A little sneak peak

Oh man, will you jump up and down and get a little excited when I give you a little sneak peak of whats coming next week?  Cuz I'm jumping up and down and a lot excited about it.  Have you been needing something to keep your hands busy at the pool or while watching So You Think You Can Dance?!  Yeah, me too. 

 Well, its time to pull out the embroidery floss and your third grade skills, peeps.  The great Friendship Bracelet Swap {Summer 2011}  is coming!  Right here.  Next week.  Won't you join me?  

The Perfect Summer Salad

I don't like tomatoes.  I like salsa, and pasta sauce but I can not stand tomatoes by themselves.  I don't even eat them out of this salad.  But it is the best salad ever.  I love everything about it.  Except for the tomatoes.  But luckily my husband tag teams me and eats my tomatoes for me.  We work well together. 

I want to call this salad Caprese salad but I think that is not quite right since there is bread.  So for now its just the perfect summer salad.  I got the recipe from our ward cookbook and I know its a major hit.  Who knew bread in salad could be so good.  

Caprese {with bread} Salad 

{via Lucy Lowe}

1 loaf of day old baguette

grape tomatoes 

basil

 mozzerrella

olive oil

balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper.

Slice your baguette in half, butter and broil until golden.  Cut up your perfectly toasted bread in to one inch cubes. 

{I can't think of many things I love more than perfectly toasted bread.  Hmmmm}

Cut up your mozzerrella and tear up some basil.  You can either cut your tomatoes in half or leave them whole.  I selfishly leave them whole so I don't get yucky tomato on everything else!

Put it all in a large bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Add some salt and pepper.  Toss everything and there you go.  The perfect summer salad.  The best is that you can add as much or as little of everything that you want.  I think even if I was making it for myself I might add the tomatoes just for the pretty color! 

InstaFriday {can it be summer forever?}

Happy InstaFriday everyone!  Here's a glimpse of our eventful week through phone photos.  {Just so you know, breaking down and getting a phone that takes good pictures is one of the best things I've done lately.} 

These peonies were at the farmers market last Friday.  I really hope she is going to be back today cuz I need some of these beauties to brighten up my home this weekend.

Last weekend was Grandma Camp.  Darin's mom hosts it every year and everyone comes for 2 days of fun. There is tin foil dinners, a pajama fashion show, Christmas in July, S'mores {my favorite part} and story time.  And thats just the first day!

Our friends Rob and Stacy came in to town for the 4th of July so they came out to Grandma camp too.  My in laws live in the country a little bit and they always have the MOST gorgeous sunsets.  Perfect lighting for Stacy's maternity shoot with Darin.  It doesn't get much prettier then wheatfields in the evening light.

On the second day of Grandma camp we have a family friend bring horses for horse rides, water balloon launchers, homemade ice cream in a bag and an obstacle course.  This year the last task was to eat one of those huge marshmallows with no hands.  I think all the kids got sick. 

After Greenies closed on Saturday we headed out to Portland to spend the 4th at the beach.  The original plan was to go to the coast both Sunday and Monday but you can't count on beach weather in Oregon.  Even in July.  Since it was rainy at the coast we enjoyed an actual sunny day.  Right in Portland.  In all my life of living in and visiting Portland I have never been to Voodoo Donuts.  We stood in line for 30 minutes. I guess its a newly renovated locatation.  The entire building was painted with glitter.  I loved it.  

It was really good.  My favorite was the Voodoo Doll.

Luckily we had good weather for the 4th.  We hit up the Cannon Beach parade.  Ivy didn't think it was that great until everyone started throwing candy at her.  Then she def warmed up to the idea.

We got there in perfect time to explore the base of Haystack Rock {you know, the Goonies rock} when the tide was out.  The rocks are covered in starfish and mussels and barnacles and all kinds of crazy sea life.  Next time I'm taking my bike.

We came home and had a night out on the town with Darin's siblings.  They convinced us to go to Olive Garden.  Last time we went there was probably 6 years ago in Denver.  It was seriously like the Denny's of italian food.  The chairs had casters on them.  Luckily this was a much better experience.  Fancy even.  Yay.

Then it was back to our regular routine of pool, sleep, repeat.  Why do goggles make everyone instantly nerdy.  And super cute at the same time?  

How was your 4th?!

