My Sweet Little Boy

Caleb never ceases to amaze me. He has a way of bringing me back "down to earth" by his simple, cute observations!

A week after we planted our garden The weather turned pretty cold here. Beau and I were both a little bummed that we might possibly lose some of our garden due to the cold nights. So we decided to blanket and cover the flowers and the garden, just to help, in case it did freeze at night.

The day after we had covered our plants, I loaded the kids in the van to run some errands. As we were driving out of the drive way Caleb got this look of concern on his face and said " Mom, why are the plants covered?" I quickly answered him, glad to explain, that we were helping the plants to survive. His scowl continued and his eyebrows creased even more as he said , almost appalled with me, "Don't you know mom, that dad blessed them. And that they will be OK!?" It was a statement rather than a question.

And there you have it. The words of a five year old boy, his convincing faith that he KNEW the plants would be fine! I told Beau later that day my conversation with Caleb. Beau smiled and told me that morning Caleb and him said a prayer to help the garden survive. So Caleb in discovering that everything was covered was just simply stating the fact that he had faith it would be fine!

I am thankful for children that always have a way of humbling me! If I could only bottle their faith! I am also thankful for a husband who is not afraid to pray for, and teach our children to pray for the things that others might find "trivial." I am glad that he was able to teach Caleb and in turn, Caleb teaching and reminding me to just have a little faith! Thank goodness for my precious little ones!! What would I do without them?

WINNER..Or should I say WINNERS!!!

So I put everyones name, who commented on my contest blog, in a hat and pulled one out! So the winner is ~


CONGRATULATIONS Kari! (Email your address, etc, again to my email address just to make sure I have it! And if you want a specific quote let me know!) And I will ALSO be mailing with your framed quote another handmade creation just for you!

I was feeling kind of bad to mail out just one since they are fairly simple to make and since I also had so many people comment! So I decided to draw one more name out. This winner will receive one of the above quote creations!! The second winner is~



So Bri Harris make sure you email me your mailing address also so I can get yours in the mail!

Thank you to all who participated. This was fun for me, as I hope it was fun for you! I am excited to get these out and be watching for another contest down the road!!

Happy Bloggings!!
{New Picture Post below~}

Canyon pictures and Fun

I took the kids for another drive up the canyon. We packed a picnic lunch but when we got up to our destination, of course being the space case mother I am, I had forgotten their lunch! HA! So we just had a fun drive instead! The kids of course had to "rock find" and I have lots of new ones in my yard from there "collection"! I was able to get some cute shots of the kiddos too! (Always a bonus in my book)

I enjoy taking drives so much! Beau has been "On call" since the beginning of the month so we can't leave cell phone range. But luckily only one more week of "On call" and hiking and camping for us can begin! Nothing clears my head more quickly, or brings me peace of mind, then getting out in nature and exploring all of God's beautiful creations!! The scenery is so amazing here. I don't think I could ever get enough! I love being outside with the kiddos! I need it as much as they do!

For my sister ~ Sharla Anne~

So I know that this is late birthday post to my sister. And I am so sorry but of course I wouldn't forget to do it even if it is late!


I have so many wonderful things to say about my sister Sharla. She is such a kind hearted, genuine person. She has a wonderful sense of calmness that surrounds her and I truly admire that about her! She has strength and is very kind hearted towards others. She really is such a good person and I love her so much!

Shar and I have so many wonderful memories together. We have always been close and she has ALWAYS been one of my Best friends! My very favorite memory of Sharla is something that I treasure so much. I got really sick one year at girls camp and caused everyone quit a scare. I was about 14 years old and Sharla was about 10-11 ish. When I got home there was a cute letter sealed and tucked under my bedroom door. I opened it and it had a square cutout of her lips she had imprinted on the paper with lipstick. The letter read "Put this where you hurt the most and know that I will always love you and I hope it makes you feel better" It was so sweet and tender. I remember crying and I still have it to this day!

