The Love Shack

She’s Good Lookin’!

2011-04-26T12:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, “she” is… the one hundred-year-old farmhouse we’ve called home for the past year. This home belongs to our dear friends. They are missionaries in Portugal at the moment, and we have the joy and fun of living here until they return. Not a stitch of this is ours- except maybe the chickens. We got them last spring- just two days old. We let the kids name them… Zoe, Delilah, Jay Z, Pollo Loco, Hella (Named by Bella- then age 2 1/2) and Fiona. The chickens have been a blast. They are the sweetest things. One of my favorite memories by far is watching Isabella march around the yard as the chickens follow after her in single file. She FINALLY has someone to boss around! Ha!

Below is the view coming up the driveway…those silly chickens always ready to greet us.

The middle picture below is on the way to the garden. It’s a sight to behold. Can you see the little tunnel through the shrubs? One of the best parts! The garden is definitely my happy place. My man and I love to spend time out there together. Our friends tease us relentlessly about what we actually do in there. And, no, we do NOT pretend to be Adam and Eve… as far as you know! Haha!

Irises and roses are my favorite flowers. If you stop by, you are guaranteed to leave with a bouquet!

And here’s that (What shall we call it? Unique?) piano in the yard. The one that inspired THIS post.

This place is definitely a diamond in the rough around here. I’ll give you a little tour of the backyard and inside the house, too. They’ve furnished the house with period pieces, and it feels sometimes like we live back in time!

Love!

Soul’s Joy

2011-04-23T12:14:00.001-07:00

This is my kitchen unkempt-

yet my morning sanctuary.

I sit with full cup of coffee in hand

While children and husband sleep

And it’s here I soak it in-

Peace.

Stillness.

Grace.

I melt in His presence.

He feeds my famished soul.

I feel my God so close.

Takes my breath away.

The air is weighty

The presence thick.

This radiant, all-consuming love.

Soul’s joy.

May He appear unmistakably in every place we go.

With love,

A Backyard Birthday Tea Party And Some Thoughts

2011-04-18T10:51:00.001-07:00

Throughout my blog break last year I still took tons of pictures! Too many, in fact! I thought I’d better start chronicling them now! Blogging must be in my blood because everything we do as a family I recreate in my imagination as “blog posts”. I see the picture layout in my head, and I give the imaginary post a title. Do you bloggers think the same way…See it all in your head even before it’s an actual post? (This is where you nod and smile so I don’t feel like such a weirdo. Ha!)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Beach Bunny’s backyard tea party. I absolutely LOVE hosting parties. My personal goal is for each guest to know that they are adored and loved. That’s the gift that Jesus gives to me each and every day, and I just want to give that same gift away to each and every person that comes over…To know and feel Jesus’ love and acceptance will ruin you for anything else. It’s THAT good! Beach Bunny and I play “tea party” in the backyard all the time, so when it came time for her party last year the theme was cinched! She’s a big fan of cupcakes and, quite frankly, so is her mama! ; )

Beach Bunny shared her party with her beautiful little cousin, Sara. They share the exact same birthday, just one year apart. They are so opposite in looks, but share the exact same sweetness, love of dress up, and all-things-girly! Oh, to grow up with cousins you adore!

We just invited family to the party, and everyone was so sweet to drop by on their lunch breaks to have sandwiches and tea with us.

It’s been SO FUN to just be able to grab flowers out of the yard and make simple arrangements for special occasions… or for no occasion at all. I’m going to miss this when we move back home. Sniff!

Jeremiah 31:3 comes to mind when I remember her tea party… "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” That verse reminds me of my love for my daughter and also shows me how approachable God is. That inspires me! God’s love has been so powerful in my life and, as a result, I can’t help but to want to BE loving-kindness to those I serve- making myself a little lower so His name can be lifted higher- just like those helium balloons.

It’s funny how a little tea party gave me a fresh perspective. What a gift- I needed that!

Today I’m also participating in Gifts of Thanks, all the ways that God gives. Click link below to be inspired!

If All of Life is a Song For Him

2011-04-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

Edited to add:

My sweet friend, Kim, added something so thoughtful in the comments that I just loved! I had to post it here. I love her words and what the Lord spoke to her heart. Powerful! Thanks, Kim!!

" I couldn't help but be taken aback by the worn out piano. Then I realized, I am that worn out piano, run down by life, dirty from sin yet so much potential within. Praise God that like that piano, I have a beautiful song to sing & a Savior to wipe me clean!! Love it!! Kim B."

If all of life is a song for Him,

What is the melody?

This harmony of lives in tandem

Walking in humble obedience.

The tender notes of mercy,

and grace-

A rhythmical tribute to the one who

Laid it down

And

Paid the way.

If all of life is a song for Him,

What is the cadence of

sweet surrender?

Oh, my soul!

What is your song?

An Outdoor Wedding

2011-02-01T18:27:00.001-08:00

Here’s a peek at the barn. It’s been used for all different kinds of fun events… worship nights, dances, fundraisers and weddings. I think the kids have enjoyed having a barn the most- riding their bikes and skateboards inside on rainy and cold days!

On this particular day we were prepping for a sunny and bright wedding.

Back inside, the food prep was in full swing. This is the inside porch. The door in the background leads to the barn kitchen and into the barn.

Here’s a look at the hors d’oeuvres. My friend, Laina, was in charge. She is so gifted with food presentation. When she’s around I stick to her like glue and pretend I know what I’m doing.

She makes it look so easy… just set out some fruit, cheese, crackers, nuts- and boom! There you have it. A gorgeous display. Even though I watch her like I hawk, I’m not sure I could ever reproduce what she creates.

This is the dining room. The bridesmaids and the bride were inside with me anxiously awaiting their cue to walk down the aisle! They were so cute playing the piano and laughing nervously. They were such a fun bunch!

The bride and groom had their ceremony in the backyard under the trees. It was simple and beautiful and enchanting.

Beach Bunny is still my shadow 24/7. She’s such a happy girl! Here we are taking a peek at the final table set ups. That’s my garden on the left. The house is toward the right. Can you see it under the trees?

My favorite look for a catered dinner is incorporating the antique tables and vintage ware. I’d say I’m an old-fashioned kind of girl at heart! I am so in love with anything vintage! I hope it never goes out of style.

What about you? Are you crazy about antiques and vintage ware, too?

Back in the Saddle

2011-01-28T22:24:00.001-08:00

Where did the time go? Can it REALLY be ten months?

I’ve really missed you all, and I’ve missed blogging!

Let me catch you up a little…

Last March we decided to make a move- a change in lifestyle is more like it.

We packed up our house in suburbia and moved into a 100 year old farmhouse- just for a year… to see what it would be like.

We gave the kids new kinds of chores, like…

feeding the chickens before school

and

taking care of the barn.

We found out

we LOVE it!

We ARE “country” after all (except I still love to shop at Nordstrom)!

It turns out lots of people like to get married here.

Lots of catering happens in my kitchen-

which means

there is often quite a buzz here, and I love it!

I am loving learning how to make new foods…

I especially love the baking!

The lighting in the barn is just exquisite for picture taking.

So is the afternoon light in the inside porch.

I look forward to showing you all the wonderful little things that make this place so special. Beach Bunny (three-and-a-half years old) said to me the other day, “Mama, this house is turning out to be a great place after all!”

I definitely agree!

Newborn Photo Shoot? Yes, Please!

2010-03-08T08:52:00.001-08:00

Speaking of love…. I have another new niece to spoil. Her name is Sophia, and her mommy and daddy let me indulge my photography habit and take her birth announcement pictures. Thankyouverymuch. My mom also got to indulge her creative juices and made Sophia’s flower hat.

Her birth announcement…

This last picture is obviously an outtake, but just cracks us up (If you’re worried, we only let her cry for like 11 seconds… ok, 12).

If you’ve got a minute and feel inspired, give this photo a caption.

Happy Monday,

Cobwebs? Already?

2010-03-07T21:17:00.001-08:00

What? I can’t believe this happened! There are cobwebs all over my blog! I did not intend for that to happen. It all went down like this… I started a new Beth Moore Bible study called “Breaking Free”, and it is seriously kicking my boo-tay… in a good way. I have tons of homework every night, but it has given me the excuse to indulge in my Savior! I have been spending two hours at a time every day reading my Bible, doing my study homework and listening to my worship cd’s. This is so different for me!

I hate to admit it, but usually I am lucky to pick up my Bible at all during the week. I have been known to dust it off before church so it looks used. Sick, I know. I may grab a devotional here or there during the week… read it online… or in the carpool lane while waiting for the kids after school. But come on! This is so different for me right now. I am loving it and it is absolutely no effort. What in the world is happening to me? I don’t want it to stop.

You know what I’m finding? God is pursuing me, and all He wants to tell me is HOW MUCH HE LOVES ME! Super duper simple, yet so hard for me to accept. I don’t feel worthy or good enough… and certainly too busy to stop and feel His love. My broken foot has been the single best thing that has happened to me in a long time. It has forced me to stop, to be still and to soak up God’s love. One drop of it is enough to send my head spinning. I am curious to see where the Lord and I are headed in this new season.

LOVE!!!

Now Look What You Did!

2010-02-15T10:00:00.001-08:00

I was so excited to get an update with pictures in my inbox regarding the progress on Grace’s new baby home in Tijuana, Mexico. God spoke directly to my heart when we were working at the orphanage last December. He told me to donate 100% of ad revenue from my blog to help in the construction of this new abandoned baby home. I am so excited to show you the progress!

Here is what it looked like when we were there right before Christmas:

And here is the progress:

The first floor is completely finished, and they have begun framing the second floor! You can see the main orphanage to the left.

Here is an artist’s rendering of what the baby home will look like when complete:

Isn’t that cool? God is on the move! Thank you guys for being a part of this with me. I’m not sure when the project will be complete, but my secret prayer is that it will be done this summer. I would love to go down with Kahuna and the kids and help care for the babies. That would be amazing!

‘Cause Somewhere in the World It’s Still Valentine’s Day

2010-02-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine’s Day. I made it under the wire, although I think by now you are already tucked in bed and dreaming Olympic dreams.

My Valentine to you is a thank you note of sorts.

I want to say thank you for being there for me through thick and thin.

Thank you for sending me encouraging notes and laughing with me… especially when The Universe stuck out her foot and tripped me. On nothing. And I broke my foot.

Thank you for helping to raise money for baby homes and foster kids.

Thank you for being patient when I get all shameless mommyblogger on you.

Thank you for inspiring me.

You guys are the coolest, best-bunch of friends a girl could hope for!

With love from our family to yours,

Valentine Winner!

2010-02-11T11:54:00.001-08:00

Winner!! Winner!!

Wait for it…

Please click HERE to see our winner!

With love,

A Valentine For YOU- A Giveaway!

2010-02-08T11:44:00.001-08:00

I love Valentine’s Day! Every year my dad stops by my house and brings me the cutest card and a little gift. It’s not the present that counts, it’s just that he took the time to stop by and tell me that he loves me. My dad is my hero and always will be.

I want YOU to have a special Valentine’s Day treat, too! With help from lorelei1141’s wonderful Etsy Shop, I want you to wear this adorable, vintage bracelet and know that you are loved!

Here’s a little peak at your Valentine:

I’m in love with the brass findings, and the charming typewriter letters. She uses big, chunky ceramic beads like the perfect amount of seasoning! I just love unique and vintage-looking jewelry!

Clickety right HERE to see more pictures and to enter.

Enter as many times as you’d like!