{ps... you don't have to use instagram to link up.  Any ole camera pictures will work.  Won't you join me?}

Swimsuits Rack: DIY

{my little fish}


Hi friends!  How was your 4th?  Ours was super fun and I'm just getting back in to the swing of things around here.  But I'll tell you one thing.  We are living in our swimsuits these days.    Pool, Rinse and repeat it seems. And Ivy may or may not even sleep in hers sometimes.   I needed a place to wrangle those suits so we aren't scrambling to find them when its time to go.  I love my rack I came up with and as promised here's a quick how to!

SUPPLIES

board cut to desired length.  Mine is a 1x8x20

Spray paint

faucet handles {I got mine at Home Depot}

vinyl lettering

I found this board in the garage that was painted white and everything all ready to go! But I wanted pink letters so I decided on reverse stenciling. So I spray painted just the top pink.  I let it dry for about 10 minutes but wasn't too worried about letting it dry completely because I want it to be distressed.  

I cut out vinyl letters with my silhouette using the BEBAS font {one of my faves right now} and applied them to my board.  Then I had my helper paint the whole top white with craft paint.  Right over the top of the letters.  Just make sure you don't glob the paint on over the letters or it will seep.  Spray paint would work well too.

Let the paint dry for a couple minutes but not totally.  Then use some tweezers to peel off your letters.  If you want, use some super fine sandpaper to knock down the edges of the letters and distress to your liking. 

I spray painted my faucet handles with the same pink {rustoleoum 2xcoverage pink}, and let them dry completely.  Then I measured out where I wanted them and drilled holes in my board.  When you are getting the faucet handles make sure that you get the ones that have a knob on the back to help it stand off the board.  And Lowes did not have the handles so don't waste a trip.  Just head to home depot and ask where they are.  Then  find some screws in the garage and screw on your handles. 

Booya!  No more scrambling for {dry} swimsuits or lost bottoms!  Happy Swimming!

Insta Friday {catching up edition}

DON'T go in to shock from 3 posts in a row!  But I heart Insta Friday and I heart Instagram {my user name is jenn_warnick if you wanna follow along} and I thought I would show you what has been keeping us busy this summer so far...

We went to a summer wedding and this little lady twirled to her hearts content.  Her favorite songs right now are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Tangled theme.  She twirls and yells And at LAST I see the light. Over and Over and Over.

and over.

This is my "I wish I lived by the beach" bag.  It is super big and can fit everything we need for the pool. Towels, water bottles, snacks, toys.  I used laminate fabric for the inside {which is kind of a pain to sew with by the way} so we can throw wet stuff in and doesn't soak the bag.  I love it. 

I added paper straws to my shop.  You should go get some ;)

My little fish can't get enough of swimming.  She jumps in repeatedly and is getting braver and braver every day.  We have already used up two bottles of sunscreen.  Have you seen this video yet?  You should wear sunscreen.   

Most days we swim we are with our cousins.  These kids crack me up and I'm so so so glad that my sister in law Laney isn't taking classes this summer so we can spend some time with them!

After swimming we come home and eat an avocado.  Yep.  She eats it with a spoon.  

Last weekend I spent three days camping with the girls in our youth group.  My sister in law was a doll and watched Ivy during the day for us.  My little girl that I can only get to take naps in her carseat or bike trailer took hours long naps every day.  I'm seriously considering taking Ivy to her house every day at 12:30 for naptime.  

We took our girls camping at Twin Lakes a few hours north west of here.  Even though the weather wasn't super warm we still had a blast and I'm always blown away by how cool these girls are.  Being a teenager these days is no joke and these girls have a firm grasp on the fact that they are Daughters of God and they make such good choices.  Being in Young Women's has definitely taught me a thing or two and I'm so happy that I have sixteen year olds for role models.

Getting her hair did.  Did you know she is going to be 4 next month?  I already think of her as a 4 year old.  She is taller than most 4 year olds we know.

Having a photographer husband is awesome.  We just did a trade with a local rodeo queen.  Ivy gets horseback riding lessons once a week for a year.  So of course we had to get her some pink cowgirl boots.  We had her second lesson this week and she is already turning around barrels and backing up Laddy {thats the horse she rides}. 

Umm I have eaten way too many roasted marshmallows this month.  They are one of my favorite parts of summer and camping.  I like mine perfectly toasted golden brown.  Are you a burner or a roast to perfection kind of person?

Happy Insta Friday!