The Nadalets

Why You Say It (by Webb Garrison) Book Review

2011-10-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Awhile back, I received this book, Why You Say It (by Webb Garrison), from BookSneeze.com to review. I have always loved words and think that playing with them can be fun!

This book was supposed to enlighten me about the stories behind words and phrases, and I wanted to learn the backstory behind common sayings. There were different chapters for genres of phrases and then each chapter had multiple sayings followed by their origin / meaning. I found this book fun, but not easy to just read through front to back. It was more entertaining to flip through it with my husband and read occasional sayings and their meanings aloud. I thought come very common phrases were missing, but there were a lot of new things I learned!

Overall, this was a fun read and I recommend it to have laying around the house. I imagine that you could make a fun party game (similar to balderdash) with it.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com http://BookSneeze.com; book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cheer Reunion

2010-11-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

If you had asked me in 2007 if I would ever cheer at a football game again, I would have laughed. Then my alma mater started the "Return of the Cheerleaders" for Homecoming. While we didn't don our old skirts & tops, we did wear school colors and cheer with pride. It was fun, but I did feel a a little left out. A few of the girls made shirts & wore leftover skirts, that 3 of us were not included in. Kind of a bummer, but if that's the worst thing that happened, then no biggee. For the most part, our team was inclusive, nothing like the backstabbing cheerleaders you see on Glee or Bring It On or Hellcats (yes I admit I watch the cheesy CW cheerleading tv show).

Bekah was one of my residents (well actually Christy's resident) my sophomore year. It was fun seeing her again. She is a sweetheart. She's class of 2008, I'm 2007.

Max was 2006 and Geri was 1990. It was so cool to have her join us. Her daughter made her an adorable shirt!

There were other girls too, but I didn't get any pics. If I steal some from facebook, I will post them. Thanks to Coach Danelle for putting this together again! And -- Go Bulldogs! (I am amazed at how many cheers actually came back to me!)

Give Thanks Coasters

2010-11-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

So I go from not posting in a very long time to three posts in a week --- all having to do with my shop. I swear I'm not selling out to etsy. I'm just very excited! hahaha And I want to be able to call my hobby a business. More on that in another post!

These coasters (there are 4 sets available) feature cute little Thanksgiving icons in squares. There are little turkeys (both a straight shot and a sideview), pumpkins, acorns, grapes, corn, and sweet little kittens on top of pumpkins.

I wrap each set of four with yarn and attach the tag. I really think these would be a cute hostess gift for a seasonal party. You could put them with a mug or a bag of coffee.

It was easy to think of a verse for this one. We studied Psalm 118 as a part of our Beth Moore study earlier this year. Just try reading the passage without singing... haha

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."
Psalm 118:1 (New Living Translation)

If you want your own set of Give Thanks Coasters, head on over to my etsy and pick them up. Mention this blog and you will get a little something extra in your package :)

Kitten Update

2010-11-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Can I still call them kittens? They are over a year old this week! Well, I call them kittens and I call skweaks girl cat, so I guess I can just do what I want. haha

Moving on... we have had to put the cats outside (we keep them in the garage at night) because of Matt's allergies. I miss snuggle time with these guys while we watch tv.

And I miss nap times with the little lady too.

Well, I get a nap in... she sleeps about 50% of the time!

This weekend I was sewing in the front room and I kept hearing a little mew and seeing this sweet face in the window behind me. Poor girl. I finally took pity on her and brought her in for a little attention (don't worry she stayed on my lap the whole time, and then I took her back to the garage).

But really, how can you say no to that face??

Or this tiny little tongue...

Maybe when you see the hair the shed on the couch while they sleep. Yeah, that helps me say no... just a little bit! haha

Falling Leaves & Praising God

2010-11-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

I named these coasters Autumn Leaves, but I keep wanting to call them Falling Leaves. haha I bought this fabric to make coasters for myself... like some of the others... but decided to try and sell them. I may or may not have kept a set for the Nadalet house. :)

I wanted to find a verse about leaves or creation. The verses about "leaves" were all about leaving your family or whatever, and that was definitely not fitting! haha

So I did what any wise woman would do -- I asked my husband! He helped me find a great verse which we settled on. Psalm 96:12.

"Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise"

How sweet it is. The verse is about the Lords return and the trees bringing forth praise. That is something that I cannot even fathom. Well, thanks to Lord of the Rings, I can kinda picture it now. But as a reality, that is just crazy!

If you are interested in these coasters, please check them out on etsy. Mention my blog and I will include a little something special in the package!

[To those who asked -- yes there will be Christmas coasters soon. Also, I will be having a giveaway here or at CED at some point :) ]

Etsy Shop!

2010-10-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

I already announced this on my crochet blog, but I am super excited to announce it here as well. I have opened my etsy! I listed a couple of crocheted beanies last week. But today I am happy to show off some handmade coasters. I recently read that you should only try to sell what you would want for yourself. And I can honestly say I really want to keep these in my house!

Halloween Time Coasters!

The one thing I have still been trying to figure out is how to honor God with my shop. I love how Lora shares how the Lord was speaking to her with each piece that she makes. I am not sure how the Lord is speaking to me with coasters, or how they are divinely inspired. I am making some Thanksgiving coasters, and it was easy to find a verse to correspond with that. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, His love endures forever." -Psalm 118:1. But what verse corresponds with Halloween? It is trite to just simply write a verse on the tag of a set of coasters?

In Need of Caffiene Coasters

I do pray for those who will receive these housewares. I pray that the Lord will be present in the lives of those who purchase these. That He will work in their lives. It is easier to pray as I make children's items. I ask the Lord to bless those who will wear the items and work in their lives.

Farmer's Market Coasters

Anywho, that is just a little of what is rolling around in my mind. I am super excited about my shop, and hope you like it as well. If you do, please tell your friends about it! And let me know what you think about the coasters.

New Baby in the Fam!

2010-10-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about my newest baby cousin, well I like to think of him as my nephew, but technically he is my second cousin. haha Anywho, Austin George was born a month ago. We finally got to see him last night, along with my parents and Mama. Here are some pictures of us with the cute little guy. And I even included the ones where I look dumb. So, enjoy! haha

The (present) Koenigs & Nadalets with Austin.

The McNely side of the family (again, those of us who were there)

and Sarah, too! (she's an Atwood / McNely too though, right?)

My Mom and precious Austin

What do you think? He is the cutest little guy ever!

Truck Repair Video

2010-09-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Okay! So I have the video on youtube, let's see if I can upload it here now!

Well I don't want to upload to my google, so I embedded it. I am slowly getting better at this whole internet / blog thing!

If you want to hear what exactly Hayden had to do, listen to Matt's explanation in the video. And you can see how dark it actually was outside. The flash on the camera made the pictures appear much brighter.

A Common Sight at the Ranch

2010-09-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

... is a broken down car or truck. My favorite experience (not) was receiving an email from my husband (he went down a week early) saying, "I am here, the truck is being held together by duct tape, but still running." What the heck is a wife supposed to think about that? Needless to say, before I arrived I found out that he was fine and the being held together was mostly cosmetic stuff (like the window latches in the back wont work so he had to tape them shut). But I did find the truck on the side of the road on day 1, his response - well it died so I had to switch vehicles in the middle of feeding the animals. Now I'm still not sure if "it" was the quad (which had a habit of dieing) or the truck, but I'm hopin it was the quad.

Another likely issues with vehicles down there -- flat tires. People do not clean their worksites properly and leave nails on the ground, which have a sneaky habit of getting stuck in tires. That and the whole 9 mile unpaved, rocky dirt road that you have to travel may have something to do with it... Anywho, we got a flat on Caity & Hayden's first night. It was about 8 pm and really dark. Caity was still in a swimsuit, I was sick, and the tools for changing the tire - with a random guy that Matt had been nice to (in the states) and loaned them and never returned them. We used the jack for my car to jack up the truck.

That's really cold Caity wrapped up in a blanket as Hayden takes off the lugnuts and Matt adjusts the jack.

The boys are hard at work and Caity is shining a light so they can see what they are doing... I have a video taken at some point during this adventure, I just need to figure out how to post it to the blog!

This is when Hayden finally got the seal of approval to date Caity (because really, this was just a rouse to test out his manliness) haha He managed to get the spare tire out with a nail punch. See, you need special tools to take the tire off of a Tundra, they are up under the bed. He and I were under the truck (I was holding the maglight, of course) and he had to figure out a way to maneuver around and get it out. Major props to him. And Caity is wearing my beach coverup as a scarf. (I hada already changed because of the sick thing, I ran into a bathroom -- and changed while I tried not to hurl, I expected everyone else to change while I was, but they were being nice and waiting to see if I was okay).

This was our last night in Mexico, talk about going out with a bang, right? haha

Hot Springs

2010-09-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Remember when we tried to find those Hot Springs awhile back? Well we finally found them! We actually went twice during our month in Mexico. Okay, I went twice, Matt only went once. The first time we went to the beach it was miserably hot at the Ranch and we needed to get to cooler weather. Sarah Lee too Jen & I, so that we could see the actual existence of the hot springs. We spent fun times playing in the waves first, about 40 yards away from dolphins!

I digress. The whole point of this beach expedition was to find the hot springs and see if they really do exist. Sarah Lee showed Jen & I where they were on Wednesday and we went back on Friday and found them again with no problems! The key is to dig nearer to the water (we dug way up high before). Some of the water is so hot that you cannot touch it. Seriously. It's crazy. After checking out La Bufadora (those were yesterdays pics), we headed over to this beach to find the springs.

My sis with a very Megan expression (or is it a Caity expression??)

Our hot tub was heart shaped -- for awhile!

The boys did some digging too -- see how moist the sand is?

There you have it, photographic evidence that the hot springs do exist! We had a wonderful time soaking up the hot water and enjoying each other's company. Thanks to Sarah Lee for showing us where they were, and to the random Romanian Baptist student pastor from Fresno who first told us about their existence!

More of our August Trip to Mexico

2010-09-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Before too many more months go by, here are some pictures of the rest of our time in Mexico. We spent a lot of time puttering around the Ranch. Well, Matt spent a lot of time doing repairs and working hard, while I spent a lot of time seeking the Lord and what his plan was for me. IT was not the easiest of times, but I did learn a lot. I also got pretty sick during our last week, I think Satan was trying to keep my spirits down. It was wonderful, however, to spend time with Jen and for our sister Caity & her boyfriend Hayden and our good friend Darren to join us for the last weekend that we were there. We were sad to leave a little earlier than them, but apparently Matt had been told to get me home on Saturday so I had a day to recuperate.


Enjoying some delicious tacos after church on Sunday

One of the meals at the Ranch, I leftover something that we turned into enchiladas.

Matt's guitar and music book on the Dining Hall porch


Cute little animal cubs at la Bufadora

Hayden & Matt checking out the Buf (first timers)

Gorgeous sister Caity -- we were missing Lisa!

There you have it, a few more pictures from our time in Mexico. I have more to share, so hopefully I will get them up tomorrow!

