food!

So I have been completely obsessed with pinterest lately. It's my newest time killer like facebook, but so much more. The website is full of fashion, crafts, design and recipes! If you see something you like, you can pin it up to your board, like a bookmark and then go back to it whenever you want. I <3 the recipes.

The first recipe I tried was potato chips, first salt and pepper and then parmesan. Charles really liked the parmesan version.

I could never pass up a pumpkin recipe, especially when they look so good. These are similar to some pumpkin cupcakes I bake, but cookie form topped with a cream cheese icing. YUM! I made one batch and had plenty to share. Here is the recipe.

A very easy apple chip recipe. 100 degrees, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for four hours. I turned on the oven today to roast some beets and the kitchen smelled like cinnamon from the last time I baked these.

I can't wait until we get the house and I have a kitchen where I don't have to scramble to find a pan. There are a couple of slow cooker recipes and a lot more baking I want to do!

Landon turns 1!

You might remember Landon from when I took his newborn photos and I was lucky to share his first birthday with him. Time flies by so fast. This quick little guy was already running everywhere. His mom and auntie worked on a fun Mickey Mouse themed party. Everything was so adorable but the cupcakes were my favorite.

 There was also a craft table where the kids could create masterpieces.

The birthday boy is all smiles. 

Here comes the birthday cake.

Poor thing didn't like the feel of his cake.

Present time.

Baby Landon and his auntie that helped put this party together.

I had such a great time at the party and got to chase Landon around. This party will be hard to top next year :)

wedding crafts part 2

I was able to borrow a camera to take some more photos of my wedding crafts. There were so many things I wanted to do but didn't have enough time to but was happy how the things turned out. 

One of the things I decided early on was making my own centerpieces and the theme of the wedding kind of formed after that. The flowers were made with tissue paper, pipe cleaners, wooden skewers and floral tape; vases were from ikea and the burlap was reused from a friends wedding.

The thumbprint guest was a hit at the wedding but my sister did suggest that I should have gotten a non-dye ink since everyone's fingers were either blue or green by the end of the night. Now I know for the next time I work on something like this.

Going with the theme of cloth flowers, I bought felt and made the groom, groomsmen and immediate family boutonnieres. From the same felt, I made large dahlia flowers for my hair as well as for my bridesmaids.

The last things on my list was to find some wedding dolls to attach to the car. Looking on the web, I didn't really find anything that wowed me. Charles and I both have domo dolls each of our cars, so I thought it would be cute idea to dress them up in wedding gear. 

wedding crafts

Now that the wedding is over and I have a bit of time, I can post some crafts I worked on. Since I had a bit of time to plan, and plenty of inspiration from wedding blogs like greenweddingshoes and 100layercake, I had a lots of fun. Sadly my camera started malfunctioning so I was only able to take a couple shots for now. Hoping to get my camera to get fixed and back in my hands...or possibly buy a new one?

I painted my own cake toppers that I bought from etsy to look like us and used yarn on the platform. I tried to use them whatever crafts I could with yarn. I bought the wooden letters from Michaels, cloth and felt from Joanns for the corsages and invitation supplies from paperandmore.

I also got a great gift from my bridesmaids that I don't think I would ever use because they are so pretty. I think when we move into the house, I will frame them and put them in the kitchen.

Phoenix's 1st birthday

This past weekend Charles and I went to Phoenix's first birthday that was garden themed and it was so fun! There was a taco truck, a moon bounce, crafts,a piñata, face painting and lots and lots of treats. Most of everything was put together by her hard working mommy and loving aunties, including the bee and flower cake pops shown below.

 A butterfly play cake complete with sprinkles and licorice. 

Personalized grab bags for the goodies 

Fun, family, friends and good food. What more could you ask for? Happy birthday Phoenix!

San Clemente Beach

Today was a great day to take a train ride to San Clemente Beach. The weather was just right for the occasion and even though it's the fourth of July weekend, with wasn't too packed. My sisters packed up the kids and it was about an hour train ride. The kids had a blast playing in the water, catching sand crabs and making sand alligators. Now to tend to my sunburn!

On the train ride there, the kids occupied themselves with their game players.

Noah being silly

Father and sons enjoying the water 

 Noah being curious and having his first taste of kelp

 San crabs

Aidan proud of his alligator