The Wedding - Part 3 - The Big Day!

It's hard to believe that's it's been almost 7 weeks since the kids were married.  Oh wow!, this summer is flying by.  The photographer's photos have arrived so we've put together a little slideshow of pictures highlighting the big day.  We'd like to thank some great people for making it a very special one....

Photographers - Moments by Corrine Photography
Flowers - Anderson Florist and Greenhouse
Music - Eli Brown of  Third in Line
DJ - Multiple Choice DJ
Makeup - Laura LaRue of Mane Frame
Hair - Stacy Fussy of Salon La Belle and Jeri Luedke of Hairs What's Happenin'
Decorations - Geyer Rental and our own creativity
Caterers - Backroads Steakhouse, Zens Creative Catering  and Elden's Food Fair Bakery
Dresses and Tuxedos - Mestad's and David's Bridal

Click here The Wedding - Part 3! ( the slideshow make take a few seconds to start!)

-hugs- Julie

Finish the Fight!

All I can say about last night was WOW!!  My A.S.K. (standing for Acts of Sincere Kindness) teammates and my family were a part of a very emotional and uplifting experience at our local American Cancer Society Relay for Life event in Alexandria, MN.  We are a small team but we make a difference!  We all joined this team for various reasons, my family joined because we lost our Dad, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa to this horrible disease and the suffering must stop and a cure will be found!

Our granddaughter Parker looking up to Great-Grandpa!!

People who have had or have cancer wear purple shirts to represent that they are survivors.  There were MANY people wearing purple.  Even though we don't want anyone to be wearing purple, the part that is uplifting and joyful is that they are wearing the shirts!!  They have survived, they are here with us!  I'm not sure if there were more people in the crowd from last year wearing purple, but I'm gonna go with the fact that they are more people who are surviving!!! So take that cancer, we will win!!

Hundreds of people ready to FINISH THE FIGHT!

The event was well planned and in a new location which worked quite nicely!  The evening started on a grateful tone as the American flag is saluted and praised. (Our daughter, Katie sang the "Star Spangled Banner" - yes, a proud moment!)

 Each year several cancer survivors are chosen as honorees to share their stories.  This year a caregiver was also chosen as no one has to fight alone!  The survivors in their sea of purple, the caregivers, the teams are all recognized and walk around the track!  Many people walk all night long to signify that cancer can take days, weeks, months, years or lives.... so we can walk a mere 12 hours to raise money to beat this disease!!

2014 Honorees leading the survivors, caregivers and teams walk.

TEAM A.S.K.!! Go team!!

 Many of the teams had booths set up to play games and sell fun things to raise money.  The kids had a blast playing the games, especially at our booth where for a $1 you had the chance to hit "crabby" Jeremy (he really isn't crabby- he's actually one of the nicest people you'd ever meet!) or any other team member for that matter with water balloons.  It was hit! (literally!) The evening was very warm so the water was quite refreshing.  Okay, confession time, I don't know that first hand as I wasn't a target, but I could see from the others who were, that they were actually enjoying it!

Team A.S.K. put together a "Survivor Team" challenge with other teams - GOOD TIME!

Parker getting Jeremy all wet! Sorry you can't see his crab hat (hence - calling him crabby)  but it was pretty cute!

Parker playing games wearing her Grandpa Zona t-shirt (my folks moved to Arizona many years ago, so the grandkids always called them Grandpa and Grandma Zona!

As of this post,  our team is #13 out of 39 teams and we're only $109 away from our goal of $2000.  If'd you be so kind to help us reach our goal you can still do that by CLICKING HERE and donating to the A.S.K. team!  THANKS!!  A special shout out to the top teams, Alex Extrusion over $19,000 raised (our son-in-law Aaron works here!), the Douglas County Hospital over $9,000 raised (our daughter Danielle works here!) and Tastefully Simple over $8,000  raised (of which I'm a consultant) AND a very special shout out to Team A.S.K. - Katie our fearless leader, Michelle, Jordan, Sara, daughter Holly (I told you this was a family affair!), Jeremy, Joe, Erika, Renae, Ahndree, Eli  and Jodi! You guys ROCK!!! AND we will...

FINISH THE FIGHT!!

-Hugs- Julie

Back to traditions!

It's a wintery morning here on the farm and it would be quite beautiful if it weren't for the fact that we still have many acres of corn to harvest before winter really gets here.  Hopefully this little dusting of snow is it until we're done! (just putting my order in!!)

Over the weekend, we had a blast at our annual, which has turned into our tradition.....pumpkin carving and watching the Disney Halloween classic "Hocus Pocus" (my personal favorite!).  The whole event is quite fun as we carve some pretty cool looking pumpkins, decorate sugar cookies, do a craft or two, eat yummy soups and finish the evening off with the movie!.  Probably the best part for me, is that this has become a tradition in our family.  This being our third year, we believe constitutes tradition.  How many of you have a similar event or some type of tradition that can be passed down from generation to generation?  It's sad to think that many of the traditions in the whole world have been lost.  It is time to reclaim that and all families unite and if not bring back an old tradition, create a new one!  That is your mission.  With the holidays right around the corner, I'm sure there are many traditions that families still carry on,  So hands up high, with a whoop-whoop - traditions here we come!

