Daisy Pot

2009 Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

2009-10-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

This years Storytelling Festival was a lot of fun. It was the festival's 20th year! I can't believe that much time has gone by. A lot of the favorite tellers were invited this year. You would think that was a good thing, but it ended up causing a bit of a challenge. It was hard to choose which one to go listen to and which one to miss.

Here is Donald Davis telling his Grand Canyon story.

I can hear this one over and over again and still laugh!

I was in the pottery area most of the time. This is the area I am in charge of. I think all the parents drop their kids off her and then go listen to stories. We sure had a lot of kids this year. The potters that come are so great with the kids! They help the kids make a clay pot. The kids get to decide what size and shape the pot is. Every year I say I am going to take a pottery class so that I know more about the process. Here's hoping that I get a class in sometime this year!

We also have the kids get involved with sculpting. Dennis Zupan heads this up and is such a talented artist. They make a dragon every year, and this years was so neat! Dennis takes it back to his studio to fire it and then puts it on display at the next years festival. The kids love coming back to see things they helped create.

The finished Dragon!

Vacations are Supposed to be Relaxing!

2009-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Yes vacations are supposed to be relaxing,

but this trip went a little sour!

First off, I was on time to the airport so no stress there. I kept wondering if I had forgotten anything, because I almost always do, but no I was in the clear there as well.

I found my seat on the plane, right between a really cute guy on my right and a little bit of a nerd on my left. The cute one decided he would rather sleep than talk to me, and the nerd decided he would rather read. But hey you all know me I'm not much of a talker and I generally put my foot in my mouth anyway - Is there a cure for that?

The flight attendant announces that we need to put our seat in the upright position, and put our seat belt on. PROBLEM- the cute guy is sitting on one half of my seat belt and he is still sleeping! I sit there thinking, what to do, what to do! Finally I just get up the nerve and wake him up! Oops, turns out he isn't sitting on my seat belt, mine had an extender on it so I didn't recognize it as my other half. I feel dumb, but get over it quickly!

I swear it felt like we had been just sitting on the plane for 20 or so minutes. There was no air on, it was starting to get really hot, someone just let a stinker (both guys are now pretending to sleep - I'm sure it was one of them) and there was no window to roll down. The pilot comes on and announces they had to fix a problem with a flap, but that we would now be on our way. PROBLEM! I only have a 38 minute lay over in Vegas and I now have 9 minutes to make it to my next flight! Not that I wouldn't want them to fix the flap! it's just at this point I begin to panic!

I try to stay calm and call a flight attendant over to ask what I am to do if I miss the flight, I have never been in this situation before. Her advise is to talk to the clerks on the ground and that we might make up time in the air. At this point I feel tears welling up in my eyes, (I can be such an emotional person) I keep trying to tell myself I am fine, breath. But no the flight attendant keeps talking and won't go away so the tears keep coming as I'm thinking just go, just go, just go. Finally she leaves and I pull myself together. There is a screen on the seat in front of me that I can watch the progress of the flight, after about 10 minutes of watching, I just shut it off because according to the data I now have 3 minutes to make my connecting flight and my nerves can't handle it.

We eventually did make up time and landed with 15 minutes to my next flight, with a sigh of relief, until it takes 7 minutes to taxi across to our unloading dock, and yes I am watching the clock this whole time. The pilot gets on and announces to please let those who have a tight connection flight to Atlanta to exit first --thank you, I hope that helps! By the time we got to the dock many have forgotten to let us off first, so I have to wiggle my way to the front. Only one person seemed annoyed that I wanted to get past him - really some people!

I am running like a mad woman down the breeze way thinking there is no way I going to make this flight. I get to the opening, start scanning all the doors for gate 41 to Atlanta, and quickly realize that I have exited from gate 40. I see the line of boarding passengers at Gate 41 and casually walk to the end of the line trying to seem cool, hoping no one has noticed my crazy, panicked demeanor! I'm good, I made it - I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT! What are the chances that the two gates that I needed would be right next to on another.

I settle into my next flight when the pilot announces that a few panels may have been miss placed on the plane and they wanted to check them. PROBLEM - I still have one more flight to catch when I get to Atlanta, but I no longer have any energy to panic and figure what is going to happen is going to happen. Twenty minutes later we are on our way. I play the trivia game on the screen in front of me most of the flight and am happy to say that I ended every game in the top 10, there where only about 26 people playing at all times, but it was still fun.

