Pickled Pumpkins

new valentines!

2012-01-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

I know I'm running late this year... seems to be the story of my life for the past 10 months since little Lola arrived in our lives!

BUT...

I have finally finished the 2012 Valentine sets!

The Birds and Bees Set

The Bomb Set

These are made from my original pencil drawings, then scanned and colored digitally.

This year, I colored them with the clone tool in photoshop using my prints so they would show texture. I know that sounds weird, but the coloring turned out really cute!

They are available to purchase in the shop now!

Also, I may end up listing the past years' Valentines too. But if you don't see those sets and want one, just let me know and I set up a reserved listing for you.

You can view the past years' sets here and here.

little lola

2011-11-30T07:47:00.001-07:00

Here's a post about little Lola.

She is so sweet.

here she is at 2 1/2 months

Still pretty skinny and small.

then at 3 months

She's starting to fill out a bit here.

a week later

She's getting fat! My favorite thing in the world is a fat baby!

I've been lucky enough to have TWO fat babies!

Noah LOVES his "stister"

He is so sweet to her. Sometimes he's a little too rough or takes a toy away, but for the most part he is a very nice big brother and very helpful. He LOVES to make her smile and laugh.

here she is swimming with her aunt Brandy at almost 5 months

she loves to stick her tongue out (5 months)

She's so smiley and fun and sweet!

She's such an easy baby. She naps really well and is easy to please.

here's all her little fat rolls! look at that knee dimple! nearly 6 months here.

Cutest and fattest baby ever!

she never quite figured the binky thing out. neither did Noah

Noah gave her a pretty flower to put in her hair

She started sitting up around 5 months or so.

hanging out with me doing laundry

one of the two times I tried a pony in her hair

here she is with her daddy at 7 1/2 months

she likes to make funny faces for the camera (8 months)

What a fun addition to our little family! We love Lola so much!

She's such a sweet and pretty little girl.

wow

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously??? Has it been nearly 6 months since I posted last??

WOW!!!

Well, this post comes with shop news

and a warning.

The shop news is that we are having a sale!

A big one!

It's Christmas time and sales are all around us, so...

we are joining in.

We are doing 40% OFF all SINGLE PRINTS!

Yay!

It starts today!

So click HERE to save big at the shop!

Now for the

WARNING...

This blog is a look behind the scenes of our little Pickled Pumpkins Company,

but... it's also a family record and a place for friends and family to see what's happening with us.

With that said, I will be doing a LOT of back blogging.

I just can't believe how far behind I am, and with a new baby in the house there is a lot to catch up on.

So now you are warned... there will be a lot (hopefully) of new posts coming up, but I'll be back dating them.

Thanks for being patient with me as I adjust to having more than one kid.

summer swimming

2011-09-01T07:08:00.000-06:00

This year we were lucky enough to get passes to Cherry Hill, our local water park!

It's a fun place for toddlers because they have this huge area with shallow water, a giant wooden pirate ship and a mini water slide.

We'd pack our lunches and stay for several hours.

Noah's favorite thing to do there was to chat with the lifeguards that sit at the top of this slide.

He would sometimes wait until the line was gone so he'd have more time to chat them up.

Most of them were super nice and friendly with him.

Lola mostly napped in her stroller waking up occasionally to eat and get a few rays of sunshine.

It was a really fun thing to do in the heat of summer.

lagoon

2011-08-25T07:17:00.000-06:00

We got to go to Lagoon (our local amusement park) twice this summer!

Noah LOVES it there! He talks about it all the time.

Noah was a little scared on the pirate ship.

He LOVED the swings!

He liked these cute little cars too.

tiny airplanes

I love this picture! He kept getting his bumper car stuck.

They got soaked on Rattle Snake Rapids.

(and no, we didn't mean to have Noah and Abe be matchy-matchy)

Mini roller coaster! Puff the Magic Dragon!

He loved the "helidoctors"!

We had lots of fun and hope we get to go again next year!

the potty

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

We started potty training Noah in January of this year.

yes, that's his underwear on his head

Nobody warns you how terrible potty training is.

I can easily say that it is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done.

It was soooo hard.

He just didn't like it.

He took a good six months before he was ok with it.

He was tall enough that he could stand, so I figured out that he was much happier about it when he could stand to go potty. "Just like daddy!", he said.

Now he does a really good job.

Yay, Noah! You did it!

Daddy and I are so proud of you!

jumping

2011-06-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Another favorite thing for us is...

...jumping on the bed!

These pictures were taken in March of this year, just a week or so before Lola was born.

Now he likes to bounce Lola on the bed. I'm sure he has lots to teach her!

He looks so little and fat in these pictures. I miss that.

camping in escalante memorial day weekend

2011-06-15T11:52:00.000-06:00

Abe took Noah camping in Escalante (south-east Utah).

I stayed home with baby Lola since she was only two months old.

It's a beautiful place!

They went on several hikes that were pretty long and Noah hiked them all by himself!

He had so much fun!

What 3 year old wouldn't have fun here?

Such a cool picture! Here is Noah with his cousin Hank.

It was a super fun trip for the boys to bond and a lovely relaxing time for us girl to bond at home!

lola's blessing

2011-06-11T11:31:00.001-06:00

We had Lola's blessing on May 1st at our church.

here's a little family photo afterward

Abe gave her the blessing and it was beautiful.

Her lovely little dress was made by my mom.

I really can't even put into words how much I love her dress!
It's a creamy eyelet fabric with white lace trim.
So beautiful! Thank you, mama!

here is a picture of four generations of women

My cute grandma, Gayle Maxwell, on the left. My sweet mom, Maurine Harris, on the right.
And of course baby Lola and me in the middle.
The women on my mom's side are very strong, smart and capable women. I only hope Lola and I can inherit those traits.

While we were sitting in church, Abe and I were overwhelmed with gratitude and love for our families. So much of my family was able to make it, which is rare due to the large number of us. Five of my seven siblings made it along with my parents, grandma, and a whole bunch of my nieces and nephews.
Abe's younger sister, parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle were able to make it as well.

We are so thankful for our family and friends and all the love and support they give us.
We are especially thankful for the gospel and how blessed we are because of it.

Thanks to all our family for basically doing everything for us! Cooking, serving, cleaning, entertaining, etc. so that we could relax and enjoy the day.

It was a beautiful day that we will always remember.

bike

2011-06-06T13:49:00.000-06:00

This summer, we helped Noah with his new training wheels and helmet on a great little hand-me-down bike.

He loved it!

Since we have a gravel driveway, we have to go next door to Grandma Apple's to ride in their driveway.

He's starting to catch on.

A few times I took him to the park and walked Lola in the stroller while he biked around the whole thing.

We'll do a lot more of it next summer I'm sure.

In addition to riding his bike, Noah kept Lola busy this summer.

He treats her a bit like a little doll sometimes.

big brother

2011-06-03T13:46:00.000-06:00

Noah is a very good big brother.

He loves his "stister" Lola very much.

He's certainly had to adjust, but he's doing really well with it.

he ALWAYS makes sure she has LOTS of toys to play with

he's learning that maybe some toys are a little too big for her just yet

he pushes her in her swing

he makes sure she has LOTS of toys to play with

holds her hand and comforts her when she cries

and... makes sure she has LOTS of toys to play with

In this one, he had given her a pair of his (clean) underwear in case she had a poopy diaper.

I thought that was pretty thoughtful of him.

He's such a good big brother.

anniversary #4

2011-06-01T06:26:00.001-06:00

Today is our wedding anniversary!

Abe and I have been married 4 years.

We think it's funny how short 4 years is because it feels like we've been married forEVER. I mean that in a good way.

Abe is such a sweet man, he is so good to me.

He loves me like crazy despite my MANY faults. He always makes me feel capable, worthy, beautiful and happy.

That's no small task when you're married to me.

He has such a laid back attitude

that compliments my high-strung attitude.

Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed or upset or crazy, he can make me feel calm.

We find each other funny. We have fun giggling together.

I find him quite handsome.

He's a wonderful husband, an amazing dad and I love him so very much.

I love you, dear!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

a picnic

2011-05-31T13:36:00.000-06:00

It has been such a cold spring this year, we have to grab any bit of sunshine we can.

A few weeks ago, we had a day that was just over 70 degrees. Noah was loving the warm weather!

So instead of pulling him away from it, I put some lunch in a basket and brought it outside for a picnic on the back lawn.

Lola lounged in her car seat.

Noah was very happy with this idea.

It got warm enough that we moved it into the shade. Noah rested his little elbow on my knee and talked my head off. He talked about the birds in the tree, what shape the clouds are, the bugs and worms he'd been digging up.

Then for nap, he decided to snuggle my boots and crashed within minutes.

It was a good day.

two months

2011-05-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

Lola has already passed her 2 month mark!

She's 22 inches long, weighs 11 pounds and flashes us the cutest smiles all the time!

She has a reflux issue, but the doctor put her on some medicine that is helping a whole lot. She's much happier... maybe that's why she's smiling so much lately!

She's such an easy baby. So laid back and rarely makes a fuss. So sweet and snuggly, she burrows into my neck when I hold her.

And YAY... she still has all her hair! It's so thick and long all over her little head. And the color is so pretty with more than a hint of strawberry in it.

