Non Halloween Update

 My new favorite project this month was making this gorgeous scarf! The black one pictured was a birthday girl for my sister-in-law Amy. I loved it so much, I made myself an identical one in grey! The fabric of the scarf is a jersey knit, and then attached is beautiful scalloped lace.

So a year ago last October, Sam asked me to marry him (October 15, 2011). It was one of our best days ever. He blindfolded me and drove me to a secret location. When he took the blindfold off we were at the marina at Utah Lake. Set up under a pavilion were peach colored roses and Sam's guitar. It was a beautiful sunny day. Sam sang me a song he had written, and after telling me all the reasons why he loved me, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Once officially engaged we spent the day at the zoo in Salt Lake City and had one of the best dinners ever at the Cheesecake Factory. We both still remember exactly what we ate, BBQ salmon, baskets upon baskets of their honey-wheat bread and dulce de leche cheesecake for dessert. We were starving! This year Sam bought me beautiful white roses with a really sweet card. I love retelling the story on our blog so that we will always have it here to reread!

Posed picture to show off the ring

Sam just being silly

Our October To-Do List

1.       Fresh apple sampling/apple picking

2.       Hayride

3.       Haunted house

4.       Carve pumpkins

5.       Donuts and cider

6.       Bake pumpkin seeds

7.       Bake pumpkin cookies, bread, pie, muffins, etc.

8.       Watch a fun scary/Halloween movie

9.       Rake leaves for a neighbor

10.   Corn maize

11.   BYU farmers market

12.   Oktoberfest at Snowbird

13.   REAL Salt Lake game

14.   BYU Planetarium show

15.   Visit a nursing home

16.    Spooky Utah Symphony

This is a list I came up with when I was really getting excited for October. Of course now that it's October I'm more excited for Christmas... but hopefully this list will help me live in the moment! Number one is crossed off because on Sunday the Kerr family let us pick apples from their backyard... which I think is as close as we'll get to apple picking. They had two types of trees too! The apples from the trees are delicious, so good in fact Sam is becoming an apple snob and refused to finish the store bought apple he bit into upon realizing it wasn't as good. I also realize we may not finish all the items on the list, but we'll do our best!

So I'm also excited because this Friday we are having a Halloween party for the kids we teach Sunday school to. I've spent way too much time gathering ideas on Pintrest for the little party. I'll have to post pictures this weekend!

Just a sneak peak!

Here is just a sneak peak of all of my October crafts. Sam and I just finished watching the presidential debate (recorded) and I don't have the energy to write tonight. But tomorrow is my day off and I will blog all the details!

All the Tillman (and Kerr) men after the antelope hunt in Wyoming

Mary (my cousin's wife and my good girl friend) and I at the
LDS Women's Conference in SLC

Me in the center of the FABULOUS new
City Creek Center in SLC

Saw this 'pumpkin specimen board' on Pintrest and HAD to make
Cost to make was $3

My darling Halloween pillows I made, cost per pillow was about $3

I cut out each bat and had to sew each one on, so tedious but worth it!

My cute cute pumpkins, hand cut each pumpkin piece and hand frayed the fabric

My spooktacular Halloween mantel, only cost $3

Our temple picture covered in spider webs, Sam said this was a no no lol

you'll never believe this one!

Hi all! Could you all tell we've enjoyed our summer? I haven't posted in 2 months (oops, so sorry! Time just flies!) I plan on posting soon a recap of our summer and current fall projects I'm working on. But for now we're coming back with an unbelievable story for you!

View of our campsite

Wednesday night Sam planned a spontaneous camping trip for the two of us. After I got off work we packed up and headed to American Fork to borrow camping gear from his parents. We then drove up to American Fork canyon to find a camping spot. We decided to find a free campsite, which ended up taking us way up the mountain. The site was clean but pretty rustic. There was one bathroom to use and a few fire pits. We found a really nice spot tucked away off the main path. There was a nice clear spot of land for our tent, a fire pit and it was right near a little creek, absolutely charming. We were racing against the clock by the time we picked the spot; we needed to get unpacked and the tent set up before we ran out of light. Sam worked on building the tent while I hauled the loads of blankets, supplies, food and such town the 35 yard path from our truck to our spot (important bit of information for later). We were set up in no time and Sam started dinner. He had made us delicious tin foil dinners that we cooked in the fire. It was so nice to talk all night, watch for shooting stars (we each saw 3) and uncomfortably play Yahtzee in the dark tent. Finally we called it a night. Sam slept peacefully, but I had trouble sleeping, partially due to the cold and partially due to the rowdy partiers on the other side of the campsite from us (this will play into the story later too).

