Gingham World

A Couple of Good Ones

2012-01-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

It is not often I have a week where I find two movies I really liked. But William was out of town last week so I watch quite a few and then because he had been out of town I went to the movies with my mom and sister.
My mom, sister and I went to The Artist. I don't know that I would have made it to this one without them. They were the perfect companions for this movie. Children or husband would have ruined this one. Literally. I kept thinking, " I would not even take a sleeping child to this movie". I knew it was a silent movie, I just didn't get how silent. There are places where there isn't even music. That said I loved it because I felt transported to another time. I have always been fascinated by eras of the past and this movie allowed me to trick myself into believing I was in the early 1930's. It is a similar plot line to Singing in the Rain; sound comes to the movies and some actors were not excited about it. In fact the main character really, really reminded me of Gene Kelly. No singing, it is a silent film remember? But there is a fun soft shoe number. That is a reason to see it right there. It was really a beautiful movie and a unique experience.

Then I rented Midnight in Paris. I am not a huge Woody Allen fan and Owen Wilson did not seem a natural partner for him but after the Golden Globes I decided to give it a shot. I am glad I did. Even if I had only watched the first five minutes of shots around Paris in super saturated color it would have been worth it. But then throw in more costuming from the 20' s in Paris and you have a really beautiful film. This one was sort of light on plot but it was fun to watch Owen Wilson's character meet famous people in Paris from the past.

I have thought a lot about both of these movies in the days after I enjoyed them. That is one of the measures of a good movie to me. Recommend them both!

Valentine Crafts

2012-01-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Another craft from pinterest that I worked on while William was out of town. This one was actually for my sister. It is really fun to touch. Doesn't it look like brains?

Here it is on the front door. Last year this time of year I was making pillows like crazy. This year it seems to be wreaths.

I also found these on clearance at Target after Christmas. Let's just say I went a little crazy buying them. But they were so cute and so cheap! And now they are a Valentine's Day garland. For pretty much everyone I know!

My cutest craft ever!

2012-01-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends, Circe, is having a baby soon. So my friends and I had a little shower. I had made a quilt, my usual go-to baby gift but I had seen so many cute little girl skirts and I had fabric left over so I couldn't resist trying to make a skirt. A teeny-tiny skirt. With a matching onesie. I think it is just about the cutest thing I have made ever! There is something even more adorable about its tininess. It almost makes me wish I was having a baby girl. Almost.

This the quilt that started it all. Pretty happy with it too.

Because I having a crafting problem and sometimes I just can't stop I finished off with a skirt made from the adorable ruffled fabric I can't get enough of. Now to meet the little one they are intended for!

Still Finishing Christmas Projects

2012-01-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

William has been out of town so that means I craft. I am still trying to finish up crafts I had intended to finish for Christmas. Oh well, it is only January right? This afghan was started on our family trip to Disneyland. I have to have something to work on in the car or I go crazy. It took longer to join all the squares together than I thought of course. I do love granny squares.

I found this method of joining them on my beloved pinterest. I like how it looks seamless. Brittany is always cold so this adds a bit more warmth to her bed.

Lampshade

2012-01-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

I love the ruffle fabric they have at Hobby Lobby. They have it other places but I can use their coupon. I had a piece left over from other projects and decided it might make this lamp even more appealing. I think I was right. I just used my hot glue gun and stretched it as I went and there you are!

Bed Buddy

2012-01-13T15:05:00.000-08:00

Another project that was supposed to be for Christmas was this little bed buddy. I saw this idea in a shop and figured I could make my own. Brittany likes to warm up a rice bag and put it in her bed to warm it up Little House on the Prairie style. I thought this guy might be more fun. So I found a stuffed animal at the thrift store. I made sure he didn't have button eyes or any metal parts. Then I made an opening and took out the stuffing. Then I replaced it with rice and stitched him back up. I admit it does seem a bit odd to put him in the microwave but he is going to have to get used to it because he is a lot more fun than some old rice bag!

Crafting again!

2012-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidays are over I am working on finishing the projects I started during the holidays and didn't finish. I don't know why I must bite off too much every year but I do. I guess it gives me something to work on after the big day passes! They will be showing up here for the next few posts. For some reason I decided that I should make myself a yarn wreath for the Winter. Oddly enough I didn't finish it. But Saturday William took the boys out for a boys day and after Brittany and I hit the yogurt shop and the library I had the afternoon to myself. This has been pinned on my pinterest for awhile. Pretty happy with the end product.

Course, it looks even cuter with that little guy next to it!

Finally a Snow Day!

2012-01-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

Finally, Winter came to our town! I was starting to think it would never show. The kids had a great time making the first snowman of the year.

Our version of graffiti involves a spray bottle full of water dyed with food coloring.

Josh was really good at snow painting.

Matthew in his snow easy chair.

The making of Mr. Snowman. I love a good snow day(they were all really tired when they came back in!)

Christmas Break

2012-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

So it is over. The kids go back to school in the morning. I am actually quite sad (usually I am counting hours). It has been a lot of fun around here. Or maybe I just love the lack of homework stress.
Once the big day was over and we played with all the toys we broke out a few craft projects courtesy of pinterest. I cannot express how much I love pinterest.

I have been dying to try the melted crayon art that was big on pinterest. Brittany saw one on there that had the girl with umbrella silhouette so she wanted to try that. Aren't they great?

Tie dying with permanent markers and rubbing alcohol. The site I looked at advised using sharpies but I am too cheap and didn't want to hand over my sharpies to the kids so we used cheap permanent markers I bought for $3 for the set. They worked just as well. Such a fun project. Found it here. It is my new favorite way to tie dye. No need to buy any Rit dye or worry about spilling vats of dye.

Slime. Not a pinterest original. We have made this before but Matthew requested it. Look, Josh made a cute snowman.

Then he turned it into a fierce fist!

Finally, we had a family party on New Year's Eve Day. Once we found a church we could get into (we planned to have it at ours but when we showed up we had been bumped by a funeral!) it was great, laid back fun. We ate, the kids drove their remote control stuff around the gym and played with Nerf guns, we exchanged gifts and visited. Pretty much perfect except that we missed three of the families and Oma and Opa. I love this picture because even though I said "Hey everyone, look at me!" they all ignored me except Matthew who hid from me.

I put away all the Christmas decorations today but ran out of energy before I could put all the regular decorations back so it looks like we just moved in. I have to admit after the wonderful chaos of the holidays I am kind of enjoying the simple clean effect. But I know I will have it all back the way it was before a couple of days have passed. Just like we will be resuming our regular some-what crazy life tomorrow.

Christmas!

2011-12-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

What a great Christmas! This is what is happening today. We are sort of glad it wasn't a white Christmas. The boys (notice-all the boys) have had fun playing outside with new bikes, cars and scooters all day. We started early on Christmas Eve with a visit from Oma and Opa. They came down this year to visit us all over the holiday and is was so fun to have them we hope they do it every year!

Then we were off to celebrate at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We actually added a musical feature to our Christmas eve program. This is big for us, Tiff and I sang but we never played an instrument so I think it is pretty cool that our kids could do this.

Libby and Abby played too, it was great!Then Grandpa read the story from the Bible while the kids acted it out with puppets. It was a great night.

The next morning we started bright and early. This is Brittany in her fort made of presents.

Happy kids, just what was hoped for!

My favorite part of Christmas, when they sit around and play with each other and the new toys.

Then we went down to my sister's for dinner. This is Grandma caring for all the new dolls.

The fun continued this morning. I like the day after almost as much as Christmas Day, we lay around and play with the new loot and don't worry about having to get anywhere.

Dad put together the new green machine (A LOT of assembly was required). Brittany capturing the maiden voyage with her new camera in her cute new poncho.

Talking to the big Guy-Check!