Her cheeks are getting so fat, I can't help but kiss them all the time.

I was so amazed after Noah was born at how much I could love him, I just couldn't imagine it would be possible to love another one as much. But it's like my sister told me, your heart just gets bigger with each child.

She is such a sweet addition to our little family.

It's hard to believe she just got here because it feels like she's always been with us.

little noah moments

2011-05-29T19:21:00.000-06:00

Let me just preface this post by saying I have a LOT of catching up to do. But Abe took Noah camping this weekend while Lola and I stayed behind, so it got me missing my little buddy.

Here are a few fun Noah moments I happened to catch on camera:

he loves it when I help him build things to drive his cars on

he loves to wear glasses or goggles of any kind

he likes to pretend his stuffed animals are his babies so he piles them into Lola's bouncer

he LOVES to snuggle with his daddy

What a bunch of cuties!

What a sweet life!

little lola

2011-05-26T19:59:00.005-06:00

Pictured here at just one month, you can see the potential that lies in those cheeks!

I happened to catch a sleepy smile

when she heard me say her name.

Helping daddy drive the car on our way down to St. George.

Such a sweet little girl.

baking

2011-05-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things to do with Noah is to bake goodies.

He loves it!

These were our valentine cookies from February of this year.

he's very careful

Decorating is serious business....

...until he gets distracted and starts eating them instead.

I think Noah's favorite part is eating off the beater.

Deeee-licious!

Unfortunately, baking is not something I can do very well while trying to lose 25 pounds of baby weight. No fun!

bogo

2011-05-02T16:58:00.001-06:00

Just a quick note to let you all know the BOGO Sale will be ending very soon!

Please come visit the shop for some last minute deals.

New pictures of the kiddos coming soon...

a new print set and a spring sale

2011-04-12T20:16:00.001-06:00

I have been wanting to paint a rocket for a long time!

So I finally did it. I love the way it turned out and so does Noah, so that means it passes the test and has been added to the shop!

But to make it even more fun, I painted two more to make it a set.

Here they are:

the rocket

the moon and stars

a planet to visit

And to celebrate the much anticipated arrival of spring...

we're having a sale!

It's the Spring BOGO Sale!

Just a note, this is only for single prints.

**Print SETS excluded.**

**Original paintings excluded.**

**Paper goods/cards excluded.**

So come visit the shop for some great savings!

Noah turned 3!

2011-04-11T14:28:00.001-06:00

I can't believe my little boy is 3 already!

I know I say it too much, but time really does go by so super fast!

Noah's birthday was on April 1st. He was lucky enough to have two birthday parties! One at Grandma Eve's on March 31st with Abe's family where Aunt Kate made him this amazing under-the-sea themed cake that he's still talking about. And where he got so spoiled with presents and attention... and where I forgot my camera.

And one at our house on his actual birthday with my family. We decided to do two seperate parties because I just had a baby and can only handle small crowds right now. Turns out that two parties made this birthday extra special which is just what a 3 year old adjusting to a new baby sister needs.

So here it is in pictures:

Noah devouring his birthday cupcake

part of the crowd

we had a yummy pasta bar and cupcakes

Here are just a FEW of his many presents!

(Thanks, everyone, for spoiling my kid! It's so fun!)

lots of playdoh! Noah loves this stuff

new crayons for the budding artist

of course... Lightening McQueen

(don't worry, his pants are wet because we spilled water)

also, of course... anything Toy Story

gotta have a new ball and bat for summer

and Mr. Potato Head was feeling lonely, so he got the Mrs.

(don't mind me, I'm on percocet!)

a toy camera (pronounced: kwamwa) and phone

And so much more! Seriously... so much. Noah is such a lucky little kid! He had so much fun playing for hours with his cousins, who take such good care of him!

He is so loved and spoiled by his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents! And the older he gets, the more friends and loved ones he aquires too!

Abe and I feel so blessed to have all of you in our lives. There is no better feeling than when other people love your kids! Really! It means so much to Abe and I, and of course to Noah.

Thank you all for making this birthday so special for Noah!

Lola at two weeks

2011-04-10T14:24:00.001-06:00

Although Lola is 3 weeks old today, I thought I'd share some pictures of her at 2 weeks old.

She looks so much like Noah did at this age. I guess we know what she's going to look like... ??

At 2 weeks old, Lola was sleeping like a little angel all the time. Only waking up to eat.

Now she's awake a lot more often and is usually not very happy about it.

But what a cutie! Look at all that hair!

She's still so tiny! At her 2 week check up, she was only 7 lbs. I remember Noah getting so big so fast. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong. But Lola IS tiny! She's very petite. Especially her hands. They are tiny with super long fingers. She's so sweet and we're anxious to get to know her!

baby!

2011-04-02T15:17:00.000-06:00

Wow! Has it really been a month since I posted last? Where did March go? Well... I'll tell ya.

On March 12, this happened:

37 weeks pregnant

I know! Scary. But it had to be documented.

Then at 38 weeks pregnant, on March 19th... contractions started.

So we went to the hospital, where they abruptly stopped.

But when the nurse saw that I was 6 centimeters dilated and fully effaced, they decided to let me stay.

So after a full night of NO sleep... for me, this scary picture happened:

Then they were kind enough to break my water and

get things moving.

And things moved!

I was ready to push in no time and then three contractions later, this sweet little girl happened:

She is so pretty.

Lola Grace Carlsruh

Born March 20, 2011 @ 7:36 am

6 pounds 12 ounces

19.5 inches long

She has so much hair! Every time the nurses would take her away for a test or something, she'd come back with a new bow in her hair.

But probably my most favorite moment at the hospital was this:

Noah sang Rock-a-Bye Lola to his new baby sister.

It was so cute, I wanted to cry.

And if I can figure out how to post videos on this thing, I will post it. It is the sweetest thing to hear!

So March was uncomfortable and busy, as you can see. The last two weeks have been quite an adjustment. But I have a 3 year old's birthday party to post and 2 week baby pictures to post coming soon!

my little artist

2011-02-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lately Noah has been so into drawing!

The funny part is that he prefers pencils over crayons. He loves to draw tiny little details. He'll sit and draw and tell the story of what's on his paper as he draws it. It's really adorable so needless to say, I've snapped quite a few pictures.

Here are a few:

Noah working on his valentines

making each one special

first thing in the morning

he always has to come show us what he's drawn

decorating my grocery list

getting some drawing in before bed

distracted at lunchtime

some close-ups of his scribbles

I love his fat little hand in this one

on some paper scraps

and on some unusable lion valentines

Ok, so that was more than a "few" pictures. I just think it's so cute! If only he'd let me video him while he's telling the stories that go with his drawings.

This is a really difficult age with the tantrums, the time-outs, the potty training, etc...

BUT... It's such a cute age too! He makes Abe and I laugh so much with the things he says and does. He's a funny little kid and he makes me so happy to be a mom!

another sale ends

2011-02-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

The February Set Sale

has officially come to an end!

Thank you so much to all those who participated! It was a great success and I just got all the rest of the packages out in the mail today!

Thank you!

another SALE!

2011-02-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Time for another SALE!

In honor of my sweet Abe's birthday this month, we are holding a sale on all of our print sets!

And it's happening RIGHT NOW!

Receive 25% off!

Prices are as marked.

Come visit the shop!

The sale will be ending on February 28th!

baby name!

2011-01-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

What's in a name?
When Abe and I found out I was pregnant with Noah, we had a bit of a hard time agreeing on a name. I, of course, pulled out my list I had been adding to since the third grade and we started going down the list. We picked a girl name and a boy name.

Noah was the first boy name on my list that we both agreed on. And his middle name is Harris, which is fun because that's my maiden name as well as Abe's grandpa's name who lives next door.

As far as the girl name we had chosen, we loved it. But as soon as we started trying for baby #2, for some reason we changed our minds and chose a totally different girl name and could not settle on a boy name at all. Luckily this upcoming arrival is a girl... or so they tell me. You can read about my doubts in this post. We also decided that we liked the family name idea.

So for this baby girl that loves to jump on my bladder, we chose:

Lola Grace

We chose Lola after my great aunt on my dad's side.

This is my Aunt Lola on the left:

She is the one pointing at the camera. So cute!

(click on photo to enlarge)

I LOVE this picture! Look at that fridge in the background! And their clothes! So fantastic!

With Lola is her husband, George Rapich, and my grandma Mildred Bosta, who is George's sister.

George and my grandma (my dad's mother) are Croatian or Slavic from what used to be Yugoslavia. My sweet Aunt Lola hails from Rexburg, Idaho.

She and George had such a fun relationship. I have fond memories of them teasing each other, but always following up with a kiss or saying something sweet to each other. My dad remembers her as always being so pleasant to be around and just a very good natured person. She was witty with a great sense of humor.

I always loved to say her name as a kid and had a real fondness for her and George growing up. She was such a lovely woman and I think it's a beautiful name. Luckily Abe loves the name too!

We chose Grace after Abe's great grandmother:

She is Abe's dad's, dad's mother. It's her bloodline that Abe gets his Jewish heritage from.

Yes, my quiet, blond haired, blue eyed husband is a quarter Jewish. Clearly he does not take after his dad's side much.