Mexico Update

2010-08-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

It is high time for a second update from the Ranch. Things are going well here. We are still alive and well. I experienced the joy of life last night as I watched kittens being born. Seemed much easier than having a child. Life was really nice when we had power (from a generator) and running water (from water tanks up the hill) at the Johnsons. Now we are facing reality as we come home to a lofthouse each night. The Lord has totally been stretching us. Our late night talks have been challenging, but wonderful. Matthew and I are learning new things about each other, and I am excited to see how the Lord is going to grow us. Please pray for continued wisdom and guidance and that we can be of great support to the missionaries down here. Also, that we have fun!

Also, to my Beth Moore bible study ladies, I really missed you this week! but Jen & I watched the dvd and are looking forward to 2 more lessons together. Can't wait til I am together with you all again soon.

Parents & siblings - we miss you all and wish you were here with us. Hopefully we can do another family build next year!

The Johnson's house, where we spent our first 2 nights

Rick's lofthouse, where we will spend the remainder of our month.

The dining hall, where we do most of our cooking.

Playing Settler's, a game that can last hours

I saw some of these kittens being born... how often can you say that?

Matt & Jen trying to turn on the generator at the Van Nes.
This is right before Matt & I hoofed it up the hill to turn on the water.

These little guys helped me out with my journaling &
bible study at the Johnson's.

Jen & I with Shaina, the cake covered birthday girl

One happy six year old!

She's all smiles!

Trip to the Bay

2010-08-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Before I came down to Mexico, I went up North for my cousin's baby shower. It was a fun, but all too short trip to my parent's house. Here are a few pictures from our sightseeing day on Friday.

The Golden Gate Bridge

A view of the Golden Gate, from closer up

Davis and his awesome girlfriend Kaitlyn

With my traveling companions, Caitlin and Jen

Alex & Bryley (kinda cousins, born one day apart)

Without so much wind this time...

We got some delicious ice cream below the famous Ghirardelli Square

We're here!

2010-08-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I just wanted to put up a quick post to say that we have both made it safely to the Ranch in Mexico. When I arrived today, Matt was hard at work on the coffeehouse with the McCoys. Jen and I just finished up our workout and are now headed over to the McCoy's for Shaina's birthday dinner. I will try to keep you all updated as to how our month is going. Love to all! -M & M

Manny & Dani Wedding

2010-08-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

My cousin got married a few months ago, and it is high time that I post the pictures!


Matthew showing off the shot glass wedding favors

mmm Vino. Thanks Uncle Bryan

And now I present for the first time -- Mr & Mrs Manny Morales!! Woo hoo

They all partied to Black Eyed Peas (I think). Very fun!

First dance. How sweet.

We added a little bling to our centerpiece

My beautiful cousin Bryley & I

Danielle forced Davis to be in the garter toss. I think he's pouting

Not pouting, but no luck!

Mexico in May

2010-08-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

I realized that I never shared pictures from our last trip to Mexico. And thanks to Darren for all of these. There are many many more. But I don't have the stamina to sort through them now! I think this trip was back in May... it was with our church, Go.

With my best co-worker :) Doing what we love together!

Our little church (or at least those of us who came to Mexico)

A few lofthouses, including part of one that we built. And Geeski's truck

Putting on the roofcap, Matt & Lonnie directing me from below (I had to use my nail starter to quickly get the nails through the cap)

Hopefully I will be able to update while we are down there during these next few weeks. Love you all!

Disneyland with the Rents in May

2010-07-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

My Dad posted these pictures in Picasa about a month or two ago. It is high time that I share them with you! Back in May, we went to Disneyland for my Dad's birthday. Here are a few pictures from that day!

[and yes, looking at these pictures does make me miss my hair. :( I guess it will grow out soon enough!]

We ran into my Dad's old student (he was a college / high school pastor) / family friend and her husband and daughter. It was so fun to see them!

Dad wanted a pic of he and Mom at the Tiki Room. I think this turned out quite cute!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The 3 of us, after Indiana Jones. We were missing Matthew and Davis :(

Finally got the picture!

This is supposed to be like a pic that Davis and I took, years ago!

Have a great Monday!

Mornings in Mexico

2010-07-23T14:32:00.001-07:00

When in Mexico, I somehow manage to get up early on Saturday and have an incredibly pleasant attitude. I am up at the dining hall around 5:30 or 5:45 to help cook breakfast and I greet everyone with a smile. I should really try and get a picture of this (because those who know me, know I am NOT a morning person!). Then we all go about our days, usually building a lofthouse.

But Sunday mornings. Those are a different story entirely. Last Sunday-in-Mexico (or SIM, as I call it), we left the Ranch at 4:30 am. I didn't sleep well the night before, so I was nauseus from the lack of sleep. Needless to say, I was probably a bit cranky until I got some sleep in the car. Usually on a Sunday we just kinda pack up and leave. If we do hang around, I usually look a little something like this:

Hmmm. I have a feeling that I am going to need an attitude check before August.

What I am loving today!

2010-07-17T14:14:00.001-07:00

I have never done one of these things I love posts -- so today is a time to start! It all started because I wanted to show off my bright yellow nail polist. Sadly, it's not super bright in the pic. But I hope you enjoy a bit of what is going on in my life!

My nail polish -- and the signs to my craft room / office!

Iron-on Vinyl -- excited to start up my new business!

New crochet books (loving that I sold old textbooks to Amazon for store credit)

One finished blanket, which I love, and one almost finished blanket!

An almost completed Crochet Every Day pattern planning calendar -- not sure why it's crooked!

New dvds (more amazon credit! woo hoo!)

Orange Pumpkins

Red tomatoes

What I am hating today... this is the current temp in my house. Should I run the A/C? haha

What are you loving today? I would love to hear!

Mexico in August

2010-07-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

This post has been a long time coming. In fact, the first draft is from June 13th -- which I am leaving below. Matt and I will be living in Mexico for the month of August. My company has graciously given me the time off, and not fired me! Praise the Lord. But yet, pretty intense, I know. What will we be doing? Well we are staying at the Hands of Mercy Ranch outside of Ensenada. [Oh yeah and if you are a creepy house break-in-er stalker, we have people staying at our house --- so don't even think about it] Anywho. We will be living in the Van Nesses house, but possibly in a lofthouse for part of the time.

This will let us know what they do down there during the week and how things work. Matt will probably be doing construction type things around the ranch and I am not entirely sure what I will do. I know I will be hanging out with Jen (she's the full time teacher down there) and Sue and Sara Lee (when they get back). I will probably get some crocheting done and work on my Spanish (looks like it is time for me to create a username on Matthew's Rosetta Stone... ugh!). I also want to do some other things that we have not had time to do when we only go during weekends. I am in need of some yummy ice cream! And I hope we can find those natural hot springs at the beach!

Please be praying for us during August. We are looking for wisdom about the future as well!

------------------------------------------

Original Post from June 14th:

So the Van Nesses will possibly be gone for the month of August. Hands of Mercy is thinking about having us move down there for the month. That's huge. And exciting. It would most likely require me leaving my job. That is a major change. I am praying. Trying to hear the Lord. Matt wants to go. I want to go. But is it for selfish reasons? Is it just so that I can get away from my job -- which I do not like at times?

A trip to Lewiston, Idaho (and Clarkston, Washington)

2010-06-29T13:31:00.001-07:00

I may be a month late, but at least I am posting pictures, right? Well anywho, last month, my bro's baseball team made it to the NAIA College World Series. Matt and I had a little spare change sitting around (okay fine it was our tax return) and decided to make the trek, this just may have been his last baseball outing -- which is really weird. This trip was a lot of firsts for us, including our first flight further than NorCal together, first rental car, first college baseball world series, etc. My parents went last year, and I think they enjoyed showing us the place. I had every intention of posting my mom's wonderful emails, but was just too pooped to do it. She just needs to start her own blog. It would be good, promise.

Okay, so this is the fab 4. haha Not really, but it was fun sitting in the stands with these 3 wonderful people.
Mama, My Mom, and I at the River. 3 generations. I love it. But don't mind my squinting! haha
Me and my Bro. As always, I am super proud of him. And I miss him! (come visit please!)
Genny & Mom. 2 moms -- in their son's jerseys. How cute, right? I know...
That my lil bro warming up. He doesn't bat tho, so yeah.. haha I stole a few of these pics from my mom, by the way. Thanks mom!
We spent time with my dad's cousin, Brian, his wife Debbie and their son Jimmy from Haiti (they finally got him after the earthquake). They drove 3 hours each way to visit with us! Their daughter just finished playing at the softball world series in Kansas or something.
The 5 of us after the last game (that we saw). Such a wonderful experience!
Me and the hubs in the stands. Aren't we just the cutest ever? haha This makes me miss my long hair though!
See the woodland / river creature in the picture below? I can't remember what we finally decided it was. Some animal thingie.
High fives after a win!

And there you have it. A few pics from our time in Idaho & Washington. It was very spontaneous for us, which is definitely not the norm, but it was wonderful. If you want to see what we ate, check out my post at Newly Wife. Mom, I will try to get these up on Fbook soon, I swear! haha

Home Improvements

2010-06-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of the house - from day 1. And some major thanks that we owe to people. As I find more pictures of the work days. I will try to post them here. You can see the knife "fooded" to the stove, as the hubs says. And the last picture is our first night in the house -- our bed in the living room, because our room still needed texturing & paint on the ceiling. Oh how much better the house is since then! Thanks to everyone who helped.

Mexico: March 26-28

2010-04-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

It seems as if this is the year of Mexico for the Nadalets. We have been down almost every month, it seems, and have no plan of quitting anytime soon. This particular trip was not for any particular "reason," other than Caitlin needed a ride back to the States (she had gone down the week before with another church, and spent a week of her spring break on the ranch). This trip definitely taught us about how Mexico = Flexico. We ended up driving Scott out to the hotel where Praxis was staying on Friday night, before we even made it to the Ranch. We stayed in Carter's lofthouse, near Jen's lofthouse. It was fun to stay down there and feel like "staff."

Saturday morning came and I helped with breakfast and then Matt & I helped lead different builds. I had never led a build in any sort of capacity before, so this was a challenge for me (even though Steve was really leading, Jen was second in command, and then Caitlin and I were kinda helping out where needed). Also, we had 35 people at our site, so it was a bit like herding cats. Matt led with Evan, and they had only 10 people. I know, we should have sent people over, but our group of 35 were all newbies who wanted to stick together. So we finally finished the build around 4 and went into town (the 5 of us) for tacos and ice cream.

Below you can see Evan running down the "sidewalk" to get Danny's attention, as he drove by. He did it and Danny came by to say hi.

Some very inappropriate bunny cookies.

