Swimming and Shaving Cream

What a week! I got the crude this week. Why is being sick in the Summer the worst? This bug has been especially fun as it has left me with very little voice. And I use my voice. A lot. Funny how if you whisper at your kids they start whispering back. I may have to use that once I am not the undead anymore. Oh, and William was gone so I was the only adult voice, that was fun. So not a lot of blogging happened. We have been busy though, you know that if you are the mom life still goes on, sick or not. There have been swimming lessons(look at how straight that Brittany's leg is!)

Matthew learned how to dive too.

Josh really liked the slides the last ten minutes of the last lesson the best but I have to say he did better than his older brother and sister at this age. Happily everyone will be advancing to the next level next year. That is if I don't lose the paper they gave me to remind me.

Brittany has been camped out in the basement with my laptop watching Cake making shows on netflix and building things with cards. And declaring her love for her little brother.

Oh, and spending the day in her swimsuit.

Today we finally broke out a craft. First time in weeks I think. This is shaving cream that we drizzled acrylic paint over. The instructions I found on a blog said to use tempera paint but we didn't have any and my kids are pretty good with the acrylics. So then you swirled the colors, place a piece of card stock on top to "print" it. Then wiped of the shaving cream.

It left you with a swirly pattern. I have to say it wasn't actually our very best craft ever but the kids had fun and that is what we were going for. Made my house smell like a barber shop though.

A Bookcase for Josh

This post should really be called "I love Spray paint" or something more creative. But I was afraid I might get visits from graffiti artists. I have had so much fun with spray paint lately, it makes me want to hang out at the thrift store and find more things to spray. Josh is becoming such a big kid and every big kid needs their own bookcase, well in this house they do. Brought this home from the thrift store.

Primed it in my usual spot, the empty lot next door.

After a coat or two of blue and few days to cure, here it is in Josh's room! (yes that is a crib in the corner of the picture-don't judge us!)

Chocolate Zuchinni Bread

It is that time of year when I start trying to think of new things to do with all of the zuchs coming out of the garden. We love zucchini bread, but really, we needed some variety. So I threw about 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa in the batter and yum! Hey, we are still getting a veggie this way right?

This is my Zucchini recipe that I used.

Mix together

3 eggs

1 C oil

2 C sugar

Add 3 C flour, 1t baking soda, 1 t baking powder, 1 t cinnamon 1 t salt, 1 t vanilla. Add 2 C grated zucchini. For one loaf of regular and one loaf chocolate I added 3 T cocoa after I had poured the first loaf into the greased pan. For two chocolate loaves I added 6 T to the whole mix. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

A Field Trip

You know how at the beginning of the Summer you have all of these great plans? Well I did anyway. Now we are about half way through and I had accomplished a shockingly small number with my kids. Today we crossed one of the list though. We were tourists at home. When Summer started the kids and I made a list of places we would like to go on field trips. Downtown Salt Lake was at the top of the list. So today that is were we went. This picture is at the top not because we went to the Lion and Beehive House first but because I am actually in it! Thanks to a nice man walking down the street. It was fun to take my kids here, William and I had our wedding reception there long ago.

We went up to the top of the Joseph Smith Building and got a great view of Temple Square.

Isn't the ceiling in there amazing? This is the lobby, not sure how they make that stained glass work.

Pictures with Indians.

In log houses near the Church History Museum.

And with the Angel Moroni.

This was really amazing. It is a new exhibit in the South Visitor's center on Temple Square. It is a cut-away, sort of like a doll house showing the rooms inside. I loved being able to figure out where everything is. We Mormons believe in families being sealed together forever and the temple is where that all happens. I loved this exhibit because I think it helps reinforce the idea that the things we do in the temple aren't secret, just very sacred. If you are curious about our temples you can look here for more info.

My kids outside, in front of the temple.

On our way back to the car, had to get a picture leaning over that ornate railing in the Joseph Smith building. I almost had a heart attack when Brittany thought she should hold Josh up so he would show more in the picture. Happily, no children were harmed in taking of this photo.