Abe only met Grace a few times since she lived in Milwaukee. She loved entertaining and was an accomplished artist, which was extra fun for me to learn! She was very proper and loved to entertain. She was also a very gracious woman and made sure everyone was well taken care of.

Another beautiful lady and another beautiful name.

We are so excited to welcome our little Lola Grace into our home.

Now I've just got to get passed the nightmares I have that we did all this prep with girlie bedding and pink dresses and bows for a baby girl only to come home with a little boy! And no little boy name to boot!

I guess it would make for a funny story... much later.

2011 valentines are in

2011-01-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yay! The new 2011 Valentines are in! I fell so in love with the tiny ones I did last year that I decided to do it again! This will most likely become an annual thing. They are about 2.25 x 3.25 inches and come with tiny white envelopes to keep your message private and/or stick some candy in with your note.

Here are the sets:

And as I said last year, who says Valentines can't be year round??

Some possible uses for tiny Valentines include (but not limited to):

-Classroom Valentines

-slipping in a lunchbox

-tucking in a purse or wallet

-leaving around the house (ie: computer, mixing bowl)

-inlcude with other letters as a fun little extra

They come in sets of 12 (4 of each design) with 12 tiny little envelopes.
These are made from my own original pencil illustrations, then colored digitally. I have printed them on a light weight, white cardstock and hand-cut each one!

Enjoy these! They are available in the shop now! You can pick up a set (or more) HERE!

silly christmas tradition

2011-01-12T14:41:00.001-07:00

Before I get to our silly Christmas tradition, I promised a post with some detail of the tree decor, so here ya go...

I always thought I wanted a themed tree until I noticed how much Noah loved looking at all the different ornaments on Grandma and Grandpa Carlsruh's tree. So I changed it up and now every ornament is different.

I have to say, I love this tree the most so far and it's so fun to collect neat little ornaments throughout the year.

Here's a few of my favorites:

It's hard to pick out favorites when the whole tree is full of them!

And now for our silly tradition!

I love the look of lots of presents under the tree and I can still do a theme with my wrapping paper.

You can see last year's theme HERE.

And for 2010 I used newspaper. I know it sounds weird, but I LOVED the way it turned out!

Here it is:

It turned out to be somewhat of a challenge trying to avoid gruesome headlines and crazy pictures. And... I still ended up with a few cooky headlines, but I loved how they looked with the bright red ribbon and the tree tags!

the silly part

So, in the last post I mentioned that we are minimalists when it comes to presents at Christmas so it must seem strange to have so many packages under the tree.

Well, Christmas 2009 I decided to have a plethora of packages because: a) I LOVE wrapping presents, b) it's fun to have a wrapping paper theme and c) it's so cute to have a pile of gifts under the tree! So instead of shopping us into debt, I thought I'd just wrap some empty boxes. As I was gathering the boxes, I had the funny idea to just put random silly things inside so we could have a few laughs Christmas morning. Abe had no idea, so that's what happened. Christmas morning, we laughed as Abe opened all the silly presents and found things like toilet paper, old Halloween candy, light bulbs, etc. Turned out that Abe loved it and suggested we make it a tradition. And so we did it again this year, only I gave half the boxes to Abe to fill so I could be surprised too.

So this year I got some things like soap, some quarters, old candy, a picture of a barn (that we dream of having one day) and other silly things.

Abe got some yarn, a can of tuna, some preggie pops, this lovely portrait of me that my mom painted years ago and more funny stuff.

It really is such a fun tradition for us and hopefully we'll get more and more creative as the years go by. It's our own little white elephant gift exchange every Christmas! Good times.

our christmas fun... a little late

2011-01-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying (and not so enjoying) a little hiatus here at home.

Enjoying a little time off work and lots of time with family.

And not so enjoying a house full of illness and

POTTY TRAINING!! Eek!

With that said, I wanted to show a little of our Christmas fun from a few weeks ago.

Here's some cookie tree fun with Noah's cousins, Hunter and Zack:

Here is the night before Christmas reading of the nativity with Grandma and Grandpa Carlsruh:

Putting the oats and glitter on the lawn for Santa's reindeer:

(we didn't get more snow until the day after Christmas)

Noah got to open his traditional Christmas Eve jammies before bed:

Monsters this year.

Abe and I opened our traditional Christmas Eve game:

And now for lovely Christmas morning, puffy-eye pictures!!

Noah enjoying his stash of fun:

Abe seemed happy about his gift cards:

What pregnant woman wouldn't want a spa giftcard??

(please ignore the dark circles around my eyes... another thing to blame on pregnancy)

And Abe got us both some iPod shuffles:

Well that's about it for our gifts. We tend to be minimalists when it comes to Christmas, so you may wonder what's with all the boxes under our tree.

Well I had a friend ask me about that last year so I'll be telling you all about it next post. It's a rather fun thing we do and decided to make it a tradition.

But for the rest of the day, we hung out with Abe's family and had such a fun time! I truly love this time of year!

And one last picture...

Noah sporting his adorable Monkey hat from Grandma Eve:

It's his favorite thing lately! He wears it all the time. So cute!

Hope you all enjoyed your Holidays!

the lights at temple square

2010-12-23T18:59:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, we visited Temple Square to see the amazing Christmas lights they do every year.

It really is such an amazing display! They wrap each branch of the trees and just make it look so beautiful!

It's such a wonderful place to come and remember why we celebrate Christmas.

We went with my sisters and their families:

As always, Noah's cousins took good care of him.

Abe and Noah enjoying the scenery:

Family photo opp by one of the fountains:

And one with the Salt Lake Temple in the background:

My not-so-fabulous photography skills:

Found this much better photo online:

(source)

The Temple grounds are HUGE and Noah and the kids had lots of fun wandering around seeing all the different displays and nativity scenes. It was a fun night and really beautiful to see!

oh christmas tree

2010-12-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

I realize this is a little bit late since we've had our tree for several weeks now, but it must be documented!

As I keep saying, the holidays are so much more fun with kids! Whether they're your own kids, your nieces and nephews, grandkids, friend's kids, neighbor kids... WHATEVER! They just make it wonderful!

We went to the tree lot that we use every year to pick our tree. Noah loves to run through the rows of trees!

It was soooo bitter cold!

Then we brought it home, got it all set up and started decorating!

Noah helped this year which made it so much more fun!

Unlike most, we START with the star:

Abe's the only one tall enough to put it on top:

Noah had so much fun hanging the ornaments:

We had the movie "Elf" playing as we decorated. One of our favorites!

And ta da....!!

This year was so fun because I started our collection of ornaments at some "After-Christmas" sales last year. So it was a whole new tree this year! So fun! I'll have a post with a little more detail of the ornaments and my gift wrapping theme coming soon.

the giving-mood discount

2010-12-20T00:05:00.003-07:00

The Holiday BOGO Sale has officially come to a close.

It was a fabulous success, so thank you to all who participated!

And since it's Christmas time and we're in the giving mood,

we'd like to extend another discount to our blog readers!

~~Use this coupon code:~~

~~"Holidays2010"~~

~~Just type "Holidays2010" when it asks for a coupon code during checkout, and 25% will be taken off your entire purchase!~~

~~This includes EVERYTHING in the shop! Even originals!!~~

~~(discount does not apply to shipping charges)~~

(Discount no longer valid. Thanks to all who participated!)

So Merry Christmas to you from us here at Pickled Headquarters!

Thank you and enjoy the holidays!

fun in the snow

2010-12-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

Noah loves to play in the snow! Thank goodness because last year he did not like the snow at all. So this winter has been really fun so far.

We get all bundled up:

Yes, that is my messy house in the background. And yes, his snowpants are camouflage. No one at this house is complaining about fantastic hand-me-downs! Camo or not!

Then we make lots of footprints as we venture next door to Grandma and Grandpa's:

Then we sit and fill our bucket for a bit:

Then we climb the bushes...

...to find the perfect leaf...

...to wipe off the swing!

Then we eat some snow:

And finally head back inside for some yummy hot chocolate!

Don't kids make everything more fun?!

Yes... most of the time. (wink)

and the holiday BOGO sale...

2010-12-14T22:06:00.001-07:00

...must come to an end!

Just a few more days! The sale will end on Friday, December 17th!

So hurry, hurry, hurry!

Click HERE to get some last minute BOGO savings!

But you'll have to check in for more holiday savings after the fantastic BOGO sale is done!

We're not letting go of the Christmas Spirit that easily!

Stay tuned...

thanksgiving in st. george.... and a dirty Santa?

2010-12-08T15:23:00.001-07:00

Every other year we go down south to St. George, UT to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We headed down the Tuesday before Turkey Day, one day early to beat the "record breaking" storm that was passing through that ended up not being that crazy. That's ok, we were glad to avoid driving in any level of bad weather.

Here's Noah showing off his new hat and gloves that we purchased just before we left:

He loves wearing them!

We had such a great time in St. George! Just hanging out, playing games until the wee hours of the morning, doing puzzles, shopping, eating and relaxing!

Here's Noah at Thanksgiving dinner:

You can tell he's thrilled.

The only stuff Noah is ever thrilled to eat are treats.

The night after Thanksgiving, we went to Tuahcahn to visit Santa and see the lights.

I'm not sure how Noah felt about Santa this year:

All I know is my two-year-old looks GIANT on Santa's knee.

