Thanksgiving 2012

So, this Thanksgiving, my nephew completed his mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Italy, and came home. All of my kids were so excited, as they really enjoy doing things with Brayden, and there has been such a noticeable difference with him gone. I know his own family really missed him. Anyway, we drove up to Utah. Luckily for us, their was some snow a couple weeks ago, and the ski lifts were open!! Yay for us!! Snowbird here we come!

The snow was fine until the afternoon, when it began to get a little icy!

 One of the evenings, we went to City Creek Mall, in Salt Lake City, and walked around. One of my nieces said on the opening night, they put glitter in the creek or something?? and it was amazing. However, we did not see that. No glitter!! Bummer! 

This is my hubby! He really loves his nieces! Just looking at this picture makes me laugh! That is really his personality with those nieces and nephews! Everything is a big tease fest!

At the end of the night, we were able to walk over to Temple Square and see the beautiful lights over there. It was the first night they were all lit up. There was a neat feeling when the narrator and music began at the large outdoor nativity display. Sorry, no picture of that, darn! The sheep were so cute!

This is a picture of all the cousins and there were 5 of them missing since their families weren't able to make it up to Utah. We missed you! 

I was so thankful to be able to go, even though I caught some kind of nasty bug and was feeling SO under the weather! 

YW in Excellence 2012

We recently had our YW in Excellence program & I thought I would share some of the pictures from that night with you! Since the theme this year was "Arise & Shine Forth", we kind of brainstormed what would shine. I had a bunch of these silver stars left over from a camp craft a few years ago & immediately came to mind the song, "Like the Stars" by Jenny Phillips. I love the words she wrote:

Lyrics to “Like the Stars” 

by Jenny Phillips

The night is dark, the word is shifting

Everything is so unsure

But the stars above are always constant

Reminding us of who we are.

We were meant for higher things

And God you want us to be

Like the stars

Steadfast and unchanging

Immovable and unwavering

A strong and holy light

A sure and steady guide

When all of the world is falling apart

You want us close to where you are

Like the stars

So burn in me

True and steady

Give me strength to shine

Use my life

To light the darkness

Leading those who fall behind

It’s your design for me

And I’ll give everything to be

Like the stars

Steadfast and unchanging

Immovable and unwavering

A strong and holy light

A sure and steady guide

When all of the world is falling apart

You want us close to where you are

Like the stars

We will shine our light

We will shine our light

Like the stars

Steadfast and unchanging

Immovable and unwavering

A strong and holy light

A sure and steady guide

When all the world is falling apart

We want to be close to where you are

Like the stars

Like the stars

We printed these up on a card and as we called each girl to come up and share with their parents something they worked on that year and how it influenced their life or testimony, etc., we handed them the card and a necklace off the board below. 

Below is a picture of the podium all decorated up!

This was their "Walk of Fame", so to speak! 

At the end of the night, the girls all stood and sang, "Like the Stars" by Jenny Phillips! So beautiful!

We had wanted to have this night in a room other than the chapel so we wouldn't need to dress up too much, and the cultural hall was being used prior to our time, but that meant we wouldn't have much room to put their projects on display. So, we put them in the hall. (This probably violated the fire code, but it was only for an hour.)

 All in all, it was a good night. The girls were so cute, each adding a funny little way of expressing themselves, or sharing a testimony building story. Each girl only took about 2 minutes, so it went rather fast, and didn't make for a long night, which is always appreciated by all.

November Pinterest Club

Our November Pinterest Club was held a couple of weeks ago at my home. The above JOY signs are something I have been wanting to do for about a year. I really love them. We just cut a stencil on the Silhouette machine out of a clear binder cover, which was thick enough to stencil on, distressed them, applied stain, and it was all finished!! So easy!  

 The above 2 pics are of the girlies doing a cuff bracelet. I know they took a pic of the finished project and I will add that on tomorrow. They did turn out adorable!