Shequarla ~(this is what I call her)
You have always been somebody I have looked up to. You have courage and strength that I wish I could have too! You are such a good mother and example of patience with your children. You and I have shared so much and always had so much fun together. I am so thankful for such a wonderful sister and friend! I love reminiscing about "Huck Finn" (remember?) Our late nights giggling, staying up in the van, our long talks, our honesty with each other, teasing "Jeremy's twin" (get it?) , shooting ground squirrels at the cabin, pretending we were twins, sleeping on the tramp, sharing clothes, tubing in the snow, sledding, "sweet nougat and caramel"(remember?), laughing, crying together, Sharing mothering experiences, you cooking for me while I was prego, ("French Toast sounds kind of good, but I don't know?") and much much more!! Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for wonderful sisters, for you as my sister! I love you so much Shar and hope you had the best birthday ever!! I miss you sooooo much! Happy Birthday!!

Inexpensive Gift Idea & Contest!

So I have been promising many of you who have requested for a long time that I would do a post on an inexpensive gift idea. I apologize this has taken me forever to get to. But I finally have found something that I hope will be worth the wait! Plus keep reading to see how you can WIN one!

A while back when I was browsing (O.K. yeah right- how do you just browse here) at Tai Pan, I came across cool framed poems/ sayings that were all done antique. They were so cute and fabulous. But in my own cheap and thrifty mind I was thinking "Hey- self- you could make these for a fraction of the cost." So I decided that this would be the post I have promised. I know many have also asked to have step-by-step instructions, so I hope this helps!!

1st~ Type up all the poems, quotes, or sayings that you like. (I just printed mine out on regular printer paper, but you could use card stock too)

2nd~ Cut the poem, saying, etc. to the size of the frame you have.

3rd~ Crumple the saying up into a ball and then unfold it, so it is nice and crinkled.














4th- Spray stain your saying or quote. ( I use Design Master spray satin from Roberts. You could use regular stain, although the spray stain drys in seconds. Or even dip your paper in tea to give it a old weathered look. The more crinkled your paper is the better the creases will appear darker.)

















5th~ Paint your frames the color you want them. (I bought dollar store frames that were ugly and just spray painted them with a high gloss black spray paint.*hint* High gloss makes it not look like spray paint. So my frames cost me $1.00 each. I also found some bigger 5x7 frames at the DI for .75 cents each and spray painted them too!) Sand your frames down a little around the edges if you like that look too!

6th~ Frame your quotes and enjoy!!














(This is what I gave Savanah and Caleb's teachers as a gift)



*Hope This is self-explanatory enough!*
~ My friend Gina and my Sister Hanna have both had CONTESTS on their blogs. So I thought I would give it a try too! If you LEAVE A COMMENT I will put your name in a drawing and in a weeks time I will draw a name and mail the WINNER one of these loving creations!!) Good Luck!~ *blog stalkers..I know you are out there...you are welcome to play too~* PLUS I will throw in an EXTRA bonus to the winner. Another hand made SURPRISE just for you!

Flowers, Veggies, Fruit, and More

I know that posting about my flowers, and garden may seem kind of boring. But this is part of what we have been so busy with!

We have got our flower pots in and our front bed all done. It was fun picking out flowers and letting the kids help!










Our garden took us two days to finish. I thought we could bust it out in one day but the 100+ weather made us all a little sluggish! HA!





Our raised beds consists of : (1st bed) Green peppers, Red Peppers, jalapeño peppers, and a variety of different kinds. (2nd bed) Juicy fat boy tomato's, cherry tomato's, Roma tomato's, and also a variety of others. (3rd bed) Peas, onions, green beans, and yellow beans. (4th bed) This bed has carrots, spinach, spring mix lettuce, and another kind of onion. ~ I hope it all turns out!!





The bigger section of the garden has:
~Crookneck Squash, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Two varieties of pumpkins, banana squash, yellow squash, zucchini, corn, and two other things I can't remember! I thought that we would have left over room, but we had a hard time fitting all of that in there. We ended up planting our strawberries in hanging baskets because of lack of space!!

We are hoping for lots of harvest so we can make fresh salsa, can lots of things, and enjoy fresh fruit! Yummy....we can't wait!!