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Haiti Update- Team Home!

2010-02-05T19:49:00.001-08:00

Our Haiti team is finally home. Understandably, there has been some reverse culture shock and tears, but all is well. The team has been on some local morning news shows and in the paper, so that has been fun to watch. Our church family, under Kahuna’s direction, has made a one year commitment to helping in the relief effort.

Here are a few more pictures from Haiti (taken by our friend Scott). They are beautiful.

I love this quote by Mother Theresa…

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

I’ve got two questions for you…

1.) If given the opportunity, would you leave your family for one week and travel to Haiti to help out in the relief effort? 2.) How do you think it would impact you?

Boots on the Ground- Our Team in Haiti

2010-01-29T13:35:00.001-08:00

My husband has been busier than a one armed paper hanger- coordinating supplies, medicines, flights and personnel to Haiti. Just a few days ago, he sent a team of doctors, counselors and volunteers (from our church) to help in the relief effort. Kahuna was bummed that he couldn’t go with them. My broken foot sealed the deal that he should stay home… this time.

Every evening at about 5:00 the team calls on their sat phone and gives Kahuna an update. Someone has an iphone and was able to send a few pictures, too. They speak volumes…

This is Scott on the left. He took most of the pics:

Fifteen days with a compound femur fracture and head laceration. Patient reported his pain was moderate. Tough guy.

Dr. Ian Armstrong neurosurgeon taking a break to love on the kids.

This is our dear friend Brian.

This is what Scott said while photographing this scene. I thought is was so inspiring, “It's cool being a youth counselor to a kid you know is awesome...then he grows up and becomes awesomer. Dane in action.”

Dr. Jolie had the genius idea to write diagnosis and plan on kid’s cast, i.e. femur fracture remove cast march 26th. The info. will be vital for his check up.

Speechless.

A v-collapse and a pancake collapse side by side.

This sweet boy was helicoptered in from the mountains, malnourished...both parents gone.

A team member has fallen in love with him and is going to try to adopt him.

Don’t stop praying for Haiti.

I Heard Him Yesterday…

2010-01-24T15:39:00.001-08:00

My broken foot is really getting me down. Seven more weeks of not driving. I might be going nuts. The orthopedist really got up in my grill and told me I was doing too much and that my foot won’t heal unless I just stop and rest.

I’m not good at stopping.

I’m used to going 200 miles an hour with my hair on fire.

Isn’t that how everyone lives?

I have to just stop and pray

and try to be still

and listen to see if the Lord is trying to teach me something through this.

I heard Him yesterday.

He told me to cherish the quiet and still.

Take time to pray.

Memorize Isaiah 61:1.

Listen to my kids and not just say uh-huh.

Spoil my daughter a little

and take a 2:00 nap

together on my bed

-still wearing our jammies.

Be a little silly

even when it’s time to get serious.

But what He keeps reminding me of the most

is to give up control-

and cherish today.

How to Enhance Eyelashes in Photoshop Elements

2010-01-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

Some friends have emailed to ask how to enhance/burn eyelashes using Photoshop Elements. Let me just remind you that I am on a learning curve just like you. If you know of a better way, please let me know! I love learning new things!

Step 1: Open up a favorite picture in your Elements program. I chose this picture of Beach Bunny sportin’ her golden brown tan last summer.

Step 2: Zoom in on your picture by holding down “control” and “+” (on a pc). Click the burn tool (little, white hand). If there is another icon instead of the hand, right click it and scroll down to the hand.

Step 3: At the top of the screen select the pixel size (I chose 6 pixels) and the exposure (I chose 13%). Exposure determines how dark we will burn the lashes. I chose 6 pixels wide because that is about the width of Beach Bunny’s lashes. There is a tiny circle in her pony tail. That circle is 6 pixels wide. I went over each lash. It was kind of like applying a base coat of mascara.

Step 4: I centered her picture to make sure that both sets of lashes were symmetrical.

Step 5: Now with the burn tool still selected, I changed the pixel size just a tad smaller (4 px) and bumped the exposure up to 23%. This “coat” will be just a bit darker. In this step, I went over each lash again, but this time I drew on a few extra lashes. Keep in mind, that subtlety is key. I don’t want her to look like a child beauty queen.

Step 6: I centered the picture again. Now look for the sharpen tool. It looks like a blue triangle. If the icon isn’t there, right click it and select the triangle.

Step 7: Select 18 pixels at 14%. Now go over the eye lashes to sharpen them. I also went over her eyes to give them a little more shine. If you ever mess up on one of the steps, Elements is very forgiving. Just click the “undo” button at the top right of the screen. It will undo your last edit, and then you can try again. I like second (and third) chances!

Step 8: Ta-da! You’re done! Just hit “control” and “-“ to zoom out.

Here is the final edit:

If you watch the picture (below) carefully, you will see the before and after of her lashes in animated form. The differences are subtle, but it can enhance your subject’s eyes just enough to pop!

Go for it,

I Heart Faces- “We Are Family”

2010-01-18T19:12:00.001-08:00

I had a fun opportunity to photograph a really cool family from Zimbabwe. They are out here on “holiday” and had never had family pictures taken before. The dad is hilarious and his personality is exactly like the Crocodile Hunter. He even showed me a picture where he is wrestling a live 14 foot, 100 pound python! He saved it from eating the family cat.

I told the C. family that if they’d be my guinea pigs and let me practice my photo skills on them, they could keep the pictures. I love that we were able to arrive at the beach at sunset. It was a gorgeous night.

To see other family photos visit:

Because I Can’t Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

2010-01-14T21:35:00.001-08:00

In a feat of unequivocal grace, I broke my foot today… metatarsal five to be exact.

Who breaks their foot walking…

on a field trip with 40 third graders?

I walked a mile on it after it was broken.

Probably not smart.

But I’m ~~stubborn~~ determined.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” I told myself.

“It’s time to get rolling on that 2010 deductible anyway.”

A Little Video For a Change

2010-01-11T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hi, you guys!

A friend of ours just put together this video of our Mexico trip for our "reunion party" last night. All fifty of us (kids included!) had dinner together and shared our favorite stories from the trip.

The video begins with the children's Christmas party, then cuts to their Sunday worship service (which was so different from our home church- very refreshing), and then begins again as we're loading up the shoe boxes and ready to caravan down to Mexico.

There is a rockin' song by Hillsong playing during the video, Hosanna in the Highest. Sometimes I have trouble keeping my focus, so I think it's a good thing I can't get the lyrics out of my head. I decided to make them my prayer today.

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity

I Just Whipped up a Little Somethin’ Somethin’

2010-01-08T21:52:00.001-08:00

Okay, so since I recently let you in on my dirty little secret, I’ve had a change of heart. 2010 is my year to try new things in the kitchen. Nothing award winning… I just need to move beyond my pasta and chicken rut.

So without further ado, here is a little somethin’ somethin’ that I whipped up for my hubby and me for lunch. It was super easy- just my skill level.

Open Faced Tomato & Mozzarella Sandwich

I bought an Italian round (slightly crusty on the outside, soft on the inside) at the bakery. I would love to learn how to bake this at home!

Then I made the scallion oil. 1/3 cup roughly chopped scallions…

…1/2 cup roughly chopped basil. If you don’t like the flavor of basil, you can easily use Italian parsley leaves. I’m a basil freak, though!

Add this great smelling mixture to a food processor. This is the same mini processor which I used to use to make my kids’ baby food. Ahh! The good ol’ days.

Process until finely chopped. Then add 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil and give that baby a whirl for a few seconds to combine. Add Kosher salt to taste. Can you smell that? That’s what heaven smells like.

Now that the scallion oil is finished, slice fresh tomatoes…

… and fresh mozzarella.

Brush the bread with extra virgin olive oil. I used organic olive oil because it automatically bumps up the “cool factor” like 10 points.

Now grill the bread for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned. Sorry for the ugly picture… I was getting hungry!

To assemble the sandwich, rub one side of each slice of bread with a peeled garlic clove. Place the grilled slices on a serving tray. Arrange a slice of mozzarella and a tomato slice or two over each half slice of bread. Spoon about a tablespoon of scallion oil over the tomatoes and mozzarella and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

And there you have it.

A delish open faced tomato & mozzarella sandwich.

Try it.

Your mouth will thank you.

Last Stop (Part 2 of 2) and Goal for 2010

2010-01-07T23:24:00.001-08:00

I figured I’d better get this last Christmas post up fast since Santa’s officially been on vacay for two weeks. Nice.

After we loaded the kids up on sugar, we marched them into the church and had them line up to receive a Christmas shoe box. You could feel the anticipation in the air. This is how the girls lined up so sweetly…

…and this is how the boys lined up. It cracks me up how different boys and girls can be sometimes. Nice gang signs, guys!

This little cutie was so excited.

All the children patiently waited to open their gifts until everyone had a package to open.

And then the countdown began… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Open the gifts!

I wish I could post this picture bigger for you to see the detail in their faces. One boy towards the right had a total look of shock on his face, and one girl threw her arms up in the air with excitement. It was so loud and so fun.

They loved showing off all their new stuff. Check out the boys in the middle and their excitement for their friends.

This little guy squeaked with glee every time he pulled out a different gift from his box. It was the funniest thing.

I love the message on Kahuna’s shirt, but I laughed at the irony of his ensemble.

I watched in amazement as older siblings took care of younger siblings all evening long.

We talked about the real meaning of Christmas and that Jesus is our perfect gift. Then we played with the kids for a little while longer and walked them home.

I got the most encouraging comments about our family serving in Mexico. Thank you so much!! I loved them! These comments got me thinking. Mexico isn’t the only place to serve people in need. We all have people in our neighborhood or in our city that need practical help, a visit, or even just a word of encouragement. The important thing isn’t about going to a far away place, but that we have eyes to see the people in need around us… and that we are willing to do something to help. This is one of the main things that I want to model for my kids in 2010.

Encourage one another,

Last Stop- Part One

2010-01-05T20:20:00.001-08:00

I’d love to show you our last stop on our Christmas Shoe Box trip. If you remember, our first gift delivery was to an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. Our last stop was a church in a very poor area in Ensenada. The children and their families were wonderful and so welcoming!

In this town in Ensenada, the poorer families live high on the hills, while the “wealthier” families live below near the ocean. They all paint their homes the most lovely colors… blues, greens, all shades of pink, and bright yellow. When they build their own homes, a rogue family member must climb the power pole and attach the power line while it’s live. It’s so dangerous and many die, but they have no other means for power.

We started the Christmas party right away with a pinata. My family and I helped with the preschoolers, but the kids at the party ranged in age from three to teen.

My son, Goofy Foot, finally got a turn. He ripped into the pinata right away. Candy started to fly and kids started to run! Total chaos. Awesome!

We helped the children to different “centers”, like face painting, cookie decorating, and board games. The kids were amazing! Here we were chowing down on pinata candy before our next activity.

I couldn’t get over this little one’s eyes. What a sweetie!

We learned that this was the first time the children had ever decorated Christmas cookies. They were in awe. Goofy Foot showed them the ropes!

My daughter (left) had never decorated cookies either. She froze in this position for a good 90 seconds apparently enjoying her sugar high.

I can’t wait to show you part two tomorrow when all the children got to open their gifts. There was so much JOY!

With love,

The Best Gift

2010-01-03T12:29:00.001-08:00

I was so excited that my brother and sister-in-law asked me to come over to take pictures of my brand new niece. Just one week old, she has already captured my heart for eternity.

