New Craft Room

This is above the windows on the back wall above the desk

In the spring I moved my craft room into Kai's old room.

Miss my little boy but I liked being in there because it makes me feel close to him.

Emil took over my craft room for climbing/hiking gear.

While I liked the idea at first after a while I had mixed feelings. I really missed my counter space and my storage was just a bunch of pieces that didn't belong anywhere. So even though I had a whole room it still felt like I didn't have any space.

Here it is before, this is the closet wall

The right wall. This is actually after I started to move stuff out. There was a tall storage shelf in between the bins and the notebooks.

The left wall.

The entrance. Just no cohesiveness.

I languished through the summer but once the kids started school I was ready for a fresh start.

This was the color I decided to go with.

I played with the idea of buying new furniture but after I brainstormed with my friend Kari, I decided to take this storage system from Ikea -we've had it since Emil Michael was a baby- and give it a makeover.

I sanded it down, painted it white and distressed. It turned out great!

Right Wall- ignore the doors off the hinges-Emil's working on it...

I LOVE that I have shelves to put baskets on or cute jars.

This was a great idea for fabric. Clear enough to see what colors I have but not too clear so it can still be moderately messy. I had some of them already but the ones stacked in the center I bought.

Closet Wall- The black frames on the wall are adhesive vinyl chalkboard stickers.

I list all my projects on them. Sweet!

Back wall

I was finally able to put up The Wonder Wall (the big white sheet looking thing) my sister Sheila had given me for my birthday. It's really nice because you can slap up quilt squares on it and move them around with out a fuss. It's great for figuring out what you want your design to be.

It's got a beach vibe going on that I love. Come craft with me sometime. I've been working on some ideas for Christmas.;) I'll show you next post...

Anna's Wedding

The Savannah post was kinda long and blogger kept flaking out so I decided to do the trip in two parts. Part 1, the setting and 2, the wedding. So here's part 2!

Noah was kinda bored as we waited so we let him take the pictures. So sorry if they're fuzzy! He enjoyed it and it kept him happy.

The wedding was at Trafagar Square. Here's Emil's Dad before the wedding. Isn't he the cutest?

Justin, anxiously awaiting....

Anna & her Dad

One of the neat things about Savannah was that they have something like 20 squares scattered through out the Historic District. They are about a block big. Each one is different but they usually have a monument in the center and each is like a little garden area with huge old trees and bushes. I love that even thought you're in a city you don't feel like it with all the vegetation.

Anna did all the planning for her wedding by herself and she did a great job.

Noah and the Cousins

Maria & Emil

Emil's parents, Emil & Rosalie

Maria showing us she's still got the goods.

All the Filipino's enjoyed dancing and Kirstin was right in the center of them all teaching them dances she learned at EFY. She gets her moves from her DAD!

Sweet Savannah

Ok, I'll admit it, I've become a lazy blogger. However that is going to change. I'm mending my ways so here is a post that's just over a month old but hope you enjoy it none the less.

Labor Day Weekend, Emil's cousin, Anna was married. We went as a family to the wedding in Savannah, Ga. It was so charming. We had never been to Savannah before and we weren't disappointed!

It was about a 7 hour drive from our house so we stopped at South of the Border, which I had always heard of but had never actually been there. Apparently Emil's family always stopped there when they were heading to FL on their family trips.

There was this entire store, a whole building, that had funky hats. I think Kirstin and Noah tried on every hat there. I'm amazed we didn't end up with lice!

We cracked ourselves up posing and being corny tourist.

One of the days we took the trolly and really enjoyed the Historic District.

There were so many beautiful old southern houses and buildings. Spanish Moss was hanging from every tree. It was beautiful but kind of haunting too.

There was also a LOT of wrought iron. It was so detailed. (Note the waterspout at the end of the gutter. It's suppose to be a dolphin but looks more like a catfish to me!) It use to be a symbol of status so many of the old houses had it.

I loved this window. I don't know if it's the shape or color but it was so beautiful to me.

This is the SCAD. Savannah College of Art and Design. It's a pretty elite Art School from the sound of it.

They actually own buildings all over the Historic District and I think the school is one of the reasons the area has such a artistic feel.

This is the bluff that overlooks the Savannah River, the body of water that eventually leads out to the Atlantic Ocean. It may not look like it but the bluff is probably around 25 feet high.

Our favorite place by far was the Savannah Candy Kitchen. You see that pan? Those are candy turtles. Mondo huge ones! It smelled so good! I really wanted to apply for a job but thought the commute might be a bit excessive. Darn the luck!

Caramel Apples, need I say more? Of course this is what I'll be making for October!

Noah's dilema was too much candy, too little $$. So sad! (Don't feel too sorry for him I gave him $10 for souvenirs and it all went to candy!)

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene came and went without much of a fuss. We were very lucky. The power only cut out for about 2 hours on Saturday night. I later found out we are in Zone 1 which is high priority since we are located between the jail and courthouse. Lucky us!

Saturday was very windy and rainy but not too much it wasn't until we hit the backside of the hurricane that we got more flooding. Because of the direction the wind was blowing much of the water from the sound was blown inland. It's slowly receding though.

The kids were suppose to start school on Thursday but because of mandatory evacuations on the Outer Banks they cancelled school Thursday and Friday. It was cancelled today as well since there are still many roads that are flooded. I guess we'll have to wait and see about tomorrow.

