Thank You!!

(Birthday cards made by Michelle)

Here's a sampling of some Birthday cheer I received last week.

(you can order these from Jill)

(you have to be friends with Fiona for something like this)


These guys were super sweet and generous, as were both my parents and my in-laws.

Miriam hand picked sparkly jelly shoes for me because, #1 she remembered that I had them as a little girl and lost one in the mud at Grandpa's farm #2 she has heard me complain about how my shoes turn my feet black.

Thanks to everyone for phone calls, beautiful cards, fun gifts and the mini celebrations throughout the day.

For Nie

Better late than never. My thoughts were with Nie during the scheduled balloon launching, but we were unable to participate. We sent our hope floating tonight for Family Home Evening, and had a nice lesson about kindness.

The man who blew up our balloons asked Miriam what she had done to deserve such a treat. Miriam said "oh nothing, we are launching these to Arizona, for kids who have a mommy and daddy in the hospital. I think they are sad and scared about it"

That brought on the tears.... and then required an explanation.

So Claire, Jane, Ollie and Gigs ("critter") these balloons are for you!

There goes Jane's balloon!

One Little Family and a Canoe

We are trying to get our canoeing fill before it gets too cold. We stayed at my parent's cabin last weekend to canoe, and to attend my grandpa's 80th birthday party (pictures need to be lightened but will post soon). It was a whirlwind kind of trip but lots of fun was packed in so the exhaustion was worth it.

The kids can't canoe for too long without needing a diversion, so we went out to the island and played in the sand. The water was so calm and so clear we could see fish while in the canoe and tiny minnows from the beach. We also saw blue heron, and pelicans...it never ceases to amazing me that we have pelicans here!

I am such a party person sometimes I forget how nice it is to just be us for awhile.
I love my little family.

Baby Mullet

I love love loved Bub's shaggy slightly curly hair. The shag started to grow into his eyes (his bangs were getting caught in his eyelids), so I attempted to cut just a tiny bit.

Yeah...so....I created a baby mullet.

I couldn't take it, I whipped out the clippers and did my best while he squirmed and wiggled and shook his head from side to side.

Darin is going to roll his eyes at this, but I just had to do something it was a mullet emergency!

Thank You Grandma!!

Dance class starts in 2 weeks.
What could be more exciting than NEW dance clothes to wear?

Miriam Presents

About a year ago Miriam told me she wanted to put on a play. Miriam has lots of grandiose ideas that I smile and listen to, and then hope she forgets about. This one was a reoccurring idea. She did the casting one Sunday during church, she planned costumes, talked about who would come...all that stuff. Finally, after a year of randomly talking about it (and encouragement from Darin) we put on the play SLEEPING BEAUTY.

The FULL CAST minus one of the dragons and two tiny fairies.

You should have seen the practice fight scene....awesome! Unfortunately during the performance it was a bit confusing since the king's guardsmen ( who was suppose to be sleeping) ran into fight. I guess he couldn't resist since we had a last minute addition of another dragon. Maybe he thought the prince couldn't handle 2 green beasts.

The kiss....so sweet. Prince Wonderful leaned over and kissed Miriam on the forehead.

Some of the ladies hangin' with the Prince

One sad moment: Miriam got a deep large sliver in her foot during the afterparty (that dragon is such a sensitive guy). Darin dug it out with a needle and a pocketknife. He has some serious surgeon skills.

Sore Muscles, Happy Eyes

Watercolor by Scott Yelonek

One of my favorite events of the summer is The Helper Arts Festival. A few local artist have invested in main street property and teach immersion classes in the quaint old buildings. There are street vendors, food, and music but unlike other art festivals there is a gallery stroll through these old buildings. Geeze, for someone who doesn't know a thing about art, I certainly seem drawn to it.

One of my oldest friends (and her husband) and I ran the Helper Arts Festival 5K down Spring Canyon. She runs way faster than I do (even after having a baby 2 months ago) so I am now feeling "rusty" as Miriam likes to say. I am walking like the tin man! Even with the pain, I LOVED IT, and will do it again next year. In fact a few friends and I are trying to turn the event into a high school friend reunion every year. So all you CHS girls- plan on it. We wanted to have a breakfast after the 5K or a lunch something fun with lots of time for talking.

Fun at the Festival!

The train ride was $4 this year which is ridiculous. Darin and I told Miriam we just wouldn't pay for a ride. Of course Papa came through and Miriam got her train ride. Grandma sewed up the piece of fabric Miriam's been using as a silky, made cookies with her, and let her tag along on errands all day. Spoiled I tell ya.

The Fair

This was our first ever visit to the county fair. Miriam, as always was beside herself with excitement and took care to pick out perfect outfits for her and Bub. I am hooked! I am hoping to make this a yearly tradition, and now want to attend the state fair.

The petting zoo was the cleanest I have ever been too, and the animals were so friendly...not exhausted friendly but up and moving around nudging us friendly.

This is Bub's classic zoo face, he makes the noise "oo, oo ooot"

We had to take a picture with the pigs since our first ever Mom & Me bookclub book was Charlotte's Web. We talked to the kids from Hooper who raised these pigs and they said it was HARD WORK!
Love those pink hand-me-down boots a size and a half too big, I am sure they will appear over and over throughout the next year (possibly 2) on this blog.

We walked around the booths, making one purchase, SNOWIES. We avoided the carnival with the rickety old rides but did visit the science tent where Miriam held a bird on her finger but refused the scorpion. We did some pretend milking, painted faces, spun a prize wheel and would have visited with a clown for balloon animals but a day care showed up and the line was nuts!

Luckily the day care kids weren't allowed near the huge sandbox so we had lots of room to play and lots of toys to play with!

Partyin' the Summer Away

Thank heavens for my cousin Heather. If she didn't get us together once a year (at least) I would only see this side of my family at funerals and weddings...and occasional homecomings.

Miriam and Aunt Ruth both adore pretty dolls and fancy things. Thanks for the glamorous crown, it has really spiced up Miriam's collection. It also may have changed her decision on what to be for Halloween. This changes monthly, but Fancy Nancy is now in the running.

Super Bub!


The butter fly face is what was left from Summerfest earlier that day.

Look how cute Tatum is....don't be fooled by those big blue eyes,

she is a little bully! She totally snatched this toy away from sweet innocent Bub.

Actually they both dish it out, Tatum is just better at snatching. Bub is more apt to hit or throw something. It's a good thing Bub has Tatum to keep him from becoming a sissy and vice versa.

Hooray for Mudslides!

There was a mudslide on Hwy 6 last week, which is scary and awful, and exasperating because they had to shut down the highway. But....since my mom was up north running errands she had to stay over night HOORAY!!

We took her to the Farmer's Market Thursday night but she had to leave too early to attend Summerfest with us the next day.

Eating snowcones while watching dancers and musicians from Costa Rica, Russia, Korea and....Colorado(?) is a great way to spend a summer day.

$3 buys a bunch of fun in the kids section

The art and photography were wonderful. We especially liked watching the young artist who was doing quick chalk portraits. I don't know much about art but I loved how she used vibrant colors. I didn't stop to notice how melancholy all her subjects were until ours was finished.

I am not sure where to hang a depressive picture of the kids. Miriam loves it and would like it in their room but I am nut sure such a somber picture would work in there.

If nothing else it was a fun experience. Miriam watched the entire process with such intensity I can understand why she looks so serious. Bub just looks upset. It was an enjoyable day, and I think I learned my lesson about art....I don't know/appreciate it enough to vary from the true to likeness forms. I should have known this since I am always drawn more to Vermeer type art than Picasso and don't know enough to do anything other than follow my instincts.