Ryder's Birth Announcement

I posted before that I did a photo shoot for my new nephew, Ryder.
I also created the birth announcements for them.
Now that they have been out and circulated, I can share this with you!
Isn't it precious?
I love him!

xxooxxoo
Talia

Things that make me smile...

I made a list of thing that make me smile to make me feel better.
Here they are:

Things that make me smile:

-laughing so hard that I cry. {or snort}

-staying in a bubble bath until all the bubbles are gone.

-when a storm turns into a light drizzle right before I go outside.

-when everything you are cooking gets done at the same time.

-when my iPod shuffle reads my mind.

-when I forget I ordered something online and then it randomly shows up. 

{happens all the time, I'm just really forgetful}

-a little kid who is at the age where they say "hi" to everyone.

-catching up to a car that just passed me at the red light.

-when someone leaves a building at the same times as I do so I don't have to touch the door.

-when a red light turns green as I approach it.

-staying up so late that everything is funny.

-somehow waking up at the right time even though I forgot to set my alarm clock.

-when the person I'm meeting is even later than I am.

-dancing like a dork when you're home alone.

-when a cop finally passes me after following behind me for a what seems like forever.

-when my pup is really excited that I'm home.

-popping bubble wrap.

-when I'm really tired and about to fall asleep and someone (it's usually my mom... never my husband) throws a blanket on me.

-when you come home to a crock pot dinner that smells irresistible.

-when I wake up to puppy kisses.

-when I realized everything that happened, fell perfectly into place.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

So Ryan & I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary!
Can you believe it?
I can't.

A whole year went by.

Somehow by having a wedding anniversary, I feel accomplished and old.

Yup.

Somehow...

Accomplished because we made it a year (without Ryan dying).

Old because now I have wedding anniversaries.

We celebrated by traveling up to the San Juan Island and Orcas Island.
It is incredibly gorgeous up there.

That's saying a lot from a girl who grew up living in the Columbia Gorge area.

Here are a few pictures from our trip!

Sunset on "Grandma's Cove"

English Camp Beach

Moran State Park... This is one of my favorite pictures.

This is my beautiful baby!

This is the hubs!

They had Blackberry Barbeque Sauce. Yummmmm! I also had Hush Puppies for the 1st time. So Good.

I love the beach. It's one of my favorite places. So peaceful.

This is me... Hair all crazy in the wind and all!

Again... My beautiful baby.

Grandma's Cove Again

Rainey loves sticks!

Ryder

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend yesterday taking sweet pictures of my new nephew Ryder.

What an easy baby he was to take pictures of! 

He let me move and shuffle him around in all these weird positions and he slept the whole time. 

Of course he made a few faces at me... 

But I don't blame him. :)

Isn't he just adorable?
I love him so much already and he is only 10 days old!

I bet he is the most kissed baby between my mom, sister & I!

That's it for now!

xxooxxooxx

Bakin' Fool

Remember way back in the day when I said I wanted to post every single day? Yeah, I remember that too. Funny what you use to think & how it all changes. ;)

Anywhooo... To the good stuff!

So I've been a busy girl workin' away in the kitchen. Tonight I made some granola. Mmmmm Mmmm Mmmm is it good. While it was cooling out in the pan, I kept walking by & grabbing handfuls of it. Now that it is put away I can hardly keep myself from pulling it back out &

munching on it some more!

So this is how I made it:

6 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Coconut
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 dash of Salt
2 cups of Mixed Nuts (I used almonds & walnuts)
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1 cup Craisins

I mixed all of the above except for the Craisins in a large bowl.

I melted the honey in the microwave before adding it to the bowl to make it easier to mix it all up.

 I then baked it in a 9 x 13 inch pan at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

While it was baking I would stir it about every 5 minutes or so to keep from burning.

Once it looked golden brown, I removed it from the oven & added the craisins.

I kept stirring (and eating) the granola until it was just about room temperature.

TA DA!

Easy peasy, huh?

I have mine stored away in the fridge. It's so good.

Just an F.Y.I. the measurments above are all approximate measurements. I probably

(okay I'll admit it) 

added tons more cinnamon to the mix because I love it so much.

Last week while Ryan was out on the Wishram fire (p.s. Ryan's a firefighter) I picked a bunch of blackberries and made this really yummy cobbler.

OH MY GAWD!

It was good.

As I was making the dough for the cobbler, I kept thinking it wasn't going to be very good.

The dough was just super heavy.

But it proved me wrong.

Here's the Recipe:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees..
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.
3. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet.
4. Bake 25 minutes in the oven, until dough is golden brown.               

Peaches & Cream Pie

I love everything about summer (except shorts), from warm breezy days to sweet, ripe peaches! I love the bright cheery colors, sunbathing, hot sand, driving with the windows down, barbeques, warm evenings, flip flops, hammocks, reading by the pool,  ice cream, blue skies, etc... 

The list goes on!

Remember how I said I love sweet, ripe peaches? 

You'll love this even more! Peaches & Cream Pie! 

***YUM***

I made it for the first time a few days ago. 

You start off with making your crust first & I did.

Guess what I forgot to do?

Yep... I forgot to poke holes in the pie crust before I baked it!!!

I was so mad at myself... 

One little mistake & it was ruined!

I was tired when I made it & so you know how you are all tired & something like this happens?

Yeah.. I wasn't a very happy person at that moment.

At least it looked cute, right?

Well, I bucked up & tried again, this time remembering to poke holes!

***YUMMY***

HUH?

I found the recipe out in blogland here.

Hope you try it out too! 

Definitely on our make next summer list!

xxooxxooxx

Talia

Baby Shower Invites + Super Post

So I FINALLY finished the baby shower invitations for my sister (in-law).

 I love how they turned out!

***YAY***

sorry about my lame "white out" on the picture...
figuring out photoshop can be a pain

That's pretty much what I did all day today...

On another note... I know it's been a while since I last posted...

So this will be a SUPER POST!

Like how Super Man is Super!

For Starters:

Here's my SUPER DOG

If Rainey had a cape around her neck, this picture would AWESOME!

This is the desk I got for free...

Gonna wrap it up with some new hardware & some new legs & new paint for sure!

I've sanded down the drawers already & now I'm waiting for my hubs to

help me pull this heavy sucka out on the grass...

I got these too... aren't they awesome?

I'm going *gasp* paint them....

They are beautiful as they are now...

but they don't work with the decor I'm wanting...

I also have (but no pictures) 2 bookshelves, 2 barstools, 2 lamps & 1 stand all in the garage waiting for me to work on them.... I think I have my hands full with projects for a while...

At least you got to see one finished project, right?

I'm off to bed now... it's been a crazy week...

xxooxxooxxoo