Seeing Red

I dyed my hair. Red. I'm a redhead. Or orange head, if that's how you see it...

Not sure the pictures really capture the 'redness' of it all...it looks pretty mild in all of these.

Honestly? I don't know what to think. Mindi gave me the EXACT color I wanted - not too dark, more strawberry blondish than deep brown red, pretty light...and I don't know what to think. Mostly I've been met with hesitation, "Huh...well, I guess it's the age of extremes, eh?" and "So uh...why did you color your hair?". On the flip side, I've heard "You look like a sex kitten from a 1960's romantic comedy". Your take? Maybe I don't want to know.

I have wanted to go red for years. I always thought it would look so saucy and different, might warm up my skin and look really great. I just lacked sufficient courage. Finally a few months ago I decided to go for it - no time like the present! Go for the glory! Ugh, should I have not listened to myself? My knee-jerk reaction yesterday caused me to call another friend of mine that does hair to see if she has any time this weekend to change it back to blonde (only because Mindi is crazy busy for the next three days). I keep hearing that I need to wait a week, let it fade and let the shock sink in. I know that I do, I just don't know that I can.

The thing is, I love being blonde. I know most peeps are not a fan, but I love my platinum hair. I felt it sort of...defined me. Gave me something different. I've been a caramel-colored blonde and I loved that, too, so I wonder if I should have gone that route rather than the red route. I'm terrified that I did this crazy thing and we are going to Disneyland as a family next week and pictures will be taken and memories will be made and what if I look ridiculous? What if I never warm up to it or it fades into some weird nasty color?

I guess all I can do is wait, so here I sit. Confused and unsure as a redhead.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What am I loving?

All these paint colors.

What are they for?

This.

Pictures to come...

Big belly stretched thin

It's not uncommon for me to have lots going on. Everyone is busy, yes? All of our plates are full at times. Mine right now, however, is nearing overload. Quickly.

I am the Assistant Director for "Little Shop of Horrors" in Lehi. Yeah. The Director from 'Singin' in the Rain' (Michael) and his wife (Colleen) have become dear friends and one night Colleen suggested we go to lunch. When we met up she asked if I had ever wanted to direct. "Nope!" She told me how she was scheduled to Direct 'Little Shop' in the Fall and would love to have me team up with her. She's very convincing, so I agreed. The show is hilarious and the music is SO catchy! I've never been on this side of a production before and I'm really enjoying it.

Here I am with the rest of the board during auditions (that's Colleen next to me).

Our cast is amazing and I think it's going to be a really fantastic show! I'm also costuming it, did I mention? Yeah. I love costuming and fortunately the theater has quite a large costume supply for me to pull from.

I'm also costuming the show that PG Players is putting on. At the last board meeting they appointed me 'Head Costumer' so I'm in charge of dressing all the shows. Again, I love costuming, but doing two shows at the same time has it's challenges. The shows take place in different eras (the 40's and the 60's), anything the theaters don't have I have to make or buy, and I have about 25 actors to dress. It's a lot...lots going on.

Add this on top of the fact that I'm in the YW presidency, I'm hosting 3 Halloween parties next month and while it's awesome that Cody has three jobs, he's gone all the time. Pretty sure my kids are sick of being dragged from theater to theater every night, and I'm seriously looking into getting myself a housekeeper and a yard crew. Fortunately the tiredness of my pregnancy has started to wain, so I have more energy to get the things done that I need to. After this Monday the PG show will be costumed and taken care of, so I won't have to stress over that anymore. We are getting our trim and front door painted next week (YAY!!) and I'm getting some house projects done before we leave town next week.

That's a lot, right? Now that I type it all out it looks very doable. I think I just need this weekend and next week to go smoothly. After that? I'm sure I'll be fine. Until October starts, of course.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What am I loving? Two things.

One - it's the first day of FALL!

Officially! I even spotted some orange trees on the mountains. oooh! It's in the air and I'm so excited, LOVE me some Fall time. Time to haul out the Halloween boxes. I've even started on my Halloween layout for this blog. Stay tuned!

Two - artwork by Disney artist Mary Blair.

Do NOT be surprised if you see these prints hanging on my wall this month...

I mean, really??! Ugh, I'm obsessed with her art. Naturally I picked most of these before I knew I was having a boy - I thought, "ooh! How cute to put in a little girls' room!" She has SO many cool prints, lots of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Cinderella'. Love love love.

