instafriday again?

Where has the last week gone? i feel like it was just friday and here we are again. i was doing my routine morning blog browse and when i got to kelly's i thought she was just a tad early on her post. after i thought for a second...or five...i realized that it was, indeed, that time of the week again.

but first to answer a question that i had from last week regarding the fluffer nutter.
all i can say is was ok.
i was expecting to be blown away but i was a little disappointed.
i even tried the second one per specific instructions.
bread, peanut butter, bananas and marshmallow fluff. put it all together and cook like a grilled cheese.
still not great.
i would much rather have a peanut butter and honey any day.

it's been a slow week. the kids have been at mom and dad's for a few days and, with just me here during the day, i forget to take pictures.

we did family pictures downtown so we decided to eat at fanci freeze. me and my girl were waiting for the guys to bring us our grub.

this is the dress that she picked for pictures. i took her with me because she is so picky about things being "uncomfortable".
she tried on several and decided that this was the one.
until she had it on for a couple of hours.
the elastic ruching was not making her very happy. it's probably wrong but she only wore it for two hours so i took it back. if i spend $16 on a dress she is going to wear it for the next year.

this guy and i celebrated our 17th anniversary on sunday.
crazy!

cole is here for three weeks so he came over and the kids went swimming. they were like little fish.

tuesday we went to camels back park and hiked.
taylor has wanted to do the front climb for a while now and he finally did it this week.
we all did.
it's quite a trek up there but it's beautiful when you make it.
they were little troopers and hiked about 4 miles in all.

after the hike we went to ann morrison and fed the ducks for a while.
we picked a beautiful day to go and had a great time together.

instafriday

well, i know it's only been a week but i am still loving my instagram.

here is what's been included since last time we talked.

radishes.

the kids love them.

and i have no idea why.

rob keeps planting them and they keep eating them.

if i had to say one nice thing about a radish it would be that they are a great color.

just look at that pink!

 rob and the boys went backpacking last weekend so i grabbed what was left of the ruffles and watched a couple episodes of cheers before bed.

gotta love netflix. 

i've heard about the stuff for years.
the fluffer nutter sandwich and how awesome it is.

i found this at world market and for a buck 99 i had to give it a whirl.

 julie has spoken about this device several times.

actual blog posts have been dedicated to the ingeniusness of this pineapple slicer.

after cutting my first pineapple of the summer by hand i decided that, if this little gadget was worthy of a blog post, maybe i should take a closer look.

best. decision. ever.

for only $10 on amazon this beauty arrived on my doorstep and allowed me to cut this pineapple in a minute flat. 

twist it down, pull it out.

easy as pie!

sunday was father's day.

rob really wanted these beer glasses but sadly they didn't arrive on time.

father's day breakfast.

the kids at church were helping with worship this morning.

so great to see emily up there singing her heart out. 

an afternoon swim.

 about half a mile from our house is a snow cone shack.

the kids have been going for a couple weeks and the girls finally got me to go with them.

i think we will be frequenting 'the shack' a lot this summer.

i bought this table runner pattern  yesterday.

i'm a cheapskate and i thought about trying to figure it out on my own but for $3 it's worth getting the pattern.
now to just get my hands on that fabric...

this is my life.

scatterbrained and slightly unfocused.

i was ironing rob's shirts and i got distracted in the middle of it.

i woke up the next morning to a half ironed shirt, thankful that my iron shuts off on it own.

and finally one of me and my girl.

no matter what

we got heartbreaking news yesterday.

the son of a family friend was killed in a motorcycle accident.

he also happens to be the brother of one of austin's best friend. 

we were shocked, saddened and in disbelief but as i held my devastated son i heard this song playing in the background.

and not only this song but these words:

"i know that you can find a way to keep me from the pain

but if not, i'll trust you"

god is good.

we don't know why ryan was taken from this world at such a young age but how grateful i am to know that we will see him again someday.

his family will be able to hold him again.

we don't know what god's plans are.

but he is good.

all the time.

no matter what i have to trust that his plan is perfect.

even when i don't understand.

