Emmons Family Update

I'm playing catch-up blog, but I'm too lazy to make separate posts. So you get it all in one big whopper. =]

In either July or August, Zach took me to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. I don't think I've posted any pictures yet, shame on me!

We had a blast!! It was my first fair ever, and I loved just soaking it all up. Zach said it was "almost as good" as the one he grew up with in CA. I guess poor Idaho has a lot to compete with.

Zach went the cultured route and had a gyro for diner, but I bought a hand-battered corn dog to feel more state-fair-ish. Right after I ate it, I saw this poster on one of the vendor's stands.

A pig dipping corn dogs in grease... made me feel super classy. =]

I think this also happened in August: to celebrate 2 years without an accident, Melaleuca threw us a party at the Rexburg Air Museum that was catered by Texas Roadhouse. Kind of a random location, but it was soooo fun. They gave us free candles and $25 (each) to Texas Roadhouse.

Zach had a blast educating me about all the planes. He knew all of their names, specs, history, etc.... As everyone was cleaning up, one of the museum volunteers noticed us looking, and had us come back where he was working. He gave Zach a tour/quiz of all the model planes and WWII plane history, etc. A night well spent!

**I would like to note that I have lost weight since that atrocious picture of me in the middle there. Hooray!**

I have been feeling super crafty. My new favorite thing to do (besides writing) is making fabric flowers! I turn them into hair clips, embellishments, headbands, etc...

The picture of my friend is her showing of the headband I made for her birthday. (Yo yo flower and buttons.) The bottom right is a card I made for some hair clips I was taking to my old roommate's baby shower.

I learned a new technique the other day (See top right photo, which demonstrates how to make most of the flowers in the top left photo) from an awesome blog... check it out HERE.

Aaaaand, as part of our mega pre-holiday excitement, we carved pumpkins with our friends John and Cassandra Beck. They were going with a Mario theme, and I was looking for a relatively simple design, so....

They made Mario, and we made one of the bad-guy-mushrooms! (I never played Mario as a kid, I think it's called a Gumba or something?) Yes, I know, theirs is a little more impressive. But we were pretty proud of ours too. =]

Last week or so, I won 2nd place in the English Department's Pre-Professional Conference (I'm still not sure exactly how to explain what that means) Fiction writing contest. AWESOME! I was so stoked and excited, and Zach was super sweet to be excited with me. He called his mom to tell her, and started the news like this, "Mom, guess what? [pause] Your precious daughter-in-law ...[increasing suspense]... won 2nd place in a writing contest!" We realized later she was probably totally expecting us to say I was pregnant. Oops! ha ha ha.

Zach has been rocking out his homework like a champ. He's been swamped with tough classes and work three nights a week, so today we got a little rebellious and ran away to the Cocoa Bean when he was supposed to be in Physics. It was super fun, and brought back a flood of memories from when we were engaged. (Speaking of which, November 7th will mark one year since Zach proposed! Hooray!)

Anyway, that's life according to us so far. Maybe I'll be better at keeping this updated so you guys don't have to sit through all that again. =]

Baseball Superfans

So, Melaleuca's CEO owns the Minor League field in Idaho Falls, and last night was Melaleuca Night! All of us employees got into the bleacher sections for free! Awesome.

Well, Zach loves baseball, and I love cheering at sporting events (even if I have to be told when to cheer). So I surprised him and made these shirts for us to wear:

I used Zach's T-shirt we had gotten for his softball team at work (which he only needed for a game or two) and I found MY shirt at the Dollar Store. Yes, that's right kids. I'm wearing a child's Large. It probably won't fit when I wash it, but that's okay.

And because the local screen printing shop will do good quality iron-ons for only $4.50 (and I don't have a printer), I spent most of the morning designing our tees..... only to find out when I went to the store that they had closed early for the night. Unacceptable. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought these iron-on letters. I actually like them quite a bit.

Zach admitted that at first the concept of matching fan t-shirts was pretty embarrassing... but he got into it once we were at the game. Somebody teasingly asked me the score, then told him to play ball. We had a blast. And, with superfans like us, of course our team won!!!! Go Chukars. Even if you are just minor league. =]

The only not-stellar thing about the night was the concession stand. They were doing $1 hot dogs and drinks that night, so the lines were at least 3 innings long! We never got ours, even though I ran down to check the lines twice. We settled for a snow cone, cause there was no line there. =]

Ta-Da!