So we met this guy who was building a house with his Romanian Baptist Church from Fresno. He told us about these natural hot springs on the beach and "all you have to do is dig down and hot water flows up and fills the holw." We had a shovel, got some shorts from the Segundas, and went down to the beach. We dug 3 different holes (the last one was like 4 feet deep) and no hot water. I'm sure the locals were laughing at us gringos going on a Mexican snipe hunt. But we got back to the Ranch and the Johnsons and Van Nesses said it was a true story and they are really there. We will have to go back another time, when we have more time and it isn't getting dark soon!

I think this next picture was right after Caitlin accidentally threw sand at Evan.

This picture kind of encapsulates the night. Chaos. And laughing. And I think Evan jumped on Jen's foot. haha

We ran some errands on our way out of town on Sunday, getting cheap medicine, sodas for Jason -- you know, the usual. And ended with Horchata and ice cream!

Another fun weekend. Another good time getting to know Jen better. Another really long drive, for one weekend. But still, ever so worth it!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-04-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well I am only 3 weeks late with these pictures! That's better than a month! haha

We have a tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's Day with Kev and Linds. I think this was either our third or fourth year doing it. Check out this post for a picture from 2 years ago. It was a week after our honeymoon, in our cozy (read: crappy) little apartment! We made green beer. I think it was just bud light with green dye. Then last year we tried guinness floats (you know, ice cream with guinness on top). Also in the apartment - our last little shindig there. The floats were okay. This year we just did a 6 pack of Guinness, had to keep it simple since the boys were in a wedding the next day and we were all at the rehearsal this night. Maybe next year we will do a full dinner with corned beef and hash?

Here are some pictures of us enjoying our Guinnesses and being goofy. Well Matt and Kev were being goofy. They were also totally entranced by the "rocket" inside the bottle, it makes the beer smoother and like it is fresh from the draught. yummy!

This is Matt patronizing me. Can you tell? And look at poor Halvsies all flopped around in my lap! haha

A Thursday Night Wedding

2010-04-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Back in March, a couple good friends of ours tied the knot. Matthew was a groomsman, but I was lucky enough to just attend the wedding. I don't know if that's the right word - but it was nice to not worry about what happened when and making sure everything went smoothly. Here are a few pictures:

The guys walked in like a mob with their sunglasses on - spreading out so that the groom could "appear" from behind them. It was awesome

Me and the hubs at the table. We like to be goofy!

Marcos (another groomsman) insisted that we have a good picture together. Mom, here is one of us smiling all nice and pretty -I think we look pretty dang good, if I do say so myself hehe

Kevin & Linds, our good friends. Kevin was also a groomsman.

Being goofy!

Again with the goofiness...

Jake'snew father in law gave him a sword during his toast. That was pretty dang sweet!

This was the group that we went camping with on New Years. The 3 guys were obviously in the wedding, we girls sat together during the ceremony and called ourselves the first wives club - cuz we were just waiting for our hubbys! Isn't the bride just stunning?

Lastly, the favors. Delicious cookies. I'm going to post the recipe on Newly Wife soon. :)

Happy Anniversary

2010-03-19T13:41:00.001-07:00

A little over a week ago, Matthew and I celebrated our second anniversary! I cannot believe it has already been 2 years - and at other times it feels like it has been way more than 2 years! haha We rented our friends house in Havasu and just spent some time relaxing. Matthew was sick Friday, but felt better by the time he woke up Saturday. And I have been super stressed at work, resulting in sties (stys?) in my eyes. Thus, my glasses. I normally love my glasses, but for whatever reason they just made me look droopy and tired in these pictures.

That being said. It was nice to get away and have some quality time together. We spent a lot of the time just chillin on the couch watching movies. On Saturday morning we went over to the Canal and walked around the London Bridge (yes, the real bridge from London) area. After we had lunch, back at the house, I spent some time reading a book and soaking in the rays -- with a mimosa, of course!

Here are a few pictures...

That's the London Bridge, and see how droopy I look. Matt was tired too, and forgot to shave. haha
I was excited to see Safeway, it reminded me of home!
Our before dinner snack, various cheeses (Cheddar w/ Porter, Irish Stout, Cheddar w/ Chives, Cheddar w/ Carmelized Onion (my all time fave), Stilton w/ Oranges & Dates, and another one!) accompanied by bread, crackers, and salami.
Can't get the picture to rotate, but here is me with the wine and snackeroos. My crochet bag is on the floor :)

Mexico Feb 5 - 7

2010-02-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Mexico. Or Flexico, as Sue likes to call it. We had a wonderful weekend and it was really hard to go home! Of course, on such wonderful weekends, you forget to take pictures of everything. But basically, I spent the weekend with a new missionary named Jen. She's right around my age and awesome. On Friday we built the back walls to 5 outhouses. And I used power tools, that's right. Power tools. First a drill and second a skilsaw. :) It was about time for me to use those, I've seen them in use for YEARS! haha Anywho, Saturday we went to Home Depot and Costco. Trying to find stuff at Home Depot where everything is in Spanish & 99% of the employees speak Spanish is a challenge. But we used our limited Spanish to find an English speaking employee who let us know that they do not have sheet metal. Ah well. Costco was easier - and Emily, you can use your US Costco card in Mexico. Thought you might appreciate that! That afternoon, Jen took me around the camp to see all of the missionaries homes, and I finished the day with braiding the hair of 3 girls. After dinner, Matt & I played Nertz with Jen & Jason until very very late. It was fun giggling in the lofthouse after dark. Sunday we took Matt on a tour, walked to an abandoned corral (built out of stones!) and then helped Carter finish the outhouses. It was a great weekend, and I miss the Ranch & the missionaries already. We plan to go back very soon!

Matt made me drive the Ranch road. This is my patronizing him with a picture (seriously, he grabbed the camera and said, we need a pic of this!)

But I really loved driving, and had a hard time giving the keys back!

Right before we left, I thought to get some pics of our lofthouse. Those curtains - chess sets. Made by me!

The sweet plaque on the door. Papa's legacy of service & giving lives on.

Hope. A fitting name for one of his memorial lofthouses (oh yeah, and we stayed in it). I just realized how neat this shot is, with the reflections of the lofthouse in the background! And it's Fe - the other lofthouse in his memory (and the showerhouse haha)!

Me & Jen. There are a million ways that I want to critique myself in this picture, but I won't. Jen is awesome, can't you tell by her big smile? She's the teacher down there. And I just sent off a TON of art supplies for her - very exciting!

Newlywife!

2010-02-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

It's here! It's here! The blog venture thing that I have vaguely been talking about for the last year is finally here! Emily and I have had a lot of fun preparing for this blog. And you can see in some of our pictures (by her hubby, Matt) that we really enjoy hanging out with each other. In this one, I am trying to smile with my eyes. I think I ended up giving Matt "the look" though. haha

So have I captured your interest yet? Well head over to newlywife.com to see the "official" picture and other fun stuff. And get this, you can enter to win a cute kit to scrapbook your honeymoon here! And while you are there, wander around the site. I have posted 2 Abundant Crop recipes (where I post 4 - 5 recipes during one month to focus on using one main fruit or vegetable) and a few crafty things. Emily has done some great posts on finances & decor. I plan to give away some vintage recipe cards later this month, and I may just pick a random commenter!

Why was I holding the bottle of wine like champagne? Your guess is as good as mine! haha Aren't our aprons super cute though?

One last thing. I have not been posting over here very much, because I have been focused there. I will probably not post on here much at all anymore. But occasionally you will find some family pictures here. And check out my crochet blog if you want to see a daily pattern & my attempts to finish them all in one year! Augh!

Lisa in Korea

2010-01-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let you know something exciting - Matt's sister (my sister in law) has just left for a year long trip to Korea to teach English. She arrived safely last night and is probably in her new home right about now. She started a new blog to document her adventures, here is the link:

http://bendsomeonesear.blogspot.com

Enjoy it (Mom, I know you, if no one else, would want this) :)

And here are some pictures of the family from her going away party:

Resolutions / Goals

2010-01-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

Ahhh 2010 is here. Then 10s... the teens? what are we going to call this era?

Anywho, I do not like resolutions, because they always get broken. But my wonderful husband has informed me that new years resolutions are a tradition in the Nadalet family (I asked him when that started, he said today). His included: going on walks, picking up after ourselves, folding laundry right after it gets out of the dryer. It's a week in and we've only gone on one walk, the kitchen is a DISASTER (the stove is still sparkly though, thanks to the Nadalet Srs), and there are 3 loads of clean laundry on the bedroom floor. And he asked why I don't make resolutions...

In any case, I do have a few things that I am going to work on this year:

1. Work out 3 times a week. Even if it is only 5 minutes on the Wii fit, it counts. It's all about baby steps. Sidenote, we got a Wii Fit and it's great!

2. Eat healthier. This is a pretty common theme in my life. I go from eating crap to eating healthy and back again. I get really sidetracked when life is busy. But a few trips to Trader Joes have left us stocked with lots of granola & yogurt, pineapple chips, popped potato chips, etc. I have a few recipes for granola bars that I'm going to try. I also got a recipe from Bobbi for Peanut Buttery Bars. They sound tasty. Having lots of stuff made in advance is the key to healthy eating. More water is also in this category. I like water, just need to remember to drink it!

3. Prioritize Matt. There are many ways that I want to better our relationship, including going on date nights and vacations. We plan to go on 2 date nights a month. This is important and it is sadly the first thing to go when life gets busy. Tonight is the first date night of the year... wonder what we will do? And vacation - we are going on 2 bigger vacations this year with my family (San Diego for Davis' grad and Hawaii for Thanksgiving), but we want to go on more vacations with just the 2 of us. Just little weekend adventures. I think lots of camping will happen. But we started an envelope and have $200 set aside for a nice weekend away next month - anyone have any good ideas?

4. Sell something on Etsy. I have a shop. I make stuff. Now I just need to actually list and sell it. I also need to figure out what I need to do tax wise. Good thing we have an appointment with our tax guy soon! Anyone have any advice on that?

5. Crochet Every Day. I won't necessarily be crocheting every day, but this is my new blog venture. I'm really excited about it, but really scared. 365 patterns / projects is a lot. And it is pretty much going to cut out most of my other crafting. So maybe push of #4 for a few years. hahaha Or just sell the items that I crochet (as long as it is okay with the pattern authors, I will not sell anything where the creators have asked us not to)

6. Use my camera more and get the pictures on the blog in a timely fashion :)

Oakland Mexico Trip

2009-12-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Anyone who was on the trip gets the humor of this post title. The group wasn't really from Oakland, they were from the City right next it - San Leandro. It's kinda like asking someone from Redlands if they live in San Bernardino. Anywho, Matt and I joined this group (and brought along Scott, Joy, & Nichole) for this build (and prebuild in Oct) in December. They were a great group, and we loved meeting all of them. This was a stretching trip for both Matt and I. Matt had to drive Brad's van down to the Ranch, empty, because all of the SL people were in the bus, which was following Matt. To recap: Matt drove to the Otay Mesa border, made it across, but then once they realized his van was full of luggage for the people in the bus, he was turned back, and had to find his way to the regular border crossing, got Dick through (he was driving the bus) and then proceeded to lead the troop to the Ranch. I think he met up with Carter somewhere in Ensenada, but I know he was stressed when Rick kept going (with the trailer) at Otay. But my husband was awesome and did amazingly well. It was hard for me because this was my first trip without Matt driving me in 5 years. I was with Scott, and he has done the drive many times as well, but the mind plays tricks on you and imagines worse possible scenarios (one of us getting pulled over and the other not being able to find him / her - you know cuz we weren't together). But the drive was fine and the build - well the team did great. We had nails that WOULD NOT go in straight. You had to drive the whole nail (and these were 16s, that - long long nail) in with about 4 or 5 swings. Even Matt was having nails bend. But in the end, we got the house up and had the priviledge of giving the keys to Socorro. Tje group from Creekside loved the trip so much that they were planning their next one before we even left that Ranch. In a way, Papa influenced this - because the Oakland prebuild for his memorial house is how Kathy found out about Hands of Mercy! Enjoy the random pictures that I took at the build (and the border)!

