New Home...

After being in Idaho and living with family for the past year, we officially have our own home!

First, we must say, that we are so grateful to Benj's brother and sister-in-law, Nathanael and Shannon, for allowing us to live in their home for an entire year!  We are also extremely thankful that we are only 10 minutes away from them.  It's been awhile since we have been near family and we are excited to continue being close to them, as they have become friends, not just family.  

It became a bit frustrating trying to find a rental within our budget, but God provided at just the right time!  We are thankful that Benj has had time at home so that we could move in and enjoy the home together!  We have most of our furniture and basics and continue to get household things as we go.  

Some things we love about our new place:

The price is right!

Close to work (under 10 minutes to both of our jobs)

Close to friends and family

Tons of space! (Its an older brick farm house with 2 bed/1 bath, full basement, and plenty of outside space)

Close to grocery stores, restaurants, highway, and everything in between

New House!

Kitchen

Living room

Mudroom (back door entry)

Carport, Covered sitting area/back yard, back of house

Bathroom

Bedroom 

I'll post pictures in a couple of weeks once we get the place decorated and put together!

Jewelry Making Fun....

Some of you may have seen my jewelry and many of you may own some yourself.  Now that I have a little extra time on my hands, I am back at it and selling jewelry online at Etsy.com!!!  I am excited to say that I have finally done it, after months of talking about it and I am keeping it up to date and adding new jewelry each chance I get.

My lovely husband and personal graphic designer came up with the name and logo for me.  He also continues to make sure I'm running a business since I just love to give it away as gifts, and he is such an encouragement for me to be doing this.   :)

If you have some time, check out my Etsy shop and share it with some friends to help me spread the word!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LitterMade

Camping....

This past weekend we were able to go camping since Benj didn't have to be on the road!  We loved going with some new friends of ours, Martee and Camilo!  We thought we might be in a more remote location, but we agreed that being on a nice camp ground was okay and I think we had the best spot because it was so shaded.  We were also informed by the camp volunteer that there was a problem BEAR around the camp grounds at night, as well as a wolverine and a fox.  Therefore, we had to lock up our food and everything else in the cars at night!  Thankfully our friends brought their big dogs and made me feel a little better.

As you can see in the pictures, Benj got a new hammock for his birthday (an early present since it's not until the 19th)!  I was a bit skeptical but we both napped in it after a long hike and it was extremely comfortable.  Overall it was a good weekend, free of technology, jobs, and busy work....but now it's back to the real world!

Benj's birthday present!

Best campsite!

Hiking!

We survived!  

An Adventure in Cascade...

A couple of weekends back, we (Benj, myself, Nat, Shan, the babies, and Denise) went to Cascade to stay in a cabin in the woods.  This trip was planned to be a 4 day trip but only lasted 2 1/2 days and was an experience in itself.  We thought that getting away for a weekend was a great idea, but of course any trip with 5 adults and 3 babies will have its interesting moments.

The night before leaving, Benj and Nathanael decided it would be great to see The Dark Night Rises at the midnight showing.  Needless to say they were exhausted the next morning when it was time to get everything together and ready to leave by lunch time.  I ended up getting very sick and right before leaving, Benj took me to the urgent care only to find out I was dehydrated so we got there an hour or so later than everyone else.

Though the first day was rough, it got better and better as we spent more time there!  We had a great brunch at the Pancake House in McCall, the guys got to ride dirt bikes, we did some shopping, had some relaxing time in the cabin, and went on a beautiful hike by Lake Cascade.  We are so thankful for Shannon's friends allowing us to borrow their cabin for the weekend and here are some pictures of our fun moments!

The rest of the pictures are all on Facebook along with some funny videos of our time there!

We love the West...

The benefits to living out West and the benefits of Benj's job, is that we get to see things like this!  I so wish I could've been there with them, but Benj and Nathanael had a great time visiting Arches National Park while on the road, and here are a few of their pictures.  Even though I get to see our beautiful mountains everyday, I can't wait to go visit these parks myself!

Home Again, Home Again...

We had such a good time in Ohio and loved visiting with family and friends.  So now, we are finally back in Idaho and trying to get back to life as we know it!  We missed our friends here in Idaho but going back home was a good treat for us!  

Even though it was our vacation, it was not extremely relaxing.  We were on the go to see everyone we could while we were there and it was so good to catch up with new and old friends and to spend some much needed time with family that we don't get to see very often.  

Overall, we had time to lay in the pool, go on a couple of bike rides, I even helped my mom with a yard sale.  Our trip didn't go without celebrating a few special moments.  Our twin niece and nephew turned 1 year old (Benj and my mom were huge helps in making their birthday cake)!  And my grandparents celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary so they took us all out to eat. 

I had a good time with nieces and nephews and even had a girls shopping day before I left town.  We ate way too much food (checked off of our list Donato's Pizza, Crispie Cream Donuts, Bob Evans, and a few others).  We slept in most days.  And we simply enjoyed being with people we love and miss.  

Bike ride to Frankfort

My parents' beautiful pool :)

Bella and Sophi are such good little baseball players

Bella (7yrs) and her shopping day with the big girls 

My lovely sister Darcy!

And her boys, Quintin, Eli, and Isaiah

Craziest boys I know!

Thank you mom and dad for putting us up for 2 weeks!

Family picture day at Grandma Litter's house!

We're Coming to OHIO....

Yes, that's right...We are coming to visit our hometown in Ohio!  For those of you who don't know or are new to our lives, Benj and I grew up in Ohio and much of our family is still there!  We love going to visit and will probably spend most of our afternoons by the pool :)

We are so excited and counting down the days till all of us, (Benj and I, Nat and Shan and the kids), get to come visit for a vacation to visit family and friends!  Benj will be visiting for one full week and I will get to stay for two, yay!  We will be coming on June 12th and we look forward to some much needed rest and time with family and friends.  We miss everyone very much and this was the perfect time for us to get away for a while.

As for our wedding anniversary from the last post, Benj got me some great bags that I've been wanting and I made him a bag with a good friend of mine!  She makes such nice bags and taught me how to make a messenger bag!


My two bags!  Our sister-in-law, Shannon, sells Thirty One bags and he was so sweet to get me a couple of the ones that I've been wanting!!!

Here are some pics of the bag my friend Evy, helped me sew!  He loves the bag and I'm excited to learn more about making these!!!