Scarlet Pimpernel Party

A friend and I came up with a get-together for a bunch of girls (a.k.a. other mothers) we knew in order to have some quality kid-free girly time.  We started it kinda late after the kids were down and ate a ton of good food and watched the Scarlet Pimpernel. It was way fun, there were door prizes and everything, but none of us thought to take any pictures.
To go with the theme, I thought it would be fun to write love letters to our husbands or kids and seal them with wax like they do in the movie.  I couldn't find a suitable seal to imprint the wax with though, so I decided to make my own. I googled the image from the movie and copied the design.

movie original

mine

Not bad for my first try eh? I figure it's close enough anyway.

All it took was some sealing wax I bought online, and a piece of soapstone, which I carved easily using a nut pick I already had around the house.  The soapstone comes in sticks that are 11mm wide and about 5 inches long and are found at just about any hardware store for about five bucks (you can see them to the right in the first picture).  There are at least 7 sticks and they are generally used to mark metal for welding.

I also found an 11mm ring base and made my own personal signet ring.

What do you think?  Etsy material?

Sigh...

So, I admit I have been putting off blogging because I felt like I needed to do a long post about all that's been going on since I last blogged, and all the wonderful things we did, both significant and insignificant, before we moved back to Idaho, like...

swimming at our favorite pool about once every week,

picking up trash along the highway for a earth-friendly family home evening activity,

 going to the rodeo,

taking apart a broken etch-a-sketch to see what was inside,

celebrating the baby's first birthday complete with outdoor "hot tubs" 

 and water balloons

 as well as the traditional pancake breakfast and Jell-o birthday "cake,"

 going to the county fair 

and narrowly missing a downpour,

going on a picnic and wading in the shallow String lake in Teton National Park with friends and family,

(even the baby enjoyed the water, it's relatively warm)

picking wild huckleberries,

(They're gonna make the best homemade ice cream!)

going to Bear World with Grandma and Grandpa

where the kids got to feed and pet animals at the petting zoo

(accruing quite the collection of feathers from various fowl)

as well as ride kiddie rides,

(Grandma taught us the trick of following the feeding tour truck to see all the bears in action!) 

helping cut a big branch out of a large tree at grandma and grandpa's house 

(okay, so that was mostly my husband, but I gave great moral support from below),

roasting hotdogs over a campfire

Mmmm...

along with strawberry-and-nutella s'mores, 

Double Mmmm!

riding the ski lifts to the top of the mountain, 

going down an alpine slide,

finding a snake on my doorstep,

driving to a beautiful waterfall to try and take family pictures

then picnicking in a familiar camping spot,

and countless days spent playing at the parks --the ones with streams that the kids just had to get into,

(the crystal clear kind which were much too tempting even though they were ice cold!)

and ones with climbing walls (my oldest became quite the expert), others with ponds, or big hills,

or crazy toys... 

...not to mention all the wood chips you can eat!

They have it all there.

*Sigh*

I'm afraid life is a bit dull now, and I'm actually thinking it wouldn't be too bad moving back there again for one last Summer...  Am I insane or what?

I call it the "Lucky Charms Effect." (Or Marshmallow Mateys if you're more frugal like me, but that doesn't have the same ring to it).

I generally don't like Lucky Charms, but if I have to eat them (as in there's nothing better in the house and I need something, anything, sweet) I like to eat all the brown parts first, so that one-- there's no soggy brown parts, cause that's the worst, and two-- so I get a whole bowl of nothing but marshmallows at the end!  Awesome! (Yes, I know, I'm 30 years old... So?)

I also like to wash it down with some fresh cold milk at the end, not that warm sugary stuff that's left --it's just one of those things that delights me... Like the little tiny soap bubbles that sometimes puff out of my dish soap bottle and make me smile...

Anyway, even though I don't generally like Lucky Charms, after finishing off a whole bowl of just marshmallows and washing it down with fresh cold milk, suddenly I want another bowl of Lucky Charms.  I think that by ending on such a good note, I forget about having to choke down all the brown stuff and only remember how good the marshmallows and milk were.  My memory can sometimes be selective in that way --I guess it could be worse, I could focus on all the bad stuff, and sometimes I do, but either way, I still end up eating like three bowls of Lucky Charms!

Living in Jackson, and absolutely packing the last few weeks with all sorts of fun and exciting things makes me forget how stinkin' cold it is when I first move there, and how small the apartment is, and how expensive groceries are, and what a pain moving is in general --because moving from Jackson actually isn't that bad. After all, it's only a one bedroom apartment, and more than half our stuff is already boxed and in storage (-not to mention that the last two times I hardly had to do any cleaning myself) so I start thinking "that wasn't too bad, I can do that again" --and in the Spring I curse myself all the way.

This "Lucky Charms Effect" comes into play in a few areas of my life --like every time I decide to invite people over for dinner, or agree to do a babysitting swap (FYI -it's better to let the other couple go on their date first I think, so you have something to keep you from kil ...er, to look forward to).
(I am joking Sandi, we're still on for next week right?)

Even bottling fruit has a bit of a forgetfulness that comes with time.  I love bottled fruit, I love how it looks on my shelves, and the feeling of satisfaction I get when I look at all those gleaming bottles, and I  completely forget how tedious and time consuming it is and how horribly messy and sticky it makes my whole kitchen... *thinking of the several boxes of ripe peaches and tomatoes in the garage, ugh.*

I suppose the "Lucky Charms Effect" has its purpose. I probably do more stuff than I would if I really thought about it first. In fact, it's probably the reason I keep getting pregnant and having babies (they're just so darn cute!). But mostly it just gets me into situations where I want to pull my hair and cry out, "What was I thinking?!" or, "Why do I do this to myself?!"

