Day 442- Home is where....

Don't get me wrong, I love our little home in Idaho, but there is something about going [HOME] you know the place you grew up and called home for 18 years!

So my home is where...

The hills are closer than a city!

The boat launch and lake are just down the hill!

Friends come to visit!

The sun shines in the day and the stars glow at night!

You know the driver of 4 out of 5 cars you pass on the road.

Most every fruit is growing just down the road.

Wild fire smoke fills the sky.

You sit around the dinner table laughing at each others stories.

Home is where My heart swells with love and happiness!

I am so great full we got to come to Washington for a week and a half! We spent the first few days in Yakima visiting my mom and friends and family (I worked/ lived in Yak for two years, Kyle and I met there). Now we are in Entiat visiting my dad and my old stomping grounds! It has been a lot of fun so far! I've spent time at the water and Kyle is painting his Jeep!

Our next stop? Our other home away from home...Montana! :)

Pictures from our adventures will come soon!

Day 438- School is Out for SUMMER!!

Kyle is DONE with his summer semester!! He finished one online class and took his on Campus final on Tuesday... We hit the road shortly after both were finished! We made it to Yakima Wednesday afternoon and he finished his last essay for his other online class this morning!

Summer is officially here!--For a few weeks at least, he starts a harvesting job on a farm at the beginning of August.

This afternoon we went to Yogurt shack here in Yakima to celebrate! 

        We love frozen yogurt!

Here he is with his goods! 

 

He also got rewarded with his JP Magazine (Jeep Magazine) -- I hid it a few weeks ago when it came in the mail because it seems to be a easy distraction when it comes homework time-  I am sure i will be thanked someday. ha! well, probably not but that's ok!

He has worked so hard these last 7 months! I am so proud of all his hard work while working full time, going to school and fulfilling his church callings (YM leader and Ward Missionary) it has payed off! 

Great Job Kyle!

Tomorrow evening we head to Entiat! Where we will spend 7 days boating/ wakeboarding! Painting the Jeep! Getting a tan! Spending time with my Dad! And finally enjoying summer! Then we will be off to Montana to spend time with Kyles family! We are so excited to be on this trip, it has been the highlight we've been looking forward to for the last few months!

Day 434- National Ice Cream Day!

National Ice Cream Day...who knew?

The crazy thing is, I had no idea until after we had already invited friends over for a ice cream party!

This is the picture i texted everyone inviting them to the party!

I love my chalkboard! :)

We made peanut butter ice cream (well it was technically custard, but I didn't know that until after I started making it) it was soo yummy! Especially on top of brownies! One of the other couples brought huckleberry ice cream from a local dairy! It is probably the best ice cream in town!

This was the 3rd month in a row that we've had a group over for some kind of get together (first, ice cream fondue. second, homemade personal pizzas)! We have invited the same 3 couples each time, until this month we invited some new friends!

Success!

They blended with the group so well! It was like we've all been friends for years!

We have some amazing friends here in IF! We are so grateful for them!

Sadly 2 out of the 4 couples are moving soon :( they will be missed. 

But that calls for another get together, right? 

I think yes! :)

Day 432- putting on my craft pants!

Lets start with why I need to put my "craft pants" on more often!

-- craft pants are not a real pair of pants, just another saying for getting my craft on or crafting my brains out--

1- I got a Cricut for Christmas but haven't used it near as much as I would like.

2- I bought vinyl in January and never used it! Yes, 7 months ago!! Don't worry I changed that this week.

3- I am really really good at starting a project and saying oh I will finish it later! Then never finishing it.

4- and I am ever better at spending hours on Pinterest finding ideas! And not fulfilling the ideas... Don't you just love Pinterest though?!

So I put on my craft pants last week and made a chalk board so I decided to put them on again while they still fit and this week I made a Menu Board!

I made a quick one right after I got my Cricut but I needed a bigger and cuter one (duh!).

Two friends from my ward said they would make one with me! Yay! It was a lot of fun to play more with my Cricut, actually cut some vinyl, eat cinnamon rolls, and just visit!

Ps- a craft buddy (or 2) is always more fun! I highly recommend it.  :)

Mine is the black framed one! 

The one with the white frame is my friend Tana's!

 And I am sad I didn't get a good picture of Camilla's.  :(

Now what to do next week...? 

Maybe pack for a 3 week trip to Wa and Mt? Nah... I'm sure I can find some time Monday (we leave Tues) to put my craft pants back on!

I bought 3 vases at a yard sale today, so maybe I will do something fun with them!

Any ideas...? Please share.

Day 429- you might be a redneck if...

-You think that beef jerky and Moon Pies are two of the major food groups.

-The first words out of your mouth every time you see friends are "Howdy!" or "How Y'all Doin?"

-You have flowers planted in a bathroom appliance in your front yard.

-You roll you hair with soup cans.

-You fish in your above-ground pool.

--OR IF YOU DECIDE TO TURN YOUR MIXER INTO AN ICE CREAM MAKER!

Luckily only the last one fully describes us...

The other night I got everything ready to make homemade blackberry ice cream (mmm)! -- Rock salt, ice, and ice cream fixin's all in the maker! I put the lid on and it would not spin!

We then tore it apart to find the problem.

We found it! But sadly couldn't fix it.

(A tooth broke off one of the gears.)

I was not about to waste my 2 days of ice making and blackberries to a broken ice cream maker!

So on went my thinking cap!

The day before I'd seen an ad for an ice cream maker attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer
so I thought, ha I could do that!

In to the bowl the fixin's went! Baggies were filled with the ice and rock salt and then plastic wrapped around and around the bowl! haha!

Brilliant right?!? I thought so.  :)

After a hour and a half it got thicker but not homemade ice cream consistency and I was not patient enough to wait [four days] for it!

