Blonde canary

So Kind

2012-01-23T09:42:00.003-07:00

Thank you all for your dear comments on my shame spiral post. I was so touched by the encouraging messages and the offers to help, you are wonderful people. It's a relief to know that I'm not the only one that feels or has felt this way. I think that as women and mother's we put so much pressure on ourselves to make everything perfect. Our houses should always been clean and decorated, our children should always listen and be well-behaved, we are never tired and we're never upset. We have oodles of patience, we take meals to our neighbors, we get our grocery shopping done before we run out of anything and we're always wearing lip gloss.

I could easily hide all the drama I'm feeling and just pretend that everything is fine and I'm doing great and handling everything like a champ, but I don't have the energy. Things are a bit too much right now. Some days are better than others, and I have found that a good cry in the privacy in one's closet can do wonders for one's clarity. I need to remember to see the big picture and to focus on what's important. Things really are looking up. I had a great weekend with my family and we had a lot of relaxing and down time...I still look around the house and start to panic at all the things that are waiting for my attention, but all in good time.

Thank you again for all the kind things you said. Can't promise I won't have another meltdown, but it's nice to know I won't be shunned for having a crappy week! Here's hoping this week is a sunny one.

Belly Ache

2012-01-18T22:19:00.007-07:00

**Disclaimer: This post is extremely depressing, low, and pathetic. This is how I'm feeling and I have to get it out somewhere. Reader discretion is advised.**

I have had it. I'm over it. I'm SO over being pregnant and being sick. Oh, that's right - I'm sick. Again. It's a nasty cold and while it's not killing me it might as well be. I can't take anything because I'm pregnant, so I have to endure it until it's run it's course. I'm coughing so hard that I have this sharp pain in my back every time I cough, like my ribs are about to puncture a kidney.

Being pregnant is no picnic. I have been super fortunate in my last two pregnancies because they have been easy. I was a little sick with Cache, NO problems with Cole but with this one? I'm exhausted. I'm so uncomfortable I can hardly move without pain. I have heartburn constantly and I'm practically keeping TUMS in business. And I'm so moody. My poor family, I have no patience with my boys and I feel like all I do is yell and threaten them (PS - yelling while sick with no voice is so stupid). I'm scared to bring another baby home because how can I possibly do that when it's obvious that I'm a terrible mother? When it's obvious that I'm selfish and impatient and harsh? I'm terrified. How do I know I'm a terrible mother? For one thing I am thisclose to keeping my sons home from school tomorrow so that I don't have to deal with a schedule. A SCHEDULE. Not even a hard one! I just don't want to wake up and get them all ready and drop them off and pick them up. See? Terrible.

I'm also feeling so alone and so....unloved. I think that's the only word for it. I feel invisible in a way. I feel like Cody wants nothing to do with me, that he only tolerates me. That I'm just some unattractive, high-maintenance, stubborn girl that complains about everything but does nothing about it. And what can I do to fix that? I'm huge. I can't be cute. And I have another 5 weeks of this mess. Make that a few months...I'm nothing special after a baby arrives, trust me. I do nothing for him, I don't make his life better. He sees me overwhelmed and frustrated and his immediate response is, "Go sit down, just relax". But I can't. Not because I don't want to, but because if I do that nothing will get done. I'm in serious 'nesting' mode right now and I can't finish home projects that are staring me in the face. I lack the know-how and the energy. I feel helpless. So many nights I cry because I feel so neglected.

I know that a lot of it is hormones and crap...but what if it's not? What if this is the next 10 years of my life? It's like I'm spiraling out of control and there's nothing that can stop it. I want to stay in bed all day, but I have laundry to do and rooms to clean and meals to make. I have little boys who depend on me and they need a nice, patient mom. Cache's Birthday is on Saturday and I'm hosting his Birthday party here. I already know that I'm going to stress about cleaning the house and decorating it and making it look all festive, all the while hearing "They're kids, they won't care, they won't notice, etc." but you know what? I don't want to hear that I'm doing too much or that I need to cool it - I need HELP. Not criticism.

What do I do? How can I do it all? How do I stop feeling so isolated and...robotic. Every day is the same, and every day I feel more and more invisible.

See - I warned you. Depressing and pathetic. I'm so low right now I'm not sure I can drag myself out. I want to go hide in my closet and not come out. No one will notice that I'm gone, anyway.

It's June in January

2012-01-16T12:14:00.007-07:00

We have had NO SNOW in forever. I honestly think it has snowed maybe three times since Halloween. What the what? Not ok. I was pretty bummed when we had a green (and balmy) Christmas, but now we're halfway through January and I should probably be sporting some tanlines. Don't get me wrong, the weather has been gorgeous and it's wonderful to be able to spend time outside...but uh, yeah. I'm thinking Winter should probably show up soon.

Saturday we ran some errands and stopped by the Jolley Parent's home to visit. They had the horses out so Kathy helped Cache and Cole on one of the horses and walked them around the pasture for a while (I should probably mention that she had a broken finger while she was doing this. She had no idea it was broken, just thought it was dislocated. That chick is tough. She can take you, don't mess.).

I was basking in the glorious sunshine...man it was such a warm, pretty day. Cody was picking up his dirt bike and his right leg was also enjoying the weather.

