Youth Conference 2011

At the beginning of July, Dan and I were leaders for the Youth Conference this year at church. Just so happen that our tribe's name was "Dan" :) It was Daniel's first time leading and it was my first year period! We had a wonderful group and my girls were great! I felt like I experienced it from a youth's point of view while also being the responsible adult and making sure no one got in trouble ;) It was a weekend filled with LOTS of games, dancing, good food, community service, and A LOT of fun! One of the perks for me was having a lovely girl named Ali :) who knew how to french braid my hair and I can't french braid and I'm not used to having that, I totally took advantage of her. Every day at 6:30am I walked downstairs.....woke Ali up "Ehhheemmm Ali....hair time....whatcha going to do to me today?" Needless to say, I had my own personal hairstylist with me the entire weekend! Other perks was being able to enjoy the time with  my husband as we did teamwork together to do many activities and had fun doing it. Also, listening to all of the girl's testimonies at night before we went to bed was a definite favorite :) These young ladies (and boys I'm sure) are faced with such hard decisions and adversity in a world that wants them to think it's okay to do all of these non-healthy activities but you better believe our girls are STRONG and stand up for what they believe in! I was surprised to hear how many girls have stood up to people, boyfriends, friends, etc. about their faith and they always chose the right. I am so proud of my girls :) And I hope that all of our young adults will stay strong, hold onto the iron rod, and stay true to their faith! I know they can!

Half of these were my girls mixed with Ben's tribe

You're going to get soaked when you play in the rain!

Approx. 150 teens!

Happy Sweet 16 Kayla!

Hawaiian Themed Dance

Fabric Wreath

Hello all :) I actually completed this project a while back but am just now getting a chance to blog about it. So here it is! One day I will get me a NICE camera instead of just my old digital one so all of my photos will look better.

How to make this? It's pretty easy...until you get to the rosettes. Cut off strips of fabric according to what length or thickness you like. Mine were about 1" X 12". Only tie them in one knot to save on fabric. After you get the entire wreath covered, start making the rosettes. I am NOT a natural at rosette making and honestly you just have to practice, practice, and practice some more. For my rosettes, I used strips that were pretty thick around 2" X 12" and used super glue for making them. Then use left over material from the wreath to create the small "jewels" in the center of the rosette. Since my wreath is not a flat surface, I first hot glued the rosettes to black felt, cut them out, then attached them to the wreath. Again, my camera does NOT do my wreath justice. It's not the best but for my first time, I think it's down right pretty :)

Just Married For All of Time & Eternity

The Louisville Temple

My wonderful hubby and I

My mother, mother-in-law, and father and step-mother

Our friends and Bishop

Playing the restaurant game!

On June 4th, 2011, Dan and I were sealed for all of time and eternity at the temple in Louisville, Ky. It was a wonderful day filled with family and friends. I haven't had my hair done in a long time so I finally went to the salon and had my hair done, did my make up more than usual, and spent a beautiful day in Louisville. We went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards and it was uhmazing!! The raspberry lemon cheesecake was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I have never tasted anything so delicious! :) So Dan and I have started a new journey again and it makes me happy to know I will have my family and husband with me forever :)

Fabric Wooden Circles

Hello everyone! So sorry I have been lacking in the blogging area! My time has been spent with family trials and tribulations, moving, hot water tank breaking and flooding our apartment, great times with friends, needed time with family, and I could go on. Well here is my next great idea :) I got this from another blog and I can't remember which one :-/

STEPS:

1. Bought 5 different sized quilt wooden circles with 5 coordinating fabrics

2. IRON fabrics first!

3. Stretch out over the wood circles and close the clasp at the top. 

4. Cut off excess material and HOT GLUE the extra material around the inside of the circle to hold the fabric in place.

5. That's all!! :)

I still have another project I'm almost done with so stay tuned :) And I promise to blog more!!

{ Pretty Drawer Liners (MY OWN IDEA!!) }

I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I know my blogging and changing of my blog has been on and off lately but right as I was getting back into the swing of things, Dan and I had to move! Moving was easy, the hard part was that our apartment people didn't clean the apartment so in exchange for discounted rent, I offered to clean it myself. PHEWWWW!! Let's just say the job was A LOT bigger than I had expected and needless to say, the people that lived there before us never cared for or cleaned their home. SOOO!! As I am cleaning the kitchen, I had a TO DO list that included buying contact paper because I wanted my drawers to look pretty. Well our budget was low and we had just spent so much money with the new place that I really couldn't buy anything extra AND we had ugly drawers! Well I do LOVE scrapbooking and sitting on the kitchen table 5 feet from me was all of my scrapbook supplies unpacked. Then it HIT me! I could use SCRAPBOOK PAPER!! We got several sheets of the same paper and just cut them to fit the drawers and put TINY pieces of tape down to hold them and WAHLA! I was so proud of  myself for thinking of this on my own :) I have more blog posting to come so keep an eye out!!

<3 Cari <3

WVU GRADUATION!! :)

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and I went to Morgantown, WV where his family lives to watch his cousin, Craig graduate. It was an awesome trip! Of course Dan and I always have a good time riding for hours in the back of a car sharing the back seat and trying to sleep on each other at the same time...it's always the same struggle. I ALWAYS bring a pillow and blanket...Dan NEVER does! So he always tries to bargain with me for a pillow or blanket or something and most of the time one of us is uncomfortable while the other is sound asleep. For example: If he wants to lay on my lap to sleep, I get the pillow and he gets the blanket. But if I lay in his lap then I get the blanket and he gets the pillow. Sooo on this trip, I tried Dramamine for the first time although I kept calling it Dopamine for some reason? I fell asleep, woke up an hour later to stop at a rest area and buddy did I feel drunk? I got out of the car staggering and had to lean on the car while yelling at Dan not to go to far that I wasn't sure I could walk? Haha needless to say, I slept great :) The rest of our stay was great....staying with the in-laws up there and spending time with them was a lot of laughs...for some reason his family likes the fart scene from The Nutty Professor. I laughed at them laughing at the scene...lol who knew it could be so funny.

While also down there to watch Craig graduate, we found out he will be going on a mission to Milan, Italy!! It was awesome! He totally deserves it! So here are a few photos from the trip :)

Craig and Maw Maw

SO MUCH GOOD FOOD!

A NEW look and NEW ideas :)

Well I'm working on making my page super and fabulous instead of just okay so bare with me. I'm still figuring things out as I am quite the blogging newby. Blogging is going to be slow for the next week...Dan and I are in the process of packing and moving while at the same time we just have a lot going on. But I wanted to share a few photos and thoughts, then I'm done for the night! I do have some neat posts coming up so watch out for them!! :)

My Princess Lola :)

 Our 1 year old husky, Niko. I sure didn't find him like this after I got out of the shower.....nope.

Part of my refrigerator art from lots of kids that love me ;)