December Dance Recital

Perhaps one of the most fun things I have done with my time here on earth ;) was to teach dance to some of the girls in our ward! What could be better than dressing up adorable little girls and parading them for their proud parents? They were adorable! Choosing music, making costumes, accessories, and choreographing the dances was all so much fun! The parents were amazingly supportive, and the recital was like one big happy parent party! I really love our ward!

My friend, Laura Hart, took these pictures of Alivia, and I think they are so beautiful. Thanks so much Laura!

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend!

Twilight!

We had so much fun on our Twilight fest. Our friends filled almost 2 full rows in the theater! We ordered matching shirts and went to our new Olive Garden together. Such a blast! I never knew that the tatoos that came with the 2nd book would come in handy! In the picture, you can't tell, but I put my "Edward" tatoo on upside down. OOooppps! I brought some red nail polish along, and it came in really helpful in keeping all the 16 year old girls in the line at the theater happy. They loved the little "Edward bite marks" I put on their necks. Otherwise I'm not sure how happy they would have been having 30 thirtyish-year-old women gathering together in line in front of them. We were out of control! Loved it! Hey! When else are you going to get to match with all your friends with a shirt that says BITE ME?

Happy Hallowe-e-e-en!

Pegasus
Megara

Hercules

Hera

Zeus

Paradise Canyon

Our weekend getaway last week was so fast! I was on my way to teach my dance class when Todd told me we were going to go camping when I got home! He had everything ready when I got home and sent me up to grab my own things. It was such a fun trip. We met a few other families in our ward up there and it was great just to relax and talk the night away. Our kiddos loved it and even took a morning swim! BRRRRR. It was actually cold that weekend. Mailee and I stayed cozy warm on the banks of the river while she practiced her new walking skills. The uneven terrain posed quite the challenge!

Trunk or Treat

For Aly! Our ward's trunk or treat was really fun, but a whirlwind. Mailee is at the age that she doesn't like the craziness of Halloween so she was a beast. I had less than an hour to get our family ready after going to Time Out For Women, so the details didn't quite get attended to. I'm hoping to get some better pictures on Halloween! It was really fun, though. Addison and Alivia were so excited to be Meg and Hurcules. They were really adorable!

Mailee Walks!

Scared Silly 2!

Our Columbus Day experience!

Fire

Last Friday.
Todd called, "Have you looked out the window in the last few minutes?"
"No. Why?"
"I need the number for the fire department. Go check the emergency numbers on the fridge to make sure it's not just 911. I think I'm going to need backup."
At this point I looked out the window (this picture was taken from my view then), in the far corner, I could see a large fire with a lot of smoke. I ran down to check the fridge and told him that it was just 911. He hung up and called the fire department.

I ran back upstairs to see what things looked like and the fire had easily doubled in size. We had a huge fire. The wind was blowing straight toward our storage units and home. I didn't want to overreact, but the time it took for the fire to get huge was astounding, so I grabbed the kids and threw them in the car. I was worried about Todd out there in the middle of things, so I drove around the field to the far side. I could see him at the outer edge of this huge fire with a face mask and two wet towels smacking the fire. (I guess there was a septic tank he was trying to keep the fire from.) I yelled for him, and he looked up and gave me an "ok" sign and then a "thumbs up." Gee. I'm not quite sure what part of that was great and ok, but I wasn't believing him. He tends to see the world through rose colored glasses. Usually, I love this about him. But in instances like this, it scares me. Being realistic can keep you safe.

I didn't want to be in the way when the fire department came, so I drove to the corner of our "block" to wait. On my way, it looked like the end of the world. Black smoke was billowing everywhere and I couldn't really see through it. Talk about anticipation. The fire department came hauling in a few minutes later and that made me feel better, but I didn't know if Todd was still ok, how far the fire had gotten, if I should have grabbed pictures, if ..... We prayed and prayed that things would go ok.

Now, I'm just immensely grateful that the wind wasn't blowing any harder, that the fire department exists and that they got there when they did, and that everything was ok. The fire got within about 20 ft of our units and burned about 70 percent of the 8 acre field. Fire's popped up all night and Todd had to keep going out to make sure they weren't out of control. The poor fire department had to keep coming because the poor folks in the neighborhood behind us kept getting fire scares.

You can't really see in this picture, but the fire carved through two areas like this. The one you can see diagonal and one across the back of the field. The only one Todd could really see from his vantage point was the one in back. He didn't realize the fire had gotten this close to our house and was pretty excited about the whole thing because he uses this field as his driving range and "now he'd be able to see his golf balls so much easier." Arrrrgh!

The fire was started by a man that cuts the hay in that field. He was baling the hay and his baler threw a bearing that caught on fire and turned into a grease fire and then caught the hay in his baler on fire. He kicked it out, and there it began. I guess Todd was outside and watched the whole thing...which is why he ran to grab wet towels and the face mask--which is surprising, and made me happy, because Todd is not really the "safety first" type of character.

Needless to say, I'm not really in the mood to go roasting marshmallow any time soon.