View of the beautiful land/surrounding mountains

Looking out the tent window searching for the animals

Fast forward to 7am the next morning. Sam and I were both awake but hadn't really acknowledged each other quite yet. All of a sudden we hear a loud rustling outside of our tent. We both freeze and look at each other, knowing something is right outside. Sam slowly opens the window of the tent. Through the mesh window he sees two large dark animals low to the ground not far from us. We were in Bear Country and Sam at this point is positive those are bears. Luckily we had a small hand gun with us, just in case. For about 20 minutes we stare out of the tent window watching for movement or even just confirmation of what they were. After awhile I tell Sam I'd feel safer in the truck and asked him if we could make a mad dash for it. He was still uncertain if that was a good idea, but after a few more minutes of staring out and seeing no movement we decide to go for it, leaving everything else in the tent. We make it to the truck safely but then wonder if the animals are heading for the other campsite where the partiers were, us thinking that those kids probably left food/trash out. We drive to their site and see two people out walking around. Sam asks them if any animals had come through there. They tell us that there are moose up ahead! Moose! Well now we are excited! I had always wanted to see a moose and was disappointed when we didn't see any in Yellowstone last month. I ask Sam if we can go looking for them. We walk through the woods until we found the clearing where they were. I immediately see a yearing (baby moose). I was so excited!! We grabbed a few pictures and after a few minutes the baby went jogging down the hill to its mother that we heard calling for it to join her. Whew! Now we are totally relaxed. We realize that it must have been the mother and baby walking through our site, and now they were long gone. We ate breakfast in the truck and finally were able to use the bathroom.

Next we decided to pack the site up and get ready to go hike up to the Timpanogos caves before ending our camping adventure. I joked as we parked the truck and headed down the trail, 'wouldn't it be funny if there was a huge animal at our tent,' knowing that the animals were gone. Sam loaded me up with all the blankets and pillows from inside the tent. All of a sudden we heard this really loud chuckling type noise. It was so loud and weird Sam joked, are those people or animals assuming it was those loud rowdy campers near by. Sam teased me right as I was turning to leave with all my blankets that there was no way I'd make it up to the truck with such a big load. Right as I was about to head up the trail I heard the noise again, Sam was more or less in the tent at this point gathering more items. I turned to him and yelled, "Sam, those are animals!" Surprised at how loud and unique the sounds were. Right at that moment Sam and I both turn toward the direction of the noise to see a mother moose charging right at us! In that moment all we could both do and yell was to run. There was no denying where she was heading, right for us. I have never been so scared for my life, seriously thinking we may die. I knew that she was able to run much faster than I could! Sam was running right by my side encouraging us to run. Luckily the truck was unlocked and we made it inside. We turned to see the moose 50 yards from us staring us down. I started to hyperventilate and hold back tears as I caught my breath. As time passed Sam gained courage to walk out of the truck to take pictures of the moose. He turns to me and holds up 4 fingers. There were four moose feeding right outside of our truck! The mother, two yearlings and a male moose with large antlers. I got out of the truck and couldn't believe my eyes and our luck for surviving a family of moose attack. At this point we were trapped until they were finished feeding, because we couldn't get back to our tent without getting too close to them. We watched them feed while standing in the cold morning air, always leaving the truck doors open in case the mother changed her mind and charged again! Eventually they made their way down hill and Sam started making runs to and from the camp site bringing our stuff up, but always made sure to keep me close to the truck.

The mother moose staring us down

A picture of three of the four moose feeding

We finally had all of our camp gear loaded up and had Sam's backpack ready for the hike up the mountain to the caves, when the truck wouldn't start. Our guess is that leaving the doors open for so long had drained the battery. Luckily a group of women hikers came out of the woods (which is pretty lucky since there were hardly any people around at all). We had seen them park their car when we were eating breakfast. They couldn't believe all that had happened to us since they started their hike! After jumping the battery we were able to drive down to the trail head of the hike to the caves and start our last adventure; it had already been such a full day and it wasn't even 10am!

Stalactites inside of the cave!

