Happy Hearts!

It has been a rough few weeks at the Mohn household. First I came down with type A flu. I was one of those people that went in to the Dr office and informed her that I had bad allergies. Who needs medical school when I have WebMD! After she stuck that large Q-Tip into my nose she very nicely informed me that I did have the flu. So I was homebound and quarantined in the master bedroom. At least I had all my crafting supplies and TV to keep me company. I also got to witness first hand what the dogs do all day in the backyard: run around in circles, stand on top of the dog houses and bark at invisible intruders! No wonder they are exhausted when they come in at night. I was tired just watching them.

The week after I had the flu mom had heart surgery to upgrade her defibrillator. More about that in a little bit. While mom was in the hospital Aaron came down with a sinus infection and ended up being homebound for the week. When it rains it pours!

I did have some time to craft. It is such a relaxing activity for me to do when I am stressed. I made these Valentine's Day cards and envelopes using my Silhouette Cameo. I got the idea from a stamp I used during our wedding and I just loved the pink plaid paper.

 

I think it is fitting to discuss mom's heart surgery and the American Heart Walk on Valentine's Day.  My spunky mother discovered around 3 years ago that she was in heart failure and her heart would stop and start again randomly.  Her grandmother suffered from the same thing and her heart stopped and never started again after she had a minor surgery.  My mother is lucky to live in an age where medical technology was able to give her a defibrillator to prolong her life.  We found out a few weeks ago that her heart was getting weaker and she would need to have another surgery to upgrade her defibrillator.  She had the surgery last Thursday.  There were some minor complications, but thanks to the amazing Doctors at the Walker Heart Clinic she was able to get her new defibrillator which should give her more energy and ability to breathe better.  Until 3 years ago, I had no idea that heart disease ran in my family.  Nor did I realize that:

Heart disease is the No 1 killer in women and more deadly than all forms of cancer. 

An estimated 43 million women in the US are affected by heart disease.

Heart Disease kills approximately one woman every minute

Thank you Stephanie Chism for these stats!

Aaron and I were just starting to date when my mom had her first surgery and while we were discussing it, I found out that heart disease runs in Aaron's family as well.  We wanted to make a difference and we felt the first step was to sign up for the American Heart Walk and help raise funds for the American Heart Association.  The first year we raised $200 to donate and walked in honor of Aaron's family and my mother.

 

Last year my mother decided to participate in the walk.  Together we raised over $500 as a family. Mom was so excited to wear her survivor hat and she especially loved getting all the free goodies at the vendor booths. 

 

 



  Once again it is that time of year to reach out to our friends and family and help us raise money for the American Heart Associate in honor of our loved ones.  If you are interested in helping, you can make a donation at our website http://heartwalk.kintera.org/fayettevillear/mohnfamily

Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!!

Crafty Christmas

A few years ago I decided to give homemade Christmas presents instead of buying them.  I felt that a homemade gift would be more from the heart and the receiver would know how special they are to us.  Also I hated fighting the increased crowds during the holiday season.  When I informed Aaron of my plan his only comment was "Don't become that crazy knitting aunt in the family!"  We all have that family member.  Mine was my paternal grandmother.  I never knew what would be in the box when I opened presents from her like the Barbie with a hand knitted dress I received when I was 18! But then she would give gifts that are so special to me like the handmade quilt with my name on it (which is sitting on my couch right now).  I hope my Crafty Christmas gifts fall in the fun and special category!

This year I created "Warm Wishes" baskets.

 

 

 

I bought some clay pots from Wal-Mart, painted them a glossy red, then wrapped electric tape around the top and cut the belt buckles out of silver scrapbooking paper.

 

 

Inside each one was a mason jar with hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows along with a bag of "coal" or mint chocolate covered homemade marshmallows.

 

 

 

 

I made the cards, labels, and bag toppers using a Silhouette Studio system.  I got it for my birthday and I love it.  It works like a Cricut system, but you use a computer and download images from the Internet to cut.  I even made a Razorback banner with it for Football season.

 

The main part of the baskets were the melted snowman cookies.  The idea was that all the warm wishes melted the snowmen!

 

 

There were two flavors:  almond sugar cookies with gingerbread cake ball heads and chocolate sugar cookies with Andes mint cake ball heads.  The cookies were covered in royal icing with royal icing carrot noses and chocolate limbs and buttons.  They ended up reminding us of Calvin and Hobbes snowmen!

 

I had a blast creating these this year and can not wait to get started on next year's presents!







1st post!

Aaron and I  had such a wonderful 2012 with lots of changes to our lives.  We started off the year as an engaged couple and became husband and wife on March 24th. It is amazing that such an important day that we worked on for months can go by so fast.  We were lucky enough to have family and friends join us in celebration.

This summer we traveled to Hawaii for a belated honeymoon.  It was so beautiful there, I did not want to come home.  After viewing some property listings (and their price), I realized that I would not being staying.  We enjoyed hiking, kayaking, exploring, a luau and amazing food!  I will have to post a more indepth recap later with some of the great pictures Aaron took.

When fall came we were ready to cheer on our Razorbacks.  To say they had a rough year would be an understatement, but we were there every game praying and hoping for a victory.  We are expecting a much better football season this year.  We are Bielievers!  WPS!

 We finished out the year with a move to Bella Vista.  It came as a surprise even to us!  We were just planning on looking around at a few homes and next thing we knew we found the perfect house for us to move into the next phase in our life as a family.

While reflecting on these events, I realized that I had captured them (well majority of them) in pictures, but I did not do a good job of journaling them.  So I decided to start this blog to share our adventures, crafty projects we complete, recipes, and local reviews.  I hope you all enjoy!  And let the adventures begin!