Hello Summer!

There is something about summer that slows us down ... makes us more carefree. We spend more time outside soaking up the warm hot sun, sitting on the patio enjoying every minute we have. Oh, how I love summer. I love when seasons change, to be more exact. I am a seasonal type of girl who is influenced by her surroundings, whether it be warm and inviting plaids and flannels in the winter, pumpkins and purple mums decorating the front porch in the fall, getting my hands in the dirt planting a garden in the spring or enjoying the carefree days of summer, I look forward to every new season equally. That is just who I am.

Now that summer is just days away, that means one thing and one thing only- SUMMER FUN LIST time! We made our first summer fun List last summer and it was a huge hit. Who doesn't love lists, anyways ... and FUN lists are even more FUN(um...ER).

One thing on our list is to make a Smash Book of all of the fun we do this summer. So we started out by making our Summer Fun List in our smash book. Clever, I know! It is a little short right now but there is still room to add more and I'm sure we will! 

I threw all of the goodies in a basket on top of a book shelf in our living room- that way we remember to do it. Also, I am going to make a point to order prints so we actually have pictures to smash! I'm so bad at that part- actually getting the picture off the camera, edited (meaning deleting the bad ones, nothing crazy!), uploaded and submitting the order. It all takes so much time! If anyone has any systems in place for organizing their pictures, please share! I'd love to hear about it :)

These smash books are so much fun. I love how random they are. I first found my books on amazon and then later found more loot at Target! Oh how I love Target! I particularly like this page. I am thinking about making a copy of it to go in my craft room. Or maybe I'll just steal this page from the book... there are like 39 other pages, we won't miss one little page will we? Anyways, I really like this page.  

Another fun thing on our list is making pickles. We already made 3 jars with cucumbers from our garden. Pickles are so easy to make and taste so good. One huge bonus over store bought pickles is that homemade don't have food coloring in them. I don't really understand why yellow needs to be added to pickles but they do it! I'm sure you can get some from a Whole Foods or Central Market type store that don't have stuff added. Anyways, these are yummy and easy to make so go ahead and give them a try!

I added a scrap of fabric and made a cute tag to go on each jar!

Here is the Recipe:

Garlic Dill Pickles

3/4 c. salt (this is to salty for some;
may be reduced to 1/2 c.)
4-5 cups white vinegar
8 c. water
cucumbers (enough to fill 6- 1quart jars.)
18 cloves garlic, peeled
6 T. dill seed (not weed.)
Wash cucumbers, cut into spears, and pack in jars. Add 3 cloves garlic & 1 T. dill seed per jar. Place jars on baking sheet (or pan.) in oven at 250. (this keeps jars hot so they’ll seal when you add vinegar.) Boil vinegar, salt, and water, pour boiling mixture into hot jars, and immediately put hot bans & lids onto jars. (keep lids & bands hot by boiling them first.) Let cool on counter. (they should seal while cooling.) Let sit 10-12 days before using (this is the hard part! If you can’t stand it, only wait a week!)(Our favorite dill pickles!) makes 6 qts.

This is really such a great recipe. I found it last year on the Duggar Family Blog. Yum!

 And last of all (not something on our list but a good one) I am going to try to drink as many of these drinks as possible this summer!

 What is it you ask? It is iced tea sweetened with a little Crystal Lite Pink Lemonade. A point-free beverage on my weight watchers diet!

Happy Summer, Friends!