Matching Crochet Hats

Crochet is a hobby I picked up, because it gave me something to do while I watched TV, and I could try and justify that I wasn't wasting my time...TRY is the key word.

My first Crochet project was matching hats for the family, a complete necessity for family pictures for our christmas card!

The pattern is really easy for those who know crochet. (For those of you who have never crocheted before, this will be way to confusing...)

Chain 8 and then slip stitch into the first loop of the chain to make a circle

chain 2 and then fill the circle with double crochet's ending with a slip stitch

Next row chain two and double crochet 2 in every hole, with a slip stitch at the end

Next row chain two and double crochet 2 in the 1st hole, 1 in the next, then 2, then 1... end ss

" " dc 2 in the first hole, 1 in the next, then 1, 2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1 " "

so this row the pattern is 2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1 and every row you keep adding 1 until it is wide enough

Now to make in long, stitch 1 double crochet for the rest of the rows until it is long enough.

Then I just winged the ears, and finished it with a single crochet around the whole bottom, including the ears. At the end of the ears I strung some yarn through, braided it, and tied a knot in the bottom.

Our Christmas Cards turned out to be very cute, although I noticed we didn't pick any of the pictures with our matching hats! Don't worry it wasn't a complete waste, a winter hat never goes to waste during an Idaho Winter

The FATE Burger DATE- A Great Grilling Date Idea

the FATE BURGER

My husband and I love this group date, especially in the summer when we can use our grill.

It's easy

It's fun

and It's DELICIOUS

First find a group of friends (don't invite your picky eater friends to this party)

Then make a long list of burger toppings

Bacon

Different types of Chesse

Onions

Mushrooms

Tomato

and make sure to include some non traditional ones

Onion Rings

Avacado

French Fries

Cucumbers
Potato Salad
Baked Beans
Different sauces (A1, Ranch, BBQ, Peanut Butter & Jelly)
Fried Egg (don't judge until you try it, WOW)

Split the toppings up with your friends so everyone is contributing

When everyone shows up the girls usually prepare all the toppings, and bake some fries, while the MEN go and play with fire and GRILL and do all that MAN stuff (Grunt Grunt)

Then we take all of our toppings and put them on a dart board, but you could pull them out of a hat, or put them on a spinner, anything that makes choice random, and puts FATE in charge.

Here is the fun! We throw darts (but you could draw toppings out of a bowl) for 3-4 different toppings, we made a rule you can swap one of the toppings but we encourage everyone to stick with their FATE BURGER

I have had some of the most unique, yet incredibly delicious burgers EVER, from this DATE.

We give this date 5 Stars, 2 thumbs up, and an A+

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

We never do traditional Gingerbread Houses, it is so much funner to do HAUNTED Gingerbread Houses. If a cookie is broken or the frosting is messy it makes it even better.

No Kit needed ;)

A Halloween Costume for the Pregnant Lady

One of the funnest family home evenings my husband and I have had was making our halloween costumes together. I was 7 months pregnant with our first and decided to do the old bun in the oven idea.

We got a huge box from the local movie theater and then turned it inside out and taped it all up again. The we used tin foil, construction paper to decorate it. We cut the holes with razor cutter and it was so funny because when I tried it on to see if I would fit I got stuck in the box and couldn't get out.

My husband was rolling on the floor laughing. My husband also wanted the front to open so people could see my belly and see our ultrasound pictures, so he used two magnets to make it open and shut.

JON's costume was way easy, he just threw on an apron and then we took a strip of poster board, taped tissue paper to it and wrapped it around his head. He made one good lookin Baker ;)

Miss Rexburg Hostess

So I couldn't do pageants anymore, but I could still be involved. I had the opportunity to be a hostess for Miss Rexburg and it was such an amazing experience I am doing it again this year!

My Girls were such hard workers, they studied hard for the interview, put multiple service hours toward their platforms, worked hard on their talents, and were beautiful that night

I believe in this program. I watched these girls grow and I know from personal experience that the Miss America program teaches you valuable life skills that you can take with you, crown or no crown. I can't wait to meet my girls this year!

Becoming a Mother

I thought adjusting to life as a wife was an adventure, and soon that adventure was going to be doubled as I added Life as Mommy. We found out we were pregnant with our first baby!

I decided that an Associates Degree was going to have to be enough and left school to become a mom. What an adventure!

Becoming a Photographer

So my sister, who is incredibly beautiful, asked me to do her senior pictures and graduation announcement. I was of course honored that she had so much faith in me and started surfing the internet looking at poses and designs. She came up to visit and we took pictures for TWO DAYS. She was such a good model, it was hard to take a bad picture of her, she is so cute. She was SO patient with me as I was learning and trying new things.

Together we came out with some great pictures and an incredible announcement.

I hung the announcement up on my fridge proudly and when my husband came home and saw it he turned to me and said, " this is really good....you should do this for real" and if you've read my past posts you know my husband is amazing but I have to brag again. 

The next day he found a SLR camera for me, bought it, and asked me to start taking pictures. I never could have bought a camera that nice for myself and by buying it for me he helped me do something I never dreamed I would be able to do. He not only makes my dreams come true but he creates them. And that is how I became a photographer!

My work, pictures and designs, can be found at www.pinkpearlphotography.com

I currently am a photographer for SLC Valley in Utah, Cache Valley Utah, and Franklin County Idaho