A Little Summer Fun Just Feels Right

Road trip!!!  Very spur of the moment road trip with a great friend. We headed to California to visit another friend and her girls while they were puppy-sitting for her brother. On the boardwalk one afternoon we stopped to take pics and much to our surprise these Navy guys jumped in! Definitely old enough to be our sons but quite a hoot just the same. The middle one was so shy and jumped a little when I put my hands on his shoulders. Didn't mean anything by it just wanted to pose for the photo. Too funny!!!

Here is the little sweetheart that we were puppy-sitting. It was really difficult not to bring her home with me. She was only 9 weeks old and such a good girl. Very well behaved and just so dang cute!!

We had a great time while in San Diego! So glad we jumped at the chance to take a road trip!!

Sew Much Fun on a Hot Afternoon!!

This past Saturday was class/party time again!!! The girls that had signed up for a previous 12x12 class that I had to change were asked to come back for a new & improved day of fun! It was so hot outside I decided to go with a luau theme! Why not make it tropical!

Setting up for this one was so much fun! I still am not sure which part of this is my favorite! All the decorations just make me smile!

Here is another example of things that I try out that just don't work....caramel apple bites. Sounds great right! But alas all the caramel just rolled right off the apple bites onto the plate. I am sure a different type of caramel would have worked better. But they were still yummy!!

                                                 
                                                                 Table settings for class!

                                          
                                                                       Kit & supplies
                                                            along with name tags-just for fun!!

Box lunches were on the menu. I decided since there would be quite a bit of sewing that the class should be a bit longer to allow time to complete the project. So I included lunch! So glad I did. It was lots of fun to prepare. We had homemade waldorf chicken salad croissants, fruit kabobs, veggies, chips in little bags (don't think we got a pic of those), Jone's soda or Mike's hard raspberry lemonade and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Using mason jars for drinks and dessert is a favorite! They just look so dang cute. I know...I am a little crazy but hey...I have a good time. :)

                                                                   So good on a hot afternoon!!

The ladies hard at work! Many of them brought their own sewing machines so class went a little quicker. Although as per my classes...I usually pack too many things into the album and today was no exception. We stitched, used our sewing machines, carved stamps, made homemade stamps from foam & painted our way through the pages.

Some of the them didn't want to be on camera....hope it is OK to show this view from a distance. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Here is a shot of the front cover of our album. It was so much fun! Thanks to all the ladies that shared the day with me!!

Family Fun, Flames & A Failure

It was birthday celebration time around here again!! This time it was Papa & John. To spice things up a bit I decided to make some mustaches to snap photos with. I thought the boys would make fun of me but instead everybody was game & had a blast with them. Made for some fun pics.

I used my giant cupcake cake pan again. It is just so dang cute. This time I wrapped it in paper like a real cupcake & added a banner.  I am really glad I bought the cake pan (40% off coupon at Michaels)...well worth it!

I tried a few other new things. I love to experiment at our family parties to see what works and what doesn't. I carved the radishes to look like little mushrooms. They remind me of the Mario video game. haha! They were ok but then what do you do with them. Maybe I should have put them in a little jar so they stood up straight. Not sure if this one will ever be repeated.....

The next test was dipping cherries in white chocolate. They worked just fine but they only tasted OK...not wonderful. Honestly I prefer the cherries just plain. So...doubt that one will be offered again either. I would count it as a failure.  But definitely fun to try!

Now you would expect me to say this was a failure but nope...this is just "up in flames"! I saw a recipe online for S'More Pie! My family loves a simple chocolate pudding pie. So I made that with the graham cracker crust and topped it with marshmallows. The idea was to bake it and brown the marshmallows and viola' you have S'More Pie! Well Miss Smartypants here thought it would be quicker to broil the pie and that way the pie wouldn't get warm but the marshmallows would brown. Nope...wrong again!! They caught on fire!! I would have loved a photo of the flames but we were too busy putting them out! You would think I would count this as a failure but it was just too dang funny to be a flop! We laughed for days about the "flaming pie". Well worth the mishap to have some good laughs and fun memories!

So...here's to an awesome birthday party and some really fun memories!! Maybe this will "spark" a new idea for a party favorite!

Goofing Around

Just a little goofing around on a hot summer day! So many things to be grateful for!

Sucked In

Here is the reason that I haven't been on my blog lately! I am totally hooked on Pinterest. It is so much fun!
Dangerous, but fun! So forgive me...I will be back soon!  

A little Adventure

Our Art Group met again last night at The Creative Quest in Glendale. It is quite a distance to go & sometimes I think I will skip it but I am always glad when I go!! Just sharing ideas and seeing the talent of the other women always leaves me inspired. These women are SO good at what they do.

Just throwing in a few layouts that I have done lately for my long overdue vacation album. Not sure why this is taking me forever but it is.

It is fun to relive the adventure & relaxation that we had on this trip. It was a much needed getaway for both of us. And we are grateful that we had the opportunity to go.

Oh and the top photo is my attempt at watercolor. I have a long way to go & lots to learn but it sure is relaxing! I received quite a few great tips last night. And I have a few other new ideas up my sleeve!
Here's to a creative week!! Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Today was apple & peach picking day!! We have so much fruit on both trees! Yummy!!

The birds get a few of the apples but we still have a ton.

The ones that aren't quite good enough go to the horses next door. They love it!

We added a couple nets to the peach tree this year and that really helped keep the birds away. The crop is much better this year because of that.

We will still have another couple days of picking left as the fruit isn't all quite ripe yet. But boy is it delicious!!
I see peach cobbler in the near future!

Next up a family BBQ!!

And of course more swimming!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!