I've Missed You All!!!

Well as you all know I got a job.... obviously that means I haven't had much time to blog, which is very sad. I figured I would say hi and let you all know I'm still alive:] Anywho Richard and I just had our one year anniversary on the 19th!! We are so excited! This post is going to be really short because we are leaving in a little bit, to celebrate this occasion, and head to Yellowstone!! (I love it there!) We are going camping and won't be back home until Monday. So I'll miss all of you, and those I would have seen at church, and I can't wait to tell you all about our trip and share some pictures :D Have a great rest of the summer, for those of you who aren't in school yet, and enjoy the beginning of school, for those of you who have started! Much love to you all and see you next week! :D

Kuna Job Birthday :D

Hello everyone! How has your summer been? This past week was awesome! We got to go home for Kuna Days!!! One of my favorite parts of summer! It was so much fun! We barely missed the firework show because we got in late :[ Our car was acting fun and I think we need a new fuel filter. It makes sense the way the car was chugging. We bought some cleaner and it seems to be doing much better now. Anywho we saw the fireworks from the back road we were coming in on but it wasn't the same. I love fireworks!! We did get to participate in the parade on Saturday.
My father in law entered his parents Durant car!! Grandpa Durrant got that before he passed away and we like to bring it out to remember him. It was really special because Grandma Durrant got to sit in the car and wave while Richard, Mom, and I passed out candy. It was so much fun! I love the fact that I knew almost everyone there and they were all yelling at me :D Guess that's what you get living in a small town.
We went around the park and got to see all the vendors after the parade and hang out with my little sister, Becca and "adopted" sister, Lauren. We entered a few giveaways so we'll see if we win anything. I sold a few flowers which made me happy. Richard also surprised me and got me a beautiful bracelet! He said he bought another knife and decided to show it to me before we went to bed that night. That little turkey! I love him though and it made me really happy! I was very disappointed they didn't have lawn mower races this year. That was my FAVORITE event during Kuna Days. Oh well, maybe next year.
We went to church and saw lots of friends and families that we missed. I told Richard I felt like a beauty queen walking down the runway to our seat because as I passed people they waved and smiled at me.
Sorry but this one might be a long post because I feel like telling you everything! I believe I told you that Richard got a new job working for a company that works for FedEx. Then I also got the job working at G's Dairy Delights as an ice cream... artist? scooper? server! We both started last week on Wednesday. I was trained by a Co-worker and then Thursday the owner supervised while I did most of it. Then she gave me a key and said "Good Job! You open next week." So I worked yesterday and I think I did fairly well on my own. I work again tomorrow through the weekend. Richard still needs to be approved until he can drive on his own so he is doubling with someone this week. He really enjoys it and is always telling me about the cool things he sees. Today he saw a doe and two fawns. I really wish I could go with him sometimes. He says if I get the Ok then I can :D I'm excited!
Well I think I've done enough rambling. Thank you for listening! I appreciate all of you!! Oh today is my brother in law John Durrant's birthday he turns 18!!! Everyone wish him a happy birthday either on here or he has a blog you can go to its:

http://thefedoraduel.blogspot.com/

He is the one with the black hair. Daniel is the blonde :D Thanks and be safe during the summer!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN HENRY DURRANT!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

I NEED HELP!!!

I need your help! I have a friend who would LOVE to run the St. George Marathon and he needs people to like his comment.

Please go to this website and scroll down to ADAM HILL it starts out "When I was a young boy..." and like it he needs to get to 200 and he is really behind. It ends on the 6th!!!

Please and Thank you!! TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!!! I'll do the same for you if you need some help with something!

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=424307110946056&id=174144762628960

The All American Mommy.....gets a hair cut!

Hey guys!! Guess what I did today? If you read the title of this post you probably already know. but .... I got a hair cut!!! I'm so excited I just can't hide it! Today is a day of celebration and that's what I did. I celebrated the signing of my new job in the Rigby School District, Richard getting a new job, and another job interview I have today! (Sh Richard doesn't know yet :D ) Anywho I got all the paperwork and fingerprinting all sorted out for the school and I am so happy!! Richard got the reply for a delivery driver interview and he has the job! Now he will be working the usual 7-5 job instead of 3-10 and getting paid almost twice what he is now! Since my Pep Band job only needs me about once a month I figure I would get a day job so I'm not all home alone while Richard is at work. So I have an interview today at the Ice Cream shop right across the street! If you know me you know I LOVE Ice Cream. I just have to remember I can't eat it all HAHA! :D Ok enough with my babbling because today is such a wonderful day I went to "become a new me", as they say, and get a hair cut. Tell me what you think!

