Mother's Day Part 2 -- Sunriver, Oregon Adventures

Wayne and I had been recently talking about driving out to the desert with my mom. She is always looking for excuses to hop in the car and just drive. I knew she had to see Sunriver, and it is so close to so many awesome places! It would be our little hub. My sister and I split the deal, and my mom got to have all of her kids, and grand kids under one roof for 2 nights. I knew that alone would mean something to her even if we did nothing at all.

First stop: Fort Rock

It is 1 hour from Sunriver, and well worth the drive. The views leave you speechless.. The wind on the other hand left us whip-lashed. The museum is seasonal, and we were not able to enter. I am not sure we would have spent too much time in there anyways.. The wind was FREEZING!

On the way back we spotted Newberry National Volcanic Monument (AKA Newbarry Caldera). We were suddenly in a winter wonderland! 

Once back in Sunriver, we went to the lava caves, and then back to the house to BBQ.

I've decided that a 2 night trip anywhere is not enough. The first night is spent figuring out what the plan is or the next day. Run around all day, and go to bed planning your departure. You really only get 1 day to see everything. So we plan to go back! :) It was a wonderful adventure. I know my mama had a good time. Her shop just blew up as did mine, so we needed a break from the stresses of being a single person mass producer. This was just what the doctor ordered.

Mother's Day Part 1 -- Florence, Oregon Adventures

Wayne's mom is a simple woman who is always making sure everyone else is taken care of. We give her grief from time to time because it seems like we are never able to do anything special for her because she only wants to do what ever you want to do. She is fine with eating what ever you want to eat. Sounds like the perfect wife, and mother! WELL on Mother's Day. It is your day.. She mentioned taking Kola to the beach. When we got Kola, her previous owner told us that she LOVES the beach and went often. This was our first chance to see how she reacts to the ocean. The poor girl is scared of baths, and the hose.. So naturally you would think she would be scared of the ocean. NOPE! She ran right in!
We have driven through the historic old town part of Florence, Oregon before but never got to stop and explore. We knew that was a MUST on the agenda! We found a lot of businesses to be closed on a Saturday though.. I thought that was strange. Old Town is a must to visit though. Cute shops, cafes, and restaurants. We ate at the famous Moe's for lunch, checked out a ton of antique stores, got ice cream, coffee, and sushi (her favorite) to-go for dinner!

I love celebrating Mom's, and in doing that we get to explore and visit new places! Thank you to both of our Mom's. Next week is my mom's adventure weekend! Can't wait! 

♥♥♥♥

DIY Rustic Party Decoration or Party Favor Stamped Wood Rounds

Let us get back into things! I have been SO BUSY! Between printing, packing, shipping, and yard work.. there is only coffee, sleep, and repeat.

I was sorting through my wood rounds last night, and realized that I am left with only a small handful of wood rounds that are 2.5-3 inches wide. Everything else is much smaller.. So until I get some more cut I had to deactivate my current shop listings. While thinking about how I lack a variety in my shop I started playing around with my small wood rounds and some stamps that I have.. A light bulb flicked on and I knew I had a blog post lined up(finally)!

Obviously all of you know how to dab an ink pad and stamp, but things like this sometimes are just too simple to really connect. I have had these things lying around and never really thought about stamping on them. You could also skip the drilling, and hot glue the wood rounds to a magnet!

They make adorable decorations for a bridal shower, or toss them in a cellophane bag with a bow for engagement party favors!

The 'All you need is Love' stamp was made by ::  Paper Sushi (I LOVE all of Jen's work)
The 'Time to Drink Champagne and Dance on the Table' stamp is a East of India brand and is hard to find in the U.S. I purchased mine off of Ebay from a shop in the UK.


Now get crafting! The ideas are endless!

Our 5 Year Anniversary

Wayne and I are not married.. You wouldn't know it though based on how we spent our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to take a trip somewhere.. But the weather sucks. So we thought we would hold off on that, and maybe just do dinner and a movie. We haven't been to a movie in a long time. Just before we were supposed to get ready to leave.. We started talking about what we need to do around the houses, and to improve the yard. Basically how to get rid of some of this mud/dirt. We got all excited on these ideas.. We were going to take our DAY OLD truck to the store and buy the supplies that we need for the new projects. That's right.. We just bought a new (old) workhorse truck, and spent our 5 year anniversary in the lumber yard! I kill me. I brought a camera with us, because I thought that our hilarious 5 year anniversary should be documented.. Our house and ideas are too important to care about a silly date that we were only going to go on because we "had" to do something for our anniversary. I say... Just plan a trip! I like to look forward to things!
For now we work, and get joy out of the action of improving our landscape.

We completed our gravel walkway!

..and a retaining wall for the driveway. We had gravel delivered to level it out, and get rid of the mud! Yay, progress! I am also planting new grass, and we got a wood splitter to help us out with all of this wood! The loggers said they guess that we have 40 cords of wood.

Romantic..

A New Start

I must admit.. I have been in hiding. I have been trying to figure out how to make this post for a couple of weeks now. Here goes!
Our property is covered in old growth doug fir trees(150 yrs+). The house was build literally surrounded by trees, and they have been untouched until today. We made the decision after our recent, and frequent wind storms. The trees surrounding the house's had to go for our safety now and in the future. Living so close to these massive trees made the house feel like a modern tree house. Now we have a mountain cabin, and the landscape is getting a new start. The previous owners were not smart about the trees. They topped a lot of them for satellite TV. So the trees grew back deformed, and top heavy. All of the trees fought for sunlight too. So the majority only had foliage on the tops, which also makes the tree top heavy.
We want to be smart this time around for future generations, but this means we are in for the long haul. We have our work cut out for us that's for sure. The cleanup is going to take some time, but we are damn determined.. This is our home. It will get done as soon as humanly possible. Once complete - I say it is time for a good long relaxing vacation! :)

But on the bright side (literally) we have tons of light for our garden, and for the trees to grow properly. We also now have a lake and mountain view!
This is our livingroom view before:

and after: