VIP

Today is Sawyer's VIP and he was sooo excited. We made a little poster of pictures about him. Of course I put a few NASCAR picture cutouts on as well. That boy has cars in his blood! He loves school and can't wait to go every day (except that day when I wouldn't let him put a car in his pocket to take with him---do you see a theme?) It has been fun putting the VIP things together and making him feel extra special around here. Sometimes I worry about the kid in the middle.

Sweet lil' monkeys

Tonight we had FHE with my side of the family at our house. We had brunch for dinner (because I love breakfast food), then sent the kids on a scavenger hunt, and then made these cute little monkey cupcakes. McKinley's is in the middle, and it's face is mooshed because she had already licked the mouth before I took the picture. But they're cute little monkeys anyway.

practice is everything

I took a class all day Saturday to learn Adobe Illustrator. It was a lot of fun (and lot of info). I've been playing around with it since. I will get better with more practice, but I made of new header with puffy ball plants. I'm a little geeky, but I think it is lots of fun!!! I posted the header below, in case I change my header again soon....which I'm sure I will.

Yay it's coming!

And I can't wait!!!

September 1, 2009

Love the music!

I watched some of this last night. I love it!

But I hate the ending

so I stopped watching before it happened.

not again

Long night shift at work, I finally read this...Midnight Sun

Reading that made me want to read the second half of this...

Then had to watch this...

Watching that made me want more, so I read this (but only the parts where Edward is)

Skipped all of this (because it's really annoying to have so much of what's-his-wolf. Back off man!)...

And finishing this again

Excited for this....

Silhouettes

Surprisingly easier to do than you think, and simply classic.

Be Inspired

Jell-o yum yum yum

I made this the other day for dinner, and it turned our otherwise drab looking meal into a pretty plate of food. I know it's just jell-o, but isn't it pretty to look at? It's also yummy to eat!

Rainbow Jell-o Salad

6 small boxes (3 oz) of different colored jell-o. (I used purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, then red)

1 large container of Plain Yogurt

Water

Heat 1 cup of water in microwave until very hot (or boil it on the stove if you want I guess). Add 1 small box of jell-o. Stir until jell-o is dissolved. Divide the mixture in half. To one half of the jell-o mixture add 1/3 cup of plain yogurt. Wisk carefully until it is creamy looking. Pour it in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place pan in refrigerator for 30 minutes. When time is up, take other half of remaining mixture and add 3 Tablespoons of cold water, stir. Carefully spoon this mixture on top of the creamy mixture in the 9x13 pan. Put back in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Repeat layers with other jell-o colors until your done.

You have to plan to stay around home for this one since you have to do something every 30 minutes. If you don't wait long enough the layers blob and mix together. If you wait too long, the layers separate when you're eating them.

But it's worth it----once in a while.

more painting

I've begun the prep work to paint the upstairs bathroom this beautiful color. It will be a slow process, but eventually we'll trade out the linoleum floors for tile or travertine. Although, does anyone know if you can put that wood laminate floor in bathrooms or will it warp/ruin it with all the kid splashing?

Dinosaur trees

Palm trees make things seem more exotic, even if it is still Utah.

Sawyer kept calling these trees 'Dinosaur Trees'.

Flat Stanley

McKinley's Kindergarten teacher gave her a 'Flat Stanley' to take on vacation with her. We were to take pictures of him at different places we visited. Here is the page I put together of Flat Stanley's fun times. Apparently there is a children's story that started the Flat Stanley craze. I think I'll have to check it out now.

Wish you were here!

The little circle with the blue dashes inside the heart is McKinley's crying face.

Lizard hunt

We started off today bright and early (like we always do....sigh...I wish I could sleep in, at least on vacation) and went for a little swim. Then I took the kids out for a little lunch at the Outback. I fell off the wagon and indulged in their sinful Aussie cheese fries with ranch dipping sauce. Then I talked them into going on a hike. I wasn't sure how it would go since I had to talk them into it, but they LOVED it! We decided to make it a lizard hunt, and look, we found some.

My lizard catching skills stink though because we never caught one. I swear my brother could catch a zillion lizards when we were kids. I'll have to get some tips.

Then we had a little picnic with my sis and bro-in-law up on the red cliffs and hiked around again a bit. I was very surprised with Sawyer's toughness. He was climbing all over the place. He usually gets cold feet climbing up my parent's ladder to the slide, so it was very impressive. Then we headed back and played at the playground for a few minutes. It was a loverly day.

Hayden fell down and these two are helping him wipe off his hands

I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Hanging out

After our looong drive yesterday, today was a great day to just hang out. Oh, I did go to the outlet for a swim suit and flip flops though. My old swim suit was worn out to the point of public embarassment. Then we went ate lunch, went swimming, and played at the playground.

a loooong day, but still fun

We set out this morning with my great idea to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I thought I could check it off my kid's life list (everyone should see the Grand Canyon once in their lifetime). So after the 2 hour drive (one way), we were informed that the Canyon is closed until May 15. Hmmm, so just so I didn't make the day a total waste I wanted to see something. So I took the slightly longer (ha ha ha) drive back through Page, AZ so I could show the kids Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. On the way we stopped at 'Cliff Dwellers' where some lady built her house in the rocks back in the 1930's. It was pretty interesting. We also stopped at the 'Navajo Bridge' to see the Colorado River below. There were tons of Navajo jewelry stands off the sides of the road down there. McKinley couldn't believe there were still Indians around. McKinley said she thought the Dam was really cool. Kent thinks she was just glad to get out of the car. Well, hours later we made it back, and now I have learned some valuable life lessons: 1. The Grand Canyon is closed until May. 2. Lake Powell is indeed a lot farther away than the tiny map leads you to believe. 3. More than 4 hours in a car with three young kids hurts your head. 4. They would have had fun just swimming.

This sign was at the visitor's center at Glen Canyon Dam....and this little boy is adorable.

photos by me.

70+ degrees

Ahhh. Just sitting here outside in the warm breeze watching Sawyer play while Hayden takes a nap.

Here is my favorite picture of the day.