Oh, how I love her tiny piggies! You know something funny? She totally has my toes. How can an auntie and a niece have the same toes? Wild!

Little Paige Kaylee surprised us all and made her big debut on Christmas Eve… three weeks early. She is healthy and perfect weighing in at seven pounds and eleven ounces.

I made a little announcement for them.

Baby Paige was our best Christmas gift ever. (Don’t tell anyone, but my green Le Creuset baking dish from Kahuna played a close second. Ha!)

Encourage one another,

Our Year in Pictures

2010-01-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

As I took a few minutes last night to browse through some of my 2009 pictures, I was struck by the many ups and downs my family and most likely yours have experienced over the last twelve months. It made me realize how present God is with us even though He can't be physically seen. Uh oh! I'm getting all reflective up in here!

2009 at a glance:

A friend called to offer us a family trip to Hawaii
I was diagnosed with Melanoma, minor surgery, given the all clear!
Lots of family time
Helped people in the community
Trip to Catalina Island and Mount Hermon
Swine flu for all
Pneumonia for Beach Bunny and Big Surf
Got my first big girl camera
Beach Bunny home one year
Spent hours on the soccer, baseball and football fields
Our real estate investment went south
Learning to parent a tween
Trip to Disneyland
Met Pioneer Woman
My new niece was born
Family Christmas shoebox trip to Mexico

It's been a heck of a year. I can see God's fingerprints all over it. Thank you so much for coming along with us, sharing in our family story. I wish I could invite each and every one of you out for coffee... and a pedicure. Scratch that. Let's make that a massage and lunch. Scratch that. Wine tasting and shopping.

Happy New Year, friends!

With love,

Pizza Pops??

2009-12-29T19:04:00.001-08:00

As I was lying in bed last night, I got to thinking about food- food blogs in particular- and by golly, I think I've seen the love child of Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls and Bakerella’s treat pops.

Here are the steps:

Roll out about a pound of dough (size of a grapefruit), making sure to flour the surface first so things don’t stick.

Add your favorite sauce (I’m liking tomato basil marinara right now) and shredded mozzarella.

I added Volpi gourmet pepperoni to half of the pizza. That right there is some good stuff.

The next step is to roll the pizza toward you. Trust me on this one. Toward you.

After it’s rolled, it’s time to pinch it closed. Pinch away to seal it up. If a little bit of the ingredients stick out, that’s ok. It makes it all cook together even better.

Now it’s time to cut the loaf. I tried my kitchen scissors, but that wasn’t happening; so I went to the garage and grabbed my husband’s fishing line. Now we’re talkin’! Just wrap the line around a 1/2 inch section, pull tight, and you’ll get a perfect cut every time.

Place these bad boy rolls onto a greased baking sheet (parchment paper would work even better). Bake at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

Bake until they are golden brown and the cheese has had a chance to caramelize.

These babies have to cool almost completely before you insert the stick. I learned the hard way on the first batch. My little pizza pops drooped and sagged and slid down the stick. So, be patient. It will be so worth it!

“Mom,” says my nine year old son, “These are even better than pizza!”

“Well, it is pizza, Buddy.” I replied.

“Oh, ya…. But it’s still better than pizza.” He said.

“Ha! Thanks!” I replied.

(Inspiration from http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/)

When Blogging Life Collided With Real Life

2009-12-28T17:09:00.001-08:00

Do you remember this picture from my last post?

Just the thought of what it represents makes my heart start thumping!

Why?

Well, because I believe it was a “God” moment in my life. An “Aha!” moment where my “blogging” life collided with my “real” life. I recognized that familiar faint whisper heard first in my heart.

I’ll back up a few weeks…

A cool lady at Blogher emailed and asked if I’d like to host some ads on my little blog. I thought it was a fun idea, but something didn’t really settle right. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly that didn’t feel right. I prayed about it and asked some good friends for advice. A few weeks passed, and I still wasn’t totally on board, but yet it still didn’t seem right to decline.

Fast forward to our Christmas shoebox trip to Mexico. When I learned what the plans are for this building…

…I knew immediately what I needed to do. The blog ads need to be about others- not for myself or my family. We are already so blessed.

I learned that the plans for this building are to build a baby home right next door to Grace orphanage. They told me that every day precious, healthy babies are abandoned at the dump or left on street corners due to neglect and extreme poverty. They are trying to raise money to get this project completed. There are babies who need this place right now!

I have committed 100% of any ad revenue to go to this baby home. My blog is very “small town”, so it might not be much- but all of it I will give. The cool part is that you are helping to save these lives. You, my blogging friends, are the ones who make it happen. Somehow through the magic of the www, funds will be raised to save these babies. All you have to do is read this blog.

So, what do you think about this? Let me know your thoughts. Be totally honest. Would you put up with a sidebar ad or two to help orphaned babies?

I read this quote the other day by my friend Francis Chan in his book Crazy Love, “Nothing in my life will ever matter unless it’s about loving God and loving the people He has made.”

That quote excites me, drives me, motivates me. It’s how I want to live.

Pure

2009-12-27T14:18:00.001-08:00

John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

It is with pure joy in my heart to show you what God is doing for these precious orphans in Mexico. First, let me start from the beginning…

We took shoeboxes filled with toys…

Wrapped and loaded them up in a trailer, packed up 10 families from our church and all their kids...

and traveled…

here…

because 35 orphans were waiting.

We stayed right at the orphanage and tried to remember to brush our teeth with only bottled water. We wondered how our only English speaking kids would do with the Spanish speakers. How would they communicate?

To our surprise, we watched how the children instantly played and bonded with one another… the international language of soccer initiated quick smiles, big hugs, no barriers, pure delight.

We could not wait to deliver the gifts to the children! So after dinner, the festivities began. We called the kids up in groups of three so they could show everyone what they got!

This sweet girl got her very first doll. She was in love!

These awesome boys were so excited for their turn. In case you’re wondering, the age range at this orphanage is ages three to twelve.

It was fun to see how excited the kids were for one another. There was no jealously about who got what gifts.

This sweet girl, Alma, stuck to me like glue. I loved every minute of it! I’m not so sure my two year old daughter (to my left) was as thrilled to share my lap!

I wish you could have seen how excited the kids were playing with their gifts. It didn’t matter if the presents came from the dollar store or a department store. Each gift was cherished. If you are one of those families who fills a shoebox every year and wonders if it really makes a difference, let me tell you that it does! When you work through this organization, the children who receive the gifts get blessed beyond the box, too. They also get to hear about the amazing love of God!

I saw this verse painted on the playground equipment. It’s one of my life verses…

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

Here’s a family picture very early in the morning as we were leaving Grace and onto our next stop. Our oldest son (not pictured) came down two weeks earlier with just my husband to help in some other areas of Mexico. We missed him a lot on this trip! He had to stay behind at Grami and Grandpa’s house to study for 7th grade winter finals. Boo hoo!

Ok, this next picture is just a hint about my next post. It’s very important to me. It’s what makes my heart flutter and my adrenaline rush. I'll tell you all about it and how each of you will play an important part, even if you’re sitting at home needing a shower and still in your Christmas pj’s (like me)!

Encourage one another,

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T12:06:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I woke up this morning to a fine coat of sunshine covering my yard.

I will have to shovel the driveway of warmth in order to get the car out.

Later today we will probably sing carols and sip cocoa around the hot tub...

…ah winter.

That quote was my friend's status update on Facebook today! I thought it went so perfectly with this beach picture I took a few days ago. Wow! God sure is a good artist. Look at that soft light and gorgeous colors!

I hope you and your family had the most wonderful Christmas yesterday! We sure did! I thought about all of you, my blogging friends, and wondered how each of you was spending the day. I can’t wait to come and check on you! I’m still working on a few December posts that are near and dear to my heart; but for now…

We are off to celebrate Christmas with Kahuna’s (my husband) family! It’s never a dull moment around here.

With love,

PlumDaisy Winner… and Where Have I Been?

2009-12-15T21:53:00.001-08:00

Kelly, thank you so much for hosting your wonderful PlumDaisy giveaway. You are so talented. I love your creativity and the way you mix and match colors!

Congrats to the winner...

You want to know the winner?

Well, just clickety HERE.

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I haven’t had a chance to blog in about a week or so. I’ll give you a little peek about what we’ve been up to. It involves…

shoe boxes filled with Christmas presents,

precious orphans,

international travel, and

trouble at the border.

Here are two pics from my husband’s camera phone:

This is sweet, sweet Alma. She lives at the orphanage and stuck to me like glue. I liked it like that.

Beach Bunny and I totally zonked out on the long ride home.

This has been my all-time favorite Christmas season!

I can’t wait to show you in the next post how God is touching lives and answering prayers!

Merry Christmas,

Stocking Stuffer Idea… and Giveaway!

2009-12-07T10:08:00.001-08:00

I want to introduce you to Kelly at PlumDaisy. Her clippies and hair blooms are what got me hooked! I plan to put a couple of her cute things in Beach Bunny’s stocking.

I want you to get to know Kelly a little bit. Here’s a quick little Q and A I had with her last night…

But you've got to click HERE to read more and enter!!!

Encourage one another,

And the Winner is…

2009-12-05T20:45:00.001-08:00

Just clickety HERE to see the winner!!

Merry Christmas,

Baby Shower and a New Friend

2009-12-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Recently, we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law. We are so excited to be adding another girl to our team. That will make the score a tie for my side of the family when their baby girl arrives… Boys 2 - Girls 2.

If I was a betting person, I’d say that score won’t last for long.

Isn’t it amazing how much stuff a (probably eight pound) newborn needs?

I always wonder how the pioneer women survived without all this.

No Boppy.

No Bjorn.

No Bumbo.

No way!

Could someone please take a look at this precious outfit for me?

And these tiny leopard shoes?

I just can’t look.

‘Cause I want more babies. I can’t even handle what I already have, but I want more. MORE I tell you!

You know, one of the most fun things about the shower (you know besides getting a niece out of the deal) was the fact that I got to make a new friend in the process. Amanda baked, decorated and shipped her beautiful cookies all the way across the United States in time for the party. She has a heart of gold and is so very talented.

Not only were her cookies so cute, they tasted like heaven. In fact, I saw a couple of ladies at the shower put them in their purses!

So thank you, friend, for blessing my family and me with your beautiful confections. They were the pièce de résistance!

Christmas Gift Idea… And a Giveaway!

2009-11-30T10:47:00.001-08:00

How cute is this hat? I am convinced that crocheted beanies are taking over the world! I love the curly ostrich feathers! It’s so girlie and fun.

I was on the quest for the perfect hat for Beach Bunny to wear for Christmas pictures. I fell in love with this one. She doesn’t keep hats on for very long, but this hat stayed on her head for over an hour. We played with bubbles, swung on the swings, and took pictures… and she was happy as a clam with her hat on. That’s a first!

This adorable little crochet beanie is from...

Clickety HERE to read more and enter!!!

I just love this time of year!

Le Creuset Winner

2009-11-29T18:26:00.001-08:00

We just walked in the door from a four hour road trip visiting with Kahuna’s side of the family. It was so nice to get out of town, but we could certainly do away with holiday traffic! Can I get an amen up in here?!

Before I unpack and start a mountain of laundry, I wanted to announce the CSN Store’s Le Creuset winner.

Clickety HERE to read more!

I’ll be back tomorrow with another holiday giveaway for the littlest lady in your life.

