Going for a hike

For starts this first picture is of my girls.  Yana loves to sit in Sarah's doll stroller and Sarah pushes her around the house.  It was just too cute to pass up a picture opportunity.

 Ok on to today's activities.  This morning after breakfast we drove to Tulsa's Oxley Nature Center and went hiking.  I didn't know if I could take a stroller so I took our child back pack for Yana.

 Here is Yana in the back pack on one of the trials.

 I realize that you can't see what she is pointed at but there is a caterpillar right there.  That plant is covered caterpillars.

 A caterpillar

 We took this picture going up the ramp to the observation building.  Isn't it pretty.

 We had just started on our hike coming out the other end of the observation building.

 This is my first attempt at a picture of Yana

Out walking around.  We walked probably less than a mile today but it was fun to be in the "woods"  There were tracks of different animals in the muddy part of the paths.  Sarah even got to feed some of the turtles and fish before we left.  It was a lot of fun and we will definitely be going back again and a again.  It is pretty and enjoyable.

"Before" and "After"

Well this last week we got a lot of work done.  We wanted to do some stuff to our front yard to make it look better and to make some flower beds.  I forgot to take some "before" pictures but I have plenty of "after" pictures.  Take a look.

 This is the tree in  our front yard.  We added the brick and while doing so made it a little bigger.  Then we planted flowers and added dark brown mulch.

 This is the hedge in front of our front window.  We trimmed it up nice and neat, removed all the old red mulch and added the brick.  We also made this section a little bigger than it was previously.  Then we added flowers.

 The red tree in this picture we added.  There was a bush there that we weren't too fond of.  We are moving it else where.  Right now it is in a pot waiting for us to determine where we want to put it.

 A little closer view.

 Here we didn't want a muddy mess so we put some flat bricks down and put rock around it to help prevent a muddy mess under the water spicket.

These are my hanging strawberry plants.  I was so excited to see them at Walmart.  I have a couple of strawberries almost ready to pick right now and I can hardly wait.

We think our yard looks much better.  Not that it looked bad earlier.  We just like it more now.  We have plans for the side of the house and the back yard but as you probably know it isn't cheap so we will wait for a little bit before tackling those projects.

So what do you think?  Do you have yard projects this year?

Surprise number 1

Well my in laws left this morning.  It was so nice to have them here.  We got a lot of yard work done, played cards, visited and just had a good time.  It is always sad to see them go.

I figured I'd stop in before the weekend and at least tell you what one of the surprises was.  Since my last post I've been asked if I'm pregnant and just to let you know I am not pregnant. lol.  The surprise is that I won this round of the Biggest Loser that my family did.  I know I haven't posted about it in a few weeks.  It was supposed to end on the 1st but no one sent in their weights and everyone was busy so we ended it this last Sunday and I won by 2 ounces.  I told my sister in law to re due the numbers to make sure because I really didn't think I had a chance after the first half was over.

So I thought I'd share that with it.  It was very exciting.  I'll share the other news with you on Monday so I can share pictures.

Have a great weekend.

Home but away.

I know that I am home and no longer on vacation but my in laws came to visit.  I am sewing and working hard but I haven't had much time to spend on the computer.  I've been working on a purse that was requested so it wont be going on my store.  I have replaced a zipper on a skirt and have enough material left over from the purse to make another purse, hot pads or place mats.  I haven't decided which yet.  I'll share pictures when I get them finished and I'll let you know.  Have a good week.  I'll try to stop by again.  I have some wonderful news to share with you when I get the time to sit down and really explain things.  Have a great day.

Home again

I love going on vacation and seeing my family and the state I love but it is always nice to come home.  t is good to be back to our routine, not having to depend on others for the day's activities and not having to worry about not spending enough time with anyone.

It was odd going home this time.  I was born and raised in Idaho.  I love it there.  I love the weather, the mountains, the rain, the snow, the sunshine, the dry air, hunting season, snowmobiling, my family, my friends, the familiar, the fact that it takes longer for the world's trends to reach us there, the vocabulary, the fact that there is no tornado season, hurricane season or earthquakes, the open spaces, the fesqu grass, the spud cellars and the smell of the potatoes, the slower pace of life, the bugs (the bugs here in Oklahoma are plain scary looking compared to the ones I grew up with), the fact that most of the steeples you see are on LDS chapels so you always know where there is a ward family, and so many more things.

With all that I love there it is still so nice to come home.  We have our routines, our belongings, not living out of a suitcase, not rushing to visit everyone.  If people want to see me they can come see me.  I can do anything I want since it is my home (including make a batch of cookies and then eat half the batch in 24 hours).  I don't feel guilty when I let my girls watch tv so I can get something done.

Don't get me wrong I love vacation and I miss my family and Idaho already but I'm glad to be home other than the fact that it is Tornado season here.