2011-12-21T21:17:00.000-08:00

The boys managed to get some time with the big guy at our ward party Saturday. (Brittany informed me she didn't need to this year-sob!) What do you think of Matthew's body language? I think it says,"I am way to cool to sit on this guy's lap but I better cover all my bases."

Josh on the other hand was perfectly at home. Made sure Santa understood perfectly how he needs a new scooter. The lovely man in red will be her soon!

New Dolls

2011-12-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

I you are looking for a doll this Christmas I just put some girls in the Shop.

Kids Christmas Craft

2011-12-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

This last week was sort of a tough one. It seems everyone planned their events early in the month which is great but created one heck of a week. So about half way through the week I told the kids we weren't leaving the house and we were going to craft. This is my way of dealing with stress and I figured since they were my kids it might be theirs too. We made snow less snowglobes. I know, sounds weird but when I saw it on pinterest I thought it could be adapted for kids. I was right. They had a great time making homes for their thrifted figurines. They were supposed to go in old pickle jars I had saved but two of them didn't fit. Of course, in my substantial stash we found some other jars. The fake snow came from Wal-mart and I have enough left over to make snowglobes for everyone we know! We survived the crazy week and now we have a fun weekend to enjoy. And we have snowglobes!

I love PInterest

2011-12-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged as much lately. I blame Pinterest. I find myself spending most of my screen time there. The plethora of ideas to be found there is overwhelming. And I love it. So here a couple of the ideas I have found there. Freezer paper. Who knew all the things it could be used on? I stenciled this snowflake on a pillow I already had. Cost me zero dollars. We all know I just don't have enough pillows around this place.

Both of these ornament ideas came from Pinterest. The first ones I tried were ornaments with old music papers modpodged. Then I tried some glitter ornaments I saw. The originals had swirled Mop and Glo inside and then added glitter. I am cheap and didn't want to buy Mop and Glo so I used a clear dish washing detergent instead and it worked just great.

Next up, transfering photos to canvas!

Mohawk Hat

2011-11-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

Matthew is crazy for all things football these days. His favorite college team is BYU so when I saw this idea on pinterest I had to try it. I was going to save it for Christmas but I couldn't wait. Plus I may put one in my shop so I needed to have Matt model it. I used a purchased hat then added the yarn on top to make the "mohawk". I love freezer paper which is how I made the Y. Actually Matthew helped with that part.Now we just need a cold game to go to!

Snowmen

2011-11-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

The Christmas crafting has begun around here! I have been working on these little guys last week. I used paper clay around a Styrofoam ball to form the heads. Which I painted added hats to and glued on top of the jars. The jars came from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale. I was going to fill them with hot fudge but I think I will put something else in them, they aren't very washable!

Deck the Halls!

2011-11-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

Our halls are decked! Bring on the holidays! The day after Thanksgiving the kids and I got busy decorating. The villiage is on the mantel now with our gorgeous stockings made by Oma below.

The tree in all its finery!

The nativity that my parents gave William and I when we were first married. It has traveled safely with us from house to house.

I have to say, the kids were actually helpful this year. Usually I am trying to keep them out of the way until things are ready to go. This year they helped clear out everything that needed to be moved, dust it and vacuum. It was a lot more fun!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T21:07:00.000-08:00

It was a great Thanksgiving around here! The boys came home from school after "Native American Day" looking very cool. So we had some Native Americans.

Also a pilgrim. Wednesday he came home with a turkey hat completing the cast of characters. I love kindergarten!

It was a great day for our family spent with great people, great food and great memories. We are so blessed I can't imagine a better life than the one I have. I am so grateful for so many things, the list is very, very long. I hope it was a great day for everyone else too.

The Phantom of the Opera

2011-11-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

It is one of my favorite times of year, rich in cultural opportunity. This is the week our favorite Nutcracker production begins and it is the time most of our local high schools are doing their big play. Lucky for us Northridge High was doing Phantom. I have to admit I was nervous. This is one production that could get ugly fast if you didn't have the talent to carry it. I was counting on their drama department being smart enough to know they had enough talent if they committed to it. They did. It was great! I think high schools in our state have a great reciprocal system going. They seem to share sets and resources which results in a much better production than any of them would have the budget for alone. So this production had great sets, costuming and even the big chandelier. There were very few moments when I remembered that I was at a high school production, although the moment when the chandelier came down was one of them. It descended slowly rather than came crashing down-but they did have to do another show that night. But the big question was of course whether they could possibly have enough kids with voices to deliver those gorgeous songs. They did! Three of them. The Phantom was great, Raol I think I liked better than the guy on my original CD and Christina was gorgeous as was her voice. Seriously, I have said that high school productions are my was of exposing my kids to the dramatic arts but this one was one Brittany and I will be talking about for a long time. The tickets were a little pricier than some high school productions ($10 for adults and $5 for kids) but it was really worth it. It is playing again next weekend, go if you can!

Pinewood Derby

2011-11-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

This year's Pinewood Derby. There is nothing like the intensity of Pinewood Derby! Matthew with the entries.

The car refreshments. So cute!

Matthew with his buddies and their cars.

After the official races the guy with the track broke out the loops. While Matthew didn't win the official race, by watching the times we learned he did with the loop races. That is his red car coming out of the loop. The boys had to put their hands in the loop to catch their cars in case they didn't make it through the loop. It was a fun night!

Crazy Hair Day 2011

2011-11-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Hey, what happened to that kid's head?

Hold on-is that Josh or a green-haired old guy?

Yep, everyone's favorite Hair day at school has once again come and gone. Can I just say how glad I am this day falls in October when colored hairspray is available cheap? It wasn't when we lived in CA and it was hard to find it and it was expensive

This was the kindergarten carpool, it is a good look don't you think?

This was the morning carpool. Good looking kids, even with colored hair! I have to admit to really enjoying spraying everyone's head. Makes me think I could have had a second career as a graffiti artist. Oh wait, there isn't any money in that. Guess I will just stick to heads.

40 things

2011-11-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

(only picture I could find with me in it!)
So last week was my birthday. It was a big one. 40. Can't believe I typed that. I will tell you I didn't enjoy it. I think anyone who tells you turning 40 is no big deal is lying. It wasn't my favorite day ever. I did go to lunch with my mom which is always fun but it was a busy week and a busy day which ended at the Pinewood derby. It actually improved as the week went on, I guess once the trauma of the day was over I could have fun. Lunch with friends, fun date with William, shopping with my mom and sis.

So I have been thinking about this turning 40 thing this week. I decided I needed to be more grateful for where I am at 40. Cause really, life is pretty great. So I decided to make a list of 40 things I love about my life. Don't feel like you have to read this one, it is for posterity!

Things I love about my life at 40
1. I married the right guy years ago in the right place.
2. I have a fabulous relationship with my sister. She is my ultimate best friend.
3. I enjoy lunch every Wednesday with the friends of my childhood. They are so much better than therapy.
4. Having hobbies I enjoy.
5. Living 7 minute away from my parents after having tried lived hundreds of miles away from them.
6. Loving my neighborhood.
7. Living by mountains again.
8. Not having to change diapers anymore.
9. Having a live-in babysitter.
10. Friday night dates.
11. That I finished college-there were times I didn't think that would happen.
12. William and I still have fun together.
13. I was sent three great kids.
14. Those kids are healthy, smart and fantastic.
15. I have figured out what makes me happy.
16. My life is made up of those things.
17. Having great parents who have been and always are there when I need them.
18. Being able to stay home with my kids.
19. That I live 3 minute away from Hobby Lobby, yes this really has improved my quality of life.
20. William still likes me, and trust me he knows me better than anyone.
21. Having a daughter to hang out with.
22. Having sons to teach me how fun watching sports is.
23. That everything my Young women leaders taught me all those years ago was true. Good choices really do equal a happier life.
24. After a nasty fight with cancer years ago my mom is still here.
25. A quiet house after everyone is asleep and safe in there beds.
26. Late night movies with my girlfriends.
27. Having a healthy body that allows me to do what I want (even if I do miss my pre-baby days).
28. Adult dinners with the in-laws.
29. Having a crafting buddy again, my friend Mandi is responsible for the increase in crafting the last year.
30. That my kids all have close friends-whom I like.
31. Having great in-laws.
32. So shallow, but my new grown-up car. I never thought I could love a car like I do my Acadia.
33. My ward. I love that I enjoy going to church every Sunday.
34. Pintrest. Love it.
35. There aren't many craft projects I won't try.
36. Being a mom is even more fun than I thought it would be (harder too but...)
37. I have finally learned how to say "No". (Thank you Mom!)
38. Dinners/gatherings with my Butler family.
39. Sunday dinners made by my husband.
40. I have everything I ever dreamed of.
I hope that didn't come off as obnoxious. I just needed to remind myself not to get bogged down in less fab parts of 40 (wrinkles, love-handles, creaky bones and being officially "middle-aged" ugh!)
If anyone is still reading this, here is your reward. A rare, crazy picture of me with my friend Amy last Summer. Man we laughed hard in that tube! Hope she will still be my friend if she finds out I posted this picture!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

