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!

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!

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?

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

It's off for the annual Pumpkin hunt!
This year at the South Ridge Farm in Santaquin Utah!
This is a first for us. Our hunt usually finds us at Albertsons Grocery Store.
I hope we can turn this into a tradition.
Even though it was a long way to travel it was worth it!

First up is a hay ride out to the Pumpkin Fields.
Everyone grab a seat, keep hands and feet in at all times!
Grace quick grab a seat!

Ready set go, the search is on for the perfect pumpkin!

Looks like Grace is the first to find a Pumpkin,
and it's just her size!

It's fun to go with a friend!

Now take a minute and enjoy the Country. It is so peaceful!

Now it's time to head back! Does everyone have their Pumpkins?
Hop back on the Wagon!

Until Next Year!

National Storytelling Festival 2008

2008-10-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every year I go to the National Storytelling Festival that is held the first weekend in October. They hold it in a small town in East Tennessee. I'm not sure how the locals feel about it, with the added traffic, shut down streets etc. It's funny how if I go out of town I will put up with added annoyances like more traffic. But when I'm home I will not even venture out if there is a football game that is about to start because I know the traffic is going to be awful. I guess it all comes down to what is important to you.

Jonesborough is a really charming historic town, and the Festival literally takes over all of downtown. They set up tents for the event all throughout downtown. I would say downtown is about a 4 block radius. They decorate the town with a great festive fall feel. They have flower mum pots, corn stalks, hay bails, and pumpkins that really add to the atmosphere.

They have a lot of shops on Main Street that are a lot of fun to visit. This year's new store on Main Street was Earth & Sky Confections. They are a chocolate shop that has really unusual chocolate flavors like rosemary carmel, cayenne pepper. They were all really good even the dark chocolate which is not generally my favorite. The fun part of their chocolate is that they have designs on the top of each piece that look like they have been printed right onto the chocolate. I wish they would show how they created them, that would have been fun to watch. The good news is they do ship! So you can have them at your next party for a little added flare.

Jonesborough has a lot of history. It is the oldest town in Tennessee and has been a part of 3 different states (Tennessee, North Carlina, and Franklin) Many of it's original buildings are still in the downtown area. The building above is said to have an entrance into the Underground railroad and is haunted. The picture on the below is a billboard on the side of a building. When the building that was connected right next to it was torn down, this painted billboard was discovered in perfect condition.

In all I would say this year's trip to Jonesborough was a good one. Although the plane ride seems to get longer each year! The weather was perfect, therefore my hair was perfect! Those who know what humidity can do to hair, can feel for me!