We keep hearing that it's supposed to snow and "the storm is coming!". Yeah, yeah...I'll believe that when I see it. The fact that it's going to snow so late is making me nervous for July. I'll probably be watching fireworks in a parka.

Brave Little Man

2012-01-16T11:56:00.003-07:00

Ah, Cole. My sweet, tough, ER-bound boy. Was it only 6 months ago we took him to the ER to get stitches in his head? No, 5 months. Poor little bug. This time it was his finger. A few weeks ago he was out back while Cody was chopping fire wood. One of the split logs flew off and landed right on the tip of Cole's left index finger. OW. I was inside when it happened, I heard Cole crying really hard and when Cody came in cradling him, I was sure he'd lost an appendage or something. He was trying to be brave, letting Cody look at it and clean it up. Cody took him to the ER and they numbed up his finger and gave him a few stitches under his nail (ew, I know. ew.).

He's been SO stoic and tough when we treat his war wound. He still has a few weeks where we'll need to be careful with it, but it hasn't slowed him down at all. Yay! Should be back in the ER in no time.

PS - I firmly believe that parents of injured children should be able to register for a siren they can stick to the top of their car when driving a child to the Hospital. They could call dispatch on the way, give them their registration number and make it to the ER in record time, yes? Yes. I'm writing my Senator.

Christmas House

2012-01-05T09:30:00.024-07:00

May I brag? Of course I can. My house looked AWESOME this year. Amidst the construction mess and unfinished projects, there was tinsel and lights and holiday goodness. Oh, yes. I took loads of pictures so I can remember where I put everything for next year. Although, pretty sure our house will look different next year...so I might have to start from scratch. Again.

Before we go on, I have to gush about my picture wall that I'm so proud of. You see, I've told you before that I want to fill this wall with family pictures. And I will. But Christmas came first. So! Akin to my Halloween wall, I filled my frames with Christmas art I love. I eye-balled the whole thing and I took about 900 pictures of it so I can (hopefully...maybe) recreate it next year.

Hehe, I have to say one of my favorite things is the fact that I hung most of the things with screws. Other things...I used thumb tacks. And whatever else I could find.

Marvy, right? I'll be sad to take that all down. Next? My Christmas wreath I made. It's SO pretty, all glittery and fantastic. I'll have to store that so carefully, it's held together with hot glue and a prayer. I should probably add more feathers next year, too.

Awww, my tree. I loved our tree this year. We didn't adorn it with a single ornie...not sure why, but it was just a simple clean tree.

I nearly bought some tinsel icicles for it (next year!), but I couldn't find any. Instead I fell in love with this small vintage gold tinsel garland. I bought like 9 packs of it and draped it all over the tree.

Our mantle isn't done yet so I attached some garland to fill in the empty space, covered that with lights and made a festive 'Jolley' banner.

Sort of random, but I loved the little area on top of my piano.

Like our pretend hood? We should install that.

My chandy dripping in red jingle bells. The boys looooved ringing those every morning.

Oh, what's that? My picture wall again?

I want lit garlands all year long.

My wee computer space.

We set up our village! A triumph.

Today I plan on taking everything down. I have mixed feelings. I'm ready for the new year and all that goodness, but I hate how empty and hollow my house feels after Christmas. No tinsel! No garlands! No lights! Good thing I have a little man to get ready for...only 7 more weeks!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2012-01-04T19:30:00.004-07:00

What am I loving?

These little fire starters.

Lest you think this is an egg cup filled with jam, it is actually an egg cup filled with dryer lint and candle wax. Cody and I got loads of these little babies from his parents just before Christmas. They said, "Just build a fire like you normally would, stack the wood and everything, just don't use any paper. Instead, stick one of these underneath and light it. Done.".

Done. Sure. See, I married into a fire family. They can talk wood into spontaneously combusting. Me? I? I'm lucky if I light 3 successful fires a year. I swear I do everything right, everything by the book and most of the time it just smokes and fizzles and dies on me. Until now! These little fire starters have saved my world!! I was skeptical, now I can't stop raving about them. I'm putting them in emergency kits and 72-hour kits and my purse for Tuesdays. I LOVE these little things, and you can totes make them yourself. Just save your dryer lint, fill up the egg cups with it and then drizzle it with any kind of candle wax. Obviously, I'm obsessed. I still can't believe they work, just amazing.

I think I may have earned my fire wings.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T23:01:00.003-07:00

2012 is here, my friends! What a year it will be, I can feel it. I have so many resolutions - probably too many. I'm trying to make some reasonable ones, you know...ones I know I will actually achieve. Others will be a challenge, others may not happen...but hey! Resolutions are in order.

2011 was a stellar year with many-a-highlight. Cody's gym Viking Crossfit was named the #1 Health Club in Utah County, I Asst. Directed a show, costumed TWO shows (I'm an idiot), we found out we're having another boy, we made great progress on our house, took our boys to Disneyland...truly a stellar year. I still have to post about many things - which is one of my resolutions! To post more! Aren't you stoked? More of my trivial dribble to read? I thought so.

We are so very blessed and I'm so looking forward to making this year amazing. Can't wait to get started. Ring a ding ding!

'Twas the Night Before...

2011-12-24T11:30:00.003-07:00

I can't believe Christmas is tomorrow. Do I say that every year? I must. December always FLIES by and I never feel like I'm on top of it all.

