Our 1st Camping Trip

I got to take the kids camping for the very first time. I was sad that Todd couldn't go, because he had to work. I went with my parents, Scott and Tracy's family and Jodi and Shephard's family and Ken and Phoebe's boys. We camped somewhere near Strawberry.

Here's me and Cannon. Notice how he is trying to get away. He had no time for photos, he wanted to play.

Sisters! Jodi, me and Tracy.
The kids dug around in the dirt and got so dirty. Tracy cleaned them up before bed time and the towel was black with soot!I caught Jodi licking the spoon that they used to make the peach cobbler. Busted!

Here's Papa making the cobbler in the dutch oven. Papa spent almost the entire time setting up camp and feeding us the most delicious meals EVER!

My little diva loves to strike a pose!
Miranda, Ameliah and Kinley playing in Papa's trailer.

I brought this little bench that also turns over to make a little table. The kids loved it.

We sure missed our Daddy, but we had a good time.

Tulle and Toile

I started my week knowing that I had a lot to get done before the weekend, but I went ahead and got wrapped up in a book anyway. I told Jodi that I was ready for a new book, so she lent me this book, Angels and Demons, which is the prequel to The Davinchi Code. I did not really like the movie, but she said they were good books so I gave it a shot. It didn't take long for me to get into it. It is a big book and I could not put it down! Instead of cleaning my house and finishing my projects in Ameliah's room, I read. (Note: this book is graphic and I would not recommend it to everyone.)
Todd had the day off on Tuesday, so we played all day. We went into town and hung out at his parents house. Then that night they watched the kids and we met up with our friend Josh and his date and ate at Blue Wasabi at the new mall on Williamsfield and Greenfield. I don't eat cooked fish, so I knew I for sure wouldn't eat sushi. They had some non-seafood on their menu, so I was able to eat.
Then we went and saw Get Smart. I already knew I would like it because I really like Steve Carrell. I laughed out loud a lot, and that is all I could ask for. We really had a good time.
Since I didn't get to read much on Tuesday, I had to spend most of Wednesday reading. I finished my book and it was time to get busy on my projects. I painted Ameliah's dresser. I started sanding it and I knew that would take forever. I decided to skip the sanding and just paint it to see how it turned out. I picked the cheapest paint at Walmart and it was less than $8 for a gallon. The color I chose was Country White. I painted over the red, and I am really surprised at how well it turned out. Don't look too close, though, because I am anything but a professional painter! It took two coats and I think it looks pretty good. I also bought the knobs and painted them black. Notice the empty frame on the wall. I am still bound and determined to make it a mirror. For now, I just think it looks cool and I am going to leave it there as a decorative wall hanging.
For the curtains, I added the gingham border on the bottom of the valance. I also added gingham ties at the top. I bought some cheap fabric at Walmart and made these long curtains. There are two separate pieces. I just sewed the four edges of the black in back. The front is a cream tulle that is a little sparkly. I sewed a fringe toward the bottom of it. I did not sew the fabrics together, I just clipped them to the round black curtain holders I found. You can tell that the fabrics don't line up, but that is just a matter of taking it down and aligning it. I will do that and also cut the tulle up the middle to let it bunch more on the sides. I am sure there are people out there wondering what I was thinking, but I have really enjoyed my project and am pleased with how it has turned out. I still have some pictures and posters to hang, but I think all of the major projects for her room are done.

I finished up all of this stuff and cleaned my house on Friday morning, just in time for Heather and Kevin to arrive. Kevin is Todd's brother. We became very close to them when we lived in Illinois and we have missed them so much since we moved back. They will be here for a week and we are so excited to play!

It's All Toile!

