A Fun Tutorial...

Some of the shirts I've made this way...

I have had a number of people ask me how I made the shirts for Ethan's Run, so I thought I would do my first tutorial. I am by no means an expert, but I have done a couple dozen shirts now, so I think I have the hang of it.  First of all, I will be talking about the Cricut machine, which I don't own (borrowed one) to do the cutting for you, but it can be done simply by printing your image and cutting it out freehand with scissors and an exacto knife.  The Cricut just makes it that much easier. (And, by the way, I really hope I get one for my birthday---hint hint Rusty)

So here's what you need- the basics:

• An iron and ironing board
• freezer paper (found by the aluminum foil etc...)
• Fabric paint, I liked the Tulip Slick version
• scissors
• t-shirt
• foam brushes (one per color using, it saves so much time)
• your Cricut, Silhouette Machine or your own ingenuity
• Also, a t-shirt form. You can get them at Michael's, and Hobby Lobby which also has kids sizes. You can use regular cardboard, but this makes life easier, especially if you are making a few at once. 

1. After you get your design cut out onto the transfer paper (freezer paper), get your iron plugged in and ready your t-shirt.

2. Peel the design off the sticky board, careful not to rip it! Unlike doing vinyl lettering, you actually discard the letter, you only want the outline.

3. Once it is off, cut it down so it is easier to work with, just not super skinny, because the paint will get all over the edge of the stencil. Don't forget to grab the inner pieces that help form the letters!

4. Next, put paper SHINY side down, and iron. If it isn't where you want it, peel back carefully and reset. Make sure you do the inner edges carefully, so the paint won't run. The smaller the lettering, the more important this step becomes!

5. Get your paint ready! Easy enough, but you can also mix in glitter or mix colors together, just make sure you prepare enough pain for your project. Just to give you an idea, I used 2 full large bottles of black, 3 of green, one of red and one of white when I did the 15 Team Braden shirts.

6. Start applying paint to the shirt. I like to go around the edges and then fill in. Your brush strokes will sort of show, so just try to use nice lines. But truthfully, it's not a big deal.

7. Once the stencil is covered the package says to let dry for 4 hours. I usually waited an hour and peeled it off and then allowed it to fully dry.

8. Peel back the larger stencil pieces first. And no, you won't be able to use them over and over again. They sometimes need a little coaxing to come off. So yes, that means I printed out each of the words for all the Team Braden shirts 15 times.  I know, I need to earn a merit badge for that one.

After you peel off the smaller pieces (there is a Cricut tool for it- but I just used a toothpick)  all you have to do it wear your new creation!

Or in my case, use it to make a big announcement! 

I'll be wearing this for the next few months, then the baby will get a shirt of their own.

Yup, Beck Baby #4 will be arriving in October.  

Yes, another October baby, and yes I have been super sick and want to give a huge shout out to my Mom and Dad for doing my laundry and cleaning my house, for my Mother in law for also doing our laundry and cooking for my men, as well as my sweet nephews who gave up most of their Spring Break to help me with the kids! And honestly, without Rusty this house would fall apart. He is so sweet and understanding, and lets me do what I need to to get through the rough weeks. Even sweet Braden will bring me water if he hears me puking, I know, so sweet right? Super excited to see what this baby will be...

And in case you are super confused and actually want to do the tutorial, there are a lot of good ones out there on you tube and e-how or on a ton of craft blogs...

San Diego, the last part...

 

We spent the morning of our last day in Cali at the beach.  The waves were way bigger than usual thanks to that horrible tsunami in Japan the day we left for our trip. We went to Mission Beach since it was close, and it was deserted, so it was pretty nice.

 Brenner wasn't so sure of the sand, he wanted to go see the water.

 Noni didn't think she'd get in the water so she left her suit at the hotel. Little did she know that she'd end up completely in the water many times! The grand kids loved it tho. Brenner would say "Ready?" and she's take him in the water a bit.

 The water was so cold, but that didn't stop them from filling their buckets and playing in the sand.

 The waves were very unpredictable. The kids worked on things pretty fr from where it was coming in, and every few waves one was big enough it took out their creation.

