me being "artsy"

Before Mickey and I drove out to Minnesota I had a Tickled Pink party at my mom's friend's house. When I walked in the front door, there was a large piece of art hanging in her foyer. It said, "be still and know that I AM." This verse is from Psalm 46:10, which reads, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 


I love this whole verse, but I found the shortened version on that poster to be so intriguing and COOL! So, instead of buying a big sign for a lot of money, I decided to make my own using a $3 black canvas from Michael's and some pastel crayons. Here is the finished project, which was then covered with Krylon's Clear Gloss so it wouldn't smear. I think it is super cute and is hanging in my mud room so people see it when coming through the garage.

we have a WALKWAY!

I never thought I would see the day that I got excited about "household stuff," like my vacuum (Dyson ball..ohhhh yeah!), my appliances, my toilets (we got cool flusher thinger-majiggers), and every other thing in/around my house. I used to think my parents were CRAZY when they got excited about things like this. I would think "really? you are ecstatic that you got a new vacuum, are you nuts?" But now, that is me. What have I become?!


Anyway, the LATEST exciting addition to our home is...a walkway. We used to walk from our stone driveway onto an ugly piece of wood to walk, then up our front steps! But now, we have this baby:

Jagger checking it out. Maybe now we won't have as many MUDDY PAWPRINTS all over our hardwood floors?!!

Anyway, now I am going to be cleaning my house since poor Mickey had a stomach bug...time to disinfect my awesome toilets. ;) Have a great Friday! 

International Falls Sportsman's Expo,car accident, and fishing.

A few weekends ago Mickey and I drove to International Falls, MN for the International Falls Sportsman's Expo. Mickey was asked to be a special guest at the show and since a free fishing trip was included in the deal we decided to go :)

We left at 8 am on Friday in order to get to International Falls by 1 pm to go fishing. The trip was going smoothly UNTIL we pulled into International Falls. Thinking we had made it safe and sound, and EARLY, which rarely happens, we were excited. We stopped at the red light across the street from where we were meeting our guide and.....BOOOOOOOM!

A pickup truck slammed into the back of our truck going 30 MPH. Jagger was laying in the back seat but flew up and hit the dashboard pretty hard. Mick and I both had our seat belts on so we were fine, and Jagger ended up being fine as well (except for a little scrape on his nose).

We got out of the car and made sure the other driver was not hurt, which he wasn't. Our car was drivable but the poor guy who hit us totaled his car. We felt so bad for him because he had just WON the brand new pick up truck he was driving. But cars can be fixed, and luckily no one was hurt so we were very thankful!

After a two hour set back, we were FINALLY able to go fishing. Our guides, Wes and Dave, were so nice and waited for us the whole time we were dealing with the accident, but of course, as soon as we were able to go it got cold and started to rain. We went anyway :)

We drove 40 minutes away to a boat ramp and the boys put the boat in. We went down through rapids to a little fishing spot on the United States side of the river. The other shore was Canada so half of the river was Canadian territory and we did not have the license, or whatever its called, to fish on their "side." I found it to be so cool that half the river and the other shore was a different country! I took pictures of Canada since I have never been there before.

                                                                           Canada!

Mickey with one of his walleye!

We had such a great time fishing...we must have caught AT LEAST 50 walleye! I think every other time I put my rod in the water I hooked a fish, and same for Mickey, Wes, and Dave. We were able to keep 8 fish under a certain length. We got all 8 fish within 5 minutes, and the rest we released.

After fishing, we were cold and wet so we drove back to our hotel. We stayed at a cool lodge called the Thunderbird, and when we got to our room Friday night this cute little fruit basket was waiting for us. So nice!

On Saturday we went to the expo which was located in a church gymnasium. We had no clue that the Expo was a Christian event! They kicked off the day with prayer and had bible verses about the outdoors all around the gym. Pretty awesome! Mickey and I sat at a booth and he signed autographs. It was a pretty easy job. Jagger was even allowed inside so he sat with us and enjoyed the attention.

The older man sitting beside Mickey is Frank. He was the first Minnesota Viking ever signed! He was a neat guy and told Mickey stories about how the NFL used to be.

After the event there was a walleye fish fry. It was sooo good! We ate our fair share of fish, and then went back to our hotel just in time to take a few pictures!

View from our room!

Overall, we had a great weekend! If any of you want a beautiful vacation spot with AWESOME fishing, check out the Thunderbird Lodge in International Falls, MN. The scenery was gorgeous and the food at the lodge was AMAZING! Check it out here.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Monday Funday.

Why helllllo everyone! Hope your Monday has been good and a great start to the rest of the week! I started my day off at neighborhood Bible study, which was great. My friend Kristine hosts it and three other neighbors come with their little kids...there are little twins (precious), and three little boys probably all under the age of six. This neighborhood is FULL of twins! It must be something in the water out here! I think there are four sets in our little development....but anyway...


After Bible Study I drove to Target, parked my car, and turned it off. Then, as I was about to get out of the car, I realized that I had NO CLUE why I was even at Target! HA! Who does that? I think I am so Target obsessed that my body just drives the car there when my brain is not working...so I turned the car back on and drove out of the parking lot before I went in and spent another $200 on cute things that I really WANT but don't necessarily NEED at the moment. ;)


I turned out of the parking lot and headed into town to wait for Mickey to be done with work. He started his "Offseason Training Activites," also known as "OTAs" today. I dropped him off at 8am and knew he would be done around 1pm, so I just waited in the parking lot for a bit and browsed Pinterest on my phone, which I am addicted to and cannot help myself but to look at it at least 20 times a day.