Perhaps it is all worth it. I guess nothing good comes without a price.  Looking at this list makes me think that it really was worth it.
(I'm still going to petition for bigger accommodations next Summer though.)

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

What is your memory selective about and what do you find yourself doing over and over again despite your best judgement and the hardships involved?

Ich Ben Geleibt!

(German: "I am loved!")

I was browsing a favorite blog of mine, and I was delighted to discover that I had actually won a blogging award.  Okay, so won isn't the right word... I was awarded an award...  er, that's a little redundant... anyway, my blog received an award!

It's not anything that a lot of people vote for or anything, but the fact that it's coming from someone I respect and admire so much really means a lot.

I think I'm supposed to pass it on to five people, but I'm not sure how this works and I seriously don't read that many blogs in general, mainly just friends and family, popular people (did I mention this award is for people with under 200 followers?), and a few random people that I decided to follow because they have all boys like me.  So instead, I'm just going to embarrass the person who gave it to me.  :)

(Insert picture of me and Lisa and her family here --when I get back to where my stuff is in storage and have access to a working scanner.)

Lisa is someone I met on my mission in Poland, and though I only saw her a few times on Sundays since they lived quite a ways outside of Krakow, it was so nice having another American/English-speaker to talk to, and it made a huge difference having someone who had grown up in the Church coming to the small branch there.  It was like having a third missionary, one that people knew, respected, and could emulate--since we as missionaries didn't live a very normal life and couldn't show them how a member of this church lived day-to-day.
Her husband, who is Polish, was in the Mission Presidency at the time and traveled a lot, but whenever I had the privilege of hearing him speak, it was like a breath of fresh air.  Everything he said was so doctrinally sound, and made so much sense.  That isn't always the case in places like Poland, I'm afraid. The Church there is relatively young, and the members are almost all converts, so often times incorrect ideas would start creeping in.  As missionaries, part of our job was to make sure only true principles were being taught in our church meetings, and for a young missionary who didn't always understand the language, this was a cause of great anxiety. So you can imagine how grateful I was whenever President Pawlik was presiding. I could relax a little because if anything was amiss, he would kindly set it straight.
I loved their kids too. When we got to the opportunity to teach a bit of primary (and most of the time they were the primary) they were so patient with our weak Polish, and would often translate for us when we didn't know the words.  It was awesome.
Anyway, I am astounded by the strength and faith of this woman. What a tremendous blessing they are to the Church there (believe me, I know), and yet what a sacrifice?  I mean, I can't imagine living indefinitely so far from home and family, going without the things I was used to having around... like peanut butter and rootbeer...
 I suppose there's always some give and take; I mean, I would love to have easy access to affordable fresh-from-the-farm produce, delicious cheeses and breads without preservatives, german chocolate, yummy yogurts and ice-cream, (can you tell I still dream about Polish deli's, even after all these years?), etc. etc. etc.... Seriously though --speaking of taking things for granted-- I spent most of my mission craving things like tacos, and Carl's Jr., and such, only to come home and realize that I could have all those things for the rest of my life, and it would be so much harder to get a good zupa ogorkowa (cucumber soup), or a fresh bulki (bread roll)...  I even developed a taste for Lisner Sledz z sosem cremowy z jablkami i cebula (pickled herring in cream sauce with apples and onions) --and I still crave it!  How weird is that?
However, I definitely don't envy them the socialized medicine.  Maybe I just need to move closer to Chicago --but that would be too far from my family (of course, I probably take their proximity for granted anyway).
I know, I'm such a baby.

To be honest, it would all be way outside of my comfort zone --it was uncomfortable for most of the 18 months I was there, and I seriously applaud anyone who can do it as well and with as good of an attitude and sense of humor as Lisa.

How pleased I was to find that she was good friends with my husband's family, and I found her blog through comments she had left on one of their blogs.  Little did I know how witty and sarcastic and intelligent she is.  I admit I never saw that side of her in the few short meetings we had together (except for the intelligent part), and I wish I had gotten to know her better while I was there, in person.  I guess that's the beauty of blogging!


I've just decided that I am going to pass on this award after all, to 5 people whom I think more people should get to know.

One, is a friend of mine that I got to know in person, and then got to know even better after reading her blog. It's generally a regular mommy-blog like mine, but Sandi often has very insightful things to say.  Find her at Wuv,Tru Wuv.

Then there's my very talented and creative Sister-in-Law, who records all of her crafty creations and ideas, which I think deserve more attention, on her craft blog: Bee in My Bonnet.

Another creative person is my delightful little sister "JerZcow," who often has good ideas, and even has a fledgling etsy jewelry store that I think gets lost among the zillions of other hand-made jewelry makers out there, but has a unique, natural flare. (Hope there's no nepotism rules to this award thingy --I told you, I mostly read blogs of people I am related to.  She also helped me with the German for my title).

Okay, here's one I'm not related to (although I don't know how many followers she actually has because it's not shown, but what the heck...), a writer blogger who's blog I look forward to because it's honest and funny and well written. So here's an award for Kym, at Temporary? Insanity

And finally, the blog of veritable strangers, who's blog I've only lurked around a bit, but they are extremely talented artistically, and culinarily --and I've come to find out that she and her husband are really nice people as well when I actually met them in person last weekend (and of course, I probably looked like a real weirdo when I told them how much I loved their blogs --being a silent lurker and all). So the last award goes to our new friends Robert and Laura. (Be sure to check out their photo and art blogs in the sidebar, they're amazing!)

Hope you guys feel as loved as I do!  Share the love with 5 other lesser known bloggers, if you like, so we can get to know them too!

-Laura

Summer Vacation to UT part 1

"Dat kitty, he wuves me!"

That's a cute slip 'n slide Fail by cousin D

Mmmm pie!

Ahh, the perils of walking around barefoot.