We've kept pretty busy with parties and decorating and shopping and the like. I got the house decorated which is a miracle! Seriously. I think I deserve an award for bedecking a house in merriment when it's under construction. Beat THAT, Martha. It looks very festive and I love having Christmas everywhere! Confession: going through the house unplugging all the lights before bed takes about 12 minutes.

Tonight we went to Cody's parents house for dinner before Cody had to go in to work at Saratoga for the night. He works tomorrow at PG but can fortunately come up and spend some time with us! That left me to get Christmas ready, so naturally it's now the weeeeeee hours and I've been wrapping presents and making the house look all fancy for the big reveal tomorrow morning. Every year I swear I'm going to start earlier so I don't have to stay up so late, but I never do. 'Tis the season, I suppose!

This time of year is wonderful, I love it so. Even with the chaos and the cramming and the hectic shopping, I love it. I'm off to dream of sugar plums - Merry Christmas!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-12-14T20:45:00.008-07:00

What am I loving?

Our stacked stone walls!!

Are you joking me right now? I mean, seriously. How amazing is that. AAHHHHHH! I am SO obsessed, I can't stop staring at them. Rest-assured that Cody and I did not do that ourselves. No, sir. We thought we could do and had planned on doing it, but after we stayed up until 2:30am just applying the scratch coat...we got wise. We hired some guys to come set the stone and it is the best money we have ever spent. They did it in two days and BAM. DONE. It would have taken us 3 months. At least.

Do you know what this means!?? It means that our kitchen might almost be done! We have some small things to tackle, but it's almost done! You know, 20 months later. Who cares, it's gorgeous and incredible and totes worth the wait.

Cody is installing the hood above the stove this week and also finishing up the mantle for the living room (it will match our countertops. Marvy.). We had talked about finishing up a bunch of other things before Christmas, but I think that plane has sailed. You see, friends, I'm pregnant. And I'm tired. This pregnancy has really taken a lot out of me and while I think I should still be able to go full speed and do everything normally, I just can't. I get so exhausted. The other night I was feeling so overwhelmed and sad that my house wasn't all glossy and finished and bedecked in Holiday splendor (I know, even with my pretty stone walls I was sad face). Fortunately my fantastic friend Celine stopped by and cheered me up by helping me put lights on my Christmas tree. It may seem like a small thing, but having that light in the living room and that little thing done fully energized me to just get decorated already. It was just the shot in the arm that I needed. Projects can wait - Christmas cannot. I've spent the last two days getting everything up that I can. Sooo much tinsel. Pictures to come!

So you should probably come to dinner next week. Our house will be decorated and did I mention that we have stellar stone walls?

You know what? No.

2011-12-06T09:56:00.010-07:00

Pinterest.com is a fabulous site where you can create virtual pinboard where you can organize and share things you love (fully stole that explanation from their site because I can never explain it correctly). It's FULL of great ideas, pictures, fashion, tips...I mean it's just fantastic.

I have spent (read: wasted) many an hour on the joys of Pinterest. I can look up 'Halloween Party Ideas' or 'Christmas Card Designs' or 'Theaters Costumes' and hundreds of images will appear for my pinning pleasure. I can pin whatever I like to a dozen boards I've created. Even when I'm surfing online and find something I like, I can pin that to a board if I want. Awesome.

In the land of Pinterest, there are a plethora of DIY projects and tips for creating things yourself. The majority of these tips are quite helpful and insightful, I have pinned many DIY ideas and sometimes think, "Man, why didn't I think of that?". But in this sea of 'You can do this yourself!', I all too often come across things that I feel are going a bit too far. For example:

Creating your own bath mat out of an old towel.

I see no harm in repurposing an old towel. This is a good idea, I can see that. What I can't condone is spending the time to cut up a few towels into tiny strips, then tying said strips to mesh to create a bath mat when I can buy one for $4.00.

Anything that involves repurposing crayons makes me cringe. I have NO idea why. Maybe it's because the thought of breaking up old crayons and melting them in a muffin tin to create a big, ball of crayon does not interest me. Nor does melting together lots of different colors of crayons in a heart shape. What am I supposed to do with that?

Some say a crayon heart is a great gift. Is it? Is it?

And I don't get crayon art. pass.

But this has to take the crafting cake - make your own glitter.

Make. your own. glit.ter.

The comments on this on hilarious. I found a few that were really disappointed that it didn't turn out - that it just looked like salt with food coloring on it (gasp! say it isn't so!). Others said that you need to cook it on tinfoil, use a different salt..just a myriad of other options to get your own glitter. Friends? Let me tell you something: Glitter comes in more colors than our eyes can register. There are literally hundreds of options and shades and SHAPES of glitter for your sparkly enjoyment.

One pinner was sad because they were hoping so save some money by creating their own glitter. Did glitter go up? Is it suddenly in high demand? I mean, sure - if you're buying fairy dust by the ton I can see why you'd want to cut some corners, but then if you can't feasibly craft without a warehouse full of sparkle then you've got bigger problems.

Make your own glitter. You know what? No.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2011-12-02T10:53:00.002-07:00

Is it just me, or does December feel like it's been here for like 3 weeks? Nevertheless, here it is! The most festive month of all! I'm super excited, I must admit. How I love this cinnamon-infused Holiday.

