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!!

It's a Bird, It's a plane, it's SUPER boy!

This morning my 3 year old walked up to me with a placemat the rolls up and ties around his neck as a "cape", so what did I do?? I went and made him a real cape of course. Being as that I lost my job a few weeks ago I have extra time to do these things for my kiddos and I LOVE it! I had some Riley Blake fat quarters laying around that I purchased because I loved and never had time to use. Then for the pattern I just kinda winged it. I even made my own bias tape without any directions, other than what my bestie had described to me a while back. So here is the end result!

My first time at applique, and while it is not perfect I think it turned out ok.

Here it is showing the back side too, so it is reversible!!


And after all that I had to bribe the boy to put it on, he decided he doesn't like the Orange "J" goof ball. I am sure he will want to wear it soon though, he is fickle like that.

Gluten Free Friday - Mixed Berry Crisp

I decided this week I would do a gluten free dessert because hey, who doesn't like a good treat once in awhile. My mom used to make us Apple Crisp and Blackberry Crisp all the time growing up and I enjoy making it for my kids too.

Mixed Berry Crisp

(Picture coming soon, it's in the oven)

Ingredients

Topping:

2 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 stick of butter

1 TBS cinnamon

Filling

4-5 cups frozen mixed berries, I used a combo of raspberries, blueberries and marion berries from Costco

2 TBS gluten free all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar (optional)

Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl cutting in the butter until it is in very small chunks.

Mix berries with flour and sugar and pour into baking dish. I used a deep round dish for mine. Cover with topping and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

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Click below to link up!

Gluten Free Friday - Enchilada Stack

A common food we eat here at our house is Chicken Enchiladas, but when I went gluten free flour tortillas were out of the question. I decided to come up with another way to enjoy one of my favorite foods.

Enchilada Stack

Ingredients

2 cups shredded chicken breast (cooked of course)

1 boxes Pacific Natural Foods Cream of Mushroom Soup (2 pictured only 1 used)

1 jar diced green chilis (not pictured)

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups crushed Mission Tortilla Chips

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (not pictured)

Combine chicken, mushroom soup, green chilis and sour cream in a mixing bowl. Put one layer of crushed chips in the bottom of a deep pie plate or 9X9 pan, cover with chicken mixture and layer of cheddar cheese. Continue layering in this manner until all of your ingredients are used. I try to do 3 layers.




Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

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Click below to link up!

Momma Said Monday - Clean Your Microwave

This weeks tip:

How to Clean Your Microwave in Under 10 Minutes

I will be the first to admit I am not the best housekeeper and I did not inherit the love of cleaning from my mom, maybe because she loved it so she just did it. But when I moved out of the house at a young 19, she taught me tons of stuff about cleaning and many many shortcuts. One of my favorites is how to clean the microwave without it taking hours of chipping and scrapping.

First fill a bowl with 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water. Place bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes on high. Remove microwave tray and any other not permanent parts and wipe clean. Continue to wipe clean the inside of the microwave with ease. If there is anything giving you trouble, which happens rarely, just put the bowl back in for another three minutes to loosen things up again!

So do you have any cleaning tips? Grab my button and link away!

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Gluten Free Friday - Chicken Noodle Soup

Another one of my all time favorite foods is good ole' chicken noodle soup, so I came up with a gluten free version that I LOVE.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

4 chicken breast chopped into small pieces and cooked throughly.

2 boxes Pacific Natural Foods Organic Chicken Broth

4 carrots

4 celery stalks

1 large onion

3 cups broccoli chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

1 box Ancient Harvest Quinoa Organic Gluten Free Pasta Elbows

salt and peper to taste

Chop up all the fresh vegetables and place in stalk pot and saute with olive oil. Once tender add chicken brother and bring to a boil. Add Pasta and boil for an additional 9 minutes. When there is 4 mins left of boiling time add chicken to heat through. We sometimes add frozen peas at the very end to cool it down for eating and they are tasty too!

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

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My Momma Said Monday's

The day after Christmas 2006 my world was rocked to it's core and changed forever. I got the call well before anyone else was awake in my house, my Momma, my best friend was gone from this earth. I think about her ALL. THE. TIME. Not a day goes by when I don't think of her at least once, remembering something we did together, talked about or shared. When I look at my hands as they type or craft, I see her's (I also see her wedding band that is remarkably similar to my own). When I sit at the sewing machine to sew, it is her machine, that still smells like her.

Lately I have been thinking about her a lot, probably not more often then before but something about these thoughts lately have made me want to get them down on paper. I am constantly remembering her advise about cooking, sewing, and just life in general and I want to remember these things forever. So I came up with the idea for My Momma Said Monday's. Each week I will share one of My Momma's tips with you my readers! She was full of amazing, yet simple advise. Not all of it will be earth shattering, some you may already know, but for me the combination of them all has helped me get through life!

I would also love for you all to share your tips from your momma, or grandma or aunts with your readers and link back here so we can all learn together!

This weeks tip:

How to keep celery from going bad!

I am terrible about buying vegetables only to let them go bad before using them, part of this is they get put in the wrong drawer or they are in the garage fridge (out of sight, out of mind). About 8 years ago my mom was up visiting us in Bremerton, WA and told me that all I had to do to keep celery crisp was to simply wrap it in tin foil before placing it in the fridge, that's it, easy peasy. I have done so ever since, of course except when I forget, or when the kids put it away. But seriously this WORKS and works well!

So what tips do you have to share? Please put my button on the bottom of your post if you chose to link up! I can't wait to read all the cool tips.

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