Fargo Friend Visit

My 2 closets friends (Kristen & Brooke) from Fargo both dropped kids off at BYU-I in Rexberg this week. It was my lucky day because they decided to stop by & spend the night on their way home. I so loved being with them if only it was for 12 hours. ;)
Glory took Kristen for a SpeedRacing Adevnture-. LOL

Thanks ladies for stopping. I miss you sooo much!!! Drive safe. XO

TOFW in Idaho

This weekend I had the privilege of attending another TOFW with 2 of my favorite girlfriends in Idaho Falls.

After I drove down, got my stuff settled at Amber's & did a little girl shopping- we met up with Brooke & her sisters for dinner. They're some fun ladies!

Amber and I headed over to save seats at the Event Center. It was fun to be able to sit by everyone. At the end of that evening, I also got to go down to the stage and meet Hilary Weeks. I love her so much! Her songs speak to my heart. She's amazing! What beautiful ladies to be with.

We also did lunch together on Saturday. It was super nice of Brooke & her family to let Amber & I tag along with them. Brooke lost both her parents this last year. I can't even imagine how hard it has been for her. But what a legacy all these beautiful women are to her parents and the lives they lived. I felt very privileged to be in their presence.

It was a fabulous TOFW event. The speakers were so perfect for my life right now.
Just a little of what I got out of my time here-

FRIDAY NIGHT

Hilary Weeks: Music Artist Hold on/Never Hold back in regard to Compliments. Advise: Always look up. Don't forget that you're already enough. Pick up the phone when you're missing home.

Michael McLean: My Unexpected Encounter with Jesus Maybe God is speaking to you differently than He has before. He talked about his father's funeral- With how great the Father is- He left His Son to do His work alone. If we've ever felt abandoned- we are in good company!-(ex. Joseph Smith, John the Baptist, Michael McLean, Jesus Christ)

Mary Cook: Living Your Circumstances Choose your love & love your Choice! Live gratefully. Live Ye! Ezekiel 18:32 Where's your focus? Serve Others

SATURDAY

Alissa Parker: Discovering the Angels Around You Read the talk Ministering Angels by Jeffery Holland Oct 2008. Do you see it?? We are all connected!

Calee Reed: Music Artist The Break always comes before the blossom. Put the glass down!- How heavy burdens feel depends on how long we hold them on our own

Mary Ellen Edmunds: I Am Well If You Are Well We help someone & it helps us. Love One Another. Mosiah 18:9-10 Meet together Oft- Know what's going on with each other

Tim Ballard: Being a Light When darkness knocks- I will be able to knock it back! If you shine your light- Darkness can;'t be there. By small & simple things- great things come to pass

Emily Watts: Motherhood: Am I Doing it Right? In Principles- Great Clarity/ In Practices- Great Charity Parenting of God: Allows consequences to come but doesn't stop loving us. Take a picture & laugh about it! Principles: 1: My twin top priorities are God & my family 2: Love Wins  3: God can help me but I have t let Him in

We also had the opportunity to participate in a Service project to make Alphabet Flash Cards for Refugees.We did a lot of coloring while we listened to the speakers!

I am so glad I was able to go this weekend. I laughed, I cried, I shared, I served. I am so grateful for Amber & Brooke in my life and the chance I had to get reacquainted with them at such an awesome event. Love you ladies!!! XO Let's not let 7 years go by before we share this experience again!

TOFW: Craft Night

What get together with my 2 best creative buddies would be complete without doing a craft project??

A couple weeks ago- Amber sent me an idea of this US map done with fabric that maybe we could do together while I visited her in Idaho. So cute! Let's do it!

So I started getting things together and deciding how I would tweak it to make it my own. (Cuz I'm a tweaker! LOL)
I have this frame that my dad gave me that I swapped out for one that went better with my decor but wanted to use this one as well since it was a gift from him. It seemed the perfect size to fit my new project. I visited my favorite little print shop and had them blow up a map for me that would fit. And printed a even bigger one for Amber.

I began by hanging my map on the window backwards so that I could trace it and make the "wrong" side of the states visible to trace later. Then I thought that if I just traced my pieces on wonder under- then I'd be ahead enough that I could help Amber with hers when I got there. It made me realize that we needed the maps printed backwards. So I made another trip to have them print them backwards for me. It saved tons of time!! Plus I numbered all of them in the order they should be laid on the background to make them all fit.

It was so cute sitting there all traced that it was practically begging me to find fabric for it! So I did. I was just going to pick out the fabric to take down with me.

But somehow my iron just needed me to put those shapes on the right fabric. LOL Besides can you imagine how much less stuff I have to pack if I don't have to take all of those piles of fabric down?? (that's what I told myself) Then it led to cutting them out so I could see how cute they were. Then that led to thinking- how would I get them all down there without losing some of the tiny pieces. That's logical, right?

Needless to say- I just couldn't help myself! I ironed them on. Then decided to just quickly sew around them all so they wouldn't fall off.

So.. yes! I basically just finished it before I even left for ID. Dang! I must have a disease. At least it's a "finisher" disease, right?
It did make me super excited to go down and see what my friends maps would look like. And in hind sight- it was way helpful to have a knowledge of what to do. Plus I was totally free to help them cut, trace, iron, etc. Super helpful since we are not the night owls we used to be!!!

Here's our little craft retreat in the basement of Amber's place. So much fun!!! I miss sewing and crafting with these ladies!!! SOOOO much! Love you gals! XO (Plus our little cooler buddy that hung out with us)

After returning home- I decided to add some words and get mine all in the frame! It turned out so darling!!! A perfect decor for July! Can't wait!!!