Berry Picking

Ryan's parents are in town this weekend and I thought it would be fun to plan and do something together this Memorial Day. So we got up kind of early and drove an hour to Afton, Virginia to go to the Critzer Family Farm and go strawberry picking. It was a blast and it was so hot!!! But the heat didn't stop Zoie or us from having a grand 'ole time.

When she was helping me, I handed her the strawberries and she'd put them in the box and say "tank you." Then she would walk down the path, stick her hands in the leaves and say "I see." It was so cute. When she was with Grandma Congdon, they'd eat the strawberries. We all had so much fun and got quite a bit of strawberries.

Ryan and I with Zoie before we left

Berry Picking. We got really sweaty if you can't tell :)

All of our Strawberries.

My plans for the strawberries are to make strawberry and strawberry rhubarb jam, homemade natural fruit roll-ups, to freeze some for future use, and of course to eat a bunch. I have been obsessed with strawberries lately and am in heaven right now. OH......I'm so excited.

Zoie had so much fun picking and was so excited to be outside. I think Ryan and I will have to make a tradition of going out there to pick strawberries each year. This was a great family activity and I hope that Zoie will love and always cherish this times.

I can't wait for July, so we can go back and pick peaches!!! I am really enjoying this opportunity that I have to go and pick these fruits. It's great family time, and I am learning so much on canning, and jam making, etc. Not only do I learn, but Zoie will learn and hopefully she'll look back and remember these times and want to come back and do them again. Today was a great day and I loved that I was able to enjoy with my family.

Staying STRONG in the STORMS of Life

Every Sunday morning we turn a show on for Zoie. We let her watch Joseph: King of Dreams. She loves that show and literally sits through the whole show. I end up watching it with her, every now and then. Each time I sit and watch the show with her I learn something new. Today I learned something so valuable and simple, that it was perfect for today's post.

A quick brief summary of the story of Joseph. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, because they were jealous and envious of how their father was treating him. He was sold into Egypt and became a slave for Potiphar. Then he was wrongly accused of sleeping with Potiphar's wife and sent to prison for several years. During his stay in prison he learned something of great worth to him and is now, I feel of great worth to me.

These weekly posts are designed to strengthen our testimony in the Savior, Jesus Christ, which in turn helps us overcome any obstacle in our life path. Imagine how Joseph felt being wrongly accused and thrown into prison for several years. That would upset me, and make me want to have revenge of some sort or just to give up on my life. Wouldn't you? It's a hard trail to bear and move forward from.

The valuable lesson is this,

"I don't know the reason why I'm going through this,

maybe not knowing why, is the test for me.

 A test of faith and strength. I must learn to trust in God.

HE knows better than I. He knows better than I."

"I am a player in a much more greater plan so I got to give a little more than I take."

This is a saying we need to always keep in mind, when we are placed in a difficult situation or challenge. We may not know the reason why we are going through that specific trial at that specific time. It may frustrate us and make us want to give up, but always remember "HE KNOWS BETTER THAN I."  He knows when we need strengthening, encouragement, and help in our life. He has bigger plan and purpose for us, individually, and once we come to understand that, we can accomplish any obstacle in our life path and continue to stay strong in the storms of life.



Homemade Cheese-its

Zoie loves crackers. I found this recipe at Heavenly Homemakers and it looked pretty simple and easy. So I had to give it a try. They taste amazing, plus we have all the ingredients on hand all the time, it'll save us so much money on crackers. Although I couldn't get mine into squares, but I'm sure with more practice I'll have this recipe perfected. Enjoy and tell me what you think when you try it.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded cheese, room temperature
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1. Beat butter and salt until creamy. Add cheese mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder, and water until dough forms a ball. Help form ball with hands if need too.

2. Roll dough 1/8 in thick (between parchment paper) on a cookie sheet.
*I just spread mine out on a greased cookie sheet with a spatula.

3. Cut in 1 1/2 in squares. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until brown. Turn oven off and let sit to get crispy.

4. Store in a tightly covered container.

Staying STRONG in the STORMS of Life

"This is a day of proving ourselves, a day of trial. This is a day when men's hearts are failing them with fear. When the multitudes in the world are asking themselves what the end will be. A few inspired men know what the end will be. The Lord has told us what would occur, in [the scriptures], this wonderful library that I hold in my hand. He has given us the information that we need to adjust our lives and to prepare ourselves that no matter what may transpire we will be on the Lord's side of the line." George Albert Smith

How true this is. We are in a day of challenging times. The Lord gave us the scriptures to help us overcome our trials and prepare for exaltation. It is hard for the Lord to help us, if we don't ask. A minor challenge I have had in my life recently, may not seem like a challenge at all, but to me it is. I am trying to teach Zoie to pray and be reverent. When we will kneel down for family prayer, she fusses and tries to lift us up and unfold our arms. It is really frustrating for me.

One evening I prayed to Heavenly Father asking him to help me figure out how I can get this principle across to Zoie. When I finished, I started to read in the Book of Mormon. I felt inspired to read in 1 Nephi. I wanted to read about Lehi and how he taught his children. After I finished reading, I realized that the only way for me to really teach the importance of prayer and reverence to Zoie was to just do it. Be an example. When we have family prayer, I fold my arms, bow my head, and close my eyes, and pretty much ignore her. It worked for a while, but she still had her moments, but she is only 19 months, it'll get better. A couple weeks later, she now folds her arms and bows her head. She is the biggest reminder to us to pray, and she loves saying "Amen." It is the cutest thing in the world and it melts my heart to see her praying and being reverent. A little while ago, she prayed with her baby and put her baby to sleep. She talked aloud and when she was done said "amen", kissed her baby and laid her down. I wanted to cry, I was so proud of her.