 The hike up to the cave was a mile and a half long, and you go up 1,100 feet. We booked it up the trail in 50 minutes, although they give you an extra 1 1/2 before your cave tour time. We really enjoyed touring the cave, but we were so tired and so ready to get home. So we made it down the steep mountain trail in 24 minutes and back to the truck to head home. Whew! We felt like we had been on a full vacation after camping for one night! We were so happy to come home and lay on our bed and take a hot shower! Never again do we hope to be charged by a moose!

my apologies...

Note, this post was written July 10th, but never got posted. Here it is though!

It has been brought to my attention (mmm by Sam) that I don't proof read my posts before uploading them. We actually had a really good laugh reading them out loud together and coming across so many errors. I assure you I can write without error and will try to do better!

Sam came home Sunday and it feels as if he was never gone! So happy to have him back :) Nothing too exciting to blog about this week... however I do have a funny story from work!

One night this week I was working, and the hostess told me that Matt Carlino was at a nearby table (for those of you who don't know, he is BYU's starting point guard). Anyway, in the Tillman house we loved Carlino last season, so I was kind of excited to see this guy. Anyway... me looking at Carlino... turned into Carlino checking me out (and not in that, 'you're kind of a local celebrity' type way). Anyway I caught that boy's glance my way every so often. No biggie though, the kid is younger than Rodger (my little brother)! However, it doesn't end there... as he and his friends were heading out, he stopped in front of me and asked me if he could get some chocolate mints. As I handed them the basket to take them from he quickly goes, "are you married?" My reply, "yes... but I enjoy watching you play." (Don't worry, Sam has approved of that comment). He didn't even say anything but smiled/blushed and walked away haha! Sam came in later that night to visit me and almost DIED when I told him that story. He texted the tale to a number of his friends, with pride (I assume) that BYU's point guard was interested in his wife's marital status. We decided we are still Carlino fans :)

So one last story... Sam knew how badly I wanted to go to the Gavin Degraw/Colbie Caillat concert here in Salt Lake. But sadly, they are coming while we will be at Yellowstone for our family reunion. Well on a whim Sam checked if they were playing anywhere near where we'll be. It just so happens they will be performing in Billings, MT the day we're leaving from the reunion. I don't know what came over me, but when Sam told me I started jumping up and down and was so excited to turn the concert into a road trip for us. Billings is only 4 hours from where we will be in Yellowstone, BUT its a 9 hour drive home. The adventurer in me did not care about that minor detail and so Sam bought his thrilled wife the tickets. The concert is August 11th and I think it will be the highlight of the summer :)

while hubby is away wife will play

I'm happy to say that its Friday now, and only two days until Sam will be home. I have definitely survived this week thanks to lots of shopping and girl time. Tuesday I went shopping with my cousin's wives, Mary and Abbie. Its been a long time since I've shopped til I've dropped. Tuesday we did just that. We started with the brand new Marshalls (it was a bust). By the time we had searched that store up and down we were starving and went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Mary and I shared the Crispy Chicken Costoletta, delicious! Tuesday was the first time in all of my Cheesecake Factory history that I did not order dessert. I've noticed that my love of sweets has been drastically declined since being married, this just proves it. We spent the rest of our evening mostly at H&M. They had fantastic sales going on and I purchased only items on clearance. Our last stop was a quick run into Nordstrom Rack, after years of shopping sales at TJMaxx its hard to spend more than $20 on... anything, so nothing there for me. I literally passed out when we got home at 9:30pm. We'd been out together since 3:30pm, a true girls day. Many thanks to my cousins Ryan and Jason for sharing their wives with me all evening :)




I've posted pictures about this on facebook, but when we were heading up to go shopping we passed the Alpine fires burning. I've never seen anything like that in my life. I've been blessed to have never encountered natural disaster or destruction where I have lived, but this was very close to home. I took pictures with Mary's Iphone to send Sam, the smoke was so thick it looked to me like the pictures you see after the atomic bomb was dropped in Japan. Here is a picture my sister in law Christi took from their backyard to give you an idea of what I mean. Just crazy. Below is a picture of the fires at night. A friend (Aimee Stephens) took this picture and I took it from her FB page. That is an LDS temple in the front of the burning fires. Its the Mount Timpangogas temple, which is near Sam's parents and his two sister's homes. I find the picture beautiful, yet frightening.

