O-Town Part Deux

I felt real bad about my last visit to Orlando and being pulled in many directions that I planned a 2nd visit. I focused solely on my sisters and saying Bye to Steph. We started the day by meeting at the Orlando LDS Temple. It coincided with my ward temple trip and Steph got to join the Youth in a session while I was with the adults and my older sister Janeth. I had a glorious time at the Temple! It was definitely one of my favorite visits :)

Before my trip to Orlando I needed to sew 2 buttons and their holes in the pillow I made for Stephanie. My sewing mentor and dear friend Natalie was out of town so I decided to enlist Jon for help. I was a little overwhelmed and Jon sat in my sewing chair (dining room table) and began to sew! It was one of the sweetest things Jon has done (trust me, he's done A TON! like making a lasagna from scratch that took him 2 hours while he was VERY sick! I had just come back from my first day at my internship). I love that man.

I managed to sneak a picture of my husbands sweet hands

Here is Stephanie with her Chicken Pot Pie

Janeth! She looks pretty in this picture.

They had these great muffins!

Mamma Mia's Cafe, I highly recommend it!


One of my favorite places on Earth! Dylan's Candy Shop. I have no other words.

I went to the Winter Garden Village Center after my Sister's Day. I did some serious shopping and then treated myself to Uno Chicago Grill. Jon's from Chicago and I think he'd appreciate this sign!

I loved my trip to O-town and seeing my sisters!!

O-Town

Jon and I headed to Orlando on Friday to say bye to my little sister Stephanie. She's off to college and I still can't believe it! I cried the whole way to Orlando and I got it all out of my system so that when I saw her I would be all smiles :) It worked! I bought the ingredients to make the best cookies ever with my sister but, it turned out pretty bad! I wanted to teach her how to make the best cookies ever so that she can make them for her roomates in college. Well, I told her to go chop the Hershey chocolate into pieces while I chatted with my mom. While I was chatting with my mom she wanted me to show her something on the computer. Steph kept coming in to ask me what to do next. I told her to wait a minute since my mom's comp. kept crashing. The next thing I knew Steph mixed ALL of the ingredients at once and it was a mess! She was covered in flour, and looked so cute. See, she needed to place the butter and Hershey choc. into a double boiler and slowly fold the creamy mixture into the dry ingredients. Hmmm, I don't think she inherited my Aunt Claudia's amazing cooking abilities!


Luckily, Jon came to the rescue after I threw my hands up in the air and gave up.

This is my Uncle George! He's here visiting from Colombia. He looks just like my father and speaks like him as well. They both have the goofiest sense of humor which I love! He brought over some Arepas and I have been eating one everyday. They are delicious :)

Before we met up with my family Jon and I headed to the most amazing shopping area in Orlando. I was so giddy and jumping up and down. Gainesville has really pulled a number on me. My eyes were bulging out by the size of the stores. My FAVORITE store of all time is a store called WORLD MARKET. I can't rightly described what it's in this store. You have to go and see for yourself. Its truly amazing! The prices are great and the things you will find are to different than anything I've seen before. Every day they bring in new inventory and I salivate over every piece.

This is Jon as He-man inside the biggest "Party City" I've ever seen. The Party planner inside me could not resist this store. Jon had to walk me out due to sensory overload!

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The night before my mom told me that one of my childhood friends was getting married. I was so excited! His name is Ricardo A.K.A. "Chino". I had the best time at his wedding! He looked so grown up and handsome in his tuxedo and his new bride was beautiful.

I think the best part of the evening for me was catching up with ol' friends. My friend Vanessa and her beautiful family were there as well. I loved seeing her with her family! We've known each other since a very long time and I could not stop talking with her. I felt so comfortable around her and even danced together like we use to at the Youth Dances!

Ricardo's mother made this beautiful wedding cake! The main ingredients were pulled from her garden. I took some home and brought it to the missionaries!

