lolo.

boating pug.

We've been busy with adventures lately!  Since my last post, we went on a boating trip with our friends Joe, Josh, and Larissa.  Angus went with us and was a very good boating pug!  He swam a little... and by swam I mean he kicked his front legs a little and tried to keep his flat face above the water.  He got to be the privileged pug on this trip... maybe the Sophster will get to go on the next one.

Growing up in Moscow, we were always near lakes, but we never took advantage of them.  I kind of felt like I missed out a little bit on all of this lake fun as everyone else were pretty much seasoned pros at water boat sports and such.  This trip marked my third lifetime trip on a boat (the first was on a speed boat the weekend we got Oscar in 1994 at a family friend's cabin and the second on Matt's dad's sailboat), but I enjoyed myself and even tried wakeboarding!  Some photos:

Joe and his new toy.

Aforementioned boating pug.

That's me trying to wakeboard.

Matt really wakeboarding.

Anyway, now I'm a real inland northwesterner.  I boated on a lake.

This last week we went to Las Vegas for a couple of days for my cousin Angela's wedding.  What a ridiculous and expensive city!  I doubt Matt and I will ever go back again on our own accord, but we had fun while we were there.  We talked several miles up and down the strip, saw the Bodies exhibit at the Luxor (like a real-life version of Stiff, it was awesome!!), rode the rides on the top of the Stratosphere, saw the dolphins and white tigers at the Mirage, ate at two buffets, and toured all of the hotels.  Some photos:

Buffet picture #1.

Buffet picture #2.

Waiting for the fountain show.

On top of the stratosphere.

Look!  Mountains!

My aunt Diane, uncle Mike, cousin Nathan, and me.

My family was staying in the Fremont area of Las Vegas, where there is a giant TV screen that plays a show every hour.

I always wanted to try the frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.  It wasn't in New York, but it was probably just as good.

Dolphins!

Matt and a dolphin.

That is it.  Oh, and I cut my hair short.  And now, the remaining crafty pages from a scrapbook I made for my cousin for her wedding.

muffins and frozen custard and such.

I can't believe it took me until a month ago to try Pandora.  It's all I listen to now.  That said, here is a new post :)

A couple of weeks ago, Matt and I went to DC to visit my dad and meet Mhairi's kids.  Jennie, Sam, & Nora met us there, and Andrew and I got to see each other on the day we left.  We had a great time - exploring DC the first day which included a trip to the spy museum, aerospace museum, and a beautiful architectural museum that I can't remember the name of.  We had some great food, then went to the country.  We took a little trip to a little historical town with some good ice cream (called frozen custard?  what?) and weird re-enactment stuff going on.  Aside from that, there was lots of swimming pool antics, some crazy ass bugs, and a trip that ended with trying to leave from the wrong airport :)  Some of my favorite photos:

 

We have many a house project going on.  Most recently, Matt's been working on the garage, trying a new method to keep it from leaking when it rains.  He power washed all the grime away, etched it with some acid stuff, and sealed it with 5 coats of some sort of chemical paint stuff.  While he was power washing, he made me a little note :)

And yesterday I made these muffins (Matt's alleged favorite) for our anniversary yesterday.  Want to make them?  They're best with fresh blueberries.  Preheat oven to 375.  Melt 6 tbsp. butter in small saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat, and whisk in 1/3 c. milk, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, and 3/4 tsp. vanilla until well combined.  In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 c. flour, 3/4 c. sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 3/4 tsp. salt.  Add milk mixture and stir until just combined.  Gently fold in 2 c. blueberries.  Divide amongst 12 muffin cups.  Then make a delightful topping with 3 tbsp. cold butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes, 1/2 c. flour, and 3 1/2 tbsp sugar.  Mix with your finger tips until crumbly, then crumble over muffins.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Voila.  So yummy.

And some crafty pages.  The last is for a scrapbook I'm making for my cousin Angie for her wedding in September.

the tale of a buhund's ear

Nikki developed a hematoma in her ear on Friday.  Saturday I took her to the vet to have it drained.  It was back within 12 hours, which means surgery was required.  $700 later, the buhunde has a drained her.  You'll see a piece of xray film is holding the ear in place, along with what looks to be 15 to 20 sutures.  What is the most irritating of this experience (aside from the cost) is that we must keep Nikki away from Angus, which is no small task.  Plus we're leaving for DC in 3 days, so we can't even be with her while she heals. :(  In 7 days she  gets a re-check, and in 20 her sutures come out.  It's going to be a long 20 days.  Here are some photos of the poor buhunde (I wish I would've gotten a picture of her hematoma, it was pretty gross).

