Separate Vacations

You know that you and your husband have been married past that "honeymoon" phase when you wind up taking separate vacations. Rus drew out for deer and had been planning his trip to Lordsburg for months. I didn't want to be home alone for the weekend so I went to visit my sister Amy in Flagstaff. (Actually, she called me and said, "I came to visit you when Mikey was two months old. So when are you coming?")
I was actually hoping that Rus didn't get a deer because (a) I have no idea what to do with deer meat, and (b) we don't have any freezer space, and (c) I don't know if I actually like venison. But it turns out my man is a gifted hunter because he snagged this little fork horn deer the first morning he went out. He was slightly disappointed - he'd been planning on having more time bumming around the boonies. I could have attached the picture of the deer split open but I didn't really feel the need to save that for our posterity.

So once the deer was hanging out in the garage Rus and his parents went out taking pictures. Rus and his mom both have the same Canon Rebel XS and wanted to practice using it. I love this picture Rus snuck of his parents.

 I thought this one was pretty, too.

 Rus and farm implements...he loves them...

 And what did I do on my vacation? Amy and I were champion crafters considering all the kids we had to take care of (hers, mine, and several others that came over to play). We found these ideas on Pinterest (LOVE Pinterest!)

 This snowman just needs a scarf. Cute and simple.

I had a great time visiting her - we shared some good laughs, played scrabble, had homemade-pumpkin-from-an-actual-pumpkin-pie, hugged Marianne, watched underwater synchronized ninjas with Mike and then made him watch a show with overdramatic teenage gymnasts. Good times...
I also wanted to include a picture of some trees I came up with to use as centerpieces for a Relief Society dinner. They have a cardstock cone center and are made of rolled up, twisted newspapers that are spray painted gold and silver with glitter on top. They are standing on pedestal glasses. I thought they turned out awesome; Amy took one look and started laughing. She thought they just looked like rolled up newspapers. I made her keep one on her table all weekend until she finally admitted that it was slightly cute. What do you think? For a zero-dollar centerpiece (with the exception of the spray paint), I thought they turned out pretty cool.