Happy L❤VE Day!

I know I've shared this photo of me in Florence with cupid for Valentine's Day before, but I just can't resist posting it again.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Tucker!

Little Mr. Tucker turned one year old on Saturday.

We also had our friends Lindsay & Casey (with their two dogs) come for a visit this past weekend.  We didn't plan our weekend around the dogs birthday (it just happened to work out that way), but I figured since we'd all be gathered with Tucker's furry friends, we should have a little celebration for the pup. 
I mailed out an invitation to the other dogs,

I baked him a two tiered dog-friendly birthday cake (with peanut butter, applesauce, shredded carrots, and oatmeal),

I also picked up some party hats, put up a bunting banner I had made for Cory's birthday last year, and made the birthday boy a little bandana.

Yes, I am totally guilty of being that crazy-dog-mom...but it's his first birthday, and I won't ever do it again :)
He also requested a new toy...a 50mm 1.2L lens.  You know, so we can make him look good in all those pictures we take of him.  We gave in and got one for him, lucky dog! Here I am testing it out...


Our weekend was great!  The dogs played and played and played, and boy was he tired by the time they left on Sunday. 

Best first birthday for the little doggie ever? Definitely!
We also went for a hike...more on that another time.

a quilt for Kane

My pile of little squares waiting to be quilted got a little smaller when I finished this quilt for our good friends the other week.
 
I was so happy with the surf boards & Hawaiian inspired fabrics I was able to pull together to match their little one's bedroom.  I also love the parallel line quilting Cory encouraged me to do.

Kane was born two days ago, and I'm sure this will keep him warm and cozy in this cold cold (non-snowy) weather we've been having.
 
Mom & Dad asked if they could request one in an adult size...sorry guys!

top eleven from 2011

It seems like everyone else is doing it, so here's my list of eleven best things about 2011 in no particular order...


Best new addition to our little family:

Tucker! Definitely one of the best things about 2011!

Best 2 week DIY kitchen remodel:

Still haven't gotten around to taking the "after" photos (because I still don't have everything on the walls yet, and the light fixture needs finishing), but we were able to do basically the whole kitchen from start to finish on our own in two weeks...with a 3 month old puppy!

Best birthday gift:

Tucker chewed off every single bud on my peony plant.  He knew that peonies are my favorite flower, so he got me some to enjoy for my birthday.

Best chenille baby quilt:

Me and my sewing machine were busy-busy this year, but I think I was most happy with how this quilt for a special little baby turned out.  I did have good  intentions about sharing the process, but obviously never got around to it.
I started with three different flannels (one yard of each) and one cotton baby print. I sandwiched them all together and sewed lots and lots of parallel lines half an inch apart diagonally across the whole thing.  Then I cut just the flannel layers between the stitch lines, put a satin binding on, and threw the whole thing in the wash.  All those strips of flannel frayed and krinkled up and created a soft chenille.
Here's the tutorial that inspired this crazy quilt.

Best summertime hang-out:
The back yard.  I get so excited getting all the patio furniture out in the spring, and so sad to have to put it away in the fall.  We eat as many meals on the patio as possible.  I'd have to say it's my favorite "room" in the house.

Best lunch of the summer:

Open faced tomato sammich.  Nothing beats a juicy tomato, still warm from the sun, on home made bread with mayo, salt and pepper :)

Best pink & orange & flamingo themed bachelorette weekend bash:
Another thing I was always meaning to share, but never got around to it.
I threw a bachelorette party for my best friend, Lindsay.  It was less of your typical "bachelorette party" and more of a "girls weekend" at Lake Chelan.  It was awesome and just what she wanted.  I went with pink & orange & flamingos as a theme, and of course there were lots of little details that all came together perfectly.

Best documentation of one of our many adventures:

In 2012 I really need to take a little more time to put some of the thousands of photos we take into little videos like this one.

Best use of paper + photos:

I haven't scrapbooked in a really, really long time.  I thought I would document our summer in a 4x6 format, easy enough.  I started with a basic mixed paper book from EliseJoy's Etsy shop, and added pages along the way.  I printed most of my pictures at home (until I got the the toner alignment in our printer off...then I made weekly trips to Costco), and I threw in all kinds of little memorabilia I gathered throughout the summer months, with some journaling.  It's thick, and random, and I love love love the way it turned out...and decided to go with the same format to journal my Christmas.

Best new business venture:
We've received so much support and encouragement from family & friends in going forward with a photography business.  We'll be making a push to grow more in 2012!

Best Christmas photo:

Everyone asked how we got the nose to stay on the dog...we practiced a few minutes every other day or so for maybe two weeks to get him used to it.  He also behaves pretty well when he knows he's going to be rewarded with treats.  Yes, I made the beard & the elf hat.  And the shutter opened and closed 180+ times to get this one good shot.

There you have it, it was a good year and hard to choose just 11 things.  I'm ready for the next year (even though I can't believe it's here already).
Goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

Gingerbread Houses

As if I didn't have enough on my plate this holiday season...I added a gingerbread house to it (make that two gingerbread houses)!

I thought it would be fun to invite some friends of ours, Brandon & Jayme, over to decorate gingerbread houses after we shot some maternity photos for them.  I wasn't about to go the kit-route, but I had also never built a gingerbread house from the ground up either.  I am a perfectly good baker...how difficult could it be?

We made the dough and rolled & cut the side and roof pieces one night.

The baking process took  f o o r e e v e r r  since there were so many batches of cookie sheets rotating through the oven baking at a low temp for such a long time.  Man, did my house smell heavenly though :)
Tucker helped by hoovering up little pieces of falling dough, good boy!

The next evening I made cement frosting, and we glued the sides together.  This step in the process was more challenging than I had expected.  Everything had to line up just right, which was hard when working with irregular cookies.  I tried to hard to cut and transfer everything perfectly, but the parchment paper underneath warped a little as they baked.  Oh well, I got it to work, and I let the walls sit overnight before attaching the roof pieces. I let the roof sit while we went to take baby-bump pictures.


When we came back they were ready for decorations.
 
The plates cost me a buck a piece at the Goodwill...way cuter than a foil-wrapped tray and I didn't mind sending the plate home with them and not getting it back.  I also picked up a good assortment of candy decor at the dollar store.

I wish I would have taken a group picture of all of us, or at least one of us working away...all I've got is the after photo of our house + dog house.

We all had a lot of fun, and I think this will have to become an annual tradition for the four (almost five) of us!

2011 favorites

These are 227 of my favorite snapshots/memories of 2011.  Whew, we've been busy! 

I make one of these collages for the cover of my next year's calendar that I order from Costco, so fun to look back on.  It was hard to make it not be all about Tucker.  Other common themes I noticed were sewing, baking, gardening, friends, and photography.  I'd say that pretty much sums me up :)

I get the feeling that things aren't going to slow down in 2012 either, bring it on!

Horselake Road - video

We have been blessed with a really lovely fall over in our area, and we know our nice-weather-weekends are numbered...so we've been trying to get out and enjoy it while it lasts.
A few weekends ago we got in the truck with the doggie & our new camera lens, and took a short drive up a hill on the other side of town.

I don't know why, but that sentence sounds funny to me.  I just can't come up with any other way to word it...because that's what we did.
We took a short drive.
Up a hill.
On the other side of town.
We took pictures and short movie clips, and then I made a little video.

I love it, I can't get enough!