Aug 9 2020

Bear Valley Lakes, Idaho

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Karin

This weekend Corey and I had the opportunity to hike to Bear Valley Lakes. Bear Valley Lakes is located in the Lemhi mountain range in the Salmon National Forest. It was a 3 hour drive from our home to the trailhead. Once at the trailhead it’s a 6 mile hike up to the Bear Valley Lakes. We hiked the whole 6 miles in 3 hours. It is a continual upward climb gaining more than 2000 ft of elevation. It wasn’t too difficult but my legs were fatigued by the time we made it to the lakes just from the constant upward climb. The trail itself was a little rocky and made it difficult to hike on at times. The scenery was beautiful. There is a creek that runs for the most part all along the trail. We often came upon little waterfalls. Once at the lake there was a little wind that made a hot summer day feel really nice and cool. The lake is a glacial lake so it was pretty cold. I soaked my feet in it and it felt really refreshing. Corey spent his extra time up there fishing (he caught 3 fish) and I spent my time finishing a book. The best part of our trip is that we had the whole lake to ourselves not another soul in sight. The only time we saw someone else was as we were packing up to leave another group of people and livestock arrived.

Selfie in front of a waterfall on our way back

Beautiful majestic peaks around the lake

Dec 10 2016

Merry and Bright

Posted on December 10, 2016 by Karin

I don’t know if you have noticed but I’ve been really into making signs lately. It’s a new hobby of mine that I started doing in September and have found that I actually really enjoy it. We have a place called the “hatch pit”. The city provides a place to dump any tree clippings, wood, construction stuff, and sod. Well sometimes people dump pallets that are in pretty good shape. You can scavenge the wood area where the pallets are and so it’s free to take. Corey and I got quite a bit of wood from there to supply my new hobby. Corey has also enjoyed working on some wood projects of his own. I usually tell him I need a sign what size and he’ll put it together for me. He also made a wood box for a table center piece. It turned out pretty cool. Maybe I’ll post a picture of it some time. I saw this post on pintrest here. I decided I wanted one too and created an image that I wanted on my computer. Then I printed and transferred the image onto the sign and hand painted it. I’m so happy with the results. What do you think?

Finished sign

Rudolf even has a red nose

I love that the tree has red stars to tie into the red lettering on Merry and Bright.

Dec 3 2016

Mail Time

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Karin

Addressed, stamped, and ready.

Back in November I had a blog post about sending Christmas cards. Here is the update. They are addressed, stamped, and sealed ready to go. It was quite a process this year. I had a lot of complaining from kids about taking a family photo. The cards aren’t the best looking but we still went with it. The icing on the cake was when I bought 60 stamps and lost them! Yes I lost the stamps. I looked everywhere and was unable to locate the stamps. That’s enough for me to give up and say I guess we weren’t meant to send cards out this year. No I’m determined to do it this year. No excuses. I went out and bought 40 more stamps and we are headed to the post office to post the mail. As long as nothing catastrophic happens on the way to the post office we are golden. If you get a card from me remember it wasn’t easy and there was a lot of effort to get them to you because we love you. On a related note I finished the “MERRY MAIL” sign and have it hung up ready to receive the cards for this year. I love how it turned out. It’ll be better than the string I had hanging up. I always had to keep hanging the string over and over again because it kept falling down. Can you believe it we already received one card! Yay! Someone is on the ball this year. Hope you have an easier time getting the cards out this year.

I love how this turned out.

Jun 12 2016

Old fence boards

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Karin

Back in May we had a major wind storm that blew a big portion of our fence down breaking some of the fence boards. Instead of throwing them out I wanted to use them somehow. I asked my husband to make me a flat plank out of them so I could make it into a flag.

This is what he gave me. He even sanded it down for me.

This is the back of the plank. You can see what the fence boards looked like before sanding.

This was perfect. I’ve seen the flags made out of pallets and I think they are cute but a little tacky with all the spaces and only a few stars on them. I’m not trying to offend anyone this is just my personal preference. I wanted something that looked closer to a real flag.

I started with white washing the whole board. I chose a white wash because I really liked the look of the grain of wood and wanted it to show through a little. We had some extra paint from the chicken coop my husband build a few months ago so that is the paint I used.

paint from the coop

White wash. 1 part paint and 2 parts water.

paint the board and then wipe with paper towel.

finished white washed board.