With love,

I’m Thankful For…

2009-11-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

My dad (and my mom) who somehow make everything better and always send me home with food…

My little brother (my only sibling) who, in just a few weeks, will be a dad for the very first time…

My daughter who is my sunshine…

Sons who always forgive and forget…

My sweet Grami who came home from the hospital just in time for Thanksgiving dinner…

The fact that I did not panic (okay, just twice) while making my first Thanksgiving dinner…

My husband who went to the grocery store for me again…

My family who has outgrown just one Thanksgiving table…

And I am so very thankful for you.

I just found this verse today and loved it…

“Thanksgiving will pour out of the windows; laughter will spill through the doors.” - Jeremiah, chapter 30

That is definitely one mess that won’t get cleaned up!

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving!

With love,

P-Dub in Da House!!!

2009-11-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe it! I got to meet my all-time hero, Ree Drummond… A.K.A. The Pioneer Woman, on Sunday night. It was off the hook!

She started the night out with about 20 minutes of Q and A. Someone asked her to sing, so Ethel Merman made her appearance. Hilarious! What a voice!

I got to ask the first question- my big moment (which I had practiced in the bathroom mirror thankyouverymuch)…

Q: “Ree, how did your blog change from a hobby to a career?”

She started to answer me, but you know what happened? I kept thinking, Pioneer Woman is talking to me. Pioneer Woman is looking at me. And then all I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. Darn it all! I can’t remember everything she said to me, but the gist was that she loves blogging and that she would be doing it no matter what.

She was just as I had hoped… kind brown eyes, a quick wit, encouraging, self-deprecating, and just as genuine as can be.

A PW book signing must have at least one tiny baby in the audience. It’s the rules.

Here’s a shout out to my new BFF’s, Rachel and Davese. We spent two hours together in line. I know their deepest darkest secrets. Thanks for the picture, Rachel!

Ree was so sweet to sit and talk with each one of us.

Scads of people delighted to hear P-Dub’s off the cuff humor…

Finally it was my turn. I was so excited but so hot that I’m sure I used up all of my deodorant. Oh, well. Good thing she lives on a ranch!

She recognized my edited picture from here and here. I was blown away! She was so encouraging of my photography and editing. I’m sure she’s like that with everyone- but it was so nice to hear her say that… you know, from someone other than my mother. As she was signing my book she said, “I’ll write about that (photography) in your book. Is that ok?”

And then my husband and three kids came in and plopped down in the front row. ‘Nuf said!

And my prize…

Someone pinch me.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering…

She smells like cinnamon rolls : )

Pinch Me.

2009-11-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

I must be dreaming!

My Torrid Love Affair… and a Giveaway!

2009-11-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

In my post, My Dirty Little Secret, I reluctantly confessed something, and I revealed my torrid love affair with Le Creuset… the bad boy of stoneware and cast iron cookware. Every time I go to the outlet malls in our town I stop by the Le Creuset shop and fondle all of their cookware. It is hands down the best out there- but, sadly, way above my budget.

But it doesn’t have to be way above your budget. Would you like the chance to win a few pieces?

Just clickety HERE to read more and enter!

Happy baking,

Oh, Happy Day!

2009-11-19T21:17:00.001-08:00

The long awaited day had arrived…

Beach Bunny asked us where we were going.

“Family Day,” I said on the fly.

“Oh, gweat (great)!” she said from her car seat, not having a clue that Family Day meant that we were about to finalize her adoption- an important day in her life and ours.

Our extended family was so great to come out and celebrate with us even though it was smack dab in the middle of a work day. They are cool like that.

Before I show you the official pics, I of course have to show you the behind-the-scenes shots. We’re a unique bunch. Trust me.

Mother-in-law and sister-in-law (annoyed at me for taking their picture but gave me a courtesy smile anyway… awe, thanks!) quickly feeding the babies their lunch before they call us all into the courtroom.

Oh, no you di-in’t. Don’t you laugh. I WILL seek revenge, sista’.

Rolling on the floor across the court’s atrium most definitely helped us pass the time.

Nothing says “photo op” like a candid family picture with a metal detector in the background.

Ok, onto the big event-

Dad’s John Hancock…

Then mine…

Then the judge said something about someday dividing our estate into thirds, and I remember my whole family chuckling in the background. I think I got nervous and allegedly started picking my nose.

And then the judge stamped and sealed our documents and told us congratulations. We were complete. She was gracious enough to let us take a few pictures even though there were other families awaiting their turn.

And then the group shot taken by the cute security guard-

And more photos ‘cause, strangely, there never seem to be quite enough.

Oh, happy day!

And That’s a Wrap!

2009-11-19T13:18:00.001-08:00

We were so excited and relieved to finally wrap up the final step in Beach Bunny’s adoption. From what I understand, each state has its own laws on how to finalize an adoption, and our state required that we submit more paperwork and go before a judge. It was easy peasy… the only simple step in the whole process for us. The entire day I had a song playing over and over in my head… “He is Mighty to Save” by Hillsong. The lyrics that repeated time after time in my mind go like this:

My Savior, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus.

_________________

If you want to hear the melody, watch 30 seconds of this YouTube video. I love the chorus at 2:31. The lyrics just jump in and squeeze my heart! I love to turn the volume waaay up on this song and have a dance party in the family room with my kids. I love when Beach Bunny requests this song. She calls it “Meaty to Seeve”. The Lord, indeed, saved our daughter’s precious life and brought her home to us. We are forever thankful.

He is mighty to save!

Tonight or tomorrow I will post pictures from our final adoption day (Family Day, as we call it), but I have to go back to work, so for now…

… that’s a wrap!

Love,

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-17T19:09:00.001-08:00

EcoStore Winner!!

2009-11-12T20:02:00.001-08:00

Drum roll….

Clickety HERE to see the winner!

I hate that there is just one prize. I will make it up to you with a few more giveaways coming to a computer screen near you.

With love,

It Was The Perfect Date

2009-11-08T09:26:00.001-08:00

It’s a very rare and special thing these days for my husband and I to get to go out on an old fashioned date- just the two of us. I texted some friends Don’t bug. I’m on a date with my man.

We were so happy to be alone it was ridiculous.

He drove, and I stretched out my legs and put my bare feet on the dashboard. We drove Pacific Coast Highway with the windows down while eating take-out fish and chips from our favorite beach shack restaurant.

We’re casual people.

Someone gave us tickets to Cirque du Soleil- Kooza. It was right on the beach and next to the pier. The show and its location were spectacular!

After the show, we strolled the pier and held hands… just like the good ol’ days. The pier was eclectic fun.

For $1.00 The Great Zoltar will predict your future in English- or Spanish. It was pretty eerie. He kept saying I know you're there. I can tell your future. Come closer.

No thanks. You are in my nightmares.

People, do you see what I have to deal with here? My husband is showing me that he has found his long lost twin.

More nightmares.

Some of our stops…

We made some new friends…

Enjoyed the Ferris wheel…

And hoped that the guy who took our picture with my camera didn’t run away with it while we had our backs turned.

It was the perfect date.

The Dessert That Made Me Famous…

2009-11-06T21:53:00.001-08:00

Friday night was my twelve year old’s last flag football game of the season. The afternoon before the game I decided to bake a dessert for everyone. I busted out the brownie mix and a football shaped cookie cutter. It was a simple dessert, but… it made me famous.

Famous?

Yes, famous.

Not the “your name in lights” type, but the more important kind.

I overheard my son telling the other players that I made the dessert they were enjoying. Then I’m sure I caught his smile from across the room. For some reason he felt proud. In that moment I mattered to him.

It made me feel, well… famous.

Goodness Gracious! A Giveaway!

2009-11-04T20:15:00.001-08:00

Since Beach Bunny and I have sensitive skin, I am always on the lookout for bath products that are gentle, high quality, really sudsy, and good for us. Eureka! I’ve found it. It’s called...

Clickety HERE to read more.

Halloween Scrapbook Pages

2009-11-02T09:36:00.001-08:00

I had so much fun this Halloween. We started out the night with 13 people over for dinner- just family. I made homemade pizza for the kids, and for the adults I made cornbread and put on a pot of homemade turkey chili. I love having people over with all their kids. It was wonderful chaos- babies and kids everywhere.

Here are a few scrapbook pages to commemorate the night.

Beach Bunny dressed as a ladybug. She loved her costume for most of the night. At one point she considered being a streaker instead. I was able to convince her to put her costume back on after I told her that all little children must wear clothes in order to go trick or treating.

Thankfully she complied.

This was the first year we let the boys be something scary. I’m still not convinced I like the idea. I guess they can’t be super heroes forever. Sigh.

I have to end on a not-so-scary note.

Help For a Foster Boy & Halloween Peek

2009-11-01T20:47:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to have completed fund raising with your help for a wonderful boy in our local foster care system. If you don’t remember his story, please click HERE.

To be totally honest, I was scared to death to hit “publish” when I first asked for your help to join me in helping Floyd. I was afraid no one would chip in, and I would be left hanging there. But I trusted the Lord. Now as I look back I believe God placed the number “500” in my heart, but in His unending love multiplied it. One of my boys tonight came to me with some money for Floyd, and now the total is $1000.50. Unbelievable.

This is what I know and need to remember…

What a privilege I have been given by God to be able to spend my life giving His love away.

Thank you for helping me help Floyd. I can’t wait to hand him his check and tell him that people from all over the country care for him. I pray that your kindness will reveal to him the heart of the heavenly Father who cares for his needs.

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Kathleen N. from California, your name was randomly picked from the list of all who “chipped in” with me. You are the winner!! I am excited to design a mini album just for you. Please email me at pineappleprincess777@gmail.com.

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Ok, so no post is complete without a picture, so here’s a peek at tomorrow’s post…

Encourage one another,

Your Photo- My Edit

2009-10-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

I had an “open call” for photos a few weeks ago, and you guys sent me some fun ones! A few of the photos were perfect as is, while others needed a lot of love (Ha!). I chose this picture from Jess because it was right smack in the middle. I also chose this one to show you that, with a little tweaking, you can salvage a photo and bring it a little more life with the “unsharp mask” tool.

Edited Version:

Original Below:

I am not a fan of overly Photoshopped edits. I wanted to keep this picture close to the original, yet give it some pop. These are the steps I took to clean up this adorable photo:

1. Imported picture into Photoshop Elements 7

2. Duplicated the layer in layers palette. Edited with soft light at 20% to add contrast

3. Selected only the irises of the eyes with lasso tool and upped the contrast to +7… then with the eyes already selected, I chose “unsharp mask” to sharpen the eyes (Doesn’t it seem weird to select “unsharp” when you need to sharpen? I’ll never get it).

4. Enhanced lashes with the “burn” tool (lashes are always my favorite part).

5. Cropped the picture just a little

6. Used the lasso tool on the left to select each face, then used “unsharp mask” (under “Enhance” at the top of the screen) to help get rid of some of the “fog” in the picture

Here’s a screen shot so you can see what this step looks like:

Total time spent was only about 10 minutes, maybe less if I didn’t have my two year old “helper” in my lap.

Sigh.

These girls just make me smile.

Encourage one another,

My Dirty Little Secret

2009-10-24T21:10:00.001-07:00

It’s something I’ve tried to hide for a long time. I’ve been known to bring out the smoke and mirrors from time to time. It’s my dirty little secret.

I’m …

a bad cook.

There.

I said it.

I’m a bad cook.

Bad cook. Bad cook. Bad cook.

But I want to be better. Sure, I do cook for my family most nights and offer them organic fruits and veggies, but when it comes right down to being creative in the kitchen- I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I know someone who is. She’s my neighbor. She’s got the gift, plus a cool kitchen and great pots and pans that make me giddy. She is so sweet to invite me over and teach me. I just follow everything she does and try very hard not to embarrass myself.

