One Last Camping Adventure

It's sad to actually admit that the summer is almost gone. Nate and I finally found a weekend where we didn't have any commitments so we decided to pack up the truck and head out for some camping fun! We ended up going by Heise Hot Springs and finding an awesome secluded spot along the river. We actually had camped there a few years ago with Mel and Kel. Good times.

 Here's our cute camp spot. Beyond the fire pit is the river. The fish were jumping like crazy and of course we didn't bring our fishing poles because that's how we role.

Eating some yummy tin foil dinners.

Nate wearing my extra pair of socks because it was very cold!

 When the sun went down we froze! We kind of forgot about our dog Skip and felt bad in the morning when his body felt like an ice block. Whoops. We didn't sleep much but it was still fun. We did have a great experience when I was waking up but still dreaming and shouted to Nate, "Good Job!" And then he responded with a, "Good job on what?" Then I realized I had been dreaming that he had built something or other. Good times.

 

On our way back home we saw some great wildlife. Here is a wild turkey. There were actually 5 of them crossing the road.

 A view of the river.

 And some moosen!

Skip on the other side of the truck oblivious of the moosen...but having a good time.

 We decided to venture over to Palisades and see how low the water was. Crazy!

 Here's a picture of Big Elk. We actually jet-skied here a couple of weeks ago. There is no way we could get in there now.

We had a lot of fun camping; however, it all ended quickly when we got home and realized our house had been broken into. What a lovely surprise. Another reason why I dislike our neighborhood. We were very fortunate and they only ended up taking the little bit of cash I had in my purse. But they went through everything in our house! They played the piano, found Nate's blow darts upstairs and had a fun time, sat at the computer, went through all our cupboards, opened my temple bag and distributed all my clothes on the floor. Nice. We are pretty sure we know who did it, but of course have no proof. They ended up coming through our basement window into our laundry room. The screen is busted now but what can you do. We are just thankful that nothing was stolen or vandalized.

A Huge Project

So back in April I finally convinced Nate that we needed to update our basement. Why you ask? First because it was so ugly and second we are going to be here awhile so why not enjoy being downstairs... right? Well our medium size project turned into a gigantic project. Figures. But it definitely paid off. And in great thanks to mom and dad for spending many days and hours with us to get it done.

 Enjoy our adventure...(And the pictures aren't the best. I took them on my phone. They don't do it justice).

When Nate took off the awesome 60's paneling, he noticed that it was glued onto cement. So Nate and dad had to build walls and insulate them before putting up drywall.

 We hired a guy to do all the texturing and painting. He got it done in 1 day. So worth it!

 We decided to order new windows. I love them! And we had to custom order them because of course they don't make windows that size anymore.

 It wouldn't be a remodel project without some blood and tears! 

Mom and I decided to clean out all the crap under the crawl space. We didn't want to go in there without being prepared! It was disgusting thanks to 50+ years of crap stored down there.

 And now to the great reveal! Our stairs and fireplace before...

 Our stairs and fireplace after! Amazing right?! We ended up putting bead-board down the walls. Mom and I ended up painting the fireplace and brick. Looks so much better.

 One of our corners before...(Don't you love the 60's bright orange carpet?)

 The same corner after with an awesome new sectional and a cute boy!

 Our windows before...

 Our windows after! Thanks to Pinterest I was able to figure out how to make curtains to fit our windows.

 Doors to our laundry room and bathroom before....

 And after. Note to self...don't take doors off to paint them. They don't fit the same after. Nate had to really sand down and work the doors to get them to fit again.

 The ugly corner before. (It use to have a bunch of junk and crap just shoved in there).

 And the corner after. We ended up putting up a shelf, putting in cabinets, and making a door to our crawl space instead of the shelf idea. Now this corner is a great place for my treadmill.

 Here are some more fun pictures. Our TV is now on a different wall. Notice that there is baseball on. It's always on in our house...24-7.

 And the shelf behind our treadmill. Ignore the cords just randomly hanging down. We need to fix those.

When we got it done, I just sat down there for days just starring around and enjoying it all. I still have plans to add little decorating touches here and there when I find the perfect accessories to go along. But for now we love it!

I also ended up finding and re-doing this little stand for our popcorn popper. Thanks Hidden Treasures in Shelley. I love that store. It's dangerous though.

I'll let Nate rest a bit before convincing him to help out with another project.



Gotta Love Pinterest

This summer has been so great because I have been able to take advantage of all the Pins that I have on Pinterest. Nate is always asking me, "Did you get that off of Pinterest?" Why yes, as a matter of fact I did. And I am never disappointed. Here are a few of the many things that I have been up to thanks to Pinterest:

I re-did our TV stand. It use to be ugly laminate and I was able to learn how to paint over laminate using a special primer. Then I painted it a pretty blue. Thanks Martha Stewart paint colors! (Sorry, no before pictures).

  I made this cute burlap wreath for our front door. I could never find a wreath I loved. Finally I did.

 And of course I had to try out one of the many "tips" I Pin. Genius...magnet strip to hold all my bobby pins. Why didn't I think of that one?

 My all time favorite. A scrabble board game for the wall. I just so happen to already have a magnet board so I only had to Mod-Podge some old dictionary pages on it and then glue these special little magnets onto the back of scrabble pieces. I love it!

 Here's a close up.

Not to mention some of the many recipes I've tried. My favorite for dinner: Cilantro Tacos. Check them out here.

And my all time favorite quick and easy dessert: Cookie in a Mug. How did I not know about this?!

I can't wait for more projects!

Yum

It's that time of year!

Thanks to mom and dad we were able to pick almost 2 gallons of these things.

 But they almost didn't make it home because of this guy...

 Thank-goodness he left some in our buckets because I was able to make this delicious pie! (My very first pie from scratch too). It actually was pretty fun to make and I just might have to try it again soon!



More Summer Fun

For the 4th of July we had a great time playing in the water with the whole family.  T.Jay made

water-balloon launchers which we had a great time attacking one another with, we played water-balloon volleyball super-soaker style, and of course had a water fight. So much fun!

 Then a few days ago we celebrated Nate's 31st birthday. Can you believe it?! 31. Wow. Old. Hehe.

A birthday is not complete without a Donut Cake!

Island Park

The third camping trip in a 2 week period was to Island Park. My parents rented a cabin for all of us. My brothers and their cute little families came. Again we had so much fun but ate way too much!

I wasn't able to get pictures of everyone, but I do have some pretty good videos that I could use to my advantage in the future...

Some of our fun activities included a puppet show based on Scripture stories presented by each family...

 Trying to teach this cute little girl to walk...

 Nate jumping in the reservoir...

 A fun impromptu talent show (Nate was reciting a poem)...

 A Minute-To-Win-It game show...

 Four-wheeling...

 ...And enjoying some time in the hammock.

We also had a great time playing horse-shoes, canoeing, and fishing. What an awesome trip! Thanks mom and dad!

Camping, Camping, and More Camping

Wow! What a summer so far!  At the end of June I hit up 3 camping trips withing a 2 week period. Crazy and a little stinky. The first trip was for Girl's Camp. I am not posting pictures of it nor am I going to describe it because I like to talk about happy things.

The second trip was our annual family reunion to Diamond Creek.  Lots of food, lots of laughs, and lots of fun. I think the first thing Nate wanted to do when we got there was to find some water.

 Amongst all the fun games, Nate's mom had a girls versus boys game in which we had to carry cups of water on our heads. Of course the girls won and we were able to get the boys a little wet afterwards.

 And of course it wouldn't be a camping trip without Nate and his brothers dressing up in muu muu's and singing happy birthday to a couple of cousins.

Until next year!