Many of my feelings about the fires from Tuesday carried over to the fourth of July. It felt a little inappropriate to be watching fireworks (in Pleasant Grove) while if you looked to your left, you could see the glow of the fires still burning on the mountains. However, prayers were answered yesterday and after almost 2 months without rain (http://m.news.hjnews.com/news/article_4d55548e-ba78-11e1-b879-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=jqm) the heavens were opened and rained poured. I truly believe it was an act from God to answer all of his children's prayers. Sam told me, from a well connected source that every missionary in the MTC fasted and prayed for rain. I have no doubt that it is true. (The MTC stands for Missionary Training Center, which is where LDS missionaries go prior to leaving for the areas they will serve. For more on what fasting is, http://www.lds.org/study/topics/fasting-and-fast-offerings?lang=eng).

Other than that, I enjoyed the 4th of July very much. I worked a very busy lunch shift, but then headed to Sam's parents for a BBQ with his sister's families. And then went to see the fireworks.

Yesterday I had a great morning with my girlfriend Allie. We are in the same Ward (congregation) and are pretty close neighbors. We grabbed lunch at Noodles and Co and finished our day date with a matinee viewing of the new Pixar movie Brave. It was a lot of fun! Like I said, I think I'd be going stir crazy if it wasn't for so many fun plans. While I'm home I watch a lot of reruns of the Wonder Years. I'm absolutely in love with that show right now :) as well as clean the house (or just keep it clean at least) and finishing up some projects around the house! Only two more days, then Sam will be home and will have the entire week off :)

What a weekend!

We had ourselves quite the busy weekend!

Friday, we had a play date with some new friends from church. They have an adorable 2 year old that has won both of our hearts (we usually pay more attention to him during sacrament meeting, oops!) We got to know them better and of course our little buddy. The goal is to have him comfortable enough for us to babysit him and giving his great parents a night out! 

So Saturday was Sam's family reunion for his mom's side. We went to this gorgeous park in Spanish Fork. I met a lot of his family that weren't able to attend the wedding, what wonderful people! My highlight of the day though was kayaking with my cutie nieces. They were so sweet and asked me if I wanted to go with them (someone at the reunion had 4 kayaks they brought). I instantly said yes, and told them I loved to kayak. Sam's response: What?! Yah, and I love to quilt. Lol ya, I guess my prior canoeing/kayaking experience never came up. Anyway, we hit the water together and made our way across the reservoir. My goal with the girls was to get a picture of the three of us together... in our kayaks... not easy. They are pretty bulky vessels! But we succeeded! 

how cute are they!?

So in preparation for the reunion, I made cupcakes as our contribution to the meal. I just picked up the 4th of July edition of Funfetti cake mix, but saw a really cute idea on Pintrest for a festive (yet easy) cupcake. Long story short, the recipe for the frosting (cool whip + jello pudding mix) did not mention how very few cup cakes it would actually frost. So my supplies for 4 dozen cupcakes covered 1 dozen.... Baaah! So half were frosted with normal Pilsberry frosting and the rest with this delicious frosting substitute (I actually used lite cool whip and sugar free pudding mix, it tasted AWESOME!) Because of the whipped frosting debacle I had no time at all to perfect my frosting skills, but here they are!

Sunday was the most important event yet. Sam's grandma's 90th birthday party. His sister Christi took on the party, and it turned out amazing! She also threw my bridal shower... the woman is amazing! It was a cute fiesta theme and she made so many tissue paper flowers to cover the room, and even as napkin rings. 30+ people were going to be there and it was my assignment to bring the Cafe Rio style beans. Folks, let me tell you... these beans consumed my thoughts the entire week. Especially Saturday night/Sunday morning... Sam had a great time going off (teasing me) about my bean obsession. Long story short, I refused to spend $10 on canned beans, so I bought dry beans for over half the price. Well, I was stressed out of my mind making 3 lbs of dried beans, simply because I had never even made 1 pound of dried beans. It the end they turned out wonderful, however beans are not as fun to photograph as cupcakes. Here is the recipe if you'd like to try them yourself! 

http://www.abountifulkitchen.com/2011/09/cafe-rio-style-black-beans.html

I adapted this blogger's recipe for 50 for 30, and we still had A LOT of left overs. I froze two tupperware containers, plus family took some home after the party and I have left overs in my fridge. Don't believe them when they say 1 pound serves 8-10, more like 10-15!

