Summer!!

Hi friends! I'm so sorry that I have not been good about blogging in the summer time. I missed y'all!!

I can not believe that it is August 6th already!! What?! Where did the summer go? Oh yea- camp (3 times!), Vacation Bible School, the 4th of July, a family reunion, an eleven day trip with 18 high schoolers to New Orleans, and WE Fest. Yup- that would do it.

So- in the fastest most photo heavy recap ever, here's my summer:

1st worship of the summer at camp

Sunset at camp- love that seeing this is part of my job :)

Campfire worship at camp

The theme verse of the summer

Father's day weekend at the lake cabin

Week 2 at camp- the littlest boys singing.

Making dinner Kate Gosseling style- for real, I had 9 kids to feed that night!

Learning about cake decorating at DQ during Vacation Bible School (VBS)

Waterballons for water fun Wednesday at VBS

Got to spend an afternoon at the beach with these cuties :)

Closing worship during VBS

Week 3 at camp- so peaceful early in the morning

The crew at camp from our Northern town- 3 churches

The Mr and I at a demo derby

Broken down car :(

Life is better with sandy toes

Spray paint tie die

Our New Orleans group at 6:30 am!!

Got to see the St. Louis Arch on the way

And we got to spend an afternoon at the Gulf of Mexico on the way to NOLA

Female adult leaders enjoying the beach

ELCA National Youth Gathering!!

Worship with 33,309 people! Wow!

Muffelatas in NOLA- yum-o!

Did some Habitat for Humanity work in NOLA

National Civil Rights Museum on the way home

Our last NOLA group picture- the kids saying thank you to everyone who supported them

My 2nd Sonic stop all summer :( the closest one is 5 hours away

My first time eating at Ikea!

When it's really warm out and you only have a window air conditoner in one room (your bedroom) you'll do almost anything to stay in that room.

So that's June and July 2012 for ya.

Stayed tuned for a WE Fest update later this week!

Love, Mrs. K

So What Wednesday!

I'm linking up again with Shannon from Life After I "Dew"

for another So What Wednesday!

Here's what I'm saying So What to:

*if I'm having a hard time falling back into my schedule/routine? I spent most of June at Bible camp with kids and most of July on the National Youth Gathering trip. I don't know how to just be in my office any more!!

*if I finally went to MyPublisher and made a wedding book? I know, I know, we got married 8 months ago... Whatever.

*if I totally have WE Fest brain? I mean, how would you feel sitting at your desk today if you knew you were going to get to see all of these people this weekend?

*if the Mr and I are leaving for Hometown, MN after work today and I haven't packed anything yet? My lunch break is good for something, right?

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what everyone

else is So What-ing and to link up!

Love, Mrs. K

Kindle Cover

Last week while I was at camp I pinned this on pinterest:

via

I'd been thinking about making a new cover for my Kindle. I had made one right after I got it from the sleeve of an old sweater. While I do really like that cover, it just seemed a little "winter-y". As if my Kindle needs to "change clothes" with the seasons....

Anyway, one day on my lunch break I went to the used book store in town and score an old cook book "Fancy, Sweet, and Sugarfree" for only $1.60!! And it was just the right size for my Kindle! After work I ran out to Wal*Mart to get some elastic and heat-and-bond (which I ended up not using, thanks to my trusty hot glue gun!).

Then I assembled my supplies:

The hardest part was picking a fabric combo:

The winning combo:

Teal blue flowers for the outside and black with white polka dots for the inside.

In this picture it looks brown but it's really black, it'd be better if it was brown...

I wasn't very good about taking pictures during the process this time. Sorry! Check out the link under the inspiration picture- she does a great job of explaining what we did and she took lots of pictures.

I used a sharp knife from my kitchen and I cut all the pages out of the book. Actually all you have to do is cut down the edge of the binding and they'll all come out together.

I did the inside first so I used the hot glue gun to glue down the black fabric and pulled it tight around the edges of the book. Then I added the elastic. I added the four pieces on the corners to hold the Kindle in place while I'm reading it then I added an extra strap to go on the outside to hold the book shut while I wasn't reading.

Then I used more black fabric to make a pocket to keep the Kindle in while I wasn't reading. I put some white flannel on the inside of the pocket to keep the Kindle safe from scratches.

Then I did the outside. I traced the book on the teal flowery fabric the trimmed it and used hot glue to fold it over on itself and make a nice sharp edge (this is where I should've used the heat and bond but the hot glue gun was already warmed up and I didn't want to get the iron out). Then all I had to do was glue the teal flowery fabric to the outside of the book. I did this while the book was shut so it wouldn't pull once I shut it.

