and a partridge in a pear tree....

We went and cut down our first Christmas Tree this year, the first weekend in December. I know, I am a horrible blogger!!!

Anyway, here are the pictures. Thanks Jeannette for letting us know about Holloways!

Here is Kyle all ready to be manly man and cut down our tree.


This is the "I can't find the right tree in a field of hundreds!!" look.


But then we did and Kyle chopped, er, sawed, it down.


Lights are on, now it's really Christmas here!!!!


Here it is all decorated and lit up


Our new stockings, and one for Kiko. I love them!

One is Greater Than None

I was watching Martha Stewart today and these girls were on. I was intrigued and went to search them out, luckily they were easy to find! I so want to buy those necklaces, and am considering buying them for all the girls I have to get Christmas presents for.... I want the shirt too, and maybe the hoodie. I am so impressed by their ingenuity and heart and passion and drive. For high school freshmen... way to go girls! According to the show this morning, they have saved 8 children now! There is one video online, I wish they had the Martha clip up.... maybe soon?

Big bugs, babies, and yummy treats!!

So, a couple of weeks ago, Kyle noticed Kiko playing with something and says "hey, what's Kiko got?" I look across the room and notice that even from a distance it looks kind of big and I say to myself, "Please let it be some scrap fabric that she found and not a bug!" We go over to investigate and this is what we find.... *Not for the faint of heart!!*










The thing was as big as my thumb!!!!! Jacquelyn informed me that it is a Jerusalem Beetle. Apparently they like to burrow in sand and such. We live on a second floor apartment, I want to know how the heck it got in!!! I promptly went around and closed every window, checked every door and possible entry way to make sure there wasn't a hole where more could get in! blech!!! I hate big bugs!!!



This is Amelia, I nanny her and her brother 4 mornings a week. They are cute!! no picture of Ethan yet. I swear, I started this job at the wrong time.... She is teething and he is potty training... I am sending my kids away to be potty trained!! :0)




I made pumpkin scones for snacks for our growth group tonight. They are tasty!!! I am having to restrain myself from eating them all before we go! If you want to try them, they are really simple. Here's the recipe....

Pumpkin Scones
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pumpkin (if canned, be sure there are no spices or sugar added)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and cut into flour. Mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl mix together the pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together (don't over-mix).

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 3-4 times, and then shape/pat dough into a circle about 1 1/2 inches thick. Slice in half, and then cut each half into 3 equal pie-shaped wedges. Brush with egg glaze (1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk), and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

Bake on a cookie sheet for @ 375° for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 6 scones.

Optional: Add white chocolate chips and/or chopped pecans.

They are a little bland, I think I will double the spices next time....

Happy munching!! These would go great with coffee or tea, or even a glass of milk!

someday...

I shall visit this place because I find it entertaining. Also I just want to go to the east coast someday.

Any other fun named places you think I should try?

I think I would also like to visit all the 'foreign" places in the USA, ie. Paris, TX

Yes, I think I would like to do that... :0)

we not so sure.....

things I have learned....

When making a quilt, make sure and check that all your squares are identical in size before you sew the strips together, because otherwise, when you go to connect the strips they won't match and you will get really frustrated when you realize you have to take the whole thing apart and recut all the squares.

*cries, just a little*

live and learn?

yummy dinner!

One of Kyle and my favorite dinners is something that I have dubbed "Mexican Stir-fry" I recently took it to a friend's house for dinner, we get together once a week and watch a TV show with him (it started with "The 4400" and now we are following the current season of "Hero's" since the 4400 season is over...) and he really enjoyed it too, so I thought all you bloggy friends might as well. Now that I have finally closed the horrible run on sentence, I will give you the recipe.

1 large yellow onion- cut up into smallish strips
10 soft taco sized tortilla's - cut into thumb sized strips (apprx.)
Chicken. I usually use rotisserie chicken that you can buy at the store and use about 3/4 of the meat. I like it because it is already flavored and cooked and shreds really easy. Sorry I don't know how to convert it to something more usable....
1 small can of Enchilada sauce.
Lots of Olive Oil

Take the cut up onion and saute it in olive oil until it is nice and soft and sweet, near to carmelization.

