Rain Rain go away come back some other day!!

Ugh I need some sunshine in my life! I feel so blah and drained this week, I literally feel like I could sleep for days!! I need the sunshine to spark some energy back into me. My soul is longing to be out in nature and warm summer days!

A little sand between your toes takes away your woes!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I had a wonderful time with my family and feel so blessed because I do have a wonderful family :)

p.s. I'm getting my hair cut and colored Saturday, sooo looking forward to some me time and my hair needs some attention!!

Meet my Owl friend

At home, I love reaching out into that absolute silence, when you can hear the owl or the wind.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/amandaharl614456.html#KSWSV9mYLOFzwx8H.99

For several years now we have a owl living amongst us, We here it and always can get a glimpse of it. Lately I have really been hoping to get a picture of it and finally the other day it happened!! It just sat there for a long time looking around and I just sat there back in awe of this beautiful creature!!

To top it all of it was such a beautiful weekend here in the Pacific Northwest!!

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.  ~George Washington Carver

Beauty in Nature

There are times when I want to move away from this rainy state but there are even more times when I'm in love with all its beauty! The Pacific Northwest is one of the most gorgeous places on the earth and I should feel very fortunate to live here! I'm even more fortunate that I live among these beautiful ceder trees, it's like my very own state park. Spring and summer have become my most favorite time around here, I cant get enough sunshine I just want to soak it all up!

Spring time sparks energy in me, just like all the trees and flowers bursting to life!

Justin and I love taking nature walks and we found out this hollowed out log with a stream going through it, I thought you only saw that kind of stuff in the movies...

And then I'm amazed again when I wake up before dawn and see this....

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  ~e.e. cummings

Sunday afternoon

I have had so much energy lately and loving it!! So much creative juices going through me! I have so many projects I want to do! I cant wait to share everything! I have also been Spring cleaning the house, my husband said my OCD has kicked in full force haha. One thing I did this weekend was turn a old window into a picture frame, so easy and I LOVE it!! It was so easy just a old window and some double sided tape.                                    

I also did some other things that aren't done yet so pictures will come later. Saturday I made one of our fave deserts. Its a great spring/summer desert. A few years back my sis gave me the recipe and it has been a fave ever since. Strawberries and cream dessert squares! You can find the recipe at http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/strawberries-and-cream-dessert-squares/ade24a8d-0691-4efd-b846-358d2757780b?p=1

I have been having such a fun weekend not ready for Monday tomorrow:(

Hope you all had a great night. It's movie night in our home tonight :)

My cooking adventures

I love anything lemon and blueberry so when I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to try it! I had all the ingredients on Monday so I went for it and OMG is it delicious!! The whole family loves it!! So FYI if your

in the mood to try a new recipe and love lemon and blueberries this is a must try recipe!!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/169377635959667395/

Tips for a affortable Disneyland trip

For the last 4 years my family has been addicted to going to Disneyland for our yearly trip, and I'm always doing research on how to make it more affordable for our family and I have been asked a lot how do we afford it? So I thought I would give some advice and fill you in on how much we spend.

There are four of us in my family that go and we have a set budget of $3000 for our trip but we always end up only spending $2800. We live in Oregon so we make the long 16 hour drive to save money $300 round trip in gas. I book are hotel and ticket package thru costcotravel.com, I always end up finding a great price on packages and there is always great bonuses you get. This year our package was $1800 and that included, 5 night stay at the Hilton, 4 day park hoppers, free character breakfast for the family, $20 Disney gift card, Disney luggage tags, Disney lanyards and pins and a free ride of your choice picture! The rest of our $900 goes towards food and souvenirs. We always take a case of water and snacks with us. At Disneyland if you ask for ice water it is free! Part of the whole Disneyland experience is eating the food so we do always eat lunch and dinner in the park or at Downtown Disney. I allow my kids to get a churro and a cheap souvenir once a day. We save up our $3000 over the course of a year, putting a little away each month. Some other things we have done to help with the cost is selling on ebay and craigslist, I'm amazed at what people actually buy on ebay! We save all our change, I also do swagbucks, mypoints and inboxdollars. This past trip I got enough points for $150 gift card to the Rain Forest cafe, $25 for Cheesecake Factory and $60 cash. I also did disneymovierewards.com and got $20 in Disney gift cards. I have so many tips and advice so if you have any question please ask! I would love to help!

Happy friday :)

I love Fridays!! Especially this Friday cause tomorrow I'm having a fun girls day with my sisters and mama! We always have a wonderful time full of laughter to where we almost pee our pants! We are going shopping and out to lunch and who knows what other shenanigans we will get into. This past Tuesday was my sons birthday and instead of cake he always wants apple pie, I always follow the same recipe but for some reason it turned out extra yummy this time, my son even said it was melt in your mouth good!

APPLE PIE 

Filling:

2 lbs of apples peeled and sliced

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

mix the ingredients all together and set a side.

Crust:

2 cups of flour

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup crisco shortening

5 tbsp cold water

Combine flour and sugar, cut in crisco until all flour is blended into pea size chunks. Sprinkle with water 1 tbsp at a time. Toss lightly with fork until dough forms a ball.  Divide dough in half and roll out bottom half, place in pie plate, add the filling and then roll out top half. Trim the edge, fold top crust under bottom crust. I use a fork for the crust edge and to put a few holes to vent. Bake at 375 until crust is golden or done to your liking.

Hope you all have a wonderful friday!!!