Official Halloween Photo 2011 Here they are! My kids ready for the big day! We have a BYU football player, an astronaut and Morticia from the Adams Family.

Slightly recycled. Matthew wore the suit when he was this age. Brittany re-made the jet pack and in a moment of inspiration I decided to spray paint a thrifted motorcycle helmet for the helmet. You can't see them but I spray painted his snow boots too.

All right so this one tested me. My kids think they can dream up anything and I can deliver. I tried and tried to convince Matt that I couldn't make him a football player costume. We tried to find something else but he really wanted this. We borrowed a helmet from a neighbor but it really was too small. There was no way I was spending the big money for the real thing on line either. Then one day, because I must be living right, at the thrift store there it was. A full set of football pads WITH a white practice jersey! They were an adult large but who cares! He was so excited! So then I used freezer paper to stencil BYU, the number and his name on the back. He was pretty excited when he saw them. Next was a helmet. This was actually a motorcycle helmet I thrifted too. Spray painted it white, painted the stripe down the middle and added decals I bought. Next problem; the pants. I had found actual football paints at the thrift store but they were gold. And polyester and no matter what I tried I could not get them to take the blue dye I tried to use. So finally I took the baseball pants and my trusty spray paint again. I sprayed them blue and hoped for the best. And it worked! Yep, this Halloween was brought to you by Kylon spray paint!

Morticia. Boy it was fun to transform Brittany into the Adams Family matriarch. She took the
role very seriously too! Now we are ready to hit the road and hunt for candy! I get the Milky Ways for all my hard work!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

The Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

I took the boys to the pumpkin patch this weekend. Brittany was already visiting one with a friend. Don't you love the boys faces in this one? "All right Mom, we will smile if you make us?.

We aren't very good at the self portrait but I still like this picture.

Matthew the Pirate!

Me and Josh, cute couple aren't we? It was lots of fun, even if it did take me a couple of days to recover from breathing hay!

Christmas Cards...Check!

2011-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. The leaves on the mountain are perfect. William was out of town so I wasn't going to make dinner and suddenly I decided to take the pictures for this year's Christmas card. I love this one, even if you can see my shadow.

Like this one too, even if you can't see their faces.

This might be the winner though!

Guess What I am Going to Be for Halloween?

2011-10-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

Found these and had to have them. They remind me of the boots I had when I went to college and started dating William. Guess I will have to be a cowgirl for Halloween!

Matthew's Remodel

2011-10-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Remember the remodel of Matthew's room? Well he has been doing some remodeling of his own. When I finished my remodel there were the four large pictures of cars hanging on that wall. Matthew has been carefully cutting out pictures cars from his dad's magazines and carefully creating this collage with low-tack tape. He worked so hard, and it does look pretty cool doesn't it?

Halloween Decorations

2011-10-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

If it is time for another holiday you know I am going to have to make some new crafts! I seem to be into banners and I didn't have a Halloween one. This is actually the one I made for my sister but mine is like it just shorter.

This was inspired by this on Pinterest. Mine is very different, since mine uses pictures of my family at Halloween's past and doesn't spell Halloween. Love how Pinterest sparks my imagination.

Brittany has been feeling like making some Halloween crafts too. She made these lovely witchies from dollar store barbies. She put tape over their eyes and mouths to preserve the paint then we spray painted them green. We also sprayed their dresses black. Pretty fabulous aren't they?

Under Glass

2011-10-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much lately. I think my screen time has been mostly spent on Pinterest. Is everyone as addicted as I am? I love being able to keep all the great things I see in blogland in one place so that when I want to do something I can actually find them again. This is an idea I saw there. This is the site that had the tutorial. So easy and doesn't everything look cuter under glass. Just in case you don't check out the tutorial I will fill you in, glass votive from the dollar store with two flat glass marbles super glued on top. I had two sizes so I used them.

I can't seem to stop finding things to put under glass!

The New Pumpkin Recipe

2011-10-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Every year I seem to find a new favorite pumpkin recipe. It has been pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies made with a cake mix, the pumpkin cookies with a chocolate cake mix. This year it is pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese filling. I found it on Pinterest, well actually two recipes that I combined. According to one of them. Each muffin is under 150 calories. Only problem is I want to eat about 10 a day! So here is this year's recipe:
Mix together 1 block of the 1/3 lower fat cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar.
Then form it into a log shape on plastic wrap and freeze for two hours
Then combine:
1 small can of pumpkin or 1/2 a large can
1 spice cake mix
1 cup water
Remove frosting log from freezer and cut into 24 pieces
Fill each muffin liner a little less than half full then add a piece of the frosting mixture. Top with more muffin mix. The muffins in the picture were topped with cinnamon sugar. The first time I made them I sprinkled a crumble on top made of 1/2 sugar, 4 T butter 5 T flour and 1 1/2 t cinnamon. They really were ultimately more yummy with the crumble topping but I figured the cinnamon sugar saved a few calories. Plus it was faster. Bake for 20 minutes at 350

This is what it looks like inside. Sooooo good!

Remodeling

2011-10-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

There is something about September that makes me want to do stuff to the house. I have been at it again. Before. Nothing really wrong. I was just bored.

The lack of window treatments was bugging me.

New window. Another chair. Recovered the easy chair and new ottoman. Added yellow pillows.

From above

This was a chair I found at the thrift store for $5. It wasn't perfect but for that price I couldn't leave it.

After some new paint and fabric.

I decided it was time for a new table cloth too. I had found the wire basket thing at the thrift store too. Then I decided to extend the yellow and covered some wiffle balls the boys were done with.

This is my favorite splash of yellow. I inherited this chair from my mom when Brittany was born. I think she had gotten it from her grandmother and rocked us in it.She had painted it black when I got it. I painted it white. I almost went back to the black but decided to go with color. Glad I did. I don't know that I can ever part with this rocker. I rocked all my babies in it. So it is good it got a face lift. Now it is time to get ready for the holidays!

My Boy of Fall

2011-10-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Matthew has been begging for a long time to try flag football since his mother is mean and won't let him play tackle. They have been playing for a few weeks now. I have to admit it is pretty fun. Even when we don't win.

I found myself turning into that mom. You know the one screaming her head off in excitement. So embarrassing. But fun.

The little boys are loving it too. This is Josh with his buddy Gage and a random boy they made friends with. They play too only with their own rules.

Brittany even came to the first game. As did Grandpa and his dog Elliott. Hurray for the Boys of Fall!

Forget Not

2011-10-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite blogs posted a great reminder of one of my favorite talks from General Conference. Well, the Relief Society broadcast really, but they are connected in my mind. She had just taken some pictures of forget me nots and then turned it into the perfect little reminder. The blog link is here and the written talk is here.

Soccer Boy!