To start off the season right, my nearest and dearest Bethany sent me 5 cd's of some of her favorite Christmas music and I LOVE THEM. She's hilarious.

I have so, so much holiday tunage and it was refreshing to get some new songs! Here are some favorites that you should probably get:

"I Want To Do More Than Whistle" - Christmas with Lawrence Welk

"A Snow Globe Christmas" - Pink Martini

"Once Upon A Wintertime" - Frances Langford(from the Disney short 'once upon a wintertime...not sure you can find this song anywhere, but Bethany's got the skillz).

"Out In The Cold Again" - Dean Martin

"Ol' Saint Nicholas" - Doris Day

"I'd Like To Hitch a Ride With Santa Claus" - The Andrews Sisters

"The Christmas Song" - The Ravonettes (I had been looking for this song forever!! Love it!)

"Welcome Christmas" - Glee

"A Winter Romance" - Dean Martin

Oh my, and so many more...I think I might have to devote a post to some of my favorite Christmas songs. Done!

I had hoped (and probably mentioned on here) to have most of our projects done by December so that I could enjoy decorating and spending time in my almost-finished house. Yeah, no dice. Not that we haven't made some serious progress, indeed we have! We cleaned out the art room (daun.ting) and moved in my marvy furniture that I got from my bestie, Amelia. Totally ok to be jealous.

I'm going to have some shelves built on top of this big one that go up the wall for ample storage. I'll paint them the same color so it looks like one complete piece.

Oh, how I love them. I still need to paint the room and finish organizing it (obviously). I'm SO obsessed with this muted purple color (similar to the color I painted my family room) and it looks awesome with the dressers. The chip I'm holding in the picture actually has some sheen to it. DONE. Since I live in a house of boys I figure I can do whatever I want that's frivolous and trivial in one room.

We are getting close to finishing our beams in the living room. We're going to stain them ebony and make them glossy and fantastic. I have painted part of the coat rack/bench dealio we're building for the entryway, I'm still working on the buffet..and the dining table...and we're hoping to put up the rock in the kitchen and living room. What progress?!

I think it's fair to say that we won't have everything done by Christmas, but as long as it's close I'm good with that. We got our tree the other night and our house has it's lights. The bedecking has begun! Happy December!

GIve Thanks

2011-11-24T20:40:00.003-07:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Ahhh, I love this Holiday. I love spending time with family and eating until we can't see. We went up to my parents house to enjoy my Mom's famous turkey (ohmygoodness, it's so good). All that's involved is butter, salt and pepper. It is FLAWLESS every time, none of this brining or stuffing the bird or any of that other nonsense, no sir! Simple and delicious. YUM. My sister in law Randi made a dreamy pumpkin pie, and my other sister in law Jess brought the perfect rolls...which I ate too many of. I LOVE my family, I love spending time with them. I also sort of get to do it again on Sunday when we have Cody's parents over for dinner...

So, how about some thanks? I'm thankful for my incredible, wonderful, ridiculously handsome husband. My two blonde mischievous cherubs who are my world. I'm thankful for our home which is always under construction. I'm thankful for our stellar parents. I'm thankful for the knowledge of the Gospel in our lives. I'm thankful for radical friends that keep us current. I'm thankful for this new baby boy that arrives in just a few more months, and I'm thankful for this beautiful world we live in. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's what I know...

2011-11-21T21:28:00.002-07:00

1. While it may not be 'ok' for a married woman with (almost) three children to wear them, I somehow find leather leggings pretty sexy.

2. I like being platinum, ok? Love me some blonde.

3. I'm over the hot chick in the movies being tough. Like, she's ridiculously beautiful but she also knows how to fix a '69 chevy, or how to weld, or how to wire a mansion for electricity. All while wearing heels. I'm not saying that there aren't women out there that can do that, but really? Save it.

4. Sometimes honesty isn't the best policy.

5. When designing things in my house, I have to remember that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. I am creating this home for my family, not for anyone else.

6. I love Pinterest.com. This is no secret (or is it? Have we talked about it?). While it is full of marvy ideas and tips, I have no desire to make my own laundry detergent, mod podge or swiffer cleaning fluid. I refuse to let you make me feel bad for not creating EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE FROM SCRATCH.

7. Christmas decor comes out in stores right after Halloween, sometimes even before. That's ok if you feel that that's too early, but don't moan and complain about it to everyone who will listen. Bedeck your home in Thanksgiving merriment and saturate yourself in the season of gratitude. Last time I checked, those stores don't dictate how you celebrate.

8. If you're driving through a neighborhood that isn't yours and someone waves at you, wave back. Who cares if you don't know them, it doesn't hurt to shoot back a smile and a wave.

9. A great quote is meaningless unless you actually apply it.

10. Stainless steel straws are the bomb shizzle.

Novemwha?

2011-11-14T20:19:00.009-07:00

How is it...that October was a crazy-busy month and now we're halfway through November?? I just can't get ahead. I haven't even been that busy. I don't think. And yet, we're halfway through November, did I mention?

Something I've neglected to mention is the fact that 'The Thrillionaires' are BACK! Oh yes, it's showtime once more.

