a Phoenix Winter

It's easy to forget that it's mid December when you live in the desert. Mother Nature seems to skip over us each year and instead of bringing snowy grey days, we get clear skies and lots of flowers. I can't really complain about either! The Great Grandparents are visiting this week from Washington (another reason to love the desert in the Winter time - everyone wants to come visit!) and on Sunday we went down to their Hotel (this particular Sheraton is one of my favorite places to stay in Scottsdale the grounds are gorgeous!) to hang out with Grandpa Howard and Grandma Judy, soak up a little sun, and take advantage of the pool..... in other words: the recipe for a perfect Sunday afternoon!  

I spent all of last week asking Chase if he knew who was going to come visit us, sometimes it helps to prepare him in advance for changes to his schedule. We also think it helps him to not be so shy and upset.  The first time I asked him, he answered Mickey Mouse?  *Laugh* and then at some point he decided that Grandpa Howard and Grandma Judy were just as good as Mickey & Minnie. He also decided they were coming here to celebrate their birthdays. So, we got to hear him practice his Happy Birthday song for his Great Grandparents for days! :)  

  

Hope you having a great start to the week! 

xo ~ Tara

a little of alot

The end of summer (the kids staying home part of summer, not the actual summer) kind of came up out of nowhere. There was back to school shopping, meetings, back to school nights, Dr. apts., more back to school shopping, and then there were all the things that I wanted to do with the kids before they got too busy with the new school year. Plus, I hadn't finished my summer reading book-list and there was a bunch of scrapbooking type projects to start. I needed to prioritize, which meant cutting back on things that I felt take up time that I always seem to be limited on. Blogging, I have a love-hate relationship with my blog. Sometimes it can be fun, sometimes I get almost resentful because I feel like it's eating up time I could be spending doing something else, and sometimes I just forget that it's even here. Love-hate at it's best. 

Then, I woke up today, peeked outside to see low grey clouds blanketing the mountains behind the house, the light tink-tink-tink of rain on the tiled roof above, and I thought: today is the day. Funny how the onset of a cloudy-drizzly day can make a hectic schedule seem to slow down to a much needed relaxed pace. 

So, here I sit... rambling about a few things I've done recently. The most recent is my color post with Crate paper. Colors that border slightly on Summer and a little on Fall. I have all these ideas floating about for Autumn color combinations but I have to be patient and wait! 

 I'm not sure how I ended up being so lucky but these friends came to spend last weekend with us. It's the second time in almost 2 months that we've gotten a chance to spend time with them both! (Jessica somehow convinced Jeff, or Jeffy as my kids like to call him, to drive up to my mom's house while we were there in July) and now she's done it again and they drove down to our little house in the desert last week. How does she do it??!! The last time they visited us in AZ I made up a welcome basket to greet them. This time I decided to forgo the idea of the basket and instead create a welcome jar! I tied this idea into my It's a Wrap post for Crate, there's more photos and details over on the Crate blog. Jessica had hinted that she'd really like a travel kit with the main colors of coral & grey ~ I have such subtle friends. ;) So, off I went to gather all sorts of small embellishments, some new, some found and alot handmade! It's probably one of my most favorite projects that I've put together, I love giving things away, but the idea of filling a jar with little things that I knew she would treasure was the best!

Jessica and I spent the entire weekend gabbing on about upcoming events and collaborations we want to do again, playing in my craft room, digging through my massive collection of fabric, hunting for treasures at a local antique store and cooking up a storm. I haven't cooked so much in a very long time - thank goodness I like to prepare and plan out my menus ahead of time! They sure come in handy when you've been out and about all day. Jessica and Jeff departed on Tuesday after the kids were off to school. The house seemed strangely quiet and empty, I missed them both as soon as they left. I'm truly thankful for how the internet brings people together like - Jessica and I (we met through Flickr, 5 or 6 years ago.) I only wished we lived closer together or at least in the same state! 

