our balloon deflated

Our "House Hunters on Vacation" opportunity went... POP! 

boo hoo. (we will hold back the spitting and booing at the T.V.! LOL)

It was a crazy fun Foster experience for sure, kept our hearts pumpin'... and something neat to talk about! I'm sure they picked a delightful and well-deserving family. There's always hope for perhaps another episode I suppose!

                                           Almost famous,

                                           josh-stacey-hannah-lauren-polly

Hi Stacey,

We JUST heard back from the network and your family, unfortunately, was not chosen for this episode.  I will keep your audition video and application on file in the event that we get a pick up for more episodes.  If we get a pick up, can I call you about the possibility of being on another episode of House Hunters on Vacation?

Thank you so much for the time and effort you and your family put into your audition.  Your family is lovely and I look forward to possibly working with you in the future.

Warmest Regards,
Carrie


Carrie Jensen
Producer | Pie Town Productions
7655 Haskell Ave. | Van Nuys, CA 91406

House Hunters on Vacation

My heart is still pittering and pattering.

We were randomly watching "House Hunters on Vacation" about 12 weeks ago or so. It's a show on HGTV that takes families to a lovely destination, they go through 3 rental properties and choose which one they want to stay at for the week. Hannah decided she wanted to apply to the show. I was like "hmmm-aaahh, reeaally?" She insisted on pulling up the application online and started filling it out. I jumped in last minute and finished it. Thinking nothing of it, really. They requested a family picture, so we quickly found one. Thousands of others were doing the same application, right? 

No chance.

So yesterday I was checking my voicemail. A call from Northern California area? Huh? Well...it was a producer for the show and they were interested in us for casting/filming and telling me all about the show. (!!!!!!!)

At this point I (really all of us) freaked a bit.

We had to make an audition tape last night to have the executives of the show review it along with some other families. I was like..."uh, how many other families...a hundred?" Apparently not. The producer said that it looked pretty good for us. S-e-r-i-o-u-s-l-y?

Freaking again.

What was it that they saw in our application that the others didn't have? It was this fun picture above that made us stand apart the producer said. (We took that a couple years ago for the holiday's.)

So with the help of my brother and Mom, we frantically and nervously made a 10 minute creative video and answered the ten questions they wanted us to. Uploaded it to the producer this morning.

Now we wait until Monday to hear and keeping our fingers and toes crossed!

If we get chosen then the show will come to our place on Feb.18th to interview us with the crew. The location in not known but it is being promoted by Pixar/Disney and will be out of the country. If we are the family they have been looking for, then the show will tape us for 3 days going through properties and then get to have a dreamy vacation on them from February 26th to March 14th.

uuuh,....CANNOT believe it! 

We are keeping our hopes up and will keep all posted!

!!!

felted fun

We went to the coolest art/craft/hobby store near Denver for Art Gypsies this month. Then to chow on yummy soup, salad and rosemary lemon shortbread cookies. To top off all that goodness we made felt flowers. I've seen them at posh gift shops around (and they aren't cheap) but never knew how to make them.

Thanks, Nancy...you rock!

We took old sweaters (wool) and felt you can buy any craft store. You create a circle base for this one. You then cut out some crescent shapes, bend them a bit and poke the fibers together with a unique felting pin. That is it! You pokey-pokey up and down 50-100 times each petal and the wool fibers bind to attach to eachother. It's amazing how the layers hold on. 

Then you embellish (sew or glue) with buttons, beads... whatever you want in the center.

This one was done by curling up the edges of the felt/sweater and attaching them to the base with a hot glue gun. I thought it turned out lovely, Connie!

Attach a pin on the back and voila! you have a cutie accent to add to a purse, hat, scarf, sweater.

cookin' divas

Last weekend I was telling some that I had a serious "comfort food" cooking problem. I mean, I had been so sickie for a week...it's been cold, snowy...letting down from the holidays...the cravings had to be satisfied! The girls and I did homemade granola (yummo recipe compliments of sweet friend Mimi).