*Note: I'm not sure why the pictures on this post are so tiny, but they should be click-able if you want to see the bigger size. *

I got crafty! I've been wanting to put our last name up somewhere in some kind of cutesy format. After hearing my Mom talk about her decorating plans for her living room, I came up with this:

Isn't it adorable? I fell in love with the "Family" piece as soon as I saw it. And it was on sale! I came up with the "Emmons" part all by myself. That's blue scrapboook paper as a background, with a slight pattern to it. Don't you just love it? Well, don't tell me if you don't, cause I do! =] It's going up over our living room window. As soon as I get the right size nails, I'll post a pic of it!

Also, here are some fun pics from our family visits:

Emmons' Visit!

Grand Teton National Park with the Emmons family! It was better than Yellowstone. We didn't see any animals there except elk without antlers. What's that about?

Zach, Spencer, and Dad Emmons. Reading about... geography, I think. I tell you, they're a bunch of smarties.

Sun going down behind Grand Teton. We decided it would be a great place to see the sunrise, with the light against the mountains instead of behind them.

Garner's Visit!

My Mom took us to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone

Here she is fighting the crowds. Hail the conquering hero! We were barely able to reserve seats online before it sold out!

After the show, "The Foreigner." It was HILARIOUS. We highly recommend it.

Picnic lunch at Park St. Park. Jillian saw the merry-go-round and asked, "What's that?" We were shocked. So the Sarah and Steph schooled her with their awesome merry-go-round abilities.

After a visit to the Cocoa Bean, Mom and I thought, "We can do that." This is a picture of our beautiful, homemade chocolate mint frappe. Ohhh yeah. The strawberry one was even better, but that pic is on Mom's camera.

We girls pampered outselves with some mud masques. Jillian didn't quite enjoy the tingling feeling like the rest of us did. She kept saying, "It's getting hard on my face! It feels too tight!" We explained that was actually what it SHOULD be doing, nothing was going wrong. =]

Stephanie and Sarah were very impressed with Rexburg's large dandelion-esque Wishers.

Now that everyone's gone, Zach and I feel like empty nesters. lol. There's lots more, but it's month-end, and I'm headed to an 11-hour shift in a little while. So, time to gear up! Love you all!

-Stacy

P.S. The frappe recipe for anyone who's interested:

Chocolate Frappe

1 envelope hot cocoa mix (we like the mint cocoa)

3 tsp hot water

1/2 c. milk

1 c. crushed ice

Make a paste out of the hot water and cocoa mix. Blend the rest together until liquified. Serve in a fudge-drizzed cup and top with whipped cream. Yum!

Fruit Frappe

3/4 c. fresh fruit, chopped (my favorite is peach)

2 T sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 cup crushed ice

Blend together. SOO delicious if you mix in some whipped cream at the end. My favorite is peach frappes.

I am a genius.

No, seriously. I am.

haha, today I was babysitting my cousins Isaac and Lily. They are... rather active, and aren't supposed to watch too much TV. I found a great idea online for this bean-bag toss box. Check it out.

 

It kept them entertained forever! Plus, I had them help me make some bean bags (one held the funnel and one poured the little cup of rice) to play with as well. They love it. Lily thinks it makes a good mask. =]


This next picture is of two projects I'm rather proud of. Firstly, I made a bag for all of my toiletries (hair, make-up, toothbrush, etc.) out of a pair of jeans that were too small for me. I used some cheap ribbon to make loops on the inside for my toothbrush, hair brush, etc. I left the pockets on the outside for the few make-up things I use all the time. It was a quick, hurried sewing job, but I like it just fine. Then I looped a ribbon through the belt loops to hide the random stitches I had to make around the top. lol. You'll notice I cut out the zipper area, because I thought it was a little awkward. Plus, the ideal size jeans to use would be children's. (Nobody wants to see just how big their waist actually is anyway.)

I also made a homemade block for my niece Anna. It has ribbon loops in the seams for her to grab onto once she's old enough, and a little felt bear that tucks into a pocket on one of the sides. There's a big jingle bell inside the stuffing, so it acts like a gentle rattle too. I'm hoping to be able to make a few more before I leave her. I made a set for my nephew, and he seemed to like it.

 

Happy Spring!