Dear Friday,

Good morning, it's so nice to see you again!  I've missed you so since last week.

I can't wait to spend the day with you, enjoy your beautiful weather and spend the time you bring me on the road to visit some much loved and missed friends and family.

Well, I have quite the to-do list to accomplish before I can relax and enjoy some time with you so I had better get going...

I'm glad you're back.

Once Upon a Camping Trip

Last weekend Mr. Young and I decided {rather last minute I might add} to go camping at Palo Duro Canyon; the second largest canyon in the nation.  Hubs arrived home just a bit earlier than the usual time, we packed ourselves {and Miss Bayley}, loaded up the car and headed out!

We arrived just before sunset, got checked in and drove down into the canyon... it was beautiful.

It was dark by the time we got our tent set up and a fire started, but all was well. 
Bayley couldn't quite figure out the whole "tie out" concept...
kept running through the picnic table... lol

The night was chilly.  Hubs and I were fine in our 30 degree sleeping bags, but Miss Bayley was shivering.  She spent most of the night in one or the other of our sleeping bags.  Good morning Bayley!  =)  Stayin toasty with dad...

We had some delicious oatmeal and smores for breakfast (haha) then headed out on the trail

To the top right of my hubby you can see our goal; the lighthouse.

{The trail we were hiking was The Lighthouse Trail}

Lots of beautiful sites... and beautiful flowers...

Finally {and after one insane 60 degree incline}, we are within reach... Good job, Bayley!!!

And then we hiked the rest of the way; right up to it...

Yay Us!!!  We're so proud... it was a fun little jaunt.  =)

All in all, a successful mini hiking trip.  =)

We had so much fun together... it was great to get away from the business and distractions of life and focus on spending some quality time together.

Palo Duro Canyon, we will see you again soon... =)

HELP! In Need of a Tie Rack!

Okay readers, it's your time to shine! 

I need help.  

My husbands ties are driving me crazy.  They're slung over a regular hanger and with his clothes on the top and mine on the bottom, they drag all over my clothes making it difficult to see them, cover up my flip flops {which abide on the shelf below}and slip off easily and often as we push hangers back and forth.

Here is my challenge to you.

I have been looking online for a DIY tie rack with no success.  

Can you find one?  

-or-

Can you come up with an original idea of how I might make one?

I really need some help here but just can't believe that I have to go buy one.  There has to be a simple way to make one myself.  =)

Okay y'all, let me know what you come up with!

No chicken, just snippin!

There comes a time in every girl's life when she  
just needs something new.

Something fresh...

a change.

When you wake up every morning for two weeks,
look in the mirror and think, 

"Uuugh.  Get. This. Hair. Off. Of. Me,"  

it's time.

Remember my post a few weeks ago talking about how I always chicken out?  Well no chickens this time.  The time and date are set, I've approved the cut with my amazing stylist and I am ready.

Here's the kicker... I didn't pick any of the styles from that previous post and I'm not giving you guys any previews.  =)
tee hee hee...

The day is this Saturday, the time is 1:00pm and I will post before and after pictures when I return...

I'm SOOO excited!!!

Porjects, Projects, Everywhere!

Well after a much needed {perhaps desired is a more appropriate term} trip to the thrift store, I finally gave a few of my ocean rocks a home yesterday.  You can check out that fun little ditty here.  

Today I'm going to begin spray painting the plethora of $.50 frames I scored on the same thrifting trip.  I and my clumsy self managed to break 4 out of 7 of the glass panes as I dismantled the frames, but I'm sure I can come up with an alternate solution for that.  Any suggestions?  Anyway, something close to this, this or this is my end goal.

Today I am also ordering this set of apron patterns.  I am so excited!  I doubt they'll get here in time for me to work on them this week {while I'm still off work} but at least I'll have them to work on as I please.

Finally, today I am also requesting the pattern my beautiful cousin used for the cutest baby shoes.  Check check hers out here, aren't they adorable?!

Oh, and somewhere in between there I need to clean house... maybe I should do that first.  Aren't you supposed to get the least favorite things out of the way first?  But then, I can hardly say that cleaning is my least favorite thing... There just aren't many things in life better than crankin' up the music, throwing the windows open and gettin' jiggy with cleaning supplies in tow!

Balboa Park Botanical Gardens: Saturday, Day 3

 So I realize that I've already posted today, but I was looking back through recent writing and realized it's been a while since I posted our next adventure from San Diego and there's still quite a bit to go so I better go ahead and make it a two-post day.  =)

  

On Saturday, Mark and I were SO pumped to go visit our friends, Aaron and Emily Gabbard.  We met up with them earlier in the morning and then met up with the rest of the bunch in the early afternoon to visit the Balboa Park Botanical Gardens... beautiful!

Check out the roots on this tree!!!

I made a goal to capture of all of the unique and beautiful flowers that we saw along the way... there were so many!

A CRAZY hill we climbed... it doesn't look that steep here but we were all panting at the top.  lol  Or maybe we're all just way out of shape... =)

I just couldn't get over all of the amazing flowers!

Another large tree... and of course more flowers!

And finally, a beautiful view of the city from the Balboa Park Bridge

Ocean Rocks in a Jar

One of our last adventures in San Diego was collecting some ocean rocks from the beach, in the dark, at high tide.  It was an adventure to say the least!
  

Of course, smuggling a 20lb bag of rocks  through airport security in a carry-on bag is bound to turn some heads so I was definitely searched.  Thankfully the security guard who searched my bag-O-rocks totally understood the obsession as his daughter collects ocean rocks when she visits him as well.  =)

Well I just knew I would find a fun jar to put my precious ocean rocks in when I came home and low and behold, I have found a wonderful one.
   