I'll tell y'all a little secret.  When I married my husband I told him we could never live anywhere that had a tornado or hurricane season...the very first project was in Texas and it has both.  Luckily we now live in Oklahoma and only have to worry about one of them.

Anyways I'll stop rambling and just say that it is good to be home and to have my home in order again after unpacking and cleaning again.

Our vacation

Well we are back from our vacation.  I love going on vacation but I also love coming home to our home with our routines.  We went to Idaho for our vacation.  I know, what a shocker, right.  What can I say?  We love Idaho and that is also where are family is at so it is nice to go home to visit them.

We spent the first weekend at my dad's house.  While he went jeeping we ran some errands of our own and then hung out with my brothers and my mom.  Sunday my sister put together a birthday party for Sarah/get together.  It was a lot of fun.  I love hanging out with my family.  We met also got to meet my brother's girl friend.  She fits in well with our family and I really like her.

 This is a picture from that get together.  Yana was a little shy of everyone but not so shy as to not be able to play.  Towards the end of this party we left to head to Rexburg where we met up with my husband's parents to help them unload their uhaul.  Their project just ended and until they know where their next project is they decided to put their stuff in storage.  Then we went up the hill to the cabin.

Monday I felt like Idaho hated me.  It felt like my allergies (which Oklahoma has created) were trying to make me miserable.  It was a busy day though.  I got up and ran although my throat was sore and I am still regretting that because it killed my throat.  The rest of the day my body ached and hurt and I had no energy.  I was sneezing, and just felt miserable.  We decided later that I had caught a cold.  Anyways we were getting things ready upstairs to build a wall so we were going through closets and found some really cool things.  Really old black and white pictures, movie projector screens, old computers, old calculators (which weighed a ton for a calculator), and a bunch of random stuff.  After that was cleaned out we moved the bed around and my husband and father in law started on the wall.

Tuesday was valley day.  We had to get some more supplies and I had an appointment with my chiropractor.  I only go home 3 times a year so I go to see the chiropractor each time we go.  I always feel so much better afterwards.  It was a long and busy day.

Wednesday my girls and I rode back down the hill with grandma.  After shuffling vehicles around I continued past Rexburg to see my family and have a sleep over at my sister's house for our kids.  I have a lot of memories of sleep overs with my cousins growing up so we decided to start that for our kids.

 The kids had a lot of fun and didn't want to go to sleep.  It was good to visit with my sister and her husband and to see how they are doing.  We left Thursday morning and headed back up the hill.

 While in the valley we bought great grandpa an early birthday present.  My husband used the box to make a house (we started calling it a rocket) for the girls to play in.  They had a lot of fun in that little house.  It snowed.  Man I love the snow.  It snowed a lot.  We got 7-9 inches and everything was so beautiful and white.  I miss snow storms like that.

 Since it snowed we had to go play.  The snow that was there was hard and yucky so we hadn't really been interested in playing in it but this new snow on top was perfect.  We got the girls dressed up and went out to play.  We pulled them on the sled for a while and then started making a sled hill and had a blast.  Yana loved it.  That outfit was almost too small but she loved playing in the snow.  It was up over her knees and took a lot of effort but she managed.  She even loved the sled.

Saturday after the wall was built and the upstairs was all painted and finished my husband and I had a date night.  We drove down the hill and watched "Hunger Games"  It was nice to spend time together.  It made for a late night but it was worth it.  I love date nights.

 Sunday my mom had an Easter BBQ planned for the family and friends.  I made a cake.  I've wanted to make an Easter cake since taking my class.  I didn't really have anything particular in mind but I think the cake turned out really cute.  The only thing I wish I would have done differently was the words.  I should have used a larger tip.

 While at the cabin we had the DISH updated to include HD but the trees block the third satellite, the HD satellite, so we needed to trim some branches.  It started out on a smaller ladder with a different saw but after we had cut so many branches off and still couldn't find the 3rd satellite my husband pulled out the big ladder and his fathers harness and up he went again.  The things we do on vacation.

 This is the view from the back porch.  The lake is still froze over.

 Have I mentioned that I don't like clouds?  Well at least not when I'm flying.  They make for bumpy flights.  Nice pictures but nervous flights.  Our flights went well except for the clouds.

You must be thinking that I'm a wimp since I don't like clouds but they make me nervous.  When I flew home (the first time) from my mission in Russia it was during Hurricane Katrina and we were landing in Atlanta.  There were a lot of clouds and a very nerve wracking flight.  So since then I don't like clouds.  I'd almost prefer that the pilot go around them.

Anyways.  We had a great vacation.  When we got home we noticed that our tree is alive and well.  We thought it was dead but it is now nice and green with lots of leaves.

I hope you all had a great week.  Talk to ya later.