2011-09-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Guess where you can find us Saturday mornings lately? Yep, soccer field. Josh is playing with his friend Gage. Gage is the superstar-we count on Gage for the goals and Josh for the entertainment. I love this picture of my sweaty boy finding a seat watching his friends.

He really is chasing a ball even though it isn't in the picture. Josh seems to be getting the game a little better this year. He will at least chase the ball down instead of just following his buddy Gage around.

Can you tell his moves usually are a little more fluid than most? I have to take some video because the way Josh plays soccer it is a little more like soccer/dancing. Lots more fun for me to watch!

The Birthday that Never Ended

2011-09-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

So as part of his Birthday present Matthew requested a room make-over like I did for Brittany. I really didn't intend for it to be too extensive but these thing sort of evolve and it turned into a complete overhaul. I snapped this one right before we started. After I had spent the entire morning hauling out junk. Man, little boys can be hoarders too.

My mom, the super-decorator helped. She thought it would be fun to have a reading corner. Found this chair and ottoman at the thrift store. I covered the lampshade with the fire fabric that is in his room too.

I painted a new headboard, also found at the thrift store, black. Everyone had their college bedding on sale so he did get a new comforter. I made the new quilt on the foot of the bed, also the letter M pillow using freezer paper.

There is also a music corner, I found him a keyboard for his birthday on KSL so now he is ready to start piano lessons. The rug was in the college bedding stuff too.

It seemed to be a big hit!

The Book Page Wreath

2011-09-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged much lately. Or been on the computer at all much really. The kids going back to school and adding all their activities has changed the tempo of life around here. I think we are finding our groove now though. I have taken advantage of some of the kid free time to work on some projects. I have wanted to do this one for months. I used this tutorial for months. It took a pretty good chunk of time to finish but I really love it. It actually has more color in real life.

Family Reunion

2011-09-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

We had a little family reunion this weekend. It was a great day full of fun. The kids swam, played badminton, and played a some video games. The men even got a killer game of badminton going.

There was a lot of fun had in the pool.

Tante Maren has all boys so when she gets the nieces at her house she gets busy and paints nails, and does makeovers. This time it turned into a huge session of dress-up. Uncle Glendon had been on a trip to India and brought home a huge collection of fabulous Indian fashions that the girls had a blast. These are some pictures of Brittany and her cousin Brigitte. Aren't they fun? It was a great day, great memories were made!

My Boy is Nine!

2011-09-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, my baby boy is nine! He was my tiniest baby and now he is so big! We have been celebrating all weekend long and we aren't done yet! This was his friend party. We took he and four friends to the Aquatic center. Brilliant, if I do say so myself. They had a blast and I read a book. Again, any birthday party where I am reading a book is a good one! It was a small enough group that they played together the whole time.

Then we had a little family party today. The cake was Lego inspired Pirates of the Caribbean. This has become my go-to cake idea for boys. The cake is easy, turns out very cool and the boys keep the legos. He was pretty happy with the keyboard I found on KSL so he can start piano lessons. He also spent a good chunk of the weekend working on the volcano kit an car model he received. I think he had a good birthday. I sure am glad he is my boy. He is a good, sweet, smart, amazing boy! Happy Birthday Matthew!

For my Friend Sarah

2011-08-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year when squash abounds. We were talking at lunch the other day about how you can only eat so much Zucchini bread. So for dinner the other night I tried baked Zucchini with mozzarella cheese. Except I used yellow squash instead of zucchini because that is what I had a lot of from the garden this week. I cut them thin, then dipped them in egg then in a mixture of bread crumbs (mine were gluten-free), Mrs. Dash, grated mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. I sprayed a cookie sheet with Pam before I put them on it. Then I baked them for about 10 minutes at 350.

First Day

2011-08-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the first day of kindergarten! Here is my big kid, in line to enter the world of learning. He was so excited our biggest problem was making it to 12:40. He wanted lunch at 9 because I told him he could go to school after lunch. It was a great day, for both of us. As I have mentioned,that lovely lady in pink at the head of the line was my Young Women's leader when I was 12 so I had no apprehension turning my baby over to her. Now we are off to the second day.Yeah!

Grandma's Tea Party

2011-08-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

One one of the last days of Summer last week my sister brought her girls up to spend the weekend at Grandma's and we were invited for a tea party. My mom is queen of the tea parties. First you had to get dressed up in Grandma's best finery.

That is a giant yellow rose cupcake, or a very small rose cake-depending on how you want to look at it. Lots of tiny treats!

A great time was had by all!

Girl's Lunch Recipes

2011-08-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

I hosted lunch for my girlfriend yesterday. Tried some new recipes from Melskitchencafe. Love her. Had to post them here so I don't forget them. And they turned out pretty good and some of the gang wanted them. This was a Vegetarian Lasagna, I chose it because I could use loads of veggies from my garden in it. I was using a spicy marinara sauce by Barilla but decided it might be too spicy so I finished with just a regular marinara sauce (both from a jar). Oh, and I didn't put it on a cookie sheet to bake like she recommended and now my oven is a mess so do that.

Blueberry fool. Still don't know why it was called that but personally it was my favorite part of the meal.

The food was okay, but I was so happy to be back with my girls after a whole Summer of not getting together that we could have eaten cold cereal and I would have been happy!

Raingutter Regatta

2011-08-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

Matthew had the Rain gutter Regatta in Scouts last week. Which he won! His dad is so good at this stuff I almost feel bad. Almost, not quite. For the record William does make Matthew do the work, he just has great engineering ideas. This is why I helped put the guy through college and get that mechanical engineering degree. So my kids would have an edge at stuff like this! See that kid over Matthew's left shoulder? That was his competition.

Yep, blew them away. It was really fun!

In case you wondered we recommend the catamaran design.

Back to School 2011

2011-08-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well they made it! They all survived! The first day was great. Everyone loved their teachers. More importantly I survived sending my first-born to Junior High. My anxiety outweighed my horror at being this old. She didn't get lost, forget where her locker was/combination, found friends to eat lunch with and no one was mean. Let's hope it continues! She is absolutely in her element and seems in love with the whole junior high experience. And I am so glad!

Josh got to met his teacher today. I must be doing something right because of all the amazing blessings I could come up with, having Josh get Mrs. Graham is more than I could imagine. She is also Wendy Graham who lived in my neighborhood growing up and was one of my very favorite leaders in Young Women. So instead of being anxious about his first school experience I was not worried in the least. Wendy is wonderful, and so he is going to have a great kindergarten year!

Thank heaven Matthew got just the teacher he wanted with best friend so I had nothing to worry about with him!

Welcome New School Year, we are ready for you!

It's Over!

2011-08-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, lovely Summer! We are going to miss you! This was my final view of my beloved umbrella at Cherry Hill.

This is how we spend our time out of the water.

One of my favorite things at Cherry Hill is how the kids do things together. Two brothers going down Cardiac Canyon.

Big brother helping the little one with his tube on the way up.

Big sister helping little brother down the Dragon slide.

Now it is all over and I sad. It was such a great Summer full of sun, fun, lazy days, late bedtimes, food that was less than great for us and great memories. BUT on the upside let's welcome the return of schedules, planned menus, bedtimes, a clean house and my Wednesday lunches!

Park City Summer 2011

2011-08-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Another thing we must do every Summer is go to the Park City Art's Festival. Attending this was our second date a long, long time ago. Now we take the kids and usually make a long weekend of it. I loved these glass balls, I wanted a whole basket to take home.

These sculptures were there last year and my kids were happy to see them back. They are bright and colorful and they move!

Love Park City!

I would LOVE to have one of these gorgeous kinetic sculptures in my yard but even if they were free I would need a bigger yard, that would have to go with a much bigger house and I am happy were I am so I guess no sculpture. They were amazing and hypnotizing to watch though.

Some people with us got a little hot an tired. Luckily there was a curb near these wooden instruments. It was a great little get-away. We all came home inspired!