And then I noticed how nasty and ratty Santa's chair is! Yuck! Somebody give poor Santa a new chair!

Here we are right after Santa at the fire:

You can tell by my cherry bulb nose that it was pretty chilly!

And a shot with the Christmas tree:

Silliness...

And then my favorite kind of shot, the cousins:

It's so cute how all their personalities shine through!

Noah had so much fun with his cousins and they all play so well with him and take good care of him! Such sweet kids, we love them so!

And just before we left, we decided to do a picture with Santa with just us girls:

This is my mom, three of my sisters and me.

The best part is this:

Right after the pictures were taken, Santa reached down, patted my boobs and asked me, "So what would you like for Christmas?"

Yes, I just got felt up by Santa.

I quickly got up and told Santa I'd like for this baby to come while showing him my big pregnant belly. See, usually a big pregnant belly sends any man running... I'm sure that counts for dirty old Santas...??

Anyway, I'm 70% sure it was an accident, but it was so blatant that's it's hard to say.

But it sure had us all in giggles and makes for a great story!

Hope all of your Thanksgivings were as memorable as mine!

holiday craziness

2010-12-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

What happens that makes the holidays so darn crazy?? I swear to you that Abe and I really don't have hardly any parties to attend, we barely do any Christmas shopping, so why are we running around like nutty chickens??

Abe has so much work piled up every day (for which we are most thankful!), but such an odd time of year for a carpenter to be so busy! So I've been feeling like a single mom lately. It's so hard being without my sweet husband all day long and then all evening long too. At least we get an hour or so at night before bed. Sometimes more, so I'm not complaining. Just missing him. And so is Noah.

And in the midst of all the husbandless, holiday crazy, Noah decided to embrace the "Terrible Two's". I've said it to friends and family, his head has been spinning like Linda Blair on The Exorcist! He has literally sent me into sobbing lumps on the floor on several occasions. Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that, but there you have it.

I'm sure it's compounded by my pregnancy. I'm so emotional and very short tempered these days. It's been 4 weeks of this and he's finally starting to calm down and become his normal, sweet, lovable self again. I think probably lots of prayers, venting, and parenting books have helped me to not completely go insane. I have missed my sweet Noah dearly.

Just wanted to throw you all an unsolicited update. I keep getting so far behind on my blogging! In the works are a post about our Thanksgiving shenanigans, a baby name, and some Christmas-y fun!

I'm promising a lighter note for the rest of the holidays!

And a note to let you know the BOGO Sale is still happening, but not for too much longer!

So go have a look!

christmas cards and more

2010-11-24T08:38:00.001-07:00

Because I still love them so much, I am re-releasing last year's designs for the Christmas cards!

There are six different designs and all are very simplistic.

This is one of my favorite looks with lots of negative space. They are super cute and I love them so. Especially with the brown Kraft paper envelopes!

Here they are in no particular order:
(click to enlarge)

They are now available in the SHOP and in very limited quantities so hurry!

You get a pack of 6 cards on lovely white cardstock (blank inside) with 6 100% Recycled and recyclable Kraft paper envelopes. They are 4.25"x5.5" in size with size A2 envelopes.

And the BOGO Sale is still going for a little bit longer!

So CLICK HERE to get some Christmas shopping done and to pick up your Christmas and Holiday cards!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!!

is it a boy or girl

2010-11-14T20:34:00.001-07:00

We had been asking Noah if he wanted a sister or a brother, or a boy or a girl for a few weeks before we found out. Each and every time he answered that he wanted a sister and a "gwirl".
I was so curious if we would disappoint him. All four of my sisters have all boys except one little girl. And on Abe's side, there is only one girl out of ten grandkids! So the pressure was on...

Well, we went to the doctor a few weeks ago and after a LOOOONNNNG ultra sound and prodding my belly a little... we discovered that baby #2 will be a....

girl!

I am still having a hard time believing it because, well... look at the picture! How is THAT a girl? I can't distinguish a single body part in there, but the tech assured me that the little group of lines is a girl.

With Noah it was so much easier to see. You saw two little legs and a little weenie in the middle. In this one, I don't see legs, arms, feet, bum, NOTHING! Let alone a girl part!

But I will go ahead with what the tech told us. She seemed completely confident. So a little girl it is!

We are so thrilled!

I'm putting together a post to tell you what we're naming her. We've had a girl name picked out for a LOOOONG time. Good thing she's a girl because we never did decide on another boy name.

Anyway, we're going to give her a family name and I've got some fun pictures to to post with it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this news will be good news for Pickled Pumpkins too. It means I'm going to have a lot more "girlie" on the brain so hopefully that will add a lot more girlie stuff to the shop!

And speaking of the shop, don't forget that the
BOGO Sale
is happening right now!

So CLICK HERE to get some Christmas shopping done!

we'll kick off the holidays with a sale!

2010-11-07T10:30:00.001-07:00

Get your shopping fingers ready! There are holiday sales all over Etsy!

And so you can plan for shipping time and get your shopping done a little early, we are hopping on the bandwagon and starting our holiday sale

today!!

We will be having a

BOGO Sale

which is the Buy One, Get One FREE!

All single prints will be eligible.

As usual, you can Buy 1 get 1 FREE, buy 2 get 2 FREE, buy 3 get 3 FREE, and so on!

Click HERE for the Holiday BOGO Sale!

All you have to do is purchase any PRINT that you wish, then tell me which print of equal or lesser value you would like for free in the "message to seller" section during checkout! Again, if you Buy 1, you get 1 FREE, buy 2 get 2 FREE, buy 3 get 3 FREE, etc.!!!
Just a note, this is only for single prints.
**Print SETS excluded.**
**Original paintings excluded.**
**Paper goods/cards excluded.**

So go visit the shop today!

ps... Christmas Cards will be coming VERY soon!

the pumpkin patch

2010-10-25T21:27:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law treated Noah and 2 of his cousins to a trip to the pumpkin patch! There was a little mini hay maze that Noah just loved!

Here he is with cousin Charlotte trying to find their way out.

And here he is getting a ride in the pumpkin cart from cousin Hank.

The kids searched and searched the vast pumpkin patch for just the right pumpkins..

...and finally

Noah found his perfect pumpkin!

We had so much fun! The weather was so lovely and this particular patch was filled with so many beautiful pumpkins! Some of them looked like they popped right out of a fairytale! I LOVE this time of year!

my favorite time of year

2010-10-18T16:39:00.000-06:00

Like so many of you, this is my favorite time of year! The cool and crisp fall air, the colors, wearing sweaters, endless craft ideas, warm fireplaces, pumpkins, silly Halloween fun, wonderful togetherness of Thanksgiving, and the excitement and joy and peace and love of Christmas time!
Such a beautiful season that holds so many fond memories, both recent and distant. I love it so!

One of my favorite things to make any time of year, but is an especially yummy treat in the fall is my grandma's apple pie! Pie making is truly an artform that needs practice and nurturing (thanks again for the lessons, Mom!). Each time I make it, it gets a little easier and a little prettier.

A while ago I made two pies, both of which were gobbled up by family (and mostly me) before I even thought to get a picture.

So... I'm left with this photo, which is almost as satisfying as a beautiful pie picture, because at least I know it was delicious too!

As for our house, Noah helped me put up the Halloween decorations in September. He loves the "scaries" as he calls anything Halloween related. I truly love my ghoulish decor so hopefully I can get some pictures up soon.

Outside, I used my fall wreath I made from last year because I still love it so much!

Here is our house as of today.

And just so you all know, I planted the exact same flowers in the front flower bed as I did in the side bed on the left.

Just goes to show you what a little sunshine will do. I guess I need some serious shade-loving plants next spring for the front bed since our house faces north.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I love my beautiful home. If you'd like, click HERE to see a small history of our 100 year old farmhouse. The upstairs is still completely stripped to the studs as we haven't figured out the funding to finish it yet. But not much makes me happier than pulling into our gravel driveway to this beautiful home and knowing that it's ours. We love it so very much!

the P word

2010-10-12T23:02:00.002-06:00

I suppose my short blogging hiatus will now be the cause of my blogging "catch-up" that will commence starting tonight. I have much to catch up on and THE season is upon us, so I'll try and add some fun holiday stuff in here too.

But first...

This little fella

(pictured here posing in Daddy's clean basketball undies on laundry day)

was in my room this morning while I got dressed.

Now... stop reading here if you are offended easily or simply don't want a mental picture.

While getting dressed, Noah said with a giggle in his voice,

"Wook! Mommy's naked bum and naked weeny!"

(Yes, I've taught my toddler to say "weeny" instead of "penis" because I don't like the P word. It's just ugly.)

To which comment I replied,

"No, mommies don't have weenies. Only boys have weenies. So Daddy has a weeny and Noah has a weeny, but Mommy doesn't."

Noah thought about this for a minute... then smiled and said,

"Silly Mommy and silly Mommy's weeny."

Then all day in the car running errands, he talked about how boys and daddies have weenies and mommies don't. I suppose this counts as our first lesson in "the birds and the bees" subject??? I hope!

Noah is oh so fun to hang out with every day!

pregnancy update

While feeling much better in my 15th week of pregnancy than I did the first 3 months, I'm still dragging and napping too much. I hope to have more energy soon as this season of holiday crazy fun is here and I have so much to do!

here comes halloween.... eek!