Because it's blazing hot outside still, sometimes food looses it's appeal and we end up making smoothies for breakfast, snacks, desserts. I think the kids and I have combined every possible fruit and yogurt together! I love honey-dew mixed with anything, Alaina likes peaches and berries together and Chase, my simple little guy, opts for just strawberries. We make a dessert smoothie of bananas, frozen chocolate yogurt, marshmallow fluff and ice of course.... it's amazing and I don't even particularly like bananas! ;)

I've acquired a few new instruments over the summer, with more on the way this month. Pretty

  soon I may be able to open up my very own instrument museum! jk.... sorta. Lastly just some random photos, they were too pretty not to share, as soon as our heat breaks, another month or 2, I'm taking the kids to the botanical gardens - it will be good to get outside after hibernating all summer long. One of the downfalls of life in the desert - our summers that last up to 5 months. After the 3 week vacation this summer, I'm almost convinced that I'd like to live in California again. Jessica tried for 4 days to convince Peter to move us closer to her, so her and I could be neighbors.... I think it sounds like a fantastic idea! 

Well friends, I need to prep the house tonight before the next set of guests find their way here tomorrow evening. Here's to great friends, being creative, and little kids that make life fun! Good night! 

friends, food & kids

These past 5 days have been super quiet. The kids and I have been house/dog sitting and we've been a bit confined to the house... which I wasn't totally expecting but when life hands you lemons you invite everyone to come over and see you instead! Peter's family was able to come spend the day with us on Wednesday and 2 of my favorite crafty friends arrived to spend Thursday and Friday with us!

Jessica from Srumdillydiily blog and her equally creative husband Jeff came to stay the night with us while passing through town on their way to Nevada. They arrived with gifts and were met by 2 very enthusiastic kids! It's been a little over 2 years since we've seen them in person and both Alaina & Chase were set on making up for lost time it seemed. Jeff is so incredibly patient with them both, I don't know how he does it!  Alaina somehow convinces him to play Barbies or in this case Monster High dolls with her and both kids tend to see Uncle Jeff as a jungle gym.... poor guy. :) Jessica and I got to discuss all of our upcoming crafty/blogging ideas - I'm so excited to get back home and get to work. I need to be creative - I miss my craft stuff!

While our guests were visiting, I got to play the role of a cook and planned a little menu around locally grown fruits, veggies and honey. Have I mentioned how much we're enjoying the home-grown produce! For breakfast the menu was: white peach/blueberry or blackberry shortcakes with fresh whipped cream & wildflower honey served with roasted chicken-apple sausage.

and for lunch I've been playing with my mom's panini maker. I'm not sold on the idea of absolutely needing one but they are kind of fun to use! We made 2 types of paninis, one being more of a grilled lunch sandwich: roasted turkey, bacon, tomato, spinach, red onion, avocado, mozzarella, with dill mayo on a garlic french bread. Then we tried a sweeter version with blackberries, honey and basil leaves, which I think I'll make a few adjustments to today and then try them again!

My parents are on their way back from North Carolina tonight (little sister graduated from Army boot camp this week!) and then we have 2 days of playing and shopping before we fly home to AZ. Got to make these last couple of days count!

The last couple days

I think, these will be the last photos of Oregon for us. The kids and I are all sick and we've decided just to call it a day, or a week rather and head back to Cali. I am happy with the photos I have this summer of the beach and the kids though! I left the scrapbook I made at home, so I've been dreaming up ideas of what photos I want to add to it. Decisions, decisions!

Today, I popped into a few antique stores, for the past 2 years I've been lucky enough to find a Kodak Brownie camera and at the last minute today I glanced down into a glass case to find an old box style! And it was one that I didn't have yet - even better! I was also able to pick up a few sewing notions and if I have some spare time next week while at my moms I was hoping to sneak in a little craft time with a good friend - fingers crossed!

 

We have an early wake up call and a 9 hour drive ahead of us, so I'm turning in early. I'll be back with some photos from our road trip tomorrow or as soon as I get them edited, which ever comes first! :)  Have a great weekend!