With our two year olds playing at our feet and tearing up the house, my friend decided I needed to learn this new recipe: Sweet Sausage and Bowtie Pasta. My first job was to grate fresh parmesan, chop onions and prepare the sausage. I was a sweaty mess.

She chopped the garlic…

…then poured boiling water over the tomatoes so they could be easily peeled.

Huh!

Who knew!

Yep, they’re done!

I peeled, seeded and chopped the tomatoes.

(This is real life here, friends. No Photoshop today… overly ripe banana, old sippy cup, and random potato. It’s how we roll.)

Then she got out her bad boy cast iron cookware, and I began to drool.

She calls them Le Creuset.

They are very expensive she tells me.

I tell her I’m considering selling a kidney. Do I even need two?

----------------------------------------------------

I learned an important cooking tip today. One I will use for a long time. If I have no idea what to make for dinner and my husband is just about to walk in the door, I should throw some onions and olive oil in a pot and start cooking. The aroma will confuse my husband and make him think I have something great planned for dinner. You should try it!

Next, we added the diced tomatoes to the onion and sausage mixture, along with the rest of the ingredients. Then my friend went out to her garden and got fresh parsley to add to our meal… and stopped to feed her chickens, too.

She is just like Pioneer Woman, except without a cookbook.

So by 10:30 am we both had dinner ready for our families that evening. All we had to do was heat and serve.

Here’s the recipe, if you’re interested…

but just don’t tell anyone my dirty little secret.

Sweet Sausage Bowties

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
1/2 cup whipping cream (I used half and half)
1 pound farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
1/2 cup (packed) chopped fresh basil (I used fresh parsley)
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and crushed red pepper. Sauté until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up with back of fork, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is tender and sausage is browned, about 3 minutes longer. Add tomatoes and cream (or half and half). Reduce heat to low and simmer until sausage mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot. Add sausage mixture and toss over medium-low heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry. Transfer pasta to serving dish Sprinkle with basil (or parsley). Don’t forget to serve with freshly grated parmesan!

So tell me…

What’s cookin’ at your house? If you would, please tell me what you’re loving to cook right now or a link to one of your own recipe blog posts. I need ideas!

Encourage one another,

I’m Not a Wedding Photographer. I Just Play One On My Blog.

2009-10-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

So my sister in law wanted a very casual wedding on the beach. She didn’t want to hire a photographer, so she asked me to do her a favor and take some pictures. I said yes. Then, later I panicked when I realized that I have no earthly clue how to properly photograph a wedding. My only reference being my own wedding photos… my big hair… and those wacky teal satin bridesmaid dresses that I swore those girls would wear again.

The night before the wedding, I went to Flickr for some beach wedding photography inspiration. It gave me some good ideas, and some not so good ideas on how to pose a couple. I memorized everything I saw.

So below are a few of the pictures from the day… for better or for worse.

I kind of like how the picture below turned out. Their heads and the point at the bottom of her skirt form a heart. This photo is what I call a “happy accident”. Hey, If I ever start a photography business that’s what I’ll call it… Happy Accidents!

Kidding!

I love the bride’s wedding shoes. I couldn’t resist.

The cake tasted as good as it looked! I’m a sucker for a beach theme.

I discovered I could have used an assistant to help with the flower girls. They were over it!

I should have brought along a rodeo clown.

Next time.

And one last picture of the bride and groom walking off into the sunset/slash/fog.

Congratulations, L and J! Enjoy your honeymoon!

Man, I need a vacation!

Favorite Foto Friday

2009-10-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

This week I'm joining in on the fun at Me-Me and Monkey’s Big Adventure, and I'm posting some favorite photos from the week. The theme is “orange”, and I just happen to have a few pictures left from our trip to the pumpkin patch. In this picture, Beach Bunny is holding her favorite pumpkin. For some reason she’s in love with that little gourd! She begs to sleep with it in her crib. Is that normal to bond with a pumpkin? She may need therapy come December.

I tried and tried to get a good shot of the two of them. No luck, but I like this one of Goofy Foot. I’m not too proud to bribe my children. Let’s call it an “investment”. This shot cost me a pack of gum.

Have you tried organic apples this season? They’re insane! I just can’t get enough. Oh, I just can’t get enough.

One more trip down memory lane…

To see more Favorite Fotos, click the button at the top of this post. Thanks, Hannah! You’re the hostess with the most-est!

Farm Fresh

2009-10-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Edited to add: I am super honored to have one of my past “Your Photo- My Edit” photos featured on Pioneer Woman’s blog today (She's like the Martha Stewart of mom bloggers if you don't know who she is). If you’d like to take a peek, clickety HERE to go right to the post. It’s the 5th picture (girl with cowboy hat). Cheri is the very talented photographer who sent the photo to me. This is so fun! Also thanks, Hannah, for letting me know about this! Not in my wildest dreams!

Monday we took a trip to the farm and pumpkin patch.

I always put my big kids to work when they are around. Slave labor is cheap these days.

Don’t you just love this season? Puts me in a good mood.

I told Goofy Foot I would give him 50 bucks if he could lift that pumpkin.

I’m a mean mom.

Pumpkins are heavier than they look.

Beach Bunny was so proud of herself when she found her first ever “perfect pumpkin”. It was probably the smallest pumpkin in the whole patch, but it was perfect to her. She kept telling me, “Yook (look), Mama, my punkin. Not hebee (heavy)!”

Do dark clouds know that bright orange pumpkins chase the rain away?

Baking pumpkin seeds is an October tradition at our house. I’m eating them right now, in fact, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you.

Pumpkin Seed Recipe:

Clean and rinse pumpkin seeds.

Place in small pot of water.

Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Drain seeds and place on baking sheet.

Season with olive oil, salt and garlic powder.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

What do you love baking this time of year?

“Your Photo- My Edit” – Open Call

2009-10-12T11:48:00.001-07:00

Edited to add: I am closing off comments for this post so I can get to editing your photos. You guys emailed me the cutest pictures, by the way!

If you want to send me a photo but didn’t get the chance, I will do another open call in the near future. Promise! :)

Do you have one of those photos that you just love, but it’s just a little dark or you wish you could give it some pop?

Maybe I can help.

I’m hosting an open call for “Your Photo- My Edit”. All you have to do is follow two easy steps:

1. Leave me a comment on this post- any old comment will do, but play nice. Ha!

2. Email ONE (family friendly) picture to me at . In the email, let me know if I can post your photo on my blog- with a link to you, of course!

I will choose one photo at random for an upcoming “Your Photo- My Edit” post, and save the rest for future posts.

Here is one of my favorite before and afters that I did for Kelly at http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/. She’s got the edited version in the rotating header of her blog, which makes me so happy!

Before:

After:

Ok, I’m off to the pumpkin patch with 2/3 of my kids. I love the fall!

I like It Like That

2009-10-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday means “soccer” for our family in the fall. I really love this sport. I enjoyed playing when I was a kid and even played a few games for fun while in college. It’s funny when I play now with the kids because my mind remembers how it “used to be”, but my poor body can’t get it going like the good ol’ days.

Can I get an ‘amen’ up in here?

So I thought I’d overwhelm your senses with a picture overload from Goofy Foot’s most recent game. Let me tell you right now… our team is all heart and extra enthusiasm, hold the talent. Shh! Don’t tell the guys… but we haven’t won a single game yet. But that’s cool… we have a rockin’ team banner and great after game snacks. And everybody knows that’s what it’s all about… at least that’s what our team thinks anyway.

I love at the end of the game everyone from the sidelines forms a tunnel and the kids run through as we cheer them on. It’s kinda funny, but the boys get a kick out of it. No one really cares who wins. I like it like that.

Here’s a picture of Goofy Foot playing goalie. Oh, the pressure… especially when your defenders are M.I.A. Goofy Foot was up for the challenge.

And he takes one for the team… fearlessly defending the goal with his body, or something like that.

Here are a couple of action shots…

Team meeting after the game…

Don’t they look like they are talking strategy, or how to be a fierce competitor, maybe secret plays? I kid you not, the coach was reminding them to say thank you to the snack mom.

That would be me.

I think I love this team!

He Took a Sick Day

2009-10-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Big Surf, who is a seventh grader, took a sick day from school today. I think he was more sick of studying for his history test than actually physically sick. Ancient Rome will just have to hold on another day or two.

It was so nice to spend the day with my biggest boy.

We went for a walk together. It was such a beautiful fall day… the kind of day that makes me want to cook soup and go buy a fuzzy scarf.

Beach Bunny loves to ride on her big brother’s shoulders. It’s a fun and wild ride sometimes! These two are buds, and I love to watch my super tough Jr. Higher obediently follow his sometimes bossy two-year-old baby sister’s every command.

I love “sick” days!

Only Her Heart Flies Higher Than Her Body

2009-10-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

This is a love story between a daddy and his adopted daughter...

Supergirl without a cape. Only her heart flies higher than her body. In that airborne instant her only hope is her daddy. Fear she does not know, but her father she does. She trusts him. Sixteen months under the same roof have convinced her he is reliable. He is not superhuman, but he is strong.

And so she flies.

And so she soars.

And so he catches her…

…and the two celebrate the wedding of her trust and his faithfulness.

(words inspired by Max Lucado)

Bougainvillea Over The Pacific

2009-10-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

I was driving through Malibu and saw these gorgeous bougainvillea. I had my camera with me so I pulled over and snapped away! They were a dark color, but I saw in them such potential… soft feminine colors… dreamy retro feel… lightly textured.

Processed with Rebecca Lily preset "Dreamy" and Florabella Texture "Tea Stained" (screen) 10%.

____________________________________________________

Don’t forget to check out my raffle. There is a button on the top of my left sidebar, or you can check it out when you clickety HERE. Thank you SO much to my friends who have already “chipped in”. Thank you! Thank you! I could hug you all!!

I seriously can’t wait to design the photo album and edit all the pictures for the winner… and help Floyd @ the same time! It’s a win-win in my book!!

Update: I’m almost 1/2 way to my goal. I’m freaking out!!! Yahoo! Go, God!

Here’s another cute sample page (My boys on Halloween 2007):

Encourage one another,

Learning to Say “Yes”- Whenever, Whatever, Wherever

2009-09-29T17:26:00.001-07:00

I’ve been a Christian my whole life, and one thing I am still learning is to say “yes” to God “whenever, whatever, wherever”. You see, I’m still learning to submit to Him daily. I hate that regretful feeling I get when I know He wanted me to do something and I just brushed it off and told God I was too busy. Dumb!

I recently found out about a boy who grew up in foster care in my area. He’s a leader, great student and very responsible. However, this December he will be aging out of his group home. With no family to speak of, he becomes an instant adult- with no one to fall back on. Thankfully, my husband’s non-profit has found mentors for him and he has a job and community college all lined up. The problem is that he will need a used car to get back and forth to work and school.

God spoke directly to my heart Sunday night and told me “500”. It took me a second and then I realized what “500” stood for… He wants me to raise $500 towards a car for Floyd. “Darn it, God.” I thought. “I don’t have time.” I think He probably laughed at me. So I decided to suck it up and obediently gave my “yes” to God… remembering “whenever, whatever, wherever”.

“What can I possibly do to raise the money, God?” I asked Him this morning. “Offer to make something,” he told my heart.