We have two shows a month - one on the first Friday of every month at Brigham's Piano Gallery here in PG (he's the genius who plays piano for us) and one the last Friday of the month at the Covey Center in Provo. It has been SO great getting back into it. I was pretty nervous for the first show, none of us had performed in a year and a half, but it was brilliant and we had a ball. Win! So come out and see us, we're phenomenal.

My health is finally back and with it has come some long overdue energy and ambition to tackle some projects. Cody and I spent lots of time at Home Depot this weekend buying our Christmas lights and balusters for our railing. That's right. We might actually get a real railing a year after we ripped out the old one. Fear no more, neighborhood kids! Safety is returning! And tonight I started sanding this baby down getting it ready for paint-

I used Cody's palm sander and it went pretty slick, but my was it dusty. I'm currently covered in 80 year old resin. Thhhbt. I still have to go back and sand the intricate parts by hand, but I got most of the surface taken care of with the sander. With any luck? I'll it painted by this weekend. *gasp!* I also hope to work on this radical table I got from Amelia. I have no pics of it, but we're going to strip it and paint it black. I might do that tomorrow, so come back and check my progress.

Finally, I finally put a down payment on these darlings today:

Remember when I spoke of them? Like...two years ago? Yeah, still love them and we are FINALLY getting them! They'll be here Friday. Word. Maybe I can find some poor soul who wants to buy our sectional...

Did I mention it's the middle of November?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-11-02T13:55:00.015-07:00

What am I loving?

My Halloween House.

Oooh, I love my family right now.

Since I'm not a fan of my couches, why not cover them all ghostly?

Yeah yeah, I'm excited to decorate for Christmas. But how I love my spooky festive house. I'll be sad to take it down since it's only been up for a week. That must be why I want to haul out the pine cones and berries so that I can enjoy the decorations longer this time!

HallowEEEEEEEEEEEK!

2011-11-01T20:45:00.018-07:00

Boo to you! Halloween at Jolley Hollow was fantastic. Crazy busy and non-stop, but fantastic. Since when did October become as busy as December? I've hardly had a chance to breathe! Well, I blame my sickies for that.

Friday I spent decorating the Fire Bay to get ready for the annual PGFD Halloween Party. I had tons of help from Jessica and the crew, so things got set up pretty quick. The place looked great and festive and I was so excited! (PS - I took no pictures of this, but my friend did and when she posts them I will show you the party pics. Until then? Use your imagination). I picked up my costume, rushed home and got ready. Being pregnant doesn't leave me many options, so I just opted to go as a ghostie. Cody recycled his genius Reno 911 costume and we made our way down to the station. Where 15 people were assembled. Dude?? There was hardly anyone there! What the what? I was so disappointed to see it so poorly attended. I worked so hard...and nobody came. Downer. Hanging that party on my shelf of shame. Not sure why, either. Lots of people have been there in the past and everyone looks forward to it, so who knows. The Chief was upset that there wasn't more support and he still wants me to do it again next year. Better start advertising now, I guess.

Saturday was spent recovering. You see, I was still fighting this lame sickness. Our ward's trunk or treat was that afternoon at 4:00, so I mustered up enough strength to get the boys dressed up and head over to the Church. My trunk wasn't as festive as I would have liked...

but I did have spooky music playing and it was nice to just sit in the back and hand out candy. We had such a great turn out!
The weather was marvy and all the little kids looked so cute in their costumes. How I love my ward, such golden people.

Sunday I was SURE I was just going to take it easy. I even told Cody that I needed a full day to just rest. Did I? Why, of course not. Turns out we were feeling ambitious and spent all day in the kitchen cooking and baking. We made a pumpkin pie from scratch using a sugar pumpkin. Have you done this? It was surprisingly good! I mean, I'd heard mixed reviews so we were a little wary, but it was SO yummy. Tip: the pie will actually look brown after it's cooked, not the cheery orange we're all used to. Don't let that throw you! It's delish! Along with the pies (we made two) we made chicken stew, apple cider and whipped cream. The day was SO beautiful and warm, the boys were out in the yard all afternoon.
After we cleaned up the kitchen and ate dinner, it was time to carve pumpkins.

Our spooky gourds! Cody's, mine, Cole's, a faux plug-in pumpkin, and Cache's.

Needless to say, I was BEAT.

The next morning I got up and blared 'This is Halloween' to wake up the boys. I got Cache dressed in his costume and it was off to school for the Halloween parade!

They were quick, this was the only shot I got.

Then it was time to get Cole ready for his Preschool. And how presh! His bestie Jack happened to be Batman, so they were partners!
Cody and I ran some errands while the boys were at school and I picked up some medicine. I took a dose and it knocked. me. out. SO glad Cody was home that day because I was in no condition to drive. Or parent. I took a nap for a couple of hours and finally had to talk myself into getting up and getting ready. We got the kids ready for trick or treating and Cody took them around the neighborhood while I handed out candy.

I set out some spooky music, doesn't my porch look festive?

After the kids bags were filled, we all headed over to the Lehi Theater to catch closing night of 'Little Shop of Horrors'. This show deserves it's own post, but I must tell you how amazing that show was. Amazing!! I'm so proud of it. We were there late, so when we got home we peeled our sleepy boys out of their costumes and sent them to bed. I turned off the Halloween village and all the pumpkin lights...Halloween has come and gone. Forgive me for saying, but I am so happy to have October over. It was a crazy month. Can I decorate for Christmas now?

