Hike and Sack Lunch Activity

My Activity Day Invite!  

~How cute is that?~

Credits: Template Storyboard is from the Coffee Shop Blog. Papers and doodles are by Kate Hadifeild @ The Lily Pad. The brown paper, red checked paper,  felt flowers, and red butterfly are by Kaye Winiecki @ The Lily Pad. The hiking boot clip-art is from Clker.  I used the following fonts: Love Ya Like A Sister, Lady Rene, and Kristen ITC.
 On June 16th, 2011 we did a combined activity with the other group in our ward. Big sister decided to tag along on the hike too.  Technically she is too old for achievement days since she is in young woman's now but she didn't want to hang out alone at the house while little sissy and I went on the hike.  We met the other group at Kiwanis Park.  That day was a perfect day to hike!  It was cloudy and not too hot!  The hike took us about 15-20 minutes to get up to the beautiful waterfalls.  Within a couple weeks, the water has risen (we went on this same hike twice before the activity this year)!  Some of the stream water runs down the trail now.
Activity Day Hike and Lunch

My sweet girl! XOXO

Lunch time!  Each girl brought their own lunches!

The activity was a huge success no injuries or drama!  We had a big group of girls that came and they all seemed very happy together!  Yay!

I might as well add these gorgeous photos that we took a few weeks ago with our nephew and his wife (newly weds) at the same waterfalls at the beginning of June.  We sure enjoy spending a lot of time with them making wonderful memories together (cooking, playing games, hiking, etc)!  GOOD TIMES!  My girls adore their new cousin Keli!

A Wood Fish Bowl

A couple months ago while visiting my in-laws in southern Utah, my father in-law challenged us to make something creative.   John decided it would be fun to make a fish bowl for me to put jewelry, chap stick, coins, etc.  It also can be displayed in a room as decoration.  That was the same weekend when I made my material clothes for paper dolls.

Fish Bowl 

Supplies:  

Wood, chisel or grinding tools, sandpaper, and a light wood stain.

Instructions:
Step 1. Cut out the desired shape of the fish with a band saw. Drill a hole where the eye would be be and but a contrasting color of wood for the eye.  John used Zebra wood for the eye.

Step 2. Sand down the rough edges with a belt sander.

Step 3.  Continue to sand until desired smoothness.

Step 4. Shape and form with a chisel or grinding tool.  Next, use sandpaper to smooth it down.  

Step 5.  Lastly, apply wood stain until desired color is achieved.

Fun Summer Ideas for 2011

The kids have been out of school for only ten days and they are already bored.  All they seem to want to do is play computer games, watch TV, and hang out with friends.  I want to make a regular schedule of having them read for 20-30 minutes in the morning five times a week as well as reviewing some math a couple times a week.  We would like them to earn their "fun summer activities" by accomplishing some chores, making their beds, keeping their room clean, reading, and assisting me with cooking. I was inspired by The Crafting Chicks who made an fun list of 50 summer activities!  I came up with my own ideas of things we would like to accomplish as a family this summer.

Our 50 Fun Summer Ideas!

1.  Hike Battle Creek to see the waterfalls.

2.  Make strawberry freezer jam.

3.  Go jogging in the foothills (me).

4.  Hike and explore Timpangoes Cave.

5.  Volunteer at Strawberry Days and enjoy the events.

6.  Go to the temple with John and big sister to do Baptisms. 

7.  Make Block Art, Owl Boxes, etc.

8.  Sign up for swimming lessons for the girls.

9.  Go on a couple camping trips!

10.  Make slime, play dough, and giant bubbles!

11.  Make pudding pops and home made juice popsicles!

12.  Hike Bridal Veil Falls!

13.  Attend summer parades!

14.  Cool off by eating snow cones!

15.  Water, weed, and watch our box garden grow!

16.  Visit Yellowstone National Park.

17.  Soak in a hot spring!

18.  Pass off some personal progress goals with big sister!

19.  Go to an outdoor movie in the park or Drive In.

20.  Roast a perfect marshmallow or eat some Smores!

21.  Watch Fireworks!

22.  Hike Silver Lake!

23.  Create some silhouettes to hang on the wall!

24.  Go on a bike ride!

25.  Make fruit kabobs!

26.  Have a picnic in the canyon or park!

27.  Make ice cream in a bag!

28.  Make a clothesline photo holder craft.

29.  Go to Park City's Alpine Slide!

30.  Finish my cookbook project.

31.  Have a BBQ and swim with my sister's family!

33.  Have a spa day doing facials and manicures.

34.  Watch So You Think You Can Dance! 

35.  Teach little sis how to ride a bike.

36.  Plant some pretty wild flowers in a planter box!

37.  Buy a slip and slide or wacky sprinkler!

38.  Make Fish Bowl Gelatin or Glass Block Jello!

39.  Take the kids to Kangaroo Zoo!

40.  Make some cute flower flip flops!

41.  Go to the library and check out many cool books!

42.  Make a toy boat and watch it float down a stream!

43.  Go to a Utah water-park!

44.  Finds some good deals at flea markets and yard sales!

45.  Have a game night outdoors (cards and game boards)!

46.  Go to Mill Creek Canyon for hiking and fishing!

47.  Have a water fight with water guns, balloons, etc.

48.  Listen to a free concert in the park!

49.  Go to Cascade Springs and Alpine Loop!

50.  Ride the ski lift at Sundance!

Ack, Nearly 40 Years Old!!!