I get to Atlanta with an hour to spare. I head out to find my departure gate first, because Atlanta is a pretty big airport. I get to concourse D look down at my ticket to see what gate I need and realize I need to be at concourse C - PROBLEM! Just Lovely - I wind my way back to the other side of the airport, and find the right gate on the right concourse -Yeah! I head to the restroom not fully awake, avoid going into the men's room by inches- they need to mark those better! Go get something to eat. Head back to my gate, see a girl coming out of the men's room looking a little dazed and confused, as the custodians laugh nearby - it must happen often - they really do need to mark those better.

I am now sitting at my gate waiting for them to announce they are boarding when instead they announce the flight will be delayed by 25 minutes because they need to change a tire, I'm not really surprised at this point and am glad they decided to change it before they loaded us- gotta look for the positive! It would have been worse to sit on a cramped plane for 25 minutes.

We are finally up in the air to my final destination, Jonesborough Tennessee! We are in a small prop plane, about a 20 seater. I generally do not like these planes because you feel every drop and bump. And turbulence we felt! At one point the plane wasn't just rocking back and forth, we were rolling back and forth, it does a number on your nerves. It was so bad that I grabbed the seat in front of me to try to stop the plane from rolling, I'm sure it helped to! We hit a few more bumps and then finally land.

I head to the baggage claim, and watched as everyone else found and retrieved their bags. The conveyor belt was still moving but no new bags were coming off! My bag didn't make it to Jonesborough because at this point WHY NOT!

I talked to the attendees who said it may come in on a later flight and they would deliver it to my hotel if it did. My mother comes to pick me up, we go to a lovely dinner at the Chop House -mmmmm, so good! We Head to the hotel, still no bag. I'm sitting on the bed wondering out loud what I am going to sleep in, as my mother suggests I make a dash for it from the bathroom to the bed in my underclothing. We were sharing the room with 2 other ladies and I thought they might not appreciate this. The phone rings, my bag is here!!!! RELIEF

I decide to head to the hotel gym to run off some stress. I only get to run for 1/2 hour. I would have liked to run longer, but they close the gym down at midnight.

In the end I think I really shouldn't
be allowed to travel alone!

We make it into Jonesborough Tennessee in the morning for the International Storytelling Festival!

Jonesborough is a really darling small town. I have decided that it is a really cute place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here, for different reasons. Mostly I have decided that so called Southern Charm isn't that appealing to me, or at least what I have seen of it. Announcing to your spouse, but loud enough for a 20 foot radius, that you are heading to the bathroom, is not charming. My hometown has it's quirks too. It really comes down to what you have grown up with and are accustomed to.

Here are a few of the girls that went, Molly, Robin, and Nan (there were eight of us total this year) The man to Nan's left was hitting on her! It was pretty funny to hear their conversation (keep in mind Nan is married and a mother to 6 and wanted nothing to do with it) One of the reasons I love going to Nationals is to get to know others on the Timpanogos Storytelling Committee better

Here is my favorite shop in town. The Christmas Shoppe on Main. It is Christmas year round. I always buy a few ornaments to add to my collection. I like to find the ornaments that are a bit different.

I picked these one's out this year!

I got to hear Ed Stivender interview Bil Lepp at the indoor theater. They were so funny together and played off of each other so well. No pictures were allowed of the performance so I just took a picture of the stage. Bil's advice was to write down the 3 dumbest things you do each day and you will eventually get a good story out of it.

For the most part once we got to the event it was fun, it is always fun. The audience was mostly of the older generation and a bit cranky. They announced at the beginning of one of the sessions that if you are going to open a bag of chips, to please do so before the show starts and the audience clapped. This was an outdoor event, so I thought that was a bit over kill. Can't imagine what they would think if they went to an LDS ward on Sunday Yikes!

Some things I learned this weekend:

1. Long layovers are not necessarily a bad thing!
2. Beautiful, but wouldn't want to live there.
3. I need to approach & talk to people more - not really a new flash!
4. Southern people are a bit crude, and Utahans are a bit prude.
(I think I lay somewhere in between)
5. People need to take a chill pill!
6. Grateful for my non-smoking surroundings!
7. Take off from work the day after I get back!
(I went to work exhausted and a bit grumpy)

Well Jonesborough, until next time!