And here's the finished project:

The pocket is on the right side.

I didn't follow the example that I pinned to a "t" but she was sure an inspiration to me! And her directions and pictures made it super easy to figure out.

I could see myself making more of these for sure!

Love, Mrs. K

So What Wednesday

Linking up again with Shannon for So What Wednesday!

Here's what I'm saying So What to this week:

*if I can not stop listening to this song? It's the theme song for the gathing next week and I LOVE it!

Check it out!

*if I can't stop listening to this song either?

Pontoon by Little Big Town from YouTube

*if I napped on my lunch break? I didn't sleep well last night cuz I can't stop thinking about what I need to do still for our trip. It's going to be a long week.

*if my car has been in the shop for a week and a half and I haven't heard anything about it yet? My dad's in charge of it, I'll let it be his problem and drive his Expedition for now.

*if I haven't even thought about packing yet?

*if I turn into my 15 year old self again when I go to my parents house and my room looks like this:

*if I saw a big turtle on the walking path around the lake at camp and I got scared and turned around?

*if I'm bad about blogging when I get busy?

*if it's better for my relationships with people if I drive when we go somewhere? I think I'm a better driver then everyone else. Notice I said I think I'm better.

*if I'm a little jealous of Shannon and Kristen becuase of the awesome weekend that they're going to have? I would love to get together with those two!!

*if all I want to do is lay infront of the window air conditioner in our bedroom? This heat is killer!! The air just feels heavy. Uff da. New Orleans is going to kill me...

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what everyone else is

So What-ing and to link up!

Love, Mrs. K

I'm here!!

Hi friends! I'm so sorry that I haven't blogged much lately but life has gotten in the way.

I had kids from church at camp for 2 1/2 weeks in June and I don't have access to a computer/the internets at camp. Then for a week we had counselors from camp here at church to lead Vacation Bible School which was great but exhausting. Then I was on vacation last week, well kinda. I just went to Hometown, MN and hung out at my parents house which was so so so nice. And this past weekend we had our annual family reunion, Miller Time* :) at my parent's lake cabin. So, sorry but I was preoccupied with relaxing and laying in the lake soaking up the sun, blogging was about the last thing on my mind.

But I've missed it and YOU!! Yes, I've missed you and reading your blogs!

This coming Saturday at 6 am I leave with 18 kids from church and 3 other adults for a 10 day trip to New Orleans!! I'll do my best to check in with you while I'm gone but no promises.

I am so ready to go on this trip, I am ready to be done planning it. It gives me headaches and makes my stomach hurt, basically it stresses me out a lot. It is hard to plan a trip to a National Youth Gathering when there is turmoil in the church and not everyone is happy with the church leaders on a national basis. It is hard to keep everyone happy with roomie situations and travel buddies. It is hard to plan a trip where I know I won't be completely in control. It is hard to plan a trip to a city that I've only been to once and for a gathering that I've only been to as a youth, never as an adult.

I was so glad that I got to take last week off and I didn't really have to think about work at all. But as we were driving back to our nothern town on Sunday night, the closer we got the more my stress level went up.

So, I will try to keep you posted while I'm on this trip- hopefully my stress level goes down...

But here are some pictures from my week off:

This was how my week off started.

Dead car.

Good thing I was only 11 miles from Hometown and my parents have an 'extra' car.

I did my nails and my toes for the 4th :)

My sister and I went on a mini Zorbaz tour.

Zorbaz is a Pizza and Mexican restaurant that started in Hometown, MN. Now there are 10 locations. If you go to all 10 in a calendar year (which is tricky cuz some are only open in the summer) you get a free t-shirt. Last year we went to all 9 (they opened a new one in Feb). We were going to do it again this year but then it was so nice out that we just wanted to get to the lake earlier so we only went to 5.

And only took pictures at 3 apparently...

Sisters!

I guess when I go home I revert to being my 15 year old self and just throw my stuff wherever.

Cool. I know.

Life is better with sandy toes.

And a the lake.

We had a bon fire going all weekend. Yes that is a mountain of ash in our fire pit.

Other high lights of the weekend that I don't have pictures of:

-seeing fireworks from the racetrack by the cabin

-riding our bikes (old school bikes) to the bar for a greenie

-burning dried out Christmas trees

-bacon

-hanging out with my family

Love, Mrs. K

*It's called Miller Time because my Grandma's maiden name is Miller and it's her sisters, their kids and grandkids that we get together with. Not because of the beer, although there is drinking involved.