catalogs, etc) and of course I had one just the other night.  I'll get it all together and things will work out as they always do.  We're making these mini carrot cake cupcake things that look SOOOOO yummy, I can't wait to try them!

I really need to start doing more shows so I can have some extra money to finish paying all of our recent medical bills.  Hopefully at tomorrow's show I can get a booking or two.  I know exactly what I need to do to book more shows, I just can't get myself motivated to do it!  Do you have any tips or ideas to help me? 

Art-sy Giveaway

Check out this giveaway on I♡faces.  How cool would one of those canvases be?!  Hurry....GO...enter!  Good luck!

Christmas...in July?!

Hopefully more of those items under "Things I'd Like to Try" move up under the "Things I Do" column!

This weekend I hope to make my Christmas cards.  I have all of the stuff I need, and have even cut up a ton of tissue paper.  My thinking is that making the Christmas cards first will get me into the spirit to start making this year's Christmas gifts.  Did you know I'm going with all homemade gifts this year?  Well, now you do!  I'm trying to get some of the girls to come over and make cards with me, so if you're free and want to come over let me know!  Also, if you have ideas for homemade Christmas gifts, please, PLEASE, please share!  I especially could use some ideas for MEN.  Send me links!

'Wordless' Wednesday

It's suppose to be wordless, but quick story of pictures - 4th of July we went to a pig feed potluck at Travis' friend Bob's dad's house (follow that?).  There were a couple of live bands playing and they did fireworks at dark.  We didn't stay for the fireworks, we came home and did our own.

Since I forgot to post pictures from 4th of July:

I ♥ Bowling Shoes

Bowling shoes have never looked as cute as they do on a 3 year old! This picture was taken in March at Hunter's friend Sophia's Birthday party. They went bowling and had a great time, I loved the little bowling shoes!

Pictures from Camping

Here are some more of my favorite pictures from camping at Deadwood last weekend.  

We went with a large group - 19 including our family of 4.  

Cast of Characters:

Grammy Karen and Papa Larry (Travis' mom and step-dad)

Ashleigh, Matt and Tanner (Travis' step-sister, her boyfriend and his son)

Luke, Maria and Dan (aka Chuck) (Travis' step-brother, his girlfriend and their friend)

Jamie, Becky, Payton and McKade (Lanninghams - Brooklyn stayed home with grandparents)

Annie, Stephen and Sophia (Lee - Sophia is Hunter's girlfriends...well one of them anyway)

We didn't get to the campground until around midnight.  Calvin and Hunter hung out by the fire while we got things set up - these pictures were taken at 2 a.m. when they were going to bed:

There were A LOT of mosquitoes so we applied layer after layer of bug spray.  Hunter only wore this hat of Grammy's long enough for me to get a picture:

In addition to the mosquitoes, it was also REALLY dirty:

McKade and Hunter

Payton and McKade brought their BB guns so we all took turns practicing our skills:

Payton showing all the guys how it's done

(Jamie, Travis, Dan, Luke, Larry, McKade, Hunter and Payton)

Hunter and Travis

Sophia and Stephen

Hunter and McKade

Though I didn't get a chance to ride the 4-wheelers at all, everyone else went on a ride or 2, and the 4-wheelers actually got the most action just sitting there while the kids climbed on them and used their imaginations:

Tanner, McKade, Payton and Hunter

Jamie, Calvin, Payton and McKade

(Calvin's first 4-wheeler ride)

Tanner and Hunter

Hunter, McKade and Payton

Sophia

Travis and Hunter

The last day we were there it rained off and on.  We had to build a rain shelter - good thing the Lee's brought their shade canopy thing and Stephen put tarps on 2 of the sides so we could stay somewhat dry:

Me and my little boys

Calvin and I

Sophia and Annie

Sophia and Hunter (who is bending down - he's not that short!)

Hunter in the rain

Some miscellaneous pictures:

Calvin

Hunter and Grammy

Calvin and Grammy

Screwed

So, I totally just screwed up my blog.  I was only intending to change the background, but it removed all the widgets (what a weird word)!  Oh, and all of my pictures are translucent so they have a strange blue tinge to them now, thanks to the color of the background.

Luckily I had recently visited ALL of my links under the 'Things I'd Like To Try" category so I was able to rebuild that.  I have to do the same with my friends and family list and the blogs I visit section.  

Am I being lame here, or is it blogger.com?  How frustrating.  Since it's nearly midnight, I'm going to work on fixing the rest tomorrow.   

Here's a picture of me and the (small) boys from our camping trip this past weekend.  We went to Deadwood for 5 days and it was fantastic.  I'll post more pictures at a later date because I know you're dying to see more.

Wordless Wednesday

I actually did it!

I made something from my 'Things I Like" column on the right!  Today, on the way home from work I went to get the supplies I need to make some of these wreaths.  I had to buy all of my fabric because I just didn't have any remnants lying around that would work for the red, white and blue theme.  I bought 8 different fabrics in 1/2 yard lengths and also found 3 remnants in the bin that would work so I got those as well.  While the lady was cutting one of the fabrics she said 'looks like we're going to have a remnant here so I'll give that to you at half price' and she ended up charging me full price for only THREE inches of the fabric, and gave me the rest (a full yard I believe) at 1/2 of the sale (50% off) price!  All of the 4th of July print fabric was 50% off so that was great.  I also got 3 embroidery hoops (size: 12") because I do plan to make more than one wreath.

Imagine my excitement when I came home to not one but TWO sleeping boys!  

That almost never happens so I got right to work while time was in my favor!

2:57 - my supplies, laid out and ready for me to start

Because most of my fabrics were in 18" lengths (1/2 yard) I just used that as the length of my strips and cut them all 2" wide.  I actually measured, but I think that a wreath made less precisely would be just as, if not more, fabulous!  

I had 10 different fabrics.  I used 8 strips of each fabric, plus used one fabric twice around my wreath.  I'm a tad on the 'anal' side and so I did a pattern on the wreath so I wouldn't have to think too much and worry about getting too much red on one side.  So, my pattern repeated 8 times and each section had 11 strips (i.e. I used 88 two-inch strips) if that helps you to figure out how much fabric you'll need.  I have quite a bit of fabric left over to make another wreath or 2 but it's always better to have too much than not enough, right? 

3:48 - Calvin wakes up to 'help'

4:22 - my project is complete

I'm not sure if I'd rather have shorter length strips so the wreath is a bit more poofy or if I like them as is.  What do you think?  Maybe I'll try my next one a little shorter.

I do have a feeling I'll make a wreath for each holiday - how fun!

Thanks to PamperingBeki for the idea!

A New Addition to Our Family

We have another new addition to our family:

You may recall that Travis was given the opportunity to go on a guided antelope hunt just days after Calvin was born, and well, being the wonderful wife I am, I let him go.  So, eight months later, the antelope was ready to be picked up from the taxidermist.  That was a fun trip to pick it up - they have an amazing showroom and we got to go back in the work area where the owner was spray painting a hippo and there were many other fabulous works in progress.  Now, I'm not like a huge fan or expert of taxidermy - it's great and all, but I can't really tell you the difference between the good and the bad but I'd say they did nice work.  "Opie," as I'm trying to get Calvin to call him since he makes the same noise towards it as he does for 'dog,' hangs in such a place that you can see him from every room in the downstairs of our house.  He can even be seen while sitting on the toilet from the upstairs bathroom (if you have the door open and lean over kind of far).  Now that's hard core!