Add the chicken and cook until it is heated through. (medium Heat)

Add the tortilla strips and stir in well with the onions and chicken. Add olive oil as needed to help stop sticking. The tortilla's tend to soak up a lot of the oil, so you may need to add a bunch.

When the tortilla's are heated through, add the Enchilada sauce and stir to mix in. Let sit and heat through, stirring occasionally.

Dish up on a plate with a dollop of sour cream and avocado slices or guacamole. Kyle likes to add Tapatillo on top too, I think the flavor is fine as is... experiment!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Santa Maria Airshow

Trying to get caught up on things that we have done!! Our internet got screwed up by the storm the other night and so, I haven't been on in a while and probably would have posted this by now... ah well.

Oh, before I get to the pictures, the job interview went okay I think. I am really not sure. She had a list of questions that she asked me, just basic, what's your strongest skill, weakest, what did you like about your previous admin job, not like, ect. So it was really hard to know how it went. That, and I get so worked up over things like this, I get really nervous and then feel like I am going to break down and cry during the interview, bah. It was at Lindamood Bell, by the way. I have another interview next week with a company in Los Osos, so I do have more options. I am planning on calling the temp agency on Monday and putting myself on their "hot list", basically, I am still available and looking for work list, you have to put yourself on it every week though, and I have been forgetting....

My life has been so slow paced lately, and now all of a sudden it is getting crazy busy, well, in comparison... I am having the worst trouble keeping up. I double booked myself for two things next week and now have to fix that, just because I don't transfer things between my day planner and the "big" calender on the wall. It just feels like there is so much to do, and not enough time to do it in. Kyle held me last night while I had a good cry, and that relieved a lot of the stress, no I have to try to not let it build up again...


On to more exciting things....

For Reference, this is what Kyle's face looks like when he gets to watch planes flying overhead... :0)

An F-18. One of his favorite planes.

Kyle in front of the F-18.



A Warthog/Thunderbolt II, very cool to watch it fly.



Me playing WWII pin-up girl in front of a very cool looking plane. I love the old WWI and WWII bombers!



A Military Helicopter (a Seahawk???), Kyle isn't home, otherwise I would tell you more about it....



Kyle in said helicopter.



A Dangerous Button.... Don't worry, they were all completely unarmed.



You don't want to get too close to these babies!!



An awesome paint job on a Marine plane!

While it wasn't really my cup of tea, Kyle had a blast, and we got to spend some time together, so it was good. And there were some really cool things there too... :0)

Lisa Leonard is Amazing....

So, I really should have posted this earlier, like two weeks ago when my sister was here... but, whatev... anyway. I wanted to post and show you all pictures of the amazing necklaces that Lisa made for me for my wedding and that I ordered for my sister's birthday. Also, the earrings that I just absolutely adore and that go perfectly with one of my dresses, two if I wear the right shirt under it!! :0) I need more money in my slush fund, Those new necklaces she has been making are too pretty!! with the little flowers, so delicate, and loverly....

This is for my wedding. Dove has the same significance as the title of my blog and the verse. 6.23.07 is our wedding aniversary!

Gorgeous gorgeous earrings!! LOVE!

Ordered this for my sister's birthday. She is my bestest friend! I love her to bits!!

Our gorgeous selves all gussied up for the wedding. I think I am gaining weight, my face seems to look heavier in pictures lately. boo....

The happy couple at I now announce Mr and Mrs... It was a beautiful wedding!!

I have more pictures to post, but I will do those tomorrow.

Oh yeah! I may have a job lined up!! Praise God, eleventh hour, but his perfect timing I know. I had a Screening today and they said people would be called for interviews probably starting tomorrow afternoon. I got a call three hours after I finished, saying they wanted to interview me! woohoo!! Keep it in prayer. The interview is Friday morning.

Kiko

This morning after I got up and made the bed, I went about my usual routine. I happened to go back into the bedroom and this is what I found...!





Apparently it wasn't time to get up?

Patterns

The colors aren't exactly right, I tried to get them close, but it's more of a guideline so I know what goes where. You can see the fabrics here.

Anyway, here are my patterns. What do you think?