Sorry for the bad quality in the picture :D

The All American Mommy goes to Facebook!

Alright, if you can't tell I'm really trying to get my business out there. I would love to be earning some income from this. So....drum roll.... I made a Facebook page! Actually, I made a brand new page as if making a new account for this and realized I could have just made a page from my account I already had. I don't know if that made any sense but it was a pain and rather complicated. So right now I'm trying to link my account to the page, like make me the owner. It said it needs verification so it sent an email. Well I haven't gotten an emails yet and I've tried at least five times. I then found out it might take a week to get it. So while that is pending I get to go back and forth between them. In the mean time I figured I would get my name out there anyway I could. With out further ado here is my facebook web page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-All-American-Mommy/476011575744867

With this going I can easily put up a bunch of pictures and have a little more room for people to have their say. I will still have my blog going and be posting stuff on here which will have links to the new stuff on facebook as well. I'm so excited! Please help me get this going!! Thanks!! :D :D :D

Etsy Shop!!

Hello everybody! So I told you I had an Etsy shop right? Well there are some flowers on there for sale for $1.50. ( https://www.etsy.com/listing/104585087/luau-flower ) Now I can only put on 5 pictures so the rest are going on here. I am NOT limited to just this. You can request certain colors, beads, combinations, and anything else you can think of. These are just example ideas so you know what some of your options could be. P.S. Please tell your friends and family. Anyone you think might be interested.

 So here they are:

# 1 : Flat Solid Hot Pink, burned edges, 3 white round beads

 

#2 : Flat Solid light green, burned edges, white flower

   

#3:Solid Dark Blue, white tips

#4:Mixed light green and yellow, green in center

#6 Fluffed Yellow and Orange Mixed, yellow in center

#5 : Fluffed Solid Purple

#7 Fluffed Solid Light Green

#8 Flat yellow and blue layered, burned edges, center daisy

#9 Fluffed Solid Yellow, pink tip

#10 Fluffed Purple and Light Blue Mixed, Blue in center

#11 Flat Red and Blue Layered, burned edges, button center

#12 Flat Pink and Purple layered, burned edges, princess crown center

#13 Fluffed Solid Orange

#14 Flat Light Blue, burned edges, pink button center

#15 Fluffed Solid Hot Pink

#16 Fluffed Purple and Red Mixed, red in center

#17 Flat Red and Orange patterned, white button center

#18 Fluffed Light Blue on top of Dark Blue base

#19 Fluffed Light Blue and Dark Blue Mixed, light blue in center

#20 Fluffed Hot Pink on Light Green base

Luau Flowers :D

ALOHA Guys!! So I was really bored a few days ago and made a few flowers... They are from the same material so you might get bored of the pink and yellow. I did get new colors today so hopefully you'll see A LOT more variety (color wise at least). I'm calling these ones my Luau Flowers because... it just seemed like a good name. Let me know what you think and if I can make any for you :] I also just opened an Etsy shop! It's called TheAllAmericanMommy as well so if you search that you should be able to find it. If not let me know! Any advice, comments, questions I'm ready for them!

Let's make a house a home!

Hey Ya'll! I know I haven't been on in a while, summer time means on the go time! I have had time to spend with my hubby and actually go do stuff. It has been wonderful! Recently we have been talking about building a house. Now this probably won't happen for a few years but you all know what its like to dream and wish right? Well that's what we have been doing. We searched online for different aspects of other houses we like and want to put in our own house. I saved them all and put the on pinterest! They have little blurbs about what features we like. They aren't super detailed but its just the basic here and there stuff. We also have different ideas that aren't on paper (or pictures) yet :D So without further ado here is my board about my dream house! Let me know what you think! What do you want for your dream house?

http://pinterest.com/berrysweetblue/dream-home/

Not quite what we want but has a lot we wouldn't mind :D

My Thumb Turned GREEN!!!