The Help

2011-08-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the day I have been waiting for. I got to go to the movie The Help. One of my favorite books last year, I have been excited but nervous that they might ruin it. They didn't. It was great! The casting was perfect. Skeeter wasn't quite the way I pictured her, I think she was better. The maids Minnie and Abelienne were perfect. Perhaps best of all was Hilly, the villain. Who knew Ron Howard (aka Opie)'s daughter could be so evil? She was, she was perfectly awful. Made me grateful for my kind, lovely friends. But let's talk about the clothes. Loved them! I did mention to Brittany I felt like I should dress up to attend this movie. Sort of like the Harry Potter fans do. I still feel bad I didn't at least amp up my hairspray use and add a headband. Seriously, it was the kind of movie I love. Set in another time period which is always fun but wonderfully thoughtful. There were times I was embarrassed to be a white person, even though the events portrayed happened before I was even born. It also made me proud to be a human being, especially a woman. The maids who tell the stories are so courageous and also share a certain sisterhood. Beautiful movie, based on a wonderful book!

Helen's Pool 2011

2011-08-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Every Summer there are certain things we must do. Visiting my Mom's friend Helen's pool with cousins. Last Friday we made it. There is nothing better than having a pool to yourself. The kids were into coming up with crazy dives. Matthew is set for battle when he comes up out of the water!

Crazy Libby!

And Crazy Brittany!

Abby looks like she can walk on water in this one!

We don't know why but Josh likes to do trick on the handrails of every pool we go to.

Two cute cousins in pink goggles! It was a fun day!

Puppy Palooza!

2011-08-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a very unusual, but great day! Grandma and Grandpa got a new puppy. The people who had breed/ raised the new puppy brought him to their house all the way from Idaho. Since they had another new litter of puppies they brought them too and we got to go play with them. Puppy Palooza! Isn't this the most fun picture of my kids with their grandparents plus puppies?

Josh is a huge lover of puppies so he was in heaven!

This is the man who didn't really want a new dog. I think he is won over don't you? He is holding the new puppy. He is seven months old so not as tiny as the other puppies visiting.

This is Elliot, isn't he cute? I sure hope he isn't too sad tonight now that his former people and friends have gone home.

This is one of his adorable friends. Could you just eat this cute face?

We had such fun with these little guys!

We played until they were worn out! This one was Brittany's favorite.

In a perfect world she would have taken this little guy home! Luckily we get to keep Elliot! He is going to be soooo loved!

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

2011-08-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have found a book I enjoyed as much as this In fact it reminds me of The Help. Like The Help it is also set in the South, in the 60's. It is the story of Cee Cee, a twelve year old girl who escapes her life with an absentee father and mentally ill mother by reading, my favorite mode of escape too. After a tragic accident, Cee Cee is rescued by her aunt Tootie and introduced to an whole new world. Maybe it is that world and the strong women in it that remind me of The Help. I thoroughly enjoyed the character, the moment of conflict and the resolution. I miss it now that I have finished it, always the sign of a good book. My sister has my copy and is using it for her book club. When I get it back it will be making the rounds of my lunch group, cause I can't wait to have someone to discuss this one with!

Oh my goodness! Look at that first comment! The author left me a comment! I have chills, now I wish I had enumerated even more things I loved about this book because there were really so many!

Best Stay-cation Ever!

2011-08-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

These are our fabulous friends the Bowers. They provided us with an amazing vacation last week that was only 30 minutes away. It is one of those perfect situations were all four of us are good friends. Bryon and I grew up together and he was the big brother I didn't have. He and William were buddies all through high school. Earlier this year our friends the Bowers called and invited us to stay with them at the family condo up at Pineview. Last week was the week we had waited for. It was especially exciting because the Bowers live in Wisconsin and we usually only get to see them for dinner. A rare picture of me on the blog! Amy and I screamed and laughed so hard I was exhausted when we were were done. Amy and my family were friends growing up and we became really great friends as we dated William and Bryon who were friends and then we went to BYU together.

Matthew and Adri decided they didn't like being splashed in the face so they wore their goggles.

Josh was a little cautious but still liked the tube.

Amanda, Matthew, Brittany and Adri holding on for dear life.

Brittany even tried wake-boarding. She got up a little farther but my camera wasn't fast enough.

Look at that happy face! The whole trip would have been worth it just to see William having this much fun. He and Bryon have been friends a long time and it was fun to see them horsing around giving each other a hard time. And try to knock each other off the tube.

Tube surfing!

The two Joshuas! This little guys was so cute I wanted to eat him with a spoon!

We promised not to tell but Matthew really had a great time with tomboy Adri. They are geared up here for water battle. We had such a great time! Thank you Bowers!

Little Joshy Dancing

2011-08-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Need a pick me up? Watch these 18 seconds. I promise it will make you smile. I was going through some old files and found this video clip. About three years ago I had the most adorable baby who had the strangest crawl ever. If you played music he would get going on our bamboo floor like he would never stop. I am so sad those days are over. But glad I found the video!

Tricky Boy

2011-07-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

We have a very tricky boy at our house. He does amazing tricks and flips! Hope your Summer is full of fun too!

The Finishing Touch

2011-07-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

There have been so many fun things people have been creating with the free paint chips you get at the hardware store that I decided to attempt a banner to finish off Brittany's new room. This photo is horrible, but you get the idea.

I think it was the little touch the room needed!

Dressing the Pets

2011-07-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

What do you do if you have some adorable "pets" that you wish had pajamas? You get your sister to outfit them! (Picture taken by Josh)

Happy, happy boy with a nice big sister!

Boy Artist

2011-07-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

Matthew has been working on a masterpiece all week! First he sketched this mustang multiple times. Then he sketched it onto a canvas-he needed a really big one and promised me it would be his best work ever. Then he took about three days to slowly paint it. His patience really paid off and I think it is his best work ever. It is now hanging in his room!

Lego Land

2011-07-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

My house has turned into Legoland without the rides this Summer. Every morning I get up to a family room floor covered in the things. But my boys let me sleep in. I go to the grocery store and come back to Legoland. But I don't have to take them with me. So I guess it is a fair trade off. I keep telling myself creativity is messy. The latest craze it to set them up on my rock fireplace as if they were mountain climbers. I am going to miss this stage at some point I know.

Skirt Ensemble for School

2011-07-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

I have become obsessed with denim skirts this last weekend. I have made a couple of them for myself this summer using this tutorial. I love them because they are cool and look much better on me than shorts. So I decided a variation would be fun for Brittany for the new school year. After a trip to my darling Hobby Lobby we had picked out some fun fabric to add to the skirt. Instead of using one of the legs to fill in the middle front panel I used some polka dot. Then I had about 1/2 yard of the floral which I cut in half, then sewed the ends together to make a big circle. Then I folded that in half and gathered it to fit the bottom of the skirt, which really does hang evenly although it doesn't look it in the picture.

I had a little fabric and motivation left over so I decided a flower headband and matching bracelet would be fun too.

I sewed the fabric into a tube which I then threaded beads into tying a not between each bead.

I made flower with burnt edges and put a fabric knot made of the matching fabric in the middle.

The whole ensemble. Brittany says I should trim out a T-shirt in matching fabric too, but I think that might be taking things a bit far!

Bubble Boys!

2011-07-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

We had a go with the bubble makers again this week. We firs tried this a few Summers back. That post is here with the link to the instructions. It was just as much fun as it was then. Brittany helped Josh and his friend Gage get the hang of it.

Gage got pretty good!

So did Josh. Then it turned into a whole game of restaurant, using all the dishes they could think of to make from bubbles! Kept them busy for almost an hour which is pretty good for five year olds!

The Zoo 2011

2011-07-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had a great day at the zoo this week.

This is the second year we have met up with our friends the Franks. We became friends when we all lived in Syracuse, several children ago. It is so fun to get together for a good visit with my friend Jen, and to let the kids remember each other.

