Happy Pioneer Day

One awesome thing about being married to a guy from Snowflake is that we always have something to do for Pioneer Day. Snowflake has more festivities for Pioneer day then it does for the Fourth of July.

Matthew called me from work about 10:30 Friday and asked if I wanted to go up north and I said uh... Sure Why not get out of the heat for a few days. I'm so glad we did. It was so much fun!

We got up there just in time for dinner. And then we set up the bounce house and Chelsea, Dallin, Nathan and Kathryn had a blast. To bad they were getting irrigation that night or they probably would have played a lot longer that night.

Then at 7:30ish I looked at the list of events and saw that one of my friends from High School was doing a concert so I rushed over there to see the last half of her show. Melissa Solomon is one of the best singers I have ever heard. She just graduated from ASU in music. I'm so glad I got to see her. And congratulate her on having her first baby come this fall.

After the kids were in bed we played some card games with the parents and Brian and Julie. It was a lot of fun. Mom Weir totally kicked our trashes at Skip-Bo and then we played Quiddler. I don't remember who won but I do remember it was one of the longest games of Quiddler we've played EVER! To many dictionaries!

The next morning I got to go with Kathryn and the Grandparents to the parade. It was fun. Nice to be in the shade! Kathryn didn't understand the 'go and grab candy as they throw it at you' concept. Instead she liked looking at all the horses and did really well the whole time. Next year I'm sure she'll know what candy is and that its fun to run and get it from the street. I commented that going to the parade was better then Halloween. You just have to sit there and candy is thrown to you. You don't have to go anywhere!!

After the parade the girls made a few hair bows and then went to the annual BBQ. So YUMMY! Then Naps for the little one and me... Then we went down to the art's and craft's part. Last year we had a booth and most of the booths were necklaces which we had. This year it was all flower hair clippies. Like I've been making down home. It was really hot but actually nice in the shade.

We got back and we played outside. Kathryn loves Brian and Julie's dog Oreo. Actually she loves any dog! big or small. We played some killer rounds of Uno which I totally lost. Then another BBQ with the family. Brian got to try out their new grill. No offense Brian but I think I'll volunteer to do the cooking next year! ha ha

There was a huge dust storm that blew in for about 30 minutes during dinner that knocked out the power for an hour or so. But after that the weather was perfect. After dinner we spent the next 5 or so hours in the yard playing Croquet and horseshoes. Matthew and I Kicked some serious trash at horseshoes against Brian and Julie. We stayed for fireworks and then we headed home as I had to be home to church the next day for a new calling I was getting.

I told Matthew that I would love to come up every weekend just so we can spend some time outside. Its so blasted hot down here. I'm really glad I have a good excuse to go up there now to visit with Carolina the foreign exchange student that is going to be staying with Brian and Julie.

We had a lot of fun and well it's nice getting to see Matthew's family more often. We see my family all the time. So its nice to get away and see his family as often as we can.

Waiting for the Fireworks!!!

Petal Party

My Sister's friend had a petal party and another of her friends had to have one too. It was so much fun! I car pooled with Rachel, Saving gas... Anyway We went out to Jamie's new house out in Queen Creek for a petal party. You may be wondering what in the heck is a petal party and well it's exactly what it says. Everyone invited brings a bouquet of some flowers and the party host provides the little hair clips and we all bring any embellishments that we have and glue gun and then we go to town on making as many hair clips we can. I came home with like 15 clips and more flowers to do at home since we left at like 10pm.

Kathryn will now have a cute flower to put in her hair for almost all her outfits. Myself included! I have a whole bunch of clips if anyone wants to have a party I'd love to host another. Comment if you'd be interested in coming to one and I'll set one up! It was a lot of fun, girl fun!

Pretty Girl

This was so cute the other day at my mom's. Kathryn came out of the toy room with two necklaces on and a bracelet. And the hair bow is one I made at the Petal Party I went to the day before. Such a Pretty Girl!

I couldn't get her to look at me. But she's still such a cutie!

Bouncy, Bouncy Bouncy

Turn it down the air blower is kinda loud.

So Since our trip to New Mexico and to Hoots Matthew has been looking online at the bouncers. He found two for a great price on Craigslist the other day and we ended up with one. This little video is of our new bounce house in my sisters front room. Its only like 9 feet square with a slide down one side.

If anyone wants to rent it for birthday parties it would be great for 2-5 year olds for a small party as its not supposed to have more then like 3 kids in it at a time. Matthew will also provide balloons and I'm going to take up face painting. If anyone is interested let me know and I can fill in the details on price and such. I'm not sure what we would charge just yet. Kathryn had a blast on it. I'm happy we have a bouncer its going to be fun for Kathryn's birthday parties in the future.

Need Money!!

I just got a ticket today on my way to my friend Amber's house to learn how to make a Capri Sun purse. So ironic that my last ticket being pulled over was like 10 years ago in the exact same location, at the exact same speed in construction as this one.

Its a speed trap on Higley and Guadalupe. GO SLOW.

So as for the title of this blog. I need to come up with $225 for the defensive driving class. And since I learned how to make the Capri Sun purse I thought I could sell them for $25.00 a piece if it is just the short one. and $30 for the taller one.

I also want to remind you all that I still have a lot of necklaces left so if you need some fun colors for your accessories just let me know the color and I'm sure I have just the necklace and earring set for you.

Let me know if you want a purse.

Visit to Jolene, Ji, and Devin

We got to go visit one of Matthew's sisters in New Mexico this past weekend. Matthew's family all lives so spread out that we only get to see them at weddings... So we like to take trips to go and see his brothers and sisters. There is still one sister- in-law that I have not met yet with their two boys. Our next trip will be to Arkansas to visit with Steve and Amy.