Finally, Sam had last week off of work (because this week he is gone to Yellowstone with the family he assists, lucky him...) So we tried to make Sam's week off as fun as possible (don't worry, this week is my turn :) So the big event for his week off was computer shopping and then getting a new computer. Yay! Other highlights: Ice cream/smoothie runs at McDonalds, movie night, being introduced to Angry Birds (then becoming obsessed with Angry Birds) and getting his Ipod Touch. We also had crepes one morning using our crepe maker (a random, yet fun wedding gift). I wasn't getting the hang of our little contraption, but Sam did and became the crepe master :) We also finished ALL of our thank you's from the wedding (I set a six month deadline... Sam only wrote 3 thank you's in 5 months and 3 weeks, and finished his (ever growing stack) this week. I cannot tell you what a relief that is to be done with!

So now Sam is gone, and I am here, alone. But I have planned a fun week for myself. Yesterday I started it off by dropping Sam off at the airport and hitting up some shopping in the South Jordan area (there are some good shops and a fantastic TJMaxx!) Then I treated myself to a nice time at IKEA, including a delicious lunch, completed with a $1 frozen yogurt. I need an IKEA visit every once in awhile to take me back to my time in Sweden. I have nothing but the best of memories from my time there and enjoy thinking of those happy times! Back home I did a little redecorating before heading to my friend Whitney's to watch the Bachelorette! I was over at her house until 11pm (her husband is out of town too!) I have nothing but the best time with her! Today has been a little slower of a 'fun' day, but I'm going shopping with my cousins (in law) Mary and Abbie to the H&M and brand new Marshalls (we don't have those here!) We will literally be next door to the Cheesecake Factory... I don't know if I'll be able to resist picking a slice up! I have lots more fun planned for the rest of the week, but I'll write more on that as it happens, and yes I'll be working a lot too to make up for all this fun!

This was one clearance for $5, its really beautiful in person. Can you believe it! Also, I think our light switch cover is crooked.... 

Rearranged the shelves above our computer desk. Simple but I like it :)

6 Months of Marital Bliss

Six months of loving, teasing, laughing, forgiving, learning, growing, working and playing. We are happy and in love :)

Oh ya, about Sam and me...

So here is an update on what Sam and I have been up to the past week.

PART 1

Highlight #1

We beat Donkey Kong 2 together. Yes, 102%.

Highlight #2

We went fishing with David & Judy (dad & mom) on Wednesday. We have a blast, each catching a few fish. David out-fished us all, but what is is new. I cannot wait to cook up some delicious Rainbow Trout for dinner this week :)

Highlight #3

We attended Sam's best friends birthday party this past Friday. The theme was childhood regrets (Rich's childhood regrets). If you know Rich at all, it was truly fantastic of a theme. We played two games (both with back stories from Rich's childhood, and both hilarious). A balloon game (tie a balloon around your ankle with a string, and try to be the last man standing) and 4 square! I actually was the second to last to keep my balloon, and had a great time playing 4 square. Sam and I were the last two to face off in four square during the tournament. Sam won. All in all a very good time with good people.

PART 2

Last night Sam and I had a fantastic date night. Sam came up with the idea to go geocaching. I had never gone before so I was very excited! He picked two for us and got the coordinates ready. Both were located in Springville, because I wanted to end our date at the Cracker Barrel Country Store.

Sam had this great idea that we should rent the new Sherlock Holmes movie to tie in our geocaching adventure (searching for a hidden box? Sherlock Holmes detective? Its a stretch we know) Anyway, we looked up which Redbox machines still had DVDs available for rent. There were only 2 stores left in the area. Sam was positive we wouldn't get a copy. I was determined we would. We had a good time running out of our car, cutting off other customers to check the Redbox machine. Location #1 was out, so we hurried off to the second one. There was a girl, and a dad and his son in front of us. I knew our chances were slim. The girl rented Alvin and the Chipmonks Chipwrecked! What luck! And the father son got 2 other movies. This was it, I stepped up and to my luck Sherlock Holmes was available. I slyly give Sam the thumbs up, mission accomplished (or was it?! More to come later). We celebrated in the car on our way to dinner at the Springville Maglebys.

