Help Bishop Sannar's family

A horrible thing happened in California yesterday. A Bishop was shot and killed after church on Sunday. "In the wake of this horrific tragedy is left behind Bishop Sannar’s loving wife Julie and six young sons, the eldest 14 years old, and the youngest an infant who was just blessed a week ago by his father during Sunday services." They are trying to raise 10,000 dollars for each son,so please donate something even if it is just a dollar.

I cannot imagine losing Greg and having six kids to take care of. My heart aches for this family. Please keep them in your prayers.

Here is the story and on the website is a link to the donation site if the button above doesn't work.

Hike to Ruth Lake

Saturday Greg and I went on a little adventure. I had seen this cool hike in the newspaper and decided it would be a fun Saturday date. It was in the Uintah National Forest. We got a little lost and it ended up taking us an hour longer to get there than we thought, we almost ran out of gas, we forgot to get passes for our car when we drove into the park so when we parked we were worried we were going to get a ticket so we jogged the trail, and luckily made it back to our car before they caught us. Definitely was a struggle to finally start our hike, but it was gorgeous and the drive up was just as pretty. Our goal is to come back next summer and go camping and hike the trail again and hopefully be able to just relax and enjoy it to its fullest.

COme oN OVER Conovers :)

Today we had a family reunion with the Conover family side. We hadn't seen them in forever...it was so great to see everyone.We did lots of visiting and catching up, played games, ate delicious food and yummy cotton candy which allowed for some fun pictures :). I loved taking pictures of the kiddies they were so fun and adorable, I think I need one of my own to take pictures of. Enjoy all the pictures!

Three Conover Brothers. My father in law is the youngest of five boys :).

Some of the cousins ...Kels, Greg, Chris, Cort, Marshall, Cam, Curt

Our Beautiful Nephew

Greg's oldest sister Val gave birth to Liam Ryan Lusvardi  at 4:50pm on Tuesday, August 3, 2010. He weighed 9 lb 7 oz and was 21 inches long. Liam is so cute. We are so glad we live so close to them so we can see him often and be his favorites ;)

(pictures taken by hospital photographer)

Here are the proud parents..... 

Valerie looks gorgeous, its hard to believe she just had a baby.  We love being an Aunt and Uncle and I love seeing Greg with his little nephew... he is going to be a great daddy.

Congratulations Val and Ryan!!!

Thanks for making us an Aunt and Uncle. We couldn't love him more.

Pickling

On Saturday my mother and sister in law canned pickles. We had tons of fun and decided every year we want to get together and  can one thing for our food storage. The recipe was really easy, didn't take very long and didn't make a huge mess. You should try it!!
 I'm excited to see how they taste. I will be the only one in my family surviving on pickles if we have no other food source :) Greg doesn't even let me kiss him after I have eaten a pickle :). My sister and I love them so much we usually not only eat a pickle but have to drink some of the juice too :)

Dill Pickles

12 Cup Water

4 Cup Vinegar ( apple cider)

1 Cup salt ( non-iodized)

Dill ( 2 or 3 Stalks) per qt. bottle

1 button garlic per qt. bottle

Grape Leaves 1 per qt. bottle

Cucumber ( we like the little ones)

While you are getting things prepared sterilize your jars and lids in boiling water for about ten minutes. Heat Solution of water, vinegar and salt. Fill each jar with cucumbers, clove garlic, dill and grape leaf. Pack the cucumbers tightly, but make sure they are not popping out from the top. Completely submerge jars in Canner Pot after it starts boiling, process for half an hour. Make sure the lids pop and are completely sealed. If not throw away that lid and reheat them in the canner pot with a new lid. Once completed place them on your shelf and a month later (this time frame is possibly shorter, but we couldn't remember so we went with the longer amount of time) they are ready to eat.

Looks Yummy! Enjoy..