Again, we just cut a stencil for this sign. It is getting a snowflake on the top of it, but this pic doesn't have it yet. LOVE it!!

YAY Pinterest Club!! Happy crafting!

November Garden Happenings

Well, here in Arizona, it is still pretty warm. The days are still in the high 70's, low 80's. The nights are dropping down into the 40's some of the time. However, the garden is still loving the temps! As you can see, below, the broccoli is getting pretty big, although not big enough to produce anything yet. The radishes out front, I have been harvesting every week or so. This morning I took a bunch in for a salad, and gave the tops to the chickens. 

These pictures were taken in early morning, when some of the garden is still in some shade. I really need to replant some lettuce seeds, because I did do that...I'm sure I did, but I just can't see where they are sprouting. So, I need to get to that this week. I also have about a million sweet pea seeds to put in. That is on the list for this week as well. 

The peppers continue to produce an enormous amount of jalepenos and I continue to pick them. This morning I took a couple fresh eggs from the chickens and julienned some spinach onto them as they were cooking. I thought it would give it some wonderfully spice to put some jalepeno slices on there as well. That was a big fat no, as the one I sliced was hotter than ever! I ended up picking them all off, as they were just too hot to eat. (smiley face)

The 4 tomato plants I have growing are doing well. I am going to need to get them covered soon. They are definately heat lovers and not fond of the cold. Can't wait for the tomatoes on them to ripen!

The birds have been feasting on the pea shoots! I am not super happy and plan to cover these ASAP or I will have no peas left!

Below are pics of the new addition on the chicken coop that my hubby and lovely sons so kindly (without very much grumbling), helped me build. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a couple hour project turned into a 6 hour project simply because the dirt was not level, and we ended up moving the shed that is to the right of the now attached addition. It was a nightmare! 

During the move of the shed, we discovered there was a cute little mouse living under it. Our dog, Gracie, the 8 yr old Weimaraner, is a hunter for sure, and she would not let that mouse go. However, it crawled into one of the holes in the Rubbermaid shed, that are on the bottom and we could not get to it!

The next night, my hubby looked outside and there it was, staring at him on the back porch! Gracie went crazy, and sniffed it out, right out of my herb bed, and killed it! Finally, Gracie earned her keep!

As you can see, I need to get the addition painted to match the original coop, and I need to make a trip to my father-in-law's house to pick up some chickens. He says the secret is to reach up into the trees where they roost, just when it is dark, and grab them by the feet. I think that sounds a little creepy, but I did try to catch some the other day in the afternoon, to no avail. Those little things are just too fast. So, I think maybe I might enlist my hubby although he doesn't know it yet!! (tee hee hee!!)

Hawaiian Luau Birthday Party

In August, our oldest daughter decided to throw herself a birthday party.

For some reason, it was to be a Luau. Which essentially meant, the food and 

decorations were somewhat Hawaiian.

She had music going, and she and her friends dined on pork her dad had smoked. He does love to smoke meat!! They swam and visited and had a great time. Happy 20th, Alyssa!

Our New Etsy Shop, Beyond Words Boutique, Is Open!

This morning out walking with my husband, we looked over and saw the most beautiful sunrise reflected off the pond. In only minutes all the pink had gone. So BEAUTIFUL! Loved it!

My daughters and I spent yesterday afternoon getting our etsy shop, Beyond Words Boutique, ready to open. Haylee has been working on earrings and we got those photographed and listed. You can see them here <http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeyondWordsBoutique?ref=ss_profile>. Check it out when you have time! 

These are a couple of stockings that should be listed in the shop pretty soon.

On a side note, the garden is just starting to look good. The broccoli is growing and I noticed this am that there are a few little tomatoes growing. Yay!! I do have some lettuce almost ready to harvest and tomorrow I will post a pic of the addition on the chicken coop. I have yet to get new chickens but hopefully soon!

Happy Gardening & Crafting!!