It was a fun day and my kids enjoyed more than they thought they would!

Still Crafting

I really am doing more than crafting around here. Lots of trips to the water park mostly, but now way am I posting pictures of me there! Once the kids are in bed at night I have been blog-hopping, checking out other people's creativity. Had to try out a new bracelet.

Or two.

Still working on this quilt. Someday soon it will be done. No real hurry since I only made it to prove that I could!

Bracelets

I am on a bracelet making kick. This one is a variation of the rolled flowers I have seen around blogland lately. All I did was make four bracelets from beads and stretchy jewelry elastic, then wrap them with a piece of ribbon so I had something to hot glue the flowers to. My boys think it looks like I used the BBs from Mathew's airsoft gun for the beads. Thank heaven I have one girl! Oh, and when did I grow my mothers hands? I won't tell you how many times I took this picture to get one where the veins in my hands aren't bulging. I hate aging.

Alice

I did it! I figured out how to post this little video of Brittany's Alice play! My camera skills are not get so I apologize for that and I missed the very beginning with Alice going down the rabbit hole (slide) but it is still sort of fun!

Our Alice

Brittany has had such a fun week participating in our friend Golda's Drama camp (yeah, we needed a little more drama around here!). Today was the performance of their play, Alice in Wonderland. Brittany was so excited. Doesn't she make a cute Alice?

Golda the director and co-star with Alice. I can't believe how together and well thought out Golda had this whole camp. Very mature.

The opening scene where Alice's big sister is reading while Alice falls asleep and then chases the white rabbit.

Down the rabbit hole! Ingenious huh?

The Red Queen, Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, Cheshire cat dance with Alice.

Final bows, truly a superb production-and all under 15 minutes!

We had a great time being the audience with Grandma. Like everything the Dopp family does it was fun, worthwhile and memorable! I had video I was hoping to put on here but I can't get it off my camera. So thanks for all the stolen pictures Circe that I stole from your blog. Saved me once again. I will keep working on the video though. We can hardly wait for next year- Matthew wants in next time!

Crafting Again!

Matthew is gone this week staying with his Oma and Opa in Idaho. How can you tell? Because these stairs going up to his room are clean! Usually he uses them as a showcase for Lego creations, Nerf gun artillery and whatever else his is into at the moment. I love having them clean, miss the boy though.

The other way you can tell I am down one kids is I suddenly seem to have time to craft this week! Josh still naps and Brittany entertains herself so I have been working on a few projects that have been waiting around awhile. This is going to be a Summer quilt. I was in a couple of vintage sheet swaps and have been waiting for just the right project to use them in. Since I never figured out what that was I decided to use them in a lightweight quilt. I love the sherbety (I think I made that word up) colors.

I also decided to do something with these frames. I have seen some fun things people have been doing with gilt frames and paint and wanted to try. I picked these up from the thrift store.

After I spray painted them I cut out a few silhouettes. We are fast becoming the silhouette house.

I spray painted a glass vase black to put the sunflowers in and there you go! Total cost $2.50, Makes me want to work on my house again. Why is it that having one less child everything seems so much easier? And it doesn't matter which kid either!

Bear Lake 2010

We are just back from a great week at Bear Lake. We have been going as a family since my sister and I were kids. We added the guys when we got married but then sort of abandoned the place when our babies were little. A few years ago my parents brought back the tradition and have been taking us for the last several years. We all love it so much. Here is the group, minus Aunt Kristie who was taking the picture. As you can probably tell William got "Bear Lake fever". For some unknown reason members of my immediate family tend to run fevers when the time approaches to go to Bear Lake. We have learned to muscle through and still have fun. Oh and that hat on my shoulder is really Joshua. He also got Bear Lake fever, his didn't last long but some how developed into something that glued his eyes shut while he slept resulting in the happy child you see there. Good times.

He got over it when we got to the beach though. He loved jumping from one pile of sand to another. Over. And over. And over.

We did lots of fun stuff together. Ate together, read together, cheered together, posed together and ran like Baywatch girls together.