Sam was skeptical to eat at Magleby's because he yet has been impressed with any of the other locations in the area. He said this time was better (the restaurant really is pretty inside) and our food was great... but our waitress was a little out there. She was strange to say the least. Before leaving we each enjoyed a small piece of their award winning cake with a cold glass of milk (surprise surprise) and then we were off to go geocaching. Our first location was the first Presbyterian church in Utah County, and the second was some random patch of land by sheep haha.

In front on the church.

The official log we signed our names in

Location #2, the sheep weren't worth photographing. Sorry sheep.

The sun was just setting and the temperature was finally perfect. Not so dang hot (its been in the high 90's this week). We took off for our last adventure before watching Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, the Cracker Barrel country store! I grew up taking family vacations to Georgia, driving south from Michigan. A found memory was always stopping at the Cracker Barrel on our way. I absolutely felt like a kid walking in the store again. Sam was a good sport and we had a fun time looking at all the fun gifts and treats. Finally it was time to go home and watch the movie. As we popped it in the DVD player we wondered why all of the previews were so old... and then the movie started. We both knew it right away, I had rented the first Sherlock Holmes! I was so mad at myself and at the Redbox because I felt so deceived. Alas we ended the night, not watching the movie but I did get two free codes from Redbox by telling their customer service what happened. All in all a great night :) I love my Sam.

My Pottery Barn :)

So here is my newest home project, finishing our second bedroom on a budget! This is the only room in the house where I really infused my love for all things vintage/romantic. I am pleased with how it all came together, especially since I mostly used decor that I had previous to getting married, or made the decor for $5 or less!

So here is what I put together:

This was another $5 project. I bought the scrap wood from Lowes for $.25! The picture doesn't show at all put the letters have a rustic feel because I sand papered them to show the black paint I first covered them with. Also, I wrapped the whole project all in a dotted lace to soften the rustic look. Surprisingly Sam loved it! I just like it.

Our large desk in our second bedroom.

Lace, twine, & rustic wood. The frame in the back was actually made of old barn wood. I picked it up last year in Fairview, UT.

I wrapped old votive candle holders with lace I already had.

So the wooden love project almost was a disaster. Nothing was working to my advantage... the wood looked horrible painted (its not real wood), I basically broke my can of white spray paint which was spattering all over my wood, leaving horrible paint spray marks and covering my hands. I learned quickly how difficult removing spray paint is from skin. So while the painted letters and wood were drying I spent a good 30 minutes rubbing the spray paint off with olive oil! So frustrating!

I'm also posing a really easy but yummy crock pot recipe I made the other night. I usually like to try new recipes, never know how they will really turn out. Well Sam asked me if he could invite his best friend Rich over for dinner after they were done playing ultimate frisbee together on Tuesday. I had a moment of panic when I realized, 'no one knows if dinner will be good or not!' Well let me tell you, it passed with flying colors! Both Sam and Rich loved it. So here is the recipe if you want to try an easy, unique chicken dish!

Spicy Peanut Chicken (My altered recipe, from a crock pot message board, don't remember where from! But the message board said this is was originally taken from a South African dish!)

4 skinless breasts
1 large onion, chopped (I didn't have one, so didn't even do this! But I'm sure it would be good)
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomoatoes with green chilies, undrained (I used texmex style diced tomatoes)
2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Mix onion, diced and crushed tomatoes, honey, cumin and cinnamon in 6qt slow cooker. Place chicken in slow cooker (I cut mine in chunks). Spoon tomato mixture over chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. (I have an insane crock pot and it was done in 6 hours)

Stir in peanut butter until melted and well blended. Serve chicken and sauce over couscous or rice. Serves 4

So I originally cut this recipe in half for just Sam and I. When I knew Rich was coming over, I used a wooden spoon to shred the chicken for it to go further. The chicken was so tender it fell apart easily just using the spoon! Eating it this way was delicious! Rich's quote for the evening, 'we are eating like king's tonight!' I recommend you give it a try!

I'm back!

 So, I'm a horrible blogger and haven't posted any of the fun happenings for the past few months. But I'm trying again. This post will be a mini catch up session, highlighting fun projects I've done.So starting from the most recent to the oldest, here we go!