2010-09-23T14:41:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share some of my newest Halloween paintings with you!

But FIRST, here are the ones from last year:

Witch's Night Out

Pleasantly Plump

Candy Corn

Last year we didn't have the capabilities to do prints for the Halloween/Fall stuff. So this year's holiday season is very exciting!

And introducing...

The 2010 Halloween additions:

Buford Bat

Gary Ghost

and Silly Pumpkins

It's so fun to do holiday specific stuff! Maybe that's just because I love the holidays so much! Particularly Halloween!

All six of these new prints are available for purchase in the SHOP right now!

And I may or may not have more spooky goodness coming soon... depending on my energy level! This bitty in my belly is sucking my will to paint!

cookoo-ness explained...

2010-09-20T23:36:00.001-06:00

If you read THIS POST, you'll know I mentioned I had some wonderfully fabulous news that was making me go cookoo.

And if you read THIS POST, you'll know why this news is extra special!

Here is my excuse:

A baby!! Yay!!

If you click on the image, it may (or may not) be a little more clear. I labeled the parts I could make out as "leg", "face" and "head".

I am 12 weeks pregnant!

My due date... Noah's birthday! April 1, 2011.

Hopefully it really won't land on the same day so they can each have their own special day.

It took 15 months to get pregnant this time, as opposed to the immediate conception of Noah. At the year mark, we had a few very embarrassing tests done, took some prescribed antibiotics and 3 months later... this little bitty!

Who knew that's all would take??

I have been soooo super sick! I've officially decided this pregnancy is way worse than my first. I've been battling ALL DAY nausea, serious fatigue and tailbone pain! What the??? My doc says the tailbone pain is due to where bitty baby is resting and will probably get better. Let's hope!

And this nausea!! When all my favorite foods and treats are sitting untouched in the fridge for weeks until they go bad, then you know I really am sick. I mean, we're talking homemade chocolate fudge sauce, mint chocolate chip icecream, cheese (some of you may know of my love affair with cheese) chips and salsa, watermelon, brownies, popsicles, you name it! And so when I'm shopping, if it sounds good I buy it in hopes of eating something. And as soon as I get home, my stomach churns at the thought of it.

And with all this aversion to food, you'd think I'd lose a few LBs. No such luck. My weight has stayed the same, and now my silly chub covered belly is already sticking out!

BUT...

even with all the sick and tired and complaining, I'm one of the happiest gals around! We are so excited to add this little bitty to our family. He/she (won't know the sex for another month or so) was moving around and kicking so much it looked like he/she was running in place!

And when we got home, Noah told me, "Mommy, Noah have a baby in my belly too!"

I said, "You do! That's wonderful!"

He said, "And baby comes out outside and play outside."

I thought that sounded like a good plan.

Later he said, "Momma, Noah a baby!"

I said, "Really? Are you sure?"

He said, "Noooooo! Silly Noah!"

He's such a funny kid. He keeps looking under my shirt for this baby that we talk about. I wonder what he'll think when my belly really starts to grow!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I have much to catch up on! A camping trip from August, a trip to the state fair with Chocolate and Vanilla, new paintings and silly Noah-isms. AND.. I will do my best to add a little creative inspiration here and there for you with all these holidays coming up!

Hope you're all well and happy too!

happy birthday to me (31!) and a camping trip

2010-09-12T22:30:00.000-06:00

Abe's family has had a long tradition of camping at a little place called Lyman Lake hidden in the Uintas. They do this every year over Labor Day weekend. Well, being as my birthday is the 5th of September, it always lands on or around Labor Day weekend. So... I get to have a new birthday tradition! I get to be surrounded by Abe's family, extended family and family friends in a beautiful mountain hideaway all the while being serenaded with "Happy Birthday" and feasting upon lovely cake experimentations. (last year was a twinkie cake, this year a half smashed lemon cake... both delicious!).

And while I don't particularly enjoy freezing my tooties off (it's cold up there this time of year) in a tent on my birthday, I wouldn't trade the experience! It has truly made my last few birthdays very memorable and it always brings a smile to my face when I think of them.

I'm very lucky to have such wonderful in-laws. And I don't say this just because they might read this. I truly mean it. They are sweet, kind, loving, supportive, fun, silly and I really feel so lucky to have them in my life!

With that said, here are some pictures:

(click to enlarge)

Dirty faces are a must while camping

Abe, Noah and cousin Charlotte out on the lake

Fun with cousins

Some of the group

More cousin fun

Noah and I getting warm by the fire

Jumping on the air mattress in the tent in hopes of warming up!

A fun and very short little camping trip! We ended up leaving the next day, cutting our trip short, due to plummeting temperatures. So I spent the night of my birthday in my warm, comfy bed at home!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In shop news, get ready for a super fun Halloween series of prints coming very soon!

new items and set sale deadline

2010-08-30T16:49:00.000-06:00

Hello! Yes, I'm blogging again and 3 weeks haven't even passed by!

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and it feels really great!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So... I finally have my little birthday cards listed for sale in the shop!

My sweet sister who lives far, far away on the east coast has been asking to buy some for so long and I am just now getting around to posting them. So thank you, Jensina, for the motivational "push"! I needed it!

They come in a set of 6 (3 blondes and 3 brunettes) or in singles. And they all come with coordinating Kraft brown envelopes! I don't know what it is about Kraft paper, but I LOVE it! So cute!

You can find the cards for sale HERE.

I also have more paper products coming soon, but those will probably not make they're debut for another few weeks. But they are DARLING, if I do say so myself! I guess that's a good thing, right? You'd better love what you sell or you probably won't be able to sell it!

And as far as the current Set Sale, it will be ending VERY soon so you'd better hurry!

It will be ending this week!
Wednesday, Sept 1st is the last day
and you'll have until 9pm MST
that night to make your final purchases with the sale prices!
That's the latest I can go because a gal needs her beauty rest!
So click HERE for the Set Sale!

It has been a very successful sale (excited squeal!) and we are most grateful to all of you for your wonderful support, encouragement and kind words! Thank you, thank you! I love being a "working artist" and that's only possible when you actually sell your artwork and are motivated to keep creating! So thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts!

noah's room and a feature in TIME magazine

2010-08-26T09:04:00.000-06:00

So I know in my last post I said I'd have my next post up in a week, but.... I didn't. What a crazy month! My brother has moved in with us temporarily, school has started so I'm watching my niece, Della, again, and... I have some wonderfully fabulous news that's making me go cookoo that I will share with you in the next few weeks!

A feature in TIME

So... first things first, I have to share some very exciting news I woke up to today. I got a message from a fellow Etsy seller that Etsy was featured in TIME Magazine and my shop was mentioned specifically!!! Click HERE to see for yourselves!

What happy news and I'm so flattered to be mentioned! Especially when there are sooooooo many darling shops that fit into the Family & Kids category! Yay for great publicity!!

A tour of Noah's room

So the other thing I was planning on showing you is a few pictures of how my artwork has been displayed. Hopefully this will give you ideas and some courage to decorate with fun and happy artwork.

Noah's room is FULL of artwork! I have the originals hanging all over and he loves it! He talks and points and names and sings songs about all of the artwork in his room. Not only is it cute and fun, but it's a real learning tool for kids.

Here are the photos (click on photos to enlarge):

Here I have displayed the construction set.

I used frames made of "reclaimed" looking wood. Super cute!

Here is the rescue set.

I used matching black frames for these, though I have a friend who framed them in white and that looked fabulous too!

Here are six of the animals.

I LOVE how this grouping turned out! These originals are 11x14 so they are a little bigger than my usual 8x10 size. I used unfinished wood frames and stained them with a dark walnut color.

Here's a photo from a lovely customer who was so kind to send me pictures of how the prints she purchased look in her baby nursery.

This is my very favorite way to frame the prints! With bright white matting and black frames, I think they really pop!

Thank you, Jennifer, for the darling photos!

The sale on sets is still going on at the shop, but not for too much longer!

Only a few more days!!

So head on over to the shop and get a head start on Christmas this year!

new print sets and a SALE!

2010-08-04T15:29:00.001-06:00

Yay for print sets!
We are celebrating our new print sets by having an

End of Summer
Print Set Sale!

Here are the sets we have available now:

This first set is comprised of the newest print additions to the PP family:

Each print is also available seperately.