Whitney holding Jao, John, Claudia, and Jon - John was a childhood friend of mine. We use to visit their house every other day. They had a beautiful garden, a hammock, and several table games. Plus, his mom was a great cook!

Hector, Anna, and me! This is one of my favorite couples of all time! The most genuine couple you will ever meet. I love them so much!

Hector, Anna, Whitney, Jao, and John


Vanessa and Claudia

Vanessa, Anna, Barjo (Vanessa's cute husband, Stephanie (the most serene baby) and Spencer blowing bubbles - he gave me the biggest hug when I was leaving! I asked him if he would like to come home with me, I even bribed him by telling him we have alligators!

I had so much fun! Vanessa has long beautiful legs and compared to my short legs it made for a very entertaining hoe down!



My mom

Barjo and Vanessa dancing!


Ma & Pa

Anna & Ricardo's mom



Ricardo & me!

Another successful Garden Club Meeting

On Tuesday we had our 3rd Garden club meeting and it went great! Everyone showed up in great spirits and had great questions. Isn't that GREAT! See, after building the raised vegetable beds you have to build a trench. So on Monday I came over Tara's backyard and helped her dig a trench. I created this handout and gave it to some of the girls who will be digging their trench. Emily baked delicious Ginger Snap cookies and Michelle played host to all 10 of us. Amelia talked about fertilizer and Amber about Compost. Michelle shared a sweet story about the spiritual aspects of gardening. Then I rattled on about all sorts of things. I never knew I would be so passionate about gardening. Thanks everyone for a very successful meeting.


You have to zoom in and check out Amber S. face! Her birthday is on Sept. 13th and my birthday, for anyone who for whatever reason was not already aware of, is September 14th. We are both turning 25! How cool is that :)

Here is the handout for anyone interested:

Friend's Birthdays

I have decided a lot of people were born over the summer. Here are a few:

Happy Birthday Amelia!


Amelia's middle name is Rose. I think Jon was inspired when he picked up the cake!






Maren turned 18!
The same day Bryn turned 30 :)



I love Birthdays!!

My Chair!

A while back I was visiting with a friend and noticed how awesome her house looked. I even asked her to give me a tour of every room! She then surprised me and told me the majority of her furniture she bought at a second hand store and refinished it herself. So not even 10 minutes after our conversation I headed to the nearby good will and thought, I can't do this! I felt I lacked the creative big picture. A week later I went back to goodwill and fell in love with a chair. I bought it and was so thrilled to pay the $5.04 cents. I carted the chair in the back of my car for two weeks showing all my friends. Then, I got to work. And can you guess who I called about help with sewing the cushions. You guessed it, my dear and talented friend Natalie. Here is my labor of love (which by the way is now Jon's video game chair)

BEFORE:

The Chair

The Cushions





Natalie showing me how to pipe

Jon holding the cushions as they made their way to the chair!

AFTER:

Fabric by Anna Maria Homer. I highly recommend anything from her line.


Natalie was amazing! I had thrown out the cushions because they were moldy and that ended up being mistake #1. Natalie had no pattern to go by! So, she devised her own pattern and 5 days later they were all done. I helped a little :) She even got sick and kept going. What a champion!

I also painted another stool. I guess I felt that I had too much black furniture in my house and wanted to add some color.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Tile!

A while back I started noticing the white wood backslash was coming apart from the wall. So I took some caulk and filled in the gap. Done! Until mold started growing and Jon got worried. I would just spray some bleach and it would disappear. Well, since Jared Fearing (Tina Hutchins talented nephew) was already doing some yard work for us, we asked him about our back splash and he said, "tile!". So he removed the wood back splash and gross, mold was growing where the water from doing dishes would hit it. I was just bleaching away the surface. I am so glad Jon suggested we do something about it. Usually I think of home improvement ideas but this time Jon did!

BEFORE:





AFTER:






And cue in the "ohhhhhhhhhh" and "ahhhhhhh"'s