Fire!!!

So the first thing my husband and I worked on when we moved into our home was to build a fire pit. We live on the edge of the country so we can have a fire as long as its contained. And we do try are best to keep it that way, though when a two grown men get together and try to burn an entire Christmas tree, things do get a bit out of hand!!But alas our home still stands despite my pyro of a hubby sometimes. We just love our pit, we built it all by ourselves, and nothing is better then smores and chillin with family/friends. Oh, the smores that are consumed is amazing, well just last night we made over 40 smores for us and our friends. That's like 20 crackers, 40 marshmallows and 120 pieces of chocolate, I know good math eh! I will be doing a lot of extra calorie burning today, but that's cool it was worth it.:)

Everytime we have a pit I send out a text to all of our friends and just wait to see who shows up. Always different and always fun. It is just so nice to get people together, sit and watch a fire burn. Everything from goat milk(yes one of our conversations last night) to the end of the world get thrown around the pit. I have had some of my favorite talks in the light of a fire, it just seems to calm everyone around it and brings out the best discussions. I think Jesse would have a fire pit every night if he had the chance. I have found him out there in the middle of winter, all bundled up smoking his pipe and reading beside the fire pit. That is his element, fire and books...does his body and mind good:)

Craft night with the ladies......

Here are pics of a project our summer ladies group is doing to help raise money at a garage sale to benefit http://www.findingchurch.net/.

So easy to make:

Supplies:
100% polyester fabric
scissors
Circle(three sizes,S,M,L)templates
thread
candle
buttons

Steps:
Cut out three different sizes of circles. A L, M and S size using a template you make out of either cardstock or poster board.

Burn edges with a candles, just enough so that the outer edges are solid and won't unravel.

Stitch a circle in the middle of each fabric circle and pull tight, in order to ruffle the circles a bit.

Place each size fabric circle on top of eachother, doubling up sizes in order to cause depth and more layers. Place button in the middle of top S fabric circle.

Stitch on either a headband or clip using button as center and stitching till all layers are secure.

And there you have it, so cute and super easy.
Can't stop making them!!!

Fun, Easy and Earth Friendly Coffee Cup Sleeve:)

Supplies:

• 1 sheet of 20x20 cm exterior fabric
• 1 sheet of 20x20 cm interior fabric
• 1 sheet of 20x20 cm fusible webbing
• Matching machine sewing thread
• 1 paper coffee sleeve

Instructions:

1. Cut the paper coffee sleeve or pull apart where it is attached.
2. Use this as your template to outline the pattern onto the exterior fabric, leaving a 1 cm seam allowance.
3. Repeat the same process with the interior fabric.
4. Repeat the same process with the fusible webbing but this time don't leave a seam allowance.
5. Iron the fusible webbing onto the exterior fabric. (Do not iron on the webbing side as this will melt and stick to your iron. Always iron on the fabric side.)
6. Fold the lower seam and without touching the webbing, iron inwards.
7. Repeat step 6 with the interior fabrics, do the same but without the webbing.
8. Place the interior fabric panel on top of the exterior panel and sew them together with neat seams at top and bottom. If you aren't happy with the look of the seam you can add bias tape at the top and bottom to neaten it up.

9. Sew a seam to form a circle out of the strip and place over a fresh disposable coffee cup. And you are ready to sip away!!:) Enjoy!!

Brothers.

My boys.

Brothers, Amigos, Friends, Enemies at times, Peas in a Pod.

My favorite night...

So every friday we have decided to start the tradition of movie night. The kiddos pick a movie or we get a new one, pop some corn and sit down and snuggle. And that my friends is the finest! I love the way the kids react to things they have never seen, or amazed by the movies Jesse and I watched as a kid. Or as Remi "you watched this when you were a baby?" For some people movies seem like a time to zone out for awhile, and sometimes it is. But on fridays we all gather and just chill as a family. Be a family and end our week as a family. I hope years from now the kids still come over from time to time to do movie night, still sit with a big bowl of popcorn and snuggle in a blanket. I hope we never lose these traditions, these times of togetherness. We need to make that a priority in our lives to be together. No matter what it is, we need to be together. That is what a family is, we all work somehow, we all work as a team. Jesse always calls us "team mates" and I think that is so true. We are team mates. This family has eachothers back and we fight as a team and we relax as a team. I love my little family, I love that we can be ourselves. That we have made our own traditions, and we love spending time together. So here's to friday night, the best night of the week:)

Dancin' the Night Away!