PROJECT #1
This project I just finished last night. I've been working on it for months (sadly, I was highly unmotivated by how it was looking until yesterday when it came together). Sam purchased this huge, very functional desk off of KSL for $15. I overtook it and made it my craft desk :) but I do try to keep it tidy for when Sam wants to use it as well. Anyway, as you'll see, there are three slots not so very big in size.I picked up these small flexible baskets at the ever trustee Dollar Tree (best dollar store there is, three baskets = $3). And a yard of burlap from Hobby Lobby (with my 40% off coupon was under $1.50) I covered the hideous (they were bright yellow) baskets with the burlap using my hot glue gun. This was the hardest and most time consuming part. I didn't bother making a pattern or standardizing the pieces of burlap so it took awhile. Now the fun part. I made stencils from cardstock via my printer. I painstakingly cut out the numbers... and yes I saved the stencil for future 'numbered' projects. Finally using supplies from my craft box, plus black paint from Jo Anns (only $.59) I painted over the stencils. Then, I ate a large bowl of Dreyers Slow Churned S'more ice cream while watching a cheesey movie (One For the Money) and waited for them to dry. I am now obsessed with how they turned out!!! Can you believe, $5 for these cuties! As of now they are storing scraps of material for future sewing projects. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

These baskets cost me $5 to make!

This is in our second bedroom btw. I'll post more pictures once its done. It's the only room in the house that I am attempting to create a 'Pottery Barn' feel. Please do not look at the display of pictures on top of the shelf. They are just there waiting for a permanent home in the room. And yes, those little jars are from Kelly's wedding favors. Super cute. I loved them so much I took my parent's home too.




PROJECT #2

My good friend Rachel is pregnant with their first baby! I'm SO SO happy for her and her husband Brandon. Rachel travels for work, and being the fantastic friend that she is, twice now and scheduled business in Utah. I love it. She came out last August. It was so special, because she was my first and only friend to meet Sam before we came out for Thanksgiving to meet everyone. I can't tell you how much it means to have one of your closets friends be able to meet and give their opinion of the guy you're with. We even went to one of Sam's Ultimate Frisbee games. They won, good thing... for Rachel anyway. She may not have been so approving if she'd seen him lose lol. Anyway, I won't be able to attend her baby shower in Michigan, but I knew I wanted to make her a baby gift for when she visited. Here is Utah, every single mom has a cute baby tent on their car seat. I have no idea if they are as common in MI, so of course, I need to send one that way. Rachel isn't finding out the sex of the baby, so that was tricky picking out fabric that was cute, but baby neutral. I think I nailed it, plus it screamed 'Rachel' to me :) So here it is!

This bad boy wasn't so easy either. I'm just starting to get sewing again, and I messed with the settings on the tension on the machine. Oops, so it took me a little bit to get going. I made this on a day Sam was at work, because of course I over took almost every room in the house with fabric, ironing boards, pins and the sewing machine. Totally worth if though. I just loved how it turned out. So, where is this picture taken you ask? Yes the day I finished I HAD to know that it fit on a car seat, LOL so I took it into the Target near our house and fashioned in on every car seat they carried to make sure it worked universally haha. Here is a shot of it flipped up, if you wanted to look at baby. Too cute right?



PROJECT #3

Project number three were gifts for Kelly. I'm bummed because I forgot to take pictures of the wedding gifts I made her. But they are very similar to decor I've made for our home (see an old post) I made her a large wreath with the letter P and a silhouette picture of Michigan, with the heart over Plymouth with Kelly & Steve's names and wedding date. It means so much to me that Kelly called to tell me on their way to Hawaii how much she loved them. That's all I could ask for :) and what I forgot to tell her, but makes carrying that huge wreath throughout two airports as carry on totally worth it! Maybe Kelly will take pictures of them for me and I can update the blog :)

The other gifts I made Kelly were for her bridal shower. Thanks to Lee for encouraging me to take pictures :) I bedazzled a pair of white shorts with the saying 'I DO' and a diamond ring. Kelly is such a sweetheart and wore the shorts at the salons while getting her hair and make up done. I also made her a bridal tote, my actually first sewing project since getting the machine out here in Utah. I sewed ribbon and lace matching her bridal colors and ironed on this beautiful 'BRIDE' lettering. The bag curled in the wash and no amount of ironing would tame it. But she carried around some essentials the morning of the wedding in the bag as well. Gotta love Kelly and how thoughtful and caring she is. Here is the picture:

Stay tuned for my next post :) Tonight we're going to our sweet niece Hailey's dance recital, but I have tomorrow night off and more ideas for projects for that second room!