State of the Art, Art of the State

I've been dying to do something creative lately. My latest creative project (crafting a baby) has been pretty time and energy consuming, and other than the tiny human I'm growing, I haven't really made anything in months. Ok, I haven't done ANYthing in months.  I saw these and couldn't stop thinking about them. But on etsy these bad boys are going for anywhere from $45-$80 EACH plus up to $70 for shipping. Forget about it! DIY, baby.  I needed to make a California, Utah, Idaho, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and an Arkansas for my walls, stat! 

My friend, Carly, met me in the lumber yard at Lowe's yesterday and we got our craft on while the kids played all day. They had fun, we had fun, and the results are fantastic! 

For this project, We used cheap pine 1x3's, and cut them into  17 1/2 inch lengths with my chop saw. It took 15 six foot boards to make 12 "squares" for states (a set of 6 for each of us, apparently we move a lot). The boards weren't "rustic" enough so we painstakingly (but worth it!) took wood chisels and an electric sander to each piece and distressed them all. I would recommend buying furring strips instead of raw lumber if you want to do this project, because theyre already sort of garbage-for-lumber quality and you'll save a lot of time with distressing. 

I should have taken a photo of the back. We attached them together with two 1x1 furring strips cut to 16 inch lengths.  There are two of them running perpendicular to the horizontal boards. 3/4inch screws probably would've been a better idea, but since we were mass producing these suckers, we opted for nail gun and air compressor and they assembled very quickly. 

We made a cocktail with some grey and walnut stains and they're drying beautifully in my garage. 

Now I  trying to decide whether or not I wang to paint the states, or spend a zillion hours doing awesome string art like these ideas:

If I go for (easy) and just paint them, I might do a string heart on our "city" in each one. Either way, there will definitely be a string art W added to my wall very soon. 

We pla to finish them next week. I'll post pics! 

Hello and Goodbye: transportation edition

We sold the Honda Civic tonight. It was bittersweet to see it go. I've had that car for 14 years. I am so happy that these cute girls are the knew owners though! It's been a great car and I hope they get years of enjoyment out of it, too.  To K and R, congrats on your first car!  Fill that center console back up with Taco Bell receipts ASAP! ;) 

Here is Aaron's new (to us) ride. He loves it. I feel like a little kid driving a semi in it. It is fun to drive and we are excited to have at least one vehicle that will handle in the snow/ice a little better than the minivan. We've had the same 2 vehicles for so long, it is still a surprise when I see it in the driveway, and I always double take and wonder who is stopping by my house. 

So many big melon jokes.

So, this is our melon patch! It's taking over the universe. I got in closer tonight and discovered there are dozens of goodies hiding below the foliage! 

Cantaloupes are the size of grapefruit a right now. 

Look at these watermelons! They're about 12 inches long right now. I've heard the vines will die a bit when they're ready. I really have no way of knowing, I've never had success with melons like this before! 

The striped watermelons are much smaller still, only about the size of apples. 

Cucumbers are thriving. Time for some pickles!

Stuffed peppers are also on the menu this week. I'm going to fill them with quinoa and Italian sausage, I think. Unless anyone has a good stuffed pepper recipe to share...

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me

My mom and sister scored a bunch of free guest passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium last week for our big group: my parents, Melinda, Brock, HolleeAnn, Nico, Amy, Tyler, Steven, and Aaron and I plus our children. (Garrett and Parker were too cool for schools of fish and played around outside on cannery row) 

This place is amazing. Its absolutely worth the $40 it costs to get in, I'm just too cheap to pay. We stared out watching the SCUBA divers to a live feeding demonstration in the giant kelp forest. It was pretty cool for 15 minutes and then turned into little bit of a propaganda demonstration about which restaurants to purchase organic seafood products from because they belong to some ocean protection association, how the aquarium uses only sustainable feed for the wildlife, and how certain fish can choose their own gender and become male if they don't want to be female, etc. It was interesting, but we were honestly only there for the thrill of watching the sharks come close to chomping the diver's fingers off. 

My precious pearls. 

Soren and Nico played in the baby splash area for a long time. I appreciate that this place was designed with education for all ages in consideration. 

The jellies are everyone's favorite. 

Open water tank. There were lots of hammerhead sharks and other huge sport/man eating fish that came by. There is a 2nd level with amphitheater seating up above so everyone has a good view, even though the aquarium is always crazy over crowded. 

The Monterey Bay aka my favorite place in the world. Coming "home" to Ca feels less like home and more like a vacation every time I visit. But when I am in the Monterey peninsula I feel right back at home and California Meg sort of wakes up. We made 3 trips there during our visit to soak everything up. 

Corbin, Tyler, Brock, and Melinda

Another favorite. 2000 gallons of fresh ocean water is flushed info the tanks from the tide pools every minute and there is a glass tunnel you can stand under and wait for the wave. 

Touch tanks

Our exciting morning was followed by lunch at a cool make-your-own pizza place on cannery row. 

It's a little ironic that after spending the day at the aquarium, we went out for sushi at Miyakos, that night. It was...ok. I know it's hip to like sushi, and all, and I think it tasted ok, it just left me starving for real food. It's more like ...a snack if you ask me. And don't worry, everything I ate was fully cooked. I don't do raw eel. 

Being pregnant for your first real sushi experience is like a get out of jail free card. I didn't look like a wuss for not wanting to eat anything disgusting. 

Mmmmm...pickled ginger, anyone? Pass. That stuff was super nast. 

