It's been a Crafty Summer!

So this summer I had the time to work on some sewing and crafting projects, one of my favorite things to do. It all started with this UGLY I don't even know what you would call it that I bought at Goodwill for $1.00. I thought, "I can paint that and do something with it", so I gussied it all up and hung it in my laundry room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What do you think?

Next I did a couple of sewing projects. I bought this denim dress at Walmart on clearance, and didn't try it on until I got home. Well, I discovered that it was a little short for me, so it hung in my closet for awhile. Then I remembered I had this awesome fabric so I decided to add a little bit to the bottom for length but it also made a fun, funky dress that I love!

And I made a headband to match!

I also made this pillowcase dress out of 2 bandannas for Eva for the 4th of July. I added the white petticoat under it for a little volume, and she looked so cute in it! I think I might change out the ribbons to black ribbons so she can wear it at other times besides patriotic holidays.

For Eva I also made this hair clip for the 4th of July (she wore it with a

different outfit than the bandanna dress, of course!)

Next I learned how to make fabric rosettes, so I made myself a necklace out of them. I LOVE it, and I got so many compliments on it when I wore it to church!

The rest of the pictures are of headbands I have made, for myself or for gifts. I have made several more but forgot to take pictures before I gave them away! I think I have become addicted to making headbands. They are so trendy right now and I love wearing them in my hair, plus they are easy to make and much cheaper than you would pay in a store. The hardest part is coming up with the design!

Don't you wish you had my mad skillz??

Lastly, I wanted to tell you about Rocky's "craftiness" that he's been working on this summer - our garden! He and a friend built these planter boxes last fall in our teeny tiny side yard, and this summer we filled them up with fruits and veggies! We put in blackberries, strawberries, watermelon, squash, zucchini, green peppers, and several herbs. They look like they are doing well, but it wasn't a great crop this first season. Some plants did better than others, and some didn't make it at all. It was pretty much a trial for us, because we definitely don't get full sun on the side yard. We are going to try it again next summer, and hopefully we'll have better luck. But it's been fun learning!

We did get a couple of good sized squash. Yum!

If anyone has any gardening tips for us, I'd love to hear them.

Well that's it for my crafty post. I hope this summer you got to do something you enjoy! Stay tuned for one more Fun Summer post!

It's Been a Fun summer! (Part 4)

Sorry about the lame post titles, but it has been a fun summer! And this post is all about probably one of my favorite things this summer! Rocky and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in July, and for our anniversary we got to go to Disneyland and Club 33 - without kids! First we started the day at California Adventure and rode some of the best rides ever! In this picture, you can see one of the rides we rode, the roller coaster. We spent the day with 2 of my favorite people, Lenny and Anna, Rocky's brother and his wife. I love spending time with them!

Here we are standing in line for the Toy Story ride, another awesome ride. Mr. Potato Head was keeping us entertained during our wait!

As we walked around California Adventure we kept seeing these green army men driving by. We loved them so much I had to snap a couple of pictures! They are the army men from Toy Story. They were talking to the kids and telling them to be good students

and listen to their parents!

We also rode the Tower of Terror - my favorite - and Soaring over California, another awesome ride. Then it was time to head over to Disneyland for some more rides. But not before we stopped in front of the big letter N and took a picture.

At Disneyland we rode Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Light Year. It was so much more crowded at Disneyland than California Adventure, so we didn't get to ride as much, plus, we had to hurry up and change clothes so we could go to Club 33!!!! You may be wondering - what is Club 33, and why is it so special? It's a very exclusive club in Disneyland, in the New Orleans area, and you have to have a membership to get in, or go with someone who does, and the waiting list to get a membership is like 14 years because they only issue a limited number of memberships per year. It is a restaurant that was started by Walt Disney years ago, and still maintains its somewhat "secret" status. For more pictures and a little bit more history, you can visit my sister-in-law Anna's blog, here:

http://soimarriedamexican.blogspot.com/2010/08/club-33.html

So we changed into some nicer clothes (they have a dress code) and made our way over to Club 33!!!! We were so excited that we could hardly wait. When we got there, we had a little bit of time to wait, so we snapped a few pictures. You can see the "33" sign - that is the only way that the restaurant is identified. Most people walking by probably don't even know what it is.

In this picture Anna is showing how to use the intercom that you have to speak into when you arrive so they can check and see if you are actually on the reservation list. Don't have a reservation under a member's name? Sorry, you won't be getting in!