Josh made friends with Luke, watching rhinos.

Apparently our kids are even bigger than I thought, the same size as Apes!

I love this picture, Jen's boys Chase and Luke checking out the elephants but Josh couldn't get past the smell!

Brittany and Emme. They have been best buddies since they were two. They are getting so tall and lovely. It breaks my heart they can't see each other every day like they used to but I am grateful that they seem to be able to pick up their friendship when they do get to see each other.

Boys and trains. It doesn't get better. I loved that no one wanted to sit with the moms. This was at the end of the day and by then they all had a buddy they wanted to sit with.

Such a fun day! Until next year Franks!

Bear Lake 2011

2011-07-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

Last week was our annual family trip to Bear Lake. We look forward to this one all year. I don't think I have mentioned lately that we got a new vehicle around Christmas. It amuses me that I love this car as much as I do. This is why, Smiles! Actual smiles in the car. For the record we were waiting for the Dad to
come out of a store, that is why Josh is not wearing a seat belt.

We stopped in Brigham City to check on the new temple. Amazing!

The first day at the beach we got busy with the sand. I have to say my family really excels at sand castle/sculpture building. We Rock! Well, Uncle Nate, William, and the kids rock. Tiff and I supervise with a little help from Mom.

The other important activity is Wave running. Even Josh was into it this year. Brittany achieved her goal of making me scream while she was driving. Visions of the future.

Brittany found this rock that sat just under the surface of the water, making it look like you were walking on water.

Everybody had to get out there with Grandpa to try it.

Abby was cold so the amazing resourceful Grandma made a warming tent out of her chair.

Most of the Grown-ups

Grandma's one request was that we bring the kids to this cool field of poppies for a picture. Glad we did!

End of the trip! The group on our way out, minus Aunt Christy who made a stop and Oma, Opa and a couple of cousins who hooked up with us too. It was such a fun trip, than thanks to Grandpa and Grandma!

The Fourth

2011-07-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Another fun Fourth of July is over. Somehow it became tradition to paint the kids faces while we wait for the parade to start.

The parade is always more fun if you have a grandpa to climb on.

And if he will cover your ears for you when the siren blaring firetrucks go by.

Grandma and Grandpa came over for a BBQ for dinner and then for the after-dinner entertainment we watched the tractor digging the foundation next door get loaded up and leave.

Then it was off to the park for glo-sticks and fireworks. I love the Fourth of July!

Ready for the Fourth

2011-07-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

We are ready for the Fourth of July! I have meant to do this post and share it on some of the crafty blogs earlier so there might be an idea or two I could share but I was ambushed by birthdays. This is my mantel. I love it. My mom came and helped arrange it. She is so good. My favorite thing this year is that flag. It came from the dollar store I think, or Michaels. It was one of those on a stick. I cut the stick off. Then I cut a piece of canvas fabric the same size as the back of the frame which I hot glued to the back of the frame. then I hot glued the flag with tiny dots of hot glue. Then put it all back together in the frame. Which used to be gold before I spray painted it. I also already had the frame from a family picture making the total cost of my new favorite flag picture about $3. Oh, I do love the stars I stuck in glass coke bottles up there too.

This is the baby version I made for a friend. It was made with an x10 frame and one of those tiny flags on a stick.

I decided I needed a new patriotic wreath too.

Which spiraled into a little patriotic vignette on the porch. I know, I have problems.

Forgive the morning sun, but here is the whole thing from the front yard.

Hope you all have a marvelous Fourth of July!

The Party

2011-07-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

To finish out this series of posts I seem to have going regarding birthdays this month I have to add one including Brittany's parties. Yep, plural. First there was one at Grandma's with the Butler family. Grandma made her this gorgeous, delicious, giant birthday cake. Grandma thinks there is no such thing as too tall when it comes to cakes. You should see her cut them.

On the actual day we had cheesecake at our house with Grandma, Grandpa and special guests Uncle Ron and Aunt Barbra who were in town briefly.

A rare event. A hug between brother and sister after receiving a great gift (DVD of the royal wedding). Lucky for me I caught it on film, it may not happen again until Christmas!

The friend party! This year I was brilliant if I do say so myself. We have Cherry Hill passes and since Brittany was only intending to invite a couple of friends I suggested we make it a big Cherry Hill day. They seemed to have a blast.

They even let the brothers tag along.

Those are my toes. Best. Birthday. Party. Ever. I read my book through most of it. How many times can you say that?

Then we stopped at Yogotogo on the way home. Which just happened to be decked out in cute balloons. I am such a good planner. It really was a great day.

Whew! No more birthdays until September!

The Room

2011-07-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

So what to get for the kid turning twelve. It is a biggie to us so I wanted it to be special but wasn't ready to hop on the super electronic highway of gadgets and she is definitely done with the toy scene. So we decided to give her room a makeover. I have been working on the details for months. She seemed to like it when we had the big "reveal". Plus her cousin was around, which always makes things more fun.

The new desk area. She used to have six different frames that we used to change out the Mormonads that come in the New Era but I think this will be a much better system. I got the cork board at Wal-mart and painted it.

The Bed. I love how this turned out. I found the plain pink comforter at Wal-mart on clearance and then I added the fabric and ribbon. This room was definitely brought to you from Hobby Lobby. Couldn't have done it without them. I made the pillows over the last few months with my friend Mandi. I love them, and so far the bed has still looked like this every morning. We will see how long it lasts. I got the wall hanging idea from Pottery Barn. We have been hunting for good quotes for a while now. I painted a canvas and then modge podged the quotes I had printed in different fonts on different paper. Very happy with how it turned out. Not quite as perfectly crafted as Potter Barn's, but a whole lot cheaper and customized. My friend Tiff contributed the beautiful floral picture over the bed.

Got this temple idea from Studio Five. I thought it was perfect since Brittany is a word girl. I made the light switch cover with modge podge too. Love that stuff.

This cute pink mirror started life at the thrift store as an ugly old brass mirror. The orange message board came from there too. Have I mentioned how much I love spray paint?

Can't remember where I got this idea in blogland but this used to be an old knit dress before it was reincarnated as a lamp shade. Then I added the butterfly I found at Michaels.

Yep, I think she likes it!

Brittany

2011-06-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

Guess who turns twelve today?! Yep, Miss Brittany!

Love this picture, Brittany and a book. That is our girl. So very smart, and funny. Our little perfectionist who always gets great results for her efforts. She is super responsible and always looks out for her brothers, whether they like it or not!

She is doing really well with her violin. There isn't really any new talent or interest Brittany isn't willing to tackle!

Yep, that is our girl. So glad she is ours!

Scout Camp

2011-06-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Scout Camp. It would be accurate to say that I have been pretty stressed about this. Somehow I ended up in charge of this day. Would there be enough drivers, do we have all the forms, what to do with Josh etc. But it all worked out, the drivers all showed, we all got there safely and a great day was had by all. The boys loved it and I have to admit to enjoying myself, how can you not when the boys are having such fun?!

Birthday Boy

2011-06-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

Last week was Josh's birthday and I do mean the whole week. We started with a party in the park with our lunch friends. Then the party at home with our little family. Followed by a birthday viewing of the new Cars movie, which we loved. Ending with our annual family Meatfest where even more presents were received. My little boy is five. Sigh. It is going so fast. Good thing Josh is just more fun with each passing year. All week he has been telling us how he can do this or that now because he is five. Happy Birthday my little Chicken!

Moustache Anyone?

2011-06-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day I had an idea for a new family photo. It did not involve coordinating outfits, having our hair done or hiring a photographer. It did involve about 10 felt moustaches crafted by me. I am in love with how it turned out. My dad seemed to like it too. But now these moustaches have lost their purpose in life. They wish they could be useful again. So I have decided to give them away. Assuming there is someone out there equally nutty as me and my family. Leave me a comment if you would like some moustaches to play with. I will draw a name on Sunday and pop them in the mail Tuesday.

