Sunday, October 20, 2013

A Family Business - Memories and Hopes

Colt's Dad Ron and brother, Kin are artists, who makes beautiful rock sculptures.
I started a little internet business on Ebay and Etsy.  
We would do it together, the kids and I.  The girls and I would go over to Paca's rock shop to pick out the rocks and then River, Silver and Summer would help me wrap them up and take inventory of what we were buying - mark down how many of which kinds we were taking. River learned about invoices and writing checks.
We then took pictures of the rocks and listed them on the internet sites.
We also named each rock - to give them a personality - lots of people commented that they liked the personalized touch of a name for each piece. 
We then would package up the rocks that would sell - all the girls loved helping crinkle the newspaper and pack up the box, then tape it shut and add the address label.  
We would look on the map as to where our packages were going:  Holland, Canada, and all over the United States!
Trivet

Diffuser

Aquarium Rocks

Stone Sculptures

TeaLight Candles

It has been a neat thing for our family to do together.  
We have learned about expenses and profit and savings.  
A true family business!

It's been fun to hear what people say about the rocks once they receive them in the mail.   They are so much more beautiful in person they say!  I've been surprised at how much repeat business we have had - once they see them, they have to go on and buy some more :)  

They buy them for memories of past vacations and as motivation and hopes for future vacations.

Silver having fun making corrals out of the rocks for her stuffed animals




VIDEO:  Silver helping me to unwrap them to take pictures.
She looks on the bottom to see if they have cork :
Cork = Sculpture
No cork = Aquarium Rock

Summer helping me package them up!


Scrunching up the newspaper!


Silver getting the aquarium rocks wet.  I list these with a couple of pictures when dry and a couple pictures wet so customers can have a realistic view of what they are buying.  
Silver gets such a kick out of helping!
VIDEO:  When the rock is put under water, air bubbles stream out.
In the video you can hear Silvers voice asking if they will get smaller - they start out lots of bubbles, and then as it gets saturated, the bubbles slow down and get really tiny.







Oh what fun it is to work together :)

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Easter Eggs and Heritage

Dying Easter eggs with Tomi




Silver with her special eggs.
She LOVES this reindeer shirt.  Her "littlest petshop" kitty shirt is underneath with her reindeer pocket shirt.  Seriously, does life get any better than this?  Sometimes the simple things bring the most enjoyment!

River's egg!  She wanted to do one for Daddy.  Green = Daddy's favorite color and green like camo.  Then she drew a hunter (i took a picture of it and had it right here, but can't find it - she did a good job drawing daddy with a gun).  She then asked me for a deer.  This is what she got:

River showed it to Tomi when she came over and she said "Is that an eagle or a turtle?
An eagle turtle deer!

Summer's egg!


Crayon first and then dip in dye.  


L-R:  River, Summer, Silver

Easter Egg Hunt at the Ranch!

Summer, Silver, River and Mommy

Summer

Moving Silver's hair out of her eyes again!  She is 4 and this is all the hair she ever got!  She does NOT like me to cut her hair - even her bangs because she wants to have long hair "just like River's" 
This Easter was really neat as we got together as extended family on Colt's side.  The major part of the day was teaching the girls their Heritage and where they come from.  The story of Grandpa's family Homesteading on the Arizona Strip.  We then headed out to see the different sites of family history. 



With PacaMa

River was a good explorer!  She and I walked around where the old dug-out was.  We made a pretty big loop around the area and she found this old metal airplane.  We showed it to Grandpa who was so happy to see the toy airplane that belonged to his brother!
River decided after this experience to become an archaeologist! 

Can you even imagine living in a dugout?
With small children?


We all joined in a cedar berry fight!

Summer






VIDEO:  Cedar Berry Fight!


Shoes on the wrong feet.  We call these "duck feet". 
I am pleased she can dress herself.  So what if her shoes, shirt, pants or all 3 are on backwards?  She is learning!


Click on this picture to see it bigger - her face is so precious!





Running along!

Dirty Faces and clothes - oh how fun to be a kid in a sandy place!

Doesn't this shirt just say "Easter"?

Silver writing in the dust on the truck.

Silver with her FAVORITE shirt on!
It has a pocket for toting all your treasures with you!

On the dirt roads Silver driving with Daddy!
She got such a kick out of it with the radio turned up!




VIDEO:  Driving the Truck!


VIDEO:  Driving with Daddy in Truck - Having fun with music :)





Summer's turn!


River with her special peacock feather she picked up at the ranch.

Summer is looking at the cows out the window

A couple of days later we took the old Easter eggs up the canyon to our "sandbox" 
Of course we HAD to take pictures of our favorites!





2 eggs together make a dalmation - spotty head and body

We rolled several down the ramp we made and then set them up in the "wall" of the sand.
We grabbed small rocks and threw them at the wall, knocking the eggs down.  We set it up over and over again :) 




VIDEO:  Daddy and River playing catch with eggs.


Daddy swinging girls around and around in a circle.  I love the light in the evenings with the warm evening glow that casts long shadows.  

There is so much in life to enjoy and be grateful for!  
Find the Joy!  Create the Joy!