And this is Nikki's current array of medications.  The Yuk stuff is to keep Angus from licking her (which may have caused the hematoma in the first place).  Poor buhund.

In other news, Matt got a new scooter, and he loves it (so much so I think it's my new competition).  It is indeed pretty fun, and it's about time Matt bought something nice for himself.  He's also endorsed now as a motorcycle guy - something he needed since the scooter is 150cc.

Matt's brother and sister-in-law, Jason & Leah, have been visiting for the past week which has been really great.  However, the highlight has to be the Bare Buns Fun Run at a local nudist ranch - in which Matt and Leah participated.  It was quite the experience for everyone, and both Matt and Leah got to be "nude finishers."  No cameras were allowed, obviously, so here's some proof Matt did it.

And finally, some crafty pages :)

i love you idaho.

This is going to be a very long post.  You are forewarned.

Every 4th of July, Matt's family rents a cabin on Lake Pend Oreille.  And every year, there is a 4th of July parade in nearby Bayview, ID.  Parades in North Idaho are unlike any other you'll ever see.  The awesomeness is below.

That's a camel, not a horse.

Pirates, complete with ship.

The first of several pick-ups decked out in flags.

A gorilla in a car.

Patriotic tractor.

Uncle Sam on poop patrol.

You can barely see it - yes, that is a hot dog being pulled behind this four-wheeler.

To say the least, it was a good time :)

And today, our new little niece was born!  Leigh & Pete welcomed baby Marin to the family.  Mom and baby are doing just fine.  See happy family below (I love this picture).  And happy auntie.

Tonight my task is to send baby pictures to all family.  And make lemon curd and pound cake.  For the British "Taste of the World" dinner this month.  Which I'm not going to go to.  Because I want to go see Marin instead.  At least my lemon curd will be there. :)

And a month's worth of crafty pages!

sick day.

I stayed home sick from work today.  For the whole day.  It was very difficult.  But I am feeling a little better than when I woke up and it gave me an opportunity to work on some crafty stuff.

But first things first.  My new desk!  Isn't it pretty?  And oh so sturdy!  Matt even designed it to make sure my Cricut machine would fit perfectly.  And he did it without me even telling him!  He's such a keeper.

Today I also made some apple crisp to use up some apples that looked like they were on their way out.  So yummy!  I'll even share the recipe with you.  Peel and slice 6 apples (I like to use Fuji or Honeycrisp because they're so sweet).  Put them into a 9x13 dish.  In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup oats, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.  Crumble mixture over the top of the apples.  Then cut 1/4 cup butter into little pieces and sprinkle over the top.  Sprinkle another tablespoon of cinnamon over the top also.  Then bake for 50 minutes at 350.  Voila!

And some crafty pages.  Three (yikes!) of the designs were stolen from Elizabeth Kartchner - I'm really digging her stuff.  I'm cancelling my subscription to Scarlet Lime - the stuff in there is too cutesy and I'm really not liking what I'm making with it.  So here's hoping my layouts will improve once I don't feel like I have to use all of this product that kept coming to me.

crippled pug & new house things

Last weekend Sophster and Angus got into a little tizzle over some kibble.  Normally they just work it out, but this time it appears Sophie got one of her toenails caught on some part of Angus during the brawl.  This resulted in some severing of the toenail, which of course resulted in Soph losing what seemed to be copious amounts of blood.  She had to have the whole nail taken off, and while she was under I had the vet do a dental and remove the wart from her face (such a charming pug!).  Unfortunately, she lost two more teeth.  I will not show you photos of her toothless grin because it's too horrifying.  However, here are some photos of her poor little foot.

And in other news, Matt's making me a desk for all of my crafty stuff!  It's taken him several weekends now, but I have to say it's beautiful.  Look at this craftsmanship :)

And today we spent the whole day doing plant stuff.  My coworker Mark was kind enough to give us some transplants from his immaculate garden in order to turn our flower bed into something other than a showcase of lava rocks.  We also went to a plant sale that was just bananas with people.  They were selling uber cheap shrubs and trees that pretty much just look like sticks but we bought a bunch anyway in the hopes that some may turn into real flowering plants.  We shall see.  But here are before and after pictures of the flower beds, as well as evidence that we planted a tree in the front of our house as well.