I’m running back to Your promises, one more time
Lord that’s all I can hold on to
I’ve got to say this has taken me, by surprise
But nothing surprises You
Before a heartache, can ever touch my life
It has to go through Your hands
And even though I, I keep asking why
I keep asking why

No matter what, I’m gonna love You
No matter what, I’m gonna need You
I know that You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, if not - I’ll trust You 
No matter what (no matter, no matter what, no matter)
No matter what (no matter, no matter what – no matter, no matter what)

When I’m stuck in this nothingness, by myself
I’m just sitting in silence
There’s no way I can make it, without Your help
I won’t even try it
I know You have Your reasons, for everything
So I will keep believing
Whatever I might be feeling
God You are my hope, and You’ll be my strength

No matter what, I’m gonna love You
No matter what, I’m gonna need You
[ From : http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kerrie-roberts-lyrics/no-matter-what-lyrics.html ]
I know that You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, if not - I’ll trust You 
No matter what (no matter, no matter what, no matter)
No matter what (no matter, no matter what – no matter, no matter what)

Anything I don’t have, You can give it to me
But it’s OK if You don’t
I’m not here for those things
The touch of Your love is enough on its own

And no matter what, I still love You
And I’m gonna need You

No matter what, I’m gonna love You
No matter what, I’m gonna need You
I know that You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, if not - I’ll trust You
I know that You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, but if not, I’ll trust You
No matter what (no matter)

instagram

when rob got me my new phone for my birthday i was super excited. 

i know it's childish and lame but i wanted to be one of those people that got to check out facebook while standing in the check out line at the grocery store.

or those people that laugh at youtube videos while they are wait to get their tires rotated.

super lame...i know.

rob saw how super lame i wanted to be and granted me my phone wish.

i was playing around with it sunday night checking out ring tones, going through apps, when it hit me!

i saw it!

i saw what everyone else had and i had always wanted!

INSTAGRAM

did you hear the angels?

i'm not gonna lie. 

my stomach actually got butterflies.

this is what i had been waiting for.

i wanted to take pictures of my toenail polish.

i wanted to take pictures of what i am eating and my cup of coffee, then put that cool sepia tone on it and send it out so the world would know that i, too, could take a picture of  a flower!

love i tell you.

i was in love.

this week i am joining instafriday...because i can.

i was not great about taking pictures this week but i will get better.

here goes.

these are the things i came home with from the 'my favorite things' party i went to. 

emily has so many cute bags she could use. so many different colors and fabrics and sizes but she still continually grabs a plastic grocery sack to take her stuff in.

this is her pool bag.

one nice thing about having a lowe's close is we can walk to it.

and we do. a lot.

this day emily and jake wanted to skate along with me.

happy hour at sonic.

jen, grayson, emily and me.

birthday weekend

i had such a great birthday this year!

the weekend began with a night out with some of my favorite girls. 

we enjoyed dinner and lots of laughter at flat bread pizza then skye, beth, steph, becca and myself headed south to kuna for some dancing at cowgirls.

it was so much fun that we closed the place down at 2 a.m.

i left with so many memories and a happy heart.

saturday evening i was invited to a 'my favorite things' party.

everyone that goes picks something that you love that is around five dollars and you bring five of them.

as people go around and share their item five names are drawn  and at the end of the night you go home with five different favorite things.

i ended up with a headband, knee socks, a starbucks gift card, stationary set and moroccan oil.

we also had swag bags that included earrings, hair ties and a notebook to right down where people got their favorite thing in case we wanted to go buy it.

it was such a fantastic idea and we had so much fun eating and talking about all the great stuff the girls brought.

sunday was my actual birthday. 

rob and emily woke me up with krispy kremes and my present...a new phone!!!

my first smart phone!

hallelujah!

i was so happy!

after service we had an all church picnic in the park and then celebrated theresa, pam and my birthdays at family dinner.

not sure why but we didn't take any pictures.

