The Outer Edge of Heaven Book Review

The Outer Edge of Heaven by Jaclyn Hawkes is a sweet contemporary romance and I was very excited to read and review it!

About the book-

When Charlie’s parents become overbearing and want to arrange her entire life for her, including the man she’ll marry, she decides she needs a breather. What better place to clear your mind than Montana, with all those wide open spaces and blue skies? She accepts a job working on a ranch belonging to her best friend’s family and soon feels like a member of that family herself. And meeting handsome rancher Luke Langston just might be the best part of it all …if only they weren’t so incredibly different.

 

My Thoughts

Wow!  I absolutely LOVED this book.  I could not put it down, not to do homework, not to sleep, not to clean house, nada!  So, my poor family had to live without a lot of my help for the few hours it took me to read it!  I couldn't help, but to feel sorry for poor Charlie.  She's been bossed around her whole life, because she's not willing to fight her parents and her best friend is a guy who completely understands her and is a great big brother character!  Who else would encourage you to go off to a place you've never been before to live with his relatives for a summer?  Then you add in the gorgeous cousin of her friend, the creepy guy and a lot of interesting family members and you have quite a lot going on.  I happen to love that, because it seems like I get bored easily when I don't get enough sleep, so hurray!  Fantastic book!  I would encourage everyone to buy a copy and luckily it's only $7.95 to get in on the Kindle (which I also love)!  Go here to buy it, you know you want to!

The Best Day Ever (if you ask Kira)

So, this week I realized that we drive by Pome on the Range everytime we go to and from Olathe and I have always wanted to stop and pick something (peaches, apples, berries...).  Scott and I decided it was doable and planned to go today (Saturday)!  We told the kids and invited my parents (it is the halfway point) on Friday.  I had to get the excitement level up to encourage them to get their chores done before we left.  Getting my kiddos to do their chores is like pulling teeth.  Not just any teeth either.  Molars.  The big ones.  In the very back.  This caused us to leave when I planned on being there.  It still worked out okay though!  Phew!  My niece was even able to come with my parents!  Hurray!  It was incredibly fun/funny watching my kids!  Cecilia had a blast trying to eat the straw out of the bottom of the wagon.  Leah and Emma were content to pick up nasty apples off the ground (which I nixed immediately).  Then Emma discovered that she could climb some of the trees and she was excited!  Kira wanted to take millions of apples off the trees using the cool picking tool.  Ben wanted to jump, jump to get his apples.  The concentration on his face was awesome!  We got started picking apples and then I found a nice spot for pictures.  You know how I love pictures!  I even brought two cameras.  Scott took pictures and I took pictures.  After I write this up, I will put Scott's pictures on the computer.  He probably got some really good ones!  Sometimes it's a matter of luck with kiddos!  Then my parents and Alexis came and my kids were thrilled!  They went running down the aisle/lane/whatever it's called to be with them!  We went to the very back of the row, yes, that's it!  There the apple trees were the perfect size for little girls and their helping adults (mainly my Husband and Dad)!  Between all of us, we picked over 30 pounds of apples.  Yum!  I managed to "lose" my purse which of course I didn't notice until it was time to pay at the counter.  Whoops!  Scott got to pay, while I went searching down the rows and found it!  I'm super glad that I brought the bright orange and yellow purse.  It was very easy to find!  All-in-all, I took a TON of pictures!  Plus my mom and dad took some family pictures!  I love family pictures!  We came home and put my pictures ont he computer and I probably drove my husband crazy with the which one do you like better...how about this one...questions.  Poor guy!  Then I went to the RS Broadcast.  I agree with Emma, not the best day ever (which Kira said), but still a good day.

 Kira was the first one to pick an apple!

 My first kiddo photoshoot in the apples

 Cecilia next to a good apple, no she didn't pick it.  I think she was too scared!

 Lexi's first apple picked.  You can't tell, but she's still in the tree!

 Leah loved having Papaw help her!

 Cecilia with some straw in her hand!

 See how hard Ben's concentrating?

 Kira picked this super cute little apple and I just wanted to get a picture of Cecilia with it.  THis is what she did immediately!  How funny!  We took it away right after the picture!

 See Kira has a ton!

 So did Emma!  I love how she posed everytime she got some!  What a great kid!

 Behind the kids are 30 pounds of apples!

 Cecilia swinging in the little playground

 Our family by the little duck/geese pond

Our family tree!

Winner of the Blog Hop

Because I want to close it a little early (tomorrow is Sunday after all), I went ahead and visited random.org and we have a Winner!  Lucky #15 won!

Maria Hoagland said...