Recently our ward had a "Take it or leave it" night. I went and found a lot of stuff that I loved. I was most excited about the things I found to decorate Ameliah's room. Ever since we got her toddler bed, I have been looking for a cute bedding set. I did not like any of the sets they sell at Walmart or Target. It is difficult to find toddler sets anywhere. At the Take it or leave it, I found the picture board, the lamp, the "Live Love" plaque and the basket and fell in love! I knew what I was going to do for her room. The very next day I went to Ross and bought the jewelry box, the toile plate and this frame. The frame was red, but I painted it black. I believe it was a picture frame, but when I found it at the store, the glass was missing so I bought it at a discount. I envisioned it being a mirror, but I quickly learned how hard it would be to cut glass to the right shape. So, I hung it on the wall for now and hope to someday get a mirror in there. At Ross I also bought a little footstool that had padding on the top and knew I could find a way to make a cover for it to match her room. Then I went to Walmart and got the pink daisies to go in the basket.Ameliah had a lot of fun wearing the lamp shade on her head. I thought it was too cute, so I had to get a picture of it.I looked on ebay and found a brand new 9 piece black and cream toile crib bedding set that matched perfectly with the stuff I bought. I won the bid for only $30.15! I had never bid on anything before and I actually won! With shipping it came out to about $56, but that was still cheaper than the 4 piece sets they sell at Walmart. Since I didn't need the crib bumper or the skirt, I decided that I would use the material to make the cover for the stool and some pillows. When the package arrived, I immediately started pulling at the seems and pulled the bumper apart. I had to go slow so that I didn't tear the fabric. I made three pillows out of it. The first two had some serious things wrong with them. This is the third pillow and I am really pleased with how well it turned out. The material is chenille and it came from the bumper. The gingham border around the picture came from the ties on the bumper and the picture is a scene from the fabric that I cut out. I used the batting from the bumper to stuff the pillow. If you look too close you can see that I am a rookie at sewing. None of my lines are straight. I borrowed my mom's sewing machine and figured out how to use it. I know I could have asked someone else to help me, but I thought it would be fun and kind of special if I did it all myself.This is the stool cover that I made. This was quite a project itself! I had to unscrew 4 screws in the bottom of the frame that held the plywood and padding. I had to take off like 100 staples that held the fabric and backing on. Then I had to sew two pieces of the chenille together to make it wide enough to fit. I don't have a staple gun, so I used a bunch of flat push pins to hold it on. Then I wrapped the fabric around the stool and measured out where the pleats would go, and I sewed the pleats. Then I measured how long I wanted the skirt to be, and I sewed the binding in that spot. That was not an easy task. Then I sewed a bow at each pleat. After that I sewed the open ends of the skirt together. I placed the skirt over the frame and put the padding back on. I pulled the material from the inside of the skirt until the binding lined up just right. Once I had it in place, I put the screws back on and it was done! Even though it was a big project, I am glad I did it because it is just darling and Ameliah loves it. I never really thought of myself as being creative decoratively, but I am having a blast with it! I am currently working on adding some "flare" to the valances because they are really plain and boring. I have added the gingham border from the skirt to the bottom and still don't feel like that is enough. I think I will use some more ties from the bumper to dress it up.

The Live/Love plaque has a picture if the Eiffel Tower on it, so we decided it would be fun to do a Parisian theme. I won a big poster on ebay of the Eiffel Tower, but still haven't hung it yet. I am keeping my eye out for more Paris stuff that would look cute with her room. I also am looking for more pink stuff to be an accent like the daisies in the basket.

Her dresser is red, so I have started sanding it and am going to paint it an off white color and put black knobs on it. I know this is a huge project, but I am having so much fun with it. I can't wait to do the rest of the house!

Ragmuffins and Rainsticks

I have been so busy lately, that I have neglected my blog (and by the looks of these pictures, my kids too. They look like little ragmuffins!). I just got a new calling to be the Nursery Coordinator. My job is not to teach, but to be in charge of the whole program and making sure that everything runs smoothly. When I met with the Primary President she told me that I am basically the Nursery President. We have 3 classes (about to make a 4th) with a total of 47 kids. I have 2 assistants that have been doing this for over a year and they are amazing. They both know everything and are extremely helpful.

In our first presidency meeting, the Primary President asked me to come up with a "Gathering Activity" for the kids for the first 10 minutes of class so that their transition from being with parents to coming to class will be more positive. One of the ideas mentioned was musical instruments for the kids to play with. I know we don't have a big budget for nursery, so I looked online and found some inexpensive instruments that I can make at home. The first instrument I chose to make is a Karate Kid style drum. I made them out of margarine tubs, dowel rods, string and beads, then I decorated them with electrical tape.

After working on them for hours, I finally finished and had to test them on my little guinea pigs and they absolutely LOVED them! We took them to church on Sunday and the other little kids enjoyed them, too. I think this instrument thing will be a hit. This week I have been working on making rainsticks out of mailing tubes, nails, beans and rice. I have been having so much fun with this that I am wondering if it is more for me or for the kids!

Thanks to my friend, Heidi, I will start on my egg shakers next. I had no idea where I was going to find plastic Easter eggs this time of year, but yesterday I was visiting with Heidi and she had a bunch of them and she gave them to me. Woo-Hoo!

This calling has been keeping me busy. We are 6 teachers short in nursery and there has been a lot of chaos for about a month before I got called because the person I replaced had already left. Even though it is kinda crazy right now, I think that it will all settle down soon and I will really enjoy my job. I have been able to do a lot of organizing already and that is right up my alley. This is the 3rd time that I have been called to nursery. I'm flattered that the Lord feels that I am worthy to serve his precious little innocent ones and I hope that I can help make their first church experiences to be good ones.

He's my lobster!

Four years ago today I married my best friend. Our marriage has been a beautiful, action-packed adventure so far and I am so excited to see what the next 65+ years have in store for us.

