If Heaven wasn't so far away....

Every time I hear the song "If Heaven Wasn't so Far Away" by Justin Moore I can't help but to think how I would change the words to fit my story, so I thought I would share a few with you and ask that you share some with me ;)

....I'd pack up my kids and go for the day, Introduce Joe to his Nana
....I'd find GG June and give her a big hug
....I'd meet my grandpa's and sit with them listening to their stories all day long.
....I'd sit at a table with Jesus and his disciples and listen to them tell stories of my loved ones past and present.
....I'd find Mammy and Papa Dale and smile when he calls me dimples.
....I'd sit and knit with my Grandma Violet and ask that she crochet her dolls for my girls.

So tell me what you would do if you could make a day trip to Heaven.....

Here's the song if you want to hear it ;)

Making the most of the gym..

When we arrived here in Cali I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was join the YMCA. I wanted a place to take the kids to the pool, a place for me to work out, and bonus is that it has a daycare that I can take The Fish to for two hours a day while I work out. At first I wasn't using up the full two hours because well, I needed to get back into shape. It just so happens that our gym requires you to carry a gym towel with you at all times. Well the crafty person in me was getting bored with my plain jane hand towels so I decided to get creative and here is what I came up with.



Aren't they cute?? My friend Alicia sent me a set a while back with a knitting swap package and I LOVE them. I use the ones she made in my kitchen, but these will be great for the gym. Just a set of bar mop towels (100% cotton) with some fabric scraps sewn on to add cuteness! And because I just couldn't stop there, I also made a flax seed heat pad for the body aches after the gym!



So now when I am burning 1000 calories a day I will do it in style...or at least my towel will have style!

This week I'm Loving.....

PINTEREST!!!

If you haven't started pinning you need to check it out. We have had so many yummy foods that we found here, seen so many great organizing tips and loads of other crafty stuff too!

Like last week's fantastic dinner of Brown Sugar Basalmic Glazed Pork Tenderloin



And this weeks backyard chalkboard.





And lets not forget the amazing Pumpkin Latte Syrup.

And tonight we have these Honey Roasted Potatoes on the grill (we do ours in tin foil packs so we don't heat the house up!

Seriously if you haven't check this out you really should, but be warned, it's addictive.

Lippy Lou's Sourpatch

So I have done a lot of knitting this summer but not a log of blogging about said knits so I thought I would start with my latest favorite! I fell in love with the Sourpatch pattern by Corrina Ferguson when I saw it on the Petite Purls blog. I had been pondering what colors and fibers I would use to make it for some time when along came a forum post about some Dancing Dog Dyeworks mini skeins that someone had placed a special order for. The MOMENT I saw the yarn I was in love and I knew just what I wanted it for, Sourpatch of course. So I contacted Michelle over at DDD and she was up for the job!

I knew with packing the house, packing for the trip and the end of the school year looming, I would not be able to start knitting this up until well after we started our vacation to Alaska, but I also knew I wanted the yarn ready to go so I could work on it while on vacation. Michelle had it dyed up and shipped to me before I left and I got it caked and in my knitting bag ready for the road. And yes I did this well before my clothes were packed. Who needs clothes when you have your iPad full of patterns, yarn and needles right?

So after a near disaster with my first attempt at Gramps, (I made a couple of dumb mistakes and the sleeves were WAY too small on me) I decided to put it aside for awhile and get to work on the Sourpatch. It was just a joy to knit up and watch it come to life. The stripes were so easy, much more so than I had thought by looking at the pattern. For a sweater for a tween this took no time at all, I expected it to take way longer and ended up flying through it! I just love how it turned out and Lippy Lou would have worn it everyday for a week that first week if I would have let her. The proudest moment however, took place this week. Lippy Lou proudly wore her handknit sweater for her school pictures! My heart about jump out of my chest with pride. Gotta love it when your handknits are treasured! Especially by lippy tweens!

Long time no bloggy....

Yes, yes, I know, I know....long time no bloggy. I am hoping that now that we have FINALLY moved and are starting to settle in at our new house in our new duty station I will have more time to blog about all that we are doing!

The first week of July our family set off on a LONG but FUN adventure. Because the hubs gets some time off between duty stations we took the opportunity to spend time with his family up in Alaska. We drove the 2300+ miles from Washington State up to Alaska in just 3 short, or rather long, days. For sleeping in the car the first night and camping the second night the 4 kids did remarkably well, as did the dog. We left mid morning on a Friday and arrived late, late Sunday night. Everyone was VERY glad to be settled in!

We are lucky enough to have family in Alaska that loves us and allows us to share their space for extended periods of time. Hubs got to get much needed fishing time in with friends, the kids got to spend much needed time with cousins and I got in some much needed knitting time and R&R. I think that each and every one of us left Alaska with our reserves charged and ready to start our new adventure in a new town.

Our trip back from Alaska was just as short, taking only 3 days to get back down to Washington, this time sleeping in the van both nights due to rain. Our gracious friends let us crash their house Sunday night and we headed to Oregon on Monday to visit with more family and pick up our cat, George, from my dad who was babysitting while we traveled. Tuesday it was time to travel again, this time to the Hubs' best friend's house. The big kids and I took off Wednesday morning to head towards San Diego, leaving The Fish behind with Hubs and the pets. We traveled 6 hours on Wednesday and 6 hours on Thursday making it more peaceful and less stressful for me traveling alone. Thursday the kids and I arrived, got the keys to our new rental and ate In 'n' Out Burger for the second day in a row, boy did we miss that! Friday morning the movers arrived with our household goods and we were good to go!

I will share a few pictures of our trip with you and hop back on the bloggy train!

4 kids...all smiling....MIRACLE!

The Hubs and I in Whittier

Uncle Bob and Joe, Just a Swingin'

Hatcher Pass

Momma and baby moose, right on the bike path.

And the winner of the PINK quilt is.....

and the amazing thing about the winner is she has nearly the same name as my late mother, Sally Johnston. When I first opened the email from Susan G. Komen saying I had a donation and read her name, Sally Johnson, my heart leapt a little. My mom was just 55 when she passed away after a long battle with many medical issues that started when I was 15 with lung cancer, watching her go through this horrible battle is what gave me the passion to join together with my best friend to do these walks. Each and every step I take in training, fundraising and walking I think of my mom and what things would have been like without this horrible disease.

A special thanks to each and everyone of you who participated in this raffle, together we raised $405 for a cure!!! A HUGE thank you to Heather of Olive and Ollie for sacrificing her time, talents and fabric to make this beautiful quilt, without her none of this would have been possible.

Special hugs to each of you who donated and shared your stories of loss and survival! I will be thinking of all of you as we walk our 60 miles this year.

Save the Tatas, Win a Pretty in Pink Quilt

When I first saw this amazing quilt by Heather Jones of Olive and Ollie I fell in love instantly. I contacted Heather and asked her if she would be willing to create something similar to raffle off to help me raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day. Heather graciously accepted the challenge and has completely outdone herself.

See I told you so!

Isn't the detail just amazing?

And here are some views of the back

If you would like a chance to win Heather's quilt all you have to do is donate $10 to my 3 Day Account and comment below letting me know that you have done so. For each $10 you donate you get 1 raffle ticket for a chance to win a quilt. The raffle will end on 7/21/11 at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen at random and posted on 7/22/11. If I can get one of my children to participate the winner will be chosen via video drawing, if not I will use random.org, so either way it will be completely random!

You all must get over to Heather's Etsy shop and check out all the amazing handmade children's items she has in store! I want one of everything!

It would also be greatly appreciated if you could blog/twitter/facebook about the raffle to help raise funds to save the tatas!!