Then I cut out stars out of contact paper. I have a slice machine which made this easy. You could use a die cutter too. If you’re really dedicated you could cut them out by hand. I’ve also seen people stamp them on. I laid the stars out how I wanted them and then tediously peeled the backs off and stuck them to the board. I used a big craft stick to press them firmly on the board.

Stars cut out of contact paper

Star lay out

After they are applied I taped a boarder.

Next I went to home depot and got a sample can of dark blue paint for under $3. I did a wash on this paint too. 1 part paint to 2 parts water. I then applied it and wiped it off with a paper towel. I did this a couple of times until I got the look I wanted. I then waited for it to dry and took the stars off and the tape.

After I applied the blue paint.

After I took the boarder tape off.

After I took the stars off.

The blue paint bled a little into the white so I touched up a little with some white paint. My son thought I should leave a little of the blue paint on the stars because it gave it a rustic look so I did. Next I had to tape the border around the blue again to allow the red stripes to touch the blue. I measured and taped the 13 stripes. My planks height was 19 1/2 inches which made a nice 1 1/2 inch stripe for 13 stripes.

I used a wash on the red paint too. Again 1 part paint to 2 parts water. I did a couple of coats.

After it dried I took the tape off and Voila it was done. The red bled somewhat into the white. I left it because I wasn’t that picky about it. It kind of left it looking a little rough. Over all I like how it turned out. Now I have a little decoration for the 4th of July!

After I took all the tape off.

Finished flag.

What a great use out of old fence boards!

Sep 24 2014

So much time!

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Karin

Now that all my kids are in school I’ve had time to finish some projects that have been on my to do list. A couple of years ago I made Sophia a couple of skirts to wear to church. Recently I’ve noticed she has gotten much bigger and the skirts are now above her knees. I’ve been meaning to make her some new ones and now with some extra time I was able to make her not just one but 4! I went to the local fabric store and looked in their scraps and discount bins. I was able to find some pretty cute material. Then I looked up on Pintrest the link to the pattern. Here it is if you are interested in trying one yourself. http://www.scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/2012/03/simple-skirt-tutorial-with-3-options.html

This is a very simple pattern and it only took me about an hour for each skirt. I love how quickly they came together. Now Sophia will have a skirt to wear for every week (unless there are 5 Sundays). She is supper excited about them. I think they are so cute I need to figure out how to make one for me.

Nov 5 2013

Catch up

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Karin

Okay it’s been too long since I posted anything. So this is one big catch up post. I’ll post a bunch of pictures with a short description of the event. Hopefully that will get me caught up for the holidays. I like to keep record of all the stuff that happens in our lives and this is sort of a family journal. Not only is it good for me to have a record so I can remember all those great moments but also so we can share it with our friends and family who don’t get to see us often.

First we have to go all the way back to September. YES I said September. That is where I left off. After school started and things start to get crazy canning season starts. This has been great for my family’s food storage but also very time consuming. Corey and I love our garden and we get a lot of produce out of it. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my mom? Well I do A LOT. She came up for a week and a half, despite not feeling well, and helped me can. I put her right to work canning green beans. Everyday we did something new. The biggest thing we canned was apple sauce. We had the apples from my tree and some apples that a friend let me pick. In the end we canned 48 quarts of apples. I really did have a lot of fun with my mom and really do miss her when she is gone.

You’re seeing right that is a 5 gallon bucket of applesauce.

Mom and I with all the applesauce ready to process.

On to the next event. Our camping trip to Craters of the Moon National park. We are fortunate to live in an area where we don’t have to travel far to get to some great camping spots. We said goodbye to our tent trailer and got ourselves a new trailer. We had to try it out the weekend we got it. We joined some friends up at Craters and had a blast. We explored caves and lava fields. This was the first time I’ve been to Caters. I’ve driven past and wasn’t very impressed but once we explored I was amazed. We’ll come back again.

Our new home away from home.

Kids climbing rocks

Walking through the giant tunnel

Exploring caves

Well paved walking trails.