Lisa's Scarf

2009-12-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

I can now post this project, as Lisa received it last night. It took me awhile to crochet this scarf, but I do love it! I found this pattern over at Lion Brand and gave it a shot. It's beautiful, isn't it? I made a beanie to match, but it ended up a bit tight (and I have a small head), so I gave it to Colette instead. Now if only I could find the pictures that I took of me with the scarf / hat combo. Maybe by the time I actually post this (it's currently Dec 18th and I'm pre-posting for dec 24 hehe). If not, enjoy it. And happy Christmas Eve. We are in the Bay Area and loving it (I'm sure, we always do!)

Now a few shots of me with the beautiful scarf on. It sure was hard to give this one up!

Shower Gift

2009-12-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

Holly (she was pictured in the Betty Crocker Post) iand Jake are tying the knot in March. Matt is one of the groomsmen, and I get to just enjoy the ceremony. I, however, get to go to showers, that's what being a girl is all about, right? Well I made her these coasters, and the set that goes with them. I wanted to find earthy fabrics, that were fun, as that is what they are all about! Matt saw me making these, and asked if they were for them - that's a sign that I did something right... when someone just knows who the gift recipient is!

Front of the Coasters (used this pattern)

The backsides - I just used one square of each of the colors used in the mix up instead of a plain background.

I also made some specialty rubs. Kansas City Rib Rub, Carolina BBQ Rub, and a Sweet & Savory Seafood Rub (I am also making these for my father in law for Christmas - the theme this year is homemade, and I thought what better homemade thing for a guy than BBQ rubs? Oh and I made the labels myself!)

All together, I got the rolling pin & spatulas from the Dollar Store. They are so awesome tho and fit the color scheme perfectly! I also made some Rosemary Olive Oil. Yum-O!

Another trip to the Hangar

2009-12-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

After taking my Dad to Hangar 24 after Thanksgiving, he started following them on twitter. And when he re-tweeted a link about a Twin Engine Cask Night... well I decided that I needed to check it out! We convinced Kevin & Lindsey to join us before heading over to the Springsteds for a 20Somethings Christmas Party. I had an Alt Bier with Coconut Hops. It was delicious!

Kevin & Lindsey are laughing because I said I had to rotate the camera to fit them both in (because Kev is so stinking tall)

He did the same thing when taking our picture, which resulted in laughter and smiles. It's hard for Matt and I to smile well in pictures, so I just had to post this (it's pretty much the main reason for this post!). Mom, you should frame this one. too bad it's in a Brewery, huh?

Betty Crocker House Party

2009-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I hosted a Betty Crocker Cookie Exchange a few weeks ago. I signed up at houseparty.com, after I was chosen as a finalist, they sent me a goodie box of things to share with my guests. i ended up making it a co-ed cookie exchange, so that the guys could hang out, and Matt wouldn't have to find something else to do. The party was a success and I got a few great recipes out of the deal. 2 recipes were with the Betty Crocker cookie mixes that house party sent. These recipes will both be featured on Christmas Day at Mama's house. I also got a great recipe from Holly, and Lindsey introduced another (although I tracked down her mother in law for the actual recipe! Enjoy the pictures of the night

Note: I uploaded them small because there were so many. I didn't realize just how small they would be! haha

Goodie Bags (that I put together) with free stuff from Betty Crocker. Included: BC Spoon, Grocery list, recipe & coupon booklet (if your last name is Koenig, Atwood, West, Hughes, or Hale, you may or may not be getting one of these for Christmas)

Peanut Butter Bliss Cookies (used the BC Peanut Butter cookie pouch and Dark Chocolate Hershey's Bliss Bars [instead of heart candies])

Another shot - just turn your head to the side. For whatever reason blogger is messing up my formatting today!

Steak Bites, as previously see last week. mmmm (again turn head to side and curse PCs)

Stuffed Mushrooms (also by Ree) - delicious, especially for someone who doesn't like mushroms!

Lindsey and Gail helping make the Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

The boys played Wii (until later when we all sat down to watch Christmas with the Kranks)

Matt loved the food. :)

Again, tilt your head. A close up of the delicious Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno thingies, before going in the oven. (I took the leftovers to church and they were gone in 10 minutes. Everyone asked for the recipe, so if you are looking for something simple and delicious - check this one out. 3 ingredients!)

Cookie Tray #1 (Snickerdoodles (Gail), No Bake Cookies (Lindsey) and Pretzel-Rolo-Pecan thingies (Linds again))

My recipe for Gluehwein & some blank Betty Crocker recipe cards

Lindsey's Peppermint Meltaways and my Peanut Butter Bliss Cookies

Found these awesome plates at the dollar store - they went with the theme (Betty Crocker & Christmas) and were super cheap. Plus everyone got an awesome plate to take home!

Gluehwein - it's not a holiday party without it! (somehow I have to figure out how to bring this to Joshua Tree, so I don't completely freeze!)

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos in the oven

The whole cookie spread and the party favors

Joy, Lindsey, and Holly making up their plates (Gail trying to hide behind)

My plate. Delicious. Plus I got leftovers (after I made up a plate for Staci who had the date wrong, because I texted the wrong date earlier)
All in all, a wonderful party. Thanks so much Betty Crocker and houseparty.com!

If you made it through this whole post, I'm proud of you. Leave me a comment to know you are here! haha And up next - a Wii fitness party in January. We got the party package already and Matt is stoked. We also get free Jello Mousse Temptations - it's not ever out at our Staters yet!

Hangar 24

2009-12-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

About a year ago Matthew and I found out about this local brewery, Hangar 24. We visited their hangar for a tasting on a Saturday afternoon. At that point there were about 10 people there, the only beer was on tap, it wasn't carried anywhere else, and they were only open 3 days a week. Flash forward to Thanksgiving weekend... we took my dad by to check it out only to find they are now open every day. And they are on tap all over So Cal (this we knew, because we always got their Orange Wheat at Gourmet Pizza) and they bottle 6 packs both the Orange Wheat and IPA. They had their first cask night (think of it as a football game with throwback jerseys) on December 4th and 600 people were there. That is crazy! I'm so excited to have this local brewery that is growing. It's a cool place to go hang for an afternoon and have a beer or a "flight" (that's trying all 6 that they brew).

The majority of our flight.

Caity (dad in background)

My father who is now hooked on Hangar 24! Woo!

Manny (cousin) and my Dad

Caity & Me. Much better than the picture from the apple farm with the sun in my eyes!

Matt came inside for awhile

Chris, Manny, Joshua, & Bryley

Josh & Bryley haha

I asked my mom to get me a Growler (basically a glass bottle that holds 2 liters of beer, the equivalent of a 6 pack) with the promise that I would fill it and bring it up for Christmas. While inside for an extra 2 minutes, the boys quickly found a frisbee and started playing!

Fighter Kittens

2009-12-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

We got the kittens so that they would kill bugs and varmints around the house. Halvsies trained pretty quickly, his first kill was a lizard. We were worried about these two, because they were uninterested in their "food" (crickets) at first. Then they got really into killing the bugs. They started to hiss at each other once they got into their fighting. They now go for bugs and don't share. haha Below you can see Oreo with a cricket hanging out of his mouth. haha We are proud of our little fighters.

Christmastime is Here

2009-12-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving was Christmas decoration time! I was excited to open up the boxes and enjoy another Season of Yule with my love. I found this wreath in one of the boxes, I believe I made it during my freshman year of college

My love putting up the Christmas lights.

H2 wanted to help also (don't worry, he got squirted with water right after this picture, so he knows not to play with power cords)

They LOVE the tree. They loved it even more when it was in pieces on the ground.

Home Sweet Home

2009-12-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

While the boys were working hard on the lawn, I was working hard on the rest of the house. We are slowly making progress on the inside of the house as well. These pictures are actually from the night of the Fall Party. The house was clean, so I thought I would get some good pictures!

Our kitchen. The tile is white, which sucks. Any drop of anything shows up. I should mop it daily to keep it looking nice, because after 3 days it looks horrendous!

The dining room. Someday we will have cabinets and a counter top across that whole wall.

Living Room. How cozy is it with those candles?

These couches were a wedding gift from my parents and we LOVE them! (and yes we have a lamp with no shade behind them, we should really do something about that!)

Sod Day / Front Yard

2009-12-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

One sunny day in November, the 21st to be exact, was the day when we stole a lawn from Matthew's parents. Okay, so they were zero-scaping (landscaping with minimal water, thinks rocks & deciduous trees) and offered us their lawn for our front yard. We pulled together a motely crew and used a rented sod-cutter to get that lawn over to our house. And we were able to give a bunch to Lonnie and Lauriana as well. Now they have a back lawn! Here are pictures of sod - cutting day, and a few of our new front yard. [it is still a work in progress, but it is no longer a big patch of dirt!]

Oak Glen Apple Butter Festival

2009-12-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Oak Glen Apple Butter festival is Thanksgiving weekend, every year. Our new tradition is to drive up there and hang out on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This will happen every year we are in Redlands for Turkey Day. This year my parents were in town, so they came along, as well as some of my family on my dad's side. Here are some pictures from this fun day!

so begins the Caity & Josh show. I was forced to take pictures of them.

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?

Stopped for a self portrait in the middle

Dad & Mom with some yum-o apple pastries!

The family!

Me and Caity (different girl, same spelling. this one is a high school friend who has an aunt in Redlands, so we got to see each other). The sun was in my eyes, can you tell? haha

Yarn?

2009-12-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

I took my yarn out of the wrapper the other day and look what I found - someone got stuck!

Someone else had a Daddy who thought it was funny to put the wrapper around him. Oreo did not find it so amusing. It came off in about 0.2 seconds!
Happy Hump Day (saying this always makes me think of the mom on Mean Girls with her Hump Day Drinks, hahaha)

Giveaway Day / Week

2009-12-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Giveaway is Closed! Thanks for entering. I used random.org and the number they came up with (used 90, the 79 comments from here and 11 on newlywife) was 41. That is:

Megan said...: Oooh, I love that deep blue color you chose for the coasters. They are fabulous!