The pumpkins are all ready for the carving event to begin. There are no awards or anything like that, just the thrill of making art out of a pumpkin!

As you can see, the carvers are working their magic on the pumpkins with serious determination - okay not too serious!

Even though our granddaughter had her own pumpkin to decorate, she was more interested in eating the frosting off her newly decorated cookie.

This year's craft was an "after Halloween" clearance item from last year.  My daughter LOVES to shop the clearance aisle after every holiday and I must admit she scores some pretty good deals.

Before we could settle down to watch the movie, we collected goodies to bring home to share. Halloween Bark was a new recipe I just had to try and it was DE...licious, thanks Ree from Pioneer Woman!  Holly's famous sugar cookies (recipe to follow) and a fun spin on cupcakes, recipe courtesy of Six Sisters Stuff. Thanks ladies! The cute felted magnet owls (Target 2012) was the craft that everyone created.

We anxiously awaited for the darkness, so we could light our newly decorated pumpkins.....ahhhhh....ooohhh......so spooky and really cool!

Thanks Allie, Danielle, Holly, Katie and Parker for making tradition!

-Happy Halloween and hugs from Julie-

Holly's Famous Sugar Cookies
Printable Recipe

Sugar Cut-Out Cookies with Buttercream Frosting: 1 c. butter                                            3 1/4 c, flour 1 c. sugar                                             1/2 tsp. baking powder   2 eggs                                                   1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp vanilla extract                          1/2 tsp. salt Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla with mixer until light and fluffy.  Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended.  Chill dough for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into desired shapes.  Place cookies  2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 4-6 minutes. BUTTERCREAM FROSTING: 1/2 c. butter flavored shortening            1 lb. powdered sugar 1/4 tsp. butter flavored extract                5 Tbsp. water 1/4 tsp. salt                                                1/4 tsp. vanilla extract Beat all ingredients until fluffy.  Add food coloring to make desired colors.

Blessings on me.....sharing what I love.....crafting with my family!

Lately, I've been having a bit of  "I need a new creative vise". I've been working on a quilt pattern for the studio for awhile and a break from sewing was in order.  (Did I just say that....."a break from sewing"?....in my quilt shop owner days, I would have LOVED to have said that - what I usually said was "can I please sew now?"...wow, what a change!) So.....out with the crafts!

"Notice the sad face on the left?"

Yesterday, I invited my favorite people....my girls.....to a "creative day" at my house.  I set up three different projects that we worked on.   A "congrats" card and two different Halloween treat packages.  We had a blast, even Danielle, who admits that she's not much of a crafting person.  She showed us.... as she was the first one to post our crafting day on Facebook!  (I think she's a bit hooked into the crafting scene now - just don't tell her, it will be our secret..shhhh)

The projects we created!!!

Treats in the packages  -  even stamped the tissue paper!

One very important thing to remember when crafting with family, is that you include ALL family - that means, in our case, our 2 3/4 year old granddaughter.  She wanted to "I do too"!  I set up a work spot for her with her own paper, stamps and ink.  (You can use old paper, construction type, old/used stamp sets and really, what's an ink pad cost when you get a very happy, little girl - it's priceless.)

"Not sad anymore, she just wanted to share the ink pad with her Mom!"

The crafting adventure was not only a time to have fun creating some very useful items, but the time we shared together was above all else, the best part of the day! In fact, when hubby/dad/grandpa came in to join us for lunch, he said "ahhh, lunch with all my girls", who says that isn't more priceless!!

Having fun inside on this rainy day...
-Julie-



  

Out and Aboat (that's not a typo)

When I moved back home from Texas I found that most of my hometown friends had gotten married and were having children.  Since I was single and "ready to mingle", I found it difficult to figure out what to do on the weekends or find a fun place for a couple drinks.  Of course, there aren't many nightlife spots around here, but what I found irritating is that I couldn't find out what was happening (live music, karaoke, drink specials, etc.).  The idea of creating one place online that all of this information could be found started blossoming.

Last summer, when we decided to close the quilt shop and pursue other passions, Mom gave me the opportunity to make my little idea become real.  She became my sole investor and encouraged me to make it happen!  OutandAboat.com was launched on May 1st!  Out and Aboat is a play on words and the "silly" way Minnesotans say "about".  Now, most Minnesotans will argue "that's the way Canadians say it, not Minnesotans", but living in Texas for two years, I beg to differ.

Out and Aboat features daily drink and food specials, live and DJ'd music schedules, local events, and a restaurant/bar guide.  Simply choose the day you're going out and find a list of restaurants that have specials that day.  It is "the Lakes Area's source for what's happenin" in Alexandria and surrounding areas.  We also have a Facebook page (HERE) where we can let people knows what's going on and also give clues to the whereabouts of Morton, our mascot.

Morton the Moose was "born" at a bar/restaurant when he was won from a claw game.  He became the mascot when we realized he liked to go out as much as the next guy.  Morton makes it "out and aboat" twice a month.  If you find Morton you can sign up to win a gift card to an area restaurant.  He's such a giving guy!

If you live in the Lakes Area please "like" our Facebook page and be sure to check the website weekly for updates.

I appreciate everyone's support in my new venture,

~ Katie ~