Recreating An Outfit

I absolutely love emersonmade!!! And if  I could afford it I would buy so many things, but I can't.. so I decided to improvise and  I plan to recreate some of my favorite outfits from their website. Here is the first one I decided to conquer. I don't know if they sell the pants and shirt but their dandy flower is $38.00 and mine was $1.00. It was so easy to make.I have made two flowers. The last one I made was ten times easier and I think I like it more cause its flatter and isn't so bulky. Materials: Preferred color of felt, thread, needle, scissors (preferably fabric ones), pins for the back of the flower, fabric glue.

Trace about three or four different size circles....

I had to draw where I was going to cut because the first time I didn't and it didn't turn out so great....

After I was done cutting I cut a tiny piece of fabric off between each cut....

Then I sewed on the pin on the biggest circle...glued all the layers together and this was my result...

Third flower will be a charm because I like this way of making the flower better, but I want to use linen because it will be a little bit floppier. Sadly the store I went to they didn't have yellow linen.

Here is the first flower I made...

I didn't take picture of the process cause I used a tutorial I found online, but now I can't find it...sorry. With this I cut a long piece of fabric about 3 1/2 inches wide and like 3 feet long. I cut it like this... _|_|_|_|_ ( haha if that makes sense). Then when it was all cut I ran a piece of thread, not very tightly through the strip of fabric that we didn't cut into going in and out etc. . Then I tightened the fabric so it kind of rolled up. Put a piece of felt on the back with fabric glue and sewed on a pin. This one is cute from the front but it doesn't lay very good when you have it on your shirt.

If you are interested in making one and have questions don't hesitate to ask.  

Have Fun!!

I Graduated!!

FINALLY!!

I was debating at first whether or not to walk because most of my friends had walked in April, but I'm so glad I did. It was tons of fun and now I feel more like I actually graduated :). I got to sit next to a good friend of mines friend during commencement and one of my old partners during convocation. It was a great feeling to graduate!Although now I feel like I need to go get my masters. Oh well the right time will come. I need to just feel accomplished for finishing my bachelors. Sometimes being surrounded by so many amazing people at BYU its hard to see your own achievements cause they sometimes seem so minor compared to others. Since I'm not planning on going to school right away I'm going to do lots of projects to keep my brain working :). So keep your eye out for those.

Iam so grateful I had the opportunity to go to BYU it was amazing. I made lifelong friends that I will always miss and learned so many great lessons.

Ugh tears are coming. I'm going to miss this part of my life, but I'm so excited for the future!!

Alaska Girls Trip. 2

We were in Alaska for a whole week and took tons of pictures so I have been pushing off blogging about it because it is such a daunting task. So brace yourself for a lot of pictures!!

We... ate delicious seafood...

Took a plane ride over the ice fields...

Visited my Costa Rica dad on his cruise ship...went swimming, ate a ton of food at the buffet, got the grand tour...

Went whale watching  and saw humpback whales, killer whales and seals...

Visited with tons of family, most importantly my great Auntie Margaret who was so sweet and made us her famous cinnamon rolls which she hadn't made in six years....she loves us!!

Went to about every food place we had missed. Surprisingly I didn't gain 10 pounds. Breeze In was where we would always get donuts. In the south where my mom and sister live people don't even know what maple bars are so we had to stop cause they had been missing them. We also went to the Udder Culture for amazing sandwiches, Bullwinkle's where I always had my birthday parties, Superbear ( Juneau's equivalent of the Piggly wiggly)  and lots more...

Ate some amazing Salmon at the Salmon Bake...

Visited our Uncle Mike where Lauren and I played in the lake. When we were kids we spent alot of time over at Mikey's house. In the summer we would swim and catch fish and in the winter we would go ice skating. Sometimes I wish I was a kid again.

 When my sister was born all my moms friends were having babies as well. So they got together and took a picture. During our trip it just so happened that everybody was back in Juneau so we all got together and retook the picture

16 years ago...

 16 Years Later....

We had so much fun. I love spending time with family. I'm always sad when we have to all go our separate ways. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!!