Reunion 101

• Every year on both sides of our family we head out for fun family reunions. This year we happened to be in charge of both our family reunions. One we hosted here at the Homestead and the other we went to a family cabin. Both were very enjoyable and each different. We have loved including opportunities to learn about our family past and present.


• If you find yourself in charge of a family reunion here are a few tips and fun ideas that have worked for us.
  


• Reunion 101.


• Pick a theme or person to highlight.


• On my side of the family we have picked a different person each year to tell about their mission and it has been lots of fun learning about Australia, Germany, and Bulgaria.


• This year on my hubbies side we choose his Grandfather. We played Jeopardy based on stories from his life.


• One year we focused on my Grandmother and took coloring pages out of a Precious Moments coloring book and wrote captions about her life underneath...(an idea we stole from my Mother in Law) It was a fun way for the kids to get involved.


• This year on my side we also did a driving tour of the city of Layton were both of my parents lived while they were growing up. We had addresses, and driving instructions on where to go and then a brief history when we arrived. It was fun for our kids to see where my parents went to school, and church. To hear about how Grandpa rode his tricycle all the way to main street when he was 5 years old.


• Plan activities but not too many.


• We have found that it is good to plan activities like roasting s'mores or this year we did a fun skit called "For the Love of Alvin and Maggie" but don't schedule too much and be flexible. We had planned other activities, but the kids were having so much fun outside playing night games and looking for shooting stars during the meteor shower we just let them play.

We also thought it would be fun this year to have some friendly competition. We set up a small rifle range with BB guns and a Wii Bowling competition. All fun things that everyone could participate in. Here is our own "Granny Oakley" who shot an 83 and was our most improved shot. Try something different. This year we thought it would be fun to show a silent movie...especially since they were popular during the life of Grandpa M. We watched "The General" a Buster Keaton movie that we were able to get from Netflix and had popcorn and caramel corn. It turned out to be a fun evening. Last year my sister-in-law rented a Karaoke machine and we had a great time singing and laughing together.Another fun and easy idea is Family Bingo. My sister in law made this game up and we have played it for the last couple of years. It has pictures of things we do at the reunion, and names of each family. It is a fun and easy tradition.
We also played some fun games called "Minute to Win It" a lot like the TV show. They were a huge success. If you want ideas for these games go here.


We take all kinds of craft projects and have them out on the table so kids can work on them. We love these beads... They are perler beads and you can even buy them at IKEA.Most of all I really believe it is about spending time together and enjoying one anothers company. Hope you have wonderful, fun reunions this year. If you have other ideas be sure to leave a comment.

Finding Peace in Small Spaces

When Mr. D and I married almost nine years ago, our plan was to move out of our starter home within about 3 years. I had already lived here two years previous to our marriage. So as of this year 2010 I have lived in my home for 11 years. We started out with the two of us, one dog Walt, living comfortably in our two bedroom 1498 square foot home. Since that time we have added three children, a bedroom and a bathroom to the basement and our little dog has moved on to heaven. Our square footage has remained the same.

We have looked at moving several times. I have looked at hundreds of homes online, and many in person. We even had our home up for sale once, right as the market tanked. We recently found a home we liked in a good neighborhood, we were seriously considering a move, only to find out that the house we were looking at had some serious issues including the fact that they had cats (which I am allergic to) and after spending twenty minutes inside the home, I could hardly breathe.

We have had a difficult few weeks as we have decided what to do....try to sale, stay where we are. Even when we do move we won't be moving into a McMansion.

I have felt a tumult of feelings and emotions over our time here. It is so easy to look around at what others have and compare and sometimes covet the things it seems I am lacking.

Recently however I have realized thanks to a great deal of prayer and some dear friends, that the goal no matter what our circumstances, is to find peace where we are. To not let situations define who we are, but to define the situations. I realize even as I write this that I have to continually remind myself of this, it doesn't always stay with me when I am under pressure to make this small space beautiful, organized, and live able.

So in the spirit of looking on the positive I thought I would give a few reasons why I love The Homestead...

• Mr. D and I had our first kiss here...on the steps in the garage (so romantic)
• I have brought all of my babies home to the Homestead
• My Nana used to sit in the living room and work on her cross words and I would find ink all over my slip covers from where she would leave her pens.
• During my single time here...two of my sisters lived with me...and pulled me through
• I have taken what I have and made it my own.
• During my stay at the Homestead I have become acquainted with some of the dearest and most precious friends of my lifetime.
• I have learned how to be creative, and turn something small into a home.

It is a process but I am finding peace in my small spaces and learning that it is more how I fill the space I have than how much space I have to fill.

So here's to the Huckleberry Homestead and to finding peace.

Free Range Chicken

If any of you are interested in purchasing free range chicken, check out this blog site Home Roots Farm for more information.

