Our Outings Archives - Page 2 of 11 - Spoonful of Imagination

Good-bye Summer!

August 7, 2013 By Erica Deuel 3 Comments

The summer flew by. We start school on Monday, and I can hardly believe it. I know as a second year homeschool mom there is so much I should probably be doing to prepare. There are supplies to gather, a room to set up, curriculum to buy (yes, I still haven’t ordered our books), but my mind is fried. Instead, I would like to imagine I’m still at the beach, and take you there with me. I edited a few of the pictures from our trip last week to St. George with my family.

Most of you know, but I have 8 siblings and some of which are married with kids now. There were maybe 20 people on this trip?! I can’t count right now, but hopefully I can next week when I start teaching first grade, right!? Let’s just relax for now though. Here are some highlights from our beach trip…

meeting my nephew Jack for the first time

morning porch time with everyone in their pajamas

hanging out with family for longer than a dinner

having to make three full pots of coffee-so everyone got their first cup for the day

sharing a snow cone with my niece and daughter

watching the cousins play together

laughing with my sisters

the boys fishing trip-where they caught a shark

having a cannon ball contest with my sister-in-law (and losing)

taking & comparing pics w/ my sis to see how similar we look

catching fish in nets on the beach

an easier week of potty training 😉

watching my boys have no fear

watching my boys laugh with my brothers

big dinners

building a sand mermaid with my daughter

a huge squirt gun war

grilling out

talking about dreams and life

being tired from the sun

On our last day, we hit the beach all morning and the pool all afternoon. We left in the evening and all three kiddos were asleep in minutes. I think they had fun :).

We are already planning next year’s trip. I’m thankful for family and thankful for vacations where we can step into another world for a little bit. It was so fun! I hope you too had a great summer! Now, I’m off to start transitioning this mind to notebooks and school!

Haven Conference 2013

August 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 22 Comments

I can now say I have been to a blog conference. It was everything I thought it would be and so much more.

For those of you who might wonder what a blog conference is, it is an event over a few days where bloggers come together to learn, network, and inspire one another. I went to the Haven conference in Atlanta that was geared towards other DIY and crafty bloggers. It was awesome.

I roomed with one of my really good friends, Erin, at DIYontheCheap. We had a blast!

For 2.5 days we ate really well, were around gorgeous decor, and learned so much. I met so many incredible people and hung out with some of my favorite bloggers. It was like a dream. I am so thankful for this weekend.

Going into it I felt a bit drained from all the travel, foster care training, and getting back from the beach the day before. I felt I didn’t have much time to prepare, although I did have my business cards ready to hand out. I was tired, knew another homeschool year was coming quickly, and was wondering how I was going to balance it all.

I knew the weekend was going to be huge when I felt my heart opening up in the first session.

Ana White was the opening speaker and I love what she said. One thing that stuck out to me was “be good at one thing…good enough at everything else.” It’s so easy to get discouraged and over whelmed at all the components of having a blog. When she said that, there was an immediate freedom for me.

I went to lots of sessions where I learned so much. My head is spinning-in a good way. I’m still processing all I heard, and I have lots of ideas and a to do list a mile long (that I am excited about). One of my favorite sessions was a hands on session with Ryobi power tools. Getting hands on with some tools gave me confidence and took some of the intimidation away that powerful tools can bring. I can’t wait to use my new miter saw! Stay tuned to hear more about it.

After two days of hearing and absorbing information, staying up late talking, mingling with other bloggers, and eating lots, we were a group of tired bloggers. I think every blogger in that conference left tired yet excited and inspired.

I came home with so many goodies that I can’t wait to start using on some new projects! The sponsors of Haven were incredible and blessed us all with so much!

I actually won one of the giveaways from Home Depot, and I literally squealed with excitement! I got an incredible basket of products that I have already started using. I am obsessing over it all, but the solar mason jar is my favorite!

As I went about the conference, I was constantly encouraged by other bloggers about my story. I had friends new and old ask about my family, homeschooling, and our journey to foster care. My heart was uplifted. I can easily question our life style on hard days, yet this weekend I was encouraged that our way of living is inspiring others to go for their dreams as well.

The closing talk for the conference was a challenge to use our gifts and skills for good. It was all I could do to not cry through the whole talk. It felt like everything that I had been feeling and processing all weekend was brought together.

I love to craft and do fun projects, but more importantly I love to inspire. I have a renewed sense of purpose. I am excited to continue to share my projects and ways I decorate our home to be a warm welcoming place, but I hope through it all I can share parts of our story and journey that inspire you. We are not perfect but we are trying to live simply. walk humbly. and love Jesus and people. Thank you for caring and being in it with us!

Thank you to Haven and everyone who attended for creating and being apart of something so marking on me. Thank you to YOU for being in this journey with me!

