A Blessing

a truly beautiful blessing.

you are so very loved evyn...

so very loved!

Evyn's Blessing at Low Tide

after all the guests left our home we decided to head on down to the beach for low tide.
we were hoping to find lots of seashells for lexie to take home to utah.
we wanted to go to ponto to show her the tide pools, but given that it was memorial weekend and the weather was fantastic, there wasn't a parking space within miles, so we ended up further down the coast.



letting chelsie lead was our first mistake, letting her talk us into climbing down the cliff to the beach was our second mistake. thank goodness jake and gavin came or else nolan and i would never had made it down {...or back up for that matter!} the third mistake was made by keoni, when she didn't watch where whe was watching and stepped on a bee. {ouch!}



and as much as i dislike the beach, i don't mind a calm stroll at low tide.
we usually find neat shells and rocks but this time we were surprised at what we found.
{click on the collage below to see what we found all over the beach...}



insects. ladybugs and grass hoppers to be exact.
in my entire life i had never seen anything like it. ladybugs were everywhere!
gavin found a grass hopper friend that stayed on his shirt the entire time we we there.
we did find some shells, mostly clam. nothing fabulous like sand dollars (which were abundant about a month ago).

but for a little girl from utah, it was fantastic.
and that's what it was all about

Did you know

that most cars have a little arrow next to the gasoline symbol that lets you know which side of the car the gas tank is on??? my sister and i just found this out, thanks to jake. now neither one of us will ever have to look in our mirrors to remember which side the tanks on!



thanks jake!

Evyn's Blessing

the gown...



the shoes.
handmade by jibjabbers...



the cupcakes, of course!



but most important.
family and friends...



it was a wonderful day.

What a BLESSING!

we had evyn's blessing over the memorial weekend when chelsie was home.
i didn't get any photos of her in her gown so i asked cassie to take some for me. i LOVE them!!!
and now that i have pictures of my sweet evyn rose, i can share the events of the day she was blessed.

stay tuned...

Memorial Weekend

chelsie brought jamie & lexie with her when she came down last week.
lexie. who's four, had never been to the beach.
the girls spent most of the weekend at the beach searching for seashells, turning into mermaids and visiting with a lost sealion.
we enjoyed our guests.

Goin' Crazy & a Sneak Peak

the past few days have been a tad crazy...
literally.
friday was crazy hair day and masyn requested pink and blue braids.



she got it, although i think i should have used more spray. doesn't matter, she loved it!
chelsie and a couple friends came home for the long weekend and evyn's blessing that's tomorrow.

in the midst of all the cleaning, cooking and gardening, i got a little bit of quilting done...



this one came all the way from utah...

Evyn & Her Daddy

shawn just got home from being gone all week. we all missed him very much.
it's amazing how much a baby can change in a week. she's sucking on her fingers, trying to get the whole fist in.
her daddy's arms are strong and soothing, the gentle rocking almost always puts her to sleep {even when it shouldn't}.

we all love daddy!

Clean Muffin Pans!

i have the worst time keeping my muffin pans clean and free of batter spills. i've tried all sorts of spoons, ladels, you name it to pour the darn batter into the cupcake liners without getting batter everywhere. today my brain worked!



i pulled out my pancake pen, filled it up with batter and WHA-LA perfectly filled liners and NO drips everywhere! just clean muffin pans,

and yummy cupcakes!



i'm telling you, the pancake pen is fabulous!!!

Garnish!!!

i truly believe it's all in the presentation! the simplest gift is beautiful and well recieved when presented in such a way that says, "i care..."

i found the BEST blog/shop ever. i am in GARNISH heaven!!! just take a peek at some of the ideas they share on their blog...

this one is from better homes and garden, they used the berry basket and created a cute breakfast. i wish i would have seen this earlier, it would have been a cute teacher appreciation gift. {we had to bring a breakfast something...}

this one comes from another great site i just found...

amber from givers log, came up with this idea using this container.

love it!!!

and i love the idea of tying a bow around the water bottles! perfect!

College Roomies...

i stole pictures off chelsie's facebook page to share with you because she is clearly neglecting her blog...a'hem!!!
so to update you all, she's still in utah. working now and taking online classes. she got a job at huge scrapbooking company and is climbing the corporate ladder, so to speak...

here are some pictures of her and her roomies doing who knows what...

although here, i know they were hiking and having a great time!
love you puter, so proud of you and your hard work!