Loads of playing in the water. My dad does rent a wave runner for one of the days we are there but the kids love the sand and water the best. The adorable girl up at the top snuggling my niece Abby is her Aunt Kristie. She is my brother-in-law Nate's sister. My kids think she is their aunt too. Let me tell you want to have fun on a vacation with kids involved? Bring a first grade teacher with you. We had so much fun with her.

Digging in the sand, not to be confused with sand castle building because that is a whole different art form. See the big shovel Uncle Nate is holding? He brings that every year so our creations are the best ones on the beach. William had to buy Matthew his own folding shovel so we could keep up.

The Sandcastles. Matthew's favorite part. He and Uncle Nate made a car and a mansion. There were several other creations made by Brittany and her cousins. So much fun!

Thanks Mom and Dad! Wish we didn't have to wait a whole year to go again!

Baseball Boy

So Baseball ended a couple of weeks ago and I have yet to document the season. Handsome team weren't they?

Matthew developed a pretty good swing!

Was very serious out there in the field.

This is what Josh and his friend Gage did during the games. That and running down hills. They aren't quite ready for the big leagues yet. Baseball was really a fun experience, definitely a great way to kick off the summer!

New Haircut!

Miss Brittany cut her hair off and sent it to Locks of Love. I love her new short hair soooooo much!

Mini Cake Platters

Finally, a craft! I made these for Brittany's birthday party and they were so easy I had to share. All I did was get some pretty saucers/plates from the thrift store. Then I found the glass candle stick holders they have at the dollar store two for a dollar. I tipped the plate upside down. Then I applied a coat of gel super glue all around the top of the the candle holder then placed it in the middle of the plate. Let it sit overnight and Ta-da!

I used a small vase I found at the thrift store for the larger one in the middle. When I showed them to my mom she said she thought they would be fun at a shower, I think she is right!

The Fourth

Yesterday was a perfect day. Because the Fourth falls on Sunday this year we here in Utah are celebrating all weekend long, some towns did yesterday and some will do tomorrow. I say it was a perfect day because how often do you get to visit childhood, enjoy the blessings of today and see the future in your children all at once? All while celebrating the birthday of our amazing country.
First we went to the parade. I may not live in K-town anymore (we are in a neighboring town now), but it will always be my hometown. This is the spot were every year from the time I was tiny we would all sit. It is just a few houses down from my grandparent's home and we would all sit in front of their friend's houses. We may be a small town but the parade is the best. My cousins used to arrange their visit to Utah from Minnesota for the week of the Fourth just so they could come. That is the appeal of salt water taffy after it has be chucked from a float made from somebody's trailer which has been decorated with crepe paper. The parade route changed a few years ago and ended before it got to this point. I didn't realize how much I missed it until yesterday. This year they changed it back. Somehow we hooked up with my parents and decided to try our old spot. When we go there the children and grandchildren of my grandparents friends were there! It truly was like visiting childhood! That lady in blue is my mom visiting with the old crowd. These are the neighbors that my dad's family camped with, their daughters babysat me, the father even baptised my mom.

This was our little spot. I love seeing my kids all wrapped up in their grandparents!

There was a bit of time to kill so Josh trained his tiny puppy to climb Grandma.

We painted some faces too.

Then the flag! Accompanied by children and folks dressed as colonists. Gorgeous!

After the parade we stopped at the local grocery store. Would you believe they had a bounce house set up my kids got to play in for free?

The day continued with a barbecue with the grandparents, I think barbecue is mandatory on the Fourth. Then we all headed to the high school William and I attended. Even though the buildings have been replaced the feeling is still the same. The Fourth really does make me nostalgic. I couldn't help thinking back on all the times I have watched the fireworks there. As a girl all squished up on a blanket with my mom, dad and sister, as a teen ager-when the Fourth meant you got a new outfit and wandered around with friends looking for cute boys, on my first date with William where I kept wishing he would hold my hand. All culminating last night when I laid on the blanket resting my head on the shoulder of the man I love most of all with my kids piled around us like puppies and my dad watching over us from his lawn chair. Perfect. Absolutely perfect!