Garden Quilt Show

2009-10-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

The owner of one of my favorite quilt stores hosts a garden quilt show every year. Basically what she does is allow anyone to submit a quilt they have made that year to be placed on display. And then we get to come over and ooh and aah over all of them! And we get to sit down and have a hot fudge sundae!

I love the colors in this one! I went to the show with my mom and she to thought this one looked like me.

There was a folk band playing in the corner to set the mood.

Everyone enjoying the quilts and picking out their favorites!

This was such a different, funky Christmas quilt - so FUN!

Quilts were hanging everywhere. On the house, on every fence post available, chairs, swings, you name it!

This quilt was so fun. It had so much detail in it. Look at the puffed fabric on the watering can!

It was a lot of fun to see such different styles of quilts.
I am going to enter a few next year - If I can only get them completed!!!
I need more time in the day.

Shriley Temple Hair!

2009-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

One of Eliza's favorite actresses is Shirley Temple, who she fondly calls Curly Girl. Every couple of weeks she will come up to me and ask me to give her curly girl hair! She loves the curls and swings her head back and fourth. On this day Grace just happened to be over and was easily persuaded by Eliza into getting curls as well.

It's so sad, because they still have that baby fine hair that will not hold curl for too long. About two hours later there is just a little wave left. They sure enjoy it while it lasts!

Summer Time Swimming!

2009-09-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

We headed over to the Crabbs twice this year for some fun swimming!
They have a swimming pool and a large inflatable water slide.

Here all the adults are gathered chatting.

Ammon is helping the little ones climb the wall to go down the slides.

Here is Cassia doing a summer-salt down the slide, never dare her to do anything - she will do it!

Here is what happened when I tried to go down the slide!
Just kidding, the air pump "accidentally" got turned off
- like I said never dare Cassia to do something!

This last picture was my favorite! Red loves Watermelon and couldn't get enough. The plate Kirk is holding is actually for Red. There is a ton of Watermelon on that plate!!!
Such a cute little guy!

The Mad Scientist!

2009-09-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

Bobby's hair was looking a bit wild! He has these cowlicks by his temples that make his hair stick straight out. We have nick named him the mad scientist!

I gave him his first hair cut! Glad my cosmetology license comes in handy for something!
Hard to believe that this cute adorable little boy is the same baby!

Eliza wanted in on the action, so we "cut" her hair as well. Janel actually wants to grow Eliza's hair out long so we just pretended to cut it - she never has to know!

Crawling!

2009-09-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Someone named Jack is crawling, which means that we can no longer leave anything on the floor. He is so cute when he sees something he wants he starts crawling faster to get to it before it is picked up !

Here he is revving up to go.

Cute little toothed grin!

Apple Pie Filling - mmmmm!

2009-09-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

The only canning I have done this year is Deb's yummy Apple Pie Filling.
I just haven't had the energy to do anything more.

I think I only have Five bottles left! Next year I may need to make two batches!

Blessing Day

2009-09-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

I went down to the blessing of the fourth child of my friend Lindsay (We have been friends since Junior High School!). Coulter Briggs Gladding had a little bit of a traumatic entrance into this world, but he is doing well now. We thought is was a bit funny that we all ended up wearing black and white/cream so we snagged a picture. The chunker on the right would be me. Doesn't seem quite fair that the one who just had the baby is the thin one!

Here are Lindsay's two oldest, striking a pose - such cuties!

Caught the quilting bug!

2009-09-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

My newest hobby is quilting and I have immersed myself in it this summer! I signed up for a beginning quilting class at American Quilting (I love this store). I learned so much in this class and am so glad I took it. We learned about popping the seams, which way to press the seams, tricks to get points to line up, press don't wiggle the iron, and leaders! I had a lot of fun and was just a little sad when the class ended.

Here is my quilt that I made. It is the size of a small baby quilt or a table topper. I still need to do the binding on it. I really like the way it turned out, it's way cute!