Now, a little something for one of YOU! I mentioned in my Haven Is Coming post that I would have a way for you to win some of my swag. Here is the deal. On my instagram feed during the conference a fun conversation started on “how many bloggers does it take to use a saw?” Enter the answer in the comments below to be entered to win some of my swag: Ryobi Flashlight, Rust-oleum Spray Gripper, and a roll of 3m painter’s tape! I will use random.org to pick the winner on Friday!

If you went to Haven, and we didn’t get to meet, I wish we had! There were so many people who I wish I had gotten to meet. We needed two more days 😉 Please introduce yourself, so we can kind of meet here!

Building a Fire Pit

July 1, 2013 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

Would you believe me when I say that this fire pit was free? It didn’t cost a dollar. The sweat and time were the only price for this huge, beautiful fire pit.

When we were visiting my sister the other week in Arkansas, we wanted to help her with some projects while we were there. She had on her to do list to build a fire pit. We literally found all these big rocks on her property and carried and carted them over to where she wanted her fire pit built. I wish I had huge gorgeous rocks like this lying around on my property too, don’t you!?

Of course, we had some really excited helpers that wanted to be apart of this project. Lucky for us, we did need some smaller rocks so they were quite helpful and of course good company.

The first step was to create the base size/structure of the fire pit by laying down the first round of rocks. My sister, Olivia, made it bigger than I was expecting, but I love it! I wouldn’t have thought to make such a huge fire pit, but it fits her property and land perfectly. This fire pit is easily four sizes larger than those metal circle pits they sell at hardware stores that I am use to seeing as fire pits around these parts.

We decided we thought about three rows of the big rocks would look the best. It then became a puzzle of aligning the rocks and placing them in the best way to create a circle rock wall with as level/sturdy foundation as possible.

After we got the rock wall in the shape and height we wanted, we inserted some of the smaller rocks into niches to create the most sturdy base as possible. What we wanted to prevent was any one siting or standing on the fire pit (when it’s not in use) and it tumbling over.

The last step was to test it out! I loved building the fire and watching the grass inside the pit immediately spread and burn away. The rocks kept the fire in though, so it worked. We had dinner grilling hot dogs and smores over the new fire pit to enjoy our hard work.

You might not have free gorgeous rocks on your property either, but would you build a fire pit out of rocks instead of buying a premade one? I know this project is now on my to do list for my home! To see more pictures of this fire pit in use and of our trip to Arkansas you can go read about the beauty of country living. Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Beauty of Country Living

June 30, 2013 By Erica Deuel 4 Comments

Do you ever dream of a life you don’t live? Maybe you dream of living…

…in the 90’s with big hair again

….or maybe it is early colonial days when big puffy dresses were the fashion

…or maybe it you don’t like big things at all and you are content in this era

you just dream of a different location.

Sometimes a different location can seem like a different world. I love our new house because it is surrounded my cow fields and animals, but we are still in a neighborhood. I often dream of living REALLY in the country. We visited my sister at her home in Arkansas about a week ago. Although it is a good 12 hour drive to get there, it is a trip I will do at least once a year.

Visiting Olivia and her family is like visiting another world. The ways and systems in their daily life are just different from ours. Life is simpler and it is something I dream about. I want to share a few things about the beauty of country living that we got to experience on our trip. Some of these are things we do here, but they may be harder to implement and have to be intentional in my world (living in the metro Atlanta area).

In the country, you may…

…look out your window and see the Chick-Fil-A cow everyday.

…change outfits four times a day due to sweat, water, dirt, etc.

…start and end your day milking a cow.

…chase chickens and try to catch a baby without the mama pecking you.

In the country, you may get bored and…

…have to find something to do rather than be entertained.

…walk through a field picking grass to feed it to a thankful horse who gets a break from grazing.

…sit on rocks and just talk.

…play with kittens.

…explore old barns.

When you live in the country…

…fire pits can be part of your nightly routine.

…you might burn your own trash.

…you can pee outside.

…you drink from a hose.

…you wake to roosters crowing.

…dirt roads don’t surprise you (so you prob don’t own a mini van).

…you can yell “yea haw” while really riding a real horse (Reagan was thrilled).

…driving to get a sweat tea may take a little longer.

Country living is appealing to me cause…

…it’s a slower pace to life.,

…the to do lists may be long but the priority of them really seem to matter.

…hard work requires sweat most of the time.

…the natural way of life has you outside more daily.

…experiencing the simple rawness of nature and its beauty is energizing.

…family can stay together easier than all going different routes and places regularly.

We had the best time visiting my sister and her family. We are already trying to figure out how we can go back this fall. I love the way of life the country brings. I probably drive my brother-in-law crazy with all my questions about his lively hood, but it fascinates me and is all new! I could see us moving to have more land and country living someday, but for now I am thankful we can escape to my sister’s whenever we want.

What about you? Is there a way of life that appeals to you? Are you more of a city, mountains, beach or country lover? Thank you so much for checking in! Tomorrow, I will be back to show you one of the projects we made while at my sister’s!

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