I so wasn't kidding about Halloween boxes, I should really haul those out.

Holiday obsessed

My Birthday was the berries! I got to eat one of my favorite lunches (a bacon avocado cheeseburger. Don't judge me.) AND go to dinner at my favorite place (Texas Roadhouse) with Adam and Ann. We had a great time, Ann is pregnant too and we're due about two weeks apart. Nice! So fun to hang out with them.

The pressie? Cody got me a new phone. I dare not show a picture of my old phone, it's too shocking.

Isn't she pretty? I'm getting a bit too obsessed with finding Holiday ringtones and wallpapers. LOVE it.

Yesterday I lunched with Amelia, Carina, Jen, Sue and Tanya (missed you, Lisa!) at La Jolla Groves in the Riverwoods. Have you eaten there? SO delicious, and the place is so pretty. And just LOOK at what Amelia gave me!

Could you die? Vintage cowboy boots? I so love them. Can't wait for little mister to wear these with his diaper. It was a fabulous Birthday week.

And speaking of Holiday goodness, anyone itching with excitement? Just me? I am so stoked. Sadly, we still have some things to finish up before I start decking my halls, but it shouldn't be too involved. My Aunt Trudy and cousin Mindy are in town and we did a bit of shopping one afternoon. I had to leave a bit early and stopped at Tai Pan on my way home...

Their Halloween stuff is so fun to peruse through, and their christmas??

I canNOT wait. I've even been burning Cinnamon-scented candles. Mmmmm, holidays. And here's the thing, friends. It's not always popular to be OK with Summer leaving and Fall and Winter arriving. You so much as mention that you're looking forward to Fall and you'll instantly be bombarded with "Nooooo! Summer wasn't long enough!" and "Ugh, I HATE the cold, I'm so not ready for it" blah blah blah. You know what? The seasons change whether you like it or not, so you might as well be positive about it. I should just throw some tinsel in their face.

The next few weeks are a bit insane, but hopefully we'll get some house stuff taken care of so I can start decorating! Before and after we get back from here...

And?

Jolley boy #3!

We are sooooo excited for our little guy. I must admit, I was thinking it might be a girl. And how fun would that have been! It took me a few minutes to adjust to the fact that we're having another cherub, but I couldn't be more excited. The boys are stoked (so is Cody) and the baby looks really healthy...and he's super active. Every time we take peek or listen for the heartbeat he's moving all over the place in there. Awesome.

This pregnancy has been a little different than the last two, but none of my pregnancies have been similar. I was sick with Cache, felt great with Cole. This time around I'm SUPER tired, but that is starting to pass. I haven't really been sick or anything, just wiped out. I'm getting fatter (yay!) but I am determined to look cute. A 300 pound girl can look cute, right? I'm actually going to go out and do a bit of shopping this afternoon, hopefully I find some good stuff.

Then we come to the naming dilemma. I don't care what you say, coming up with a boy name is hard. To set the record straight - no, we did not plan on naming both of our sons with 'C' names. It just sort of turned out that way. While we don't have to name this next baby with a 'C' name, ...I'm still tempted to name him Cru after Cru Jones from the movie 'Rad'. What?

32 Candles

Happy Birthday to me!

Pirate Party

As far as Birthday parties go, I have found that a pirate-themed party is pretty easy to do. Even better? I did the same thing for Cache when he was 3, so when Cole asked for a Pirate Party I was ready...

The invite, complete with burned edges.

Pirate Party Central

I set up a little wading pool and sprinkler out back for the boys to play in while we waited for everyone to arrive. I almost didn't interrupt them to play games, they were having SO much fun!

Before lunch (pizza), all the boys got wrapped up in towels and went downstairs with some treats to watch 'Peter Pan'. I have no pictures of this, but it was SO cute to see all these little boys in towels sitting on the couch.

The cake! A little better than the last one.

"Happy Birthday to Cole!"

(I was trying to look all 'pirate-y' like the rest of the guests...I think I just ended up looking like Bret Michaels)

How funny are all of these little faces?

It was such a fun day. Even though I put tons of pressure on myself, throwing parties for little kids is really so easy. I loved having all these little boys in my home and Cole had a fantastic time. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

And how cute is he? He started preschool today.

Love, love this little man.

Forever Young

This guy...

Happiest of Birthdays to the most wonderful, incredible, amazing Dad in the world.

Love you, Dad!