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

The squares are 6"x6", and the quilts themselves are going to be 6'x7'. The border on #2 is 6" wide. I don't think I am going to do a border on #1, unless I find a fabric that is just right. I will also worry about the backing later... :0)

fixin's and trimings

Now that I have bought all my fabric, I put together some patterns that I want to do, and am ready to get started.

But I need to wash my fabrics....


And I neglected to note what the washing instructions were on each of the fabrics...

Help!!

Any suggestions on how I should go about it? I am pretty sure that they are all cotton, or a blend thereof...

I was thinking cold water wash/tumble dry.

Do I wash them together, or do each fabric separate? There is about two yards of each fabric, standard folded in half, and I have 7 different fabrics....


I should have thought of this earlier.... grrr.

This and that...

I have all of my graduation tassels hanging from my printer feed tray, I was looking at them the other day and realized that since I graduated from High School I have graduated every two years!
High School in 2002, Junior College in 2004, and Cal Poly (just barely, December Graduation) in 2006... I guess I am a high achiever??

My Family came out to visit last weekend, bringing with them my aunt Jill from MN, who wasn't able to make it out for the wedding, so she had to meet Kyle and "approve". :0)

It was foggy out in the bay, but nice and sunny in Avila...

My Aunt Jill. She didn't know I was taking this picture. She probably wouldn't approve... :0)

My Mom (Kim), Dad (Steve), and Aunt Jill

I have been popping into Beverly's Fabric every couple of weeks and looking in their 50% off bins and have found quite a few fabrics that I really like and that go together so that I can eventually make a quilt. I buy 2 yards of the fabrics I like, so I am sure to have plenty!! I have never done this before (made a quilt), so we will see how dedicated I stay and how it turns out... :0) Thought I would share the fabrics with you.

I actually have fabrics that don't go well together, so I will make two quilts eventually.... First colors

I Love the Little Bumble Bees on this one!!! and the color is fairly acurate.


This one looks very orange, it is actually a nice picnic blanket red and white.



The yellow is off a bit in this one, but you can see the checkered details.


Next Quilt fabrics...

Color is pretty accurate, a light pink, I have a lot of this, it was a hand-me down.


The color is off, it is a nice pink, with some white, with little red flowers.


A cute pink check, it was always off when I took the picture closer, so it is from a distance. Sorry.

A cute medium blue with pink, yellow, blue flowers.


I love this one!! it has little dragonflies all over it! it is actually a pair of pajama pants that I found and have wanted to use for while! the color seems pretty accurate.

So that's my fabric. Maybe I will actually make it into something... :0)

everybody goes, awwwww....

Okay, so, um, this could possibly be the cutest puppy that God has ever created... and I want it! so so so adorable!!!

yahoo!?

For the last two days I haven't been able to access Yahoo! I only use it for my email, and it's my junk email account at that, but if I don't check it at least daily it becomes a massive chore to wade through all the stuff I get to make sure there isn't actually something in there I want to read! Kyle says he can access it at work, so I think it might just be our internet connection, but everything else is connecting just fine...


I am so excited for tomorrow night's Grace Summer Nights! I love talent shows so much!! I thought about entering, but didn't know what I would do. I have a staple that I do for talent shows, it is a hula dance to Shout to the Lord, but a friend and I got into trouble once for performing it at a bible study talent night (it was too suggestive because of the hip movements. They really aren't that bad I don't think) and it has been performed at my parent's church on Sunday morning with no issue, but they are a little more... relaxed? than Grace is, and I just wasn't sure how it would go over.... I also didn't think I had enough time to prepare something to sing, or find a monologue that I could memorize fast enough. So, long story short, I will be sitting in the audience, laughing, crying, and enjoying it a lot!


My parents, brother and aunt, from MN, are coming out this weekend! Just for a day, but it will be great to see them, especially my aunt Jill, I haven't seen her in a couple years!! Will take pictures and post them (hopefully)!

My sister is coming out in 3 weeks!!!! yay for sister time!!! she is my best friend and I love her to pieces!!

Wedding pics Part 1

As promised.....





The Church



We get very emotional in my family... Me and My sister Abby


Waiting to go into the church


The wedding party



Showin' off the garter!