Another sewing project.

A while ago, my friend Ape ask me to make a shopping cart cover for her to give to a friend. It turned out really cute and Ape's friend really liked it. Well, she has a friend that is about to have a baby and she asked Ape where she got the shopping cart cover. She sent me an email to see if I would be willing to make a shopping cart cover for her to give her friend. I was flattered and of course told her that I would. We have been emailing back and forth about fabrics and colors and fonts...and it is finally finished! I think that it turned out really cute. The fabrics that she chose were REALLY cute...so it didn't need much help. The biggest thing was trying to decide on what color to put the name on in. I stitched out a couple tests and then had people at work and church vote/give suggestions on what color they thought would be the best. It ended up being the bright blue...so that's what I went with. I really hope that she likes it!


I had a little extra fabric left. So, I made a tag blanket to go along with it. I have a few test stitches of the name in different colors. It seemed to make sense to use one since I had some fabric left...the tag blanket is a little surprise thanks for your order...Hopefully I will get the order in the mail tomorrow, and hopefully, she and her friend will love it!!! Fingers crossed!!

Grill'n out. - Kabobs

Tonight, Zack and I grilled out some chicken and kielbasa kabobs. This is the first time we have ever made kabobs...and it was a little harder than we had expected. I got the kabob's prepared while waiting for Zack to get home from Ultimate practice and I think that I probably filled the skewers too full which made it difficult for Zack to grill them. Zack was worried that the chicken wasn't finished and so he left them on the grill a little longer than they probably needed to be. So, the chicken was a little dry...oh well, they still tasted pretty good. I'm not sure if we will do Kabob's again in the too near future...I think that I might hold off on those for a little while, and try some other new recipes.

We did learn some valuable lessons...next time I will know not to fill the skewers so full and Zack will know not to leave them on quite as long.

a recent sewing project

I haven't really found a lot of time to sew recently...crazy how hard it is to find time to get things done. Anyway, I had this half apron in the works for a while and finally finished it. I ended up giving it to my MA at work as a house warming gift. She moved into her first house ever about 2-3 months ago...I know, I am awful...just now getting her a house warming gift...but I figure that it can be a just because gift too, because she REALLY works hard and spoils me with all the ways she helps me through my day.

The Apron was a reversible half apron in black, white, and blue. I thought that it turned out to be pretty cute. I gave it to her today, and I think that she really liked it! :)

Zack came home today after several days of working on servers for work...So, I thought that we would celebrate with a home cooked meal. I had had the meat marinating for a while and when Zack got home, he pulled out the grill and grilled the meat while I worked on the sides.

The pork was a new recipe, Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin. The meat was really tender and had great flavor. Zack and I both really liked it. It was nice to have a home cooked meal...it's been a while...life just gets so busy that it is sometimes hard to find time to cook. (much to Zack's disappointment!)

Dinner for 1

Zack has been out of town for a couple days now...and there is no sense in making a big home cooked meal for 1. So, I took myself to the Chick-fil-a at our mall tonight to get a taste of the new Spicy Chicken sandwich.

I ended up running into Dr. D and her family. So, I ended up getting to eat with someone rather than by myself...which was really nice....and pretty entertaining.

The spicy chicken sandwich was really good. I got it with lettuce and provolone cheese...YUM! Yep...definitely will be trying that again!! Just another reason to love Chick-fil-a! :)

I'm not sure how they have lived this long...

A couple of years ago, Zack and I planted some Hydrangeas along the side of our house. Neither Zack nor I have what you would call a green thumb, but somehow these plants have survived. This year due to all of the rain they are just bursting with big beautiful blooms. it makes me smile when I see them...then I look at the reast of our yard and I am brought back to the reality of our lack of gardening know how! :) Maybe one day we will figure it all out.

Attempting the impossible: take 1

So, Zack and I LOVED the cheddar muffins at Jim N Nick's ...so, I attempted to recreate them from a recipe that I found on the internet....while they were good, they were no Jim N Nick's ....Strike 1. I am planning another attempt here sometime soon.

Free Tickets!!

The week of Memorial Day, I went back to my desk at the end of the day on Tuesday to find an envelop with my name hand written on it. When I opened it up, I found 4 free tickets to a minor league baseball game...Apparently they have a drawing at work once a month and I had won....I never win anything!

So, Zack called up some friends, kinda last minute since I got the tickets 2 days before the game, to see if they would like to go to the game with us. We met them at the stadium and had a lot of fun watching the game....even if our team lost!

Memorial Day Fun

Our small group has started to have a time of fellowship once a month during our normal Bible study time. It is usually the last Monday in the month. This allows us to spend time together as families. So, for Memorial Day, we got together with our small group from church and a few other friends for a picnic. We were supposed to bring meat for our own family and side/dessert/drinks to share. I made some broccoli salad, raspberry iced tea, and a choclate peanut butter cake. I was in a hurry to get everything finished and didn't think to take pictures...can you believe it?! I had made the Broccoli Salad before, but the other 2 recipes were new.

Anna Lauren and Eric were gracious enough to host the event at their home and things were going great until the sky opened up and it started POURING down rain...then we had to move everyone inside...which worked out fine, but made it a little hard to hear with all of the conversations that were going on.

We always enjoy getting to spend time with the couples in our small group!

A silly Birthday gift.

Zack's Birthday was the Friday before Memorial Day. He is REALLY hard to shop for. So, I usually try to find a board game that I think that he will like. This year, I got him the game Quelf...it is one of the silliest games that I have ever played, but we had a really good time playing it with Zack's family.

