California Vacation - Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - We worked during the day, but got to spend lots of time playing at night. We went back to an old familiar routine, had dinner and FHE with the Fairchild and Stauffer families. Yummy food, good company, kids playing, what more could you ask for?



Day 4 - Not as smoothe as day 3. Zoe and I took a trip to the mall that turned into a nightmare. Another cut toe on the other foot. Two potty accidents in two different stores. It's a shock we even had time to buy anything we were so busy with traumatic experiences. But the evening ended with girl talk, ice cream and coke, so it turned out ok. Oh, AND I got to eat at my favorite Mexican place, Mas! Thanks to my in-laws :)



Even though I'm on vacation I wanted to share a quick card that I made. It's a money holder card on the inside. I'm thinking I'll use it for my 15 year old brother's birthday in November.

We're heading down to the Bay area tomorrow to go see cousins and visit some fun places. Look for pictures to come!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

California Vacation - Day 1 & 2

We made it!



After 12 hours + 3.5 stops + lots of movies, we arrived safe and sound.



The majority of our drive is through the Nevada dessert, which is usually hot and not so fun to look at, but at sunset, it improves slightly and turns a beautiful golden color.

Yesterday, we went back to the Fountains, and relived our old Saturday routine. Walking around the shops and having Noodles & Co. for lunch. Ryan graciously took me to Green Tangerines, in return for a trip to Fry's. At Fry's, I sliced open my toe on the shopping cart. Yeah, that was fun.

Last night we stopped by two different church parties and got to see lots of old friends. It was great to surprise so many people. Zoe had a blast running around with so many kids. She was thoroughly exhausted when we got done.

Today, we're laying low, hanging with Ryan's parents and awaiting a gourmet meal cooked by my father-in-law. I miss having 9 am church. It was nice to get up and go, and then have the rest of the day to spend together.



On a scrappy note - Over at Paper Issues, there's a new theme up, Learning Curve. My projects are HERE & HERE.

I'm linking up some older projects, as school hasn't started yet for us (still on summer vacation) but you can bet you will be seeing some First day of school layouts from me around the 12th when Zoe and Ryan both start school.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

2011 - The year of the moves

We are moving again. Yep, again.

We are crazy. We are moving in 15 days. 10 of those days we will be on vacation.

We are crazy.



But, we're doing what we need to do. Just days ago, Ryan & I decided returning to Rexburg to have him finish his degree there was the right thing to do for our family.  Yesterday, he searched the tiny town for a place our family could call home, thankfully he was successful.



We'll be returning to the 5 square mile town, with smiles but sad hearts.

Utah has been good to us this summer.  I am especially sad we're missing the state fair. I was *really* looking forward to some deep fried twinkies.



But, on the bright side....I'll be back by my favorite cupcake shop!

I'm still got 20 flavors to try and photograph.



Leave it to me to be scrapping when I should be packing.

Like I've said before I have a really hard time scrapping event photos. I don't know if it's the pressure of doing justice to the wonderful memories or if I just prefer the everyday stuff.



I haven't done too many pages of Zoe's 3rd birthday. We had a pirate party, complete with eye patches. I'm so glad I took a photo of everyone in the eye patches, it will bring me smiles for years to come.

Have a wonderful weekend and friends on the East coast, stay safe!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Wordless Wednesday

Ok almost, I have a hard time not typing anything.

These are more forgotten pictures from our trip to apple hill last year.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

More Cards & a Tutorial

As you can probably tell from these cards, I am more than ready for Fall!

Although we'll be enjoying the last few weeks of summer in sunny California, so it won't be all bad :)

This final card I made using a sketch from CARDS Magazine.

I don't have a scalloped circle punch or a flower punch,

 so I improvised and came up with a new way to make a flower.

1.You will need 1" circle punch (Martha Stewart), a heart punch (Martha Stewart), adhesive, patterned paper or cardstock. Optional - buttons, brads or other circular embellishment

2. Punch one circle

3. Punch 4 hearts. You can use all the same papers or different.

4. Figure out how you want to arrange them. (I only used to colors so not a lot of choices for me)

5. Cover the circle with adhesive.

6. Add your first two hearts, pointed end touching each other. 

7. Add a bit more adhesive.

8. Add the other two hearts, pointed ends touching.

 Now you can be done here, but I wanted to add a bit more depth to mine.

9. Options I thought of were, another punched circle, buttons, brads...etc.

10. I layered a coordinating punched circle, a button and some twine. Voila! You've got a fun little flower for your projects. If you had an electronic die cutter, you could make these in all sorts of sizes.

XOXO,

Holly & Co,

I've been reviewing all our pictures from summer, trying to figure what I haven't scrapped yet. I found this sweet picture of my sister Natalie, holding my niece Eliza.

Jenni, this page is for you.

This page started out totally different than it ended, but I love it just the same.



I made some cards last night, using new AC NightFall, with some odds & ends from my stash. Those, along with a tutorial will be up on the blog in the next few days.



We're gearing up for our trip to California next week. We're going back to Sacramento to visit Ryan's family + some friends. I petitioned to throw a day trip to Santa Cruz in the mix, since our last planned trip there was foiled by illness. I'm hoping we'll get to visit our old favorite yogurt bar, and my fave Mexican place, Mas, but those are further down on the list than several people we know and love :)



Have a great weekend!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Wordless Wednesday

Well Almost. :)



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Honey Bun

I'm so excited about this page.

I went to Archiver's on Friday and picked up some new Amy Tan stuff.

