Camping at Forest Lakes

Crowded. Very crowded.

But that never stops us from having a good time! Reed and I just needed to get out of the heat for a while and enjoy some fresh air in the pines. So we made a short trip (just an overnighter) to the north and camped out. Although there was hardly a camping space available, we found a little corner of forest and pitched our tent.

At this point, Natelle wasn't walking on her own yet, but she was loving her new shoes!

And she had to have a little time to jump on the air mattress... she thinks of it more as a trampoline than a bed.

Just before naptime, she was being a genuine pill. For the sake of our sanity, we threw a little fleece blanket over her head... which didn't seem to help her mood. But the sight we saw when we came to rescue her from the bundle of blankets was too much! We had to have pictures.

...look at that face......and that *sTatIckY*hAir*!!!Soon after her nap, we started packing up and the sky began to threaten.

The thunder grew louder as the gray clouds grew denser. So we took a few pictures...

...and got in the car. ...I love my family!
They make me laugh. :)

Beach Bums...(catching up on summertime!)

Back in June, we all got to go to Imperial Beach!

This is a favorite family excursion - and we try to go every year.

This was of course our sweet Natelle's first trip to the beach... and she loved it!

Kayla and Shelbi were some of the best sitters! We spent time with friends...


...and family...


...went metal detecting and dug holes...

...and it wouldn't be a true vacation at the ocean unless you buried someone in the sand!

There was boogie boarding...

...and swimming (go figure)...

...and a Pow Wow! Yep. We had an American Indian pow wow on the beach, where Natelle got to take a ride on a very tame "purebread" wolf. Man, she loves those dogs!

We sure had a good time with the friends that came with us too. We love you Gabe, Reanne and mini-Gabe!

Sea Shell Picture Frame

I've had a lot of requests to show people how I made my fancy-dance sea shell picture frame. So, here goes!

I started off with an ugly old drawer, like this. I painted it a dark brown, and didn't like it. So I painted one coat of black over it, which gave the frame a richer look.

The drawer had holes already drilled through the sides, but drilling more holes wouldn't be an issue.

Then, I threaded some contrasting rope through the holes, tying knots on each side of the hole openings.

I then laid out my shell design on in the drawer, including the inner picture and frame. Now it's time to glue in the shells!

I found that hot glue didn't work and superglue was too runny. I bought black asphault "caulking" (the kind that roofers use) from Home Depot, and it fit the bill.

But this part is little tricky. How do you get the glue under the shells when the shells are so small and the caulking gun tip is so bulky?

I don't know.

So I took the shells on the left side out of the drawer (trying to keep them in their pattern), put a layer of glue on the drawer where I removed the shells, then replaced the shells in their pattern on the glue. Then I repeated this for the top, bottom and right sides. This kept the glue from drying before I put the shells down and helped me keep the pattern intact.

Then I put industrial strength velcro on the back of the inner picture frame and on the drawer just below the sea shells in all four corners. It worked, but I suddenly doubted the strength of it. So, I pounded 2 nails in each side (you can see it just under the velcro in the picture) and hung the inner frame on the nails. Then the velcro just became a safeguard.

I put the inner picture frame in and...

VIOLA!!! It's ready to be hung!

Originally, I inteded to hang it by the rope on a large wall hook. But the rope made it hang funny.

So I sanded down a 1 x 2 inch scrap of trim (about 1 yard long), took 2 shelf supports (8 inches deep) and screwed the trim to the outer edge of the shelf supports. The sea shell frame sits on the supports and the trim keeps it from sliding over the edge. The trim being natural wood with a few large defects makes it almost look like drift wood. Fun stuff!

So there it is my friends. Let me know how yours goes if you decide to do one!

Natelle's First Easter

Natelle REALLY enjoyed her first Easter.

She went to Mallorie's baptism (YAY Mallorie!)...

Hung out with Grandpa...

...played gypsy with Uncle Jayson's head...

..."Gaze into my crystal ball! Ooo-de-lally..."

...and got to go to the Easter Pageant! She especially liked the glow stick in her mouth.

And of course, Mamma has to take a few pictures of her dolly.

Look at those EYES!

I LOVE it when I can catch her smiles. She's such a charmer!