Guess what today is...? The day my flower bloomed!! YAY! This is the plant that Richard got for me when I came home from being away with family for three weeks. It is a New Guinea Impatiens and it is beautiful. Now for someone who thought she would never have a green thumb I think I'm doing a pretty good job. :D I'm so excited!! I looked at it earlier today with the sun shining on it and it sparkled. It literally looked like Tinker Bell came and used her magic fairy dust on it. Personally I don't mind the help and I think I can use as much as I can get. Richard said that is because of the water inside the petals that made it sparkle. (I still believe its Tink ;] ) My other plant is just getting ready to bloom and I can't wait. This plant I got for mother's day back home and it is a Dark Red Geranium. It had a bloom when I first got it but died in the travels back to Rexburg from Boise. I also planted a few other plants earlier this week and can't wait until I see little sprouts. Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as it happens :D What are your favorite plants/flowers? What have you planted or grown this year? Or in the past years what gave you a green thumb? Let me know! And have a wonderful weekend!

Or-I-Gam-I :D

Like I said in the previous post, I'm in an origami mood. So today I decided to challenge myself! (I like to do that :D ) I made a bow and a rose. They were super fun to make and I am definitely going to make them again. I need to make them again and get in the practice, because they were hard. I guess in the long run they really weren't hard, the hard part was my instructions were all in Japanese!! Guess I need to brush up on my Japanese skills, or create them since I don't speak it or read it. The bow was really simple, after I figured out where I was supposed to cut. They probably told me but I couldn't understand it. So I succeed on the second try. The rose was probably the most difficult thing I have ever accomplished!! (origami wise) I'm pretty sure you had to fold that at least a hundred times. This one took me minimum an hour to figure out, but I DID IT!! :D Yay Me!! As you can probably see these are both done on phone book again. It's a good way to use scrap paper and you can try as many times and you need with it. Plus its super easy to fold, but that can also be a problem. Just the simplest impression with a finger creates a fold. I love origami! Do you? What things can you create from it? I think I want to try and make Yoda! I saw that on Google today. Not sure how well it would turn out but that's most definitely on my bucket list! :D Thanks for reading! Comment below on what you want me to try next!

Flowers! Flowers for everyone!!!

So much to do, so little time! You know what I mean? Today seemed to be like that. Clean this, clean that, go shopping, plant some more, get your visiting teaching done, make more appointments, cook dinner, clean up after that, it just keeps going. That's what makes life exciting though. I'm so glad my house is clean, I'm very grateful we got a blender, I'm excited for my plants to grow, and I had a wonderful time visiting my sisters today! For dinner I decided to go all out because I haven't done that in a while. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes! Yummy! Then for dessert I decided to try and make flan. I've never had it before but Richard loves it and apparently I did a really good job. It's...interesting stuff. It was good for the first 3 bites and then it got really sweet and old. Too mushy? Gooey? I'm not sure what the right word is, but if you've had it, you probably know. I did manage to get my down time today and make some crafts. I guess all this planting I've done has put me in a flower mood because that's what I made today. The first one is a paper flower. Technically it's a phone book flower but that's not important. I didn't have any fancy paper but I did have paint, so I used my resources! I used to be huge into origami when I was younger and this brought back some really great memories. (You'll probably see more now ;] ) This is super easy to do but gluing it together seemed to be rather difficult for me. I did figure it out though :D

The second flower I made is from a scrap piece of fabric left over from the skirt I made a while ago. Now I have something to match with my skirt :D I love when I can reuse old fabric or scraps and make something beautiful out of it :] I also have a lot of buttons which I have put on a few things lately, (not all are on here but I'll fix that eventually) so you'll see those quite a bit too. Please let me know what you think! I will take any ideas, challenges, requests, just let me know! THANK YOU!! :]

Message for you!

Today I had a hard time coming up with a craft that I wanted to do. Something fun, yet challenging. I was messing around on the computer, thinking, being bored on Facebook. You know, the usual! Then I saw two of my friends checking off their bucket list. A most popular one that I still have not yet accomplished: putting a message in a bottle and sending it off in the water. I thought to myself, that could be a fun craft but not good enough. I toyed around with this bottle idea for a while, indexed a little here and there and listened to my Piano Guys station on Pandora and I came up with this: Message ON a bottle! Inspirational words that literally pop out on a bottle. I know I said I wanted something challenging and I got it! This is basically hot glue on a bottle with spray paint over it. Do you know how hard it is to write with hot glue and have it look good? I'm not going to show you all my trial and errors on a different mason jar. I will say my fingers hurt from trying to peal off glue and starting over. Here is my finished (mostly finished, still needs to dry a bit more) product! What would you do if you found a message on a bottle floating around like that? I'd say it's pretty cool! What do you think? Any other inspirational messages you suggest I put on a different bottle? Let me know and I can make it! Thanks for reading :] Hope you all have a wonderful day!

