A Walk in the Woods

 

Jered and Riley went for a walk in the woods today. Pretty soon all the leaves will have fallen and snow will be here. But for now, the joy of leaves.

Color of Leaves

The weather has been beautiful lately and all the trees are turning wonderful, gorgeous, though brief, colors. We took advantage of this and took a walk to the park. The boys got exercise and I got to shoot some pictures.

45th Wedding Anniversary

45 years

Today is my parents' 45th wedding anniversary. Yesterday was the open house and we had a great time visiting with everyone. We had friends and family come from all over to see my parents and congratulate them on their mile stone.

My Parents

Since the 45th wedding anniversary is the Sapphire Anniversary, I choose to make the blue mason jars with the pink flowers. Shades of pink was my parents wedding colors which is why I choose that for the theme.

Table Decorations

I made a large "45" for the wall decoration out of foam board and coffee filters. To stick the filters to the foam board I used 3M 77 spray adhesive. Works like magic!!! Warning : It's super sticky and smells horrible so use a drop cloth and spray outside. For the color I just used spray paint and faded the pink up. Pretty isn't it?

Wall Decorations

One of the biggest hits at the party was the twine and picture garland of my parents' wedding photos. This was probably the easiest project. I printed the pictures out on regular white paper and hung them on twine with plain clothes pins. Easy and quite a conversation starter!!

Photo Garland

Max

 The rest of the pictures are of our family and friends enjoying the party. It was great to see everyone and thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us.

At the party

The Room

Max and Brynna

Food Table

Papa John

Crepe Paper Flowers

My parents are having their 45th wedding anniversary on July 2,so my brother and I are throwing them an open house. The table decorations are blue mason jars that I made filled with flowers. Buying enough flowers for 20 tables can be very pricy - unless you know someone with a cutting garden. So I decided to make flowers instead.

Crepe Paper Flowers

I bought inexpensive crepe paper rolls at the party store for about 3 dollars a roll for the large and 99 cents for the smaller ones.  Since the theme is ombre pinks I chose those colors.

Ombre Pinks

I didn't have a specific size I cut the streamers, but whatever the length you cut the longest one, the lighter color is 1/2 the length, and the green was 1/2 of the lighter color length. See the picture below:

Cutting the paper

Then I folded them in half, and then in half again, and again until they are all the same size. Stack them on top of each other (I layered the colors with the green on the bottom). Fold the stack in half and pinch it together. Fold a florist wire over top of the crepe paper and twist it shut.

Now it's time to cut the petal shape. Any shape you choose is OK. I chose a heart shape because it trims off the folds. Make sure you fold down the "leaf" green so you don't cut that. Do both sides.

Petals

Next cut out the leaf shape. Do both sides.

Leaf

Now time to fluff them up! Just pull lightly left and then right shaping the flower with your fingers. Pull each petal apart. Your flowers will look like this when done:

Crepe Paper Flowers

Time: This project took me about 4 hours to complete 40 flowers. Cost: Less than $20 in supplies. (I still have half a roll of each color)

The crepe paper flowers look really good all lined up together and are going to be great for our party. This project would be a great wedding DIY for a group of bride maids to help with.

Grouped Flowers

Blowing Bubbles

 

This weekend we made the trip to Ames to visit my parents. Mostly because I'm planning their 45th wedding anniversary party and had some things to take care of. (We made a bunch of crepe paper flowers...tutorial coming soon!) The boys always have fun visiting. We had to go shopping because Max had gotten a Target gift card that was burning a hole in his pocket. I bought Riley a bubble gun so he could get something too. Best 2 bucks I have spent this summer.

Riley Jumping

Close up

Bubbles

Max in bubbles

Bubble gun

 I'm really loving my camera and getting used the manual settings. It's amazing what you can do with shutter speed control!!!

May Flowers

Earlier in the week I made blue mason jars. Now the peonies are blooming and I can put these to good use. There is nothing like fresh flowers to brighten your day!

I love peonies and peonies love Iowa, they grow amazingly well here without any help from me! This weekend is busy with graduation celebrations and Mother's day. I hope all the mothers out there have a wonderful mother's day - you deserve it!

Rainbow of Eggs

Happy Friday! We have a super busy weekend and week ahead. Sunday is not only Easter - it is also Jered's birthday. So Saturday I will be making him a marshmallow beauty of a cake. I also am responsible for the party potatoes, which is a big deal. :) Now for tradition! Tonight we dyed the eggs.

I saw so many amazing egg dying techniques, but with a full schedule and two kids, we stuck with the basics. They are still beautiful and happy.

I had Max and Riley change into different shirts so that you couldn't tell if they got dye on themselves.

The finished eggs:

Flowers

Flowers, a photo by shaunadieter on Flickr.

These flowers were growing everwhere. All the flowers were beautiful

Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

Riley - Four Monthes

Max and Riley March 2010 027
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

Riley had his four month appointment yesterday. Dr. Amy says he is doing very well. He is 27 inches tall, 17 1/2 lbs, 41 cm head, and has two little teeth bottom front! He hated his shots this time and let everyone know. Here is a picture of Riley smiling - which is hard to get a picture of since he isn't too sure about cameras and flashes.

Riley Jackson Dieter

100_0922
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

He is here! Born on 11-16-2009 at 3:36 pm - 7 lbs 9 oz - 21 inches tall, all boy! Labor was a short 5 hours and 3 pushes so you couldn't ask for better. I'm glad I listened to Jered when he said we had better get to the hospital. Riley is doing well - Mom and Dad are tired but figuring it out. Max is so happy - he loves his new brother. He can't stop kissing him. So cute. We will see how he feels when he starts taking his toys...

The Glacier

The Glacier
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

Johnson Cayon

Johnson Cayon
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

After Lake Louise we went to Johnson Cayon and walked up to the falls. The water was so clear and beautiful. The lower falls was so loud and you could walk right up to it and feel the water. Wonderful!

On top of Mt Barrier

On top of Mt Barrier
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

My Garden

My Garden
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

I thought I would post a picture of my garden since it is in full bloom. I have nasturtiums in the front, the tall ones are sunflowers, and the little orange ones are marigolds, of course. The tall spindlely ones are cosmos.

Sunflower

Sunflower
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter

Thristy!

Picture 010
Originally uploaded by shaunadieter.