Doesn't she have a great name? I will be contacting her later today to give her her prize!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day 2009

If you are reading this post, then you probably came from the Sew Mama Sew giveaway link. I am glad to welcome you to my blog, but sorry to tell you that I don't have any cool tutorials or fabric stashes that would make you want to come back to my blog again and again. However, I know that I will in the future. So maybe, by this time next year, this blog (well actually it will be a new blog - exciting joint blogging preparations are in the works) will be bookmark worthy. If you want info about when we launch, please leave a comment on the post NewlyWife.

Back to business. Today is giveaway day and that is all you really care about. I know you are all tired from clicking on link after link of cool stuff and wanting to win. So this will be short and sweet. Just leave a comment including your email and you will have the chance to win (yes you can leave it in a special name at gmail dot com format). If it is in your blogger profile, that works too. But I need a way to contact you! If I'm in your reader or you are a follower, leave a second comment for a second chance to win. Commenting on the newlywife post also gives you an extra entry (that's 3 total entries!).

And what will you win? These coasters, reminiscent of my last trip to Hawaii in 2007, where I bought fabric squares. Let's just say it made this project super easy! I followed a tutorial, but can't find it. So I apologize that I can't give credit. Anywho, hope you are able to sit back and relax after a long day of blogging and sewing to enjoy a cup of tea on these coasters! Oh and my real life friends & family can enter. And sorry for the picture being sideways, I can't get it to rotate!

Contest ends at midnight PST on December 8, 2009.
Lastly - I will ship internationally. And if the winner has not responded in 4 days, I reserve the right to draw the name of a new winner. Thanks for coming by, and click the pic at the top of the page to see all of the other awesome things up for grabs this week. And thanks for stopping by!

Fall Party

2009-12-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

Our friend John took a few days leave (he's a Marine based somewhere else in the States that I cannot remember for the life of me) for a wedding, and came home. We offered to host a little get together so that he could see his close friends in one place - and not have to try and get together with a bunch of people at different times during one weekend. So I got to play hostess again, and I loved every minute! I actually cooked things ahead of time and the kitchen was clean by the time guests arrived. Clean! Can you believe it? I am going to get better at doing this for every gathering. Anywho, I made some good snacks like PWs Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie & Peanut Butter Brownies (love Betty Crocker boxed brownies). I also made the Austrian favorite, Gluehwein, and got everyone hooked (D & Linds, I still owe you that recipe)! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. But I am hosting a Betty Crocker Cookie Exchange this weekend, and I will be making some of the same things, so I will remember to take pictures! Anywho, pictures of the party, that's all you really want anyways, right?

Kevin & Linds, the Newlyweds.

The ladies (Linds, D, Sarah, Me) with mugs of Gluehwein & a Hangar 24 for me!

The Fellas (Matt, Kevin, Adam, John, Monet) - weird to see Matt with a beer!

H2 decided to entertain our

I won!

2009-12-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Bonnie over at Fishsticks & Fries had a giveaway on her 100th post. And guess who won?? (see blog post title hehe). She has amazing patterns that I have been eyeing for awhile! And now I can make onesies for my friends that have kids. I can make a layette for Blake, who was born Friday. Check out the post to see what I won, and while you are there, have a little look around her blog! Oh and I chose the boy fabric, so I could make something for lil Blake!

[Photo taken by Bonnie, I stole it from her post. ]

Kittens

2009-12-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, we decided that Halvsies was stolen. The posters were torn down (even the reward ones!) and we have not seen him since September. We are sad, but we decided to adopt 2 more kittens to help fill the hole that the Half Blood Prince left in our hearts. So Sue gave us 2 more Mexican kittens, and these barely made it across the border. Apparently they were supposed to have paperwork - but they did not (they get their shots here, not in Mexico). Anywho, the kitties have settled in well and love both us and each other. They are also Daddy's boys and climb up on Matt's lap and fall asleep often. You will probably see them around the blog every now and again. They have been named H2 (or Half Blood Prince the second) and Oreo (or Michael Jackson). Here are a few pictures from their first few weeks here (we got them on November 15th).

Oreo is the climber. He got out of their kitty gate after 3 days. He used the wine rack as leverage. hahaha They now have their own room!

The boys sleeping on Daddy's lap.

Current Craftings & Eatings

2009-12-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

I realized that I am really bad at posting pictures of what I am sewing and what I have sewn. If you are friends with me on ravelry, then you will see lots of pictures of what I am crocheting. But I'm not putting it on the blog, because I am currently making lots and lots of Christmas gifts, and one of them might be for you! Anywho, I was sewing last night and thought I would take some pictures. My phone actually has a decent (for a phone) camera and that's what I use for ravelry pictures. Because I can take them and email them to myself and then just upload immediately. No cords necessary. So I'm doing that with sewing too!

Up first is a set of coasters and towels. This is for a couple who's colors are earthy.. the bridal shower is next Saturday. I may be making another set for a couple getting married in January. I really like how the color combo turned out. Oh and I'm using this tutorial.

And this??? well it is top secret... until after Christmas. but I will just leave you to wonder what I made and who it is for! :)

And if you wanted to know what we have been eating lately...

PW's Steak Bites (trying them out for a party... sooo good!)

Just learned to use the macro lens on my camera and I LOVE it!

Potato Bacon Chowder. Minor adjustments made to the original recipe, like I poured out some of the bacon grease before cooking the onions and celery in it. haha Great way to use up Milk (and potatoes!), but I'm sure it's terrible for us. Matt gave it two thumbs up!

NewlyWife

2009-11-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

As some of you may already know, my cousin Emily and I are launching a new project called NewlyWife. There we will chronicle our experiences and interests, as well as creating a community, with topics ranging from cooking to budgeting and crafting to home decor. It's still a few months down the road, as it can take some time to put together. If you are interested on checking out the site, leave a comment with your email and we will add you to the launch list.

Thanks to her hubby for this great picture. Oh, and please excuse my horrible posture!

Flashback Saturday

2009-11-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

So my friend Jessica, from the U of R, just sent me this picture circa 2005. It cracks me up. I am trying to figure out where it was. I know it was soph year, cuz that's when Laura and I did ballet (2nd semester). I still have that leotard, maybe not the shoes. I think the dorm is North, we were probably running around before class and showing off our sweet leotards. hahaha Why I only have one shoe on is beyond me. Mom - does this bring back any other flashbacks? Wanna scan and send me some old ballet pics (pretty please?)

Redlands Prebuild 6.20.2009

2009-11-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

The week after our Bay Area prebuild, we had another build in Redlands. This one was much smaller (let's just say there were only 5 of us there at our 8 am starting time), but we got it done quickly. I really should have posted these about 5 months ago, but better late than never, right? Enjoy (oh yeah, and I'm too lazy to try and caption these) :)

Lauriana laughed at my cheer ribbons! haha

That's right, they love the A's chair!

Oakland Prebuild 6.13.2009

2009-11-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Back in June Matt & I led our first prebuild for Hands of Mercy. This was the first of 2 houses being built in honor of my grandpa, Papa. It was great to have the whole family together doing something for someone else. These houses are up at the Ranch in Mexico, they serve those who go out into the cities and serve others. Anywho, I already posted a bunch of pictures from our trip wandering around the City, but I hadn't posted prebuild pictures yet. So here are the few that I took!

Me & Linds doing the cut slips

Matt & Rick Carter doing layout Some Atwoods & Wests hammering the floor(?) together
Love this pic! Mike, Dan, & Josh (Warren in the background)

Lonnie making Matt take the lead (blue shirts?)
More family
2 aunts & a cousin!
2 cousins & an uncle (I love that Josh is just playing in the background)

Bella's Beanie

2009-11-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I became Twilight obsessed after reading the books last year. I finally saw the movie, once I bought it on dvd, and have re-read all the books! Although, will I see the next movie in theaters- I don't know. I guess I'm not that obsessed. Matt and I rarely see movies in the theater anymore, but maybe I can get a group of girls to go! Anywho, I've been trying to recreate Bella's beanie, from the movie. I found this pattern, but had to totally recreate it. I thought I would post my pattern here, so I can link to it on my Ravelry account. :)

Pattern (original by april draven, I have edited a bunch of stuff)

This is for standard yarn. No idea what that is called. but not the thick stuff - that's a whole nother pattern!

Hook size: H/8-5.00MM (I am going to try using an I next, to see if it works better)

Abbreviation meanings:
Rnd: round
Ch: chain
Dc: double crochet
Fpdc: Front post double crochet
Bpdc: Back post double crochet
Ss: slip stitch
Fpsc: Front Post single crochet
FO: Fasten off

Ch 1 or use magic circle, Ch 2
Rnd 1: 12 dc in ring, join with 1 ss, (ch 2 doesn’t count as a dc) (12)
Rnd 2: ch 2, * 2 fpdc around next dc, 2 dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (24)
Rnd 3: ch 2, * 2 fpdc, 1 dc, 2 dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (30)
Rnd 4: ch 2, * 2 fpdc, 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (36)
Rnd 5: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 3 dc, 2 dc around next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (42)
Rnd 6: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 4 dc, 2dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (48)
Rnd 7: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 5 dc, 2dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (54)
Rnd 8: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 6 bpdc, 2bpdc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (60)
Rnd 9: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 7 dc, 2dc in next dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (66)
Rnd 10 - 15: ch 2, *2fpdc, 9 dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (66)
Rnd 16: ch 2, * 2fpdc, 9bpdc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (66)
Rnd 17-22: ch 2, *2 fpdc, 9 dc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (66)"Cambria","serif";">Rnd 23: ch 2, * 2fpdc, 9 bpdc* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss (66)
Rnd 24: ch 1, *2fpsc, 9 ss* rep from * to * around, join with 1 ss, FO (66)

Lastly, a picture of me in the first beanie that I made!

Halvsies in a Tree

2009-10-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

This post is like a month old. But I was waiting for that post about who Halvsies was. And now, he hasn't appeared. Sue (owner of his Mom, Belle) says he was probably stolen. They had 2 cute grey tabbys stolen when they were in Redlands. :( Anywho, we are going to get 2 kittens from her in a couple months (let's just say Belle didn't waste any time!) haha They will be kept under a much closer watch! We are sad, really sad, but need to let life go on. :(

Aywho, this is the old post, but it's funny. Can you see where our little kitten is?? The big problem was that he did not learn how to climb down from the trees. So our poor little kitten would be stuck in the trees, meowing (okay, whining) for us to come and get him. He disappeared for awhile during Brooke & Bryan's engagement party. I finally found him here. Can you see him?

Thankfully his daddy found him and he was able to go into the party where everyone adored him!

M & M

2009-10-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm only doing this for you, Jess. Someday I will pay you back, too! hahahaha

♥ What are your middle names?

Elise & Michael

♥How long have you been together?

Since September 5, 2006 (so that means we have 5 days on you guys, Jess)

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?

Since March 2005

♥ Who asked who out?