I added a couple of shells Ryan found for me as well as the twine at the top to give it a little more of a "beachy" feel.

I love the cork and love the shape... I think it turned out great!  

"Ocean Rocks in a Jar" Cost Breakdown:

Rocks = Free compliments of the Pacific Ocean  =)

Jar = $1.00, local Salvation Army store

Twine = Free, had some on hand

PS - Special shout out and thanks to the awesome peeps who braved the dark tide to collect rocks with me!  
Thanks Karissa, Ryan & Sarah!!!

Well as a Last Minute Decision...

Mr. Young and myself had decided to go camping here for the weekend.  

Truly it was a last minute decision, it shall be an adventure!  =)

Oh, and Miss Bayley is coming with us for her very first ever camping excursion, yay!

Beautiful, Wonderful Relaxation...

Today = amazing.

It's been a while since I've had a day off so having an entire day to myself has been an especially wonderful treat.

I've spent hours visiting other blog sites and editing my own. Oh, do you like the new look? I'm trying out the pictures down the side, just kind of a glimpse into our life. I'm not sure if I like them, they seem too dark maybe? What do you think?

Still itching to work on a new project, not sure what that's going to be though... Maybe I'll look into those house number flower pots again... Oooo or the photo rails, oh I liked those so much!

Don't know where to find wood scraps in this small town though...

Oh now I'm so excited. Off to sift through some thrift shops folks! =)

Happy Thursday!!!


PS, Check out Craftaholics Anonymous and her AWESOME Recessionista giveaway!

Changing things again...

Well readers, I'm just not completely happy with this look. The header in combo with the background...

*sigh*

So things are going to be switching around again... we'll see...


UPDATE:
Let's try this look for a while... =)

So Tired of Saying, "When..."

Unless you're new to the Young Family blog (and possibly even then) I'm sure you are well aware of my overwhelming desire to decorate my home. In recent months I have become rather obsessed with all things painting, DIY and/or decorating related.

I can't wait to make our house ours.

Just one problem... we're not living there right now.

With every amazing project, paint scheme or decorating idea I see I am noticing that I leave comments for my blogging buddies saying things like, "I can't wait to do this to our house!" and "When we move home, I was wanting to do something similar to this..." etc. You get the point.

I am so tired of saying, "when..."

I don't want to complain about our current situation by any means. Truth be told, being given the opportunity to move to Texas for this year likely allowed my husband to keep his job in this difficult work economy. We are very blessed; the Lord has definitely been looking over us.

I'm just so excited to decorate my own home. I've been married for almost a year and haven't yet had the opportunity to do any decorating in my own home.

FrUsTrAtIoN

Is there such a thing as a decorating clock? lol Well mine's ticking...

*sigh*

Longing to be back in my own home where I can start making it our own...


My Dreams for Our Home:
Decide on color schemes/themes for respective levels/rooms
Paint the Interior (everything), Exterior, Trim & Front Door
Begin collecting "project" furniture and "beautifying" (yay!)
Bring our landscaping plan to life (front & back - it's beautiful!)
Start compost (for the garden) in back yard
Start our veggie & herb garden in back yard


For a few more months, I suppose I'll just keep dreaming... =)

A (somewhat) Torturous Tuesday

Today began like this...Then developed into this...
Which resulted in four hours of this...
(wish my bedroom looked this heavenly...)

When I woke, my migraine had only mostly subsided.

I hate headaches.

On the bright side, it has continued to diminish throughout the remainder of the evening.

It did improve enough that I was still able to accomplish a much needed Walmart run (lack of milk is just unacceptable in the Young household when hubs needs his daily espresso), fix a delicious pancake dinner, clean up the kitchen (mostly), fold laundry and work up a sweat with my work out.

I was even able to take a few minutes to poke around on some new blogs that I've found! Lots of creativity going on and I have lots of new ideas thanks to my new blog buddies! =)

I would say that in spite of the pain during the greater part of the day, Tuesday was still successful.

Oh, and an insanely amazing shout out to Ms Klein who arranged for me to go home from work a few hours early so that I could battle with my migraine. Don't know how I would have made it through the rest of the day with that bugger!

La Jolla Cove: Friday, Day 2

Yes, dear Young Family readers, we are still on Day 2. We packed so much adventure into one little Friday, it was amazing! This is, however, our final adventure from this day.

Karissa and Ryan took us all down to La Jolla (pronouned 'La Hoiya') Cove to see the ocean, seals and tide pools!

At first site of the cove. There are some seals sun bathing on those rocks on the left... we're about to climb through a cave to get a closer look!

From inside the cave...

There's the cave behind us... (Paparazzi, caught!) haha

Then we walked out to where the tide pools are and saw this awesome fisherman dude. Nachelle was thoroughly amused.

WAVE! =) And of course, after I captured Nachelle's wave, we all had to get one!!

This is how excited we were about the waves... LOL

We had another vantage point to view those same seals over to the side here...

We were actually just waiting to see where the waves would break so we knew how far out we could stand for the sunset picture. Turns out, I love this one!

Awe, a heart... and Chelle's in the middle!

Watchin the seals on their beach from above. There was actually another little pup born at 7:45am this day!

Seals, hangin' out...

Gorgeous sunset... I'll live here please.

The view back over the seal beach and across the cove...

It was a little chilly by now. I asked Karissa where her hands went and this is how she responded, "WHAT?! MY HAAANDS!!!" LOL

We had so much fun!

Adios, La Jolla Cove!