4th of July

2009-09-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

We went to the Freedom Festival Parade in Provo for the 4th of July. I think every year I get more tired of the crowds and the hot sun. This year it kept changing back a fourth between sun and rain, it just couldn't decide.

The highlight of the parade was this little girl, who was one of the baby contest winners!

She is adorable in her "ring", and shows what she's made of by placing her leg up on the bar!

I have always wanted an old fashioned car --someday. It would be so fun to ride around town in!
One of my favorite parts of the parade is when the cars come by. Everyone else is looking at the politicians and I'm admiring the cars!

And of course the infamous UVU Plane

It was a bit sad. Ever since I can remember my Mother would make homemade ice cream on the 4th. For some reason this year the ice cream didn't set up! Better luck next year.

Make Up is Not Cheap!

2009-03-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Which is why when the house gets really quiet and no one knows where Eliza is I start to panic. I have lost quiet a bit of make-up by it being dumped out by little hands. You would think I would learn quicker and put my make up high. I blame it on the fact that I am not a morning person, therefore not awake enough to remember to do this. Eliza has really found a new love of make up, especially lip gloss, which she likes to call lips, "I need some lips, please" she will say. I have walked in on her several times with the reddest checks and the biggest clowns lips. She doesn't do much with the eyes yet, she likes to put everything and every color on her lips. The other day I was heading to the store. As I was heading out the door Eliza came running saying "I come, I come" not as a question but a statement. I felt so bad because she wasn't feeling well, so I knew her coming was out of the question. I told her I would bring her home a treat. While at the store I thought what better treat than her on lips (a lite color of course) She was pretty excited. Here is a picture of her handy work!!! I think she used the whole tub in one sitting!

What a Doll Baby!

New House on the Block!

2009-03-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

My parents water heater went out
which of course can only mean one thing.
The little ones got a new play house for the week!

We put 2 windows on one side and a door on the other side.

They where so cute. They colored pretty pictures all over it!

They had fun playing inside!
(even Rob got in on the action - that is his hand coming out the window)

Just A Little Update

2009-03-16T17:25:00.001-07:00

Well I made it to 4 miles today! and I wasn't dieing, that had to be the best part. I don't do any exercising on Saturday or Sunday, so I am really well rested by the time Monday gets here. I figured if I was going to try for 4 miles It should be today.

Recipe of the Week - Oatmeal Chip Cookies!

2009-03-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Oatmeal Chip Cookies! (One of my Favorite Cookies)

Cream Well

2 Cups Butter at room temp.
1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Sugar

Add:

4 Large Eggs

Beat Until Creamy, Then Add:

2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla

Blend Well Then Stir in the Remaining Ingredients

4 C. Flour
3 1/2 Cups Oats
1- 6 oz bag White Chocolate Chips
1- 6 oz. bag Butterscotch Chips

Place on Greased Cookie Sheet or Parchment Paper

Bake at 350 for 12 Minutes. Let Set Up on Pan for 5 Min. Then Transfer to a Cooling Rack

So Yummy!!!

I'm So Excited!!!!!

2009-03-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

I upped my mileage and ran three miles yesterday!!! Yea for me!! I can usually only get to two miles and then my body dies out. Today I really pushed myself to keep going, I thought I was going to die, but it felt so good when I got to the three mile mark. Now granted it was on a treadmill, which is not as hard as huffing it outside. But maybe by the time Spring gets here, and decides to stay, I will be able to run outside without embarrassing myself!

I later paid for it when my asthma flared up, at six in the morning, but I kind of knew that was coming - darn asthma!! I used to love running and really want to get back to that place in my life. I know by pushing myself little by little I will get there. Just wish my sister Denise was closer, then I would have a running buddy.

Janel is really into spinning (indoor cycling) and tried really hard to talk me into it. I went a few times but my asthma kicked in from the start. That's strange that cycling would trigger my asthma quicker than running. Also by butt hurt so bad!!! Later we were talking (laughing really) about how long it took for your butt to stop hurting. I concluded that mine stopped hurting when I stopped going - worked for me!! It's a hard sport, but it burns a lot of calories, which is why Janel always looks so darn good!!!

Take a Deep Breath - Here is my Update!