Bread in a Bag...Fun for all

So first off I have amazing sisters who are really talented. Today my sister Alisa watched little L for me while I took my other two to get cavities filled. As I left she said, why don't you just stay when you get back and let the kids play.

Well, when we arrived back at her house she also had her other niece and nephew from the other side of her family playing as well. So we had 9 kids totally - 8 who can walk. She decided it would be fun to make Bread in a Bag with the kids. I thought it would be crazy and maybe a bit of a disaster.

It was a little crazy but so much fun and the kids loved it. It was so fun to watch them punch their bags of dough and then to try to knead. We ended up with way too much flour on some and not enough on others, but all the loaves turned out and her house smelled of fresh baking bread. So for all those of you interested....here is the recipe. It was a fun way to spend part of an afternoon. Thanks Alisa and hope all of you Enjoy.

Bread in a Bag

Ingredients per bag
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25) package rapid rise yeast, or 1 TBLS
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons non-fat dry milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions
1. In a large resealable freezer bag, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast and warm water. Squeeze most of the air out of the bag, and seal. Squish with your hand until the well blended. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes at room temperature, or until bubbles appear.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together 1 cup of flour, dry milk, and salt. Pour into the resealable bag, then pour in oil. Squeeze out most of the air. Seal, and squish until well blended. Add the last cup of flour to the bag, and continue mixing in the same manner until well blended.

3. Remove the dough , and place on a floured surface. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Form into a small loaf, and place in a greased 8X4 inch loaf pan. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise for about 30 minutes, or until your finger leaves an impression when you poke the top of the loaf gently.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake the bread for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown.

Simple Decorating with Red, White and Blue

I love summer and I love decorating during the summer. Nothing sings more to me of summer than the combination of Red, White and Blue... here are a few things around the homestead that were super easy and inexpensive to decorate with...hope they help you with some fun ideas.

Here is a new wreath I made. It cost me $3 and I LOVE it so much. It is a foam wreath from the dollar store, brown coffee filters from Walmart, and a package of Floral Pins from Walmart. You just fold the filters into in to make a triangle, almost like you are going to cut a snowflake and then pin them into place and fluff. It is a fun project that takes less than an hour. We had a super fun girls night with the amazing women in my family last night. I learned how to make these lollipop's out of a strip of fabric and hot glue. You can use them on headbands...like in Amelia's Etsy shop....check out her shop. Or you could put them on anything. I LOVE them tons.

My darling sister in law Brynn hosted our event and had all the supplies to make fun banners for the 4th of July. Here's Miss Vintage G's. She did this all by herself.


I found these super cute tray's 2 for $1 at the dollar store, the small vases, candles and decorator sand also came from the dollar store. I think they turned out cute with a little ribbon around them.

This is my center piece for my table. The flags were 3 for $1 in Target's dollar section. I found the metal bucket there as well. Filled it with floral foam and rocks and Presto a cute centerpiece. I have it sitting on a Milk Glass plate that my brother found at DI. It is broken where and so I just added the red ribbon and tied a bow over the broken section.

Here is my banner. It was so much fun to make. Brynn and her sweet mother cut out the letters and flags using their Cricut. Then we just embellished with scrapbook paper. So easy, and it was a fun project for us to do so we could just visit.

Happy 4th of July Week. Stay tuned for other fun ideas for this week.

Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

So for my birthday this year we did the Alice in Wonderland Theme. Here is our Cheshire Cat. It actually was hanging in the tree, but I didn't get a picture of him there. We found him at JOAnn's for $2.00 on sale. Here is the party table. This was another party we had hoped to have outside but inclement weather moved us inside. The paper lanterns have lights in them and I found them at the Dollar Store. My son E, made the sign by himself. Since my hubby was in charge of food we did a BBQ. Bet this is the first Alice in Wonderland BBQ party.

The pink and white table cloth was actually some fabric I found at the Thrift Store and washed. The patterned print are squares I had. The party hats we found at JoAnn's... This was my birthday cake, Angel food cake and berries....yummy.

Our Theme. The topiary in back I put together. The heart topiary came from Tai Pan Trading and the vase was 1/2 at Hobby Lobby.

Another view of the topiary. Our white rabbit was my Nana's and the watch face was my Great Grandfathers that I just hung on some ribbon.

The plate stacker I found at the Thrift Store and painted black, the plates are also from the Thrift Store as are the Tea Cups which I picked up for 33 cents each.

These are Kool-Aid drinks for the kids.

Flamingo Straws for the grown ups from the Dollar Store.

We had pink lemonade for everyone else.

Over all a Very Fun party. And I had a great time coming up with the Theme.

June Adventure Ideas on World of Wonder

Hey Check out the World of Wonder site. It is back up and going...click here for some fun Summer Adventure ideas. World of Wonder