In case you are wondering it says "Dream BIG"

Blind Clips :]

What a hot day!! Holy cow!! Did summer come really fast for anyone else? I think I missed spring, but I'm not sure. Anywho, since it is so hot and I'm a poor college student I'm saving power by not turning on my AC. That means the windows are open and I have our fan going. You know the problem with windows? Well there isn't one to windows, unless they don't have blinds. : / A friend of mine always said she felt like she was in a fish bowl when her window was open and the blinds were up. I'm starting to see what she means. It's like it's an invitation for people to peak in and say "Hi". Um, No Thank You! So, my blinds are down, thus keeping the sun out and making it cooler with the breeze. Since I live in Idaho, frankly it could be this way anywhere you go, it's rather windy. So windy that my blinds are blowing in the wind and slamming back on the window. It's really loud and very annoying! Being alone and bored I decided to do something about it and make my craft for today. I know it doesn't look like the best thing on the block, but it is something I threw together and works wonders! Yes, it is out of Popsicle sticks and hot glue, but super simple! With my husbands new saw I cut the wood the size I needed (scissors were splitting the wood :[ ) and glued it together like a square. Notice only one side on top is glued, the other is left open for an easy slip around the bottom of the blinds. I used double sided tape to attach it in place but I would assume you could use sticky tack or some other adhesive. I don't know if anyone else needed this idea or help but I sure did!

    

Fill in the blank card!

Do you ever realize that its a special occasion or you need to send a card to someone but don't have time to go to the store? Well that's why you make a homemade card. But it has to be super cool right? Like these? We decided to stock up and make cards today so we have them prepared for those forgotten moments. What do you think? Which one is your favorite? What other colors do you suggest? Let me know if I can make some for you!! $.75 a card! :]

 

Happy Summer

Bronco Season

Happy 4th of July

Merry Christmas

Any occasion

Any occasion

Thank You For...

Yesterday as I was checking off my list of chores I came to my last one: clean the fish bowl. This seems to be a hassle for something so simple. Nevertheless, I did it, and had a fun time too. (This usually happens when me and water get together!) Once I was done I put our fish, Toto, away and said "You're welcome" as he bubbled at me. It made me thing, fish can't talk, most animals can't communicate in a way for humans to understand. Yet we still do what we think is best for them and we get hardly anything in return let alone a "Thank You!". That also made me think about my communication with my husband. It's not the best. Now I'm no marriage expert but I do know, with a lot of repetitive reminders from my mommy, that lack of communication causes problems. In some cases it is easier to communicate and express ones feelings with writing. Hence the reason poems and songs seem to be so popular between loved ones. So with that in mind I realized I need to be more grateful for my husband and what he does, even if he does make a mess and I am constantly cleaning up after him. He does work hard and tries to do whats best for me. I also know that I am terrible at taking a compliment and I find little "love notes" or compliments around our house from him. This way it is in writing and I can see it when I need it. And with my super cute idea I can have a place to store them. These are "Thank You Jars". You can write a note to whomever when they do something nice for you or when you need to say something nice about them. My rule is when I think or say something rude about someone I have to come up with three nice things about them. This made me think of when I was in young women's and we had a service contest against our leaders. When ever we did a service that day we would write it down and collect them in a jar on Sunday. And of course which ever group had the most would get a party thrown for them by the opposing team. Now I have these cute little thank you jars for my husband and me so we can express our love and appreciation for each other. Let me know of any other ideas you come up with :] Have a wonderful Summer day!! I know its super hot here, try and stay cool! We are going for Snow Cones later!!! YUMMY!!! :D


 

Hair Success's

So today is experiment day for.... Drum Roll.... Hair!!! :] I LOVE doing hair, especially on other people because I can see what I'm doing and its just WAY easier. But since it is just Richard and me I'm the only one who can have my hair done. Unless you want to see Richard getting his hair cut, which isn't all that exciting. My whole life I have had my mommy do my hair, that was how it was. She did all of our hair and it was awesome! Sad thing is, my mommy can't follow me everywhere to do my hair.... SO.... I got to learn how to do my own. It's a lot of fun but very frustrating! Trial and error, trial and error seems to be all I do, until I FINALLY get it. So these are just a few of the things I came up with. Hope you like them. Let me know what you think and I will take any suggestions on different styles I can try. And if anyone wants their hair done let me know and I will! :D