Its a Heat WAVE!!!!

It has been ridiculously hot here the last couple of weeks. Yesterdays heat index was over 110. We are fortunate to have the pool to cool off with. Although yesterday the pool water felt more like bath water. Yogi has always been curious about the pool but has never really been interested in getting in. When he was a puppy, there was one unfortunate incident where he fell in and I was forced to jump in with my clothes on to save him. This past weekend, we were filling the pool with more water from the hose. Yogi has a love affair with the hose and likes biting at the water. As Garrett was taking out the hose from the pool, Yogi jumped to get the water and misjudged the distance and fell right into the pool. He was a bit freaked out and I think a bit cooled off and enjoying it. Garrett stripped down to his tidy whities and jumped into get him. I told him to wait before getting him out because I wanted to get a picture.


The rest of the weekend consisted of enjoying the pool. We had friends over both Saturday and Sunday and are always happy to enjoy the company.

Looks like with this weather, we will be doing more of the same this coming weekend.

Yogi has been doing a lot of swimming this week and it is evident when I clean out the skimmer to find short yellow hairs in it. He has so much fun and loves to swim with us. Last night he was swimming and grabbed a swimming pool noodle as he swam past it. Apparently he feels safer having a floatation device with him.

Happy Birthday Yogi

Not too long after we moved into our house, Garrett and I decided to get a puppy. We settled on a yellow lab and after searching the paper and internet, we found a family in Kansas that was selling some. The day after the Iowa v. Iowa State game we woke up early and drove down to Kansas with cash in hand, ready to buy a puppy.

When we got to the farm house, there were yellow labs running everywhere. They were so cute. I had my eye on a girl named Sissy, Garrett wanted a boy dog and fell in love with a puppy that could have cared less about us and wanted absolutely nothing to do with us. Sissy on the other hand was constantly jumping on our lap and tugging at my heart strings. After much discussion and Garrett quickly saying no to taking both puppies home, we decided on the shy little boy.




He slept the entire way home and from that day forward has become an intricate part of our family. Yogi is smart as a whip but as my mom says, "has quite a few quirks". I firmly believe that he has no idea that he is a puppy. He snuggles unlike any dog that I have ever met and brings a smile to my face every time I walk into house. He has a love for fruit roll ups just like me. Garrett and I often wonder how boring our life would be if we didn't have Yogi to entertain us.

Today he is three years old and we can't believe how fast time has gone. He is no longer the hyper puppy, he has grown into a trustworthy friend and we love him dearly.

Happy birthday to the best pal a girl could ask for!!

4th of July Revisited

We stayed in Iowa for the fourth this year. We made a couple of trips to Perry to see the family but also did a lot of nothing around our house too. Unfortunately the pool wasn't cooperating and wouldn't clear up for us, so the pool party we had envisioned didn't happen.

When I was a kid, my dad bought a contraption called a PPV at a garage sale. He not only bought one, he bought three, one for our family, one for our cousins and one for my uncle. It is basically a car shaped vehicle that is pedal powered. It has two seats in the front and a small bench behind those seats. I remember driving all over town in that thing. Unfortunately through the years, only one of those three remains in working condition. My dad thought it would be a good idea to get it out and let the grandkids play with it. My sister and I wanted to take a spin for old times sake. Let me tell you, I am positive it was bigger when I was a kid and much easier to pedal. One trip around the block and my knees and hips were aching. Here is a picture of my sister and I in the PPV to give you a better idea of what this thing is.




Once again this year my nieces wanted to have a lemonade stand for the Fourth of July. My parents house is a prime location for parade watching. Its right on the route and has a large front and side yard which allows us to always have plenty of people over to watch the parade. My mom and dad baked goodies and made lemonade and the girls sold it at the parade. They actually made quite a bit of money although I am pretty sure that most of it is from other family members. When we were kids, we got an old rickety card table and a homemade posterboard sign. My dad cuts no corners when it comes to his grandkids though and built this for them.




This was Scout's first independence day and my sister had her all dolled up in a cute outfit and even a Statue of Liberty crown. She was a good girl and is getting so much personality. Here are a couple of new pictures of her. She is getting so big and is such a sweetheart.

Felt Food Wednesday

My hobbies go in spurts, sometimes I will not pick up a craft project for months, then I will start digital scrapbooking, will get sick of that and go on a reading kick and read 5 books in a week. I guess maybe I have a mild case of ADD.

This summer I have been making lots of felt food. I found a shop at etsy that has the cutest patterns. http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetemmajean

One of her patterns I recently purchased was a taco/fajita set. Her instructions are very simple and straight forward even for a person like me that has no sewing instruction past 8th grade home ec. Her patterns are all hand sewn and she sells felt packs to go with her patterns.

My first item I made was a felt taco. It turned out so cute and with pipe cleaner in the middle, it is bendable.


The next item I made was a quesadilla. "Make yourself a dang quesadilla" I love Napoleon Dynamite.



Here is the entire taco set. It includes a hard shell taco, soft shell taco, chips and salsa/guacamole, and the quesadilla.



Here is the Fajita Meal. It includes chicken and steak fajita, churros with chocolate sauce, and of course flan.

Keeping My Hands Busy

A while back, my sister, Libby, showed me a few items she had made out of felt making play food. I was hooked. I couldn't believe how cute it was and even though I don't really know what I am going to do with all of this fake food, I began purchasing patterns on www.etsy.com.

I am able to do this task while watching TV or riding in the car. I enjoy keeping my hands busy and when Garrett asks me what the heck I am going to do with all of this, I am able to answer that someday our kids will have a killer play room/kitchen.

Last Thanksgiving I told my mom that I would handle the kids table. When I thought about what I wanted to do, I thought about how cute it would be to do a place setting of felt food for each kid. Our usual kids table is only 3 kids, so I thought, piece of cake. This particular year, my cousin from Atlanta was up with her family including two more kids. So I spent many evenings sewing a cute set of Thanksgiving meals which included turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course pumpkin pie. That apparently wasn't enough because then I found a pattern for chair covers and made some cloth napkins and table runner. Here are some of the photos of the finished products.




I have a couple of storage containers full of felt food and I have a few ideas of future gifts for Scout. So I will continue to add photos of projects that I have done or are currently working on.

Where has June gone???

It has been a long time since I posted on here. Summer as always is coming and going way too fast. We are trying to get the pool up and running and have run into a bit of difficulty with that task. Hopefully by the weekend, we will be able to soak up some sun.


For me, Summer starts on Memorial Day. This year we went back to Perry for my cousin Wil's graduation. He will be heading off to Wartburg College in the fall. He spoke at graduation and did a very good job.

As for the rest of the summer, we have filled it full of fun. I had a weekend trip with my sisters, nieces, and parents to Chicago. We took the girls to see a Glee concert. On the way home, we decided to stop in Le Claire to see where the American Pickers are from. As it turned out, it was Pickers Weekend there. As we were driving down the street, we noticed Mike from the show. I made my dad pull over and my nieces get a picture with him. Very exciting and cool. It's as close to a celebrity as we are going to get in Iowa.







Garrett and I went to Greenbay, Wisconsin for a Billy Currington, Uncle Kracker, Zac Brown Band, and Kenny Chesney at Lambeau Field. It was a great day and even got to go to the Packer Hall of Fame.







The following weekend, I went to the Big Country Bash with my friend Jenny. It was an all day event and it was a fun beautiful day until we got hit by a large storm. Luckily Garrett was watching the weather and came to pick us up.








We are excited as we planned a vacation over our anniversary this year. We are going to be going to an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas. More info on that to come. I am ready for some Caribbean fun in the sun!