hola friends,

happy friday- 

i was going to do a whole post showing you my 

bathroom re-do but after looking and looking for the "before"

photos and not being able to find them, this has now

turned into an "after" shot of the finished bath and

a whole bunch of random other stuff.

i did show you a couple pics of me in the process of tearing off

the fish wallpaper a while ago, (that part took 3.5 hours) but just let me remind you that the top

half of this little bathroom was painted a pale peachy tone and the bottom

was navy. there was a fish border separating them and believe it or not,

 after 20 years of looking at that

fish border, every single family member still liked it, but i just knew it was time...it had to go.

some people like to paint. 

i'm not one of them... and a bathroom is such a tedious place to tape and

paint if you ask me. ( & i mean seriously friends, who likes to have their head

buried in a tight corner behind a toilet?)

this redo consisted of the hubs hanging a new light fixture... and that was

major- the one that was there was original to the house and musta

cost about $6. it was one of those hideous strips with the 5 exposed

light bulbs. ewwww and me cleaning the joint to within an inch of

it's life, tearing off the paper and painting, and putting up a new 

towel rack, art and accessories.

the whole project cost around $200 and it's nice to have

it done. 

i still wanted a "guy" feeling in this basement bath, because it

is the bath they use. the two canvas's and towels came from HOME GOODS.

(love that place- want it allllll). the towel bar came from TARGET.

paint is SHERWIN WILLIAMS shaker beige, and i found the light fixture at HOME DEPOT.

it's hard to see the fixture since it's turned on... but it's bronze and

such an improvement~ will replace the faucet to match next time i can

corral lars to do a quick project.

 moving along... i'm sad to say the ranunculus are gone for this year.

i pritnear have to have a small pity party when i realize this. 

i think they are the most beautiful flower on the planet and the 

short season they are available makes them even more special to me.

thank you, you little pastel beauties for brightening my home this spring...

this exquisite ribbon will be tied on my daughter's bridal bouquet.

it's plant dyed silk and just ohhhh so lovely.

the company that makes it is called silk and willow. 

they even hand make the wooden spools that the ribbon comes on.

*love is in the details*

adria chose the color

bespoke blush

~ even the name makes me happy.

here's some more peachy pink goodness.

josie k. my sweet little friend all cocooned in her beddie for the night

with her favorite things. 

girlfriend has thee best hair. she's only 5 and has the hair of a 15 year old.

ain't this the truth?

it's bridal shower weekend # 3 and i can't wait! this one is being hosted by

two of my besties and i know it's going to be just lovely.

i had 3 client photo shoots in the last week so i'm behind on

editing pictures and will hopefully be catching up and 

sharing some of last weekend's shower soon.

that one was hosted by the grooms family and i got to meet the

wonderful people that will be my daughter's other family soon.

the wedding is 29 days away now and there are piles building up all over 

our house of things that we'll be bringing to 

minnesota horse and hunt club 

where the wedding and reception will be.

the 4 larson guys will be part of an all day bachelor party tomorrow

while the girls will be at the final shower.

woooo hooooo!!!

here's a laugh for you in closing.

this is my youngest and my grandson. my grandboy seth is sporting

a long hairstyle that he loves and that is driving his father nuts.

his uncle cole came up wearing this fake-hair headband to 

mess with seth, and we all had a good laugh.

(seth doesn't wear his hair over his eyes, he has totally mastered the

"head flip" to keep the bangs to the side but did this for the photo.)

*i have to remind his dad that he too had long, crazy hair that drove his

father and i nuts in his teens and that this too shall pass.

hope you have a good hair weekend!

xo, beth

saturdays are for showers~

when i was little we showered once a week.

saturday night before church was for showers.

(well, we bathed~ we didn't have a shower).  

last saturday we had a better kind of shower.

 three weekends in a row now, my daughter is being honored

 at bridal showers. it's soooo fun and i'm so grateful to the wonderful

women in her life that are putting all the time and effort into these parties

and kicking off a month of pre-wedding celebrations.

the first shower was hosted by my sister, sister-in-law mary and my 

cousin brenda. unfortunately my sister wasn't able to be there and i'm going

to tell you about that in a bit. 

last saturday a fun bunch of my family congregated in glencoe mn. for the 1st party.

brenda loves to plan and decorate for events. 

(girlfriend used to own a party planning biz).

i kinda of knew she'd knock it outta the park, but when my girl and i walked in 

and saw all thissssss, i couldn't believe my eyes!

just look at all the things brenda thought of and made and brought for this wonderful party~

this pink camo cap with the veil was one of my favorite parts.

i know...can you even stand it? in the middle of each table there was a vase filled with water,

lake shells, two pink bobbers, a floating candle and get this, REAL dehydrated

fish on hooks and line.

this is brenda, the hostess with the mostess.~

my sister in law mary -on the left- (she helped with the shower and made amazingly

beautiful and yummy cupcakes in adria's fave flavors).   :  ) 

cousin teresa is the other cutie. she stepped in for my seester and

said a nice table grace.

mary, run me down a couple of these cupcakes will ya? thx

bren had a head table for the mom's and bride to be. on right is the groom's mother.
She survived her first afternoon with the baldwins and seemed to fit right in. 

she even made us all laugh with a story about her son from high school

that he may or may not have wanted us to know.

my soon to be son-in-law is the youngest of her 4 children and

one of 3 boys and i can tell momma has some good

stories to tell...

our delicious caesar salad, garlic bread and lasagna lunch.

our newest family member, baby cora, her great g-ma dora (who's my mom's twin), grandma 

joan and momma abbey drove a long way to celebrate with us.

