Bike Helmet Rack

 I found this large but narrow piece of peg board in Home Depot's cull lumber area. They have a cart that they discount various pieces of lumber on. It is usually only $0.60. Sometimes they have great pieces on the cart. I always check it out. I wasn't sure what I would use it for but knew this peg board would come in handy. The price was literally pocket change.

I already has a 1x2 to frame the back. It turned out to be a great project for my boys to learn to use the power tools with. Simple cuts. No big deal if you cut wrong. They did a fantastic job.

 Just frame the back to give a space between the wall and the peg board. This allows the hoods to slide into place. I think the pegs were less than $5 so for around $5 I have all the helmets within easy reach.

An just above the helmets are the fishing poles. After returning from camping I set a pole up on this tool wrack and realized it was perfect for holding all the rods. Sure enough, a perfect fit. Now the rods won't get tangled with other camping gear. 

What do you think? Are you bikers in the fall? This might work for you.

Canvas Awning how to....and a summertime word art.

Now that we have a wonderful deck I made great plans to enjoy family BBQ's on it every evening throughout the summer. My boys love Love LOVE eating outside. Great idea right?! Well, the kicker was dear hubby spends all day working in the desert sun. He said he didn't mind the heat but he just couldn't handle anymore sun. By the time he gets home he just wants to relax in the cool shade. I totally understood. We still need to finish the cross beams for the pergola but that won't really shade much. Our umbrella for the table bit the dust last fall and another umbrella was out of the budget. Instead I found inspiration in the paint section of Home Depot...

(Just a funny side note...pulling into Home Depot one day my sweet 5 year old lamented, "Mom, I don't want to go in that store!!" I asked why and he proceded to tell me, "Because I don't wanna do any crafts or projects!!" Oh, my dear son knows his mom so well. Home Depot is often worse than a craft store for me. Outa the mouth of babes right)

So back to my project (hehehe).....CANVAS!! Yep, canvas. You can get large drop clothes for a fraction of the cost of canvas at the craft store.

We found a large drop cloth (12x15) that I thought would work great. 

The plan was to use pipe to hold the canvas but YIKES that was expensive. It needed to be strong enough to hole the canvas over 15 ft....PVC was to light but conduit just might work. Only 1/3 the cost too.

 

 I had to use this connector to piece 2 sections.

 They were long!

 Then we used these brackets to screw into the beams.

 Now when I want to take it down in the fall I can just undo the brackets but I don't have to take it out of the beams. Perfect!

 Now I needed a way to hold the canvas to the rods. I had pictures several different ways but actually getting one of those ways to WORK was a whole other story. Remember I was trying to keep the cost down as well as be functional and versitile. I thought these curtain clips would work but nope. They weren't strong enough to hold up against the wind.

 I tried sewing a 3 inch seam to slide the bar through. That worked great until I needed to close the brackets holding the rod in the center. The center bracket on the middle rod was impossible to get the screw in the right spot. 

Back to plan A I went...large snap gromets.

By now I REALLY wanted this little project done. I was getting frustrated that I hadn't accomplished anything on our weekend off. Just when I was close to getting it figured out the heavens opened and DUMPED on us. 

I couldn't just let it go though. OH NO!
I was out their in the rain frantically trying to finish my little big project.

 Can you see the drops? They were huge! And came on with a vengeance that only a rain shower in the desert can do.

 Undaughnted I trudged on. I needed to get the holes for the grommets marked and cut. I am so thankful for a wonderful hubby and a son who is learning that mom just needs to "get it done" sometimes. They were out there like troopers helping me as I barked orders ahem, asked calmly. (I mean come ON! It was pouring rain!)

 In the end we did get it done and I LOVE IT!

 We can open and close it as we need and now I can easily take it down at the end of the season.

 Now dear dad will gladly go out on the shaded deck and BBQ juicy steaks for his family.

 I love sitting on the deck, just enjoying the fresh summer air. I love our time at the patio table as a family. The boys love it too.

Did you notice my pillow? We found that at Home Depot. I loved it but dear hubby didn't think it would match the new cushions. When we got them home I knew I needed it! By the time I got back to Home Depot the pillow was gone. Every day thereafter I would check to see if they had gotten another back in. Finally my patience paid off. My sweet hubby just laughed but knew exactly what I was doing. He gets this little twinkle in his eye that says "I knew it!" Yep, he's got my number all right. I love what it says:

Click the picture for the download.

Hot summer days freebie...

