I Love Summer!! =]

Here is a video I made of our backyard this summer!!

Joyfully in Him,
   Diana<3

p.s. if you go to full screen, the video will be really blurry.  I don't know why! =] 

My Summer of Pinterest Concluded!

Yay!! I am coming to an end of the Summer of Pinterest. I officially baked 20 desserts, cookies, and bread. I get this warm felling inside me when ever I accomplish something!

{number 20}  One Hour Pretzels 

My family thought that these were the BEST things I have ever made!! And they only took one hour. My advice to you, use the optional salt in the recipe. Even though they say optional, I would put it in.

I had the pleasure of having two very  lovely lady's come to our home for a tea party. I got to set up our dining room for a high tea.   I made my blueberry muffins for them.

 Here are some vegetables from our garden!

Joyfully in Him,

   Diana<3

July 4th.

Happy Independence day!! Just think about it, 238 years ago, Thomas Jefferson and all of the other republicans, signed the Declaration of Independence!! Wow! I would have loved to be at that scene!!

I got up and started to make Strawberry Lemon Bread [number 14], snapped some photographs of the beautiful sun, started reading a really good book, helped make cookies (they are really patriotic! ) went to a 4th of July party and had such a fun time there! I played  Ultimate Frisbee and volleyball,  and talked with some good friends! Went to see a firework show (I think that this one was way better then last year!)  And I just stand back and thank my Lord for giving me all of my family members and my church family!! =] =] 

 p.s. I didn't take the picture of the fireworks! =P 

Happy 4th!!

Joyfully in Him,

   Diana<3

July 2nd.

Tuesday:  my warm feet touched the carpet at 7:00 a.m. Went to visit my little house on a cool summer morning where the dew was still on the grass, saw that another one of my flowers in my garden has bloomed! (the one that I thought the rabbits ate). Picked bright colorful flowers and put them in little glass jars, cut fresh herbs and hung them up to dry on a wooden stick.  Serenaded myself on my violin, had a shopping trip with Kelle, (we went to Michaels and I got some scrapbooking supplies for 79 cents each!), stopped at our public library and picked up a the Cook's Illustrated magazine, created a brownie in a cast iron skillet [number 12], enjoyed the company of my sister and her family, (including Aidan!), had to stop laughing so I could throw the darts properly, tried to play a serious game of Settlers of Catan, (a few giggles popped out),  practiced my photography on some lovely flowers in a blue mason jar! =] And thanked my Heavenly Father that I am having such a jolly fun week!

Joyfully in Him,

   Diana<3 

May Day

This is my weather. The sunny mornings, the little green buds of all the veggies and flowers that are growing, the sound of the robins in the morning, and the actual thought of Summer coming along. "sigh"

It has been 80° for the past two days. Wow! And that mean it's time for me to start setting up my little house!!  This year, I decided to do something different.  I painted the inside walls of my house!!

 Before

 

After I painted. 

 

 And then the decorations!!

 Don't you just love blue mason jars? =]

 Joyfully in Him,
     Diana<3

A Post of Happiness

This post is about the little things this week that made me happy!

Monday: I played a good game of Killer Bunnies and it started snowing like a blizzard!!

 Tuesday: I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and got to watch the sun rise! It was beautiful. I just thank My Lord for creating the shinning sun!!

Wednesday: I had a nice violin lesson and I found my brown belt in my closet. (it looked really nice with khaki pants, my gray sweater, and a cool minty green scarf!)

Thursday: I had the pleasure to make a birthday present for my brother-in-law's birthday, and I made him chocolate mustaches! 

Friday: I spent the day shoppping with my Mom at some stores and I got a really cute pair of shoes! Yay!! I also found in the attic a candle holder. It was really pretty.

And I got to test it out! =]

Joyfully in Him,

     Diana<3

Rosemary-Lemon-Oatmeal Soap

This is my very first time making soap!! Just think about it, I am making soap!! The kind that is a bar!!! I can't believe it!! Mom, Kelle and I made soap on Tuesday. Mom was the stirrer, Kelle put the ingredients in, ( I helped a little with that!!), and I was the photographer!

Here are our supplies

 Mom has been making soap for years, but this time we tried a different recipe from the Homestead Blessing Soap Making Video.

As soon as we put the lye in, the bowl started to get hot, and I saw steam coming out of the bowl!

 At this point, we were almost done, as you can see, it started to thicken and oh, did our kitchen smell good! 

We put fresh rosemary, lemon extract and oatmeal. Mmmmm!! 

 Then we made it well insulated. Meaning we put a Tupperware cover and a quilt over our soap.

 The next day our soap was hard enough to cut!!  

 Mom did the cutting, I just took the pictures!!

 And now this morning, mom took them out of our box and put them in a basket to dry for 2 weeks!!!

 Only two things I don't like about soap making,

1. You have to be careful of the lye.

2.You have to wait two weeks to use your soap.

Other than that, I had a fun time making it and I'm sure I will have a fun time using it!!!

Joyfully in Him,

    Diana<3