2009-02-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

Pretty Sad that I am finally getting around to updating my blog and I am starting with a photo about our first snow fall, with spring right around the corner. Now I can't even stand the sight of snow!!!! I keep hoping Spring will just come already - I think it's trying to make it's way here. Anyway the first Snow fall didn't bring a lot of snow, but it did bring enough to make a baby snowman. Eliza helped me, she was so cute to watch her reaction to the snow. With her help as with all little kids, she actually ended up decapitating the baby snowman, but we got the head back on. I think Janel got that part on film. The birds took off with the carrot nose and twig arms by the next day, but we had fun!

Then came Christmas!!! Which meant Denise and her darling family came to visit. I had been looking forward to this visit all year! I think one of the things I like best when they come is just staying up late talking, like we used to do growing up. Some of our conversations get a little zany, which is when the guys make an exit!!

Denise is showing off her apron that mom made! -- Very Cute
Mom always make one homemade gift for us, which we always look forward to!

Alexa got a cash register- what a cuttie, she sure can light up a room!

Eliza in her new Kitchen! She was making up orders all day, her specialty is Grilled Cheese!

Tess showing off her MP3 player, that she was so excited to get!

And here is Grace with her new baby doll, she was the envy of all the little ones!

And my favorite gift was- An advent Calendar that my Mother made. She actually made one for all the grand babies. I was afraid that by the time I have kids she would be worn out and wouldn't want to make any more. I kept making her promise that she would make me one when I had kids. When we would go shopping she would point to other advent calendars (ones not as cute) and say wouldn't this be OK? I thought for sure I would never get one, so it was a great surprise when I opened this up! There are 25 tiny pockets with hand embroidered very detailed pictures on each one, with surprises inside. One pocket held the presser foot for my sewing machine that I had been wanting! Very cute, my Mother does such a good job. The other gifts that I really liked were new running shoes. I went with a new brand (new to me) - Asics, and I really like them. They are now dirty which I hate! I tried to keep them clean, I think I can run better when they're clean, funny I know! And the Hollinger family gave me a beautiful necklace, that seems almost too fancy to wear!

For the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend we headed up to Aspen Grove!
We had a lot of fun. Mostly we just hung out inside and worked on projects -crochet, needle work, watched MacGyver- Mom. We are not really snow people or should I say cold people so we didn't do any skiing. It was just fun to get away!

Mom working on a puzzle!

Everyone else getting in on the puzzle! It was a Fall Amish scene, so it was pretty difficult. We needed the expertise of the babies for sure!

We did try to go sledding the first night. It got dark pretty quick and then the babies got scared. We were able to go down the hill a few times. Apparently when Ammon and my dad went down the hill with the babies they put their feet or hands down on the snow to slow them down. No one informed me of this. So when I went down with Eliza we went flying. At one point we were airborne, landed with a thud, up onto the side of the sled and then finally straightened out. Everyone watching thought we for sure were going to wipe out. Needless to say Eliza was done after that! It didn't help that because it was getting dark it was hard to see where we were going and what was in front of us, so when we did hit the bump that sent us into the air it was quite the surprise!!!

Here is the little play house that is so lovingly referred to as "boggy house" I am sure there is something wrong with me, but then again it runs in the family-we like to scare the little one. Janel and I took a short cut to the the play area and hide inside the house. We closed up the shutters and when everyone got close we through them open and screamed! It didn't faze Eliza, she's used to it, but Grace didn't want to go near the house after that, too much scaring!! Here she is with her daddy slowing getting closer and closer, she did end up going inside!

Most of the kids area was covered in Snow. Here is the Pirate Ship that they could climb on.

On the other side of the park is a small western town. Half of the shops were closed up, but a few were open.

Here is Eliza and Grace in Jail!

And the guys of course found their own entertainment. On top of the school house was a bell. The game was who ever hit the bell with a snowball first and got it to ring, won. Sorry guys I can't remember who won!

And to some it all up Here is baby Johnathan or baby John-un as Eliza likes to call him. He is a really cute baby. Such a cute round head. He seemed to be chunky right from birth, which is the way I like babies, they are cuter that way. I don't know how Jillian feels about giving birth to a chunkster, but he's here!

Eliza was so cute after she got to see baby Johnathan for the first time. She kept asking when her turn was to hold him. Before she met him she would carry her dolls around by their arms, but now she tenderly holds her baby doll in her arms.

