#2 Flag Day

#2 Flag Day
June 14, 2013

Our challenge for Flag day was to take this quiz to see how many international flags we were able to guess/recognize. You should try it and see how your score measures up! Beth and I both feel right in the 10-15 range...which is just kinda sad. Yet, it's amazing how many flags contain the color red. Also, it really surprised me which flags I actually knew. I can quickly admit that I wouldn't have known most of them before last year!

#1 National Sewing Day

Some amazing friends of ours have arranged a special event for us this summer called, "The Summer Extension Pack"! And each day we have a new holiday to celebrate! I thought y'all might like to join in on the fun!

Day #1: National Sewing Day

June 13 

As you've already seen, we love to sew and had some lovely fabric sitting around for curtains. So we decided to go ahead and make some new living room curtains!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for helping us find the fabric!

Parental Adventures!

The month of May certainly wasn't the easiest and I was ok with flipping the calendar, especially since my parents were to arrive just before June started! We were so blessed to spend some much needed time together! I still can't fathom that He provided a way for them to come and we had a fantastic visit!

Fishing in the Med!

Enjoy the sounds of some traditional music...and the wind!

My sweet parents! Love them!

My mommy and me!

Everybody needs a good Momma hug!

Exploring ancient Roman ruins!

Traditional clothes? I think we will!

We're a colorful bunch!

Enjoying Beth's birthday festivities!

I got to "lead" this camel ride!

Woohoo!! ;)

Enjoying a lovely look at the Med!

So blessed by these two!

We had a wonderful week seeing some of the sights and just enjoying being with each other! So thankful that God really does do more than we ever can ask or imagine! He is so good!

Many Moons

The end of April meant it was time for us to take a little trip! We had so much fun on our last turn around with friends but we wore ourselves slap out, so this time we decided to take it easy. We were blessed to spend a few days in Barcelona, Spain. In Arabic it's pronounced barsha.luna which for some reason reminds me of studying Indians in Kindergarten. Everyone in our class had to chose an "Indian" name... I think I was Many Hearts or something. Anyway the word barsha means many or a lot in Arabic and luna sounds like the word for moon in Spanish. Yes it's a long stretch, so I'm proud if you're still with me. But Barcelona will forever remind me of Many Moons.

We literally accidentally found this place (one of Gaudi's houses or something.) We were walking down the street in the rain and noticed the large line outside and decided it must be something important.

Traditional Paella for lunch!

We did plan a visit to the Sagrada Familia. There was lots of unique architecture and statues carved onto the outside of this cathedral. The line was long so we didn't even go in, but went walking around looking for a Starbucks.

While we were walking along, we found a fish spa. Instead of having a normal pedicure, you can put your feet inside a fish aquarium. The fish eat away the dead skin from your feet. It was something so odd, we decided to do it...just for experience's sake.

Beth giggled ferociously! They tickled her feet.

Definitely just a one time thing for me.

Hanging on tight on the Metro!

One of our favorite activities was walking Las Ramblas, the main drag in Barcelona.

IronMan 3 in English in a real movie theater! We splurged on the popcorn and coke for such an event!

A few Spanish Oddities:

No scissors campaign?

Random people dressed as bananas. 

Now this is the life!

 We had such a great time in Barcelona, even though we didn't do too many touristy things. I never thought I would be "one of those people" that ate at McDonald's, Hard Rock Cafe, and Starbucks for nearly every meal in a foreign country, but those were my favorite things about this trip! It was refreshing to spend time in a culture more like my own, but we're glad to be back along the Med!

Under the Sea

In March, we were invited to join our friends in celebrating a big birthday and graduation. So off we traveled to the Northern coastline, along the Med, for everyone's first experience scuba diving.

The weather was cooler and rougher than we expected...it was even raining! 

Huddled together before we took 'the plunge'!

The waves were rocking so hard, I could barely keep my balance  while putting on the already wet, super tight shoes. Beth had to assist me. haha.

Yay! I'm finally in all the getup and I'm about to go scuba diving! 

The first few minutes in the water were definitely a little scared. It feels so unnatural to be underwater and taking deep breaths at the same time. But my 'guide' was great and it wasn't long before we were in a good rhythm and going deep down under. It's like a whole new world under the sea! Words really aren't adequate.

After my dive and before Beth's turn. We look ridiculous!

I went scuba diving but now I'm really cold and wet! If cameras add ten pounds, then wet suits add 50! haha

The divers! Happy Birthday Randi!

Can't wait to go back and enjoy some more underwater scenery!

Quilty

I've always admired my mother's beautiful and seemingly effortless quilts, but my preteen attempts at sewing a 12" block together quickly discouraged me from perfecting the skill. I felt like I spend more time threading the needle or repairing a mistake than I actually spent sewing or quilting. For a friend's Christmas present, I decided to give her a practical gift since I knew she would be moving soon. So, with a lot of help from my ever-so-patient mother,  I spent about a month working on and finishing my first 'real' quilt. I'm proud to tell you that I've nearly perfected the skill of fixing my mistakes, even though threading a needle still sets me back quite a bit.

This new hobby has really become something I enjoy doing, especially during those long winter nights. Despite the fact that quilting seems like SUCH an old woman pastime (yes, go ahead say your sarcastic remark, I know you're thinking it. But then, no more judgement :), I've found it nearly therapeutic this past year probably because it's one of the few things in my life where I can see where I'm going, and see the progress along the way. From the beginning stitch to the finished product, every time I work on it, I walk away seeing the progress. Whereas so much else in my life relies on believing that the progress is happening but not seeing it yet. Anyway, it's a good feeling to work with your hands and finish a project, right?

Have a look at 18 months worth of long winter nights:

The quilt that began it all (on the right)...I still haven't quite finished quilting that one. And another quilt to match on the left.

I wish I would haven't started with a simpler design. Hey, go big or go home, huh?

A quilt Beth and I worked on together for a friend.

Another joint effort. A quilting circle of one isn't much fun. This is primary made from leftover fabric and old shirts.

The latest and greatest! ;) For my Granna!

Beth's in on the fun too!  This is one of her masterpieces - the cat likes it too!

Progress

We are slowly but surely making progress at our new place. We've added a few pieces of furniture since this particularly long cleaning weekend that I'll try to add soon.

Some creative moving. The movers (a some guy painting downstairs) stuck the couch out the window in order to angle it in!

After all that hard work, this is where they deemed the furniture should go. :) men. haha

The next day, borrowed a vacuum cleaner to clean the couches.

We felt like pioneer women washing cushions with our bare hands and hanging them on the line to dry! We obviously aren't as good as pioneer women, though, because we were soaking wet!

That's a lot of cushions that got washed! We're still waiting for some of them to dry.