The dogs all helped one way or another also...

And finally, a crafty page.

so crafty.

My latest project that I'm a little proud of is below.  I took a collage making "class" with my coworker, Lynn - I use the word class lightly because basically what it involved was a local artist opening up her home and just telling us to "make" - very little direction.  Anyway, the artist has a thing for Frida, and since I do as well I thought it only appropriate to make something Frida-esque.

Even with this awesome new camera dad gave me, I don't quite know how to take a close up without a glare from the flash, so this is as good of a picture as I can get.

I have also been scrappy crafty.  The following pages I made as a birthday gift to dad last week.

Voila!  'Tis all for now.

first things first.

Look at my tulips!  They're peeking!  The north side of Spokane had 4 inches of snow today - needless to say it's nice to see a little green popping up.  I planted these bulbs on the one year anniversary of mom's death, so they've become little symbols of life for me.  It's about time they perked up. :)

 

The other day Sophie hopped up into our breakfast nook to get a little bit of sun closer to the window.  Could she be any cuter behind the curtain?  Seriously.

I just made 30+ baby shower invitations for my supervisor's baby shower, so the crafting output has been low...

That should be it for my Scarlet Lime March kit, which is fine, because I was getting tired of using it.  The OCD in me told me I had to use up all of those supplies before I could move on to something else.  I'm not feeling too inspired by the April kit - too many bright colors - so hopefully I can break out of my mold - we'll see. :)

busy bees~

The last couple of weeks have been crazy!  Two weeks ago Matt and I flew to Denver for some family time.  What a wonderful time - we stayed at a beautiful boutique hotel downtown (for a great rate), had beautiful weather, and ran all around my favorite part of the country.  I miss my family so much - the trip definitely wasn't long enough.  A couple of my favorite photos from the trip:

Then this last weekend, Matt and I stayed at a beach house on the Oregon Coast with some friends.  The weekend was relaxing, and we even had nice weather for part of our stay which meant some very nice walks on the beach.  I am the only one, however, who avoided some really nasty stomach bug at the end of the trip.  Here's hoping I'm still free and clear.  Even while sick, Matt spent a good majority of the time trying to see a whale (weather did not permit any whale watching trips):

I finished A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon a couple of days ago - our latest book club pick.  Excellent read, very smart.  Gotta love those sweet stories of dysfunctional families.

And I found a little of time to scrap - however this is only because I stayed home from work this afternoon due to some body aches and a sore throat.  These are pretty much all versions of layouts done by the Scarlet Lime design team - still working through my kit.

Side note about the "Cabo" layout... I used title letters from Basic Grey from a line called "Sweet Meat" - does anyone else giggle when they hear that?  Maybe it means something wholesome in LDS land, but my mind doesn't work that way.  Teehee.

after a delay.

I haven't been able to do too much papercrafting lately - I wish there was more time in a week.  However, I did take a class recently with the local paper arts store here.  It was kind of like card making boot camp, and I've decided I'm not in love with the designs they had us do.  The class was part of an open house the store did where they invited some designers from a company in Oregon called Daisy Bucket.  The company makes things that are a little too cutesy, which is probably why I don't like these cards, but they at least gave me something to send to my grandma :)  The one I did like will be Andrew's birthday card (can't wait to see you!!).  Here are the cards:

 

Yeah, see?  Too cutesy.

I also joined a club where you're sent coordinating supplies each month.  The club is The Scarlet Lime and I was worried their stuff would be a little too cutesy, but I think I'll be able to do some stuff that's only partly cutesy. :)  Here's a layout I made tonight, which is basically a copy of a layout one of their design team people did because I'm too lazy to do my own.

I accidentally got some vitamin E leftovers on the layout - I keep having to add the stuff to the backs of my hands nearly every hour because my hands are now rejecting this endless winter - I'm nearly bleeding they're so dry.

Am currently reading The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs which is a memoir of an agnostic's quest to live following the bible as literally as possible for a whole year.  The writer is bright, and humorous, and it's teaching me a lot about the teachings of the bible.  Oops, is Bible supposed to be capitalized?  Strike me now.  Anyhoo - it's very apparent how the religious like to pick and choose what they follow. 

Am listening to a lot of Ray LaMontagne.  Think I'm in love.  Sorry Matt.

Can't wait to see my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  2 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!