New follower and liked your FB page. Such cute shirts :)

September 23, 2011 9:40 AM

So, I will try and find your email via your Google account or you can comment with your email lettling me know what you would like!  Thanks to all!

Another Blog Hop Giveaway!

Welcome to the September Blog Hop! Celebrate the beginning of fall with me and my blogger friends by hopping around, visiting our sites, and entering our contests! There are no limits - you can enter the contest on every blog. With over 40 blogs participating, that's over 40 prizes you could win. Just click on the links below to move on to the next blog.



On my blog, you can win …



Anything from my new Facebook page-My Five Silly Geese Boutique, or if you don't have kids or want a custom appliqued shirt, then I will let you pick something from Amazon under $20. 

Would you like to win this prize? You just need to do two things.



1. Become a follower of this blog and a fan of my store (so you can see the wall to pick something).



2. Leave me a comment in the trail and tell me why you'd like to win this prize.



That's it! You are now entered. The contest ends on Saturday night, September 24th, at midnight MST, and the winner will be contacted shortly thereafter. Please either leave your e-mail address in the comment trail or make sure it's visible through your profile so I can contact you to tell you that you're the lucky winner.



Now go visit my other friends ...






September Blog Hop Participants

1. Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author 2. Joyce DiPastena 3. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer 4. Mandi Slack 5. Michael D. Young 6. Six Mixed Reviews 7. Pam Williams 8. Laurie Lewis 9. Kristy Tate 10. Marilyn Yarbrough 11. Stacy Coles 12. Kristie Ballard 13. Lynn Parsons 14. Pushing Past the Pounds 15. Sheila Staley 16. cindy Hogan

17. Jamie Thompson 18. Jaclyn Weist 19. Cathy Witbeck 20. Secret Sisters Mysteries 21. Tamera Westhoff 22. Tina Scott 23. Lynnea Mortensen 24. Danyelle Ferguson aka Queen of the Clan 25. Jeanette A. Fratto 26. Bonnie Harris 27. Melissa Lemon 28. Mary Ann Dennis 29. Stephanie Black 30. Jane Still 31. Janice 32. Laura Bastian

33. Tamara Bordon 34. Betsy Love 35. Maria Hoagland 36. Amber Robertson 37. Debbie Davis 38. 39. Christy Monson 40. Carolyn Frank 41. Rebecca Birkin 42. Melissa Cunningham 43. Emily L. Moir 44. Ronda Hinrichsen 45. Lisa Asanuma 46. Joan Sowards 47. Jordan McCollum 48. Diane Stringam Tolley

Learn more about September Blog Hop here.

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My new niece

My family and I were able to come up North to attend my brother's baby's blessing!  She is so little still (she's about two weeks old already)!  It's crazy to look at my big baby versus this little newborn!  I just got a new camera, in the hopes of getting a Photo business going.  I have a ton of props, and some super cute stuff to get started!  Anyway, on to the cute pictures of my niece (I took them all with my new camera)!

 With her daddy

 With her great-grandma!

A "break" with one of Cecilia.  I LOVE it!

"Great" American Market

I should have known better.  I gave myself three weeks to make a huge stash of things to sell.  With being a mom of five kids, a Den mom and a full-time student, I'm not sure what I was thinking!  I got a few things done before Friday and then worked liked crazy on Friday, without going to sleep.  Yeah.  Second bad idea.  So, I quickly fed Cecilia before six in the morning, got everything in the car and parked a couple blocks away to tote my items for sale and the table in two trips.  That actually kept me warm for the first little while, which was great because I was freezing for the first few hours (I forgot my jacket)!  My back kept seizing up and I'm pretty sure the bucket I was sitting on wasn't very helpful!  Oh well!  I managed to make a couple tutus while waiting for more customers!  I didn't make much in the morning at all.  Scott came and brought the kids for a little bit and we had tacos and fruit for lunch.  I fed Cecilia again, enough to last her to the end!  I actually had a couple people ask me to make things and sign up to be in my crafts class that I'm starting.  Hurray!  I have wanted to teach craft classes for awhile.  My sister-in-law was kind enough to initially teach me to make bows and it led to me loving it and learning to make lots of different new things!  So, I would like to do the same thing for others!  That and I love teaching (hence the reason I'm in school to become a Teacher)!  Either way I learned people really like John Deere everything and my cute Turkey shirts!  I love the Turkey shirts too, so I don't blame them!  Fun times...  I was by myself so I had to run to a booth to get drinks when I ran out of water in both of my water bottles.  I had to do that twice.  So, I got enough to drink, but forgot suntan lotion and burned.  Luckily only a little!  I had great deals at the end, and ended up "making" $100.  That doesn't include what I spent making it (by any means), so I will be selling items in my WePay Store, as soon as I get them on there!  If I'm smart I will put the hyperlink in here once I do!  Danyelle, in case you read this, I sold at least one of your books!  I'm going to talk to people at RS on Tuesday too!  I was exhausted, but got everything packed back up and managed to get a few groceries, make dinner and was out a little after nine.  So out that I didn't turn off the light and when I woke up at five I was pretty surprised!  I'm glad I tried it out, but I doubt I'll do it again.  Here's some pics!

