Leather

A few days ago, my mom found a piece of leather in her room and she gave it to me. So right away I knew what I was going to make, a pair of leather shoes! . I know they're weird but they do have practical applications.

1. They are so comfy so I'll just wear them around the house.

2. Costume parties (though seldom they may be)

3. If I ever get invited to Big foot's family reunion!

Sweets

Yesterday we got a package of Japanese candy from the Takahashis! The packages are so cute and colorful and the candy is so yummy too! Isn't the back so fun! I only wish I could read all those lovely artificial ingredients!Also, today in town we got the ingredients to make strawberry Italian soda. yum............. Sorry I don't have pictures of the soda , I already drank all mine.

Caveat Emptor

Last night I read a disturbing fact. It said "some common red food coloring are made from dried insects called cochineal". So I decided to investigate this claim. Way to soon I found it to be true. The shell in red M&M’s, Strawberry Yogurt, fruit punch, pink frosting, most things that are red or pink are made from this female bug! You’ll also find it’s what gives makeup it’s nice red or pick shading. It is labeled under Carmine, or "artificial coloring" what’s artificial about smashed bugs?
But before you decide to vow off anything that is red, Cochineal does support subsistence farmers in poor parts of the world, and is remarkably non-toxic. But just know that next time you feel like putting on some blush, or go to eat that bag of M&M’s you might be using a few dead bugs.

Snake

This is the snake Luke caught the other day.

Muffins

This afternoon the Vestals and us went to Peter's Ridge to go Huckleberry picking. Well, we found out that the berries aren't quite ripe yet, but farther down the hill I found a bush that had quite a few. When we got home I had about a cup, not much, but enough to make Huckleberry muffins! Yumm!

Yokan Wagashi

This is my newest amigarumi creation. She is a baby seal. Her name is Yokan Wagashi, after the colorful, sweet Japanese candy. Because of her monochromatic colors I thought she needed a colorful name.

Camping Big Creek

We got back from camping a hour ago. Over all it was OK. The river was nice and the weather was not to bad. We had thunder, lighting, and rain during the night, it was so loud it woke us all up. It sounded like it was right on top of us, and it just about was! We set up the hammock and it was relaxing laying around on it. The boys and Nora had fun building really neat bionicle traps and fly fishing.

Wagashi!

This is Namagashi Wagashi. She is a rice bunny! I made her last night and thought such a sweet little bunny deserved a very sweet big name. Namagashi is a type of Japanese rice cake and Wagashi is candy. She is only about an inch tall.

Green!

I love all the green color in the summertime. Here are some pictures I took today. Our yellow squash peeking throughGreen beans!zucchini plantPotatoes almost ready!Spearmint plant attack!

We don't have a salad spinner so our lettuce is laying out to dry.

Badminton

If you enjoy, a corny plot, poor acting, and cheesy smiles, this is the show for you. We made it this morning and I still can't stop laughing even when I was done putting it together. It was so fun to make and I hope you like it as much as we do!

(p.s.) You might want to turn the music at the bottom off first.

Clutch

After church on Sunday, I cut out and then later sewed this little clutch. I was tired of all my chap stick and lip gloss rolling around the bottom of my purse. So, out of desperateness I quickly made up a pattern to sew. I will put snaps on the top when I get around to buying some, but till then it will just have to sit their and look cute!

Piggy!

For Anna's birthday I crocheted her a tiny little pig. Anna collects miniature pigs. I took some pictures of him before he was a gift, and I thought he turned out so cute I would share it with you!

Takahashi Visit

The past week the Takahashis came to visit. They are our California "Family" that comes up once a year. We always have so much fun when they come up, and are so sad to see them off. Nick, Anna, Barb, and Sam TakahashiAnna and Eric's birthdays are 2 days apart, so while they were here we had Anna's 16th and Eric's 20th, a double birthday party. We played Badminton a lot, and "eventually" got kind of good at it.

We miss you already!

The Winner!

Congratulations Nora! Here is her joke, I found it very funny, hope you all do too!

Once, a preacher decided to buy a mule (he would rather ride than walk). He went to the nearest town and bought a good mule for a fair price. Although, the mule was quite stubborn. It seemed forever to the preacher to get these instructions in that mule's head: Amen means whoa, Hallelujah means go. Finally, the preacher was pleased with the mule and decided to test it. He rode into the country and galloped for hours, until suddenly a cliff stood right ahead of them. "Amen! Amen! Whoa!! AMEN!!" Finally, the mule stopped right at the edge. the preacher sighed and said... "Whew. Hallelujah."....

Contest!

Since we are all in a contest mode, I thought I might hop on this band wagon and host one of my own. OK, here is how it goes. You e-mail me your funniest joke by Friday, and I'll post the winners! Have fun. And I have a prize for fist place.