Up to my ears in corn

While I was in Ca, the stake corn was ready to harvest. I told my neighbor about it and sent her over to pick some corn for her family. 10 cents an ear is a steal for this corn. Laura the Great picked     on the hottest day all month. I wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in that heat. I'm a delicate flower and wilt easily ;) 

She powered through the high temps and picked 22 dozen ears with her family, and 10 dozen were for us! Pick your own corn without even having to pick it? Now, that's a treat.  I spent the afternoon with Laura and our other neighbor Sarah on my porch shucking corn and talking while the children helped then played then helped again and Laura sipped her sweet tea. What's more southern than that? It was picturesque...except for me. I swear the garlic is burned into my skin. I can still smell it on myself days and showers later. I have permastink. 

I took a break for dinner (setved with fresh corn, of course!) and FHE, but it's almost midnight and I just finished up. 120 ears of corn preserved for the year. I ache, and by the look of my swollen cankles, I can tell I probably overdid it today. But it felt good to be productive again, and now the job is done and we will enjoy wonderful "peaches and cream" corn all year long. 

I also got ALL of the laundry done and put away! 

Take that, Post-Vacation-Monday! 

Broody Betty

Henny Penny has become a Broody Betty. She had a nice soak and will be doing some time in the pen while she cools her hormonal jets.

Ever hear the phrase, "madder than a wet hen?" Well, here's where it came from. Broody Betty, I feel for you, girlfriend. Hormones can make a woman crazy alright. I hope you're back to your normal sweet self in a few days. Until then, enjoy some time alone in your box o' shame. 

Lucky 13

During Lynda's visit, Aaron and I decided to celebrate our anniversary a week early.  Good thing we did, because I ended up at a funeral in New Mexico on our actual anniversary!  

We drove up to Kansas City for a night, ate at a few of our favorite places, CPK and Noodles & Company, and spent the following morning doing sealings in the KC temple and reminisced about our own wedding day and the promises we made to each other and to Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful for forever families.  

I love this man and I love our life together. He still surprises me with how caring and generous he is. We decided that for our anniversary it was time to get our act together and have family portraits done (since it had been 6 years since our last professional family pics... yikes!) so I scheduled an appointment when we were in Ca. I'll post more about it later, but photo creds for the above pic goes to my friend, Annette Dickson, she's amazing! 

True to tradition, our drive to KC was interrupted by severe weather. We got stuck on the highway behind an accident and spent over an hour at a dead standstill. We watched the storm rage over us and prayed for safety and were grateful our children were safe at home with Grandma Lynda. During our standstill, my Mom and sisters called to tell me my grandma was in hospice. Aaron let me cry and held the phone for me while my sisters held the phone on speaker to my grandma at the other end of the line while I said my goodbye to her.   It was a sad but powerful moment and having Aaron with me made it a better experience.  We made it home later and much less relaxed than planned, but we were safe and happy and enjoyed the time together. Aaron is a fun guy and the conversation alone is worth taking a road trip for. 

Happy 13th Anniversary, Aaron! There is no one I'd rather be stuck in a storm with than you. You make my life rich with the wealth of your endless supply of love. 

San Francisco for country mice

Driving to the city was a great experience for our kids. "Who lives in those long houses, Mom?" 

Dear, those are hundreds of houses, not one. They're just really really close together. 

"Where are the trees? Where are the backyards? Where do the children play?" 

"Why are there so many cars on the road? Why aren't we moving?" 

"Why are there people with signs for food at the corners?"

"Who painted their name on the buildings?" 

"Why would they make a sign in Chinese if no one in California can read it?"  

It was fun to show the kids a totally different way of normal life than they are used to living and teach our little country mice about things they only know a taste of exposure to, if any: traffic, graffitti, homelessness, multilingual families, skyscrapers, multi level freeways, multi lane freeways (ok just multiple freeways in general is a shocker to them), commute trains, recycle bins and "save water" signs everywhere. We had some great discussions.  

The weather was absolutely gorgeous in San Francisco. Clear sky, perfect temp, just beautiful. We get a lot of comments from Californians who say they could "never" live in Ar because we get summer and winter there. I'm willing to bet that the super gross traffic we battled is there 365 days a year. It's a trade off. After taking 3 1/2 hours to get somewhere that should normally take 1 to 1 1/2 hours, we agreed that we'll take our four seasons happily, but to each their own. We loved our visit! 

San Benito Stage Company presents Les Miserables

One of the highlights of our time in Ca has been attending the long awaited production of Les Mis in Hollister. 

 

This was a family affair and all of the Oelrichs were a part of the show. How cute are my nephews?! Parker made a great soldier, and Tyler and Steven ran about with Gavroche. These. kids. can. sing. 

My brother in law, Josh, was a perfect Javert and obviously stole the show. I think this must be most difficult role to play, because you have to make everyone hate you in the beginning and convince the audience to experience a change of heart by the end. Beautifully done, and beautiful voice, Josh! Stars was breathtaking. 

And the one who made it all happen, my sister Amy. Amy was the musical director of the show. Her work is always amazing but it was quite an experience to watch her conduct a 16 piece orchestra through for 3 hours.  Every note that was sung of the 400 page script was coached by my talented and dedicated sister. She put months of hard work into making this musical a success and it was a work of fine art. A masterpiece.

I really wish I had thought to sneak a pic of the whole cast. Thenardiers were cast perfectly, and Eponine, young Cosette, and Marius were all favorites of mine, too.  Amy put together an ensemble full of talent and a high quality production. I am SO happy we planned our trip in July so we could be here to see it. I am proud of you Amy. We loved the play. 

Five Stars, sister. 

It's happening!

I missed this soooo much last year. I picked this beautiful basket of goodness last night. Nothing you can buy in a store compares a fresh garden tomato. Yum.