First Haircut

It was a hard decision to make, to cut or not. Gary has these beautiful curls that everyone loves, and right now he's so in style with his shag-top. But when I couldn't see those gorgeous blue eyes anymore and people kept calling him a despite his all blue clothes... it was time. Don't worry we just trimmed it up, cutting about an inch or inch and a half all around. He is still stinkin' cute with curls! I am excited to see how it grows out since many people were worried the curls would be gone forever... we'll see. While he was getting his hair cut, though, I absolutely LOVED watching Gary's curious little smile and my grandma Norma's scrunched up face as she tried to get the cut before he jerked his head!

Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral

Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish was a very interesting ride. I didn't quite know what to expect since the woman in Book Club that chose it warned us that it may have quite an effect on us both from the language and grieving. Of course, I have built a tough skin around my "grieving wound" so that I can continue on living without breaking down and just crying all day since I miss my mom so incredibly much so I figured it wouldn't have an effect on me at all... yeah right. Well, as these brilliant women drop everything to go on this traveling funeral in honor of their late friend, Annie, a lot of emotions were brought to the surface within myself. Loss, which were my favorite discussions that the women had, is such an interesting thing. So painful but there to make us stronger. Besides all of the emotions I felt for mom, I really enjoyed living life through the women in this story. What a wonderful opportunity they had! And it was amazing how they were all able to come together, these five women who only knew each other because of Annie, were able to spend so much time together in harmony (mostly). I didn't like the lesbian/gayist attitude that was the underlying voice throughout the book, or the vulgar language they used so casually, but I did enjoy reading their fabulous experience!

Wordless Wednesday

"The Touch"

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Sunday Spotlight

I am so so very proud of myself this spring. I don't know a thing about keeping up a yard. My family had one little garden and no trees to speak of so it wasn't a big thing there. Now I have my own yard and I'm all for the big bright brilliant flowers and I had heard of the bulbs you plant in the fall. Okay, I say, no big deal I'll give it a try. I check the back of the box, plant during ideal time, then wait. My biggest concern, despite my lack of green thumb, was the rodents that live in our yard... what if they decided to have a nice big seed for a mid-winter meal?! So when spring arrived, mostly, I was ecstatic to discover that amidst the weeds poking their heads above ground were actually flower greens! Yay!!

Locks of Love

Before Gary was born I decided I would see how long I could grow my hair out. I have quite thick hair and a nice wave to it, so long hair could look absolutely fabulous. Turns out I just didn't have the patience and time to create such lovely hair. I got tired of it real soon after it grew past the length I really like (just past shoulder length). At book club I was making a comment about it then Pam, one of my mom's best friends, told me she was growing her hair out for Locks of Love in my mom's name and that I should do it too since it had already grown so long. So I decided that was a great idea and was determined to wait it out until ten inches less would be at that length I like. I didn't last that long... so yesterday I booked it to the salon and cut off the ten inches. It's a whole lot shorter than I like, but it is absolutely wonderful to lean over and not have hair in my face and in the way or the kids pulling on it to get to whatever they want and so on. It's been a huge change but a good one! Plus, at least a Great Clips, I got a free hair cut for donating!

Girls' Beading Night

I had been waiting for this night for a long time, since my sweet aunt Shannon Cook first brought up her beading stuff and got us all involved in making jewelry last fall. See Shannon comes into town from Texas to visit her favorite ladies here in Salt Lake. We have a super fun time, a nice little getaway from real life. Then she leaves us then real life takes over again, beading takes a back seat, us girls don't get together hardly ever, and that's just no fun. So this time I was determined to follow through with our bright idea of a Girls' Beading Night. I discovered this fabulous bead shop called Heart Beads at Cottonwood Mall... it is the most fun bead shop I have ever been in ever. The beads are on string as well as placed in glasses of various shapes and sizes, so fun! The wonderful owner was game for our idea and allowed us to gather at her place. We finally followed through with the plan this last Thursday, and it was super fun! I finished this awesome fringe bracelet that I actually started when Shannon was here in March this year. It was a very fun and stressful bracelet to do. It's tough cause it's got all these little "fingers" that like to grab your thread and it's time consuming, but other than that I love it and my mind has ran wild with ways to tweak it to make it even more spectacular! We will follow through with Girls' Bead Night every first Thursday night of the month. Any of you interested here in the valley or nearby let me know, just email me. Fun Stuff!!!

Where's Gary?

I think this is so fun... if you're ever at my place and can't find Gary just look for him in Liv's room sitting atop his little red chair that his Grandpa Young made for the kids and "reading" a booking out loud. It just tickles my soul to hear his little voice going on and on as he tells the story to his imaginary audience. He still seams like a brand new baby to me, but, in real life, he is growing up and getting more and more intelligent every day. Somehow it doesn't seem right, but since it is what it is I have to admit that I am a VERY proud mommy of this particular little boy!