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Safari Set

~~~~~~~

All prints in each set are available seperately as well.

The sale is featuring drastically reduced prices on just the print sets. It's a great deal because you already get a price break for buying the prints in a set!

We've been working on getting this together for quite a while, so we're super excited to finally be able to offer it!

So come on over to the shop and enjoy the

End of Summer Sale on Sets!

Next week I'll be giving a tour of Noah's room where he has several of these sets so you can see how they look together framed.

where has my summer gone?

2010-07-29T14:26:00.000-06:00

Wow! Life has been SUPER busy! Why is summer always so darn busy?? Isn't it the time to relax on a hammock with a glass of pink lemonade and a bowl of fresh strawberries? Where are the lazy days of summer that I so long for?

I had made plans with my dearest friend, Annie, to ride the train down with Noah and meet her at The Gateway in downtown SLC periodically so that our kids could run through the fountain and we could have much needed friend time.

Well, much needed friend time opportunities have whizzed right past me and now it seems that our "much needed" time has turned into "desperately needed" time.
I miss my tall, skinny friend. I love her so.
She always loves me no matter how bad I screw up. She is silly and funny and the sweetest person I know.

Here is my dearest friend pictured with me on my wedding day in 2007:

I miss you, Lez!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At least with all the busy days, I've had a bit of productive time.

We are introducing some of our newest Print Sets to be available in the shop in the upcoming days!

I've had SO MANY requests for these prints at print-set prices, so we just had to oblige!

I will be introducing the sets as soon as we can make them available to purchase.

another boutique!

2010-07-21T13:55:00.000-06:00

So I mentioned in my previous post that I'd give you more info about the

And it's not just "Pickled" stuff, there's LOTS of amazing vendors selling there!

You can go to Sassy's blog HERE to see a small sampling.

Here are the details:

click HERE for directions

(house is actually about 1,000 feet west of the point on the map)

So come by and do some shopping!

(Only 4 1/2 months until Christmas! Eeek!)

Should be super fun, I can't wait to do some shopping myself!

And some cupcake eating... that's reason enough!

Hope to see you there!

{ yard sale and boutique(s) }

2010-07-16T11:54:00.000-06:00

We are having a

yard sale and a mini boutique
at our home
tomorrow!

I'm super excited to pass on a lot of fun stuff! We have a bunch of great stuff that's difficult to part with, but if it's been in storage for a year (or more), then it is time.

We just hope it can all go to happy new homes!

AND

The boutique part will, of course, have my art prints and various handmade paper goods along with some so fun shelves and such from Abe's woodshop!

We will also have a

lemonade

& sweets stand

(source)

So come on over if you're in the area!

It will be held tomorrow

Saturday, July 17th

8am and go until 1pm
(or later if things are still moving)

We're in Layton
on Antelope Drive a mile or so east of Hill Field Road.

And speaking of boutiques...

We are now featuring my prints, some paper goods and shelves in a brand new permenant boutique up in Logan, UT called

Violet Hill
755 North Main
Logan, UT 84321
1pm-8pm Tues-Fri
10am-7pm Saturday

Darling Alex and Courtney have put together such an amazing assortment of consigners, you just have to see it!

Grand opening is also tomorrow July 17th

And yet another boutique
The Sassy Cupcake
will be featuring the same affore mentioned goods of ours in South Weber next week!

Here is their blog.

(more details to come)

So lot's of exciting stuff happening!

Please swing by our yard sale / boutique!
Even if it's just to say hello!
We'd love to see you!

noah cuteness

2010-07-13T14:51:00.000-06:00

I know I say it all the time, but being a mom is the BEST! I love it so much! No matter if it's a good day or a bad day, Noah makes me smile, melt, laugh, feel wonderful, etc. at the very least once a day. But it's usually a LOT more than just once. It's so fun to be his mom!

I love when he concentrates.

He gets so into his games sometimes, it's adorable.

I love how he plays.

Today he walked around with this pirate patch on all morning and every time he saw me, he'd say"Aaaarrrrggg!"

I love how much he laughs.

He thought he was so funny drinking his milk out of a fry sauce cup at a local fast food joint.

Lately he's been talking so much more and really putting sentences together.

This morning as he wandered around with his pirate patch on, he'd say,

"Momma.... where aaarrre yoooouuu?"

Then he would giggle.

He has his own little language for things, which is really an entire post all to itself (stay tuned for that).

But one of my favorite examples would have to be

"owie barf".

It took me a good long time to figure out what he was saying. Turns out that

owie barf = granola bar.

Seriously?? Hilarious.

I love this kid.

4th of july fun

2010-07-08T14:17:00.000-06:00

I suppose it's about time I did a post about our Independence Day celebrations. We did SOOOO much, yet I have soooo few pictures. It's truly disappointing. The weather cooled WAY down for the weekend which was just wonderful! Was in the low to mid 80's with a lovely light breeze. Perfect!

We partied with friends on Saturday afternoon into the night. It was full of games and kiddie pools and yummy food and good conversation and a neighborhood worth of fireworks!

Then on Sunday we enjoyed dinner al fresco at my inlaws.

Then Monday morning we ran the Layton City 5k with family, ran home and showered in time to return to the center of town for the Layton City parade. It's kind of a silly little parade, but Noah loved it. Here are some photo's of that:

This is our little spot on the side of the road. Again, it was perfect weather! Certainly hot, but not too hot to sit in the sun and watch a silly parade.

I know that Noah doesn't look thrilled. But once the candy started getting thrown, he was plenty happy!

He LOVED the firetrucks!

This cool old tractor was fun! Click on the photo to enlarge and see what the sign says!

This here is why I love silly hometown parades!

Just an old guy on his lawnmower with a little trailor all decked out in red, white and blue! Love it!

Noah loved the pretty horses!

We did too until they ALL decided to unload right in front of us!

And then these guys were our parade heroes:

I supposed they anticipated a LOT of horse poop to bring out the tractor...??

They got the BIGGEST cheers from the crowd.

That about sums up my pictures, but we had more dinner al fresco at the inlaws with more family.

Then we headed down to the park for the fireworks.

Noah loved it! It's so fun now that he's old enough to enjoy stuff like this. He kept yelling out the colors and saying "again!". We had a great weekend.

Abe and I both have July 4th at the top of our holiday lists.

It's great because it's summer, it's picnics, it's fireworks, it's family and above all, we feel very blessed to live in such an amazing country!

matchbook notebook tutorial

2010-06-29T16:49:00.001-06:00

I'm no good at tutorials, but maybe I should practice. I made a bunch of little notebooks that were so fun and so easy to make. They turned out so darn cute, I though maybe YOU would want to try!

So here's a little tutorial:

the matchbook notebook

supplies you will need:

cute cardstock, scratch paper, ruler, exacto knife or scissors, bone folder, stapler, pen

Use scratch paper to decide size and play around with the folding. Be sure to leave room for the flap to tuck into the bottom fold after it's stapled. When you get the size you like and the folds right, mark them with a pen as this will be your guide.

Now lay your cute cardstock on top of your guide paper, lined up like so. Then use the ruler and bone folder to score the folds into the cardstock.

Now fold on your score lines and cut some insert paper (I use scrap paper or printer paper). Cut the insert paper just smaller than the middle folded section of your cardstock. Also, don't try to pile too much paper in as you will need to get the stapler through it all.

Now tuck your insert paper in that small fold and staple close to the fold, but make sure you are still getting all the paper in there.

Now just tuck the top fold under the flap and..

VOILA!!

A cute little matchbook notebook!

I've made lots of these and they are super fun for gifts or party favors or a fun craft for kids.

If you don't feel like making one yourself, I've got some for sale in the Pantry shop!

Yay for fun crafts!

some new things

2010-06-27T15:33:00.000-06:00

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now. Abe (the husband) has been busy making some fun shelves and I've been helping with the painting and sanding. They are so lovely, I've already put my dibs on a few to keep here at the house. But we can only have so many decorative shelves in our home, so.... we've been listing them in Pickled Pantry shop! We've already sold one and Abe has so many more that we haven't posted yet. He's such a talented carpenter and they are tunring out so beautifully!

Aqua shelf with lime green undercoat:

Black shelf with aqua undercoat and rope molding:

Aqua shelf with dental molding and an antique finish:

Aqua ribbon spool with lime green undercoat:

He has lots of colors available and more styles that we haven't posted yet.

I'm so lucky! My husband can make ANYTHING!!

Well...., almost.

a trip south

2010-06-24T13:49:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we were able to escape for a short trip down to beautiful Southern Utah. We started the first day with a short hike to the Lower Emerald Pools in Zion National Park. I've visited this park many times before, but each time I'm there, I'm overwhelmed by it's beauty!

Here's Noah cradling Abe's head. Have no idea what he was doing, maybe he just wanted to snuggle Daddy's head??

The next morning Abe took Noah swimming to cool off a bit from the heat of the desert:

Noah got a little tan:

The rest of the time we spent with my parents who live in St. George, UT. It was SOOOOOO hot so we filled up the baby pool and Noah had so much fun!

We all enjoyed watching him from the shade of the patio. Here's my mom and Abe relaxing (and me reflected in the window!):

All in all, a lovely relaxing trip. We had so much fun!

yay for dads!!

2010-06-22T22:52:00.000-06:00

For Abe's Father's Day, Noah and I spent some time crafting a little love note to tell him how special we think he is. I just got a blank note card and let Noah work his magic:

I found some old stickers that I've had for at least a decade and let him go crazy with those.

