DisneyWorld Day 1

For Christmas 2011 we went to Disney World
We went with my parents and my brother Matt and his wife Yoshi and their cute little Mei
We had so much fun.
I love Disney anything and Ruby has been to Disneyland twice but this was her 1st Disney World experience.
We didn't even tell her that we were going. We just showed up at The Magic Kingdom.
It was so fun watching her face and how excited she was. I couldn't stop taking pictures of her just looking at everything.
It really is a Magical place.

Cinderella's Castle

These faces were so excited and just pure Joy

There are always tons of shows going on and typically we don't stop for those.
We just run to the next ride
But Ruby was really amazed at seeing all the characters so we watched pretty much every show that was available
There were also some great Holiday shows and Parades. It was so fun to be there during Christmas.

Mei's cute face

We loved spending time with Matt and Yoshi and Mei and getting to know them better.

Waiting for a parade

All the fun Christmas lights and decorations down Main Street USA

The view of the castle as we were leaving on the ferry

What a fun day

There are still 3 more days of pics to come.
Stay tuned

Clint's Happy Birthday

January 11th was Clint's birthday.
It started out with Clint getting up at 4:15am to go to the flight line.
So exciting!!!!!!!


Clinty,
Happy Birthday, I feel like such a lucky girl to be sharing this life with you.
Thanks for taking me on this journey with you.
We have had so many great experiences together with our little Ruby.
I love our family of 3 and even though it's not what we had hoped for.
I feel like we are so close as a family and I wouldn't change that for anything.
We truly cherish every little event and change in our lives . And that includes your special day!!!
Happy Birthday!
Love your Wifey

We had a birthday dinner that night and then had friends over for cake and ice cream.
I am so glad that we have friend here to share these special days with.

This picture was taken as we were all singing Happy Birthday
so typical.....on his phone

Clint always has to have a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.
He remembers his mom always making one for him when he was growing up.
So cute!!!
I am not a big strawberry fan, but this Strawberry Shortcake Cake is so delicious.
But I always make some sort of chocolate cake too.
This year it was a Chocolate Raspberry and oh my was it divine.

This is what I gave Clint.
I love it, cause it is so true and it doesn't hurt to be reminded.
The best part is that I made it
(I had some help from our good friend Michael with the cutting, Thanks Michael)
But I feel like it means so much more knowing that I made it.
I am so happy with how it turned out.

Table Redo

I bought this table this past summer while I was in Utah.
I fell in love with it because of the two drop leaf sides
and I thought it would be a great size to use as our desk/craft/project table
The other great thing about it is it had two leaves to make it even bigger

This is what it looked like when I bought it

After being stripped and sanded

The legs getting a coat of primer

And here are all of the lovely after shots

The top was stained in dark walnut and coated with a wax

The base was painted in Creamy by Sherwin Williams
I fell in love with this table from Miss Mustard Seed and had to try it.
So it worked out perfect when I found this table.
The only thing I didn't do that Miss Mustard Seed did is rub stain over the legs after they were painted. I tend to like a cleaner look.

I have loved this table so I am sad that we may not keep it.
We have to figure out what we will have room for in Washington.

Linked to:
Today's Creative Blog
Primitive and Proper
Miss Mustard Seed
Transformation Thursday

Poms

I have had a few different people ask me about the Poms that I made for my sisters wedding.
I love these poms.
They are super easy but a bit time consuming
I have made so many of these for a ton of different occasions
Weddings
Birthday parties
Baby showers
I even have some hanging in Ruby's room right now!!!!

What you will need:
Tissue Paper
Scissors
Floral wire

1. Stack 8 pieces of tissue paper at either 20"x30" or 10"x20"
(like I said, I tend to make the smaller ones more)
Make 1 1/2" wide accordion folds(fold the longer width)
Make a really good crease with each fold.
2. when it is completely folded wrap floral wire around the center, but don't smash the paper
3. Trim both ends, either to a pint, or rounded
4. Slowly and carefully fan out each individual accordion, and give it desired puffiness
5. Hang with either monofilament or ribbon

I tend to make the small ones more often because they hold there shape longer
I also like doing the rounded edge more than the pointy
But that is all a personal preference.
The ones that I have hanging in Ruby's room
I made for a baby shower over a year ago and they still look perfect!!!!

Have fun & let me know what you make them for!!!

Linked to:
Lolly Jane
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog

New Year's Eve

The last 3 weeks have gone by so fast. We have done so much that it is going to take me awhile to catch up.
My parents have been in town
We went to Disney world for Christmas
and
We spent New Years at the beach.
I am going to start with New Year's and then catch up from there

WE LOVE THE BEACH
So I was so glad that we got to spend New Year's Eve there.
We went down with my parents, but a bunch of our friends were there too.
It was a fun day and perfect weather.
I was prepping myself for freezingness at the beach.
I mean I was thinking coats and hats and all
But it was beautiful.

As always Ruby had fun with the Welch kids

Everyone did lots of reading and just hanging out.
The MEN went out on the kayak and snorkeling.
I mean it was nice weather but the water was freezing.
CRAZY!!!!!
I spent most of the time listening to the Utes bowl game

It was great being there with so many people and just enjoying our time

This girl is going to miss the beach.

Ruby spent a ton of time tracing our shadows
It was so cute

Cute Man

Then Everyone got serious about building a sand castle.
It was funny to see the dads getting into it with the kids

Ruby was given the task of filling the bucket with water and bringing back to the castle.
She loved having an important job.

A few final shots of the last sunset of 2011
This is such a beautiful place. We are going to miss going down to the beach so easily.
But we are super excited to experience something new at Ft. Lewis WA