7th Anniversary at the Renaissance Festival

This year for our anniversary we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival.  It is where we spent our first anniversary, and we had such a good time that we always talked about going back.

We took Levi with us, and he loved it.  His favorite part of the "Birds of Prey" show were the owls.  He kept saying "more owl, more owl"

The first show we went to was a family circus.  It was a perfect start for the day with Levi at the festival.

My two guys having fun playing with the swords.

Almost anytime there was music playing, Levi was dancing to it.

This is always cool to watch.

Here is my last video, the whip master at work.

We crossed the finish line!

If you remember I had posted a while back about Matt and I training for a half marathon.  On September 29 we joined Matt's family in Utah and ran the Layton Half Marathon.  We were the last of our family to finish, but I am proud to say that we did finish.  We finished the 13 miles in 3 1/2 hours.  Here is a picture of everyone who did the half marathon just before the race (other family members ran the 10 k and 5 k).

And here are some links to photos of Matt and I from the official race web site.  The first 2 were taken towards the beginning of the race (within the first few miles).  The rest are of us crossing the finish line.

photo 1
photo 2

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photo 6

Many Changes

I know it has been about a month since my last post.  Life has just been so crazy that I simply haven't had the time.  Because of some changes in our financial situation I got a part time job at Saltgrass Steakhouse as a hostess. We also moved out of our beautiful house (see my posts on the house here, and here) and into a small 2 bed, 1 bath apartment, less than half the size of the house.  We sorted through all of our belongings and got rid of at least half, if not more, of what we owned.  Including almost all of Levi's baby items that we had been saving for our second child (No I'm not pregnant, sadly we will have to wait until our situation improves some).  We had two garage sales this last weekend and was able to sell quite a lot, the rest will be donated.  We will be selling our Truck and will only have one vehicle for a while...  So you get the idea.  Times are tough but we are doing our best to make improvement, and we know the Lord will help us through.  I will try to still post about special events, such as birthday's and holiday's.  And maybe if things go well, I will post more.  I might even get some pics of the apartment after we are unpacked.

Crafts

I thought I would post some of my latest crafts.  Not all of them are finished, but I thought I would share anyway.

Crafting helps me deal with stress.  And because of some recent stress, I may have gone a little overboard on this birthday present for a little girl whom I barely know.  I made the bear itself and embroidered her name on one foot.

Then I made matching hair flowers and tutus for the bear and the girl.  Here is the tutorial I used for the bear.  I couldn't find the one I used for making the flower.

Here is a quilt that I started right before I found out I was pregnant with Levi.  I finally finished piecing the top, now it just needs to be quilted.

I don't remember when I started this one,  I think I may have been a teenager at the time.  As you can see, I have a bit of a problem with starting projects and then putting them aside never to be finished.  I am almost finished with the quilting on this one, but It will still take a long time to finish because I am quilting it by hand.

The Zoo

This weekend we took Levi to the Zoo for the first time.  Our friend Ben joined us with his daughter, Dina.  It was incredibly hot, but the kids really enjoyed themselves.

I honestly can't remember what they were looking at.  But I like the photo.

Our little family.  And proof that I was there with Matt and Levi.  As the main photo taker  some may wonder if I was even there.

Here they are feeding the fish.

Levi loved feeding the birds.  He really wanted one to sit on his arm, like he saw others doing, but we just couldn't seem to make it happen.

Dina and Levi enjoying the small petting zoo.

My favorite thing about going to the Zoo is taking pictures of the animals.  So here are some of my animal photos from our trip.

Independence Day 2012

This year we hosted a pancake breakfast at our house before going to our neighborhood parade.  There were so many people here that I was too busy to take any pictures.  But it turned out good, and I think we may turn it into a family tradition.

We walked to the parade with my friend Janae, and her daughter Amy.  Levi and Amy are such cute friends.

That night we joined my brother Glen and his wife Sonja for some BBQ and fireworks.

It was too dark for me to get a good video, but Levi was loving the fireworks.  He was literally shouting for joy every time one went off.

The cuteness of Levi

Here are just of few of Levi's cute moments.

No child can resist playing in the sprinklers.

He may have gotten soaked, but just look at that smile.

For our family home evening dessert/snack we made chocolate chip cookies.

Getting to eat some of the dough is always the best part of making cookies.

At the beginning he is trying to find the ABC song.  Once found he gladly sings along.  That is until he decides he wants to play with the camera.

Making our house a home

 For the first time I find that I have space available in my home for decorating.  I didn't know what to do with myself.  I never had the opportunity to really express my sense of style before.  And so I'm not exactly sure what my style is.  I decided that it was time to experiment.  It took me a couple of months to get it all together, but I think I have finally finished decorating my kitchen... or at least part of it... for now... until I decide if I like it or not.  

So far I'm ok with it.  I don't know that I love it, but for the price I like it (the price being free).  I only used items I already had lying around.  Funny thing is most of what I used had been sitting in boxes for years never touched.  Like the Tandy sign, candles, and frames (that I painted to match).  The item that I am most proud of is the flower wreath.

First I made the wreath out of vines from the forest behind our house. 

Seriously, I pulled down some green vines, wrapped them up, and let it dry. 

 I was so excited that I went a little crazy filling our back yard with vines to make more.

This is the only one I thought to take a picture of while still green.  It's not the one I used in the kitchen. 

So after I made the wreath, I made paper flowers to decorate it with.

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Another important addition to our home is Matt's new grill!

So obviously it's not brand new, it's used.  But for $20.00 what a deal!  Thanks to my Dad for finding it on craigslist and buying it for Matt's birthday.  We love it!!  I fixed dinner with it just last night.

Easter

We had a good Easter this year.  The Missionaries came over for dinner.  And Levi enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

I made him a felt car mat that folds into a house (here is the tutorial I used).  The cars were free hand-me-downs.  And I got the candy for free through couponing!

Levi's 2nd Birthday

This year for his birthday I decided to do a shapes and colors theme.  I hand made this banner, and two others for food and presents.

I made a pull string pinata in the shape of a number 2.  And I just now realized that I set the 2 backwards on the table, silly me.

One thing I included in the pinata was compressed sponges in coordinating shapes and colors.  The kids had fun putting their sponges in the water and watching them grow.

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts.  Levi has loved playing with all of them.  And I love how they keep him entertained for me.  It has been very useful for letting me get things done around the house.

It was a beautiful day for playing outside while having cake and juice.

I like how the cake turned out, even if it wan't perfect.

Here is one last video of Levi playing with the toy kitchen I made for him.  The best thing is that out of the two doors to hide in, he always picks the oven.

I love free stuff!!

I can't believe I waited so long to try out the Staples easy rebates.  It is actually really easy to do, and you can get some great stuff for free!  My first Staples trip I got 2 reams of printer paper, 2 packs of tissues, 2 packs of pens, and one package of address labels.  I paid $44.31 at the store.  That night I filled out the online form for getting my staples rebate check.  Then about 3 weeks later I got my check in the mail for $40.93.  The remaining $3.38 was for taxes.  I think I will start shopping at Staples more, especially when they have such great deals!