i was spoiled with gifts and lots of me time over the weekend and am so thankful for my family and friends that are so good to me.

the wonders of nature

we have lots of plants in our back yard. i am cheap so i buy a lot of them at the end of the season for almost nothing and then have to wait until they bloom the next year to see what i have.

these are canterbury bells. i love how they look, love that they are tall and have lots of color.

the left side bloomed first and they turned out to be purple flowers.

after about a week the right side started to bloom and there was pink mixed in with the purple.

same plant, same roots but two different color flowers.

same thing happened with the snap dragons. we have three different colors coming off the same plant.

it's a little weird but beautiful none the less.

mother nature always keeps us on our toes.

yard sale heaven

my parent's sub division had their neighborhood sale last weekend. my mom and i got up bright and early to start the hunt at 8:00 sharp. there was a house across the street from her that looked good so we started there and at that great sale i got everything in this picture for $3!!!

let me explain.

first thing i saw when we walked up was this vintage ashtray with a $1 sticker.

mine!

turned around and saw this tricycle and, again, another $1 sticker.

mine! 

my eyes are darting around looking for anything i can find that i can't live without.

i see fabric, i see books, i see a giant metal tub, i see dishes.

mom and i looked through the fabric and took some really cute stuff but i kept eyeing this tub.

past experience says i don't even want to ask how much it is, for fear of choking, so i pay my two dollars and we go to leave. 

my mom is a house down and i just have to ask about the tub so i run back and ask.

the guy says $1!

after a questioning look from the woman he was sharing the space with he says "i don't need it...a dollar!"

past experience was right. 

i was definitely choking, and it was from the price.

this is a comparison.

the smaller tub inside was one i picked up last summer for $20 and that was a good deal.

side by side.

my $20 rusty, used tub on the left, my $1 hardly used, pretty tub on the right.

so happy!

my mom and i went back later to see if we had missed anything, and i picked up this fabric and these beautiful gingher pinking shears for $10!

i thought the fabric would make great pieces for quilt backings and at $1 a piece, some of them with 2-3 yards of fabric, i thought it was another great deal!

we made ourselves stay home after this stop. 

i could also tell you that i got a plastic dog food bowl for 50 cents but it wouldn't make you as happy would it? 

me either.

going green-er

 we are fairly green.

we have a garden.

we recycle.

we compost.

we mulch our grass.

at the end of every week we have one trash bag for the garbage men to haul away.

i think that's pretty good for five people.

recently my brother told us about paper briquettes that they use in in other parts of the world for heating, cooking etc.

take your newspapers, junk mail, kids school papers and make logs that will burn up to two hours each.

we were in.

on saturday we had everyone over and the boys spent the afternoon working on a contraption.

basically you just need something that will squeeze all of the water out of your paper mush.

here's what they masterminded.

after watching many youtube videos they decided they needed pvc pipe, wood plunger, a frame and a jack.

 once you have some sort of contraption built you need a bucket full of paper that has been soaked for two or three days.

looks yummy, no?

then you take a plaster mixer and blend it into a mushy goo.

 it's not as bad once it's mixed. 

scoop pulp into the container

 

and push down with all your might.

realize that there aren't enough holes for the water to get out of and drill some more.

in the end the guys ended up pressing as much water as they could by hand and then built a frame and used a jack to get out the rest.

when most of the water is out you pull out a compressed brick.

do it a few more times and you get these.

they will have to stay in the green house for a week or so to completely dry.

some of you may be thinking we are crazy but here is our reasoning.

1-less material that has to be recycled or thrown away.

2-we camp a lot and, although we know how to start fires with kindling and other fire starter, lighting one of these suckers is going to be way easier.

3-we have a fire pit which means we either have to bring wood home when we camp, buy it, scavenge it in the city limits or buy those nasty compressed logs from the store. by doing these paper bricks we don't have to have wood lying around if we don't want it, we don't have to try to find wood and we don't have to spend money on chemically treated pressed logs.

it's a win win win.