Full Weekend!!

Wow!  We had quite the week followed by a pretty busy weekend!

It all started a couple weeks ago.  I serve in the Young Women's Organization for our Church.  We have a Person Progress Program where Young Women ages 12-18, do Experiences & Projects to earn a Young Womanhood Recognition.  One of the Young Women in our ward was working on one of her projects, and decided to have a benefit garage sale for a family with a terminally ill father in our community.  She asked me a few weeks ago if she could hold it at my house because #1 I had a bigger yard than her, and #2 my house in a good location for a garage sale.  Of course I agreed.  So, this past week we have been getting donations from people all over our city for this garage sale, and we have been storing them in my garage. Thursday we took everything out and condensed it for more room...

 By Friday night, it was completely filled again.  She had a great response and got way more donations than we ever thought!
 Saturday, was very busy.  It started at 6am with getting everything out of the garage & into the yard.  We had the whole front yard filled and a good portion of the back yard too!  I wish I would have taken a picture! I went inside at 8am because I had company staying with us.  They ended up selling A LOT, but did have to donate what was left to the Idaho Youth Ranch by the end of the day.  Briant helped them clean up after he returned from his camp-out.
 I am so proud of this Young Women and all that she earned for this family.

We bought a table from the yard sale!  We couldn't pass it up.  It has two leaves that can be inserted, so we will be able to use it for a while!

At 1PM my Aunt Pam had her Annual Birthday Party.  Briant was at a camp-out, so I went and had a ton of fun.  The weather was perfect!  She always has a scavenger hunt first. Part of the hunt was making a bouquet from her flower patch. Notice my flower arrangement on the table (picture above).  We also did squash bowling, apple throwing, seed naming, & potato digging. Then she had "The Amazing Race" in her corn patch.  I think it was my favorite part of the party!

We ended with dinner and prizes!  I got an awesome Cookbook!  Thanks Pam for an awesome party!

That night, Mom, Julie and I went to the Relief Society Broadcast.  We received great counsel from the RS Presidency and our Prophet.  Got to love the refreshments after too!

Sunday, we went up to Rexburg for my new baby nieces blessing.  She looked beautiful in her dress.  I will probably go up next week to take some pictures of her.  I did get a few of her after church at the luncheon... with other people holding her...

It was such a good day.  Chelsea is so precious!  My sister in law's family is really fun, and it was fun talking with them and getting to know them. Thanks Johnson Family!  

It's good to visit with our family too.  While I was visiting, taking pictures, & holding Chelsea, Briant had a good time playing with our nieces.  Kaite loved playing "tennis" with him, and he and Kami had a good time taking pictures.  Poor Kami, she broke her coller bone this past week... but it doesn't seem to phase her one bit, she's still the same Kami.

Before we all left, we got a group picture.  We are missing 6, but here is most of the family.

 I like this one a lot, it shows our true personalities!!  Ha ha!

We got other funny pictures while we were waiting...

Special Saturday

Today, was a very special day.

Briant told me this morning when I woke up that he had received a text early this morning, informing us that we have a new niece!  Apparently I slept through it... I was zonked out after our late night drive home from Provo.  More on that another day...

But, that's not all that made this day special.  My niece Ashley, got baptized today.  It was absolutely wonderful, and the spirit was strong!  She looked so beautiful & she could be seen smiling ear to ear all day long!  I can't believe she grew up that fast!!!  We love you Ashley, and we are SO proud of you and your decision to be baptized!

All the family, near & far came for the special occasion, and as always it's fun to visit!  I always wish the days were just a little longer on the days we are all together!

On our way home we stopped in to see Chris & Chantelle and their new bundle of joy!!

Meet, Chelsea Ramona.  Born at 5:02AM, weighing in 6 lbs 15 oz

I instantly fell in love... and she's not even mine.  

I always forget how tiny they are.  She is so precious, & I just love her.

Can you tell, I am a very proud Auntie!?!

I'm A WINNER!!!

I finally got to go to the fair today!!!  I've been waiting and waiting to find out if my pictures did well.  I only submitted three photos this year.  I was going to submit four but I changed my mind last minute because one of them wasn't up to my standard.  I have learned over the years that you can't put a picture up for the whole world to see unless you yourself think it is perfect.  If you think it has a flaw, guaranteed the judges will too.

ANYWAY, this is what I found...

YEAAH!!!!!  I'm pretty sure I screamed out loud when I saw my FIRST blue ribbon.  I think everybody turned and looked, but I didn't care!  And I was even more excited that I got two ribbons!!!

