A Modern Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I launched my newest idea - Modern Verses and I have to tell you that it has been a blast.  I love the words of the scriptures and I love making them into something visual.  And I love my little etsy shop.  I have always dreamed of having a store of my own and it makes me feel like I sort of do.  Anyhow, since that time I've added a few designs that I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you! 

I love these.  They are all so happy and bright.  They make me dream of summer. 

I also did a trio with children's hymns:

I really have so much fun designing new prints.  I lay in bed at night dreaming of new ones all the time.  I'm getting a little obsessed!  I also love packaging them up for shipping - they look so pretty!  And did you know you can get them in 16 x 20 size now?  Those are BEAUTIFUL!  And since I've got things launched I decided it was time to have a giveaway! 

Go to my store and pick your favorite print(the one you'd like to win).  Then share it on facebook or your blog - you receive an entry for each time you share.  You'll also receive another entry for being a fan of Modern Verses on facebook!  Just make sure you link back to my store on your blog and then come and comment and let me know which ones you did!  On May 5th I will announce a winner! 

365 days ago.

This was me:

This was taken with Mike's camera phone so it's not the greatest pic in the world...

This was Peter:

One week away from his first birthday.

366 days ago this was Asher:

 One day old.

My, how time flies.

The weekend.

Yesterday the grandparents were in town so we headed up to take the Kennecott Mine tour.  If you didn't know it - that mine is one of the largest man-made structures on earth.  What you are looking at in this pic used to be a mountain.  Ordinarily I would be really bothered by that but I don't ever try to cut back on my copper usage so how can I say that they shouldn't mine so much?

It's actually pretty interesting up there because you can actually see the operations going on below you in the mine.  Can you believe this tire?  The trucks that have tires like this one are as big as a house.  Pretty fun to see in action.

I am crazy about this baby.  He turns one in a couple weeks.  My how the time flies for us mamas.

I always always wanted to pay to use one of these so yesterday we did.  Annnnnnnnd, it was amazing.  Not really.

Here's some Kennecott propaganda.  I'm cool with that.

This boy is the king of wardrobe malfunctions.  He was literally wearing his hat around like this.  His shoes are always on the wrong feet - and his underpants are ALWAYS hanging out.  Most days every article of clothes he's wearing is on backwards.  I love it.


After the tour and a fast food lunch(I proudly abstained) we said our goodbyes and headed home.  We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out the garage which was the perfect preparation for a driveway campfire.

Don't they look happy?  Trust me, the wienie roast and marshmallows were amazing.

Mike's parents gave us this firepit and we hadn't used it yet so we st it up on the driveway.  We were a little ghetto but it was fun.

I love Timpanogas.  And I love living in Utah.  And I love smelling like campfire.  And I love that my husband can roast marshmallows perfectly.

Roasting a marshmallow perfectly takes a watchful eye - don't even think about chit chatting or looking at the beauties around you because right when you do that marshmallow is going to go up in flames.  It also requires patience because you have to find just the right spot over the fire that will roast and not burn it - slowly turning it and making it perfect.  But if you do these things you will get the best marshmallow of your life - roasted and crispy on the outside with a warm lava of sweetness inside.  So good.

All in all it was a great night.  We let the two oldest stay up late and we spent our time throwing tumbleweeds and old branches left over from spring storms onto the fire to watch them flame up.  It was great.

I can't wait to go camping for real.

Announcing: Modern Verses

I am a visual person who LOVES printed words.  If you've ever come over to my house you've seen the pieces of paper taped all over my walls with my favorite quotes or scriptures on them.  So, for years I have been looking for art for my walls that combines my beliefs and my style.  I can usually find one or the other but never together.  So I have finally decided to stop dragging my feet and design my own.  Thus we have Modern Verses.   Each piece has is a verse of scripture except for Families are Forever and Search and Ponder - those are just nice sayings.

Each design is professionally printed on 8x10 linen stock with professional pigment inks.  And they look oh so cute together in groupings!   Here are the designs:

p.s.  Click on the images to enlarge!

Easter Came Early

We really struggle to find gifts for Easter that will remind our boys what we are celebrating and the sacredness of it - and avoiding all the materialism that has crept into every other gosh darned holiday.  But this year we found a gift that they would be excited about and that would kinda embody the day.  And once we though of it - we couldn't wait until the weekend.  We got them chicks and here they are!

We got one for each member of the family so that we never run out of eggs.  We got three different breeds - all good layers.  Black Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, & Americaunas.  Americaunas don't lay as many eggs - like maybe 3 a week but they are bluish greenish eggs and they are such beautiful birds that we couldn't turn them down.  I would have liked to have found a Wyandotte and a Barred Rock but didn't this time.  Here's a close-up of the Americauna:

And here are some other cute ones:

Getting cozy to stay warm:

Tired so fast...

And the poopy outtake of the first image...

These chicks are all about a week old and won't lay eggs for at least 20 more weeks  - which means we're looking at late August.  I wasn't planning on starting with chicks again but they're just so cute and irresistible...don't you think?  And it's fun to bond with your birds and they with you. I always notice a difference with the hens I raise from birth to the ones I buy as older pullets.

Happy Easter!

p.s.  I've had several people ask me how I took these shots.  It was actually really simple.  I had already taken some product shots for a friend on some white butcher paper.  I took the paper and taped it up behind - letting it roll out in front without an noticeable edge creating a never-ending white backdrop.  It was right next to a bunch of bright windows that I used for my lighting.   It's super easy and you could use any color paper.  Maybe I'll do a "how-to" post some time...