I adore these thickers, and I got to use my bee stamp from my March Studio Calico kit!

I was so excited to have a legitimate reason to use the stamp!



These pictures were from the first time Zoe tasted honey sticks at the Highland Fling. We had so much fun tasting the interesting flavors.  Pink Lemonade was the weirdest flavor we tried, but they had all sorts of flavors at the booth; black licorice included.



I can't believe August is half over already, it's gonna be time to start shopping for school supplies soon. I have always enjoyed that ritual every September. Zoe will hopefully be starting preschool and ballet in the next few weeks. I'm excited for her to be back around kids during the day. I pretty sure she's entirely bored with us and ready for some peer interaction on a daily basis. I'm just excited for the photographic opportunities.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Scrappy Sunday - Let's Ride

There's a new theme up at Paper Issues this week, Let's Ride.



I posted about our little 24 hour trip a few weeks ago. I thought it was a perfect fit for the theme.



Head on over to the Paper Issues blog and link up your projects!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Under the Weather

Hello friends.

I am feeling a bit under the weather this week, and therefore have spent a lot of time in bed or on the couch.



But I thought I would share with you some yummy recipes I've made as of late.



PRETZEL BITES

GRILLED BRUSCHETTA CHICKEN

Happy Friday!

XOXO,

Holly & Co.



Because what's better than a snow cone?

These pictures were too much fun not to scrap right away.

 I pulled out a kit of papers from last year full of bright and happy colors!



Zoe had so much fun at the Highland fling, she keeps asking to look at pictures of her, "butterfly face."



Today I gave blood so I'm feeling a little tired, but the arrival of my Studio Calico August kit perked me up!



I'm now scrapping away some of my favorite pictures from the summer!



Happy Tuesday!

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Alpine Fling

Each town/city here in Utah has some form of summer festival.

 American Fork Steel Days, Payson Onion Days, Provo Freedom Festival....and we have Alpine Fling! {There are several, and I mean several other summer festivals, but it would be redundant to list them all}

The day started out with watching the parade and cheering on my brother playing in the marching band. Zoe loves watching all the people in the parade, her commentary almost makes up for the fact that we've seen the same parade a dozen times. But we always love screaming when we see , "Uncle Ben!"

 After the parade broke-up, we ventured over to the carnival across the street, and Zoe enjoyed all the different booths, most of them with fun things to giveaway. {See balloon flower above}

Zoe also had her first taste of honey sticks, from a local vendor. We tried several interesting flavors for honey, pink lemonade, banana, strawberry, sour apple and orange. Natalie and I reminisced about how the local beekeeper used to do a presentation and sell honey sticks at our preschool. Ahh...memories. :)

Zoe wanted to get "make-up" and surprisingly waited in a moderately long line for her turn.

She got a beautiful half purple and blue butterfly - with glitter.

She managed to keep it on for 5 seconds before smudging it. 

After 30 minutes she begged me to wipe it off.

Next up was a pony ride. This little girl was thrilled.

She adores horses and especially getting to pet or ride them. 

This pony ride was several minutes longer than her usual rides at Thanksgiving point. 

Definitely got our money's worth.

We finished up our carnival experience with a snow cone. {and corn dogs and cotton candy, not pictured :)}

I mean what's the point of a carnival, if you don't indulge a little in the amazing food?

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Best Buds

There are few things better in life than seeing old friends. Truly, I love it!

Yesterday we reunited after 8 long months with the best next door neighbors ever!



The Stauffers were in town for a family wedding, and thank goodness they had a few hours to spare with us.

The kids had such a great time together. Alone there was an incident with a tooth, but overall it was a great time.



We took the boys to our splash park and a good time was had by all. Jamie is an awesome burrito wrapper, so I took advantage of their lack of motion to try and snap a group picture. These are my attempts.



Ryan made his 'famous' tacos and guacamole for dinner and we tried a new recipe for dessert, Coca-Cola Cake..........YUM! Absolutely delicious. HERE is the recipe.



Thankfully we are going to get to see all these visitors again shortly when we take our trip out to California, we avoided tearful goodbyes this time.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

A little distracted

This summer has been quite busy for us, busier than normal. Utah is the hub for both sides of my family, and it seems there is an endless supply of people coming to visit. Not that I'm complaining, but it makes for days full of laughing, remembering old times, fun activities and nights spent playing games, eating good food and talking for hours.

Last weekend, Ryan's parents were in town. It has been 8 months since we've seen them. WAY TOO LONG, in my opinion. We got them all to ourselves for 4 whole days. It was wonderful. Julie and I visited many a fabric store, and I even decided to make a quilt! Ryan attended Dan's class (which was the driving force behind the trip) We ate at a lot of yummy places, including the Brazillian restaurant, Tucano's!

I didn't bring my big camera with us while we were in Salt Lake on Monday, but thank goodness for my iPhone and Instagram. Here's a few pictures I snapped on our last day.

I forgot how giant and beautiful this temple is. It had been 5 years since Ryan and I had been to the Salt Lake Temple, and we decided we need to go back more than once every 5 years. It's such a peaceful, remarkable place.

Today, we get to have a short few hour visit with Ryan's sister and tomorrow we'll be spending the afternoon with our long lost friends, the Stauffers :)

Next week, more old friends on the agenda.

As you can see, we've been busy. Lately, I've been working on my SMASHbook, documenting our summer, rather than layouts, oh yeah, and working on my quilt. 

Hope you're having a wonderful summer!

XOXO,

Holly & CO.