Fablehaven

I really enjoyed this book, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. It felt like it took a while to get to the good stuff, but I think I was also overly anxious as well. The story is of two adventurous kids learning about a fantasy reserve that their grandparents are caretakers for. But on the longest night of the year Seth can't resist his curiosity and concerns and opens the window to the evil outside and a world of trouble. As events occur the burden falls upon Kendra to save Fablehaven and the world from the evil demon Bahumat. It was very fun and playful, definitely more for the youth, but a story to be enjoyed by all!

HONK jr.

Tonight was opening night for the play Honk Jr. at Kennedy Jr. High here in the valley. My totally awesome little brother, Aaron, had a lead role in this cast as the dad, Drake, of Honk (aka the ugly duckling)! I was very impressed in the talent that he has been hiding from us. I mean, he sang a solo... wow! Overall the play was okay, what really stank was the crapy microphones the school had. The kids put a lot of work into their performances and sang very well but the mic.s kept altering their voices or cutting out during their parts... no good. Nonetheless, Gary was really into the whole play! The first applause scared him big time, he leaped right out of his seat and into my arms. But after that he was so excited about what was going on on stage! Liv was never like that, she'd get real bored and want to walk all around... it made watching plays and concerts real frustrating. Glad to say, though, Liv sat on her Grandpa Larry's lap through the whole play and would say "There's Aaron!" whenever he came on stage! Lots of fun!

So Far From the Bamboo Grove

I really liked this story even though it wasn't written well, and I was very surprised to find out that their was all sorts of controversy because of it. I saw it as an honorable tale of a young girl's experience of war. A sad story of learning just to survive, and the love of a family taking care of one another. I cannot imagine what it would be like at 11 to see and go through the things Yoko did. I cannot imagine what it would be like to dig through the garbage for food just enough to survive off of. To hold my mother as she died in a train station where you'd fight just for the ground you sat on. It is an incredible story and I would recommend it to anyone! Learn more about Yoko Kawashima (http://www.uvm.edu/~litblock/webquest/236Spring2003/King/)... I look forward to reading her book that tells more of her life story

Sunday Spotlight

This is my fabulous daughter Liv! She is just over 2 and a half & wows me everday with how well she's learning. Now I know that it's common to hear this from kids when they're learning to count, but I got such a kick when Liv did it...
I was getting ready in the bathroom when she walked in and said, "I love you mommy!" I replied, "I love you too!" Then she said, "I love you THREE!" So fun!!!

A Quick Ripple

I've been meaning to post these latest creations, happy to say they both only took me a couple weeks! I needed a real quick pattern because I learned (in short advance for making blankets) only a couple weeks before that my cousin, Stephanie (who's having twins), was flying in from Philadelphia for a baby shower visit. So I jumped right into gear, found this nice and easy ripple baby afghan, and got to work! Happy to say I had the white one finished for the shower & the blue one done the day after the shower so I was still able to give it to her before she left, YAY! I would also like to take this moment to say how grateful I am that I haven't ever had twins... that my kids came one at a time. As for Steph, as her aunt said at her shower "Heavenly Father knew she'd only be able to do this once (it was quite difficult for her to get pregnant) so he twice blessed her!"

Laura's Home!!!

My FABULOUS friend arrived late last night from Australia where she had been serving an LDS mission! Yay for her! Laura and I have been friends since we were toddlers and even now our parents still live next door to each other! I have many fond memories with this special person... playing pirates on the playground in my backyard, sitting next to the fire hydrant that divides our yards and talking late into the night, joking about the "snake" that lived in the weeds on the side of our house (which is now cement & we tease my dad that the snake is gone now since he killed it with his weed whacker), saving up nickels to buy gum cigarettes (which I'm sure was my bad influence ;)), being totally jealous of any other friends that took her attention away from me, helping her plant flowers in their garden in spring, and so on. I am so proud of the hard work she did and so happy to have her home! Of course, I'm trying to talk her into a trip back so she can show us girls around now!! For the time being, though, she decided to share a little treat that's real popular down under... a TIM TAM SLAM! You take this Milo drink (like our hot chocolate but bitter... not so yummy for me and even she admits it took her a few months to start liking it). After you mix the mix with a bit of sugar, milk, and boiling water, you get a Tim Tam cookie, bite off a corner from each end, then suck the Milo through the cookie like a straw. It was a lot of fun, the cookie melts really quick, so you have to catch it and eat it before it falls into the drink! WHAT A HOOT! So happy to have my friend, Laura, home!!!

Weekend at Park City

Sorry I've been away for a while, I've still been in vacation mode. To save my sanity my sweet Aunt Shannon Cook flew up from her home in Texas for a s weekend in Park City, Utah. She rented out a nice little condo that provided a lot of room for all of us, which included my Grandma Betty, Shannon's good friend from high school, Melanie Peterson, Shannon's daughter... my cousin Jessica & my two little brothers (those three were inseparable for the time of the visit). It was great to be surrounded by women who are so fun & care about me so much. We would get laughing real hard sometimes, how healthy is that! And we did shopping, of course! The outlet stores were right across the street from the condo so I spent more money there than planned! That's okay though, right! Shannon is real into making beaded jewelry, and very talented at it, so she instructed us (the s) how to make a "fringe bracelet"... more on that one when I finish it. I really really like it so far it's real pretty & fun! On Saturday we met up with the kids & my dad at a tubing place just off of the Jeremy's Ranch exit. I took Liv down once (of course, like good parents, Todd and I had not prepared the kids at all for play in the snow. Gary didn't even have shoes on cause we couldn't find them. Although, to our credit we didn't know we were going there when we left... hehe). Liv LOVED going down the big hill, she said "Weeeee!" all the way down! I was so proud of my little ! I went down once with the teens, that was fun to go down three at once! My favorite part, though, was definitely the ride up... NO WALKING UP HILL! Yay! That's always the worst part of sledding I think you all would agree! The last day I had the family over to my place for a yummy dinner! It was hard to let Shannon go, she really does help feel the hole that was created when my mom passed away. They have a lot in common, and when Shannon laughed it sounded like my mom... good stuff for my heart to have around! Thank heavens for phones & I look forward to Shannon's next visit!!

