Moments from Kylee and Shane's wedding

There is a monster in the room...

Last night while babysitting Ella.

Ella: There is a monster in my room

Grandma from downstairs: Just whistle at it like Poppy does.  Monsters hate whistling.

Ella:  Pffftt.  Pffftt.  It's not working.

Grandma then tells Poppy to go check Ella's room for monsters and to whistle them away for her.

Grandpa:  Hey, you are in the wrong room and there is a monster!! 

'Laughter' 

Grandpa:  I will turn it around for you.  Good night.

Ella had snuck into her Mom's room to sleep and was scared of the monster staring her down. 
That monster?  The Edward stand up!!  Poor little thing was whistling away trying to get Edward to leave her room.  Good thing Grandpa was able to save her from the scary vampire.       

Eat, Pray, Love and birthdays

For Amber's 37th birthday her friend Holli planned an 'Eat, Pray, Love' party that was so much fun.

  

Amber and several of her closest friends and family went to dinner at a resturant called the Flat bread community oven where they make authentic Neapolitan wood fired pizza.  All the ingredients are brought in fresh each day and the pizza is made exactly the way they do it in Italy.  It was soooo yummy!  Plus to add to the fun they had a live band that played jazz during dinner.  After dinner we went to see the movie 'Eat, Pray, Love'.  We all seemed to like the movie and had so much fun together.  It was a really fun night.    

Kylee, Shane and I bought Amber an Edward stand up for her classroom at school.  A little embarrassing but it was the one thing she asked for so what can you do? 

I tried to make Amber an ice cream cake as requested but unfortunately it turned out well.... horrible.  First it took me awhile to figure out which size and shape would be easiest.  I settled on a 9x9 pan and used the rest of the cake batter to make cupcakes for those of us (me) who don't like ice cream.  Ella and I made the cake, let it cool and put it in the freezer to get cold.  The next morning I come out and there are about six frozen water bottles laying on top of the cake.  Needless to say our cake now had a mountainous theme going on.  I called my Mom asking her what to do now and she suggested cutting the cake in half and flipping the cake upside down so that a smooth edge was on top.  Ella and I did exactly what was suggested and cut the cake, filled the middle with chocolate ice cream and put it back into the freezer.  It looked so ugly.  So now that is where the cake sits.  I figure when we get around to eating it we can cover it with whipped cream and it will still taste OK.  

In the end the cake didn't matter at all.  Amber had a wonderful birthday celebrating with friends and family. 

Happy birthday Amber.  I love you!!   

My first refurbishing project!

I found this old side table at DI for $10 and saw the potential it had to become the perfect side table to go next to my bed.  I like having somewhere to put whatever book I am reading and my eye glasses before I fall asleep and thought this would be perfect. 

After being sanded and patched up. 

(I am pretty sure this was part of a bedroom set at one point in time)

Primed and ready for paint.

The final outcome.....in Phoenix.  I was so caught up in seeing Jordan after three weeks, getting packed, the truck loaded and sending Jordan off that I forgot to take a picture of the finished project.  I loved how it turned out.  Jordan was a little shocked by my color choice but I assured him that my vision will tie it all together. 

To be continued.....

Sweet Kylee's getting married

Kylee's wedding shower was so much fun and turned out really cute. 

Amber and I decided to put together a pink and green themed candy bar for the party. Amber picked out most of the candy while I made the peonies cupcakes and hand piped icing on all the cookies.  I loved how it all turned out.   

Emmett's most excellent triathlon

You might be a triathlete if:

When you approach a hill, you try to decide what would hurt more, running up it, or biking up it.

You tell your friends you are taking the day off, but you still go into work.  

If you feel like you are cheating yourself by not doing a 30 minute run after your bike ride home from swimming.

Your bedroom has the "swim pile", the "bike pile" and the "run pile".

No-one believes you when you say “Never Again”.

You are my brother.

Clay competed in his first sprint triathlon racing in 'Emmett's most excellent triathlon' with a finishing time of 1:36:50. 

A 500 yard swim

followed by a 12 mile bike ride

and a 3.1 mile run

The entire family came to cheer Clay on as he raced, complete with t shirts that the kids had made.  It was so inspiring and exciting.  Way to go Clay.  We are so proud you!