The game is similar to a Cranium in that there are different categories that you have to do, but that is about where the similarities end. Quelf's categories are

1. Showbiz - this is where you have to act something out.

You might have to act out I'm a little Tea Pot while singing it.

2. Stuntz - usually some bizarre/silly task you have to do.

like making a Halloween mask using things around the house.

3. Roolz - this makes the game quite interesting. these are rules that either you alone or everyone must follow.

like you might have to keep your thumbs in your mouth and touch both shoulders when you want to talk.

4. Scatterbrainz - silly topics that you have to come up with answers to.

And, if you answer wrong, you might have to wear aluminum foil on your head.

5. Quizzle - trivia questions.

There are no teams it is every man for himself. It was a very silly, but fun game. Zack and I are looking forward to playing it with some of our friends sometime soon.

Graduation Family Camping Trip

For graduation rather than having a party, Matt wanted the family to go camping and trout fishing. So, directly after his graduation, we headed out to the wilderness. We went camping at a camping/fishing site that Matt had gone to over spring break with some buddies. Before we completely left civilization, we stopped at this Wendy's to go to the bathroom...a real bathroom for the last time for a couple of days. This was the STANKYest Wendy's that I have EVER been in. The putrid smell assaulted me and Mama Sandy as we entered the restaurant...the smell was so strong that it was almost palpable. Needless to say, that was one QUICK bathroom break...I was trying to hold my breath the entire time I was in the restaurant. Mama Sandy and I were gagging and laughing as we came rushing out the door into the fresh mountain air!!! ...and wouldn't you know it, Zack didn't even notice the bad smell....I mean that place smelled like someone had forgotten to take the trash out for a month! It was AWFUL...and he didn't smell anything...crazy. I took a picture of the Wendy's as a reminder to NEVER eat there! Yuck!

After leaving Wendy's, we headed to the camping parking site. As we were unloading our camping supplies at the trail head, someone came running down the gravel road...it was out friend Patrick...how random is that?! Patrick stopped and talked to us briefly and then headed on down the road while we hoisted our packs onto our backs to make the 1 mile hike into our campsite.






The hike wasn't too strenuous, although you did have to maneuver around several downed trees and cross a creek that was about thigh deep to make it to the camp site. I was lucky. My pack wasn't too heavy...I have NO idea how Mama Sandy managed to carry hers. It was much heavier.

Zack and I were excited about another chance to use our tent. We haven't gotten to use it since our trip out west last year. Although, we did have it up airing out in our garage recently (Zack was afraid that it would smell like his parent's tent, which is lovingly referred to as the puppy poop tent. So it has been airing out in our garage for a while now.) I have been trying to convince Zack to have a camp out in it with me in our garage, but for some reason he seems to think that sleeping in the bed is a better idea. :)

Matt, Zack, and Daddy G went fishing throughout our camping trip and they cooked and ate trout about every way that you could. Zack is not as experienced with fishing as his dad and brothers are, but he caught on and he enjoyed getting to spend the time with his father and brother Matt (It was Ben and Rachel's Anniversary, and they took an Anniversary trip and were not with us).

Zack trying to decide the best way to clean and prepare his fish.

Zack and his battle scars...you should see the other guy! :)
...and Zack wonders why it makes me nervous when he handles knives!

We went on a short hike On Friday...well, it was supposed to be a short hike, but it ended up being a little longer than expected...but we had a good time.





After our hike, the guys went fishing for their dinner while Mama Sandy and I took naps. (I hadn't been feeling very good...not sure if it was allergies or a little cold) Zack caught his biggest fish of the trip and he wanted me to get a picture of it.


Zack and Matt cleaned their fish on a log down by the creek. The log was half in half out of the water and it seemed like a great place to clean the fish. While Matt was cleaning his last fish, Zack noticed a snake in the water about 6-12 inches from Matt's leg. Zack, of course yelled and Matt quickly moved. The snake was spooked and swam away. Zack started cleaning his fish with Matt standing watch for the snake. It came up a few times and was easily scared off...then it tried a different approach, and Matt didn't see it until it was pretty close to Zack's leg....Zack decided to finish cleaning his fish standing up.

Once the fish had been cleaned, they took them up to the fire to prepare them for cooking and then decided to go down to take care of the fish heads and entrails. Our snake friend had come back and he was happily enjoying a little snack of fish heads and fish entrails. He ate 5 fish heads...greedy guy! We were not sure what kind of a snake it was and so we didn't want to get too close....we just let him enjoy his meal and go back to his home with a full tummy. It saved Zack and Matt some clean up...He did it for them quite nicely.

Friday night, we prepared for the possibility of rain...it's a good thing that we did, because it rained pretty much all night long. Zack and I stayed dry and we were, once again, really happy with the performance of our tent. Zack's parents had a little bit of water leak into their tent, but it wasn't too bad. Poor Matt, however, was sleeping in a puddle. That makes for a miserable night.



Saturday, we sat around for a while waiting for things to dry out a little before packing things up and heading for home.


By the time we packed up and hiked out, we had worked up a pretty good appetite. Zack had noticed a Jim N Nick's on our way and so we decided to introduce Zack's parent's to the yummy goodness that is Jim N Nicks. This particular Jim N Nick's was about 2 years old and had the BEST service. The manager came by our table several times and even ended up giving us 2 large slices of their VERY delicious homemade pies to sample. I think that I might have enjoyed the food even more than the first time we ate at a Jim N Nick's...

Our trip was a lot of fun and Zack and I enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with family.