So it was a bust!!

But don't worry, I borrowed an ice cream maker the next day from a friend and we still got to enjoy our blackberry ice cream! (though I'm convinced it would've tasted better on day one)

Our next ice cream experiment is peanut butter ice cream! I will let you know how it goes.  :)

Ps... The Kitchen Aid ice cream maker is now on my Christmas list!!

Day 426 and 27- Motorcycle Rides!

On Sunday we went on a motorcycle ride to the lake with Todd and Cat! It was so relaxing to just sit on the grass and chat! And we decided we would need to come back and play!

So on Monday evening we went!!

We put on our swimsuits grabbed our towels and helmets and headed for the lake (don't worry we had jeans and tennis shoes on over our suits for the ride)

It was so fun to play in the water!

I am so glad we found some water not too far from our house! :) yay for warm summer evenings!

Day 425- Yard Sale + Craft Day = Success

I found this old cookie sheet at a yard sale and knew I could do something amazing with it!

So I bought it for a whole 50 cents!

It didn't take long until i thought--Magnetic chalkboard!! :)

I decided to do the back and sides a lime green color, to bring more green into my kitchen :) Then the "cookie" part chalk board!

Within ten hours of buying it...it was complete and looked better than I imagined!

And it was only $6.70! Can't beat that!

Now to figure out how and where to hang it!

Thanks for all your help Cat!!

Can't wait for our next craft day!

Day 425- please pass the ketchup!

As I think about the last 7 days I can't help but smile! We had such a great week! We did so much fun stuff...

Wanna hear about it?

Good, cuz I'm going to tell you!

And I am going to apologize in advance, because all my pics are at the bottom and in crazy order because I can't figure out how to put them mid post from my phone

Anyway...

Day 421- Kyles brother Todd and his wife Cat bought a motorcycle!! We are so excited that we now can go on motorcycle rides together! Is that the sound of a motorcycle date coming soon? I think so!!

Day 422- Independence Day!! I am so great full for the freedom we have and for all those you have and continue to fight for our country! I am truly proud to be an American!

Both my brothers are in the Navy! Thank you Spenc and Trev for your service!

Now for the fun: The Idaho Falls Independence Day parade route goes down our street!! So awesome! All we had to do was rope off our spot a few days before then put out our blankets that morning!

We invited the two clients Kyle works with and their families to come watch the parade with us! They made it so much more enjoyable.. I decided it would be fun to have red, white, and blue snacks- red was watermelon, white was star shaped rice crispies, and blue was kool-ade jammers!

After the parade we went to a neighbors for some good ol' American hotdog and ketchup (and lemonade of-course)

A few hours later we hit up another BBQ with some friends from our ward! More hotdogs and ketchup for us! I also made "patriotic" fluff! I usually only put raspberries but to be patriotic I added some blueberries too! Yum yum!

Then Todd and Cat invited us over for a BBQ.. We were about to explode already though so we just visited and watched them eat.. Any guesses??.... Stake! (duh) no ketchup involved on these staked! I made enough room for a few bites and dang, they were delish!

Off to the fireworks we went! We walked from our house because everyone said the parking and traffic gets crazy! It was about a ten min walk to the river where we watched them. It was a great show!

We had a very fun fourth of July!!

424- Kyle was having some problems with his motorcycle so he decided to do some work on it, as he was cleaning out one of the carburetors the neighbor dog walked by him and back towards the ally not long later the owner came looking for the pooch. So Kyle went along one side of the house and the owner the otherwise. Note- Kyle still had a carburetor part in his hand. After walking down the ally and getting the dog and returning him to the owner Kyle looked in his hand and noticed a piece of the part in his hand was missing... Let the search begin!! --we could've ordered the part online for 22 dollars and 3 weeks to ship-- We walked his route a million times, said prayers, crawled the route a hundred more times and after 4 hours (no joke!!) We we decided to give up... We walked to the front grass Kyle kicked off his flip flops walked a few steps AND found IT!!! We searched the grass and I probably laid on it a few times. Unbelievable?!? We are so grateful we found it and for the answer to our prayers!

Day 425- Yard Sale!!

We woke up early (on a Saturday) to hit some yard sales! We decided to take the motorcycle (since it got fixed the night before). That way we would really have to consider if we needed items we wanted.. Would it fit in the backpack? Or is it worth bringing the jeep and possibly the trailer back for? So we were off... It was tons of fun! We met up with Todd and Cat (so they ended up taking stuff that was to big) ready for our bargains?... A huge old commercial kitchen cookie sheet! My wheels were turning fast the moment I saw it, just wait until you see what was in store for it. It was finished before sunset. Got it for 50 cents!!

 

Our next bargain was amazing!! We got a whole Yakima roof rack set with snowboard racks AND a another snowboard rack still in the box (with the price tag still on it of 90 bucks) we got it all for 30 bucks!!! Whoa right?!

Thanks for bearing with the long post, blogger on my computer is giving my problems so I had to cram all our [ketchup] fun into one post!

**Anyone else not able to do anything but view their blog when logged in?

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July week! And keep on enjoying the summer! -- it's going quick!

Day 417- the sky is falling...

...oh wait, it's just our closet!!
A few days ago while Kyle was eating lunch and I was putting clothes in the dryer we heard a weird noise, i thought it was him and he thought it was me. We couldn't figure out where it came from... Then we found our closet! The wood on the back wall fell off and it was helping hold up the rods... It's a mess!
Our house was built in 1920 so we think it's a case of very old closet syndrome NOT we have to many clothes syndrome (at least that's what I'm telling myself)
I won't even show you our temporary closet, it would make us look redneck... But just so you get an idea our Murphy bed in the living room is involved.