Smile Rocks and the Great Outdoors

Will and I had a lot of fun painting rocks the other day with the intention of leaving them in random places around town to make someone smile when they found them.

We went to Jester Park for the morning...Will's very favorite place to go to in the summertime around Des Moines. He gets to explore and be out in nature hiking, walking in water, digging, finding rocks, climbing, and looking for bugs. We thought this would be the perfect place to spread some smiling rock  love. Along paths and walkways, ledges, and benches, we left colorful rocks with the hopes that it may brighten someones day. I know it would brighten mine. :)

Look at those cuties.

This is the Jester Park Natural Playscape. It is so cool! It is low key, low traffic, quiet, and perfect for the tiny ones. 

Look! Now we have more rocks to paint!

Naturally Flavored Water

It is HOT outside!! Obviously water is a must, but doesn't it just get boring sometimes? To make it more exciting to drink water I flavored it! Not with artificial sweeteners and dyes, but with living things! Lemons, limes, oranges, berries, cucumbers, herbs...and whatever your heart desires.

In the picture above I simply filled a 7 cup mason jar.(Just about what I need for a days worth of water minimum) Then I sliced up a lime and tossed those in. Squirted in a little of the juice from the end and stirred it around. Then I chopped up a few mint leaves and stirred those in. Simple as that! I then kept this in the fridge so it was ready to drink.

I used my sprouting jar lid to that it would strain the leaves and lime from the water when pouring it into my glass. Pretty slick!

...and sooo refreshing! It keeps the water drinking interesting. :) I found an abundance of ideas on Pinterest of different flavored water ideas. Go check them out here!

Go Outside!

{Make time for Creative adventures.}

Oh Summertime!

Jorge L. Gazzano





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Women's Health


Michelle Meno Photography


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The Busy Ice Block

It has been extremely HOT outside! Going to the pool, running through the sprinkler, and eating popsicles are all great on days like this but this week I found a new idea on pinterest...freeze a handful of objects/toys in a tub of water. Then when it is frozen take it out in the sun on a hot day. As it melts give your toddler a variety of tools to figure out how they can get the objects/toys out. We had fun with this one!

We started with a couple of metal spoons, a pie server, a toy hammer, and a wooden stick. He had fun chipping the ice away as it melted, but then we moved on to bigger and better...

A real hammer! Once we got that out we quickly broke through. That was an exciting moment. :)

What do you like to do to stay cool on the REALLY HOT days?

Market Favs

Getting to the market this year has been a little bit more of a challenge than it has in past summers while living in Davenport. We would go every weekend to get our food for the week! But now going downtown and fighting the crowds and figuring out all over again which people we like to buy for has been more of a challenge. But we did figure out that you can not waste anytime in the mornings if you want the best produce. We have to get up and go before it gets too crazy. Parking downtown can be a pain, but it is so worth it for all the yumminess. :) A new favorite food that we discovered this year is this beautiful garlic scape. Many of you probably know what it is, but it was new to me. At least I have never cooked with it. It is kind of a cross between a green onion and garlic. We chopped the whole thing up and sauteed it with veggies. It was delicious!!!...and no mess with trying to peel or mince fresh garlic.

...and the inside of the bulb.

oh yes, and I can not forget to mention the ever so famous mango on a stick. Will's absolute favorite!!...me too. :)

Crazy for CARS

This past weekend we took Will to see his first movie in the theater. Cars 2! He was so excited and could not stop talking about. :) We got there and I thought he would be really overwhelmed by the large screen, but he wasn't. He just sat there like he did this sort of thing all the time. We watched a ton of previews and after every single one he kept asking when we were going to see cars. He giggled at stuff because others were, not necessarily because he understood what was going on all the time. :) He was so stinkin cute!! Although after a couple snacks he was kind of antsy and kept switching seats to sit on my lap or Thad's lap, and stood up to dance and move around a few times. But he did great! I didn't expect him to sit through the whole thing. Cars 2 was good, he recognized some of the characters from the first movie and enjoyed the racing scenes, but for the most part there was way too much of an action storyline for Will to follow with this sequel. I think I like the cuteness of Cars 1 better, and there is a lot less violence in the first one. But we had a lot of fun, and the last couple of weeks have seemed to be filled with activities Cars related.

cars+stickers+crayons=awesome race track!

...with some extra supplies around the house a made a few fun magnets to surprise Will

A man in Des Moines who restores old cars made a real life replica of Tow Mater. So my Dad took Will to see it. He was able to climb on the back too!

(My brother with Will)

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Our Trip Out West

For a long holiday weekend we traveled out west 10 hours to Custer State Park. The whole Fever/Shepard clan was together spending time hiking, climbing, pine needle basket weaving, sightseeing all the wild animals and mountains, visiting Mt. Rushmore, playing whiffle ball, and enjoying the great outdoors. Will had a blast! I was so proud of him for all the hiking that he did, but his favorite part of the trip was driving around and seeing all the wild buffalo. :) Below are a couple pictures and a video...I took way too many pictures to post, so you can click here and see them all.

Although we were traveling on the 4th of July and did not experience our usual festivities, we saw a few fireworks on the road...but this trip was so worth it! It was such a beautiful place and so much to see in such a short time. We will definitely go back again. How was your holiday weekend?

Where have I been?

The time has got away from me with all the nice weather and the rainy days figuring out what to do to get a 2 year old's energy out. :) We have been super busy, which is a good thing! We have been to the zoo a couple times. I love having a season pass, and dinosaur adventure day was way fun! We have been spending time with my sister and family and doing all things summery to kick off the season right...oh yes and I can't forget we have been doing lots of digging in the sand! Will even had his first sleepover with his friend Lincoln while we visited friends in the Quad Cities. They had so much fun! Here is an array of random pictures over the last couple of weeks...

Will and Hunter digging in the sand

I could not get him to look at the camera for anything :)

three of my brothers and Will climbing on the caterpillar at the Blank Park Zoo

...and more climbing...I should have got a picture of the tiger. That was his absolute favorite!!

Cute Story: We visited our dear friends in the Quad Cities a week or so ago and we tried putting Will and Lincoln in the same room for a little sleepover. We placed a mattress on the floor for Will and tucked them in and said goodnight. (...after a very creative story told by Thaddy Daddy of course) We heard them talking a little bit and eventually they fell asleep. When we peeked in to check on them later they were both sleeping in Lincolns toddler bed on the same pillow. And they slept like that all night! How cute. I really thought we would have to end up splitting them up, but they proved us wrong. :)

Oh!...and look! I actually won something from the May Giveaway Day! This beautiful headband from Crystal over at Crafty Ave. Thank you Crystal! I love it!

Niabi Zoo

Today we saw elephants and monkeys and birds and wallaby and ducks and fish and goats and sheep and ponies and cattle and emu and reptiles and giraffe and wolves and bobcats and zebra and camels and elk and panthers and leopards and lions and tigers and bears oh my! HA! And we took a ride on the choo-choo train of course. It was a beautiful sun shiny day and we took advantage of the free day at the zoo. Will loved seeing all the animals, but what surprised me was that he actually seemed a little intimidated by seeing them in real life. He made me hold him the whole time! Not the stroller, not Thad, but only by me. I love cuddle times, but oh my carrying him the through the whole zoo gave me quite the arm workout. I'm buff now. :)

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! :)