So here is what I’m offering to you… up for raffle is one Autumn Blessings photo album (sample pages below and one above). I will design 10 pages with room for 14 of your pictures. The winner will email me pictures, and I will custom edit each to look their best. I will professionally print the pages and bind them with a metal ring and decorate with cute shabby ribbons… or I can email the pages to you to use on your blog. The choice is yours!

Every dollar you “chip in” is one entry. This raffle will run through October 29th, 2009. 100% of funds raised will go to help Floyd purchase his first used car. Just click the “Chip In” button on the widget below.

Please don’t feel any pressure to join in. I am fully trusting God to do His thing in His timing- whatever that may be!

Below are three sample pages (with pictures of my sister-in-law’s family) that I would be delighted to design for the winner:

My sister-in-law (last fall) eight months pregnant with twins.

Can you believe how good she looks? So not fair!

My bro-in-law with my niece and nephew

It would blow my mind to be able to hand Floyd a check and tell him that people from near and far have come to help him.

Encourage one another,

Pineapple Princess

You Rock!

2009-09-27T18:17:00.001-07:00

First of all before this post really gets started, I wanted to say thank you for all the awesome insight and comments on the previous post. It’s encouraging to me to know there are others out there with a passion like mine to teach our children that character counts! That’s the truth!

__________________________________________________

Ok, now onto business…

Goofy Foot just celebrated his ninth birthday. We always give our kids the option of a present from mom and dad or a small party with a few friends. This year he chose to go rock climbing with his best buds from school. It turned out to be really fun, and I didn’t even have to clean my house (Come on. Admit you know what I’m talking about). The boys climbed and climbed for an hour and a half. As each friend took turns to climb the walls, the others would shout encouraging words to keep the climber motivated, “You’re almost there!” … “Just a little further!”

I was pretty impressed with these little guys! They made it look easy, but it was seriously hard work!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from his party:

I love you, Bud!

You Rock!

Happy ninth birthday!!!

Things She’s Learning

2009-09-24T13:37:00.001-07:00

Two years and two months is a funny age. She is an amusing mixture- part baby and part little girl. She has just discovered what feeling “pretty” means. I thing that down deep every girl wants to feel pretty one time or another. We’ve just noticed that when she hears daddy coming home, she will run to put something fancy in her hair or put on a nice, clean outfit. She always meets daddy at the door with such enthusiasm. He scoops her up and tells her, “Wow! You look pretty!” She, being two years old, always replies back, “Ya! I priiitty!”

As she’s growing up I think the tricky part is going to be to teach her that pretty on the “inside” is even more valuable than pretty on the “outside”. Sometimes it’s hard to live this because our culture and world are all about the outside. As I’m typing this, a verse from Samuel comes to mind… “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Do you agree or disagree with the importance of that verse? How in the world do we teach this to our girls (boys, too!) when every media outlet tells them the opposite?

Your Photo- My Edit

2009-09-08T22:20:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend, Cheri, recently sent this picture to me of her beautiful little niece, Lauren Grace. I felt so honored to edit a picture for Cheri. I am enamored with her photography style, and I jumped at the chance to collaborate on this project with her.

Here are the basics on how I edited this image…

*Enhanced the natural light of this photo in Lightroom 2.3

*Imported image to Photoshop Elements 7 and desaturated the color

*Coffeeshop’s Powder Room 2 on her eyes

*Used four different textures from the Florabella texture collection

*Flattened image

*Duplicated background layer and made the layer copy “color burn” at 19%

Cheri, it was truly a blessing to work with you. Let’s do it again!!!

Freedom

2009-09-07T18:47:00.001-07:00

I heard a great message this weekend, so I thought I’d type it out and save it here. My hope is that one day when my kids are older they may run across this post and might find it encouraging.

Staying Free Spiritually

To stay free spiritually, we must be watching for the subtle things that can destroy us.

#1: The blessing of influence can be ruined by the worm of pride.

Don’t fall into the trap where making a great impression is overly prioritized; and where making a Godly impact gets minimized.

#2: The blessing of romance can be ruined by the worm of lust.

Don’t fall into the trap where quick gratification becomes the high value.

#3: The blessing of affluence can be ruined by the worm of greed.

Don’t fall into the trap where getting stuff means everything and having stuff means nothing.

Now what?

Saturate your life with God’s perspective.

It will keep you humble.

It will keep you accountable.

It will keep you on the right path.

It will keep you at the heart of God’s blessing.

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

*The picture in this post is from our beach day today and represents “freedom” to me. Bethany (my friend’s daughter) is 10 years old and loves gymnastics!

Me and my Shadow

2009-09-03T00:03:00.001-07:00

I haven’t had a chance to blog in a few days, and I’m having withdrawals! Our best friends took a vacation to Puerto Rico, and we got to keep their kids for a few days. That made six kids at my house… three boys and three girls- Brady Bunch style. Man, I sure could have used Alice’s help! No wonder she lived with them!!

I went outside to take a few pictures of all six kids as they were playing S.O.P. (Spy On Parents), as they call it. They get all decked out in homemade disguises and use walkie-talkies and then they “spy” on us. We pretend we don’t see them. It’s a riot!

Beach Bunny isn’t a very good spy yet, but she is good at being my shadow. I love that she always wants to be with me, AND I find it an exercise in patience sometimes. Tell me, do you have a little shadow that follows you wherever you go?

Sweet Dreams

2009-08-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

She fell asleep in the car on the way home from grocery shopping. I carried her upstairs and laid her on my bed so that I could put away the groceries (little stinker's been climbing out of her crib). I thought it was kind of funny that she still had the balloon tied around her wrist, so I grabbed my camera.

"Hydrangeas in My Kitchen"

2009-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

I treated myself to these flowers from Trader Joe's today. I grabbed them at the last minute. I never splurge, but I'm glad I did today.

Here's how I processed the photo of my hydrangea...
Florabella textures...
Patina (cool) overlay blending mode 45% opacity
Memory (cool) overlay 28%
Cappuccino overlay 64%
Milk and Honey screen blending mode 31%

This version is similar to the first... I just changed the hue/saturation and changed the
Milk and Honey texture to screen overlay at 23%

"Yesterday" as seen through the eye of my humble camera phone [unedited]

2009-08-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is how we spent the last two afternoons... fishing. The boys get all snarky lately when I bring out my bad-boy camera, so I just used the camera on my phone and we had fun.

Top row (left to right): The boys proudly displaying their "catches". Eww!
Beach Bunny waving to me so that I don't notice that she's about to sneak a sip of my Diet Coke.

Middle row: Beach Bunny... I'll take one nap "to go", please.
That's me in the middle. Can you feel the love?
Goofy Foot fishes with a reed and a piece of chewing gum on the end. Works every time!

Bottom row: Big Surf fishing on the bank and as close to the water as he can get. I told him to be careful not to fall in. Guess who slipped?

Yup. I'm a wonder!

Faith Baby

2009-08-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Beach Bunny at six months old. I just ran across this picture the other day, and so many memories of her adoption came flooding back.
At this point in her adoption, she was still living in her orphanage. Kahuna and I would fly out to Central America and visit her every six weeks or so (How we afforded to do that I will never know- It was only by God's hand). We would literally scoop her out of her dimly lit, no windows, no heat-no air, slump stone orphanage; and whisk her off to bathe, feed and love on her for five straight days. It was heaven!
There was literally no sunshine for her while living behind the walls of the orphanage, so once we got back to the hotel I would prop her up on pillows and blankets, open up the slider to the balcony and bathe her in sunshine.
Oh, how she loved it! Her eyes would just sparkle!

The excruciating part of our visit trips was that at the end of our five day love-fest with our daughter we had to give her back and come home to the U.S.-
and not know "when" or "if" she would really be coming home to us.
Kahuna and I would gently lay her back in her metal crib,
pray over her,
cry,
and ask the Lord to protect her life...
and He did.

No matter how big she gets,
she will always be our miraculous, sparkly-eyed, beautiful,
answer-to-prayer,
"faith" baby.

Your Photo- My Edit

2009-08-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

A great blogging friend, Angie, and I were recently collaborating on a few editing techniques. She's a wonderful photographer, and I love her work (her blog here). Below is the original picture that Angie took of her daughter. How cute is she! I wanted to try to give the photo more of a vintage-y look, which is so popular right now. I threw in a "platinum" edited version just for fun. I edited them both first in Lightroom and then Photoshop Elements. I also used two Florabella textures, as well as one from Jessica Sprague.

Original:

Edit #1:

Edit #2

I can't decide which edited version I like better.
Will you help me out?
Tell me which version you prefer.

Peaceful

2009-08-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I found a couple of subjects in my backyard that don't mind me taking pictures of them. No bribery needed to make my roses cooperate! Ha!

Wishing you a peaceful Monday.

Soak It Up

2009-08-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Just soaking up the last few weeks of summer fun and. . .
freedom from kids' homework and our busy schedules.
Shoot! I was just getting used to this!
I wish summer would last forever.

Five Minute Chocolate Cake- Myth or Science?

2009-08-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

Do you ever need a treat, but you're not sure what to eat? Well I've got something for you! This chocolate cake is made from scratch, is crazy good, and you can make it in five minutes. Seriously.

Here's all you'll need:

4 tablespoons of flour

4 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons of milk

3 tablespoons of oil

optional- 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips (Oh, hello! NOT optional in my opinion!)

A splash of vanilla extract

A coffee mug

The recipe:

1. Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.

2. Add egg and all wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and gently mix in.

4. Place the mug in the microwave and cook on high for 3 minutes. Don’t be alarmed if the cake rises over the top of the mug!

Now you can eat it as is (which is my 10 p.m. snack method) or you can wait for it to cool, slice in half, top with some whipped cream or ice cream and voila... a perfect five-minute treat.

Ahh, ya! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

To see more great desserts, visit www.kellyskornerblog.com.

Digital Photo Album

2009-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a digital photo album from our recent island trip. Here are a couple of pages that I worked on tonight. . .

Kahuna's sister and our brother-in-law. . .

He's laughing cause I caught him squeezing her butt!

They have four kids...

a four year old, a three year old, and 8 month old twins.

He better go easy on the squeezin'!

Oh, Beach Bunny! I'm glad I caught you with your clothes on. Lately, you spend most of your days naked as a jay bird!

Have I ever told you about my niece?

She is our little miracle. . .

She was born via emergency c-section due to a nuchal cord (umbilical cord wrapped around her neck). She had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing.

By God's amazing grace the doctor and nurses resuscitated her, and she is healthy and perfect.

She is our reminder that God is all-powerful!

Meet the Parents

2009-08-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to my in-laws...

Come on. Tell me you feel at least a little sorry for us.

Fix it Friday Thursday

2009-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm doing my own version of Fix it ~~Friday~~ Thursday. A couple of days ago I took this picture of my niece at the beach. I couldn't wait to get home to try to edit it!

Original:

I tried a bunch of Lightroom pre-sets from Coffee Shop and finally settled on the mocha. I added a texture from Jessica Sprague, did a little magic around her eyes, and last but not least I cropped the picture.

I just posted it to my sister-in-law's Facebook wall.

I really hope she likes it!

Digital Goodness

2009-08-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

How are you guys doing tonight? I just finished 6 straight hours of tutoring elementary students, and my brain is fried, but I love my job! I couldn't wait to put up a new post. Blogging is such therapy for me and helps me relax. Plus, you guys are the coolest!! It totally makes my day that you'd spend a few minutes with me. Thank you!

Now the digital goodness...

