another beautiful day at bear lake

I love you Phoenix.  I love how we love the same things and have so much fun together.

xox

Collin Raye – what a legend

If you have ever wondered if nice guys actually exist, well, they do.  

I met one yesterday.  

Collin Raye, country singer, father, grandfather.

When he walked into the room his smile instantly lit the place up with bright sparkly bubbles of happiness.  This guy is amazing.  Every word that crossed his lips were laced with kindness, tolerance, appreciation and passion.  He is genuine, the real deal, a diamond in the rough, a rare breed.  Working on his music video did not feel like work at all and was quite possibly, the most fun I have ever had on a set.

Kudos to you Collin.  Thank you for letting me make you perdy and thank you for sharing your beautiful stories through your amazing music.  I have never been a lover of country, but guess what?  I just bought your new album, and I love it.

Jasmine

xox

busy, busy girl

I am not used to feeling this busy!  I have been spending the last few weeks designing and filling up my etsy shop – a fun place where I can list and sell my pretty creations for all ages.  I have taken soooo many photographs, which has been really fun, just time consuming because I have made so many fun things for my shop.  Right now there is only jewelry in my little shop, but do not be surprised if you begin seeing art prints and other fun things in the future.  I love the whole etsy concept – it is a fabulous idea: A forum where artsy crafty types can come together to offer their handmade and vintage goodies.  It is one huge work of art etsy is.  And I am so excited because I have already had two purchases and ten whole people ‘heart’ my shop!!  Yay!  Come visit me at etsy.

xox

“I pose mummy”

I had two little princesses help me out today – Princess Fifi and Princess Naynay.  They were my beautiful jewelry models for my new etsy shop (come have a visit!), and they were so cute! With their nails freshly painted by Granpa Barfuss (yes, he is the coolest Granpa), they really felt like princesses.  Phoenix made me smile so big with her hands-on-hips pose – “I pose mummy” she said – so adorable.  xox

Introducing, the worlds yummiest carrot brownie recipe!

Isis and I are on week three of our Wilton Cake Decorating Class!  Loving it!!  This week we decorated cupcakes – carrot brownie cupcakes.  Yes, that’s right, I used the worlds yummiest brownie recipe (other than Kellies secret recipe) and added 2 cups of grated carrots from our garden.  Fudgy, yummy goodness!  You must try!

Fudgy Yummy Carrot Brownie Cupcakes

1c. butter (melted)

2c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 eggs

3/4 c. cocoa powder

1c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2c. graded carrot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter and mix wet ingredients, adding eggs one at a time.  Add dry ingredients.  Bake for 30 – 35 minutes if in a pan, 15 minutes if mini muffins or 25ish minutes for larger muffins.

YUM YUM YUM!!!!

harvesting yumminess from our garden

Lunch was so yummy today!  Vegi’s straight from the garden… yum, yum, yum….

Now what did they say on Gardening Australia about thinning out carrots…..?

;)

cake decorating classes with my widdle guy

A couple of months ago, my widdle guy Isis saw some people making magical cakes in the shapes and colors of all sorts of amazing things on TV – this rocked his world.  He thought it was as cool as Transformers and superheroes – it was right up there with the coolest things in his little world.  He was watching Reading Rainbow on PBS kids hosted by Jordy from Star Trek :)  (We love that show!)  When he saw these cake creations, his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, “I want to do that!!!!”  Now, given that he is tube fed and has very little appetite due to his Muscular Dystrophy (and generally loathes food), I was more than stoked to hear this!  Anytime either of the children exclaim excitement towards food of any kind, I get so excited!  There is nothing quite so cute to me as the sight of their cute widdle mouths chomping up and down on something – a sight so rarely seen in our house, but taken for granted by just about every other parent on the planet earth.  It brings a tear to my eye each rare time they eat something willingly, and more than just one painful, bribery-induced bite.

So naturally, I made it my life’s mission to book us into the next available cake decorating class at Michaels Arts and Crafts!  And here we are, week two, and loving it!  He loved it so much that he spent fifteen minutes after our first class eating more cake than he has in his whole life COMBINED!  (Is that worth the Transformer Mellenium Falcon mum?)  (This is an awesome toy that mum has been saving to give to Isis when he eats a whole slice of pizza, but I am thinking he may have finally earned it :)

In the hectic busyness of life, I realized recently that I have not been spending enough one on one time with Isis and it has been subtly effecting our relationship.  Us humans need friendships in our lives and the feeling of being able to open up to someone when needed.  I had noticed that Isis had been confiding less in me, to a certain extent, because of my busyness.  After all, it is difficult talking to someone who is racing around constantly, thinking of all the things that need to get done.  (Time to slow down and relax Jasmine.)  As a result, it is really, really enjoyable sharing this cake decorating class with him, my widdle guy xox