Even here pretty things grow

Group Picture

We have made it to October! This was the first weekend in October. We decided to take the trailer out one more time before we had to store it for the winter. We ended up going to Palisades Reservoir. Again I feel the need to express how blessed we are to live in close proximity to these wonderful places. When we arrived it was snowing. It was a pretty cold night and we only lasted one night before deciding to pack up and head home. It was beautiful. So many fall colors mixed in with the snow.

Our very snowy campsite.

All the wildlife we saw. He didn’t like Corey.

View of the Lake

Family photo

Fall Colors

Being silly on a rock wall.

Next there was a free ice skating lesson at the hockey shelter. We signed the kids up and they had fun skating on the ice. Did you know ice is slippery? It was fun to watch them skate around.

Last on the list and then I’m all caught up. HALLOWEEN! We had a blast this year at our ward’s trunk or treat. Corey and I dressed as Bert and Mary from Mary Poppins. Sophia was a ghost, Levi a zombie, and Preston a nerd. The trunk or treat was the Tuesday before Halloween. That was good because on Halloween it rained and was very chilly. Sophia and Levi went trick or treating but Preston just wanted to hang out with his friends playing games down in our basement. I guess he is growing up. If anyone knows a cure for that please let me know.

Sophia the Ghost

Bert and Mary

Zombie, Ghost, and Nerd

carving pumpkins

scraping out guts

finished product

Monkey see, Monkey do.

All lit up.

Aug 10 2013

Girls getaway

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Karin

Every year my husband puts together a guys hike and they take an overnight hiking trip into the woods. Finally it’s my turn. We have been talking a long time about going on a camping trip just us girls and we have finally made it happen. We went up to coffee pot campground and kayaked part of the Henry’s fork river. This was my first time kayaking. As you can see I’m the only one wearing a life jacket. Most of these women have been down this stretch of the river and swore I wasn’t going to need one. I’m a little nervous around rivers especially since Corey joined the local search and rescue team. There have been too many stories of people drowning and their life jackets were on the boat but not on them. Well it turns out that most of the river is very shallow. We even had to walk our boats in some areas. It took us about 2 hours to get down the river. The best part is we could kayak right up to our camp site. The next day after breakfast we went on a hike. We hiked farther down the river where there were class 4 rapids. Not something I’m going to tackle any time soon. There were lots of huckleberries along the way. Andrea was always hanging back to pick a handful at a time. When we got back to camp we packed up and squeezed one more trip down the river. This time I did it without a life jacket! We had a great trip and I couldn’t think of a better butch of friends to experience this with. Thanks guys I had a great time. We need to start planning for next year.

Setting up camp

View from our camp

Taking a short break before hitting the water.

Getting ready to get in.

On the water

Walking our kayaks through the shallows.

Melanie

Andrea chillin with her peanuts

View from Debbie’s Kayak (photographer of the water venture)

Andrea and Jennifer

our camp is in sight

back at camp

Oh Deer!

Rapids

picking huckleberries

The hiking trail

A wonderful bunch of Ladies.
Andrea, Jennifer, Me, Debbie, and Melanie

Jun 23 2013

A hiking we will go

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Karin

We have gone on a couple of hikes this season. We did Hell’s half acre again but this time we hiked a little further along the red line. Sophia walked about 2 miles but Corey had to carry her for a mile in between. It was a fun first hike.

What a cute group of people

Eating lunch

Family Photo

Corey Hiking with Sophia

Preston Shooting his new BB gun

Another hike that we went on was Palisades creek trail. It is actually a pretty easy hike just really long. In total we hiked about 5 miles (Sophia 4 miles). If you went about 1.5 miles more then we would have made it to the lake. The kids kept complaining all the way hiking in but on the way out they were just fine. On the way back we sang songs to take their minds off of hiking. I wish I had thought of that on the way in. Corey and I are hoping that we can make it to the lake next time. It was a very pretty hike.

The creek that goes along the trail.

Pretty wild flowers

Hiking the trail

More traill

More wild flowers

Corey’s sneeky bouquet. He put flowers in my backpack while I was hiking.

Mid point over look.

Feb 2 2012

Ouch

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Karin

Okay, I kind of have a feet thing. I hate feet they are gross and disgusting and I normally would never post pictures of my foot. Today I make an exception. So if you also don’t like to look at feet feel free to skip.