4 generations of family is such a miracle isn't it?

now let's talk about this.

bren made this great sign and hauled it all the way from

south dakota where she lives. unbelievable!

she even gave it to adria, but it wouldn't fit in

her car, so bren graciously offered to bring it to the wedding.=

this is my adorable g-nephew barrett. (bear boy)

it had been way too long since i'd seen him.

great wrapping~

here's another of brenda's gifts...she knit several pink camo hats for prizes. 

...and wrapped them in paper that matched the wedding invites...

i know~ don't even try to out-do her... it ain't goina

 happen!

it was all over too fast, and here the BTB (bride to be) is saying her heartfelt thanks

to all her family that traveled from around the state and made her feel so loved.

my aunt dar is on the right in the picture below. she's my children's "bonus" grandma. 
dar has been like a mom to my sister and i since her sister,

(my mom) passed away when us girls were little.

*i wish i would have gotten everyone who came to the shower in a picture,

sorry---we know you were there phil, lacey & darci and we love ya!)

i can't close without telling you about my precious niece jessie. she was in

a serious car accident a week ago today. (that's why she and my sis weren't able

to be at the shower.)

jessie is home recuperating from multiple injuries and the car that hit her

had a family in it. the driver of that car, a young mother-who was pregnant- died

at the scene. the father and little boy survived but will be healing for

a long time too.

 if you're a praying person, please lift them up in prayer

as they have much to deal with physically and emotionally in the days ahead.

*sweet jess, i am thinking of you and hoping that every single day

you are closer to being back to your normal 

fabulous, fun, silly self.

xox,

beth

          today is about food.

specifically sweet, sugary food.

lars had a great season tapping the maple trees

at the lodge and in just 2 weeks collected enough

sap to boil down and make 12 pints of 

rich maple syrup. 

this is only the second attempt at syrup making for the 

larsons and this year's batch is far superior to last years.

dale learned by trial and error that we didn't 

boil it down far enough last spring. it was still good,

but not thick like it is this year.

did you know it takes about 50 gallons of sap

 to make 1 gallon of syrup.

*(did you know that you can make syrup from the sap of

other types of trees too?)

the guys used blue canning jars so the syrup looks like carmel~ : )

for our dessert on Easter sunday i made meringue shells.

i'd been craving them for a while and haven't made them in 

many years.

oh my goodness~~ they were so good!

i've made them occasionally my whole married life- and

they're not something i've ever had at anyone else's house. 

(next time i host book club i'm going to make them for my friends).

the recipe is in my good old betty crocker cookbook.

there are only 3 ingredients.

eggs, cream of tarter and sugar.

as i was separating my eggs, i got a teeny bit of egg yoke in with the whites.

 if you've ever made meringue for a pie, you probably know what happened. my whites would 

not beat to a stiff consistency. i ended up throwing that batch of batter and starting over.

oh well~

here is my second attempt- they really are simple. after beating your batter till it's

quite stiff, you cover a cookie sheet with brown paper (aka a grocery bag cut up), 

and make mounds of it- then shape the middle kind of like a nest.

now... the secret is in the baking. 

you place them in a 275 degree oven for a longggg time and you don't 

open the oven till they are all done baking. Then they

still need to stay in the oven an add'l hour after you shut it off.

*i have a convection oven that adjusts to a lower temp automatically- thus the 250 temp . 

i knew my hubbie would come home and go right to the oven and

open it when he smelled something baking.~

when they are done they are light, flaky, and good for days.

they are delicious served with whipped cream and fresh fruit,

or lemon filling- and although i've never tried this, i think a little caramel 

 or chocolate sauce would be amazing too.

this weekend my daughter's bridal showers begin!

we're so excited~
i've heard a little about what the hostesses have planned for saturday and
i think adria is going to love it.
: )

april showers bring may flowers...

get it?

the wedding (with flowers galore) is in may~

be thankful, be well, be blessed, 

b.

it's Easter weekend~

i've put together some images that remind

me how beautiful spring and Easter are after a long

cold minnesota winter. we had a big spring rain

two nights ago and right on cue the grass then started to green up.

i think of many things when i think of Easter.

of course the resurrection of Jesus our Savior is

first and foremost, but after that all things pastel,

bunnies, flowers, green grass and baby 

animals come to mind.

hare wrapping paper- yes please!

ohhhh...this photo by elena shumilova. i think i love the shadow 

of the bunny as much as the real bunny.

i'd like to have this little hat on hand.... darling prop for my 

photography business~

olivia. the little sister of one of my seniors came along for the photo session

and was simply enchanting.  beautiful brown eyes, curly blond locks and shy-

i pritnear snuck her in my car.

is this not the prettiest plating for a salad you've ever seen?

this seriously could be my adria dawn's legs when she was my little honey bunny...

and this photo below?

oh this photo~ ~ ~ it gives me a lump in my throat. 

this is my momma's twin sister dora.

dora and my uncle floyd are farmers.

they have raised sheep and chickens on their farm and

if you weren't raised on a farm you may not know this:

a farmer sleeps in their barn when its lambing season. dora and

floyd are in their late 70's now and all of the years they have

farmed and raised critters together, they've taken turns sleeping in the

barns to help with countless, countless births. 

looks like this was triplet lambs, just born... (hope you're not

grossed out by the afterbirth still on them, they were after all, just born) : )

i have such admiration for the quiet, unassuming way this woman has lived her life. she's 

worked alongside her husband since her early 20's. weighing in at probably 90 lbs.

she's raised 3 children and been a huge part of her grand and great grandchildren's lives.

 she's run huge equipment, picked rock, hoed many big gardens,

 taken care of  thousands of animals, cooked, canned, sewed,

& taught sunday school. 

you know what i think her starring roll is though?

she's a baby whisperer. she looks the happiest, in a rocking chair with a 

swaddled baby in her arms.

love her so!

wishing you all the sweet blessings of spring and

a Happy Easter,

xo