This is not a very big trial, but something I've struggled through and wanted to give up on. But with the strength of the Lord, and the encouragement I found in the scriptures, I was able to learn how to teach my child the importance of prayer. It really is through prayer and the scriptures we can stay STRONG in the STORMS of life.

Baby Girl # 2 Scare

Our family had quite the scare last week. I have had braxton-hicks contractions since the beginning of my third trimester in April. They don't bother me too much, just uncomfortable at times. Some days are better than others.

Last Sunday (may 13), I had them throughout the entire day, very irregular. So I thought nothing of it. Monday (may 14), I had them all morning long about 10-15 minutes apart, still didn't think much of it then, but as the day continued on, the contractions got stronger and shorter. I told Ryan, and we talked and decided that we would just wait until the morning to go in and see the doctor, so we didn't have to go to the hospital and deal with all that jazz. Oh man, Monday night was just horrible, I couldn't sleep, the contractions were so bad and close together. I couldn't get comfortable and it was just plain annoying. Tuesday (may 15) we called the Doctor and went in to see her. I explained everything that was going on and how I felt and such. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor, to time and read the contractions and such. Then they did a preterm early labor test. I had to wait for the test results to come back. If it was positive, they would write me a prescription for Nifedipine, and if it was negative then we didn't have to worry about the possible chance of delivering this baby.

Well.... my test results came back positive, for being in preterm early labor. So I had to go get this prescription filled and this is suppose to slow the contractions down and not make them so strong. It works every now and then. I take one every six hours. Apparently my body adjusts to medicine when I take it, so this drug works one set of six hours and the next, not so much.

Went back in Thursday (may 17), told the doctor how I've been feeling. Wednesday night was horrible, couldn't sleep at all, the contractions were uncomfortable. My doctor decided she would do an ultrasound to check my cervix. Doctor Jensen, said I am really thin and am dilated to about a 3 already. She wants me to continue to take the drugs, so we can keep this baby girl inside until 35 weeks, so her lungs can mature and hopefully she'll gain some weight. She only weighs 3 lbs right now and is very small. We go back in the this Friday, to see how things are going and whether or not we will have this baby in a week or if I will carry her full-term.

We aren't terribly worried, because our doctor doesn't seem to be very worried. Which is great, cause I don't know if I could handle it, if she was worried. I've been ordered not to teach my fitness classes for the next coupe weeks. I need to relax and take it easy. Which is hard for me, cause there is still so much to do and get done before she arrives and I have Zoie who apparently all of a sudden demands my attention and wants to be cuddled and have someone to play with. Ryan has been a great help and support through all of this and I couldn't of asked for a better husband.

There you have it our family scare with Baby Girl # 2. Oh, because of this scare, I got my haircut earlier than I wanted to, but if she decided to come, I wanted my hair short. It is shorter than I expected, but I like it and haven't freaked out about not having long hair. This is the shortest I have ever had it.

Up-Cycled Dresser: COMPLETED!!

I finished the dresser and am very proud of myself. I am still in progres with fixing the drawer and it's missing pieces, but luckily I have a brother-in-law who is great at stuff like that and said he and his friend can make those pieces for me, no problem. YAY!!!!

I lined the drawers this morning with vinyl adhesive wall paper. It's a simple floral design. Take a look. I love it and think it's perfect.

up close shot of the wall paper

how it looks in the drawers

Now the moment we have all been waiting for....

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Before shot

AFTER.....

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don't mind my hand and the missing knob on the bottom.

That's the drawer that is being fixed

Now, my make your own projector idea didn't work out, so I had to trace the stencil on by hand. It was very fun and relaxing. I'm so glad to finally have this project completed and can't wait to put it in the girls room tomorrow. I'll be sure to post a picture of the room when it's finished. Thanks, for all the encouragement and such. It was fun to know you guys wanted to know how things were coming.

Stay tuned for my next project in a couple of weeks (maybe) with the Mirror Make-Over. The other piece of furniture I found in the trash. 

Upclcyed-Dresser: Priming Drawers

It's a raining day here today, but that didn't stop me from continuing my work on the dresser.

I'm so excited, tomorrow I will paint and get the stencil ready to be traced.

Want to see the stencil I'm using?

I am using this stencil from All Things Thrifty. I absolutely love it

and think it'll look great.

Remember I decided to blow this up and paint it big on the left side of the dresser.

I planned on painting each circle of petals

a color of the rainbow, but I think I'm changing my mind. I am

leaning towards one solid color.

What do you think?

Suggestions for colors, maybe?

The girls walls are painted a periwrinkle (bluish/purplish) color. The dresser is all white.

I looked forward to your suggestions. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Here is the list of things that I need to do to make this dresser beautified!!! Look the list is slowly getting smaller :)

• wipe down
• clean out
• putty the indention's and handle holes
• prime the dresser
• prime the drawers
• get new knobs for the drawers
• reattach 3 drawers
• drill new holes for knobs
• fix incomplete drawer
• get wood to fill the bottoms of the drawers
• fix back of dresser
• sand it down
• secure the foots of the dresser
• paint dresser
• paint drawers
• put knobs on drawers
• line bottom of drawers with wall paper
• find a cute, girly stencil
• blow up the stencil
• trace stencil onto dresser
• paint stencil
• place in girls room