Mr. Froggy

Continuing the wildlife theme, I thought I'd show some pics of a couple od BIG frogs/toads that we've seen. They like to come out at night when we're walking the dogs. When they sit up, their head is 4" off the ground. I think they're cute.

Froggy #1:

And Froggy #2 (seen the other night):

It's fun seeing nature so up close. We see a lot of little frogs too cause of the ponds nearby.

Critters

One thing that has been cool about moving to Pennsylvania is all the different wildlife that I see on a regular basis. Even though we lived in the forest before, I see more wildlife here and some different types of animals than are in the West. I have a lot of fun trying to photograph them.

Wild turkeys:

a salamander:
Mr. Groundhog:

We see deer all the time in the yard:

and there are crayfish in the stream:

and the chipmunks are cute:

I see a lot of wild bunnies, too:

I don't have a pic of a porcupine, though they are around. And there's muskrats and weasels too. Maybe someday they'll pose for me.

Work Party

The icky coop, before:


and after!

This weekend our family hosted a work party (is that an oxymoron?) at our house. If you wanted to help tear down a chicken coop or shovel some dirt in the garden, you showed up at 10. If you just wanted to come for lunch, you showed up at 12. I had kitchen duty, we fed people well with hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, potato salad (which got a shoutout over the pulpit yesterday!), veggies and chips. Including us, there were 32 people over at the house and it was really nice to have people help us and also nice to have people come visit.

I was really touched by the fact that people walked into our little home and said "I like your house"...that's really never happened before because we used to live in a decrepit mobile home. It was also fun to have of bunch of kids running around, they went fishing in our ponds and actually caught some fish! The weather was beautiful as well, not too hot or buggy.

I feel pretty blessed to have such nice people at church that would come and help us out. We've had people wanting to come help us for a long time, so it was nice to finally do that. It was a really nice weekend.

Our branch president knocked down the coop with his tractor in all of two minutes and six seconds- it would have taken much longer to do it by hand! I am beat after the weekend- it was a lot of work to get the house and yard ready and a lot of work to cook and clean up! Naptime!

Giveaway

I won a treat from my friend Rae (I got a fabric covered composition book that was way cute!) with the promise that I am to do the same on my blog...so here goes. The first person who responds will receive a handmade surprise from me in the near future. Let me know what color(s) you like and also make sure I've got the right address for you. If you win my giveaway, you are to do the same on your blog and give something handmade away. Pay it forward!

Ready, set, win!

The Latest

I worked on this scrapbook page about our trip to the Academy of Sciences when we were in San Francisco last. I've never really ever done anything with circles on a page, I'm generally more linear minded. The circles on the overlays made me think of cells or something. With the exception of the overlays, I was pleased to use up supplies that I already owned. This is also a great way to use up scraps of patterned paper. I had fun being a little wild on a page:


This page about the Japanese Tea Gardens is pretty much complete, I was working on it this week. I made my own template for the patterned paper, I like the flourish shape.

I did some fussy cutting with my scraps to create accents to fill in "dead" spaces:

The tea gardens picture in particular shows that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make a good page- I used cardstock, patterned paper, a butterfly punch, some ribbon and a stamped journaling spot.

Happy Scrappin!

Kirtland: Part III

I went to the YSA conference "Zion's Camp" May 22-24th and had a really nice time. I think I deserve some credit for going to a conference without a gal pal at my side. Though my leaders and Mike (who was my ride) attended, I was pretty much on my own. I hate going to stuff like this by myself, so I was pretty proud of me. I really didn't know many people since I don't know really any Ohio people. My other friends in other YSA groups didn't make it to this one. But it was still a good weekend. Friday night there was a luau, complete with roasted pig! Outside there were a bunch of tiki torches and it was all fun and festive. This family put on a really great Polynesian show for us and the Grobergs.

Dancers (which the boys liked a lot, lol):

The flame dance was really cool:


Me, Sister and Brother Trusel (my advisors) and Mike:

On Saturday, we had workshops- I learned about Lands of the Book of Mormon, Historic Kirtland, and Psychology behind Eating (tips like using a smaller plate). They were all good. Then later in the afternoon we broke up and did service projects. We opted to go to an assisted living center and visit the residents. We played bingo with them and I had fun chatting with an adorable lady in her 90's. It was a really hot weekend and murder to be in the unairconditioned house. We had some free time after that so the Trusels, myself, Mike and this guy Joseph escaped to a local soda shop that was so cute. Vintage stuff on the walls, Elvis playing...it was great. I got birch beer (like root beer), I was so happy. I haven't had birch beer since CT, and it was great. I also got to pose in an old bumper car, I want one of these!

The assisted living place was in this amazing historic house, it had beautiful woodwork inside:

There was a fireside with Elder and Sister Groberg, they were great to hear from. I especially have a soft place in my heart for them- the movie "The Other Side of Heaven" was playing in the theatres and was the last movie I saw just days before I left for my mission. It was really nice to meet them and tell him how much I enjoyed the movie. Once I got home I re-read the book (it's incredible!).

Me, The Grobergs, and Mike:

After the fireside there was a dance, it was pretty good.

I stayed with a really nice girl, Anne. She works restoring art, way cool in my book. Her apartment was old and very sweet. Who wouldn't love a fireplace like this? She also had a built in window seat. So jealous!

On Sunday we had sacrament meeting in the Kirtland temple (The Community of Christ/RLDS church lets other groups use it) which was really great. The Grobergs spoke to us again and then we had a testimony meeting. After all that, we had a catered lunch (by far the best food all weekend) at the community college since the church was busy. There was free time before another late fireside, but we decided to go home since we were 1) tired and 2) had just seen Kirtland two weeks prior. We saw the statues at the visitor's center once more and took off for home.

Yesterday back at my branch I had a wonderfully embarrassing moment: my branch president was asking about the conference and then asked me if I'd gotten to know any nice boys. I replied no cause that was the truth (after considering telling a white lie) and then my branch president and his councilor both were telling me that I needed to be more aggressive with the boys! A really awkward moment of silence followed. Just what I need- advice from people who don't really know me nor do I feel need to be included in the details of my (non-existent) love life. It's a good thing I can laugh at situations like that. More adventures in the life of a single gal.

If any of you are in the Palmyra or Kirtland areas, I'll totally be your tour guide!