zig zag quilt top

Well, here is my first go at a quilt... Luckily I have a sister who is bomb.com at sewing. We did this one together.

Sorry for such a bad picture

Our Feil family trip to Shaver

Every summer the Feil family goes camping up at Stoney Creek in the Sequoias. This year we made a slight change to the location of our trip. Instead of camping we ended up staying in Shaver at G-Sue's cabin. As always the cabin was perfect and we had an amazing time. We played some Tetris party, Taboo, and of course a vicious game of Monopoly. I have definitely married into an incredible family!

The day before the trip Andrew, Bryan, Kim and I got on the phone with Rod and begged him to bring his boat. Our begging was successful so we spent the weekend out on the Lake.

Our captain!

and the rest of the crew...

Yes, that is Andrew and I...

Englewood Block Party

One thing that I love about The Well is that for the 4th of July they encourage people to host block parties on their street as a way to get to know and connect with their neighbors. Bryan and Kim did just that. On their street, Englewood, they got permission from the city to block off their street and host a party for all of their neighbors to be apart of. The party included a bounce house, Bryan bbqing up some amazing burgers and hotdogs, face-painting, and on a hot day in Fresno what could be better than a sprinkler for kids to play in. By the end of the day about half of their street was out there. All it takes is someone to throw out an invite and people want to come.

Bryan and Kim, you guys are amazing!!!

Andrew and I are in the process of moving down to the Susan B. neighborhood and are hoping to buy this house across the street from Bryan and Kim.

Who loves cleaning!!!!

I think one of my favorite things is cleaning out that ol' junk closet or drawer. You always find treasures of some sort. Andrew and I cleaned out our black hole closet last night and found all kinds of goodies. I think you will be seeing a few of them in my next few posts. Katie, you would have been proud!!! (and yes, I found the ear warmer that is on my head in the closet.)

I know, I asked myself the same question.... How do we have that much junk all in 1 closet?!?!?

4th of July

We always have a birthday/4th of July party at mom and pop Feil's house. Andrew, his dad, and his uncle were all born on the 4th of July... how crazy. This year was even more special. Erin and Matt joined the party on their way through Bakersfield on their honeymoon trip. Layne also came over. Since we wont see Erin for a long time we thought we would take one last picture... 4th of July style.

B.F.F. - Best Friends Forever

Costa Rica ...

As I mentioned in my "Super Sawyer" post, we just got back from Costa Rica. What an amazing place!!!

Week 1: The 1st week was spent working alongside Students International within 4 different, run down communities there. Everyone on staff there had an amazing attitude about what they were doing. They said that they were just living in Costa Rica and doing little things to change lives and show God through spending time with the people. The simplicity of their mission was inspiring to be creative where I am at and with the people I live around and do life with.

Week 2: The 2nd week was spent enjoying the country. We traveled around with 2 other amazing couples, Allie and Jesse Penner, and Breann and Kris Kadieux. Here is a top ten count down from our trip...

10. Jaco Beach

9. Taxi Boat

7. Montezuma

8. Ivan's House (Our house right on the beach)

7. lounging on hammocks on the front porch

6. Waterfalls

5. A.T.V.ing around the peninsula

(Not sure where these pictures went??)

4. Crazy huge lizards on our patio

3. Breann breaking her ankle

2. Spending alot of time in a Costa Rican hospital

1. Taking a great trip with amazing new friends!!!

This is just a snap shot of our trip to Costa Rica.

Super Sawyer

We have spent the last 2 weeks in Costa Rica. One week with an incredible missions organization, Students International, and the 2nd week on vacation. The 1st week we were there we stayed with the head of the Costa Rica branch and his family. They had two kids who both had birthdays while we were there. Olivia turned 6 and Sawyer turned 4. One night Sawyer (who was suppose to put his clothes in his backpack for school the next day) brought his clothes into the living room and proceeded to put his pants on his head and use his shirt as a parachute to jump off of the steps. Before he could jump he had to run into his room and get his safety goggles. Eventually his shirt made its way to become a cape and finally the outfit was complete.

Jesse Penner was there with us and Sawyer thought that Jesse needed to give it a try as well. We definitely laughed a lot that night.

We are going to send them a thank-you care package and in it we are adding this official "Super Sawyer" cape that I made.

My Golden Breakfast...

I just came across these pictures from my birthday and had to put them on my blog. I have an amazing husband! Every year Andrew makes me feel so special on my birthday and this year was no different. You saw my golden party outfit/pictures but I forgot to mention the golden breakfast that he prepared for me that morning before school. Everything was golden (or yellow and orange).

My Golden Birthday

This birthday has definitely topped the charts of all time greatest birthdays for 2 reasons:

1. It was my golden birthday (I turned 26 on the 26th)

2. My amazing husband planned a semi-surprise party for me

When I got home from work on Friday I was greeted at the door by 2 of my most favorite people, Layne and Kim, both of whom were wearing 80's attire. I had to walk through gold streamers to get into the door and immediately noticed that the house was decked out in gold. Talk about golderific!! I was told I had to go into my room and put on my outfit which Layne had picked out for me to wear. (A HOTT gold sweater from Goodwill, a gold belt, gold ring, gold earrings, spray painted gold shoes, and my personal favorite, tights that looked like stone-washed jeans.) I was soon ready for the party.

I walked outside to 80's / 90's music playing (thanks Christian) and Andrew dressed in an incredibly outrageous Gold outfit. He couldn't have looked better. Friends started to show up wearing either gold or 80's clothing. I don't know how anyone could not have a great time when dressing up is involved?!?!? We ate amazing food and then moved the party to Cedar Lanes where, if I can remember right, the girls beat the guys in bowling=) I have amazing friends and an amazing husband who made me feel so special on my golden birthday.

Thank you Katie for sending up a cute bunting card and a delicious chocolate sheet cake. It was as if you were there!

More photos to follow...