It has been so very hot, windy, and dry the past couple of days. If it is this way already I fear what August will bring. On the bright side maybe it will be too hot to go out and I will get to spend some time in my craft room, in the cool basement, crafting and catching up on some of the projects I have. 

Not to mention all the Pinterest projects I have in mind to do.

Todays freebie is simple but fitting both for our weather lately and my Arches pictures. 

We have lots of plans for more camping, family activities and of course the 4th of July. We are lucky enough to be able to enjoy the Melaluca Freedom Celebration. They shoot off 100's of fireworks. All coreographed with music and inspirational thoughts with KLCE 97 radio. It is amazing. They say it is the best firework celebration this side of the Mississippi and I believe it. Idaho may not have much (we like it that way) but they know how to show their patriotism!

We also hope to pick some huckleberries. My supply has been long gone and we are missing our huckleberry pancakes. If you haven't had huckleberries you are missing out. They are cousins to blueberries but a bit more tart and I must say tastier. They are about the size of a pea so it takes a lot to fill your bucket. It also takes a bit to find a spot. They grow wild in the mountains. Good luck on getting anyone to spill the beans on their favorite spot. The mountains around us don't have them so we will be heading back home to Idaho when they start to come on. Wish us luck. Hopefully they will be producing well this year. 

Do you have fun summer plans?

Enjoy these freebies! Just click on the picture to go to the download.

Homemade Rootbeer

There is just something about a good batch of homemade rootbeer.

The taste is great but making it is just as much fun.

Dry ice is just....so....FUN. I mean LOOK at all that steam, smoke, whatever. Yeah, the boys had a great time too.

So here is the recipe I used....

1 bottle rootbeer extract

5 pounds sugar

5 gallons water

5 pounds dry ice.

Mix it together and let it 'cook' for a couple of hours. Careful not to spill any, all that sugar makes it very sticky. Doing it with little boys clamoring about wiggling fingers through the steam is a must!

What a fun, simply, family activity.

Camp food tips and menu

Although part of the fun of camping is the food, I don't want to spend all the time prepping. We wanted to be relaxing and hiking and such. I also run into the problem of the ice melting and turning the food to soggy mush. So here are some of the tips I have discovered to help during meal time in nature.

We prepped most of our food for camping before we went out. Grape Kabobs...

Meat and cheese kabobs for snacking

Orange slices for easy munching.

Then I put it all in containers. They stack nicely in my coolers, stay cool and most importantly DRY. Somehow my baggies always seem to leak.

Here is the rest of our menu.....

Lunch on arrival day:

Sandwiches made ahead. Just leave off the wet condiments and add at the picnic table. Pull out the orange slices and enjoy. 

Dinner:

We planned to have tacos in a bag so I browned the hamburger and froze it. I figured it would be just about thawed when we were ready for it and all I would have to do is reheat it. The lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes were already sliced and in containers. 

Once we realized we could roast hotdogs dad made a quick trip down the canyon for some. Mr. Matthew loves his 'dogs'. lol

All the prep really paid off. We didn't use everything but it was still intact and not water logged when we got home. I didn't have to worry about fixing something quick when we arrived home. Just use up what we pulled from the coolers. 

Breakfast

Pancakes from the mix and shake Bisquick containers. These are wonderful.

Eggs were cracked and placed in a empty peanut butter jar. Easy to pour out and scramble.

Lunch for day 2

Sandwiches again. We just made them at the campsite. We also planned to use a lot of the snacks we had left over. 

Pop just makes you MORE thirsty so mom declared a "No Pop" weekend. We took our 10 gallon water cooler filled with fresh ice water. It worked lovely. We refilled our water bottles after each of our hiking adventures and always had fresh cool water. I love that we didn't eat so much junk food. I felt better with all the physical activity and healthy foods. I enjoy junk food, don't get me wrong, but I LOVE how I feel when we eat healthy.

Family camping

Little Mill Campground was a great place to camp. As you drive up Timpanogos Hwy there are several campgrounds along the way. This one is the closest to Timpanogos Cave. We tend to do things last minute so there were no more reservations to be had. We decided to take our chances.

As luck would have it we got there early enough to pick one of the 1st come 1st serve sites. It didn't take long for the other sites to be filled as well. Lots of trees, the mountain on one side and the American Fork Creek River on the other side= PERFECT!

We took a little walk along the old camp road. It followed the creek along. Although we didn't get much snow this last year there was still plenty of water with some spots moving quite fast.

