Look Who's Turning 4 ~

Well, she doesnt turn 4 for a few more days, but we had her big birthday party at the house on Saturday, and it was quite a hit! Lots of family and friends joined us for the "My Little Pony" party, and a good time was had by all! There was delicious food, yummy cake, yard games and laughter.

The cake was a big hit...here's a tip...the next time you make a boxed cake mix, follow the directions exactly, but before you pour it into the pan, mix in a can of cherry pie filling....WOW! Lots of raves for that little surprise :)

Of course, any cake covered in lots of frosting is a hit with the kids :)

Here's a sweet moment of Jordyn with Daddy...no love here! :)

Living in the mountains, we dont have much in the way of paved roads, but she really wanted some roller skates, so here they are. Looks like we'll be making several trips to town to try them out. Of course, there's always the garage at Aunt LeAnns at the front house. She received many wonderful gifts...new clothes, shoes, games, barbies, horses of one kind or another, movies, books, etc...But for the grand finale.......

a new motorized ride for Jordyn, courtesy of grandma and grandpa. She drove this thing for hours, till the battery died. I loved watching her drive this all around the meadow! She laughed and laughed, and just couldnt get enough of her new Barbie ride! She looked so grown up :) It was a magical pony party indeed! Hope your weekend was filled with magic too!

Misc Fun in July ~

Here is my first block for the Stay at Home Robin on Kate's blog. Obviously im doing a Halloween theme...and obviously, its not lined up very well. :) Its paper pieced, and once again i am reminded why i dont do paper pieced blocks very often...tearing the paper off is a nightmare! Thats probably why my block didnt turn out very square...i did the four sections, then winged it without paper at the end. Oh well, its still cute, and i can always applique a spider over the center :) I think i might try to work on a second SAH Robin quilt, perhaps a Winter or Christmas theme. Each month Kate will post a size requirement, and after 12 months, we will have created a 16"X18" quilt. The first block was to be a 6" finished square. I chose the spiderweb pattern from Marcia Hohn's quilters cache. I saw photos from a similar round robin, and the quilts were lovely. These quilts will not travel though, so we will be creating these at home, hence the name of the Robin. Anyways, ill be posting these as we go...so stay tuned!

Last night we had a ferocious hail storm...this photo doesnt quite do it justice, but the storm lasted about 20 minutes, and who knows what kind of damage it did to my garden! Too wet out to check it out yet!

Jordyn was a little freaked out by the storm, but then, we have a metal roof, so anything falling from the sky makes a thunderous sound when it hits our house.

And i thought id include a few 4th of July photos...Here is a shot of Justin's Aunt LeAnn and Patrick, Justin's old elementary school teacher from the one room school house. He was out visiting from Arizona, so this unusual cold weather was a bit much for him. He moved there for health reasons about a year ago and we sure miss him, so it was nice to get together!

Naturally, i had to include a fireworks shot...

and last, Jordyn enjoying her very first sparkler! Hope everyone had a happy 4th!

Can it really be July already?!?

Warning: Photo Overloaded Blog!

Not much on the quilting front...alas, nor the painting front, but i have been creating! I finished the Santa stitchery and started on this "Seasons" stitchery. Its a cute design and should make a nice gift at Christmas :) Trying to stay ahead of the game this year!

Speaking of getting ahead...i also ordered some novelty fabrics that were on clearance at Hancocks...now im ready for the next I-spy swap. And of course, i just had to order some of that new Christmas fabric by Kaufman...isnt it pretty?!

We had family up for father's day weekend, and Jordyn had a ball playing with cousins. They pigged out on watermelon, swam all day in the kiddie pool, climbed all over the swing set...

and basically had a blast together! Jordyn loved having kids to play with, and i was pretty thrilled about the break too :)

Last weekend we celebrated my Father-in-laws 70th birthday!

He was part of the FAB Company back in the day, and this poster was given to him from one of the other band members. He was quite surprised, as he didnt know any of these still existed :)
For his birthday, Justin and i put together a slide show set to some of his original tunes. I spent a week scanning in photos from the first 60 years of his life (obviously the last 10 or so were already in digital format), but the whole project took longer than we thought, so Justin and i pulled an all-nighter to have it ready in time for the party. Needless to say, it was a big hit. Id share it here, but its 20 minutes long :)

This handmade bench was brought up from some family that couldnt make it to the party...an early birthday present for Jordyn, and as you can see, she loves it!

The evening winded down with laughter and s'mores around the fire. The kids were so exhausted, the were getting giddy...as were the adults. A lovely 70th birthday celebration.

Now for some randomness...are you still with me :)

Here is a lovely basket of flowers my cousin gave me for my birthday...they are so colorful and bright!

and this year, my orange and yellow irises decided to bloom for me too...arent they pretty.

Yesterday, Jordyn and i spent a day in town having fun...She received her first official hair cut (its taken this long for her to grow any :) She really enjoyed the experience, and thought she was quite the adult. She actually told me to "go sit down and read a magazine and ill be there in a minute". hehehehe

I think she was just tired of me taking a bunch of pictures...but still, look at the serious expression on her face. :)

Afterwards, we cooled off at the park. So much for the new hairdo! We also picked up some fireworks on the way home...a first for Jordyn...we are usually camping at this time of year, but decided to stay home instead, so Jordyn will get to experience fireworks for the first time. Im looking forward to that! Stay tuned for Independence Day Festivities....Cheers~

Fathers Day

3 generations on the piano...Happy Fathers Day!

Misc Summer Fun ~

Warning...photo loaded blog to follow......

Just to show that i have been creating...here is a stitchery i have been working on from Kaaren's First Friday Freebies.
I finished it last night and started another one. I really enjoy working on these stitcheries...especially in the Summer when its too hot to get under a quilt. I have a hoop stand that sits on the chair, so its small and easy to work with...and easy to pack up with the onslaught of drop-in visitors we seem to get at this time of year.

Flowers are finally starting to bloom, and it is wonderful to be surrounded with color again! Our bees seem to agree...you can see one from our hive enjoying this bright poppy...take a look at all the purple pollen she has stuffed in her pollen sacks.

When shes loaded up she heads into the hive...and as you can see, our hive is thriving! click here to see a shot of the hive last year when we first got it.
As you can see, they are doing great and we are happy to see them make it thru their first Winter. Maybe in another year we can harvest some honey :)

I love collecting gnomes for my garden...but hadnt purchased any in a few years. This little guy hitched a ride up here with my cousin recently, and now he is part of the black bear family. Isnt he cute! :)

Also new to the black bear, is this cute little car bed from grandma and grandpa. Jordyn LOVES it, and it has made bedtime a delight! Thanks grandma and grandpa! :)

June in the canyon means high water, and this year is probably the highest it has been in years...at least ive never seen it this high. We had a few really HOT days in a row, which created quite a melt off of snow...and this is the result. Thankfully, the water level has already started to drop back down...but man, was it raging thru our back yard!

After a few really HOT days, we then had three straight days of rain...pouring, grey, dark rain :( Here is a shot of Jordyn getting cozy with Spooky on one of those rainy days. Thankfully, the sun has come back out and it is a gorgeous day today! Hopefully i can post some photos of more projects soon...but in the meantime, hope everyone is enjoying their Summer!

Wordless Wednesday ~

Wordless Wednesday