It Was A Good, Good Day

2011-06-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

Yep, it was a great day at Cherry Hill. Low enough temperatures to keep most of the crowds away.

So my kids could do this over, and over, and over again. Twenty-four times for Brittany Matthew was a "tank" hauling the smaller kids around.

Yep, a perfect Summer Day!

Chalk Artists

2011-06-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

We went to the chalk festival in Salt Lake today. It was the first time we have gone that it hasn't been raining, which is a factor if you are trying to create art with chalk. It was so fun and of course the kids got all inspired and hit the driveway as soon as we got home to try out their skills.

First up was Donald Duck

I am willing to go buy more chalk as soon as they run out if it will buy me more afternoons of them working together relatively peacefully for an afternoon. There was a wading pool in action this afternoon, which is why everyone is in a swim suit.

Of course Donald needed his girlfriend Daisy, Brittany's favorite.

You can't have those two without Mickey, Minne never made it though.

This one is harder t see, it is the stars of Tangled. Matthew is disgusted that the age requirement to participate in the Salt Lake Chalk festival is twelve. I think they could definitely compete!

Summer Ideas

2011-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am working on a list of things for to do during the Summer when we are not lazying away the day at Cherry Hill. Thought I would share.

1. Visit Michaels Craft Store and let each kid pick out a project. They had lots of little wood kits under three dollars, a lot for just a dollar.

2. Visit BYU for one of our field trips. William and I are both alumni and yet our kids are completely unfamiliar with the school.

3. Go to the thrift store and let each kid spend three dollars anyway they want.

4. Have art day and paint canvases-the canvas covered cardboard ones are really cheap at Wal-mart.

5. Once at our house in California I let the kids fish in the backyard. Posted it here. I am considering doing it again.

6. I think we will do hot rocks again.

7. We will definitely be having an art day with my nieces.

8. This marble launcher looks fun.

9. Tye-died cupcakes. Or maybe just a cupcake making day. The rainbow cupcakes were fun too.

10. This is the Place Heritage Park.

11. I signed up for the free bowling at Orchard Lanes here.

12. Trying to decide if I am brave enough to try these Marshmallow guns here.

What are you doing for fun this Summer?

Our Showstopper

2011-06-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Brittany has been in a performance group this year instead of ballet. I have to admit that it is recital week this week for our ballet school and I really was missing it. But last night was the performance for Showstoppers and it was so fun. My mom commented afterward that when Brittany was dancing ballet or when she is playing the violin she looks so intense and serious. When she is doing a Showstoppers performance she just looks like she is having a blast. She really does. Here is a little clip of my favorite number they did. The theme was Disney Nights and they did the musical numbers from Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Mulan. Brittany comes in at about 1:26, she is easier to spot with the black glasses. Forgive my shaking photography, Josh was on my lap. So proud of you Bug!

Father's Day ideas

2011-06-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Do you realize that Father's day is only a week away? So I have been looking at some ideas for the kids to help with this next week. This is what I have come up with so far. If you are a dad in our family look away! Loving these sculpey clay pens here. from Little Birdie Secrets
This idea is simple but cute. herefrom Smile Monsters
I am thinking these cupcakes might be fun. Here. at nothing but country

There are some really cute printables on this blog here. at Splendid Designs.

Martha Stewart always has good ideas, I am liking this idea for notepads decorated by little ones. Here

Now we will see if I get any of these done with the kids!

Summer Project

2011-06-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year when I know we are all looking for good projects with the kids. We did this one with my scouts yesterday and I think it was a big success. Which says a lot considering eight eight year old boys were involved. The tips I learned included putting a piece of wax paper inside the shirt so the bleach doesn't go all the way through. Also to do the initial drawing with chalk. Then they used the Clorox bleach pen to go over the chalk drawings. It took about 15-20 minutes of sitting for the bleach to work. Then I quickly rinsed off the bleach gel. I took them home and washed them. They turned out really cool!

Literary Help

2011-06-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

We need some help from my book-loving friends, and I know I have a lot of them. Brittany is on a biography/autobiography kick and we need suggestions. Anyone have a favorite? She is okay with adult fare-assuming the subject didn't lead too risque a life. Any suggestions would be appreciated, she has read these two lately which I have read and liked but now my well of suggestions has run dry. Help!

Paper Temple

2011-06-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

My niece was baptised yesterday so I thought I would try a little different gift. I saw this on Studio 5 a few weeks ago and put my own spin on it. It is made from a dictionary page which I traced a temple shape onto and then cut out. I also chalked the edges to make it stand out more.

The End

2011-06-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well it is over. The whole school year, sixth grade, and elementary school. They had a really nice little graduation ceremony. Brittany did a great job reading a poem.

Brittany with her darling, excellent and wonderful teacher Mrs. Payne. We are going to miss her so much!

I can't believe how time has flown. This was Brittany on her first day of kindergarten. Look how excited she is!

And this was the last day of sixth grade. Sniff, sniff. Time goes tooooo fast!

Little Fruit Pizzas

2011-06-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

I brought the dessert to Women's Shelter lunch last week. I liked how it turned out so I thought I would add it to my recipes here. I just used a sugar cookie recipe that was for drop cookies. I made them slightly larger than usual. Then I made a frosting from softened cream cheese, a little whipping cream and about 1 cup of powdered sugar. Then I arranged cut fruit on top. I drizzled apricot jam that I had thinned on top of the fruit. They were fun, light and Springy.

More End of the Year Business

2011-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Brittany had a long anticipated recital last weekend. She was more nervous than she usually gets in front of people. I think it was because this was so different than what she usually does. That is her cute teacher Kaitlin behind her on the piano. Or her hired big sister as I like to refer to her. She is a darling girl who used to be our babysitter and now teaches Brittany (and provides an awesome example of great teen-agerness at no extra charge). They were really great, when it was all over I think it was good for Brittany to prove to herself that she could do this hard thing, and she did it well. Brittany posted video on her blog here.

Josh on the other had was really not nervous about his Preschool graduation. He was pumped! This is his amazing teacher Miss Tammy who also taught Matthew. I can't believe this was my last preschool graduation. Miss Tammy has done a great job of preparing my boys. We are really going to miss her.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

We went up to the cemetery last night to visit my grandparent's grave. Grandpa was a proud veteran of World War II, I think we managed to get enough flags on there to make him happy. I am grateful for both my grandfather's service, and their influence on me. I wish my kids had know all my grandparents. They only remember Great Nanny, my Grandma Butler. She adored them.

Today I offered to take the kids to a movie but they preferred an art day. So out came the canvas and paints. We decided to try s0me abstract art today for fun.

I recommend abstract art for little artists. Look how great Josh's creation is. I am not sure what to do with this kid, he truly seems to be ambidextrous. He painted with his left and right hand equally well. Suggestions? Which hand do I encourage? Or do I just let him keep going back and forth?

Brittany did paint these with her eyes open even if I didn't manage to get the picture that way.
I love the picture of the girl with the book on her head especially.

Loved Matthew's new abstract art too. We watched musicals and painted. I love art days with my kids!

Disney World of Color

2011-05-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

We just can't stop talking about Disneyland. This might be the last post about it. Or it might not. On the third day we finally made it to World of Color. It was fantastic! My video is not but I bet it still makes you wish you were on your way to the happiest place on earth, it does me!

No More Soccer

2011-05-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the last day of soccer for these boys. It was fun, often wet and cold, but fun.

Jedi Training

2011-05-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Want to watch Matthew vanquish Darth Moll? Well here he is!

A Boy and his Puppy Dance

2011-05-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

Do you want to smile? Giggle even? Well Josh is here for you! He doesn't really get moving and go for it until about the 49 second mark but those wiggly little hips kill me!

