craft corner: fridge magnets

by the way, craft corner is the official name for when i do crafts with my residents. so this is a legit thing.

our fridge magnets have needed an overhaul for a while now.

as much as i love our clipy magnets we got from our wedding, they have a tendency to fall down and fly all over the place when we open the fridge door.

caleb doesn't like this.

so, because i get bored, i create projects for myself.

like these:

i wasn't really interested when i'd seen this done before.

but it's cheap, easy, and great for those cute images or paper you can't figure out what to do with.

this magnet series is called "janni loves tree huggers".

not really. well, kind of.

before:

after:

they're made from those floral/marble stones, strong clear craft glue, good magnets, and cute paper.

i'll be making another series, since i have lots of cute paper that needs a purpose.

by the way, the paper came from the die cuts with a view (dcwv) thick scrapbook paper you find at craft stores priced oh-so-high. the company is based out of utah, and once or twice a year they have this amazing warehouse sale in provo.

$20 books of paper become $3 and less. there's lots of other wonderful things, and now i'm wishing i bought much much more.

so, this is a plead to those still in utah: go and enjoy. for me.

also, to achieve these magnets, i had to wait out a nearby tornado in the backroom of a craft store with a bunch of strangers.

was it worth it?

i think so.

hello november

we like to go for sunday drives.

nice for us, missouri is pretty in the fall:

seeing the backwoods:

we also like to explore the towns that are even smaller than us.

like clever, pronounced cleaver, where it just gets better every day!

in missouri there are many unique names, like this one:

we visited the lake.

caleb doesn't like it when i take pictures of random people. but he wont pose for me, so what else can i do but be a paparazzi?

the "lake" was nice.

and very windy.

the last of the leaves outside our place.

drives are pretty much our excitement these days. between lots of school and work, we're usually too lame to want to do anything else but relax if we get some free time.

caleb was also recently called as the 16-17 year olds sunday school teacher, and i'm the first counselor in young womens.

we're very happy to be here now. we're both stretching ourselves and growing closer together. 

we are so grateful for the opportunities we have to progress. we are especially appreciating the gospel and our blessings.

happy thanksgiving!

goodbye october

november is here and i can feel wonderful autumn turning into winter already. it's getting chilly in missouri and i'm excited for sweatshirts and snuggle season.

some of our october highlights...

my birthday:

we went down to famous branson and enjoyed the "must see" dolly parton's dixie stampede, dinner and show. the food was good and so home-styled no utensils were allowed. the show itself was too cheesy for caleb and i to take seriously, but we're glad we went. we're also glad we sat in the 2nd, not 1st row, because the horses definitely flipped arena sand up into those peoples' meals. my favorite parts of the show were the pig races and being part of the south. the confederacy lives on!

halloween:

this year we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat and passed out candy to the crazy children. even though we didn't decorate our trunk, we were a big hit with the pixie stixs. "wow, sugar sticks!!!" there's some pretty intense women in the ward and a definite divide between the homeschool and public parenting styles. i know many of those kids never get candy, let alone sugar sticks.

 i also threw my first big party at work on halloween night and it turned out well. crazy, but they enjoyed it. they ate food (which is the most important and overwhelming part), played a candy cake walk, had a costume contest with awesome prizes, and enjoyed a staff member's professional karaoke machine and lights. these people love their karaoke, it cracks me up. we have some real crazy dancers too.

i'm settling in at work. it's much different than what i've done before. this is a very unique and challenging group of people, and there's so many of them! it will take some time to really make it work and every day will be a crazy adventure.

school and work are pretty much our life right now. caleb is getting a little overwhelmed with school, but he's determined to fight through. he's such a hard worker and i'm very proud of him. work is pretty intense and sometimes the environment gets to me, but i know it's a great learning experience.

now we're just counting down the days until we go back to washington for christmas!!!

missouri walks are nice. and i represent!