SB Handcrafted

Hello! Just popping in today to tell you about a new blog that Shawn and I started. It's focus will be sharing about the projects we are working on, and we would love it if you checked it out!

We're still doing some tweaking on the design, but that adorable logo Becca made for us is going to stay. After talking about having some sort of brand to put on our projects a while back, she came up with that, and it's so cool how the letters form a heart!

You can go to the blog by clicking on the picture above, or find it HERE.

"I like it! I like it!"

Just popping in to share a few favorites of late. 

Listening to:


(I can seriously listen to it on repeat and not get tired of it)

Back to (photography) Basics :)

Hello! hello! 

It's been a while, again.

Not sure if we'll get back to more of a reasonable posting schedule any time soon... life is busy. 

Beth is still newly married, and I've been occupied with a number of different things lately. 

One of which is going through an online course on the basics of Photography. 

I found this offered at the blog Sixth Bloom , they also have super helpful blog posts on photography too. 

Labor Day Adventures

 Yesterday we went hiking. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was lovely....

Monarch Museum 2.0

 Thursday marked the change of the first chrysalis, as the scales began changing to the vibrant Monarch pattern of orange, black, and white.

See you in September

One of the kids gave all the staff a jar of candy on his last day!

Staff shirt I designed and we got screen printed for free as a generous gift!
Journal, gift from the director - she picked designs that fit each staff member's personality 😊

Wow wow wow wow! 

The summer has flown by!

New York, New York

So Far, So Great!

This song is probably the kid's favorite at School's Out.

It was one of the songs I taught them on my first week, with motions too - and the next day two of the girls were trying to sing it and asked me to help them with the words. That was so neat!

Camp Wahooooo!

Fly Creek

giant "rocking chair" that didn't rock. 

It looks like I'm not in the Midwest anymore....

Hello!

(Becca here) 

There have been a few big changes I hadn't mentioned on the blog yet.

Sad Day

Have you ever been a mood where nothing was particularly wrong, but you just kinda felt like you wanted to cry?

But you don't, cause, you know, that would be weird to cry for no reason.

Well, I was in that mood last night, driving back to camp after spending the weekend with Shawn and  his family. I also got to visit with my family over FaceTime that afternoon, and tell my mom happy mother's day, so maybe it was mixture of missing Shawn and feeling a little homesick.

But I was having a good drive. I was singing praise songs and hymns, and talking to God about stuff, you know, just driving along.

As I got to the top of a hill, I could see something in the middle of my lane.

In the instant it took me to realize it was a big, beautiful owl, just standing there, minding it's own business, it turned to look towards me, or more precisely, at my blinding headlights, and....

CLUNK!!!

My brain:

"I just hit an owl!"

"OH MY GOODNESS! THAT IS AWFUL!"

"I probably killed the poor thing!!!"

"That is a very good reason to cry"

Yes, I cried most of the way back to camp, I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I love owls. A lot.

I was fine, my car was fine, but I'm sure the owl was not fine.

The dumb thing should have known better then to sit in the middle of the road.

Maybe I should have stopped and tried to find it, but it was dark, and I was rather too traumatized to think about that, so I kept driving.

God kept me safe, it could have been a deer.

But it was still very, very, very, very sad.

the end.

Answered Prayer!

Yes, fudge bars. 

Yes I prayed for fudge bars. 

Today was crazy, really was. Nothing terribly bad, just a lot of crazy. 

I could tell you all about the seven field trips that were at the museum today, and the events that followed... but that is a very long story. 

So, we'll fast forward the ride home. 

I told myself, this morning, that I was going to buy fudge bars, and I actually remembered that by the end of the day! So, I pulled into the parking lot of our Dollar General. Got out, and then thought to check to see how much money I had.... two dollar bills and a unknown amount in the coin purse.

Well, hope that'll be enough. 

Turns out they didn't even have fudge bars - and the ice cream they did have was closer to 4 bucks. 

So, on to the trusty grocery store. 

On the way I said something along the lines of "Dear God, this is pretty stupid, but I really was hoping to get fudge bars. Please, I'd love it if there are some at the store, and that I'd have enough money for them. Thank you that fudge bars exist, they're really good."

And God answers prayer! 

So, it was just really really nice to know that God gives us so much - even the little silly wishes we have.

I thought that was pretty nice.  😊

Over the river and through the woods

To Grandmother's house we go! 

Well, we're here now, :) after a long day of driving.

For a lunch break, we followed signs to this old house turned museum. It ended up not being open, but we still had a picnic in it's lovely garden.

What kinds of places do you like to stop on road trips?

History is Fun!

The Marquis de Lafayette's pistols 

We had a grand time at the American Revolution Museum, a fun lunch trying some new foods (puffer fish is pretty tasty!), and nice walk around Colonial Williamsburg today.

All in all, a very fun and educational day. :)

Here's a question for you, if you had lived during the time of the American Revolution, what side would you have been on?

A rebel?

A loyalist?

Would you have tried to remain neutral?

It's an interesting thing to think about. :)

Down by the Sea

Driving through the tunnel under the bay

Went to Virginia Beach today! It was colder and windier than we expected, but we survived. Some brave souls were even swimming! But not us :) I enjoyed walking on the edge of the water, Mom and Beth preferred looking for sea shells. It was lovely! 

4 States in 1 Day

Drove through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and reached our destination in Virginia today.

Survived crazy drivers, hungry vultures, and 9 hours in a car with our mom, aunt, and grandma.

Just kidding. :)

It was a beautiful drive through winding roads flanked by mountains, hills, and trees beginning to leaf out and bloom. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring!

Snow in April? You Must Be Crazy :P

Well, yes, we might be crazy, but that is snow. 

Also we are in NY for about two weeks, we'll keep posting regularly, or at least we will try. 

So, do you have snow in April?

What's the funniest face you can make?

P.S. Went for a walk, and it's so beautiful outside!!! It was reminiscent of the Lion ad the Witch and the Wardrobe. All the snow is melting and dropping of the trees, occasionally pelting people on the head. The grass is so green! In SD when the snow melts, it's all brown underneath :) 

Once Upon A Time...

“Apparently, if you want to find love, you have to quit everything to become a governess. This fact has been proven by Maria and Jane Eyre.”

 -stolen from Abbey's twitter (my humble apologies, but I got such a kick out of it) 

Warning: This is going to be a long post. :) 

"Do you want to know a secret?"

You know that friend I mentioned in this post?

His name is Shawn.

He was just a friend when we planted those tulips, we had maybe know each other for about a month. He kept coming to camp, so I had to think of things to do together. :) 

I learned that day he had worked for a landscaper during high school, so he knew more about planting bulbs then I did.

Not too long after that he had a talk with my father, and he came to camp the next week with a huge bouquet of flowers and asked, 

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

I said yes. :) 

But he's not my boyfriend anymore.

This Saturday he came to camp and asked me to go for a walk with him.

We didn't get very far, we were next to a little gazebo on the camp property, and Shawn asked if it needed to be repainted, so of course I started looking at it, saying something about how maybe it did, but with other projects at camp we might not have time. I turned back to look at him, and his face got serious as he said "I have something else to ask you."

He got down on one knee, and pulled out a ring.

"Bethany, will you marry me?"

By the way, I said yes.

(More of the story coming soon)