In Truth...

... we really went to Vegas.

I'm not real happy with this picture but it's the only one we got with "the sign" so ignore the glasses and the hair- it was windy!

Travis had regional meetings in Las Vegas and spouses are invited so we made a trip of it. We actually went a night early and stayed in the Luxor which was interesting. The elevators don't go straight up, but at an angle parallel to the pyramid face (if that makes sense). And all the rooms open to the humongous atrium. I'm not afraid of heights but I have to admit that when I looked down I was a little surprised!

Trav's meetings were actually held at Lake Las Vegas which is about 20 minutes from the strip, so we spent the rest of our nights at a nice resort there.

This was our first time in Vegas, and I just have to say that that place is over the top! We don't do the gambling thing but we enjoyed visiting the varied scenery, just watch out where you look! We didn't see everything but of the things we saw my favorite was the water show at the Bellagio! I took a video but it was pretty lame, so I've youtubed it for you if you feel so inclined.

The last night of meetings was an awards dinner so this is us all dressed up ready to go eat.

We had a great time. The End.

Around the World in 72 Hours

I have the most amazing trip to tell about. Travis and I had the opportunity to visit some of the world's most wonderful places all in the course of one long weekend. I know that this seems impossible to some, but I have pictures to prove that we there and that we enjoyed ourselves.

First stop on our whirl wind trip:

New York

The skyline was lovely and the frrrozen hot chocolate from Serendipity's was delish.

Just a quick flight later:

Paris

















The Eiffel Tower was much prettier at night but I couldn't get a good picture.

A few hours later we were in:

Venice

I wish I had more pictures, but I was too excited to be back in Italy to do much with my camera.

The next day we made it to:

Egypt
Everything here was so much bigger than I could ever imagine!

Now this is where our world trip got a little unconventional. We were able to cash in a few favors, barter for our first born, and one of us may or may not have sold our soul to make it to:

M&M World
I think Red is checking me out! Creepy!

And back in time to sail the seven seas on a:

Pirate Ship
Travis was almost captured, but don't worry I rescued him.

Then to round off the weekend we dined at in rock n' roll land at:

The Hard Rock CafeLets just say the climate was rockin'.

It was an amazing weekend. And even though I am exhausted and probably won't make it through the work week at least I have a good story to tell.

We Would Walk 500 Miles

Can you tell what this is a picture of?
It is a hand cart wheel. And that is what we did this weekend. We had the opportunity to go with the youth of our church on a pioneer reenactment trek. We were asked at the last minute to fill in for another couple, to be Ma and Pa to 14 young adults between the ages 13 and 17. At first I was nervous about the whole experience and wasn't sure I would be able to pull it all together in time, but we had a lot of help and it worked out great. In fact we had a fabulous time.
The kids in our family were amazing! Hardly any complaining despite the fact that they hiked 14 miles the first day while pulling handcarts. And when we finally got to camp that night all they got for dinner was a cup of broth and a roll. They worked really hard and formed strong bonds of friendship. The Ma's and Pa's were not allowed to pull the handcarts, which I guess was nice, but in truth I wanted to help out the kids and felt bad to just be walking along side. So instead I took lots of pictures.

Pulling the handcart up a hill.

And pulling it down another hill.

Along with the hiking and pulling we were able to do some fun pioneer activities, including learning how to throw a hatchet, shooting black powder rifles, pulling taffy, plowing a field, stick pulling, a few relay races and a lot of dutch oven cooking. They even let us wash our hair one day which was a great relief to me.

Ma practicing hatchet throwing.

Pa overseeing the family activities.

Here we are working hard at looking good. (Can you believe that dress? My mom actually wore it 30 years ago! I had to trim off some of the lace- yikes! But I got a lot of compliments).

Overall it was a humbling but incredible weekend. Even looking back on those times when I realized that I would make a horrible pioneer, I'm so glad that we were able to have this experience. The strangest thing about it all is to come back to the real world filled with cell phones, flushing toilets and blogs. I didn't even miss them (well maybe the toilets and the showers!) But now I miss my "kids" and wonder how they're doing, if they are getting enough food, if they have blisters on their feet, if they are warm enough at night, if they are being good. I can't wait to see them again!

Happy Monday

It sure doesn't feel that Happy to me. I am working 4-10's for the next two months and I thoroughly enjoyed my long weekend, but had a hard time having to contemplating another week. To distract myself from the pain, I'm posting about two things I did this weekend.

This bag is made from this free pattern. I was a nervous that I would have a hard time with it, I've never done anything with pleats. But actually it was straight forward. I want to make another one that is a little sturdier, maybe add a thin batting. We'll see.

I've been working on this Heather Ross charm square quilt for a little while, but just got it all quilted and the binding sewn on. Except for the two trips to the store to buy thread it went smoothly. I still need to stitch the binding to the back (note the pins) but I couldn't resist showing it and introducing you to my 2 favorite blocks:

Goldie & Swimmy
Malcom & Whit

Hope you make it through Monday to have a terrific Tuesday.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I know that everyone out there has that special recipe for something and they claim that theirs is the best. Which can be kind of annoying, because really how do they know? Have they tried every single variation of that recipe in the world? I doubt it. And if they had, then it is nothing to brag about because that just means they wasted way to much time trying to prove their recipe. That being said, here is the best homemade ice cream recipe that I have tried yet.

Homemade Ice Cream

4 eggs (use pasteurized in the carton)

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 cups milk

4 cups cream

2 tbls vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

It is important to first beat the eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy, then add everything into your ice cream canister. At this point you can add other items for flavor variations: including brownie, strawberries, Oreos, cookie dough, etc.

Our favorite variation is Cherry Chocolate Chip

20 oz bottle maraschino cherries (drained and blended)

12 oz mini choc chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 tsp almond flavoring (replaces the vanilla) don't leave this out, it makes all the difference!

When freezing your concoction use plenty of rock salt with your ice and be sure that the water can drain out the hole. This prolongs the freezing process which creates a creamier product.

Slide Rock

For Memorial Day we took a scenic drive with our friends Andrea and Nate and their baby Carson. They are moving in a couple weeks and wanted to see a different part of Arizona before they left. We were just excited to get out of the heat.
We drove north through some small towns including: Wickenburg, Prescott and Jerome. Before coming home we stopped in Sedona to visit Slide Rock. The water was freezing! And there were a ton of people (the park ranger said that Memorial Day is the busiest day of the year). You can tell from the pictures that we had varying degrees a good time. Then we came home. It was a lot of driving to do in one day, but the scenery and company were nice and Carson was a travelling champ.

Runners on the Table

I've been working on table runners for the past few weeks and I thought I would share pictures.

One for a friend who is moving away.

(Pattern: Wild Thing, Fabric: Chocolate Lollipop)

One for a sister-in-law who got married.

(Log Cabin Blocks, Fabric: mostly Allspice Tapestry)

And one for me but it isn't finished yet so you don't get a picture. When I get it done I'll show it to you along with our new dresser. But here is a closer look at my quilting. Stippling is harder than it looks and in truth I think the first was better than the second, I hope I'm not getting worse.