Well I don't know if there was ever an official asking. But I let him know we were dating by any other name, and he finally made it "official" by changing my name in his phone - something like my beautiful girlfriend

♥ Who made the first move?

Me. I put my number in his phone. Sneaky girl.

♥ How old are each of you?

me-22

him-27 in Nov

♥ Did you go to the same school?

Yes, Lindsey and I also went to ACA. haha no we didn't.

♥ Are you from the same home town?

Nope. I'm a Nor Cal girl and he's always lived in some city off the 10 freeway

♥ Who is the smartest?

That's not a nice question! haha I think we are both smart in different areas. But Matt will readily admit that he is not the math person!

♥ Who majored in what?

Me- Psychology

Matt - Graphic Design

♥ Who is the most sensitive?

Depends. I am more moody / emotional. But I think he's more sensitive (shh don't tell any guys)

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?

In N Out!

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

Mexico. We're going to Canada with his fam in May, then Fiji (maybe) with mine in Oct. 2010 wil be fun!

♥ Who has the worst temper?

Depends on the day. haha

♥ How many children do you want?

3. or 2. or 4. hahaha

♥ Who does the cooking?

I do most of it. He does some tho.

♥ Who is more social?

I'm the social butterfly!

♥ Who is the neat-freak?

Our parents?

♥ Who is the most stubborn?

Me, probably me. Well, Matt has his moments too

♥ Who wakes up earlier?

Definitely Metthew

♥ Where was your first date?

I can't remember. I don't know if we had one. But if there was one it probably included in n out!

♥ Who has the bigger family?

Matthew as far as close family, I think I have a bigger extended family. It's more tight knit, at least.

♥ Do you get flowers often?

Nope

♥ How do you spend the holidays?

Switches every year. This year we will be here for Thanksgiving and in Nor Cal for Christmas

♥ Who is more jealous?

We try not to be jealous. It's not a good thing

♥ How long did it take to get serious?

Well Matt says he knew we were going to get married within a month of meeting me. It took me a few years to figure it out! haha But once we were officially dating - we knew

♥ Who eats more?

Metthew has a hollow leg. Or 2. haha

♥ What do you do for a living?

I'm an estimating assisant, right now. And he's a painter / graphic designer / construction worker.

♥ Who does the laundry?

We both do :)

♥ Who’s better with the computer?

He's a bit better.

♥ Who drives when you are together?

Him. Unless he's sick or tired.

♥ What is "your" song?

I don't think we have one!

I tag.... Bobbi, Leslie (you have to get started on these now that you are engaged!), Krista, & Jessica F

The Half Blood Prince

2009-09-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

We have a new addition to our family, a little grey tabby from Mexico. The Half Blood Prince (because he's half Mexican and half American) joined our family in August. He came from our missionary friends in Mexico and made the trip North with his brother Griffin in the Fortuna excursion. We call him Halvsies for short (and Matt won't use the name Half Blood Prince because he doesn't like it haha). I was waiting to do this post until all of the pictures were together, but I can't wait anymore. This is partially a sad post because our beloved kitten has been missing since last Saturday. We are trying to tell ourselves that he is just wandering, but we think a neighbor may have stolen him. Sue (the missionary) says that males tend to wander, especially if they aren't fixed yet. We figured at 4 months he was too young to be fixed, and had not gotten that done yet. Matt made posters and we have been putting them up around the neighborhood. But it almost feels like a lost cause. I miss our little kitten so dearly, I never thought I would have gotten so attached. I am afraid we need to just give up and pray that he is with a nice family, but another part of me does not want to give up hope. Sue said that Belle (his Mama) is pregnant again, so we can have a kitten from her next litter. Matt said this is only going to happen if it's another male with white paws, just like our little baby. That being said. Here are some pictures of our wonderful kitten.

This is actually a picture of the toys I made him. He wasn't old enough to use the catnip ones yet!

I can't rotate this, but here he is only a few days after coming to our house

Sleeping in the bed that I made him. He did outgrow his little basket really fast though!

Playing outside while Matthew was watching

You need to stand on your head to see this in the right way. But here's a pic of me and our kitty

And another one

We caught him climbing on the outside of the screen door. He wanted in, because he loved people that much!

Killing his first lizard (he killed at least 3 more and numerous flies & crickets)

Typing messages to people on facebook

Biting Mommy's fingers

There are more pictures, but they are on my other computer. And I believe there are a few videos of him. More to come later!

Crusing on the I-5

2009-09-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

I love visiting my parents and the Bay area. There is just something wonderful about cool weather and time with family that cannot be beat. The one major drawback is the 6 hour drive that it takes to get there. The last time we went, Kev & Linds joined us in the Avalon, which made the ride much better. I thought I would share this picture of the sunset with you. Ah, the sun setting over the 5, what a glorious sight! (my mom will make a comment about how I said the 5 and now just 5. trust me, it's a NorCal - SoCal thing!)

This is what I usually look like when I'm stuck behind the wheel. Paying attention to the road, but totally bored.

But the Starbucks does help! A treat that we usually save for these trips. And this was purchased with a bday giftcard from Joy. Thanks Joy! (actually I think it might have been Christmas... meaning it sat in our eating out envelope for 6 months!)

Hope you all enjoyed the little glimpse of our ride. And yes, that is my College World Series t-shirt that I'm sporting, go SeaOtters [Lions]!

Wine Closet

2009-09-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Would you like to know what happens when you move out of your parents house and they take over your old bedroom?? They turn what used to be a nice little closet for all of your clothes into a wine closet. Seriously? A wine closet?? Not to mention, it is stocked pretty well! haha My parents actually turned my old bedroom into a guest room, once I was married and all. They left the shrine to Megan at peace until I said I do. Mom Claire did a really nice job re-painting it (what? not everyone likes green & blue walls with a yellow ceiling?) and refurnishing it - there is now a queen sized bed in there, so 2 people can spend the night! But I did get a kick out of it once I realized the refinished closet (it had 4 doors that opened by folding into themselves, which didn't work as well once the giant bed was in the middle of the room... so they bolted the one closest to the wall into the closet frame & left the other one to open) had been turned into an ebay storage shed & wine closet. haha And yes, that is a wine cooler fridge thingie on the bottom. My dad got some great deal on it from the other Matt, his nephew.

Our little garden

2009-09-08T13:38:00.001-07:00

My mother in law has an amazing garden. I mean, seriously, any space in her yard is prime garden space. Talk about not being wasteful. I can't even imagine how much money she has saved us with her free fruit & veggies (well, free to us, she paid for the seeds and spent a lot of TLC on that food). She is a gardening inspiration. I was so excited to have my own garden once we got the house. I remembered my little radish and carrot garden as a child and saw that I could do it again. So my big push when we first moved in was to clear out space for the garden. I think I was in a bit over my head. My dad was amazing and laid out my garden and cleaned up our fruit trees. The pomegranate and lemon trees were incredibly overgrown! Terry helped me start out some seedlings and I transplanted them when I thought they were ready. But I was a bit overzealous. Some of the seedlings were not big enough to transplant and they died. Others needed more shade than our little garden patch could provide. So we rigged up this tarp thing that shaded the garden. But it was too much shade for other plants. And don't get me started on the weeds! Our neighbor has a palm tree and it drops these little pods which turn into the biggest freaking weeds you've ever seen. And you have to dig them out. Because if you just pull them out then you don't get the root and they keep growing. I spent many hours in that garden cursing Adam for his sin & making the land hard to work. haha

But I did learn a lot. Next year we are going to move the garden to an area with more natural shade & filtered sunlight. We will get the drip system to its maximum potential. (My dad put in a great drip system, but I did not have things planted in the whole garden patch, so it wasn't working correctly for what we needed). This way the garden will get watered and my hubby won't be upset that I spend more time caring for plants than for him (okay, so I talked to the pumpkins a bit, no big deal!). I will choose plants that grow well together and that are good for this area (cactus? haha). I need plant that take good care of themselves, like my fruit trees. And hopefully we won't be doing as much work on the house, this time next year.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of some of the good things that happened in our yard!

Check out those sunflowers! (the rest of the dead garden is to the right)

We had so many tomatoes from these plants. Although the ones on the left did not bear much fruit. But I got these 5 plants for free (1 was a gift from the Whites) and took great care of them!

Fruits of my labor: Yummy tomato sauce for pasta!

The insides of my cute little pumpkin

I was very excited that I grew this pumpkin all the way from a seed into a full plant! This was the first thing we picked from our garden

Our New House

2009-08-24T10:49:00.001-07:00

Finally here... the pictures that you have all been waiting for. These are the standard "we are homeowners" pictures in front of our house. However we took them on a day where we had been working and I look like junk. but it's okay, so does our house. Hopefully we will have better after pictures in a few months. And hey, at least our window A/C unit isn't in the window for this pic, making us look even more ghetto!

If you can see the clear blob on top of the garage roof... it is now off. That is one major improvement!

Our Secret Baby

2009-08-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

When we went camping (in July), we had some surprise visitors. First Brad showed up on his bike... then the Fortunas & Steve stopped by. Well okay we called the latter 2! haha Anyways, Lauriana took a picture of us with our tent, and then Bella handed us the baby. So here's our picture with our fake baby... maybe it will be on our Christmas card. haha Matt would kill me!

B Squared

2009-08-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Brooke and Bryan are officially engaged! Bryan popped the question last night and had all of their friends waiting (at our house) to celebrate with them! Here are a few pictures that I took. For Brookes story, read here!

Aww twinnie love!

I made the cake that's falling apart in the back. Lil Strum made the 2"B n B" cakes

There she is with her creation! And the awesome heart inside the cake!

Soon to be Mr & Mrs Bilicke

Old Friends

2009-08-05T10:39:00.001-07:00

So this picture is about 2 months late. This is my good friend Sarah from way back in the day. I remember reorganizing her Nana's garden furniture to make houses and such (Nana lived next door to me). We also made friendship bracelets and tried to sell them to neighbors. We kept in contact throughout college and shared emails and letters. Once she sent me a video of her house, after she moved to Alaska. I still owe her one of those! She ended up being in the Bay Area for a funeral while we were there for the prebuild. It was great to see her and meet her husband and son (I think she was 6 or 7 months preggo with baby boy #2 here), and she got to meet my Matthew. We spent about an hour chatting and just getting up to date with each others lives, I think it has been about 4 or 5 years since we have last seen each other. I miss her already, and hope to make it up to Alaska to visit her sometime... oh and I bet she's had that baby boy by now... I'm just waiting for the text! Love you Sarah!

Engagement Party

2009-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I'm only a little over a month late... here are a few pictures from Kevin & Lindsey's Engagement party. Matt and I are both honored to be in their wedding, as best man and matron of honor... how cool is that?

The bride and her attendents, minus Catherine

There's a guy missing... I think Kevin's cousin Jason?

To anyone who knows Kev... can you hear (just imagine) the sound he's making right now, cuz I can... it's signature Kevin! hahaha

Praciticing cutting the cake and smiling for a million cameras! Aren't they just the cutest?

