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IT HAS BEEN A WHILE! My summer has been flooded with doing day camps at my church and taking on many adventures to complete my summer to-do list! I have 3 weeks left till school and so little time! Anyways,my favorite part of prep for camps was decorating the stages for gradeschool and preschool. Here is what I did!

 

 

This was the stage for our wednesday skit.
We had to make a gorge! We used a plank of wood and
turned it into a waterfall then when we knock the tree over
it lays in front so it looks like we are actually walking
across the tree!

Our normal stage!

I decorated tables for registration, memory verse station, and the
candy jar guess station.

I taped ENORMOUS leaves onto poles to place beside
the decorated tables. filled the hallway leading into the big room
and made it feel very tropical.

Turns out that my sister deleted the preschool pictures off of her camera and so I don't have what I did for that stage! I must admit, there was a lot more time and effort put into it so it turned out better.

It has got me pumped for University! I cannot wait to learn even more about design and decorating! I got my textbooks the other day...atleast 50 pounds altogether...and it looks like I will be learning some interesting stuff!

Also, I will be living in residence for the first semester (due to limited funds) and am already starting to pack. God has been so good to me! I know this is the program that he wants me in and lately I have been stressing over having a student loan and being in debt but today I recieved almost $2000 in the Rutherford scholarship and I know for a fact that God has something up his sleeve to get me through the next 4 years! Praise be to HIM!

Blanket, complete!

One thing checked off of my bucket list...Knit a blanket!! It took me probably over a month to do this but I find great peace in knitting for hours on end =]. Chloe seems to quite enjoy it but I may store it away for a future baby blanket or something haha.

OH HAPPY DAY!

I hope everyone had a great Canada day! Mine was spent with my lovely boyfriend =]. He taught me how to drive a standard car, let me watch an episode of Cupcake Wars (that he lovingly recorded for me on his TV!), took me to a Stampeders football game (row 10!), and then went to nosehill park to see fireworks! All in all, it was a very memorable day.


Goodbye June, Hello July!
* The weather has finally started to take a turn for the better...hopefully no more rain this summer!...and I have spent many mornings out on the deck..with a yummy summer salad.. scrapbooking, reading and knitting!

What could be any better! I also started my new job at the church doing day camps. Kids don't start coming till the 18th and so we are doing lots of prep. My sister and I spent 3 hours wrapping string around popsicle sticks! The summer is just getting started =]

WELCOME ROYALS!

*Seeing the welcoming ceremony for Will and Kate on the News made me miss London so much!
I had so many flashbacks as to when I was there =] I also spent the afternoon recapping on their wedding. I cannot wait to look back and say to my children that I witnessed this 'day in History'. It is also great that they are on Canadian soil!

Summer Fun, Here We Come!!

My To-Do list

So far I have 60 things to accomplish!

WISH ME LUCK

Belated First Day of Summer!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER EVERYONE!

In order to get me excited for my first summer spent in Cow Town for the past 4 years I have decided to not let myself waste this summer...get wrapped up in work...or get stressed! For this to happen, I have created an exciting Summer 'To-Do' List filled with activities for memories to be created =]. I am so excited to start checking the boxes! My goal is to look back on this summer and say that it was the best one yet!

Tea Parties

Whenever I see teacups I am reminded of the days where I would raid my mother's makeup bag for lipstick (it was off limits EXCEPT for tea parties!), put on my dress up pearls, pull out the long gloves, and wear my best dress in order to attend an annual tea party with my sister,mom and sometimes grandma.
This made drawing teacups even more meaningful! And now I have a great memory to add to my room =]

Sparkles from the ceiling

I have always been captivated by chandeliers and looking through my Cali pictures I noticed I captured a few pictures of some!

In the future I want to have one but I know they can be quite expensive! Therefore, I will make one =]
There are some pretty easy DIY chandeliers out there...just a matter of attempting this challenge.
Here are a few ideas:

My Favorite! All you need are strands of pearls,
string, hot glue, and a wire coat hanger =]

Perfect for a little girls room! All you need
are paper/foam butterflies, fishing string, ribbon, and a wreath
of some sort (or just use a wire coathanger again).

I would put this outside on a deck or sitting area.
All you need a tealight candles, mini jars,chains,circular
cooling rack, and string.

Cupcakes Galore!

So I am happy to say that my baking collection has GROWN a lot during the past week!
I have introduced....
-Silicone reuseable cupcake cups!
-a can of 'spraypaint' icing
-colorful/patterned cupcake cups
-book of 150 cupcake ideas
-Cake decorating triangle (diff. ridges on each side to make a neat design
in the icing on the side of a cake)
-more piping bags & cuplers
- Neat cake wires to hang ornaments from

and lots more!

You may not share in the excitment that I have but it has motivated me to get some
baking done! Thankfully I have an amazing boyfriend who late me bake for 3 hours at his place
(he even did the dishes!). I got some cupcakes ready for tomorrow night's vancouver vs. Boston
hockey game...having some people come over to watch!

A great Sunday Afternoon =]

Of course you HAVE to watch 'Cupcake Wars'
while baking! =]

My 'Work' Space

First batch: Lemon!

then comes the chocolate!

3 hours later..they are ready for game day!

Such a sweetheart =]

Also, I baked some cupcakes for easter that have been my favorite so far!

Great family dinner (minus nathan)

(now minus dad!)

We also celebrated my beautiful mother's birthday!
Both Ashley and I baked her something =]