Photoshoots

For those of you who didn't know... I take Portrait Pictures!!
You can see the latest pictures I've taken here: http://MelissasPicts.blogspot.com/ 
I just put up pictures of Mahon & Cindy and Miles & Sheri, and am pretty proud of the results.  Here is a little taste of what you'll see...

2010 Annual Camping Trip

This year we went on our first real camping trip together.  First, let me give you a little history... just to clear a few things up.

It has been said before that Briant hates camping.  I feel the need to clarify a little in his behalf.  Growing up, Briant went on many camping trips as a Scout.  In fact he told me that he even earned his Camping merit badge.  He also went camping with his family, and has been a quite a few camping trips since he was put in as a leader a couple years ago.  So he isn't short on experience.  However, his experience hasn't always proved to be good.  When you go camping with a bunch of Boy Scouts, you don't always get the sleep you need... and that seems to be the case as to why he didn't always enjoy it.

When I tell people that Briant doesn't love camping, their first reaction is that he doesn't like getting his hands dirty and that he is a sissy.  This definitely isn't the case.  Growing up, Briant spent a lot of his time each summer building tree forts behind his house.  He doesn't have a problem being in the woods.  I think, he just enjoys other things more than camping.

I've been wanting to go camping for a while.  In fact you may remember, the year we got married...

I set up the tent in the back yard...

...which ended with one of us going in at 6 am because it was too cold.

Okay, back to our camping trip.  I've wanted to give Briant a 'good camping experience' since we got married.  We left Friday afternoon.  I could tell Briant was dragging his feet a little as we were packing up, I think because he didn't know what to expect.  Briant likes things to be well planned, and when he doesn't know how they will turn out... he gets nervous.

We went to Big Elk Camp Grounds, just south of Palisades Reservoir. 

We got there, around 5:30 and we started to set up.  We set up the tent, I got the fire started so it would be ready for our dinner, and Briant put together our camp stove.  When he finished he said, "That wasn't as complicated as I thought it was going to be."  I was like, "Yeah, that's why I wanted to bring it!"

Then, we put our dinner on the coals!  TIN FOIL DINNERS... Mmmmm!  I didn't take as long as I thought it would; I think putting rocks in the fire was a genius idea!

After dinner we doused the fire & went for a stroll by the lake.

We saw a crane, fish jumping, oh and those cute little furry chipmunks.  That night we roasted Starburst, made a smore, and talked under the stars.  We watch the moon rise and saw a bat fly over our heads.  We actually could have used a card game to occupy the time... but while I was packing I was thinking more about everything we would need to eat good & sleep comfortably, not stuff to play with. 

We slept great that night!!!  For breakfast we had buttermilk pancakes and bacon!  They turned out perfect.  Cooking on that stove was better than my stove at home... everything cooks way more evenly.

After we did the dishes, we packed up to go home.  I was taking the tent to the car and guess what I saw?  All the car doors open and one of those cute furry chipmunks.... IN OUR CAR!!!  I did get a video but it is way too long to put up, and our friend only made a tiny appearance.  We ended up taking everything out again but never saw the chipmunk leave.  We loaded everything back in, really not knowing if he was still in there.  I was so paranoid the whole drive home.

We had to stop by the reservoir, it was beautiful!

Overall we had a great trip, and in the end Briant agreed to have an annual camping trip!!! YEAH!

Great Sunset!

I LOVE great sunsets... and the ability to be spontaneous!

Growing & Flowering Yard

As promised I held myself back from putting on TONS of pictures of my garden(s)... like I did last year! That is, I've held back until now, for a very important reason...

MY LILY'S BLOOMED!!!

These are Star-Gazer Lily's, which are my favorite!

Their color is vibrant, & their scent is infectious!!!

 I planted these babies last fall, so you can see why I was so anxious, and excited when they finally bloomed this week!

 My Sunflowers are getting really tall, and I have a few that have bloomed as well. I can't wait for the really tall ones to bloom, that will be awesome!

My vegetable garden is doing really good this year as well!  As you can see below, I have a ton of Tomatoes, and they are just turning red... and orange (depending on what kind they are).  My favorite little tomato has changed.  I used to love Sweet 100s, because my Grandma helped me love them.... but now my new favorite is SUN SUGARS!!!  They are orange when they are rip and they are much sweeter than the average tomato.  If you look close they are on the right side of this picture.

I've cut off my lettuce twice now.  Of coarse I planted too much, but I did that on purpose so I could share :)

I picked my first Roma tomato today.  Pretty soon I'll hopefully be making my own Salsa!

I love to watch the garden(s) grow.  I love seeing the fruit of my labors.  But best of all, I love the FRESH taste of veggies right out of the garden.... and seeing beautiful flowers right out my front window!