I was recently involved with a fundraiser called the Mom Prom, that benefited WAVI(a nonprofit who helps women in domestic abuse situations), and Love Inc(a non-profit who puts churches together with those in need in the community).Two of my dearest friends Amy and Jess were my partners in crime putting this event together. They were so amazing through it all, putting in more time and love into this event then I could of ever thought.:)

To be truthful if was super stressful at times, due to just tons of things to take of, to just not really knowing what we were doing right away. But the thing is when it all come down to it, it was for those ladies who live in fear every day cause they live in a world of violence, or for the children who feel embarassed cause they have no new clothes for school. The ladies that turned out for the event, gave and loved people they didn't even know through their donations, thank you!! It was one of the most amazing nights ever, I even broke out my MC Hammer moves towards the end:)

Also I renewed and strengthened two friendships that I cherish very close to my heart. We got to go through it together, all the disappointments but also all the truimphs. I love seeing people take what they have and have been blessed with, and spreading it to others. That is what should do, that is what we need to do. I can't always give money, but my hands work, my feet can walk and I have a mouth to speak words that can impact others. To help tell the stories of those who are suffering in silence and need us to stand up for them and fight.

This is me at the event, I went a little crazy but why not, it's Prom!!

I can't thank all the people enough that helped out with this event. All my lovely Project Church peeps, our photographer Lisa Johnson, SHE 106.3, RA Entertainment, all the sponsors/donors, my mom and dad, and our families that let us go wild with this and be away night after night planning. Love you all greatly.

Here is the link to the newspaper article for the event: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_6366e39e-792b-11e0-8901-001cc4c03286.html. Check it out!!

And please check out both WAVI and Love Inc. and see how you can help:

http://wavi.org/

http://www.love-inc.net/

Can't wait till next year!!

Keeping on track

One of my biggest struggles with wieght loss and staying healthy is FOOD!! I love it, and back in the day this little lady could eat a whole pizza. It was not pretty and so not good for me. Since then I have learned a lot about nutrition and just staying healthy day to day. And my biggest ally in this battle is meal planning. Every week I keep a list of what I will eat and what I need to prepare beforehand. Reading this you might think, I do not have the time for that. But to tell you the truth I probably spend an hour a week on planning and preparing compared to hours of deciding what to eat, and unnecessary trips to the store. When I know what I am going to eat for the week, there is no stress, no guilt and no extra calories consumed. I recently got turned on to a online meal planner called Kitchen Monki (http://www.kitchenmonki.com/), it is a great place to meal plan and its free!! Me likes that.

Here's a template you can use for your meal planning:)

A big part of meal planning to cooking and preparing certain items before the week starts(this usually means Sunday night for me). I will always cook up several chicken breasts, cut up my veggies and fruits and prepare anything else I have planned that can be freezed or refrigerated for the week. It takes the guessing out of meals, and for me take a huge weight off my shoulders when feeding my family of 5.

A Little Girl.

A baby no more, but a little lady.

In 2006 we had our first baby Josiah, 2007 the second Remington and in 2009 our sweet baby girl Sky. And yesterday as we celebrated our little girl's birthday I couldn't believe that my baby days were behind me. That I would no longer carry a baby in my belly, or look into their eyes for the first time. it is such a mix of emotions to feel all at one time. On one hand, I am so looking forward to seeing them grow up and become individuals but on the other I yearn for my babies to back in my arms being swayed to sleep.

The decision for me to never go through pregnancy was a hard one, but after three c-sections and my body just giving up after Sky I knew that this is what God wanted us to do. But still in the back of my mind I think maybe we aren't done, maybe there is a baby out there for us in the future. No it may not come from me, but sometimes I think I would love to have more. My children have been the most amazing joy and wonder in my life. And we have been so blessed by three healthy, vibrant babes. I mean seriously they couldn't be any cuter.

So I have no idea what the future has in store for us and our family, but I am excited to soak it all as it goes by........:)