Camping

2009-07-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

Four our first anniversary / needing to relax 3 months after our anniversary, Matthew and I went camping at Heart Bar. I was excited because I got to sit on my lazy behind and read a lot of books. Matt enjoyed feeding chipmunks and running around in the field and cooking over the campfire. We had wine coolers on our first night (and the next afternoon) as a way to toast one year of marital bliss! Brad came by to say hello on Saturday morning (he found us as he was riding around on his motorcycle) and we invited the Fortunas over for smores on Saturday evening. They took a picture of us by our awesome tent with doggie doors. We just need a dog now!

City by the Bay

2009-07-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

Before our Bay Area prebuild, Matt and I got to play tourist with Kev and Linds. We had been talking about going to San Francisco for a few years, so it was exciting to see this finally come to fruition. My mom was an amazing tourguide and took us all over the City. I saw a few things I had not seen before (like the Victorian houses aka FULL HOUSE house! woo!). This picture is from that place:

Next stop, Baker Beach. This is the scene of the Beach Party in the Princess Diaries and also of Matt and I's engagement photos. Here's a picture of me and my lovely Mutti.

This sign said 0.7 mi to Land's End. 1.4 mi to the Golden Gate Bridge. and 775 mi. to Mexico. That's where I was headed. Although it looks like I'm pointing up. Oh well.
View of Coit tower from Lombard Street:

My love and I at Lombard Street.

View of the City from Coit Tower...

A drive-by picture of City Hall.

And that is about it for our quick little tour of San Francisco. I have some pictures of us all eating lunch and of Lindsey sleeping. But I thought I would be nice and spare everyone from seeing that! Thanks for visiting today!

Recent Craft Endeavors

2009-07-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well I'm officially t'ed off with blogger. I can' edit a dang picture once it is uploaded. Grrrr. And that is why this first picture is sideways. It's correct in my file, but 3 times trying to upload and no dice. It is a picture of an apron that I made with this tutorial, and a matching pot holder and dish rags. Part of a wedding favor for Staci.

This is a gift basket that I made as a prize for bingo. The large pink heart is a bath fizzy. the green soaps were made with shavings of some bar soap. And then the white soaps were made with this awesome tutorial from Anne Marie.

A close up of some of the soaps and the stamps that I used. I also made some as favors for stacis shower, and totally forgot to get pictures. But I learned thatI need to use a non-bleeding colorant or the white will slowly fade to the back color!

Oh and an Easter soap with a bunny and eggs inset. Don't you want to buy some?

Fixed a giant rip up the pocket of T-Pains (a girl named Taylor)'s pants. I loved how it turned out so much that I am making my own!

And there you have it, just tast of what I've been crafting lately!

TSL Package

2009-06-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

During the month of May, I participated in Bobbi's Simple Life Challenge, called The Simple Life - which reminds me of an amusing old tv show. ha Anyways, we tried to be simple and frugal. This wasn't a stretch for me, I mean, I am a Nadalet now, but I did learn some new things. For instance, I really started using my reusable bags, at all stores, not just for groceries. And I thought 2 or 3 times before eating out (that was -5 points!). I also started using reusable dishes (not just the plastic throwaways) at work. It was a good reminder that we can always be doing more to save money and the environment.

To finish it off, we were given a buddy and instructed to send a package about TSL. I was a bit wary of this at first, but then I "met" my buddy and feel like we've bonded. Leslie is a girl right about my age who lives on the other side of this country. She's much more fitness oriented than I am, but we do share similar interests (Britney, a good beer, the color pink). As I started making her gift, I got more and more excited about sending her something fun, who doesn't love getting a package? I forgot to take pictures, but she posted all about it, so here is the package:

That's her dog Jackson with the frame, isn't he cute? I also added some recipes and coupons. I think she really liked it.

And in return, she sent me this awesome tea-glass. It is called Libre Tea and she did a review of it here. That's how I knew I liked it! I was super excited when I got the package in the mail. However, I was sad because I don't have any loose tea and do not know where to buy it. I thought maybe trader joes, but no. I bet stell has it. I need to check there tomorrow. Anyways, I'm putting up some of her pictures, because my pictures would be boring. This post should be titled "the one where Megan stole all of Leslie's pictures" haha

If any of you have loose leaf tea, please send it my way! I'm totally excited to try this thing out!

Smile in a Picture?

2009-06-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

My mom recently pointed out that I have a problem with smiling in pictures. I apparently like to make funny faces. I have NO idea what she is talking about... just kidding. When looking back at my pictures from San Francisco, I see what she means. I have come up with a few theories:

1) If I'm having a bad smile day (it's a real phenomenon) I will just pucker up or make a smirk. Example A:
2) Sometimes it is more fun just to make weird faces to upset the one taking the picture (heh heh) See below:

3) Sometimes I am just so dang cute when I'm making faces or drinking a cream soda...

4) Sometimes it is just plain boredom. This was taken when avoiding a paper that I had to write. Matthew is making a "who-face" in one too (but I can't find it. I also have one of the Nadalet siblings making this face, but no idea where it is)!

And then sometimes I think my face-making is a learned experience. I mean, can you see what Sarah is showing me here? (I love you girl, don't kill me for putting this up!)

In this example, I am just following my man's lead...

Or maybe it just runs in the family... (3 pictures to prove this point)

And I picked someone who encourages it?

Lastly, it could have started as a childhood game, that I never stopped playing. Or maybe my parents were just so mean and took away all my toys, that this is a learned response.

But what do I really think? I think my dad has been doing this for years and I am just a Daddy's girl following his footsteps... unfortunately all of the good pictures of him being a weirdo are on my other computer. Maybe this one will suffice:

Kevin and Lindsey

2009-06-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

I bet everyone is confused as to how there are suddenly somewhat regular posts, after a long period of no posting. There is no real reason, except I have been trying really hard to get back into the habit of blogging. There is a new blogging adventure that will keep me really focused, so I'm getting back into the swing of things on here. Plus, we have had a lot of really great things to do lately, and I know where my camera cord is!

Back to the reason for this post. Kevin and Lindsey are a couple of great friends of ours. We are actually both going to be in their wedding, as Matron of Honor and Best Man. We are quite honored to be in those positions and really excited to share this special day with them. We recently took them to my parents house for a prebuild. We have been talking about doing a SF trip for about 2 years now, so it was about time that we went! Here are some really cute pictures that I took of them at Baker Beach (where our engagement pics were) and the last one is from Lombard Street, that was Kevin's one request of our trip! Enjoy!

Just in case you forgot... this is one of our engagement photos. At the same beach as above (Joel is a much better photographer than I!)

Squash & Zucchini!

2009-06-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

It is squash and zucchini season in Redlands. At least it is in Loma Linda (Nadalet Sr. House). My Redlands plants aren't blossoming quite yet!

Here is just one thing that I made:

Mmmm Stuffed not-sure-what-kind-it-is Squash! There is a mixure of ground beef and bread crumbs (cut up hamburger bun) and zucchini inside. Matt gave it a thumbs up, probably because I added Cajon Seasoning and told him about it! haha

Photoshop

2009-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm scheduling this post for Saturday. When you read this, I will be in Nor Cal (woo!) pre-building a Lofthouse with my family and friends. We are leaving Thursday night and staying until Sunday. Hopefully I will have some more pictures from this weekend!

I have been trying to play with photoshop (actually I have the free paint.net. I would say it's in between Paint! and Photoshop). Let me know which one of these you think is better...

This is the original, cropped a bit, so that it's not all out of proportion (too much sidewalk in the original pic).

Sepia toned. Gives it that old-fashioned retro look...

And "soft." It's like the original but softened up. I think I like this one the best.

What do you all think? Weigh in (Mom, Krista, & Em) in the comments! haha

Balboa Island

2009-06-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Or park. I can't remember if it's considered an Island or Park. Anywho, the Nadalets and Koenigs ventured over there on Sunday after Church. We had lunch at the Prado, where they have delicious hummus and bread sticks. Well flat bread thingies! mmm mm and the Sangria is also delightful. as are the chocolate martinis.

We had some problems taking pictures with the self timer, but here are a few! In this one, the camera got a lot of sidewalk (I cropped it) and our faces were hard to see)

In this picture, the white balance was so off that we looked like angels. This was my attempt to tone it down. I believe my dad is going to edit this one.

Me and the hubby, for some reason we look dumb. I think it is because Davis did not count to 3!

Royce & Alison are married!

2009-06-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

The families (Koenig, Nadalet, Atwood, West) met up in San Diego to celebrate Royce and Alison's wedding (they aren't techinicallyfamily, but our family was invited). It was a wonderful excuse for a mini-vacation! we had dinner at a Portuguese restaurant on Friday and then spent Saturday wandering around Point Loma and then relaxing at the pool. The wedding was at this cute restaurant on the water. Emily took some great pictures, but here are a few of mine. I felt like paparazzi during the ceremony because all that I could see was Alison's face!

I tried my hand at photoshop. I'm not too happy with the results:

We happened to run outside for sunset pictures right before them. Can't you just see how radiant they are??

This cracks me up, it's when my mom was dancing with Joey (a high school friend) and aunt Katie cut in! Emily said it's the mai-tai's... they are miracle workers!

And the winner is...

2009-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

UPDATE 6/5/09:
Bethany never responded to my email. So I have chosen another winner.
#56, Ali.

I am too tired to take a picture of the name slip, but it is orange! haha Hopefully Ali will get back to me! Thanks everyone for wanting to win my soaps!

I wrote out all 60 names on slips of paper and drew one, that lucky person is...

Bethany said...

Thanks for the great giveaway! I love the soaps. My favorite vacation spot is Hilton Head Island. I have not travelled much for pleasure, and Hilton Head is a great beach with quiet beaches and great bike trails. I just love the calm of the ocean and nature.

May 28, 2009 2:36 PM

She just started a blog if you want to check it out! Even if you didn't win, please keep coming back, as I hope to do more giveaways and tutorials!

She has until midnight PST on June 3 to respond, if she does not get back to me, I will draw another winner!

Final Update from Claire...

2009-06-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

So, we took second place. The guys were so dejected, watching Lubbock do the dogpile on the mound, and posing with their National Championship banner.

All day I was saying, "Win or lose..." - as in "Win or lose, we're all going to go out and celebrate how well we did" or "Win or lose, this has been an amazing experience" or even "Win or lose, I'm really looking forward to going home." #2 and #3 are still true. I'm writing this from home, and the first thing I did was take a nap on my own bed. Dean made a wonderfully simple dinner of broiled chicken, brown rice, and salad. It was heaven after a week of burgers, fries, pizza, biscuits and gravy, and so many things I don't eat on a regular basis.

The game: our starting pitcher just didn't have it. He only went 1/3 inning and gave up 5 runs. His reliever, another of our winning starters, gave up another 5 runs, and the score was 10-7 after four innings.