Are you there, health? It's me, Julia.

2011-10-27T22:41:00.002-07:00

I am sick. And I am soooooo sick of being sick. You see, it's not the down-and-out sickness where you're laid up in bed and can get nothing done, but it's not the hardly-there sickness where you take a couple of Dayquil and go about your day with no sniffies. I'm right in-between. I kind of feel okay, but I'm coughing like crazy and I'm all stuffed up with random moments of nausea and dizziness, or 'brain swish' as I like to call it.

It's getting better. Slowly. I can't really take a sick day because I have way too much going on. 'Little Shop' opened and is doing wicked awesome. Kate is in town and I haven't seen her much. I cleaned and decorated my house in order to host the YW Halloween Party here last night. I have errands to run and a Firehouse to decorate for the PGFD Halloween Party I'm in charge of tomorrow night. See? Too much. I've been dealing with this cough off and on for a MONTH and it's time it left the building. So if you see my health prancing around in the wheat field, tell it it's past curfew and to make a b-line for home. I'll update in more splendor later...when I can breathe.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-10-19T10:09:00.011-07:00

What am I loving? Other than the general Fall splendor?

The paint job on our house!!

Here's what it looked like before...

So green and sad.

Bam.

Doesn't it look amazing!??! I'm so in love with it. That red door...stoppit now. We painted the brick and the trim. I was SO scared about painting the brick, too - isn't it some unspoken rule that you just don't paint brick? I consulted many about my idea and would hear, "Yes, do it!" and "No, don't!". After buying the paint I realized I had to paint something, and I'm so glad I did it. It was a job, but it's worth it every time I pull in my driveway.

The Haunted Theater at Roger's Gardens

2011-10-14T07:25:00.025-07:00

The day we left Disneyland was, of course, sunny and clear. Typical! We promised the boys we would take them to the lego store and they were stoked.

That store is awesome! And lego's are awesome. We all know they've come a long way since we were little (they have orange lego's now, peeps), but I still get so excited when I see those blocks.

My sister found this great nursery a few years ago on one of her trips to Newport and she always raved about their mind-blowing Halloween display. I know - a nursery with Halloween. I HAD to check it out.

And as promised, it blew my mind.

'Haunted Theater' was the theme - they had these rad old costumes hanging from the ceiling...

I loved this glammy, ruffled table runner.

Ew! Rats in the couch! Brilliant.

This chandy was so very 'Phantom'...

Check out those feather boas!

Gah, this organ - they had this creepy organ music playing in the background.

It was just as fabulous as she said! Maybe even better!! It was just what I needed. You see, with my family being Halloween obsessed, not many awesome Halloween things get past us. We don't do gory..

(ew, gory. Sorry.)

and we don't do cute.

(ew, cute. Sorry.)

What we DO do, is traditional and crafty (but not the crazy crafty). Lately, we've been a bit discouraged because we haven't seen many 'new' fun Halloween decorations and some of our favorite Holiday shops. We started to wonder if we'd seen it all.

But after seeing this?? I'm all kids of recharged and in love with Halloween again. Not that I ever waivered, of course.

I haven't put out a single decoration yet (ohdude, I know), but you know why? Because I've been so crazy busy with my show and house projects and the like. It's like I hesitated decorating because I would think, "Well wait, maybe I'll see if we can finish this project first" and "I don't want to decorate in there because what if I need to take it down to (insert random Jolley project here)?". NO more! I must face facts that I probably won't accomplish any of the big projects I would like before Halloween. So? I shall decorate anyway. I didn't do anything last year because we were living under construction. This year is LOADS better, and I will bedeck the house in spooky festooning. Boo.

Halloween at Disneyland

2011-10-13T08:56:00.038-07:00

We had SUCH a marvelous trip. Marvy, I tell you! Despite our boys not really knowing what Disneyland and it's magical wonder is all about (Cole actually said "Thank you" after we told them we were going), it was a fantastic trip.

We left Sunday evening and arrived at my sister's house in Vegas LATE. Oy. We woke up to the sounds of the cousins playing. I'm so glad they had some time before they headed off to school. We spent the morning chatting with Scott and Andrea, Cody helped Scott with his scout which gave Andrea and I ample time to catch up and talk all things Halloween, I love the Leavers. Before we left town we grabbed lunch at 5 Guys and hit the road. We arrived at our hotel and the boys ran straight to the window to see our impressive view.

The hotel was so comfy, mmm those beds. I slept like a dream! I woke up to hear Cole climb out of bed and check the window, to make sure Disneyland was still there.

After breakfast it was time to hit the park! It was sprinkling a little, luckily the Leavers lended us their ponchos which totally saved us and kept us dry. Walking down main street brought back SO many memories, it was amazing! How I love Disneyland. We started on 'Storybook Land', then hit 'Buzz Lightyear' and 'Star Tours'. Being with child I wasn't allowed to ride many of the fun coasters, but I didn't mind waiting and sitting. The kids were over the moon which is truly the best part. I got to meet up with my darling Bethany and her family and she gave me some great tips (NO pics of us, Bethany!! What?!?). We agreed to meet up later at the Haunted Mansion which I couldn't wait to see.

Cody took the boys on Splash Mountain...hilarious.