Once we got home I decided to spray paint some objects that were given to me instead of being put in the trash. Recently I have been really interested in, and wanting to, find old pieces of furniture and rehabbing them. If anyone has any advice or knows of great places to look in the Minneapolis area, let me know! Once I am done with my newest project I will post pictures. Stay tuned! Happy Monday everyone!

Non Alcoholic Sangria

Yesterday I picked my neighbors up from school and we went to Michael's to get some fun arts and crafts supplies. We have a whole list of things we want to make, so we started with buying crayons and canvases to make these. I am pretty sure this is the hottest thing on Pinterest at the moment, so we figured we had to give it a try. On the way home hubby called me and asked me if I could make a "fruit punch" of sorts for our new jug from Pottery Barn. The girls and I stopped at the local grocery store and bought random ingredients, but it turned out yummy!


You need:
1 liter Lemonade
1 liter Sierra Mist
2 quarts Raspberry Cranberry Juice (or any red juice you like).
A bunch of different fruit (oranges, apples, strawberries, grapefruit) cut into wedges. You can add as much or as little as you would like :)
Ice


Mix all liquids together, adding fruit and ice on top. Stir and either leave out on counter or put in fridge. Makes a great alternative to regular Sangria for kids or those who prefer non alcoholic beverages :)

I apologize, but by the time I was able to take the picture it was half gone. Anyway, it is a pretty decoration on your counter along with a yummy refreshment :) Add sherbert on top for an extra delicious twist! 


Enjoy! 

Simple Joys.

I am having one of those days where I just feel extremely blessed. I woke up to my sweet dog snuggling with me and my hubby next to me. Even though I have a stuffy nose (with lovely green snot ;) I am alive and well. I had a phone interview for the accelerated nursing program I applied to this morning, and I think it went very well. I will update you all with "results" when I hear. 


Jagger and I went for a walk around the neighborhood, and when I say around, thats exactly what I mean. We walked through the farmers fields on the outskirts of our neighborhood so Jagger could "hunt." He is so funny. He leaps and bounds like a jack rabbit through the weeds. He is so happy when he's running free!

We then went to the park, where Jagger repeatedly tried to climb up the slide. So comical! He is a funny dude.

Then we continued our walk through the fields behind our house. They are so gorgeous, especially with the lush green grass and little dandelions growing through the field. 

When we got home, I dried Jagger off since he was covered in mud, and vacuumed my flood since it too was covered in mud! (The joys of having a new house with no grass!) We then climbed into bed to continue reading "Heaven is Here" by Stephanie Nelson Read the preview here.  Order the book here. She is the author of http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ and is such an inspiration. She is recovering from a nearly fatal plane crash with faith, grace, and humor. Check her out!

Have a great day everyone!

Edward Scissor Hands.

Well, it has been quite a busy time in our lives! We have been moving, hanging, organizing, cleaning, rearranging (you get the picture) our house! It has been extremely overwhelming but fun at the same time. Mickey and I (actually, mostly Mickey) have been trying to do most things ourselves, which has lead to some funny moments and some frustrating moments.


For example, we bought our dressers and nightstands from IKEA. What we did not know is that we had to assemble them ourselves with their "picture directions." Why they do not provide WORDS I do not know, and the pictures are not the greatest at explaining things...ANYWAY, most of you probably know that IKEA has an "assemble yourself" policy, but this was our first time shopping there so we were not quite sure what we were getting ourselves into. We put our dresser together in a rather fast time of an hour and a half (it normally takes us 10 years to do something so this was quite an accomplishment). However, when it came time to put the drawers in, we realized we assembled the dresser BACKWARDS! UGHHH! I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. Needless to say we have one more dresser and two night stands that need to be put together, but we skipped them today and decided to hang pictures instead (which look great I might add ;)


We have been learning on the job, which has been rewarding and fun for the most part. The not so fun part is what happened to my fingers along the way. For some reason, I cannot keep them out of the way!! My neighbors called me Edward Scissor Hands, which I thought was funny. Hence, the name of this post...

Anyway, now that I am practically a carpenter, you can call me for any help you may need. Until then, I'll be nursing my fingers back to health :)

Our New Home :) <3

Annnnd once again I don't know why this entry did not post on the day it was supposed to (March 30th)! Anyway, here it is...better late than never ;)


Today is the day Mickey and I are moving into our new home!!! We are so excited to be homeowners and have bought our first house :) it is such an exciting time for us! We drove 16 hours from PA and arrived in MN yesterday after staying overnight in South Bend, Indiana. We drove straight to our new house to meet our realtor, and found a big pretty bow on our front door. We had our closing this morning and got the keys, now we are on our way to start moving in! Pics of the finished product coming later :)

New neighbors.

I meant to post this before my Easter Cupcake blog entry, so in case you are confused read this first! Whoopsies ;)


Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well :) I have been so so busy trying to unpack our house! We only moved in a week ago but I feel like its been much longer because so much has happened!


First of all, we have the BEST most amazing neighbors anyone could ever ask for. The second day we moved in, four girls (ages 12 and 13) showed up at our front door with brownies in a jar that said "welcome."We invited them into our house and talked to them for 15 minutes, and the rest is history. Since then, we have met their parents and been welcomed into the community with open arms. The girls even brought us flowers a few days later! I could not feel more blessed to live in our neighborhood with a group of caring people. I feel like God really has had his hand in our decision to move and pick our neighborhood. We feel extremely blessed!

Easter Cupcakes

Last week, after meeting the neighborhood girls, I decided to invite them up to bake Easter cupcakes! They had spring break all last week so they were of school. They found the cutest recipes online, so we decided to try them out!


We made lambs and chicks, but our lambs look a little bit like bunnies. We decided to call them "lunnies." :)


Find the recipes here: http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/recipes/fun-to-make-easter-treats/