The positive: Davis made an appearance, and really made the most of it. He pitched three innings. In the 5th he put up a zero, and again in the 6th, and gave up 1 run in the 7th. He had two strikeouts, one walk, and gave up four hits. Dean and I tried not to text frantically back and forth during his outing. He looked great. Dean said the announcers on the web used the word "phenomenal." This mom's heart got what it had been waiting for all week, so despite the monumental team disappointment, I came home happy. I have to admit I was a bit depressed this morning, after waving goodbye to the team bus, to see that the newspaper coverage concentrated on the struggles of our first two pitchers without notice of the reliever that gave us a chance to get back in the game. I guess there's always something to disappoint us, isn't there?

The Point Loma website has some nice things to say, and some nice pictures. I'm even in a couple. Here's the article. At the top there's a link to the pictures. http://www.pointloma.edu/Athletics/AthleticsEvents/Baseball_NAIA_World_Series_vs_Lubbock_Christian_19155.htm

The Lewiston crowd that we sat with all week was as happy for me as I was, I think. I told them my palms were clammy and I was nervous, and after seeing him face a couple of batters they asked why I should be nervous! One man reminded me to get a picture of that zero on the scoreboard after each inning. I did, but my camera doesn't have a powerful enough zoom, so it's pretty fuzzy. I may just have to invest in a new camera!

At the end of the game and the award of plaques and all-tournament honors (several of our players received them, and our team received the character award), the Lubbock team moved to right field to pose for pictures under the scoreboard, and their parents were allowed onto the field to take pictures. Then the towns people were allowed onto the field, and the kids raced to right field to collect caps or any other gifts from the winning team. (The man next to me pointed out his grandson racing across the grass.) Then they came over to our team looking for gifts and autographs. By this time the Point Loma parents were also allowed on the field. Our team prays together after each game, and the kids waited patiently until we were done. Our players gave away hats and signed autographs for kids and adults alike. One man had a tournament T-shirt and was having the whole team sign it. A little boy named Alex had been following our 2nd baseman Alex Cameron all week; he'd had him sign a bat the night before and was having him sign a ball last night.

Another nice feel of the community: the pastor of the church we visited last Sunday came to every game, and sat near me most games. I had Davis' camera to take pictures during the game, and realized about the 3rd inning last night that the batteries were shot. Fortunately they are only AA. The pastor went to the store and bought batteries and came back -- before Davis went in the game. That's just too cool!

I got to share the first leg of the team's flight home. They flew to Oakland, and changed planes to go to San Diego. I even sat with Davis! The team seemed to be doing OK. Many of them stayed up all night fishing and hanging around. Davis and I talked, read, and slept. It was very nice. ... So, this week I changed my flight home twice, extended the car rental twice, changed hotels once, extended the hotel stay once ... NEXT YEAR I'll plan to be there for the whole thing, and then if for some strange reason we leave early, I'll only change it all once. The team tasted it this year -- they'll know what they're playing for next year. I hope we're back next year.

Last night when I came down to the field, Davis had tears in his eyes and said "thank you for being here for this." I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Two pictures - one, the team praying after the game, with the town kids waiting nearby. Two, a mammoth burger we had at the town's famous burger place, Effie's. It's a pound, and four of us split it. They make the buns themselves (where else would you find one that size), and it was really delicious! Former Point Loma player (and older brother of Alex) Taylor Cameron is holding it up for me.

Signing off -

~ Claire

I watched my bro play ball!

2009-05-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

SEW MAMA SEW GIVEAWAY 4 POSTS BELOW!

Please comment and win, even if you didn't come from SMS!

Back to the game. Last night Matthew and I went over to Mike and Sarah's to watch the game with them. You would have thought we were watching the Lakers playoff with how loud we were. And Davis pitched 3 amazing innings, keeping them to only 1 run during his time, and 2 strikouts. Point Loma did lose, 11 to 8, but they played a really good ballgame. I am sure my Mom will have a more eloquent post, so I will leave it at that.

But I am so incredibly proud of my little bro. Go Davis!

Lewiston Stinks...

2009-05-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

... and I'm not just saying that because we lost tonight.

There is a pulp mill in town that provides employment for a good percentage of the population. (Population, by the way, is 30,904 of Nez Perce County's total 37,410. Neighboring Clarkston has a population of 7,337 of the total Clearwater County population of 20,551.) The pulp mill, as I understand it, takes trees and turns them into the pulp that later becomes paper. It also produces a foul odor that pervades the town, especially mornings. You step outside into beautiful sunshine, take a deep breath, and - yuck. I tried for a couple of days to define the odor. The closest I got was some sort of sewage mixed with mildew. One local told me they call it the smell of money. I've never even had a pile of wet money smell that bad. Come to think of it, I've never had a big pile of money, wet or dry.

Back to baseball. Tonight was the championship game, or at least it would have been if we had won. We both had our #1 pitchers on the mound, and theirs turned in a masterful performance. We lost 5-1, with our sole run coming in the bottom of the ninth. Our pitchers gave up 3 home runs. Once again, Davis warmed up but did not come in the game.

This means that we play Lubbock again tomorrow night, since as of tonight both teams have one loss. Tomorrow's game will decide who is #1 and who is #2. No pressure or anything. I heard we will have Chris Honer on the mound. Chris threw 125 pitches Monday in our win over Oklahoma City. Chris is a senior. I asked Davis how his arm will be for this and if he'll be able to go very deep into the game. Davis said, "Mom, it's the last start of his college career. He's going to pitch the best he possibly can and the longest he possibly can." That didn't really answer for me whether or not his arm has had enough rest. Good thing I don't make these decisions.

So we have another day to enjoy Lewiston. Our frustration is that we can't really go off and do fun stuff that takes too much time. The guys sleep in and move slowly, and have to leave for the field by 4:30. Two popular excursions are helicopter tours and jet boat tours of Hell's Canyon. Unfortunately they are a bit pricey and they take some time. However, two of our players did take the 1/2 hour helicopter ride earlier this week and they both hit home runs that night, so maybe we should take up a collection and send our starting lineup on a tour tomorrow.

Today I went with a few other parents to Moscow (pronounced like Costco) because we'd heard they had a bakery with great muffins. We finally got there at 4 pm, only to find they closed at 3. Moscow is a college town (University of Idaho - terrible baseball team, I hear) so we drove around the campus and then headed back.

The front page of the Lewiston Tribune this morning reported that Lewiston was named the best place to live in the US for outdoor activities, particularly hunting and fishing, by Outdoor Life magazine.

Other observations:

Speed limits are really limits in this town, and not just suggestions as they are back home. People actually drive 25 mph in a 25 zone (20 near schools). One young woman we spoke to, who is from Fresno but living and working here while her husband finishes his degree, said her car hasn't been over 50 in months.

Coming from California, we are accustomed to all the housekeping and food service staff being Latino. In this area, they are all Caucasian - not even Native American. I commented on this to one of the other moms. She said she'd heard they "run them out of town." Sounded unpleasant, perhaps similar to San Leandro in the 50's and 60's.

There was a small cruise ship docked nearby this weekend. We thought it a bit odd but remembered the river cruises Mom and Dad have taken. Very plush. Lewiston/Clarkston seems like an odd port of call, but I guess you can take a shore excursion to Hell's Canyon, and enjoy the Lewis and Clark history here.

People are unbelievably friendly here. Davis and I went out for a late breakfast this morning, and the waitress talked about how much they love it when the world series comes to town. We said we were hoping for a win tonight, and she said she hoped not - she wanted us all to stay another day. That restaurant even gave a 15% NAIA discount. Oh, and a mom with two young boys came over and asked Davis if he had played in last night's game. I think she was a little let down that he hadn't.

The people here have season tickets for baseball and the world series. We've sat with the same people every night. One man told me he'd had the same 4 seats for 16 years, except that now that the "kids growed up" and moved away they cut it back to 2 seats. The other day I went and sat in some seats way down the right field line, before the game, to chat with some other parents. A man came to sit in his seat, and I started to move my stuff. He told me I'd be OK, that the other seat holders would be filtering in and I could probably stay. I thanked him but said my tickets were closer to home plate. He said "How'd you get those? I've been coming for 6 years and this is the closest I can get!"

One woman approached me to let me know how impressed she was with our team - she teaches at one of the schools they visited. She thought they were exceptionally kind and patient with the kids. She also told me she's rooting for Point Loma.

Today's pictures - can you tell who one of the major sponsors is? We caught this in downtown Lewiston this morning. The second photo - when Dean left I changed hotels to be where the team is. This is the view from my balcony - a putting course, the Snake River, the bluffs beyond. Take a deep breath ...

~ Claire

[We finally paid to watch the game last night (8 bucks, seriously??) Anyways, it was heart-wrenching to see them lose. But it was cool to watch the game, it seemed like a pro-game. And I even saw Davis a few times on the screen. We 're going to watch the live stats tonight, maybe my bad luck curse will wear off. :( ]

Late Late Update from Lewiston

2009-05-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Actually this is from early today, it was emailed at 1 am, Who know my parents could stay up so late??

Well, we beat Lee tonight, 8-5, but it wasn't without drama. A couple of nail-biting innings left some of us parents concerned about the condition of our hearts. Dean watched the game online and we texted back and forth quite a bit during the game. He would text to tell me Davis was warming up (I also got those texts, once I sent out a text at 8:30 saying, where are my updates? I was no longer in the dark about the game!) (I can't see the bullpen from my seats) and I would text about the status of the 50-50 raffle.

The raffle, by the way, was the most impressive I've seen. Veterans of youth sports know the frustrations of trying to sell, and having to buy, 50-50 tickets when the prize is so minimal - one time I won about $30.00 and that was actually a good take. Opening night, the winner's portion (50%) was over $900.00. Tonight it was a measly $300 and I still didn't win. There's always tomorrow though.

Our starting pitcher went 6 innings but was pulled when he couldn't record an out in the 7th. Our 7th inning pitcher let a couple of the starter's baserunners score before closing them down. Our closer pitched the 8th and 9th but I think he was pretty nervous or excited, too, because it wasn't exactly a smooth ride. However, they got the job done, and three home runs helped our cause immensely.

Davis did not pitch, but warmed up so long he ended up having to ice his arm. He's still loving the ride and eager to make his contribution when the time comes.

I shouldn't say tonight because it's after midnight, so it was actually last night ... and our next game is tonight (Thursday) at 7 PM. This will be the championship game. Our lights-out starter from last Friday night will start this game. We will face Lubbock Christian again.

After the game, several members of the team and parents, etc. went to a local restaurant on the water.that had agreed to stay open for us. There were about 30 of us and it was a fun time. Most fun for me, two of the dads split the bill for everyone! (Not really - I had a great time hanging out with the players and parents and learning a little more about them, and that was the best part.).

I am ashamed to say I have no picture to share. I thought I took a great one at the restaurant, but it's a blur. My little camera does not do well in low light. Instead I'll select another random amusing "welcome to town" picture. The other side of this sign says "Kung Pao Chicken." Apparently they didn't notice the problem on this side.

Have a great Thursday!

Claire