 Bren wasn't sure he liked how cold the water was, but he wanted to be in the arms of whomever was nearest the water.

 Our family on the beach- seriously, look at the waves behind us.

 Pops and Noni and their grandkids. Such good sports on the whole trip with the littles.

 One of the bigger waves getting Cindi, and Berk trying to run out of it. It was so cold!!!

 My Beach Boys!

After about an hour we headed to the hotel, gave the kids baths and loaded the car we were off. Brenner was such a trooper the whole trip. Aside from the car rides. He cried the ENTIRE way home. No amount of Elmo or snacks was helping. He finally dozed off for about 20 minutes an hour from home, but resumed his crying as soon as he woke up. The big boys were champs, they surrendered the Suburban's tv to Brenner and watched movies on a portable dvd player or played DS. I was so happy to be home, after 5 days I was so ready for my bed! Thanks Cali, you were great, Berk wants to know when we can come back...

San Diego pt 3...

We ended our big days in San Diego with a trip to Sea World. The last time we were there it was just my parents, us and Braden. Boy how our family has changed! First up we walked the park to try to get on the Atlantis ride- which didn't open till noon, so we walked to the Artic exploration area. We saw polar bears, penguins, beluga whales and more. It was so cool, you could see them from many different aspects.

After the Arctic area it was time to head right to a show. The seal and otter show. It was funny, and the little otter was crazy. I did miss the old walrus that used to be in it though.  Brenner soon discovered that he loved the shows. That's where the popcorn is! It was the hottest day so far, and we were re-sun screening often!

 After we needed a break from the sun, so we went to check out the sharks.Creepy and cool.

 Then it was finally time to ride the Atlantis! Brenner, Berk and I stayed while everyone else went on. Berk had fun playing in the splash zone, but generally he didn't get very wet.  The people on the ride however, got VERY wet. As in, buy new clothes wet. But the ride was fun they said.

 We decided to eat a little lunch and head to the Sesame Street play area for the kids to burn off some energy. Brenner was reluctant to play at first, but by the end he was falling and running and grabbing the blocks- pretty cute.

 

Finally, it was time for the Shamu show Believe. Now, let me give you a little back story. The last time we were here was also the very first day of  the newest shamu show, Believe. We got special ponchos, hats, and were filmed. It was cool. That show was not the same Believe show we saw. The trainers (understandably, since the accident in Florida) don't swim or really get too close to the whales. I missed those parts. There was only ever two whales in the tank at a time. I mean, it was good, but we were all a little let down. Ok, I take that back, the kids got bubble guns, Shamu puppets and drinks, so they were happy campers.

 Then the glutens for punishment decided to hit the Atlantis again. Braden stayed off this time, and Berk got wetter watching than they did on the ride!

 Last stop of the day was the new Blue Horizon dolphin show, It MORE than made up for the lack luster Shamu show, with its divers, acrobats and birds--oh yeah, and the 12 dolphins! Seriously, so cool. Of course after Braden saw the divers he decided he wanted to work there when he is older. Love love loved this show, if we'd know how cool it was we would have tried to see it twice!

Man alive, three go-go-go days make for one tired Mommy and three tired boys! We stopped for food to refuel and headed back to the hotel!

San Diego pt 2...

The World Famous San Diego Zoo! We started right off with a double decker bus tour of the zoo. It was cool because you could see down into the exhibits. Brenner and Berk loved it. Brenner kept pointing, and when he would finally locate the animal in the pen he'd let us all know. It was hilarious!

 I was so excited to see the polar bears. During our bus tour we could see right down into their tank, and we go to see them swimming and eating. It was really cool. The driver stopped for a few minutes so we could watch.

 Brenner kept trying to climb out of my arms and into the pens!

 Berk and Jaci loved holding the maps and pointing out what we were seeing.

 After the bus ride, we headed to the polar bears and to the reptile house. It was cool, but my skin is still crawling!

