Newest Graduate!

On Friday Zack graduated from Weber State with his Associates Degree. I don't know how it is ok that he has this degree BEFORE his High School diploma.... but that is how it all worked out! It was a nice (and SHORT) ceremony... it was great to recognize all of his hard work! He is a great kid! We are so proud of your accomplishments Zack!

A Pretty Place for my Flower Pins!

FINISHED PROJECT!

I needed a place to store all of the cute flower pins that we have been making.

This is what I came up with!

1. I started out with this wider than taller frame that I got for $8. Brayden & Zack could not believe that I was going to cover up the picture... Sorry!

2. Draw on the back where my ribbon is going and DRILL through where they intersect!

3. Add batting and trim at the edge of the picture.

4. Trim fabric to 1 1/2" around the picture.

5. Fold over the fabric and Glue it ot the back of the picture. Trim corners.

6. Pin 2 lengths of ribbon with a thumb tack at the marks on the top of the picture.

7. Cross ribbon in the front... then thumb tack onto the picture on the bottom.

Make sure that all ribbon is straight!

8. Spray paint frame. I did 3 or 4 coats of paint!

9. Antique frame. Just dilute a matching paint with a little water then wipe ON then OFF.

10. Add buttons. Just attach at the holes that were drilled earlier!

11. Add your pretty flower pins or hair clips!

MULCH anyone?

I love my yard and we have slowly been trying to add plants, trees and shrubs a little at a time. It can be sooo expensive! Saturday was the day... the day we finally took care of the dreaded weed problem on the side yard of our home! We usually have to hack down the taller that me weeds a couple of times a season... but NO MORE!

I don't know if you have every tried this method but we have and it worked pretty well! We have such a large area and this is a great solution! Just layer 5 to 7 pages of newspaper and get it wet then add a generous layer of mulch! WhaLaaa! No more weeds!

Doesn't it look nice and pretty?

We did not put the paper down in the front cause of all the lovely ground cover that I have... I still want it to spread.

We got enough to finish most of the yard but we will need 2 more scoops to finish up the garden! I will post pictures after we are done!

I am soo excited that I would jump up and down for JOY... but I can't! I'm too sunburned/stiff/sore & wounded to do it! It was STILL worth it!

Sneak peek!

Ok so I have been in a VERY creative mood lately! It is not something that comes on demand always so I was excited that I could find inspiration for next months crafts for Make & Take .

I cannot post the crafts for next month until the 26th so I thought that I would give a little sneak peek here!

The picture doesn't show it well.... but the wood is chunky and the little gnome has a teeny tiny nose! Thanks Laura for your crazy gnome fetish!

Project for Laundry Room

I love having natural light in my laundry room! It seems to brighten up the room and make the job seem easier. I guess it goes back to doing laundry when I was growing up. There were 7 girls (and 1 boy) so needless to say... the older kids did their own laundry! (It's OK! MY kids do their own laundry too!) Our laundry room growing up was in an 6ft. by 6 ft room if that! No window or anything... doing laundry was a chore!

So when I saw this idea (sorry I cannot remember where!!!) I knew that is what I wanted to do for that window treatment. It took her 5 hours to cut out the design of a 12" by 12" paper and I just don't have that kind of time! So here is my version!

1. Find a deal at the D.I.

$6 for a 26" by 21" picture frame

(you can use a ready made... but this cut down on cost)

2. Spray paint the empty frame black

3. Cut out DAMASK design with vinyl cutter!

5 hours down to 5 minutes! Weed design.

4. Apply a thick coat of ARMOUR ETCH (I found this at Micheal's)

(I could have gone a little thicker for better results)

Wait 5 minutes and wash off.

5. Peel off vinyl

6. I lined the back of my frame with ribbon and then add fish eye hooks to hang it from.

7. Add hooks to window sill and tie ribbon to frame. Then hang it up!

I LOVE IT! Much prettier version of laundry room! It still lets in lots of natural light and looks great too!

Easy Indoor Green House!

I saw this trick last month @ Relief Society. We have been so excited to plant for spring.

I thought we might get a jump on the seeds and try it for ourselves! Thanks Dave U.

First put the dirt in the egg carton and soak well!

Then put a seed in each section and poke into the soil! Morgan was a fabulous poker!

Cover the seeds and put into a bread bag. Blow it up and twisty tie it shut!

Watch them grow! The water should condense on the bag and fall into the soil!

How easy is that!

Meg's Halloween find... ALMOST!

Last weekend we took a road trip as a family... to Spanish Fork no less.... There were only a few grumbled mutterings under their breaths! We started out in the morning and stopped at the different D.I's along the way. We got a few fun things... then Megan called me over excitedly to show me what she had found!!! What a fun addition to any Halloween costume!!! They were $10 which didn't seem too bad, but I have a policy... they use their own money whenever possible... this way they have to decide if it is something that they REALLY REALLY want! She thought that $10 was a little steep for shoes to wear once so she asked the Manager if he would go down in price. Sadly he would not... but we still have the picture!

Meg loved how they made her ALMOST as tall as Zack!

Scary Sneezy Monster!

Last weekend I got this deal over at Target. They had their automatic air fresheners on sale for $6 and I had a coupon for $5 off.... so I figured $1 instead of $13 is a great price we will try some! We got them home and put the batteries in (Megan got one for her room too) and Megan came down and I asked her if she liked the smell... She said it was ok, but that it kept scaring her cause it would go off without warning. I LAUGHED with her (OK AT her) and the next day I put mine together and thought nothing more about it!

Later that night (about 12:45 a.m.) I was up reading and this loud noise scared me from the other room. It happened again about 40 minutes later!!! It sounded like a person SNEEZED and the sound carries so it seemed as if THAT PERSON WAS RIGHT NEXT TO ME! Needless to say I jumped again!

I finally figured out what was making the Scary Sneezy Monster noise after doing some investigation! It was my deal of the day! It now resides in the laundry room with the door CLOSED tight at night!

NOTICE it's big GREEN evil eye looking at me!!!

EASTER 2010

This year General Conference fell on Easter Sunday! It seems like it has been a long time since that has happened. I loved all of the talks on the atonement today! What a great way to start Easter Sunday off.

After Conference the Thomson family came over for Family Home Evening and an egg hunt! It was great to have the little ones here now that mine are getting older.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took! It was an accident! I wanted a picture of Zack w/Desi... for SOME reason he really enjoys her! I love that he is reaching out for her... I think it is a good indication of what kind of Dad he will be!

It took the girls a little while to figure out that there was actually CANDY in the eggs... but Maggie quickly caught on and could not get enough!

Here's our annual Easter Egg Hunt picture! (Minus Madi, Kyle & Ben)

Ben was shocked how grown up Megan and Monica are getting! He couldn't believe how different Meg looked in just 4 months!

Cute little chicks!

I cannot get the heart warming pictures of the big kids on the hunt anymore... so I guess this one of the loot will have to do!