Obsessive Compulsions

I have been tagged by my fabulous friend over at Fantastic Five to do this silly meme... my be obsessive compulsive, no way!! Well, those of you that know me know that's funny, cause I do get real obsessive. Besides fun and working I've been able to reflect about what really is obsessive in my life & what can be okay. Here's five things:

• Dishwasher - there is a way to load a dishwasher, MY WAY! I have a way that I like to have it loaded. Who knows if it's really the right way or not, but it's the way I learned (by my mom, and she knows everything) and it's just the way it should be. Silly I know. But I do love help (except from Gary, hehe) so I shove all my pride away and keep my mouth shut tight when someone else loads it not my way!
• Laundry - folding laundry is in the same category as dish washing, I guess, but I had to give it it's one number because it's real important that my socks are folded together so I can see what the lower half looks like, not a ball. And the clothes have to be turned inside out before being folded or else what's the point.
• Routine - every thing has to be in a routine. Of course, I'm okay with breaking from the routine, but I'll keep to it cause it makes life simple... especially for the kids. It is real healthy for those little ones and their biological clocks to know when is bed time, when is it time to eat, go potty, and so on. Same with the way I clean, you can always guess what I'll do in what order and what I'll be cleaning based on the day. Some may say boring... I say Simplified!
• Picture Taking - I HAVE to have my camera with me at all times. Yeah, not insanely... like not if I'm running to the gas station or movie rental store. It's just that it's real important that I am able to capture the precious everyday moments as well as milestones and holidays. Having a broken camera lately has been real tough on me!
• Chocolate - of course, CHOCOLATE, I could never even think of leaving out chocolate. It is my sweet escape from the day. My way to calm down when the pressure is rising. That sweet goodness melting in my mouth... mixed with other goodies like caramel, mint, nougat, so on. Anything but nuts... don't ever put nuts in my chocolate it steals away that melt in my mouth that I crave and for! YUMMY, I've got to go now & get some!!

That's all I'm confessing tonight... I tag Sheena Schippers, Valerie Morris, Suzanne at A Rose..., Sue at 365 photos (if you'd like fellow picture taker), Jodie Marshall (even though it's not your norm, but I'd love to know what a glass bead maker obsessives over :)), and anyone else interested just leave me a post so I can check it out!

Princess Academy

I would like to take this moment to RAVE over Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, it was absolutely wonderful! I heard of this book from one of my favorite bloggers, Book Nut, who I go to when I really need a good recommendation! Thanks! This story is so fun and easy to read that I found myself caught up in book and was even able to ignore my kids as they pulled on every limb as I tried to grab a minute to read. It's a great story of a young , Miri, who learns to find herself and be comfortable in her own skin. Of course all off this is taking place as her and the s from Mount Eskel train to become Princesses since the Prince is coming to their mountain to choose his bride (because the Priests have divinely chosen it as the home of the future Prince's bride). It is so fun to watch Miri grow and mature, and become her own person! I probably also loved this story so much because I spent a lot of time in my youth imagining that I was really a princess, hidden away in Utah because of some terrible reason. One day I would be told of my royal and taken back to my true world as a pampered princess (not to say that I wasn't already a spoiled child at the time... it's all in the title!) Shannon Hale writes so well, too. She explains things well enough that your senses can set up the scene vividly without over explaining every detail. I would definitely recommend this to all & will probably choose it for my book club book when my month comes along!

Wordless Wednesday

"Messy Fun"

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Don't Mess With Our Chocolate!

I found this little bit of VERY IMPORTANT information regarding CHOCOLATE from one of my favorite bloggers, Book Nut, who made the post even though that's not the center of her site. I was very grateful to be informed & felt an incredible need to inform all of you beautiful people, so you can also add your voice to the fight against the process of degrading our chocolate to just another fake processed item of solid milk and vegetable oil (yuck). Those of you that know me know that I can't go without chocolate in my day... if you are as obsessed with chocolate as me and/or you would like to help me out here, please go to this site and give FDA a little special message from all of us "DON'T MESS WITH OUR CHOCOLATE!" Thanks!!

p.s. Milky Way bars are my favorite candy bars, FYI!

Happy Easter!

What a super fun day! I really do enjoy the holidays even more with kids. As much fun as it was when I was running around looking for eggs and such, it is a whole lot more fun to watch the excitement on Liv and Gary's faces! We started out the day by checking the kids easter baskets to see what the Easter Bunny brought. The kids loved the toys, and Gary was especially fascinated with all the chocolate candy! Of course, we went to church... wrestled the kids through sacrament meeting, and then I taught my 4year olds the story of the Resurrection... they were amazed. One boy kept saying "I really like this story!"

After church we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Montgomery's house to have dinner. While we were there the Easter Bunny stopped by and left eggs (plastic and real) all over Grandma's yard! Liv was so excited and got right to picking up the eggs. She'd get real excited when she'd see a new one and say, if it was blue, "There's a blue one!" run to it, pick it up, then "slam dunk" it into the basket! So fun!

Wordless Wednesday

"Stunning"

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Sunday Spotlight

I know it's a day late, but I really wanted to do this spotlight. See Saturday I was at a scrapbooking crop called Conference Crop (it's an LDS thing). Anyways, I was being real whinny about being married to my dear friend Laura. Afterwards I felt real bad that I was being so negative since I do love my husband so much. So I decided for my Sunday Spotlight I would let you all know what I LIKE about being married...

• I like having a playmate - Todd and I tease each other all the time, we have tickle fights, water fights, and so on all the time! One time he wrapped me up in packing tape then pulled out his video camera to capture me trying to get out.... HAHAHA! But then one day, after we had had a water fight, I feeled up a LARGE cup with cold water and ice cubes & dumped it on him while he was taking a shower, HEHEHE!
• I like having a partner to help me overcome my weaknesses and make them strengths & I can do the same for him.
• Of course kids and having such a helpful partner in that situation... let's me take a night off every week & plays with them all the time, even just after he got home from work.
• I really like having my very own HANDYMAN around! There's a lot of little things that don't get done cause that's the type of stuff he does all day... but if you've ever seen my basement he's finishing... WOW!
• I'll never forget on our wedding day that he had a tear fall when I walked down the isle & that he thinks I'm beautiful even on my worst hair days! I love being special to someone & he really really really does make me feel very special!