We took the sky tram across the zoo. It was huge. If you have been there you know what I mean. I mean come on, what zoo has moving sidewalks to get you up the hills? It was sweet. The weather was beautiful and the animals were so cool. One thing that was funny was a peacock that kept popping up all over the zoo. When we first walked in, later at the flamingos and again later on the roof of a shop. It must be fun for their keepers trying to track them down at the end of the day!

We left the zoo in the late afternoon, content with what we'd seen, and headed back toward the hotel. Brenner was so tired and the boy got to swim while he slept. Whew, ready for day 3???

San Diego pt 1...

We decided to head to San Diego for part of Spring Break. The Becks, Jill and Jaci decided to come too! We drove over Friday after school and got settled for our busy next few days.

We woke up early and ate, then had a couple hours to kill till Legoland opened. So we drove around Oceanside and watched the waves break from the tsunami. It was crazy how big they were. Anyway, Legoland was a fun day. Brenner was such a trooper, he didn't nap all day and was in such a good mood.  (Note to self: Lego's aren't so fun to have to look for in a hotel room on packing day). 

Click to enlarge collages.

Entry gate, first rides of the day, Braden meeting the Lego Pharaoh and Brenner's first ride.

The kids loved this 'jousting' horse ride, even though it moved so slow! They wanted to do this ride and the Dragon roller coaster over and over again.

The Duplo play area was perfect for Brenner, they had all kinds of huge blocks to build with, as well as a whole play area of parks. They also had a driving school that Jaci and B2 did. B1 did the older course and they all loved driving the Lego cars.

We waited nearly an hour for this helicopter ride (even tho the sign said 5 minutes-psh!) but they loved it.

Riding the airplanes was a blast, and getting ice cream and apple fries with cream after wasn't so bad either.

 

Miniland, which is what I think of in my head when I hear Legoland, was so cool. It is a huge display of recreations of cities -built out of, you guessed it, Lego's! They were working on a whole new are to open up later this Spring that was all Star Wars themed.  It was so cool to watch the cars move, and the parades go down the street. 

 

After a long, hard day of fun we left the park and headed back to our hotel to relax and eat. 

So here is my little declaimer on Legoland. I had heard people's opinion vary a great deal about whether they liked it or not. Here's my take. My boys are at the perfect age for it. They loved the factory tour, and being able to build their own 'guys', the amount of different sets available there was crazy. It has some good roller coasters, but mostly less active rides (like the plane and helicopter type) which was fine by my kids. We didn't sit through any shows, although I know they would have loved the Clutch Powers one. Each ride has two height requirements, a) you have to be tall enough to even go on the ride (i.e. Brenner rode like 2 things) and b) you have to be a certain height to go on it alone. I thought that was weird, but Brenner didn't mind hanging out while everyone else did stuff. We didn't go into it, but the water park looked cool.  And we didn't get passes to the Seaquarium that was attached because a) we were going to the zoo and Sea World and b) we've been to the one here in AZ and weren't so impressed. ALL IN ALL, THE BOYS LOVED IT. We will take them back again for sure sometime, before Braden ages out of it, I'm sure. And as an added bonus they had Lego's to play with the remainder of the trip in the hotel when they would have otherwise driven me crazy!

Next up, the World Famous San Diego Zoo!

Remembering Jeni...

 Earlier this month we had the opportunity to go to the Mesa City Cemetery to remember Rusty's little sister Jeni. This year marked the 18th anniversary of her passing. I am so sad I never got to meet her in this life. My kids all know who Jeni is, and ask about her. Berkley get a little confused, but he knows that she is Daddy's sister, but that doesn't mean she is Ryan's sister. Pretty funny. I loved the questions that we were able to answer- and how much they remembered from when we talked about eternal families back when Papa passed away last November.

 After a picnic dinner the grand kids took turns cleaning her headstone.

 It was pretty muddy from all the recent rain we have had, but it was sparkly clean by the time we left.

 Russ & Cindi by the gravestone

 We released 18 balloons and watched them until we couldn't see them anymore.

The next morning on the drive to preschool Jaci and Berkley kept pointing out the window and saying "Look! I still see the ballons!" It was so funny.  We hope to make this a more regular tradition so the kids will learn more and more about their aunt as they grow up.