One of Noah's favorite things to do is tell you what to draw and you draw it. So on a separate sheet of paper, I drew everything he asked and used that sheet to make the envelope for the card.

We added to this one of Abe's favorite treats (PopRocks) and presented it to him with a big hug and kiss!

My dear, sweet Abe

You are such an amazing dad to our little Noah and he loves and adores you so much!

As do I.

a memorial day adventure in photos {and some shop news}

2010-06-09T16:07:00.000-06:00

For Memorial Day this year, we joined some family for a hike up Adam's Canyon. It's a gorgeous place named for my mother-in-law's family (Adams) just about a 10 minute drive from our house. I've never hiked it before, but we thought it would be fun to take Noah in the back pack. Here's the view from just 20 minutes into the hike:

Poor Abe is already pooped!

This is me. I'm taking a turn. Oh wait, the pack is empty. No wonder I'm smiling. Noah is up ahead with Grandpa Dan.

Now we're into the fun stuff. If it looks steep, that's because it is.

But it sure is beautiful!

Taking a much needed rest at the mid-way point with Noah's favorite cousin, Jonah (they are just 4 months apart).

Grandpa Dan decided to take a turn carrying Noah.

This is Abe's tired face. He was in the process of regretting the decision to pack all 37 lbs of Noah up this canyon.

But I feel fine! ;)

Too soon, the trail started getting a lot harder. For those of us without a giant toddler on our backs, it was somewhat challenging, beautiful and lot's of fun...

But for those of us carrying the giant toddlers... maybe not so much.

This part, among others, gave me a minor heart attack.

I barely enjoyed the scenery of the beautiful canyon as Noah's safety was consuming my brain!

This is after Abe took Noah back from Grandpa Dan.

This hike is a tradition in Abe's family, but he hadn't done it in quite a few years.

So at this moment I asked him, "Now that you remember the difficulty of this hike, would you do it again with Noah in the pack?"

Abe paused for a moment and said, "Hold on... I think I'm going to vomit."

I guess I'll take that as a "no".

But the end result?? A beautiful 40 foot waterfall! Here's Noah with Grandma Eve:

And a family photo at the falls:

The way back was much easier. Here's Noah and cousin Jonah playing at the mid-way point.

Jonah gave Noah a good shove:

And of course Noah needed a quick hug:

It's ok Jonah, Noah needs that every once in a while.

Now it's my turn. I decided I really wanted to give packing Noah a try.

Wow. That kid is heavy.

I only lasted about 10 minutes. My sister would have laughed in my face.

To my credit, I may have been able to go longer had the pack been fitted for me.

Notice how low the hip harness is. I had 40 lbs pulling the snot out of my shoulder blades.

I'm just sayin'.

Overall we had a good time with no injuries to any of the group. A beautiful hike on a beautiful morning!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And in shop news, I've finished 6 new paintings! They are a farm series I've been playing with for a while and I'm so happy they are finally done. I'll be posting them to the shop throughout the week.

Also, Abe has been busy making some beautiful shelving available in the

Pickled Pantry shop!

I'll post pictures of the new paintings and shelves soon! So exciting!

happy anniversary to my Abe

2010-06-01T14:45:00.004-06:00

June 1, 2007

A mutual friend of ours set us up and I almost didn't go through with it because his name was Abe.... which is my brother's name... it sorta creeped me out. AND... he has a sister named Katie! What the?? Double creepy. So we do a lot of "honey", "dear", "sweetie", etc. to keep the creepy factor low. But I'm glad I went through with it because I knew on our first official date that I would marry him. And he says he knew even before that at our first official meeting.

Here's the story...

We met one weekend, then talked on the phone all week long. The conversations were light and fun, until I grilled him. I had made the decision that I wouldn't even go out on a date with a guy unless he met my long list of qualifications. (note: I was being super picky because of some poor choices in my past) So I started in on my questions. I tried to ask some questions in a way that wouldn't show what I was hoping he'd say. Other questions were pretty direct and straight forward. He answered them easily, then I apologized for the grilling and he told me he was glad because he thinks the same things are important.
Turned out we agreed on just about everything we wanted and needed in life. Still do.

The following weekend, he picked me up for our first date. He looked so handsome! We clicked almost instantly and laughed ourselves silly. It was so much fun and before the night was over I found myself thinking, "I'm going to marry this guy." This wasn't a plan I was making for us, it was more like my inner voice trying to convince me because my other voices were all screaming, "No way! You barely know him! Are you CRAZY??"
But in my heart, I just knew.
Over the next two months, we were inseparable. I began to realize he met all the criteria I was looking for. A year before I met Abe, I had written down about 20 or so qualities or attributes that I wanted my future husband to have.
Abe had every single one!
So for his birthday in February, I got him a gift and a card and stuck that list of attributes in the card. He loved it! And to my astonishment, for HIS birthday, he cooked me dinner and then proposed with the most beautiful ring! The whole thing was very sweet.

So we made our plans over the next few months and were married in the Bountiful, Utah LDS Temple.

We had both always secretly made fun of other couples who met, got engaged and then married super fast. But... we can no longer poke fun, for we are now one of those couples. We met the end of November 2006, were engaged by February 2007 and married by June of 2007. CRAZY!!!!

We did a casual luau style reception with a fabulous band and yummy food.

We went on a very romantic honeymoon to Maui, HI.

And then to make it even crazier, we decided it was time to try for a baby only a month after we were married. We both felt it was time and I was pregnant almost instantly.
Noah was born April 1, 2008.

This was a little impromptu family photo during Noah's little photo shoot recently. Doesn't Abe look handsome??

It's fun to be able to look at your husband and still feel all twitterpated and in love. The other day I went to a court of honor (Abe's a scout leader for the 11 year olds) and I had one of those moments. It hit me so unexpectedly (I mean he was wearing a scout uniform for pete's sake!), but I thought to myself..."What a handsome husband I have."
My husband is such a good man. He's super supportive, loving, caring, sweet, kind, funny, smart, talented, good provider, amazing daddy and on and on and on. I mean that too! His goal in life is to make our family happy and he's very good at it. And I know for a fact he has a daily goal to make me laugh at least once, if not more. He almost always succeeds!
He's truly sweet and wonderful and I love him so.
We have the best time together!
I love you, dear! Happy anniversary!

new things

2010-05-27T14:48:00.001-06:00

Last Christmas my mother-in-law, Eve, gave me this beautiful Bosch mixer:

She gave it with the intent that I could make bread since I've been saying I want to learn. I was so excited about it, but.... terrified. It sat there staring at me for MONTHS without so much as cookiedough ingredients breaking it in! I just felt like it was too much machine for me. So Eve was kind enough to take a Saturday afternoon to give me bread making lessons (on top of those my mom has already given me) and it finally stuck! I went home and made some of my own while the instructions were still fresh in my brain.

Here's me with mine:

I know they are all random sizes. Apparently I'm terrible at eyeballing the size of the loaves. Eve uses a scale... she's smart. But the convection oven helped them bake beautifully and evenly and the bread tastes delicious!
I used freshly ground whole wheat, thanks to Eve's wheat grinder. (and her wheat)

new art

I finally finished this little trio:

They are tiny. The canvas size for each is 2.5x2.5 inches and the tiny easels measure approximately 4.5 inches tall and 2.75 inches wide. I've decided to sell them as a set. You almost can't have one without the other two, so there you go!

You can purchase them in the shop now.

daddy and noah fun

2010-05-24T16:17:00.002-06:00

Noah and daddy got to have lots of bonding time this past week. Abe took Noah swimming for the first time this season! Noah LOVED his new swim diapers and swimsuit.

This is what happens when you put Noah in a swim diaper:

He didn't mind.

Then you apply the required "plastic pants".

Then the bright orange swimsuit with picture of "monkey pirate":

He loved every minute of it! The swimming part was fun too.

father/son campout

Noah and Abe also got to travel with friends from church to the father/son's campout.

They went two hours north to freezing cold Idaho and still had lot's of fun.

Noah particularly loved the giant slide

(which in summer is a giant WATER slide).

Here he is going down it with his friend Davis.

There was a zipline and some other fun activities.

Abe and Noah slept in the car to keep warm.

Breakfast the next morning:

Look at his cold little hands!

Needless to say, Noah had a blast with daddy and I really missed them both very much!

And just to end on a "cheery" note....

look what happened this morning!!

YES, that is snow! On MAY 24th!!! That's the kind of ~~crap~~ stuff that happens when you live in Utah.

Hopefully my cute little garden makes it through!

one more day

2010-05-20T14:51:00.003-06:00

The BOGO Sale ends tomorrow night!

So if you haven't taken advantage yet, go here!

I'll accept any BOGO purchases that come in until 11:59pm MST tomorrow May 21st.

Thank you SOOO much to all those who participated in our Spring Sale! It's been loads of fun!

Photo by Sara Boulter

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

quiet time at home and shop news

2010-05-17T14:28:00.002-06:00

Everyday after I put Noah down for his nap, my niece Della and I do school activities. These include letters, numbers and little workbook activities. After that we have "Katie's quiet time". This is my time to have some peace and quiet, paint, draw, craft, blog, package orders, etc. During my quiet time, Della often creates little masterpieces.

Here's one from a few weeks ago:

She loves to paint. I thought this one was extra special. I love it!

I sent this one home with her. Hopefully it got a frame!
Or at least a spot on the fridge.

Other quiet times...

Sometime I get quiet time when Noah is awake!

We often find Noah like this:

and like this:

He loves to sit in his room and "read". I love seeing it.

He is at such a cute age right now, it's so fun. Of course, I'm pretty sure I've said that at every stage of his life. And I'm happy that I've savored every one of them. It goes too fast!