Each of the boys had to have their own walking stick....just like dad. I absolutely LOVE this picture. I decided camping and hiking is a great way to practice your photo skills.

Well, at least for me....Dad just gets the shot done. lol

In the middle of the path was a big boulder. I am not sure if they put it there to stop cars and such or if it actually rolled down the hill. Either way it became a perfect place for 4growingboys to climb. Matthew wouldn't wait for mom to finish yet another photo!

Even though loads of fire restrictions are in place you can still enjoy a campfire in the developed campgrounds. We enjoyed smores and hotdogs, always a must when camping. We had planned other, non-fire meals but when we realized we could still do some roasting, yep, we were all over that.

Hiking fun...Timpooneke trail

My mini scout troup. We enjoyed hiking this little trail so much. It was peaceful and relaxing.

We hiked for about 45 minutes and came to this beautiful meadow. It was just like the meadow in Bambi. We sat down to enjoy a sandwich and listened to the stillness, the whisper of the waterfall further up the trail and watched the clouds roll by. Yeah, it really was that nice. Surely some part of this scene has been in the movies...it seemed to be taken straight from a picture....only better.

You can't see it because of the mountain shadow but there is Scout Falls. We didn't make it all the way. We will have to go back and make that our main hike. Dad was a bit tired after hiking Timpanogos. ;-)

What a great way to burn all that energy from the boys. Another fun activity marked off our Summer list.

If you haven't taken your family on a hike this summer DO IT! Ranger stations are great resources for maps and planning what hike will fit your family. It doesn't have to be long or hard. Sandwiches and water are a must! You will get up the trail and want to just sit a bit and enjoy all that God has created. After that, you will know of the Divine Creation that brought all this to us.

Pasta and Bean Mosaics

I had to work the night of the 4th so we kept things a bit low key around the house. We enjoyed the parade then went home for activities with just the boys and their dad. I got to help plan the activities then take a nap while dad spend valuable time with his boys.
We picked items off our 100 Activities of Summer list. There were so many choices to chose from!

Dad was excited to see the pasta and bean mosaic idea.

Take a few white beans, red beans, and black beans....add some bowtie pasta, elbow pasta and rigatoni pasta.....

And VOILA!

You'd be amazed at what you can create.

We are not big artists at our house but I was impressed when the older 2 boys came up with this portrat of our puppy.

Not too bad if you ask me.

They had great fun! The best part was just quiet 1 on 1 time with dad!

Hiking Timpanogos

We did it! All 6 of us! Including little man!

Yep, we hiked that 1 hour....straight up to heaven!

Then 1 hour in the cave and another hour back down.

We were wiped and needed the brief break when we got to the cave but it was all worth it.

We took breaks on the way up.

Enjoyed the view as we caught our breath.

Of course the 3 older boys didn't have too much trouble.

If the walking didn't take your breath away the view promised to.

The hike was steep....don't get too close to the side and don't stop in the red zones...they are warnings for falling rocks.

Some of it was shade....some more sun than not.

We climbed up, up, up....then down, down, down....

Mom got the best workout. Mr Matthew couldn't walk the whole way up. He would have loved to have a piggy back ride the whole way but we had to make a deal 50/50. Mom is just not in THAT good of shape yet.

He was thrilled when mom let him ride the whole way down though. By then he was tired and HUNGRY!
Take your family and enjoy the views. Find a hiking trail and enjoy nature.

But don't forget your water, neck coolers (gonna post this later), a jacket (thecave is 50ish degrees year round), and a little trail mix. My boys would have loved to have a snack along the way. We were in a bit of a hurry and didn't grab a snack. They were certainly ready to eat when we got back to camp.

Duct Tape Lanyards

Thanks to Pinterest for finding another great idea. I made these lanyards for my 7 yr olds birthday party favors. The boys loved them, flames and camo. My older boys enjoyed them too. With so many colors and prints of duct tape now days the possibilities are endless. These came together so fast too.

I measured 3 feet of tape.

Folded it 1/3 over then the other side over, just enough to over lap a bit.

I did little sections at a time to make sure I didn't get off.

Then measure it around so that it lays flat. I had these rings already. Pull the tape ends through the ring together. Then use a small strip of tape to secure the ends together....I hope you can see it.

Give it a try. I wish I had girls so I could play with the polka dots or flower. So COOL! And cheap. My dear mom-in-law is gonna use this idea at family scout camp. They are always looking for simple boy projects.