Once we got inside it was fun to see all the props that have been used in old movies, and see how the restaurant has maintained the historical quality of when Walt Disney created it. When we got to our table, they pulled out our chairs for us, put our napkins on our laps, and were always close by if we needed anything. At one point during dinner, we got up from our table to go out on the balcony to watch the fireworks, and when we came back to our table our chairs had been pushed in, our water glasses refilled, our silverware straightened, and our napkins refolded! They did that every time we left the table! So on to the food. I took a picture of each of our courses - Rocky had a 5 course meal, and I had a 3 course meal.

Here are the pictures of my courses:

Appetizer - delicious!

Main course - delicious!

Dessert - delicious!

Everything we had was fabulous! I don't remember the name of anything I had, but I loved every bite! And the presentation of each dish was beautiful (hence, the pictures!). I was impressed! Then, finally, here is a picture of the toilet. Too unique not to take a picture! The bathroom itself was also so quaint and charming. I took home a few paper towels from the bathroom as souvenirs (they had "33" embossed on them).

We had such a fun day! Even though we missed the kids, going to Disneyland without the kids is THE way to go! I got to ride all of my favorite rides, didn't have to mess with a stroller and stroller parking, and didn't have to make sure every 2 seconds that the kids were accounted for. And it was fun to spend time with Rocky - it was in celebration of our anniversary after all! And just because I don't want to end this post with a picture of a toilet,

here's one more cute picture of us!

It's been a fun summer! (Part 3)

Every summer - the hot, hot summer - we get together with our bestest friends and decide to do something crazy - go somewhere even hotter! For the past 3 summers we have taken our families on a little vacation to Palm Springs (it was about 110 degrees!). This summer we went with some new friends, too, and had such a fun time! We went to a really nice hotel that had 2 water slides, a lazy river, a splash park, and a big pool. We stayed for 3 days and just enjoyed hanging out by the pool and eating out! Every year we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant that we discovered the first time we went, and now we go back there every year. Yum! I didn't take many pictures of our little vacation, but here are a couple of cute ones of all the kids.

The next fun event this summer was Eva's birthday - our little girl turned 4 years old! She decided that she wanted a Little Mermaid party, and what a fun party it turned out to be! We invited all of Eva's Joy School friends for an afternoon get together complete with games, art projects, cupcakes, and dressing up. They all had so much fun playing and partying together!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful girl!

It's been a fun summer! (Part 2)

I'm back with more of our exciting summer! We didn't take any big trips or do anything really exciting, but we kept busy with small trips, fun playdates with friends, and, of course, more swimming! And it hasn't even been a hot summer here at all - I think we've turned on our A/C maybe 5 or 6 times! Anyway, today's post is all about 4th of July, which was so fun this year. We had a ward party at the park where we had a bike parade and played some old school games, like tug of war and 3 legged races. The bike parade was my favorite, and Eli, Eva, and I really had fun decorating their bike and scooter! We went to the dollar store and pretty much bought everything we thought could work, and I think we did a pretty fancy job!

All lined up, ready for the parade to start!

And they're off!

Later it was time for the games! The tug-of-war match up was the primary kids against the primary teachers, and the kids won!

Then we had 3 legged races - so cute and so fun!

We spent the actual 4th of July BBQing and watching fireworks with Rocky's family. Here's a picture of our little family in our patriotic colors (try to not look at Eva's sourpuss face), and the kids with their cousin, Daniel (Eva has a cute face in this one!).

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope your 4th of July was as fun as ours! I am so grateful to live in this beautiful land where we have so many opportunities and freedoms.

Stay tuned for more fun summer posts!

It's been a fun summer! (Part 1)

Since our summer is just about over (Eli starts 2nd grade on Wednesday!) I decided to do a couple of posts all about our summer. Enjoy!

It all started with Eva's graduation from Joy School. Such a proud Joy School graduate! Here she is in her graduation cap showing off her diploma. During the ceremony, the girls sang the "Oh Boy! I've Got Joy!" song that they sang in the Primary talent show (see previous post). This time they actually managed to get the signs right! Of course it was so cute, all over again. The other 2 pictures are of Eva with her best friend, Clara, and her other Joy School friends. It was such a fun school year with great friends!

We also spent a lot of time swimming and playing with friends this summer. One of Eva's favorite things to do is dress up! And both Eli and Eva became stronger swimmers this summer and have enjoyed swimming in the pool, the beach, and the lake!

Well that's all for Part 1! Stay tuned in the next few days for more exciting summer posts!