For a couple of months I’ve been meeting with some friends to play volleyball/basketball on Wednesday nights. We started playing volleyball and never got quite enough people to play so then we started playing basketball. I don’t play either sport very well but liked doing it for the exercise and also for the company. Well last night things turned sour for me. After I went up for a shot I landed on a friends foot. That was the end of that. My foot quickly rolled off and, yep, it’s sprained. This isn’t the first time I have sprained this particular foot. Actually it’s the fourth. It never feels good and takes a long time to get back to normalcy but I have to say that with each sprain it gets a little easier. Not the pain that still sucks but at least I know what to do about it now.

I remember the first time I sprained my ankle. I was probably around nine. We were getting ready to head out for Disneyland. My grandpa was watching us while my parents were getting some last minute things for our trip. We were racing back and forth in the front lawn and at some point I rolled my ankle while turning to run the other way. I went in the house and my siblings convinced me not to tell grandpa, mom, or dad. I don’t blame them. We were afraid my parents would cancel the trip. It wasn’t until about 4 hours into the trip when we stopped at a rest stop and we all got out to “get the wiggles out.” My siblings again started to race, not wanting to be left out, I also tried and immediately realized I couldn’t walk on it let alone run. My mom noticed and the story unfolded. We did end up going to Disneyland where I spent a lot of that time in a baby stroller. Very embarrassing for a nine year old but I suppose I deserved it. I did ask my mom if we had told her about it before we left if we would have gone and she said probably not. So my siblings and I were justified in not telling her …right?!.

I’m really thankful that when I sprained it this time that I had great friends who helped me out. One had a compression bandage in hercar. We were at the church so another went and got ice from the kitchen. We got it all wrapped up and they helped me out to a car and drove me home. Another friend followed in my car. They were so great and I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish playing. I’m also grateful for a wonderful husband who was there for me when I got home to carry me into the house. He also stayed up with me until the pain subsided a little and I could relax. Well I guess this is one way for me to get a day off. Not able to do much around here so I just need to learn how to relax and enjoy it.

Where'd the ankle go?

These pictures don't do it justice it really looks gross

Nov 1 2011

Pumpkin follow-up

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Karin

Our Three Pumpkins

I told you I would give an update on the pumpkins that we grew in the garden. That’s right I said pumpkins. Last time you saw one of these it was just a blossom. I hand pollinated 3 more for a total of 4. One pumpkin got the size of a baseball and then shriveled up and died. These pumpkins kept growing and growing and growing. I had to pluck them off the vine while they were still green. I then put them on my porch and let them turn orange. They all still have green on them but the kids didn’t mind. They are 27lbs, 24lbs, and 19lbs. These were the biggest pumpkins our family has ever carved. Definitely going to try growing pumpkins again next year. I just hope we get some blossoms about a month earlier than we did this year.

I let each kid design their own pumpkin. Preston decided he was going to name his count pumpkinstein. Corey had a little trouble with all the teeth Levi wanted on his. Sophia likes the circle (hers was nice and easy to carve). They turned out pretty cute and the kids had tons of fun scraping out the guts.

So being the forgetful person that I am I forgot to take pictures of the kids in their costumes 🙁 Preston’s was the most creative. He wanted to be an ice cream man and unfortunately I don’t have a picture of him. Sophia wanted to be a fairy. Levi wanted to be Dracula. There was one day last week that Levi had a School Program and we got pictures of him and Sophia dressed up. We went trunk or treating at our church and then Corey took Sophia and Levi around the block some more. Preston is getting so big, he wanted to go with his friends this year. One of the other parents went with them and they really scored on the candy. Pretty soon he is going to be too old to go trick or treating and I ‘m having a hard time coming to that realization. When did he start getting so old? I haven’t aged any so what happened here?

Corey Carving and Levi being a goof while Preston watches intently.

The kids in front of their pumkins

Three little pumpkins sitting on a bench.

: Pumpkins all lit up

Levi and Sophia in Costume. Levi is sad because his dracula teeth hurt his mouth.

In A Nutshell

Take time to listen, to laugh, and to play together– Elder M. Russell Ballard

Category Archives: hobbies