We made three loaves of whole wheat honey bread. (Had to include the "whole wheat" there.) I did my well-known chicken pot pie and ooey goey banana cream bread pudding. Then topped it off with the most scrumptious macaroni and cheese from a favorite place here. I told Josh when eating the mac-n-cheese that this is what heaven must taste like. (Whatever we eat there, THIS is what it might be!)

In one of creative groups I'm in we made CHEESE last month. So cool, ladies. I never knew how to make cheese. I told the girls that I thought my head was going to explode with such awesome information that day. Skills and instruction is a good thing to have in your life, eh?

We made ricotta cheese. Then we made mozzarella. Yes, mozzarella.

It was so easy. 

Who knew?

We then took those two cheeses and made/baked manicotti for lunch.

It was delicious I must say myself.

Let me know if you want any of these recipes!

Happy 2012!

I feel like it has been a whirlwind of a time with the holidays. Been wiped out, really. I'm just now catching my breath a bit. I let myself have a day this last Friday after all the company left...and took a loooong nap, laid around and watched a couple hours of "Say Yes to the Dress" show (omygoodness, that show can be addicting to watch! What is up with that??) It certainly felt awesome to have a guilt free NOTHING day. I am still 3 big holiday orders behind with my shop but I know I'll get to 'em....thank you Etsy for being patient with me!


Anyway, I just posted some pictures from Christmas and we all said goodbye to 2011. Can you believe it? I don't know where it went. Don't we all say that every year?

I wanted to reflect on it. Refuel a bit. Redefine what the New Year will hopefully be.

Thank you, 2011. You were filled with big change. 
You delighted me with big blessings. Big strength.
I was reminded of some big things and learned from you:
~to be really patient
~to listen to the delicate small voices that are endlessly directing/surrounding me
~to trust big and surrender bigger
~to pray more
~that time will always give you the answers to the questions
~that love can take you anywhere and is always changing
~yes, fresh air and sunshine is good for your soul
~families ARE forever
~contentment and gratitude is always available if you let it be
~there is an amount of pressure with an online biz
~sisters can love/giggle one moment, and can't stand each other the next
~I am not a good homeschooling Mom
~life does slow down if you make it
~others will judge you but you press on
~we all should never take our health and wellness for granted

Christmas with the Foster crew

Here's the whole gang. 

All Josh's brothers and his folks came in from OH and FL to stay with us!

It was a special time all being together and here's a glimpse at what we did:

The first day we got about 9 inches of snow. Here is Joel trying the hill next to our place with his snowboard. The snow here sparkles like diamonds, it looked like a powdered sugar winter wonderland.

Did some hiking and the girls did some shopping...

Went to Red Rocks, Cave of the Winds, Broadmore...

Manitou Springs

Played the Wii (dance 3!), laid around...

Headed to Golden (Coors Brewery) 

Then to downtown Boulder for a bit.

The sunshine here is always intense...keeping us toasty. Which is a good thing:)

Celebrated a birthday, went to Christmas Eve service, ate and ate.. 

(the stomach bug also hit a few...my sweet Mom missed out on Christmas)

Hiked a bit more here in our hometown...

Christmas morning!

Up to Copper to hit the slopes...what a beautiful day the guys had.

A delightful visit for sure!

okay, just a few more...

Since the icky stomach bugger came and bit some, we ended up waiting to celebrate Christmas with my Mom, then with my bro's family on New Year's Eve Day. Here are some pics from then:

third Christmas for us at Mom's house for brunch and presents

Every year I get a present for everyone with a butterfly on it to remember Dad. It's become tradition and represents many special things in his life and mine. (these are stepping garden stones- past 4 years have been a windcharm, bookmark, ornament and pottery with a butterfly on them)

just getting Christmas silly

That same night-- it was New Years Eve to celebrate! Dinner at Steve's and "fancy drinks" for the girls. yes, that is the movie "Elf" behind them...we only see it a dozen times every year! 

Last but not least...our long time traditional family Santa hat picture.

That's finally all, folks. Yay!