We have been blessed with two of the most perfect, precious (and gorgeous) children in the world. I really enjoy being a wife to Todd and a mother to Ameliah and Cannon. My life is so much more meaningful because they are the center of it. I love my husband! We have a great relationship and so much LOVE!

Todd- I love ya babe! "I love you every time." "Honey you are a rock upon which I stand... And honey you should know that I could never go on without you... Honey you are the sea upon which I float... You're the one that I wanted to find."

I'm so glad you picked me, because I certainly "choosed you". I am yours forever! Happy Anniversary!

Sisters by chance, friends by choice

Just me and my sisters. In a family of 5 brothers, us 3 girls have always stuck together. For the last 6 months, I have had the pleasure of having Becky live with us while she had her total hip replacement and recovery. For half of that time we literally lived around the corner from Jodi. It has been so fun having us all so close again.

Becky found a great place in Gilbert and is moving to be closer to work and her kids' school, which means my playmate, companion, nanny and most importantly, my friend is leaving. While I am excited for her and the new adventure she is about to embark on, I can't help but be a little bummed for myself. I would say that I'm like 95% happy for her and 5% bummed. No, more like 90:10.

Over the last 6 months, we have had some laughs, some cries, some silly times and lots and lots of ice cream together. While I do realize that she will be living only a few minutes away and is always just a phone call away, I can't help but think of how much I will miss her. She is one of my best friends. She has been my nearly constant companion for 6 months now, and is a big part of my day. I know my kids are going to miss the heck out of her, too! They both love her so much!

Becky-Todd and I wish you the best of luck on your new path and know that you will be happy and successful. You are a positive, loving person with a tremendous amount of faith, and that will take you everywhere.

I just want to close by saying the words to the song you sang to me the day I moved to IL that made me weep (and still get teary when I hear it):

"That I love you, I have loved you all along. And I miss you, been far away for far too long."

And I also want to tell you the poem the 3 of us girls wrote together when we were little:

Lovey Dovey Do I love you, you know it's true chickaboo chickaboo. Hold me tight with all your might. Hug hug hug but never fight or bite.

Man, I miss you already!

Good Times, Pizza Night!

Last night I had some last minute errands that I had to go to town for. I didn't realize that I would be out so long, so I met Becky and the kids at Pizza Mart for dinner.

The kids "played" the video games while we were waiting for our food. It was hard to get Ameliah to stop playing and come eat.

Baby brother Cannon was content sitting in his high chair watching everyone, which was nice for me!

You know I couldn't leave Pizza Mart without my cone- that's the best part! I gotta say, they tasted a lot better when they were only a quarter.

Mother's Day Weekend

Ameliah and Celeste woke up early on Saturday morning and decided they wanted to play outside. They went outside for a minute and came back in asking for their coats. I don't know why coats were required as it is May in Arizona. Whatever floats their boats!
Then Todd took me out on my Mother's Day date where I got to pick everything we did. I wanted to go to Tempe Marketplace and eat at Red Robin, even though that's what we did last weekend. Only this time, we didn't have our kids with us.
Then I wanted Cold Stone again and it was magnificent! Umm, Cold Stone!Then we saw "What happens in Vegas". We both really enjoyed it. We got done before 10:00 and felt the night was still young, so we went to Walmart and looked around and hung out for over an hour and had a good time.

My Mother's Day was great. My honey got me a pair of shorts that I had been wanting. We went to Todd's parents for lunch and got to talk to his sister Debbie who is on a mission in Florida. Then we came home and I got a blessed Mother's Day nap. When I woke up, I decided I would make some baby food for Cannon, because I am sick of spending $11 a week in baby food. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't notice that Cannon was under the table eating a chunk of my Mother's Day chocolate mint pie that had fallen on the ground. By the time I found him, it was all over him and my kitchen floor. He had some on his sicks, so he spread it all over the place. Luckily I caught him before he got to my nearly white carpet! Then I got to call my mom and talk to her for a few minutes. It was good to hear her voice. I would say that my weekend was wonderful. I wish every weekend was Mother's Day weekend!

"This is the hand that made this blog"

**WARNING: This post is based on a dream that my sister Becky had about me. I thought it was so funny that I told her I would post it on my blog. It is intended for satirical purposes and in no way reflects my true feelings about my hand or my blogging ability. I just enjoy creative writing and have all the time in the world to do it.**

Ode to my blogging hand

Behold, my blogging hand.
Oh the blog this hand has created!
Taking pictures; capturing precious memories.
Passionately typing away to imaginatively tell the blog’s story.
These fingers are an integral component of the work of art that is...
My blogging hand.

Becky sent me these pictures. I was thinking maybe I could dress up my blogging hand to look like these:

No? Okay, not really.