 My setup

 I also have the opposite (K-State crushing KU) and a regular green one.

 The Turkey shirt

 John Deere tractor and I also did a plain green tractor

 Tie shirt

 K-State one and I have KU and Chiefs

 The John Deere Diaper Cake

 Another Diaper Cake

 The Pink Zebra Diaper Cake (also has swim diapers)

The boy's tool diaper cake

Thursday Tutorial-How to make a Cupcake Shirt

I had to make one of these for Emma, because her birthday is coming up and I refuse to pay $30 for a birthday shirt.  I won't tell you how much I paid for everything, but I will be making a considerable amount more than one shirt, so it's okay!

Supplies need:  Pretty fabric or two (at least 1 foot), Tulle in a coordinating color(s) to the fabric(s), scissors, heat n bond (single sheet should be fine), needle and thread.  You also need the pattern, which I will try to remember to include a pdf file for you to click on.  If I don't though, just draw out a cupcake bottom, trace the bottom of a big cup for the tulle circles and the bottom of a smaller cup for the fabric circles.

Now we can begin.  First pick the "cupcake" fabric.  For this one I used actual cupcake fabric.  I am also doing zebra print ones.  I may show those in part 2.

 Turn fabric wrong side up and iron on the heat n bond (following the package instructions).

 Trace (or freehand) the cupcake wrappers.

 Cut them out!

 Cut out the large tulle circles.  You need at least 4 per icing circle and three icing circles per shirt, so 12 tulle circles.

 Cut 12 smaller fabric circles too.

 Go ahead and iron on the cupcake wrapper (so you don't lose it), following the package instructions.

 Now comes the super hard part!  Making these fun little icing circles.  You want to follow this tutorial here to figure out that part and then come back.  JUST DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING!  I chose to simply layer one set of tulle circles and then one set of fabric circles, but you can do it whatever way you would like!  I sewed the sides together which seemed to work to keep them in their spots as I wanted. 

Here they are with all three icing circles gently sewn on.  When I add the centers, I'll sew a LOT more!  I want those to stay on! 

I chose huge heart buttons.  Here is the result:

She was pretty happy with her birthday outfit (I made a matching tutu with the same color tulle)!

New niece!

Because my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) had her first baby today (she's adorable and I'm looking very much forward to doing her baby pictures when I go back up), I thought I would do a little walk down memory lane.  And then I thought of all the people who do cool posts about their kiddos on their birthdays, so I'll wait!  What can I say?  I'm seriously wanting a root beer float, because of the sample (only one scoop in a little cup of root beer) we got after Cub Scouts.  Although we made little teepees in Cub Scouts tonight.  Fun!  Mine turned out pretty well!  Maybe I'll post a picture later.  Ben kept asking me what hieroglyphs made up the Egyptian gods' names.  I'm not that cool Ben.  Sorry!

Thursday Tutorial (late)

While I wait for my awesome video to download on Facebook, I'll post one of my tutorials that I made. This is for you Danyelle (since I wasn't sure which headbands you were talking about)!

Supplies needed:  Hot glue gun with extra sticks (they get used fast in this project), fake flowers, desired hair clip and coordinating ribbon if you want to cover the clip.

Directions:

First you start out with a silk flower or group of flowers.  These were on clearance at Wal-mart.

Then you pull it off by its top (or head)

Here's the group of flowers ready to be made into bows/headbands!

 Then you pull off the ugly green part on the back.

 You take off all the petals startig from the bottom.

 Line them up in order and decide whether you want to keep that middle or not (I usually don't).

 Start from the bottom layer

 and put a glue circle around the center hole.

 Repeat until out of layers.

 Hot glue whatever you're putting in the middle on top.

 Place it and voila!  The top is done!

Then you put a hot glue line in the center of the back and stick the top part of the clip (the one that sticks up) to it!  You're all done if you want a clip!  If you want a headband you'll have to wait for that tutorial!  Sorry, but it's been a loooong day!