I've gotten a few emails from friends asking about Photoshop Elements tips and tricks. I am no expert, let me tell you! I did however, want to pass on to you a really cool site... Jessica Sprague. I have not taken any of her online classes yet, but I'd love to! She also has some wonderful digital products you can easily apply to photos, like the one I edited below.

Below is a picture that I took a few days ago at Catalina Island (Kahuna's parents took all of us... 8 adults and 7 grandkids all under one roof. Can you say CRAZY?!). Anyway, I just digitally water colored the picture using a few of Jessica's textures. It was seriously simple!

I love that Jessica's classes are online and "at your own pace". I hope to take one this fall. Anyone want to join me?

Encouragement

2009-08-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I'm so glad you're here! Since this week's blog hop is all about encouragement, I thought I'd share one of my favorite verses and two pictures with you. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1:27. I just love that verse. It is so clear cut and straight forward to me. My relationship with God is NOT about a list of rules, it's about loving people- especially when they can't give back!

Below is a picture of the sweetest girl. She lives at God Cares School in Uganda. Kahuna had the great privilege of delivering her very first pair of shoes to her. She just melts my heart.

Below is Kahuna and a few more of the amazing children at God Cares. If you aren't already sponsoring an orphan somewhere in the world, hop on over to World Vision. You may find that bringing life transformation and hope to a child is just the encouragement you need!

The State of My Faith

2009-07-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Kahuna and Beach Bunny walking through a Redwood forest near Santa Cruz, CA

For me, there is nothing like walking through a Redwood forest. The warm, fragrant air and the huge stature of the ancient trees momentarily puts life into perspective for me. It reminds me how temporal life is, and to treasure this time. It also reminds me of a verse from James, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." You know what? That verse kind of makes me think of bathroom spray. The fragrance only lasts a little while. Some mists smell better than others. I want my life to be a fragrant offering... not too sweet or too strong, but pleasing. I've got a lot of work to do.

This leads me to the state of my faith...

I'm reading the book, "Crazy Love" by my friend Francis Chan. A paragraph on the back cover is what hooked me, "It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe- the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor- loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.

Whether you've verbalized it or not... we all know something is wrong."

This is totally the state of my faith. I know there is so much more that God wants to do. He is moving and stirring. What is it, Lord?

Blog Hoppin'

2009-07-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome to my blog, The Love Shack. I'm so glad you stopped by!!

This week we are posting our favorite "kid photo". I chose these two pictures of Beach Bunny just because they make me smile. Around the circles I typed out her favorite songs that she likes to sing- so that I don't forget what she is like at 25 months. On our recent road trip, she sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for two straight hours! She made sure to change it up a bit to make us laugh. Some of her renditions included Twinkle, Twinkle Little Mommy and Twinkle, Twinkle Baby Jesus. She is a crack up!

If you're a new follower to my blog, make sure to leave me a note in the comments and I will hop on over to your blog and follow you, too! Happy blog Hopping!!

Blue Ribbon Ice Cream Sandwich

2009-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Wanna make something yummy? Just follow these 5 steps to nirvana.

Step #1: Make a batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookies. If you're in a hurry, you can always buy pre-made dough from Trader Joe's. I call it the Domino's Pizza of cookie baking.

Step #2: You will need decadent vanilla ice cream and a bag of mini chocolate chips.

Step #3: Place a scoop of the decadent ice cream between two heavenly cookies. You could stop here, but nooooo!

Step #4: Roll the sides of the ice cream sandwich in a bowl of mini chocolate chips. Pretend this is all fat free.

Step #5: Individually wrap your to-die-for ice cream sandwich in plastic wrap and put in freezer. If your kids see what you are making, you're in big trouble. Be prepared to shoo them away with a big stick.

Make this and you will be very popular.

By the way, I can see the wet spot on your computer monitor where you just licked it.

To see more great desserts, visit www.kellyskornerblog.com.

Snapshots From Her 90th Birthday

2009-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

We just celebrated my grandma's 90th birthday. You can call her Gram. She's just about the cutest person in the whole wide world. We had her party at a beautiful restaurant on the lake. It was a "girls only" event... all the women in the family came, plus a few girlfriends and a special neighbor.
I love the picture on the bottom row in the middle. Gram had just opened up a Bare Minerals make up set and couldn't believe her eyes. She got so excited about it!
How cute is that!?
I love to hear her stories about when she was a little girl living on a farm. She says she was hyper and could take on any boy. She could jump on a horse's back, hold onto the mane and ride bare back waaay too fast... and scare my great-grandma to death.

She's also smart and always gives the best advice.

Happy birthday, Gram. I love you!

Photo Edit of Bella @ Thru a Mama's Eyes

2009-07-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Laurie @ Thru a Mama's Eyes sent this picture to me. I thought it was so cute. I loved the full color version in Laurie's original, but I wanted to challenge myself and try to give the photo a different feel.

Original:

Edit:

In my photography class that I'm taking with my friend Suzanne, the teacher stressed to us that the brain likes to be busy while looking at photographs. Subjects in the middle sometimes can (not always) leave the mind unchallenged. He told us that if you divide a photo into thirds and then set your subject into a "third", it can add interest to that photo. So, I took his advice and tried it out.
I also used a combo of Lightroom, Photoshop Elements 7 and some free PSE7 actions I found on the web.

Ah, Bella... you are a beauty!

Our Family Vacation Summed Up In Four Photos

2009-07-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Susie, Suzanne, Hannah, Joanna and Meghan for filling in for me here at The Love Shack while I was on vacation. You guys did an amazing job! Some posts put a smile on my face, some made me laugh, and some made me choke back tears at the thought of how faithful God is in answering our prayers and how God gently guides us to find our purpose in life. You guys are awesome!

And yes, Joanna, I was really on vacation (insert evil laugh... mu ah ha ha ha!)

OK, so here are the highlights of our family vacation to Mount Hermon summed up in four pictures...

Time 7:25 am

Car packed, Starbucks run complete, caravaning with Grami and Grandpa (the boys rotate riding with them)

Everyone is all smiles!

We did a little of this...

A little of that (still smiling),

but...

... by Thursday, we hit the family melt-down (Why does it always happen on Thursdays?). Too much fun and not enough rest, I guess!

Well, after we got it all out, we picked up where we left off and had a great rest of the week.

We listened to some amazing speakers, and I heard God speak right to my heart (Which I'll save for another post). It was just the boost I needed!

So, how was your week?

Guest Blogger- Meghan, from Adopting Baby Z

2009-07-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1:27

Does anyone remember the Wayne's World (I am dating myself) skit that they used to do on SNL? The two guys used to say "We're not worthy, we're not worthy . . ." I think of that phrase a lot when I think about our adoption of Gigi. So many times people have said to me, "That's so great what y'all are doing for her" when we discuss adoption. I want to say to them, "No, you don't understand. It is what she has done for us". Then, I want to say to the Lord, "We're not worthy!" And of course, none of us are worthy apart from Jesus; but our adoption process taught me this truth in a new way.

Our family was able to grow closer to each other and closer to the Lord during the adoption. There were many times when I cried out to Him, "Lord, where are you? Don't you see what is going on here?" But, looking back on those times, I see how He was stretching me/us. I can honestly say that I have never experienced the Lord's mercy in such a concrete way as during our adoption. I am talking about stuff like, ". . .and then on Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., the Lord did this for us; and on Friday afternoon, He did that . . ." I am so grateful that I used my blog to document some of our events because many of my entries are monuments to His faithfulness. Most of you probably did not follow our journey, or you might not be familiar with the Guatemalan adoption process, but the Lord performed miracles. I will never forget sitting in Victor Barrios' office (the former head of PGN) praying and praying while Myra talked to him. Initially he said, "I can not help people with their cases because I would have everyone coming to my office for special favors." After more talking and praying, he said, "But, if there is nothing wrong with your file, I will sign you out". Y'all, he did sign me out, and I picked up my file 2 days before PGN completely shut down. That is NOT coincidence.

Adoption is a wild and crazy ride, but if you allow the Lord to lead you, He will teach you things that were before unknowable. To Him be the glory!

(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and say hi to Meghan @ Adopting Baby Z !)

Guest Blogger, Joanna from Semi-Functional Chaos

2009-07-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hello to the Pineapple Princess Posse!

While Ms. Stacy is maxin' and relaxin', she is asking ME to do her
dirty blogging work...She used some crazy excuse that she loves to
read what I write (scary, I know), but honestly I think she is just
trying to get out of blogging for a week. Is she even really on
vacation? Just teasing, Stacy! I'm actually so incredibly honored
that she asked me to be a guest writer on her amazing blog!

So you may already know me in the virtual world from my blog, Semi-Functional
Chaos, derived straight from my crazy life with 3 toddlers under
the age of 5 and 50-lb labradoodle puppy that eats everything. You may
also know that I'm a self-pronounced anti-domesticated housewife (not
on purpose, I really do try) who is obsessed with party planning,
blogging, and of course, shopping for my kids. I have an entire blog devoted just to
shopping with my friend, Jaimee, who's just
as sick in the head as I am. But what's even sicker is that I have
friends that follow me there. I love it!

Unfortunately for you, I had nothing exciting happen today that I could blog
about other then I went to work and got choked up driving home to a
Neil Diamond song. My cell phone was dead as a doornail, and my
charger was MIA...so I (GASP!) actually had to listen to the radio and
pay attention to my driving on the road. How boring! Actually, once I
found some old mixed CD's (particularly my "Independence Party" CD
from 2008), I found myself rocking out hardcore to some Neil and John
(Cougar Mellencamp, that is).

Honestly though, doesn't that "Coming to America" song make you feel
so proud to be in a free country? I
started looking at the cornfields I was driving past (I live in
Indiana, okay?), the street signs, the houses...everything. This is
America! We are free, and so many amazing people leave their families,
friends, and lives for a taste of the freedom we take for granted.
See why I started tearing up?

Okay, so tell me - have you ever come across an old CD that you found
yourself rocking out to? (Or in my case, tearing up to? Putting you in
deep thought?) Pop over to my blog and tell me
all about it. And while you're at it, introduce yourself. I love my
virtual friends. Occasionally, a few pop out of my computer and become
great friends in-real-life, too!

Oh! Stacy asked me to share some eye candy...here you go:

Just
teasing! Of course, you can see pictures like this one and more at
www.rayadventures.blogspot.com.
Thanks for letting me hijack your blog, Pineapple Princess. This
was a lot of fun! Much love to you! Enjoy your vacation...if you're
really on one! (Insert evil laugh: Wah ha ha ha)

Gotta run...the dog is eating a pack of Myla's Dora diapers!

XOXO,
Jo Jo

(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and leave some love for Joanna on her blog!)

You Go Nowhere By Accident

2009-07-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

You go nowhere by accident
Wherever you go, God is sending you.
Wherever you are
Our Lord has purpose in you being there.
Christ who indwells you
Has something He wants to do through you
Wherever you are.
Believe it and go in His power and grace.

Guest Blogger- Hannah, from Me-Me and Monkey's Big Adventure

2009-07-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am Hannah from Me-Me and Monkey's Big Adventures. Pineapple Princess asked me to drop by her ever adorable blog this week. Personally, I think The Love Shack is a way too cool for the likes of me but I am honored to be here. I have read the other guest bloggers posts and loved every single word. I thought about changing my post to be a little more elegant and thought provoking but since I am neither elegant or thought provoking I better go with what I know best. Being a Dork.

I thought I'd share some of our family pictures from the 4th of July.