I will really try hard to keep you updated Denise, but don't hold your breath!!!!!

Gingerbread House's

2008-12-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

I guess I should get these posted before Christmas is over. I have been so busy at work and now I am just really tired. It just doesn't seem to slow down.

This year I decided to make Disney themed Gingerbread House's. All the Grand babies are in Utah this year for Christmas and they are all at the princess loving age, and now also Mickey Mouse. Tess' favorite is Aurora from sleeping beauty, Eliza likes Cinderella with Aurora coming in as a close second, Grace love Mickey Mouse and Lexa loves Cinderella. We are also planning a family trip to Disneyland next year so I thought it would be a fun kick off to get everyone excited.

Everything is edible, except the glue that holds the houses together. I hot glue it together, it's faster that way. And really who wants to eat it after it has been sitting out for a month?

This is Mickey's Play house

The Side of Mickey's House

Cinderella's Castle

Daisy's Flower Shop

The icing for the front bushes was to runny. I meant to
thicken it, but through it away and then I didn't want to make more.
Which is why there is a green mark.
Oh well, like Tess says, "We can pretend"

The side of Daisy's House.

Dream Project

2008-12-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

One day I would love to restore an older home. I would learn the history, find out what the original colors where, everything! That will be one Expensive project, but it will be fun. I don't think I would keep the house, just restore it and then sell it. I have this thing with older houses being haunted! Anyway I grabbed a book off the shelf at the library the other day called "New Old House" It was all about home restoration. It took you through the whole process from start to finish, right down to what permits you will need and time lines, it was great, and it had lots of photos! The whole time I was reading the book I kept thinking the woman doing the restoration looked so much like Martha Stewart. I mean just look at these pictures. Don't you see some kind of resemblance?

Finally I was near the end when the resemblance started to bug me. So I finally looked at the cover to see who the author was and guess what! It was Martha Stewart. Crazy! That was my goof ball moment of the week! Ya gotta have at least one a week, right? Although I have many!

Letters to Santa!

2008-11-19T12:40:00.001-08:00

So this is the first year that I have my own mail route. So when letters come addressed to Santa this year I get to answer them for my route! Not all Mail Carriers do this, but a few do and I thought it would be fun

That is until I received my first letter yesterday. This youngster asked for 23 things, most a which are really large purchase items. He wants an ipod, laptop, x box, wii, guitar hero etc. At first I thought what a greedy little kid. Then I got to #10 and he would like a washer and dryer for his dad. This broke my heart to see a child think of his parents.

Now my dilemma is how do I respond? I need to create some kind of cute form letter without promising anything. I don't want to give false hope when I have no idea what the financial situation is with all of the families. I was thinking of just saying something like I received your letter and I'll be watching to see if you are knotty or nice or something like that. I've been told that the kids get so excited when they get these letter. There is one Down Syndrome guy in his 20's on one of the routes in the office who sends off a letter to Santa every year. Then he waits by his mail box everyday for his letter from Santa. Last year the mail carrier got behind in answering the letters and this caused the fellow some anxiety! He was afraid Santa didn't get his letter! It is so fun to see Christmas through the eyes of children!

Beauty Shop

2008-11-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

We were babysitting Grace the other night and the girls got bored. So instead of just letting them beat on each other Janel decided to play - Beauty Shop.

When we were younger we used to play "Beauty Shop" We would take turns doing each others hair. And then it would usually turn into a full blown beauty pageant with a talent show and evening wear. The evening wear could get pretty interesting! Anyway that is off the subject.

Janel gathered up all the necessary hair equipment
and initiated Eliza & Grace into this tradition,
and they loved it!

Janel placed glamorous, dazzling, sweeping
side ponytails on both the little girls!
And then spiked them up good!

Grace was the funniest, she was so proud of her hair! After her hair was done she would go and stand next to people and just look up at them until they commented on her pretty hair, she would get the biggest smile, and then it was onto the next person. When Grammie told her how pretty she was she started batting her eyes.

They both really loved their new do's. I think one of the funniest things is that the side ponytail really is back in (I didn't see that one coming -we'll see how long it lasts).

To bad it was right before bedtime,
so they weren't able to show them off for too long!

