Giving Credit!

I must give credit where credit is due! The set of bows that I posted I did not make but a good friend of mine did! She has a little business of making them but the prices can add up. I guess I should have explained that my laziness included having someone else make the bows for me! I can make a mean bow but I always think others look so much better! For Keri's information click on my link For Giggles 'n Grins. 

A Whole Lotta Somethin'

Where did all the time go? So many things going on, it's hard to keep track of the time. Early March the temperatures would drop pretty low at night and the car windows would frost. I thought they made some pretty cool designs on the trunk! I just so happen to have my camera on me one morning and snapped a couple of pictures. 

I thought it was pretty neat. 

Then we got an awesome phone call that Katie (Jake's sister) was having her baby!

James Whiteley Crook looks just like his mom! He was a 10 lbs. 5 oz. baby and he's really cute!

Since there are plenty of girl babies on their way, I've decided to take the easy way out on shower gifts. Bows. A hand crafted bow a month.

And if they are totally hated, they can be re-gifted.

Today, Jake and I went out and checked the peas we planted in the garden. They are coming up! We did have our doubts but we see some poking through. When they get a bit more noticeable we'll post some pictures! Doesn't that sound so exciting?! Ha ha!

April 1st is the start of fishing season. We're ready to go. I refuse to eat the fish but I think it will be fun to go out and give it a try to catch them. Especially since we live next to quite a bit of lakes and rivers.

To sell or not to sell?

That is the question.

Jake and I have been debating back and forth to sell our property or to keep it. I'm for it and some days he's against it. It's not the best time to sell but you just never know. We've gotten calls in the past and we just laughed. Now I'm thinking we should take them more seriously. Here's the history. We bought it thinking that we were going to end up in Arizona. We would build and life would be good. We have 38 acres. The back of the property borders BLM and some Arizona State Trust. It reminds me of Cedar City, Utah. There are two rolling hills that run through it. Our neighbors have started to develop so dragging power out wouldn't be so costly. Now that life has changed courses for us, we're not sure we'll use it to it's fullest capacity. BUT maybe someday we will.

If we keep it, it may gain more value. We may even one day end up in Arizona. 

If we sell it we could purchase land up here and build.

Oh the decisions to make as a grown up. 

What's New?

Let's see . . . we began tilling the garden by hand until Jake's dad can fix the other tiller.

I look half asleep.

Jake is a better digger then I am.

Then one day I actually got to see the fog "roll" in. It was pretty cool.

It's hard to actually take a picture of fog but usually you can see the pine trees behind the neighbors house.

This is the sun. I know, you're not supposed to look into the sun . . . but it wasn't even bright!

The view of the city at night.

Life is good.

Hour of Power

It's 11:00 p.m. and I just completed the best "Hour of Power" on the treadmill. I'm hoping to feel the burn tomorrow. Right now, I feel like I'm speed walking everywhere. During my run I read the owner's manual. There were two pages really stressing the use of the correct power source. Interesting. People must not know how to plug it in to a power adapter. I also counted food storage cans. This is not much of a surprise to my family. We count everything. Well, Jake's off tomorrow so we're going to some museum. I'll post those pictures. 

5 Years and it still fits!

Jake and I celebrated our 5th Year Anniversary yesterday. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! We have a two distinct traditions. One is to go to Applebee's and eat dinner (or lunch) because it's where our first date was. This year, we pulled up to Applebee's and there was quite the wait. So, we opted to go to Olive Garden instead. The second tradition is to climb back into our wedding gear and dance. We have grown a little in 5 years but we still fit!

Jake grew just a little around the center

I fit perfectly fine in my dress but it looks like I'm busting out the top!!

We celebrate with the finest!

Flashback: Instead of having a guest book that sits in a closet, we have a plate that sits on our shelf.

In the 5 years of being married we have had some great times and some crappy times. I'm pretty sure the fun thrills of life out weigh the downer moments! When we think we've been through it all, the excitement begins again . . . just how we like it!

Recipe Scrapbook

Last year, my sister and I spent multiple Fridays creating a "Time Machine" scrapbook for my mom's birthday. We ended up creating a pretty hefty book. It started when she was young. It included her childhood, wedding, kids, pets, and more kids. Her brother and sister wrote a short "memory" for her and they each had a page. It was a great idea and a great gift to give. Mainly because it was literally made from the sweat of our brow. Every time I went to my mom's I flipped through every page admiring our work. I think my sister is a million times better at scrapbooking then I am. She takes more time on each page. Either way, my mom loved it and it was a great hit! I've never put forth that much effort on a gift EVER. So after that huge project, I retired scrapbooking for a little while. Like 7 months. But it's that time of year again (Mother's Day and Birthdays are quickly coming). So I pulled out the tote, trays, crates, and bins of scrapbook supplies.

The project this year: Her mother's recipes that were just sitting in a box. I organized them and the work has begun.

This is just one page of Croissants. It's actually really hard to arrange recipes.

Some are hand written and some came from a newspaper. One dates back to the late 60's. It's pretty neat to see the old advertisements and coupons.

If the recipe continued on the back of another I just color copied it. That's why the second card is white.

The work has begun. This is what I will consume my life with for the next month or so. I've made a pretty good dent already!

Sorry mom, it's not a surprise anymore! You knew I had them anyway.