We did loose our big tree that the treehouse and rock climbing wall were on. So sad! It was in the wet part of the yard and the top of the tree was dead. I think the weight of the tree pulled it down as the ground became saturated with water plus the strong winds. Thankfully it fell back into the 404 so we can take our time cleaning it up after the area dries out. I'm guessing it'll probably take at least a month.

Yesterday since church was canceled, we had a small sacrament meeting in our home with a family that live in an adjoining neighborhood. I gave a short talk on service and then we changed and went out into the neighborhood to help others that had trees down in their yards. We helped about 8 other neighbors with cleanup and had 5-6 households out helping at the time. It was nice to enjoy serving our community with others that were not of our faith.

Serving our fellowman is so essential to our being disciples of Jesus Christ. We have had some tension in our neighborhood over the past year about some dredging proposals and it has left many with hard feelings. I was saddened to see some neighbors continue to harbor hard feelings and willingly help some neighbors but not all. It reminded me of the sermon on the mount in Matt 5: 44 & 46 when Christ tells us

"45... Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?"

It gave me much food for thought so that even in our unusual Sunday activities I had spiritual food for thought.

Do you like Greek Yogurt? I do!

July was busy with Youth Conference, Girls Camp and Creativity! Each was fun but I didn't take pictures of much except for the creativity.

A couple of weeks ago the I taught the girls I work with in Church how to make these cute flip flops. They were so adorable! What do you think? I got the idea from the Make it- Love it site.

Noah had asked for "Army" PJ's so I decided to use my silhouette to make some awesome heat transfers army cutouts for the shirt. The bottoms I made using a old pair of his PJ's and tracing it on some paper.

He cracks me up with his hand on his hip. I did not tell him to pose like that it was all his own doing. I'll probably do some more like this for the fall. He really liked the shirt and the way it turned out.

After hitting the big 4-0 this June I decided to try to contain my sweet demon by eating only 1 sweet thing a day. It has been hard but I've been doing well until Noah asked to make donuts last sunday. I had been wanting to try a recipe for Beignets. They are similar to donuts but shaped differently. Still fried yumminess. I decided to glaze some of them. You're suppose to powder sugar them and I did do some like that too but I preferred the glazed.

I did feel a little guilty about that because this week I decided to try to make my own Greek Yogurt. I like Greek Yogurt because it's thicker than your typical yogurt but usually cost $1 a carton for like the single serving!! More than I like to spend so I wanted to see if I could do it for cheaper. One site said making it yourself was about 10 times cheaper than buying it. It was so easy and such a success, I ate it for breakfast the rest of the week with mandarin oranges and way more of Amy's granola than is on there in this picture.

I mean look at it!!!

Do you want to know how to do it?

I know you do....

This is all you need :

4 cups whole milk ( you can probably use 2% it just might not be as thick)

1/2 cup dry milk

3 Tablespoons plain yogurt

A two quart thermos

First you take your milk and stick it in the microwave for about 5 minutes.

Stir it and microwave for apron. 3-5 minutes more. You want it to reach a temp of around 180-200 degrees. The milk should be bubbling around the edges of the glass bowl.

Pull it out of the microwave being careful not to burn yourself, and let it cool on the counter until it reaches between 105-110 degrees.

At this point mix your dry milk, yogurt and about 1 cup of the cooled milk in a bowl. After throughly combined, add it into the other 3 cups of whole milk. Whisk to combine well then pour into the thermos. Cap and let stand on the counter for 6-8 hours. Be sure not to jar or move the thermos.

(If you like your yogurt tart then leave it for the longer time-

the longer it sits the tarter it gets)

After you have done that dump it out into a mesh sieve with cheese cloth in it over a bowl and place in the fridge to thicken overnight or 8 hours. This is where it gets so cool!

After that time much of the watery whey will have separated and you have your super thick Greek Yogurt. Whisk again to work out any lumps. If you want to eat it plain go for it but popular way to eat Greek Yogurt is with Honey so you can pour over as much or as little as you like or if you like fruit just use jam to flavor. I also read that Greek yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

Y? Because we like you

"Y?" because we like you!

I guess it's time to stop reading everyone elses blog and buckle down on my own. So it's been a while since I last posted, ahem, a month, but it's summertime and the living is easy right?

We got Emil Michael off to BYU and he's doing well. I should have taken more pictures but I'm getting to be a real slacker when it comes to picture taking, esp. on the road. Here are a few.

I remember taking this same picture last year when we went on the tour. I just love how the columns of the building makes a perfect frame for the mountains. So cool.

Here's a pic of him after orientation and a blue snow cone on campus.

A pic of the front of his apartment, which was nicer than Emil and My first apartment. (I know, kind of scary!)

When I saw this I knew he'd be OK there. Play us a song you're the pianoman!

And what I had for dinner when we went out for Sushi. Miso soup for dinner, cheesecake for dessert. Yum! If only all meals could be so well thought out!

What else have we been up to?

The beach for the family and Emil esp. , EFY and Youth Conference for Kirstin, Allergy shots and sleepovers with the Cross boys for Noah, and Girls Camp Prep and wedding alterations for me.

Girls Camp is next week and I'll be so glad to see the other side of it. I love Girls Camp, I do but I also enjoy it being done. It's a lot of work!

Have a great summer!

Girls Camp is next week