They rode 'Thunder Mountain' and we grabbed lunch and fed the ducks. Finally? Haunted Mansion time. Ooooh! How glorious does this place look!??

I was nerding out, have you been at Halloween? In the ballroom you can smell gingerbread, it's all decked out 'Nightmare Before Christmas' (one of the kid's favorite movies). I was trying so hard to get my kids all into the fantastic surroundings, but they were sort of scared at first...not really 'getting' why I love this ride so much. All in good time!

We hit some more rides, 'Jungle Cruise' and 'Indiana Jones' and for the evening's end, Cody took them on the 'Matterhorn'. And they LOVED it! The park closed a wee bit early, so we grabbed some snacks at Target for the next day and ate dinner. We watched fireworks from our hotel room and then to bed.

The next morning we woke up earlier to hit the park when it opened. We got all ready and the stroller loaded (strollers rule - no matter what age your children), headed outside only to find it was raining. Not pouring, but that annoying sprinkling/spitting rain. Ugh. We put on our ponchos in hopes it would lighten up...it didn't. Since California Adventure didn't open until 10:00, we went on some of the little rides at the front of Disneyland; 'Peter Pan', 'Snow White', 'Toad's Wild Ride', etc. The lines were super short and they were inside - yay dry! After riding the Carousel we made our way to California Adventure. It was still raining and miserable. Our first ride? 'Soarin' Over California'.

If you get the chance, go. on. this. ride. I fully got misty-eyed, words cannot describe how utterly amazing it is. My favorite was watching my kids faces...awesome. We went on the 'Toy Story' ride which was JUST as cool, the kids loved that one. Since it was raining and freezy, we found an italian restaurant and loaded up on warm pasta. We did our best to dry out before facing the storm once more.
Cody was brave and went on 'Tower of Terror'. Pass! While the kids and I found a dry place to wait, I had to give them snaps for being such troopers. They never complained about being wet or trudging through the rain. I know they would have preferred blue skies and sunshine, but they were great. I, on the other hand, was ready to call it a day.

We decided to hit 'Soarin' one more time before going back to Disneyland for a few more rides. While California Adventure is fun, I must say it does lack the magic that Disneyland has, right? Our first ride was the train that circles the entire park. It was nice to just sit and dry out a bit. I SO did not remember that ride! All those scenes in the mountains? Fantastic. And hey! We met Tigger!

We did Haunted Mansion again, then Cole wanted to ride 'Splash Moutain' even though we were already soaked. Cache opted to hit Haunted Mansion again with me (win!) and finally he seemed to really love it. "I can smell the gingerbread!" "That ghost is my favorite..." I love him.

And Cody and Cole rode 'Splash Mountain' two more times. Love them.

The BEST part of all? We came out and it had stopped raining. YAY!! We got some churros and rode 'It's a Small World'. Say what you will, that ride is awesome. The song? Yeah, it gets annoying, but the whole thing is just wonderful. We took the kids to 'Toon Town' and it blew their mind.

And they met Mickey!!

In all my years, I never saw Mickey there. Ever.

Mmmm, ginormous sucker time.

I was so happy that the weather had cleared up, the evening was so pretty with all the lights on.

Cody took them on the 'Matterhorn' one more time and then we watched the parade. Cache about flipped when we saw Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween garb for pictures.

Where was Cole? Falling apart.

Poor dude, we put him in the stroller and raced back to our hotel in hopes to catch 'World of Color' from our room. We were hauling! We opened our door, opened the drapes, turned the TV on to the right channel JUST as the announcer said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to 'World of Color!'" Cody said, "No way did we time that perfectly...". We sat quietly in the dark and watched the show.

Cole missed it.

We tucked the boys in bed and Cody and I ordered pizza. We watched a movie and just relaxed in our warm beds, it felt so good to be dry!

Such a great trip. I felt very 'parent-y', if that makes sense. So often Cody and I feel too young and inexperienced to have kids and show them this world. But here we are - going on this fantastic family vacation with our little boys. I LOVE our family. It was so much fun and our kids are always talking about it. I'm going to do whatever we can to go next year...

Disney's Halloween Treat

2011-10-02T16:19:00.002-07:00

And we're off! SO excited!!

Seeing Red

2011-09-29T05:20:00.008-07:00

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

2011-09-28T09:09:00.004-07:00

What am I loving?

All these paint colors.

What are they for?

This.

Pictures to come...

Big belly stretched thin

2011-09-23T08:15:00.006-07:00

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

2011-09-21T11:20:00.013-07:00

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

2011-09-17T09:50:00.010-07:00

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?

2011-09-14T08:13:00.003-07:00

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

2011-09-10T08:19:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to me!

Pirate Party

2011-09-07T09:04:00.011-07:00

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

2011-09-04T19:37:00.001-07:00

This guy...

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

Love you, Dad!

Happy Birthday Cole!!

2011-08-30T20:53:00.012-07:00

Ol' blue eyes turned 4 today. FOUR! He's such a cute, funny little dude. He was so excited for his Birthday. I blared 'Birthday' by The Beatles this morning and we all went in and woke him up. I tried to dance with him in the kitchen to the song, but he didn't like it. Tell me, when do they start liking that? I'm not giving up by any means, but c'mon now...