And in shop news,

we are ending the BOGO Sale on Friday this week. That's May 21st! So if you haven't taken advantage yet, you have until Friday night. I'll start taking the info off each listing after we put Noah to bed. So hurry!

And happy Monday!

snail mail and home fun

2010-05-11T14:58:00.002-06:00

We got sod last year since our lovely lawn was completely destroyed due to the everlasting renovation. So mowing the lawn this year is quite a joy, no matter how cold it is outside! Noah has fun! So does Abe.

Snail mail fun!

I ordered some rubber stamps for my packaging from Olga of cupcaketree on Etsy. Check out her shop! She's amazing! I drew up some sketches of what I wanted, she sized them and then carved them out of rubber!

What the??

Such tiny detail in these things and I love them so! Look how cute my packaging looks now...

I had Abe mount them onto some beefier grips for me, which took him all of 3 minutes.

And I stamped away while we watched Avatar. (pretty entertaining, both the movie and stamping)

I couldn't love these rubber stamps more! Thank you so much!

And then...

My sweet friend Gail of GDRDesigns on Etsy was SOOOOO kind and thoughtful to send me this in the mail...

She said she noticed my "pitter patter of little feet" category on this here blog and thought I might like it!

And I DO!!!! I LOVE it! And I'm quite sure she had no idea my favorite color is green too! (note the nail polish)

Anyway, I'm not the best photographer, but the front says "sweet" in white on white (which I love). The inside is two tiny footprints and says "the pitter patter of little feet" on lovely vellum. Seriously, this was just an out of the blue gift from Gail and I thank her kindly. I love it! Go see her shop! She told me she's stocked up on some super cute new paper with lots of ideas rolling around in her head! Can't wait to see!

Thanks again!

And speaking of little feet, the "thud, thud" of Noah's feet were trying to escape last night. He dragged this big backpack around with him all over the house and kept trying to get out the front door. I bet he'd be cold outside if he actually escaped.

Silly Noah.

the fabulous Sara has done it again

2010-05-06T17:49:00.002-06:00

Sara Boulter

is probably the only person that can get Noah to pose and then hold it long enough for her to get the shot. Really! You should see the way she is with kids, they fall instantly IN LOVE with her.

Even adults! I mean, I'm in love with her too! ;) I do love Sara, she is so funny and full of energy. She's magnetic and sucks you into her world, which happily, is a very fun place to be.

Here's a peek of Noah's recent photo shoot:

And click here to see her blog post for a few more shots.

Thank you, Sara! We love you!

two NEW prints

2010-05-05T14:38:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post to show you two new prints I have in the shop!

Here is Lloyd the Lion:

He doesn't like to be referred to as "king" of the jungle. But he does want to be your friend. He is soft and loveable, but he'll be ferocious if he sees his friends being picked on. He's a good friend to have on your side.

And Mildred Monkey:

She is sister to Milton. Her friends call her Millie. She is fun and playful and loves to wear flowers in her hair. She loves to laugh and be silly.

Both new prints are available in the shop.

And REMEMBER....

the BOGO SALE is still on!

Click HERE to visit the shop.

I found a funny one (and a new painting!)

2010-04-21T15:43:00.006-06:00

First, here's something new for the shop!

This painting is dedictated to the green scarf I never finished. My mama taught me to knit rather late in life, and let's just say I have a new respect for all the knitters out there. I'm terrible at it, but I can dream right?

~~You can pick it up at the~~ ~~shop~~. (UPDATE: This original painting sold. But prints are available in the shop. Thank you!!)

Something funny for you...

I've heard of this blog before from my sister-inlaw, but then forgot about it. Then my sister emailed it to me and I am forever grateful. It's hilarious! Especially if you're a Mormon mom blogging about your "perfect" life and your "fabulous" crafts (me). The best part is that some people don't get it. You have to read a few posts to see for yourself. It will make you smile.... unless you're one of the sillies that doesn't get it. Then you will probably be angry.. and offended.... and write her a mean email.... which is even funnier.
What is life if you can't laugh at yourself?
Check it out:

And a little reminder...

BOGO Sale at the shop!!

catching up (and a shop sale!)

2010-04-19T15:13:00.011-06:00

1st of all...

It's been a crazy few weeks around here! My little (big) Noah turned 2 on April Fool's Day. No, this is not a joke. When I went into labor in the wee morning hours of April Fool's Day, my family wasn't sure whether or not to believe me. Especially since he was 3 weeks early.

So Noah got two birthday parties. One in St. George with Grams and Pa (my parents)...

And one with the rest of the fam here at home!

He loves all his presents so much! Thank you party guests, we had so much fun celebrating with you all!

2ndly...

I did it! I ran a half marathon! That's 13.1 miles. The ".1" was the hardest. I have to say I'm proud of myself, but due to my own lack of motivation and serious under-training... it HURT! My knees were very angry with me for the last 3 miles, but I pushed and pushed. And now I'm paying for it. I feel better today, but my left knee is still achy and my right knee is clicking. Yes, clicking. Uh oh. Anyway, it was a great experience. I ran it with my parents-inlaw, and my sister-inlaw went on to finish the full marathon! Yay Rachel! It was lots of fun, but I really can't say that I will EVER do it again!

A few pics:

As Dan (father-inlaw) put it, "We're smiling because the race hasn't started yet."

This was that last ".1" that hurt so much. Notice how far off the ground my feet are.

My sweet little family came to cheer me on!

My super runner sister, Ellie, and her fam were there, but somehow I didn't get a photo of them. :(

Thanks for always being so supportive! And thanks Eve (mother-inlaw) for talking me into it, it really was a lot of fun!

And drum roll please........................................

3rd and finally........

A BOGO SALE!!

We're having a Buy One, Get One FREE sale at the shop!

Buy 1 get 1 FREE, buy 2 get 2 FREE, buy 3 get 3 FREE, and so on!

Come check it out HERE!

Easter fun and a new painting

2010-04-05T10:53:00.001-06:00

For Easter this year, we visited my parents down in St. George (southern Utah). It was much warmer, I even wore flip flops! We did a LOT of laying around and relaxing and listening to general conference.

Grams & Pa's back yard is super fun!

Noah caught a stinky bug, played in the club house,

and played at the park... Daddy dressed him.

It was so nice to have a change from the regular day to day life and visiting with my parents is always lovely. My mom and I talk and talk and talk, it's great. We also came to a decision that we would put some originals of her smaller "daily paintings" in her Etsy shop! So we'll get working on that asap. You can check her shop out here. She's an amazing artist!

Here are some photos of Noah's Easter fun:

Once he discovered there was candy in the eggs, he started eating them as he went....

... and ate his entire stash on the grass.

And something NEW!

If you read the last post I did, you'll understand this new painting a little more:

I needed some therapy, I sat down to paint and this is what came out. So far, it's one of my favorites! It just turned out exactly how I wanted it to and I love it! I'm sure anyone can relate and I hope this one brings a smile to your face like it does mine. Prints of this one are available in the shop today!

a cry day...

2010-03-31T13:40:00.001-06:00

Maybe this is too much information or just too personal, but it was such a moment of gratitude that I thought I should share. Abe and I have been trying for baby #2 for a year now. I got pregnant with Noah within a few weeks of deciding we should try for a baby, so I'm quite sure I developed some seriously unrealistic expectations when it comes to conceiving. And I realize that a year isn't much in the grand scheme of things, especially when I have sisters who've suffered far more in the journey to mommy-hood than me.

However, I still feel I'm entitled to a day of tears on the twelfth month of no baby in my belly. So I had a cry day. I held back until Della (my niece I watch during the day) went home so as not to scare her, and Abe was working late. So I let loose. I broke down and cried and cried and cried.

Then.... my sweet Noah climbed into my lap and laid his head on my chest and snuggled me. So I cried more. Then he took my face in his sweaty little hands, pinched my cheeks, wiped my tears, moved my hair gently out of my eyes, kissed my mouth and hugged me while patting my back. I sobbed while my little toddler comforted me.

So I ask, is this normal for a 2 year old? No, no... don't tell me. Because even if it is, I know my Noah truly has the biggest heart. Even amidst the tantrums, he is always such a sweet and loving little boy.

In comes the gratitude: I'm in no way giving up on my dream of a house full of kids after only a year of trying for #2, but.... I can safely say that if God only sends one little spirit my way, he sent the most precious soul I could ever ask for. And so my tears change to those of humbling gratitude. I am truly so blessed.

spring is in the air

2010-03-28T16:12:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, my husband's grandfather kindly pruned all of our trees. (He's 81, mind you.) He worked very hard on it for days. I don't know why he works so hard for us. I hope it's because he's bored and this brings him enjoyment. It's the only thing I can tell myself that helps me to not feel so guilty about it.

Anyway, he was so cute and thoughtful to save me some of the branches from the apricot tree and told me if I put them in water, they'll bloom around Easter time. He calls them "Easter Trees". And sure enough...

So pretty!

Speaking of pretty, look who's pretty in pink! Well, those pudgy cankles and bread-loaf feet don't belong to any sweet little girl with a pink bow in her hair to match...

They belong to my Noah.

He loves to put on shoes, but he especially loves to put on cousin Della's pretty pink shoes.

He wore them all day. And she's so sweet to let him. Good thing he got a haircut later that afternoon, he was looking quite pretty.

And if you remember this post, we delivered the bed my husband made safe and sound. Here's a picture of it in their room (sans the bedding). I think it looks amazing! He's so talented! I can't wait for Abe to make us one. But not until our second floor is finished (remodeling a 100 year old home takes a LONG time) and we have a place to put it. One day, one day...