Sunday Hike

Yesterday, a few families from our church went to Glacier Park for a picnic thing and a hike. It was a beautiful windy day, and just the right temp for a hike.

Green life with an orange thumb

A while ago I crocheted a tree frog. I look a picture of him and thought it looked cute, so you get to look at it too! He protects my ceiling high house plant from all manner of evil bugs.

Gloves

I'm normally leery to try glove patterns because they always seem to take size 30 thread, to thick of yarn, look way to elegant, look old ladyish, or take forever to make. So when I found this pattern I talked myself into trying it and really was happily surprised. They only took me two evenings to make and I like the fit, and weight of yarn.

Swirlly!

Off of etsy I bought a wall embellishment to go around my light switch. My dad helped me apply it to my wall tonight. It went on just like a fake tattoo, Take the paper off, stick it on, get it wet then pull off the adhesive paper. I really like the way it looks.

Butterfly!

I found this butterfly stuck between the fence wire, and rescued it. For thanks, it let me run inside, grab the camera and take a picture of it. I love the colors God made it, so.... yellow.

Summer Weeds!

I love the wild "flowers" weeds that grow in summer. They are so noxious, yet so pretty (a lot like sin). My dad always goes out and weedwacks them, that makes me sad, yet they grow back within a week. They are so fun to make into wreaths and they last a while, I still have mine from last year, though a bit crunchier.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

OK, for all who didn't know, us, the Vestals, and the Underhills went camping this weekend. That being said let me tell you what you didn't know.

We got to the campground about 1 p.m Friday morning. It was beautiful, warm, and the campground was practically empty. We chose our prime spot and set up our tents, chairs, est. Hannah and I rode our bikes down to the lake and the mud was heaven, absolute heaven, so we rode back as fast as we could to get our suits on. Getting back to the lake it was cooler so.... We slathered ourselves in mud up to the waist. The moms went to get the canoe and when they got back Hannah and I paddled across the lake. It was like a perfect serene beach over there. No salty ocean, annoying seagulls, absolutely NO people, great sand, and a cool sandy wall to graffiti all over. Eventually dragging ourselves away from the perfect world, we came home to find the Underhills had gotten their except Mitch and Matt who came with the Vestals.

Before dinner it started raining, then pouring, then dumping, (I found out that my waterproof jacket was not water tight) My dad Mitch and I were putting up the fly tent over our kitchen stuff (everyone else had vacated to their tents) when it started thundering and lightening. You could see the lightning way less then a mile away. It was like Boom, pow, Boom, pow (if that was a good description or not) It kept dumping then my mom said that the tent was leaking through the floor! So off to save our comfort of a warm sleeping bag. Mitchell kept on cooking the chicken throughout the rain. The Underhills (three of them) got back when it stopped raining. They had gone to a rodeo Eric was riding in. It was indoors. Later we played madlibs in our tent. It poured most the night.

We took Shelby camping. during the night Shelby woke me up by scratching on our sleeping bags. I woke my mom up to get her to stop. Mom, upon finding Shelby was cold decided to put her in the sleeping bag. Shelby never having slept in a sleeping bag before kept climbing out and butting her head against mine, why I don't know. Eventually she fell asleep.

The next day it was chilly, so all us girls (except Nora) went to Eureka and the Amish store. We went to a used store, a really neat consignment store where I got a really cute pair of shoes and skirt, then an amazing clothing store. I mean it. I liked practically everything in that store including the name "Sunflower Moose". They had so many cute skirts, jackets, and tops it was unbelievable. After being in la la land, We went to lunch at a really neat deli, yarn shop, cross bookstore. I had the best sandwich ever, then we went back to the cold wet, miserable, camp sight and played badminton. ,

Today was wonderful. A little chilly in the morning but warmed up great. We packed up then rode down to the lake. Hannah, Nora, and I went across the lake again. Still bliss. imagine.... sunbathing on hot sand, cooling off your feet in clear cold water, running down the "shore", doing more graffiti, climbing a sandy hill, playing in quick sand, then taking a relaxing trip back. Later Hannah and I "played" in the mud more, then we all went home. And Hannah if you changed your mind and still wanted that swirly metal thing I found it's to late, I threw it into the lake.

I hope that wasn't to long, but I hope you read it because I took awhile to write. Here are some pictures because I know that's the only thing you like. The boys playing cards with goggles on so the smoke wouldn't bug them The chairs attempting to dry off. The shelter made to keep the hammocks dry from the rain. Mitchell cooking the chicken in the rain.

Button

Hannah sent me instructions on how to make this button pillow. I made one and thought it turned out cute. It didn't match my room though so I put it in the craft room.