On June 10th was my hubby's big 36th birthday! Since we love to try new recipes, you maybe wondering what was on the Birthday boy's menu... Well, we made something delicious of course such as two types of skewers, a fruit salad, and coconut lime rice!

 

Herb Sirloin Beef and Italian Vegetable Skewers

Ingredients:

1 pound of beef sirloin 

2 green peppers

1 white onion

1 package of extra large mushrooms

1 bottle of Italian Dressing

Desired amount of rosemary, black pepper, and tarragon seasoning. 

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Cut the vegetables into uniformed sizes around 1 inch squared or cubed pieces. A useful tip when you have meat and vegetables about the same size, you will have even cooking. In a large bowl, soak vegetables in Italian Dressing.  Season the meat with the herbs.  Place skewers through meat and vegetables.  Bake for 15 minutes turning at least once or until desired doneness.  We still had some pink in the middle of the sirloin. 

Bacon-Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

recipe by Our Best Bites Cookbook on pages 46 and 117.  Our thoughts about this recipe: Wow, what a kid friendly recipe!  Even my picky eater loved this dish!  We enjoyed dipping the pineapple and bacon-wrapped chicken pieces in the extra teriyaki sauce!  We will be making this dish a lot in our household!  Next time we will marinate the chicken in the teriyaki sauce for a few hours before cooking. 

 Sweet and Savory Coconut Rice

recipe by Our Best Bites Cookbook on page 203. Our thoughts about the recipe: We added a little zesty twist by adding some fresh lime juice, lime wedges, and a little half and half.  The kids gobbled this dish up! We loved the creamy richness of the coconut milk flavor, YUM.

Birthday cakes can be so over rated in our household sometimes! Since my husband is a huge fan of sherbet, I was inspired by Make and Takes to make this fabulous watermelon pie instead of birthday cake!  We made it a little different than the website by just layering the sherbet on top of each other.  It was very easy to make and turned out very well!  What a fun and refreshing summer treat!

As you can tell, he loved his watermelon pie!!!

I made a "reel" cool fishing birthday card and bookmarks for my hubby!!

The Fishin' Birthday Card!

The front of the card says the following: "Happy Birthday Fishin' Fool.  The catch of the day of all the fish in the sea we are so glad we caught you!"

The front and inside of the card looks like this from left to right:

On the left inside of the card says: "Reel Women Fish" and on the right says: "We hope your birthday is fin-tastic!"  I left plenty of space on the bottom for us to write birthday wishes to him!  I used some brown twine to make fishing line on the front of the card and a small sewing button as embellishments.  The card turned out cute if I say so myself!  

The Fishin' Bookmarks

Card and Bookmark Credits: The paper and elements are all by Kaye Winiecki @ The Lily Pad  I used the following fonts: CK Fun and Segoe Print.

In the evening of his birthday, we went on a family outing to Highland Glen Park.  John was able to enjoy a little fishing time on the pond even though he didn't catch anything. The girls feed some ducks and played on the playground. John seemed very content spending time with us, eating good food, and looking at his new home-made bookmarks/birthday card!  What a great day well spent!!!!  I love you, babe! XOXO

Sleepless Nights Scrapping Memories

I've been busy scrapping lately and learning how to use photoshop element actions with my photographs!  It has been fun learning how to edit photos and scrap some cute pages!

Here are some of my recent favorite digital scrapbook layouts!

My Little Mermaids, 2004

Credits: The template is by Rainy Day Designs and everything else is by Kay Miller Designs. 

Salt Lake City Aquarium, 2010

Credits: paper and orange reef by Kay Miller Designs.  The aquarium alpha and doodles are by Kate Hadfield.  I used the following fonts: Love Ya Like a Sister and Segoe Print.

Fairytale Memories, 2011

Credits: The template is by Rainy Days Designs. I used a lot of different elements from Kaye Winiecki's kits such as the following: Green Jelly Alpha, Ruby's Room, Paper Daisies, It Pays to Believe, Felty Friends, and Once Upon a Paper.  Some of the papers are by Karah Fedricks. The Fireflies are by Natalie Braxton and the sun element from ABC Felties by Valerie Wibbons @ The Lily Pad. I used the following fonts: Love Ya Like a Sister and Grumble.