Wordless Wednesday

"Magnified"

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A Gorgeous Day!

Today was the ideal weather day (at least for me)... Absolutely Gorgeous! Cool breeze, bright warm sun, the sounds of birds, children at play, and yard work being done outside my window. Absolutely fabulous! Of course that meant the kids wanted to be outside all day. That was frustrating for me since I'm trying to finish two blankets by Saturday (proud to say that I did complelte one today... pictures to be posted later). But I needed to be outside with the kids since poor little Gary wants to do everything his big sister does, but he still doesn't have the walking down, or the fact that an edge means you can fall... so outside I was for the majority of the day! It is so much better than making snowmen, as fun as that is, though! Please, please, please stay Spring!
On the other hand, though... My sweet aunt Shannon Cook is coming up for a girl's weekend getaway to Park City... so I don't care what the weathers like! Besides my cousin, Jessica, loves it when it snows while she's here (they're coming from Texas). I'll never forget when she was quite a bit younger she was real anxious to see snow while she was here. Towards the end of there visit the good weather was interrupted with an odd snowstorm (which is now more common than you'd think)... that morning she said "God made it snow just for ME!" So cute!

Pretty Beads from Jodie

Check out these lovely beads that I just got from Jodie Marshall. I had seen this style elsewhere, but wasn't up for the search to find something just like what I wanted. So I wrote my dear blogger friend to see how she felt about it, she accepted the challenge & now look what I have! I am so Happy (cheesy smile). I am very appreciative for her. She's been real encouraging in my endevors to learn the art of glass bead making. It is something I really want to learn to do, but as you can tell from my last e-mail I'm a bit overwhelmed at the minute, so I'm saving up money until I can get all I need to get started... then I will be ready to make my own custom beads!

Make sure you all check out Jodie at her blog or where her beads are for sale on Etsy!

Another Beauty

I finished this one today, no it's not my own design... I wish it was cause it's absolutely gorgeous, but it's not. I am very grateful for the genious mind that did think it up, though! Anyways, this one is for my aunt Shannon, special order. It's the second time I've done this pattern & people just love it! I love it too, it's very elegant but for a baby... very classy!

I've been having a real hard time crocheting lately. I'm overwhelmed with the possiblities. I guess since what I saw my mom do was blankets and a couple sweater jackets that's all I thought could be done (oh & doilies). But now I've learned of this whole crocheting community that does all sorts of other fun stuff... I mean, even more than just stuffed animals. It's amazing & it gets me all anxious to expand my capabilities. Then again I have so much going on tha twhen I do start leaning something new, if it doesn't go smoothly I just toss it aside. I don't so much like that idea either... it's like I'm running around in circles. I've come to realize that I have a whole lot of life ahead of me to learn new stuff, I don't have to learn and conquer it all in a day or a week. Right!? For now I'm going to enjoy the beautiful baby blankets I can create and work on the blanket of my own designing & be content with that... for now!

The Cruise

It's been one heck of a weekend! We actually got back late Monday night, but I had to take all of yesterday to recover & return to the regular routine. But I'm feeling much more in the swing of things (except for the "sways" that are lingering). So I'll give ya the quick run down & then I want to go check up on my blogger friends....

Early, like 4am early, we headed to the airport where we met up with Todd's work buddies & headed to Long Beach, California. We spent the first half of the day, after breakfast, wandering around town on foot looking for the liquor store. Todd & I don't drink but the vast majority of the group does, so they wanted to save a load of money by bringing their own alcohol on board. Little did I know that this would be the first of many walking adventures we'd have throughout the trip. Turns out my flat flip flops were NOT the right shoes to wear, surprise surprise ;)

Between the early rise & the motion of the ship after we took off it

turned out to be an early night for the lot of us. That was okay

cause in the morning we had arrived at Ensenada, Mexico. That place was not pretty at all. I was up when the sun rose, the nasty

haze made for a beautiful sunset, though!

Todd and I decided to take a tour bus to the blow hole... I wouldn't say it's better than the ones we say in Hawaii. What we really went there for was the shops. It was Todd's first time haggling... I'm not so sure I'd ever take him to a bizarre again. The salesman would give him a price he'd think yes or no... just like in the states the price is what you get. No, honey, that's not how it is. They mark it way up & you mark it way down & meet in the middle. Then we'd be walking & someone would say "come see what I have" & he'd say "okay" then my hubby would disappear. But he was a quick study & improved, so maybe next time.

The next day was "fun at sea". The group got drunk... we hung out and played for awhile then tried to find something else to do. Turns out that Carnival really has only one focus cause there wasn't much else to do on the ship but drink.

Then we returned back to the states. We got of the ship real quick then headed to Huntington Beach. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day! We got some food, did a teeny bit of shopping (since we were well spent by then), then headed to the beach to meet up with the group. The water was super cold, but the day was so enjoyable. & my honey found me a Sand Dollar intact! It was awesome! By this time, though, we missed our kids & imagined how fun it would be to have them playing on the beach with us... so we were ready to be home. Good times, though!

Wordless Wednesday

"Made Beautiful"

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