Brittany's Disneyland

2011-05-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am so glad Brittany hasn't decided we are completely uncool yet because that just might have taken some of the fun out of Disneyland. It was still fun to ride everything within sight-except Tower of Terror. Still fun to meet all the characters although this time she had her own camera. She and Grandpa were the only ones willing to go visit the Small World with me. We did discover that there is an extreme lack of Daisy Duck paraphernalia even at Disneyland. Brittany had read all of the guide books and was our resident expert on everything Disney. Everyone should have such a great guide.

**Don't forget to enter my little give-away here.

Josh's Disneyland

2011-05-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Josh was so much more fun this trip than last year in Orlando. Something about not being a really sick kid and being a year older. He loved everything. The rides, the shows, the light-up light saber Grandma bought him, the food, the grandparents and the characters. Okay, maybe not the characters and Grandma had to bribe him to stand anywhere close to them but at least he looks like he likes them in the pictures. One of my favorite things he said was to Grandma when we were standing in line and he saw many pennies were in the stream at the Big Thunder Railroad so he told her if he had all of those pennies he would buy her anything she wanted. And buy himself a real puppy. Of course he later asked her while holding her hand in line how she got so old. Nice.

Don't forget to leave me and comment and enter my little give-away here.

Matthew's Disneyland

2011-05-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest Jedi. Yep, Matthew and Grandma went out to conquer the Jedi Training and get Matthew picked to participate and they did it. I have to say it was pretty cool and I am glad the rest of us made it back from Space Mountain in time to see it.

He had a good time praciticing his shooting with Grandpa too, it is the tiny little picture to the left there. Rode everything, was a good sport meeting all the characters, loved World of Color to his own surprise and was a lot of fun even if he is way to cool to hold my hand anymore.

**Don't forget to enter my little give-away here.

1000

2011-05-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this is my 1000th post? I know! I couldn't possibly have had that many things to say. But I guess I did. And to think that when I started this thing I had no idea I would still be here five years later. Wild! So in honor of my ability to do anything 1000 times Brittany thinks I should have little give away. I have thought long and hard about what it should be. I love this new pillow pattern. I have been working on a new batch and I think I will make a round pillow the prize but I will have to post the actual pillow in a few days when it is finished. It will look a lot like this one with similar colors.

So to enter all you have to do is leave me a comment. It seems like I don't see as many comments as I used to. So if you are a lurker this is your chance to reveal yourself and maybe event be rewarded with a prize! Plus I would really, really like to know you are there! I will pick a winner on Tuesday night so be sure and leave me an email if you don't have a blog.

Guess Where We Have Been?

2011-05-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

Yep, the happiest place on earth! So that is why not a lot happening on the old blog. For better or worse there will probably be several Disney oriented posts coming up. Maybe it will make you want to go. It wouldn't take much to get me there again.

Especially since we have the very best grandparents on the planet and one set went with us. Why is it everything is more fun with Grandma and Grandpa? I swear my mother never went on the rides with me she goes on with my kids! It really made a great trip even greater!

My New Favorite Blog

2011-05-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

My Brittany has started her own blog. The girl loves to write and has been having fun with the camera she got for Christmas. I have to say I am really enjoying this peek into her fabulous mind! It is called I have read more books than you- that would be her dad's suggestion. I suggested I will never no never eat a tomato or vegetables cause cancer. It is really darling, go say hello if you have a minute!

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

We have been pretty obsessed with the Royal Wedding around here all week. Brittany has been watching the coverage on the morning shows before school. Last night we watched the 20/20 special together. Brittany is just about the same age I was when Princess Di and Charles got married. I remember being obsessed then too. VCR's weren't very old but I remember setting ours so I could watch it. Last night I did the same thing so Brittany and I could watch William and Kate together. So fun! Who doesn't love a good fairy tale? I sure hope this one has a happy ending. In our world so full of sad, tragic and distressing news it feels marvelous to celebrate with such a lovely couple.

Check it out Mormon girls! That is a lovely, modest wedding dress! With sleeves people! That is a big deal for those of us who marry in the temple. So lovely.

Adding to the fun was the fact that it was the fact that it was our wedding anniversary yesterday. My nice hubby sent flowers.

I suppose this was as close as we got to a balcony shot. Happy to report that our fairy tale is still having a happy ending!

Little Soccer

2011-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Josh is playing soccer! Mostly because most of the people he admires are playing soccer, like Matthew and his friend Gage. In fact we had to teach him to try and follow the ball not Gage or he just runs around being Gage's shadow. I have to admit it is pretty cute.

Look! He is going right for the ball!

Look at that! Actual contact with the ball was made! Here is to Spring soccer!

Easter Saturday

2011-04-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

I love when we approach a holiday and there are a few things we must do. Traditions that are well established. Easter is one of our best. First up, the Dopp family Easter egg hunt. Fabulous! Here are the kids with their "baskets" waiting to be filled.

The woman who makes it all happen. My friend Circe is one of the best party-throwers I know. She does it right, low-stress lots of fun. We are seriously thinking of getting her one of these megaphones to use in her real life.

They are off! Can you spot all four of my family member racing down the hill? Josh insists Dad help him.

Mission accomplished! Lots of loot. Lots of fun!

Then it is home to dye eggs. I really don't know why we do this. No one eats them. They don't even get hidden. But it is fun and I do always make them do a few blown eggs for me to keep. Maybe this time I will make egg salad.

Oh yeah, this is why we dye eggs. The cuteness factor!

Yep, lots of fun and pretty cute too.

Then it is off to Grandma's egg hunt. This one is really great because there are only five kids and you are guaranteed more eggs than your bucket can hold.

See, doesn't that look fun?!

This year we added a new feature. An original play written by Miss Brittany and acted out by the cousins. It was so great. Not sure it will be an annual thing though.

Hope your Easter Saturday was as much fun as ours!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a lovely Easter morning!

Bagel Pillows

2011-04-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

That cute girl over at Cluck Cluck Sew has another new pillow my friend Mandi and I had to try the other day. I think they sort of look like a bagel. A cute bagel. This one was supposed to be the one I was making for me but I think it might show up in the poor neglected etsy shop soon because...

This is the one I am keeping. I just can't seem to get away from these fabrics. There will be more of these to come I think.

A Yarn Message

2011-04-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

Found this message on the floor when I checked on a sleeping Brittany the other night. Cute girl.

Pumpkin Bread

2011-04-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

We have decided that pumpkin is Brittany's favorite vegetable. Pumpkin bread is her new favorite. She has it almost every morning for breakfast. This is our favorite recipe. 2 1/4 C Sugar 3 Eggs 1/2 C water 1/2 can of pumpkin-the large kind or one small can 3/4 C oil 2 3/4 C Flour 1/4 t. and 1/8 Baking Powder 1 1/2 t baking soda 1 t cinnamon 1 t salt Mix together and pour into two large greased pans. Bake 1 hour in glass pans or 75 minutes metal pans. I add 3/4 C of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Challah Bread

2011-04-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Vanessa blogged awhile ago about the bread she had been making, Challah bread. I just had to try it. I love the yummy yellow, egginess. I have to say it is more work than my french bread recipe but it was really good. I used the recipe Vanessa used and her changes. This is her post and this is the recipe she used. If you feel like a little bread adventure try it!

The New Jane

2011-04-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

My mom, sister and I went to see the new Jane Eyre movie Saturday. It was fantastic. Beautiful, dark, tragic and just perfect. The girl who played Jane, Mia Waskowska, was also Alice in Alice in Wonderland. I think it is definitely proof that the girl can act when she can be luminously beautiful in Alice and perfectly plain as Jane. Okay, it might have a little to do with the make-up and costume people but still, she is amazing. I am not usually a fan of darkness in a movie but lets face it, I think Charlotte Bronte would have loved it that way. Granted half the fun was getting to go with my mom and sister but this really was a great movie. I highly reccomend it if you can find it. It is a limited engagement so far and only available at one theater in our area but well worth the effort to find!