But this trip was to Albuquerque, NM. We left Wednesday night after work and made it to Matthew's parents house in Snowflake, then left the next morning around 10 to finish the trip. We played games and had fun with their puppy Max. Even thought he is still very much a puppy and likes to bite everything. Kathryn loved it. even with all the scratches she got.

Friday we spent the morning in Santa Fe. walking around the shops. That was fun. It reminded me of the shops in Mexico. Where it looks like just a strip of shops on the store front but there are walkways in the middle of the shops that take you back into a whole bunch of other shops behind the store fronts. I so some wonderful art galleries of paintings that I would love to have in my home. Except for the fact that the ones I wanted were like 11k. So what I have expensive taste in art. We ate at a fun little place that was like eating in a courtyard. but it was covered.
We then went and toured an old church there. That was so pretty. It is still being used today.

On Saturday morning we went to a new park by their house and played for quite a while. It was really hot though. We just happened to visit on their hottest day of the year. Kathryn liked the toys. and Matthew and I got a little dizzy on one of the toys. But it was so much fun! Then later that day we went to a place called Hoots. Kathryn feel asleep in the car but the place looked like so much fun we had to wake her up. I'm sure she's glad we did cause she had a blast. It is one of those places that is filled with the bouncy toys and a huge jungle gym made out of seat belt stuff. It was so much fun. Matthew and I may have had just as much fun as the kids did. We'll have to go to the ones around here.

Jolene made the best salads ever. I'm still in the maintenance mode of the diet and have gained a few lbs back but the salads Jolene made were awesome. I'll have to get the recipes from her or find my Costco cookbook.

We got to go to church with Jolene and Devin on Sunday. Our old home teacher from the Tempe ward is in her ward. It was fun to see Rich there, Amanda had just had a baby the day before so we didn't get to see her. Such a small world. Amanda is even Jolene's VT. John has even fell down Jolene's stairs before.

Thank you Jolene and Ji for putting us up for a weekend. Kathryn had so much fun playing with Devin. I hope they can be great friends as they grow up.

Check out the girl behind Matthew. She is hauling!

Playing with the Hose and then Tubby time

Kathryn loves playing with the hose. She'll play all day outside with the hose if I would let her. Here are some fun pictures of her and the hose! This time she spent most of the time in the dirt making mud. I usually try to make her stay in the grass but it was fun watching her play in the mud.

Starts with clothes.

Ends with just a diaper.

Then the tub!!

Another Crayon Roll

I found another website that had better instructions. I like this one way better. It turned out better I think.

It's Over

I am no longer safe to have Kathryn stay in her crib. Two days ago I put her down for a nap and 30 minutes later after I here her playing around in her crib I her a knock on her door from the inside. I either left the window open and someone is in there or she climbed out of her crib. Luckily it was the later.

It's over for me. No where to put her to keep her enclosed. What am I supposed to do???

Happy Independence Day

We had a fun Fourth of July! We were woken up with a call to come have yummy waffles at John and Micah's. Then we were deciding what to do for the rest of the day and Matthew's Uncle stopped by and asked if we wanted to come swim and BBQ with their family that afternoon. I had fun swimming with Kathryn. Kathryn LOVES to Swim!! She's getting more daring all the time. It's time for some floaties! For this I made some yummy brownies, that I didn't taste, that were stars, flags and two firecrackers. I was quite proud of myself. The pictures doesn't do it justice at all. They looked fantastic.

Then we went to my parents that evening and went out to see the fireworks in Chandler with Melissa and Stefan's family and my parents. We had a great view! Took quite a while to get home but it was fun. Melissa took lots of pictures of that event so I'll have to get pictures from her to post.

On Thursday I was at the store and Kathryn was wearing two of the new bows I had made and the lady behind us at the check out commented how cute the bows were and asked if I have a Red, White and Blue one for the holiday. I was like NO shoot I've got to make one. So I made a really cute bow for the fourth. I have to say Kathryn was such a cutie for this holiday!

I love this holiday! I love to remember how blessed we are for living in a land of the free. I just pray always that our leaders of this great nation will keep it that way!

Visual results of HCG + diet

I can't believe I'm posting these pictures. But I have to say I'm way proud of my self. I didn't cheat once. Well I guess I did once. Last night we went to the Vietnamese place we love and I had lettuce wrapped pork dipped in fish sauce. It was so yummy. I thought for sure I would have gained some from yesterday but no I lost .6 lbs. So Once cheating day out of 40 is going to be OK with me. I really can't believe I haven't had any sugar in 38 days. I truly didn't think it was possible. But costing me $200+ made it possible. I wasn't going to let that money go to waste. And it didn't. Matthew and I kind of talked about if I would have spent that money on a gym membership and we both came to the conclusion that this diet was better.

My face looks awful but just focus on the difference. I still have a ways to go before I'm at what I want to be but now I'll start Maintenance for 6 weeks so I won't gain or loose anything for that amount of time and then on to a good exercise program to start some toning.

Thanks everyone for all your support and encouragement. Thanks Becky for saying he to the skinny lady! I love it!

Before and After Front

Before and After Back
Before and After Side

Total pounds donated - 26.8!!!

Total inches gone - 11.5!!

Tutu's

Rachel made the bright color one. I did the red green and black, the ribbon has lady bugs on it.

I made two Tutu's yesterday and a couple more felt hair bows. So much fun to make things at home.

Tutu's are SO EASY! Here is where I got the instructions. Make it and Love it. If any one has a little girl. This is a must have!

I got the Tulle at Hobby Lobby by the spool. I think that made it way easier!

I cut the pieces of this to on to be like 18 inches instead of 28. Makes a great small tutu, that sticks out a lot more.