Phonics Phones

I owe this all to Pinterest. (Which I feel is the basis for most people's 'craftyness' these days lol) I went to the actual blog it was from though, which is classroomdiy.com. On her post she has a video guide, but I'll put everthing here too :)

What you need:

• 3/4" PVC pipe (it comes in 10' sections)
• 3/4" PVC elbow joints (they do come in packs of 10... very handy and a smidge cheaper!)
• AWESOME duct tape

Before I left Lowe's, I had a nice man cut my PVC pipe into 4" pieces (gave me 30 total pieces) instead of 3.5" like on classroomdiy.com. Only reason I did 4" was so I would have 30 whole pieces with no awkward leftover parts. :) If you tell them you're a teacher the guys in there are always happy to help! The man who cut the PVC for me was from Statesville, NC.. of all places! AND he and his wife live in the same neighborhood we are in out in Surprise. SMALL world.

Also, Make sure you get enough elbow joints. I got 3 packs of 10... annd realized when I got home that I would need 3 more packs of 10. I'll be going back tomorrow.

What to do:

• Put an elbow joint on each end of the 4" piece.
• Hubby suggested some glue to secure it, but we figured out quickly that they fit on nice and snug!
• Thennn wrap with duct tape!
  

the duct tape colors i picked out :)

It's really that simple. Please please make these for your room if you have a young little class!

Bistro Chicken

I get emails from Kraft every now and again with recipes and whatnot. A couple days ago I got this one for Easy Bistro Chicken. I think it'll be something we revisit for sure. It's super easy and delicious! I'll give you the recipe like it was on Kraft.. but I didn't use mushrooms (because I'm not a fan) and we left out the bacon because we were out and someone (me) forgot to get it at the store.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. oil
• 3 c sliced fresh mushrooms (its hard for me to even type that.. ick)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 c Italian Dressing
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb)
• 1 c shredded mozzarella
• 2 slices cooked bacon, chopped

Directions

• Heat oil in large skillet on med-high heat. Add (mushrooms) and onion; Cook 5 min. stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, dressing and tomato paste.
• Add chicken; cover. Simmer on med-low heat 12 min or until chicken is done
• Top with cheese and bacon; simmer uncovered 5 min or until cheese is melted.

I served our Bistro Chicken with couscous (mainly because it's super fast) and a salad! Yum!

Father's Day 2012

Happy Father's Day to the Dads in our lives! Thank you for your strength and guidance throughout the years and for your support as we got married and moved out to AZ. We can't begin to tell you how much it all has meant to us.

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Reamsnyder, Pepaw, and Grandaddy Warren also. We're thinking of Grandad Bob today and remembering what a great man of God he was.

We love you all so very much :) Have a wonderful day!!

Pikes Peak

On our cross-country drive to our new home in Arizona, we made a couple of stops to stay and visit with family and friends. One of those stops was right outside of Denver, Colorado to stay with a sweet couple who we met on our Honeymoon last year in the Bahamas.

Brad, Me, Barbara & Dave on our Sunset Cruise!

So during our day off of travel, Dave & Barbara took us around to sight see and we ended up at Pikes Peak. It's an awesome drive up to the summit at 14,110 feet... and boy could you feel the altitude. The temperature change from the base to summit was incredible... it was SO cold, and the altitude made us so dizzy (well, it did me at least!). The views were breathtaking and it was so refreshing to see snow again.. especially since it's non-existent in our town now.

I'll quit rambling... here are some pictures :) I highly recommend it!

Just after entering the gates... 

us <3

all of us, minus Dave & Barb

Glacial lake, I think?

SNOW SNOW SNOW! <3

the boys. 

again.

love this one!

ram in the gift shop!

Yosef in the gift shop!
GO APPS!

candied pecans. yummo!

panorama shot at the summit

welcome!

At the SUMMIT! BRRRRRR!
(Dave's pictures that he burnt to CD for us before we left has disappeared in the move..
if I find it I'll update with the pic of all of us. They really were there!!)

Brad & Josh being rams... they really butted heads. Ouch.

another panorama! 

America the Beautiful

mountains <3

We also went to the Garden of the Gods after Pikes Peak... however that includes more pictures, so we'll post on that later!

Storage Drawers Makeover

I've had a set of plastic storage drawers ever since I rescued it from my dorm at App when someone else had decided to throw it out. It's been super handy for storing my office supplies and what not at home. Now that we're in AZ and I've got mom's old roll-top, all of the office items are stored there.

After spotting this pin on pinterest, I decided to spruce my drawers up and turn in into my craft storage (Here is a link to the blog it is from). I went to the craft store and picked out some coordinating paper that would work well with the teal frame of the drawers. Then I got out my X-acto, ruler, pencil, foam brush and Mod Podge and went to town! My drawers were a little wider than 12" so I just centered the paper on the drawer and cut the excess off the top. Make sure if you do this to put Mod Podge on the inside of the drawer before you put the paper on and then a good coat on the back side of the paper as well.

I don't have the fancy step-by-step photos, and I blame that directly on the fact that I was too excited to do this project that I just kept going without thinking. haha

Side view of the drawer with my favorite paper.

Tada! Finished Product... I'm SO happy with how it turned out!

another front view :)

You don't have to be crafty to be able to do this.. and it looks super cute afterward! :)