Digi Scrappers

My kids LOVE hearing stories--any story, but especially stories featuring themselves. I can't tell you how many times they ask to hear the story of their births, what they did as babies, etc. About the time Alivia was born I had so much to do that my scrapbooking got left in the dust. I promised myself that I wouldn't let another year go by without documenting their lives. I got a little down on scrapbooking because of how long it took, the amazing mess it made, and the astronomical cost, if you actually did anything cute. Then, when you had a completed page, there was only one copy, so what do you do with it, keep it and tell your kids to go fly a kite when they wanted a few pictures of themselves someday?

Last year I happened upon the idea of digital scrapbooking. LOVE IT! The mess is gone, the cost is FREE (you do have to pay when you print them--and if you spend money on the kits--which I never have) and I can print as many copies as we need. Viola! Problem solved. Now I just need to keep my promise to ourselves and get the work done! :)

Happy scrapping!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Someone said that Halloween is the new Christmas in decorating.....that seems almost blasphemous, but it is a fun season to decorate for. Sometimes I feel guilty for how much I enjoy creating things, but Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Relief Society Broadcast made me feel so great! I love that he encourages us all to create something...we don't all have the same talents, but we all have talents. So, go create something that you enjoy!

He said, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.
Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.
Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

....What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.
If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.
Nearly a century and a half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.”
The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."

Here are some of my creations. Some I like a lot, some didn't turn out like I wanted, but I had fun with the process! :)

I've made lots of blocks, but these are the first I've glittered. I think they would be better if I had used that off white/gold for all the letters because the other colors don't show up well. Martha Stewart glitter is so fun!
You can't really see my runner, but its black cotton with a sheer overlay with glittery spiderwebs on it. I glittered the pumpkin and rewired some fall harvest picks using brown floral tape to make the candle berry thingers. I really like how these turned out.

The boa kind of cracks me up because it's more my sister, Aly's, style than mine, but it was too fun! :)I made this a couple years ago, but I really like it too. Stitching is the cheapest way to fill space I know!
Same goes for this stuff...it's a few years old, and I only made the two signs and little hangies. My kids have fun playing with them.

These paper lanterns I got at the dollar store, and my kiddos love them. They talked me into stringing fake spider webs on them. They think they are so scary! :) The spider in the web freaks me out on a daily basis, but again, we do it for the kids! :0
This place mat I'm pretty much bummed about. It didn't turn out at all like I was hoping. You can't really tell, but it's bubble glittered in silver. I tried to freehand it, and it looks like a kid did it. I don't really know what to do with them. Anyone want them?This sign is kinda fun...now I just need to come up with some place to hang it!

Happy Birthday Alivia

We had a tea party for Alivia's 4th birthday. (She made sure we understood it was not 'real' tea, just pretend, not bad tea.) So we had tea party type food for dinner. We had fun pretending to speak in English accents, and Alivia's was remarkably good...not being able to say her 'r's' and such. She mostly got dress-ups from us. She should be set to pretend away for quite some time. She's a little nuts about Ariel right now, so I made her an Ariel costume. She loved it. When she was in the water, she would let her fin down, and when she was in land, she'd put the wrist tie around her wrist. Clever, clever. :) We made her do a fashion show, and here a few dazzling pictures! :) Everyone played in the play hut that grandma and grandpa send, but Mailee never left. She LOVES it. She really spend probably two hours in there, and that's pretty crazy for a 13 month old!

I HATE FIRE ANTS

My Little Suzie Q

Her name is Alivia. Why we call her Suzie???? there's no great answer, but she is a great little girl. I haven't gotten used to the idea that she is moving up to the preschool slot now. She is two years out of kindergarten, but here we are sending her to an early preschool. She is so darn fun. We just can't get enough of her.

And for the record...she told me that she didn't really like the green dress until her daddy told her she looked beautiful in it and made a big deal of her, and then she said, "Mommy, I like green. That's good, because this is green, and my hat is green." Love her.

And her little preschool mat to keep her in place at school!

Diego

No, it's not the real Diego in Addison's class. I asked him how he knew, and he just looked at me with one of those, "Mom, you are so out of it" faces.

When he was telling me what did happen at school though, these were some things he reported...

"Then we 'practiced lunch'. Isn't that the weirdest thing? Practice lunch?" (laugh)

Cassie: "So, did you have nap time and sleep on your towel."

Addison: "Ya. (thinking) There was this boy that got moved behind the teachers desk because he got in trouble."

"Why?"

"He kept making fart noises. Another kid got in trouble for laughing. I was laughing too, but I tried not to."

Why is the same joke funny for every generation? You'd think they'd come up with something new! :)

Mommy Vacation!

Who ever gets to do this? Todd laughed at me that I got to get away to Arizona for a week and that Aly and I chose to teach ourselves how to knit/crochet --made some dang cute hats--, studied photography, did a photoshoot, pedicures, all-you-can-eat CARMEL POPCORN, all-you-can-watch Prison Break, and went to Vegas to see the "Circus on another planet" (to coin a phrase from my father). The whole thing was great--even Mystere--although it was just a little crazy! Loved my mommy vacation, missed my family, though. Next time, I'll just bring them along! :)

The Pig

So Addison came up to me and wanted me to read him a book. He sat down attentively listening as if at story hour. This was the book. Needless to say, I loved it. (Notice the staples in the wrong side of the paper. :)