Aw, Shucks

Excited about corn.

Eating unshucked corn.

Loving the corn.

Lemonade Ladies

Garage sale season is in full swing. Yesterday when we saw our neighbors setting up their own sale, we decided to take advantage of the extra traffic on our street to set up a lemonade stand. I thought, with nostalgia, of mixing up the lemonade from scratch, setting up the cups with ice and carefully pouring each individual cup as customers approached...and then I bought a bunch of boxes of CapriSuns as I envisioned dirty fingers dipping into cups, grass and dirt blown into the merchandise, bumped tables and sticky dripping beverages everywhere. I think it was a good call. The girls were outside for about 8 hours yesterday, and today will probably do the same. After making back their original investment they've made a profit of about $10 so far...split 3 ways. Even though the profits are not the stuff dreams are made of, they are still enjoying the thrill of the sale, and the novelty of being in business - which includes all the CapriSuns and doughnuts they can eat. They've also sold a few odds and ends from around the house, including my dyed curtain disasters, which makes me very happy.

Hot Parade

We had a hot day today. Although we endured our sizzling hot Middle Eastern summers fairly well, it nearly did us in today when it hit 94 degrees. We thought we might be able to survive without our window AC units this summer, but the humidity has beaten us. When the missionaries came over for dinner tonight we asked the elders to help us put in our huge air conditioner box in our dining room window. The difference now that "the beast" is turned on is substantial. After dinner we raced downtown to join our ward's group to march in the Children's Summerfest Parade. We handed out little bags of candy that included a message about the importance of families. It was the fastest moving parade I've ever witnessed - let alone been a part of. Not sure if it was due to the desire to be out of the sun, to get to the end for free pizza and ice cream, or to keep everyone together in a tight group. Whatever the reason, we jogged through the route, passing goodies out as best we could, and then sat and commiserated about the heat while the kids wandered around looking for ice pops. Summer has arrived.

Happy Birthday C!

Cailin turned 10 today. She invited her two good friends from school to come over for an afternoon of cake pops, water gun fights, pizza, ice cream cake, pinata bashing and webkinz lovin.

There was even a can can line.

The cake pops were delicious.

It was also wonderful to have Jon's parents in town for the day.

Jon and his dad.

Laura, one of Jon's sisters, also came with Alaina, her 3-year old daughter. Emma loved having another little cousin around. They all had to hurry back home to be with Laura's twin sister, Chrisy, who is having worrisome complications with her pregancy. Our prayers are with you, Chrisy and Shawn!

Spring Swing and Soccer Finale

We spend two to three hours at the park every Saturday for the girls' soccer and t-ball games. We frequent the playground to keep Hope off the game fields. A couple weeks ago Jon and Emma were sharing some swing time, and discovered some interesting similarities in playground lingo. Jon mentioned that when the person next to you is swinging at the same time in the same direction, they used to say, "Hey! What are you doing in my bathtub?!" Emma excitedly replied, "We say, 'Hey! Get out of my shower!" They also learned that the classic "Under Dog" move has remained unchanged in name and motion; it's when you push someone's swing and run underneath.

Hope loves the swings - even if she doesn't look it from this photo. She is a major fan. She is otherwise constantly running onto the game fields when we try to watch her sisters play. I am happy today was our last game day, just because we don't have to forever chase Hope around the park.

Cailin is happy the season is over, as well. She enjoyed soccer, but didn't at the same time. She broke her glasses when a ball hit her in the face during a practice. That might account for some of her distaste for the game. She is carefully considering whether or not she wants to sign up again next year.

Madelyn also merely tolerated soccer in the beginning, but since they began putting her in as goalie for the whole game, has begun to love it! She liked having the constant advice and encouragement from her dad and coaches standing next to the goal. She did a great job.

Scrapbook Class

Last night I taught a digital scrapbook class for our Relief Society group. It was really great because we were able to use Jon's computer lab at school. Everyone had a computer with Photoshop, and we spent the evening dissecting this layout of Emma's fake birthday. As I was putting together this page I was again grateful for my blog - cutting and pasting text I had written the day of the event gave me much better detail than if I would have tried to remember exactly what was happening this day. The class itself was fun, and we hope to get together again in a few weeks and have everyone bring digital photos and papers to make their own pages. By the way, the papers I used in this page came from this cute free digital kit at Two Peas in a Bucket.

Wedding Scrapbook

I've been busy busy busy scrapbooking this last week, trying to finish up my brother's wedding album. There was a bit of a learning curve for me, to figure out how to do full-page uploads to shutterfly - turning off auto crop and color enhancements, and getting things just the right size. It was a lot of fun to do, however, and I only wish I was closer to home so I could see the finished product when it gets shipped! I suppose I'll just have to wait until my mom comes to visit. Here are a few of my favorite spreads. The ones above are the cover and the title page.





I know I was getting a little fancy with all the swirlies, but they were just so pretty I couldn't resist.

Pink Love

I'm loving these pink flowers so much, I may print up some for new baby's room, too.

And then we'll make a bunch of pink tissue poofs to hang over her crib. Delicious.

(poof image taken from Maggie Holme's blog.)

Photo Art for Rachel

My sister requested some pink flower photo art for her daughter's room. I laid down in about 5 complete stranger's front yards to get these photos. Rachel - that's how much I love you! :)



Which is your favorite?

Photo Art

This morning I read about this Michigan photographer, Alicia Bock, who has some really beautiful prints available on Etsy. I love this typewriter.

I want to blow this one up and put it on my stairwell wall.

Maybe this one in my kitchen.

This one anywhere! So pretty.

Her photos inspired me to take my camera out for our morning walk today, and try and find some pretty things. The orange bug would be fun to put in our mudroom.

A pretty punch of red.

But this is my absolute fave - some beauties clipped from my backyard and put in a blue jar. Love love love.

I'm a Winner!

I have been following the "Nesting Place" blog for a few months. The "Nester" is all about making your home beautiful and comfortable - filling our homes with the things we love, and doing it without a lot of frustration and expense. This is her living room, which was a jumping point for our living room makeover. Notice her awesome striped curtains? I loved them, and was so happy when I found something similar for our room. I love the red and turquoise in the room, the black furniture - and what's not to love about a door painted turquoise and hung on the wall behind the couch?

Anyway - you can see where I've used her as inspiration throughout the house -

including the toile curtains in the dining room, and the dishes hung above the arch.

The Nester held a lampapalooza party last week, so I added the link to our chandelier makeover, to join in the fun.

Today I had an awesome surprise to be chosen as a winner of one her beloved tassels. (The tassel pictured above is from Nester's blog, just one that I thought was especially pretty!) I was given the "winner for biggest transformation" award. So fun, and I've had so many sweet comments from visitors coming from her blog. Thank you!!

A couple weeks ago I was even inspired to buy this behemoth of a tassle at a yard sale. I have no idea where to put it, but I have grandiose plans of adding a cute thing on top and hanging from somewhere special. Some day. Thank you, Nester, for the inspiration, the fun, and the prize.