These are my two sweet babies. We fought long hard battles to get our babies home and I thank God for them every day. Next to salvation they are the greatest gift I have been given.

Dmitry is the handsome eleven year old in the glittery top hat.
Sophia is my adorable two year old in the patriotic princess attire.
Bear is the smelly stuffed animal with red hair bows, half an eye ball and a recently repaired nose.

Cute huh?

This is my family. We live in the country, which is an experience all of it's own.
We look pretty nice huh?
Yes, we are all dressed in Red, White and Blue.
I said we were nice...not cool.

Oh Look, now we are being patriotic and saluting.

I know where this is going and it's not going to be pretty.

Dorks making faces.

Dorks pretending to point at something.

It's getting worse.

Dorks making faces part deux.

Dorks pretending to dig for gold.

Just so you know, three of us are pretending to pick our nose.
One of us is actually doing it.

Sadly, this is what happens every time we start taking family pictures.
It can make weddings and professional family portraits a little awkward.
At least we have fun.

(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and leave some love for Hannah on her blog!)

Guest Blogger- Suzanne, from Where Chaos Lives

2009-07-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

So Stacy has asked me to be a guest blogger while she is gone on vacation. What an honor, thank you Stacy. Have you ever read the book "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren? I've only read bits and pieces of it years ago, but it is never far from my thoughts. It wasn't until I gave birth to my second child that I started to understand my purpose in life. It was to raise my children in the eyes of the Lord. With each child I had I wanted another. My husband was stuck on having two children and after we gave birth to our third, he decided we were done and got a vasectomy. However, my desire to have more children was getting stronger and I knew that adoption was the best way to go about that. Selfishly, I wanted children, yet I knew the Lord would only give me what he saw fit. So along came Faith. She became a part of our forever family at 11 months old, weighing in at a whooping 13 lbs. She didn't eat food, drank only from a bottle and couldn't even hold her head up. She was gaunt and malnourished. As I tried to celebrate her adoption I was so grief stricken by her condition. From that very moment my purpose in life was growing, changing, developing into something bigger. God had confirmed my purpose. The transition to Faith has not been easy. I grieved the child I didn't get and questioned the one I did. I wanted a "normal" child. I questioned all the connections I made through the adoption process. My child had very Special Needs and yours didn't. I thought connections with all the friends I had made during the process where going to be lost, but I was wrong, very wrong. Thank you Stacy for helping me see that. Faith is not like you or me. She is stronger, courageous, inspirational, she is an angel. The Lord has opened my eyes to a whole new world, a world of amazing challenges, love, support and amazing friendships. The Lord has made my purpose in life very clear, and I am so grateful for it.

What is your purpose? Have you found it yet? I'd love for everyone to share their purpose in life.

(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and leave some love for Suzanne on her blog... Where Chaos Lives!)

Three Things You Didn't Know About Me

2009-07-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

(This is an auto post 'cause I'm on vacation. I'm not rubbing it in or anything.)

So, you wanna know three new things about me, huh?
Do I dare?

Promise to be nice?

Alrighty then...

Kahuna is a rockin' pastor at our church. He's all fancied up here ready to officiate a wedding.

It was fun to be voted Homecoming Queen back in the day.

I worked my boo-tay off and somehow graduated Suma Cum Laude from my university (You'd never know it by my ~~speling~~ spelling on this blog)! I majored in Liberal Arts and Spanish. During my first seven years of teaching, I taught exclusively in Spanish.

¡Si, es la verdad!

Guest Blogger- Susie, from Ferrick Family Promise

2009-07-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

"Do nothing selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself" Phil 2:3

As I look upon this picture of my husband, middle son and Guatemalan daughter Bella, I am reminded of just how important we are to God and to each other. We are on a camping vacation, Bella loves the water, but felt a little nervous and insecure as she walked down the sand line to the water. First...her Daddy, always her Daddy, walked closely next to her, his hand in hers, giving her the confidence she needed to know she was safe. Yet along the way, her brother came along encouraging her, reminding her that all is well and that Daddy has her and that together, we can do all things. Is that not our God? Do we not emulate him when we act in this way?

It's so easy to let our imaginations run our minds...allowing so much room for the enemy to come in and destroy all that is good from God. When Bella was diagnosed with Leukemia last October after only 5 months of being home with us from Guatemala, our minds could have wondered, we could have lived in the physical world of gripping fear and grief, however, we had 2 years of spiritual practice during our adoption journey, we had learned to transform our minds to the Word of God, therefore, our immediate reaction was His promising Word and no negative attitude. And then, along the way of diagnosis and chemo treatments, God sent an army of angels I prayed for that first 24 hours....God loving Doctors, nurses and most importantly, sisters and brothers in Christ. Stacy was on of them. God not only had our weakest hand, but he sent many of his children to hold our other one. There was no chance of falling down, we had a pillar of hope and yes to promises holding us up. That's what I see when I look at this picture. What does it make you think of?

I mentioned we are on a camping trip, can you guess what body of water this is? For a clue, you can visit my blog at
http://ferrickfamilypromise.blogspot.com/ . I have a small prize for the winner.

Blessings,

(I've turned off comment moderation, so please hop on over and leave some love for Susie on her blog!)

Guest Bloggers Coming Your Way

2009-07-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

This is my first auto post. We are packing up and heading out the door for a loverly little family vacation. The house sitter is here, and all the pets are accounted for. Check!
Since we will be staying in a cabin with no internet (Gasp!), a couple of lovely and talented guest bloggers will be posting in my stead. They are some of my favorite blogging buddies, so your one assignment is to leave them lots and lots of love.

Lots and lots of it.

To keep some order around here at The Love Shack while I'm gone, I've posted the ten commandments- 2009 style. Enjoy!

I had to check a couple of words HERE.

Oh wait, I just got #5- Parent Over Shoulder is ok- your mom & dad are cool!

Frankly, it's Fun at the Farm

2009-07-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

There's nothing I like more than sunshine and fresh air, so I packed up the kids (tons of snacks and drinks!) and headed to a local farm. They have the most amazing organically grown fruits and veggies that we pick ourselves. The kids always enjoy all the stuff to climb on and all the animals to feed. Our favorite part was meeting my sister in law there and spending time with the cousins.

Top left: Cousin S. and Beach Bunny. They share the exact same birthday, one year apart. We call them "Salt and Peppa".

Top right: Bunny gets a boost from biggest brother.

Bottom: Cousin H., Goofy Foot and Big Surf just chillin'

I think we live in a unique area. We are close enough to ride our bikes to the beach, yet an hour's drive from one of the busiest cities in the country. Visiting this local farm is such a nice reprieve from the bustle of everyday life. It's kind of like life s-l-o-w-s down while we are there. I make a conscious effort to put away my cell phone and just focus on the kids.

Okay, now it's your turn ...

What do you like to do for fun in the summer?

To see more favorite foto fridays, clickety HERE.

So... How 'Ja Do That??

2009-07-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

How are you guys doing today?
I got the sweetest emails and comments from you all. I am so humbled, and I deeply thank you! I have been praying for many months that God would give me my own voice here at The Love Shack... something that would be fun for others to read, to look at... and also be pleasing to God somehow. I'm not sure how He's going to use me or this blog, but I pray every day that I can use this creative energy that He has given me for His purpose. I want my life and this blog to be a sweet fragrance to Him.
I'm finding I've got tons of creative energy stored up inside (I get it from my mom- she's amazing, though!), and photography and photo editing are my passions. Sometimes I feel like God speaks to me through the lens of my camera and through my editing equipment. I know, sounds strange... but it's true!

Kelly from Kelly's Korner gave me permission to post her daughter's (Harper) picture. This is the picture I edited for her, and she surprised me by posting it on her blog (HERE). Since my inbox was full of questions about how I edited Harper's picture, I thought I'd just post the answer right here. Are your ready?

Above is the original picture that Kelly took. Oh, my gosh! Isn't Harper the cutest?! I can tell that Kelly took a solid picture with a nice camera and lens and a good amount of light. This makes post processing a lot easier. I use two editing programs: Lightroom 2.3 and Photoshop Elements 7. I'm self-taught, so I'm sure there are lots of alternative (and even better) ways to get the job done (Please let me know what they are, by the way)! I'll just give you the general run down of how I "antiqued" Harper's picture:

Opened the original image in Lightroom, evened out the white balance and then auto toned
There are many awesome pre-sets in Lightroom. There are also lots of free pre-sets out there on the web. I chose aged photo.
This is where the fun, creative stuff happens... there are an endless amount of changes that can be made at this point, too many to list here, but color temperature and tinting are what I tweaked the most. Really, the possibilities are endless. You just have to edit to you own liking and the feeling you are going for.
I imported the image into PSE7. This is the program I couldn't live without- and where most of the technical stuff happens. First, I cloned out a few boo-boos. I like to use unsharp mask on the irises only. I don't like to mess with the whites of the eyes or somehow my subjects end up looking like freaky dolls!
I burned the background just a smidge to give more depth of field and put focus on beautiful Harper. Oh, can't forget to use the sharpen tool on the drool!

Does anyone have any idea what I just said? Because I don’t.

Ok, one more look at precious Harper. She's eye candy, I tell ya!

"Favorite Photo" Blog Hop

2009-07-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by! My name is Pineapple Princess, and this is my blog, The Love Shack. The theme this week is "Favorite Photo". I love this picture of my daughter because it captures her girlie personality... with a side of tomboy! She's also been known to get into a liiiittle bit of mischief... clickety HERE.

If you would like to subscribe to my blog, I would be honored to subscribe to yours as well! Just click on the "Posts" button under the word Subscribe on my left sidebar. Then leave me a comment letting me know, and I will hop on over to your blog and return the favor! You know, spread the love a little. Do I hear the song Kum-ba-ya playing in the background?

Happy blog hopping!

Blog Hop

2009-07-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome! My name is Pineapple Princess and this is my blog, The Love Shack. I began my blog almost two years ago as a way to connect with other families who were adopting internationally. Now I document life post-adoption...a scrapbook of sorts. I also secretly pretend to be a photographer and photo editor.

Once again, welcome to The Love Shack... where we will serve you a virtual pina colada by the pool, if only in our dreams. I hope you will become a subscriber because I love new readers!

A Trip to the Aquarium

2009-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

We took a field trip this week to the aquarium on the pier. My mom was so cool to come along with us on our adventure. She climbed and scooted wherever Beach Bunny and the boys wanted to go. I've got the best mama in the world!

We looked at jellyfish, watched tiny shark embryos swim around in their egg cases, touched baby sharks (called pups) and prickly starfish, and laughed at ugly crabs. We even saw an octopus guarding her eggs. She didn't want her picture taken, though. I think she was having a bad hair day.

These were my favorite pictures...

I love the look of amazement on Goofy Foot's face.

The eggs take nine months to hatch, just like a human baby. The embryos were swimming around like crazy inside their egg cases.

No brain, yet somehow jellyfish communicate.

Sounds similar to the teenage years, huh?

(Pictures taken on my good ol' fashioned point and shoot, but edited to bring them back to life!)

Her Second Birthday- Part Tres

2009-06-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

My kids and I had the idea of creating a giant slip 'n slide, you know, so they could really get some speed. We are so blessed to have Kahuna as the head of the house. He always comes through for us! He took the kids to Home Depot and bought 50 feet of six mil plastic. They secured the sides with stakes that were flush with the grass, turned on the hose, added just a bit of dish soap to the slide to make it really fast, and boom... homemade slip 'n slide.

I'm pretty sure the kids broke some speed records.