Things to Think About

2008-11-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

A Friend sent me this list of questions. Thought it was cute and would pass it along!

1. Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?

2. Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

3. What disease did cured ham actually have?

4. How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

5. Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like, every two hours?

6. Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

7. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

8. Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?

9. Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

10. Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

11. If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

12. Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs!

13. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

14. Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

15. Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

16. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

17. Why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

18. Why is something sent by truck called a “shipment” but something sent by ship is called “cargo”?

My favorite is #13, it made me laugh, and I have to dedicate #5 to my cousin Kristi & her husband Steve, with their cute new twins!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

This was the first year that I worked Halloween at the Post Office. I didn't dress up (maybe next year) A few of my co-workers did, and got pretty creative. It was fun to deliver mail and see everyone who did dress up. I deliver to a lot of businesses and most of the offices had people who dressed up. Here are the pictures of my co-workers who did dress up. Which is your favorite?

We went to Ammon's work for their Halloween extravaganza later that day! The whole company decorates each of their departments in theme. Each department is given a budget and then they choose a theme, Ammon's department chose Ninja Turtles. They had the Ninja Mobil, flashing lights (they had turned all the lights out) and everyone in costume! They really go all out. They each vote on the best department and the winning department splits $5000! This is a company that loves Halloween. We got to walk through all the departments, they have three buildings (2 floors each) so it took a couple hours. They had tons of candy for the kids to go Trick or Treating.

Here is the gang walking through an enchanted forest!
You can see a pink dragon's tail in the background!
Ammon is in his Ninja Costume, the rest of us are just regular Joe's

You can see the leaves on the floor, some departments had straw and other floor covering,
nothing was over looked, right down to the tiny details.

This is Candy Mountain. If you went through it there was a bucket of candy.

Here is Ammon, Jillian & Grace next to a Gingerbread House
You could take a piece of Candy off of the house!

Here is a cave with a dragon (the eyes would light up) and a skeleton.
They had cute and scary themes.

These are lollipops in the Candy Land department!

They really went all out. I wish I got more pictures.
One department did the Wizard of Oz theme, another had a Football theme
(Where they laid real sod inside), another did Ghost Busters,
and there was a wild west town! And More!
I can't imagine the clean up, but it was a lot of fun!

It's hard to imagine that the areas we walked through are usually office's and desks!

Thanks Ammon for inviting us to come join in the fun!

Here are my cute nieces'
Grace as a Kitty &
Eliza as Princess Jasmine
I should have got a close up picture of Eliza's shoes,
they curl up at the toes! -so cute!

Current Project

2008-10-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

The project I am working on right now is a Halloween quilt called Hoscuspocusville by Crabapple Hill Studio. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for so I was really excited when I saw this pattern at my local quilt shop. This quilt is really whimsical and light hearted. It draws on the humor of Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz. and anything witch related. With Hermione's Slit Ends Hair Salon, where bad hair days are guaranteed. And Hagatha's Dirty Laundry, - hard water stains added, and many more. There are 12 haunted houses total.

Here a some of the squares that I have done. You can kind of get an idea of what it will look like. The darker black is what I have stitched and the lighter black is the outline of what I still need to stitch.

Here is a picture of what the finished project will look like. There is no way I will be finished with it by Halloween. I just started it at the beginning of October so it will defiantly have to be for next Halloween!

Birthday Gift

2008-10-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

I am sooo excited. My Birthday present from my parents came today! They got me a complete set of measuring cups and spoons (I love kitchen gadgets). This may seem like a strange gift to some, but I think they are so pretty, I love the shape of the them the most. They ordered them through King Arthur Flour which is a really fun shop. They also carry all the odd ingredients that the grocery stores don't carry. It is fun to browse through their catalog and make a wish list. They also have some really good recipes on their website. I think 2 of my hobbies are collecting kitchen gadgets, and collecting recipes. One of these years I will put both of them to better use.

Speaking of recipes I have a large tub of them that I have collected over the years. My goal this year is to get them all complied into one book. That way I won't lose anymore and I will know where they are. I don't know how many times I have taken a recipe out of the box to make it and then forgot to put it back, and then lose it - so sad! The tub is now overflowing, so I think it is time to take action!

What's your favorite Kitchen Gadget/Tool?