Now that Cache is in school all day, Cole gets a little lonely, so after breakfast (white powdered donuts and chocolate milk) Cody and I took Cole and his little friend Jack to Blikenstaff's Toy Store and to lunch.

These two are SO cute and hilarious together, not to mention color opposites.

With their treasures!

Now, originally I had planned on taking them to McDonald's or Karl's Jr. or anywhere that had a fun playplace, but where did we eat? Macaroni Grill. Yeah. We took our 4 year old and his friend to a chi-chi Italian restaurant because we're fancy like that.

After we picked up Cache from school, I started on the Birthday cake while the boys played. They took a bath (they do that), watched 'Shrek' and ate popcorn and rounded off the day playing with play dough. Best day ever.

Now...let's talk about the cake, shall we? I baked two cakes, took one out of it's pan and left the other one in it's pan while I ran to rehearsal real quick (yes. rehearsal. another post. moving on). See, mistake number one, peeps - don't leave a cake in it's pan while it cools. It makes removing said cake a total nightmare. What are you left with? A crumbly, fall-apart mess.

Here is where we get real, kids. Most lovely mothers make beautiful Birthday cakes for their children. They post pictures of these gorgeous, meticulously decorated pastries that look like they could be for sale at an upscale bakery. I don't fault these women for showcasing their masterpieces, why shouldn't they? What you normally DON'T see are the failures and the ghetto muffins that most of us try to pass off as cakes. So what am I going to do? I'm posting my cake failure, for all of the blogging world to see.

Oh that's right,

every horrendous angle.

Dudes? HOW AWFUL IS THIS CAKE. I'm not sure 8 bowls of frosting could have made this cake pretty. I mean whaaaa?!?! It looks like I ran over it with a bike and covered it with melted Hershey bars. It looks like a chocolate-covered chunk of concrete. Good laws, friends...this is just inexcusable. The top layer literally broke in half when I took it out of the pan, which just started a chain reaction of other chunks breaking away to find a happier home. No matter how much frosting I bathed it in, no matter how cruelly I begged it...it would not help me out. It's an ugly cake. The kind of cake that hides in a dark corner at a school dance. Even shrouded in darkness and littered with Birthday candles it was still a mess. Hooray that it tasted great and my son is 4. Bullet. Dodged. (well, sort of). See? Feel better?

We opened pressies which included these snappy cowboy hats...

How I love this little man. He is my tough little boy who is stubborn and funny and loving and obsessed with sugar. He is our joy and I love him more every day. Happy Birthday, dude!!

Here's what I know...

2011-08-29T08:12:00.002-07:00

1. I love Summer. I do. The weather is marvelous and balmy...but I'm over it. SO ready for Fall.

2. Hopefully I'll get to take an early peek at my baby this week and find out what we're having!!

3. I think Pinterest is bad for me.

4. Starting to narrow down my options for my Halloween costume this year. All of them involve me wearing a large, roomy sheet.

5. Grumpy, mopey people bug me.

First of First of First

2011-08-24T09:45:00.006-07:00

My firstborn started his first day of first grade! Craziness. How cute is he?

It was so fun getting him ready this year, buying new pencils and glue. He was beYOND excited for school to start, it was all he could talk about. Now that he has started, all he can talk about is how long school is. Ha! So true, my son.

This is one of his teachers, Mrs. Mac (he has two this year - Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Whipple).

Cole starts Preschool in a few weeks which means I'll have both kids in school. A few hours to myself! Which means some interrupted nap time. Awesome.

Cabinero

2011-08-20T08:09:00.016-07:00

Last weekend after Church we took the boys up to the cabin for a night. We haven't been up there all year...it was time. I love the Jolley cabin and it was fun to be there with just our little family. As soon as we drove up, we found a family of deer underneath the cabin...

Look at the baby! It still has spots!

The boys were loving this little hut.

There's a rope swing that the boys can't get enough of. Dear Cody got a work out.

...because he LAUNCHED them in the air.

See?

Before it got too dark we decided to go for a drive. LOOK! Look what I spotted!!

This moose was ginormous.

We had a really yummy dinner (corn on the cob from Grandma Doreen's garden - win) and then went to bed. We didn't sleep too well due to the super loud thunderstorm outside. We woke up a lot to the sound of rain or the loud slap of thunder...awesome!

The next morning we got up early and headed out. But not before I spotted yet another daddy Moose.

You have to realize the huge amount of pride I felt. I never spot anything. Cody is the one who can spot a deer from thousands of yards away. He's always like, "Ahhh, see up there on the ridge? There's a family of deer...oooh, even a young buck. Haha, they are having lunch and playing with butterflies."

Hopefully we'll get up to the cabin a lot this Fall, it's so pretty up there. And the meese better watch out! I'll be watching...

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-08-17T09:53:00.006-07:00

Yeah, that's right - I'm doing yet another WILW. I haven't blogged in a week. There are things I need to touch on. But FIRST! What am I loving?

Well...a few pieces of furniture. We'll start with this one.

My dearest Sara was in town and I met her up at Ikea yesterday for a quick shopping trip. We bought some super cute things but before hitting the check out I noticed this little lilac cabinet and began to swoon. I love it! I want to put it in the little alcove by our front door for shoes and the like. Here's the thing, originally we were going to put a bench there with shoe baskets underneath and coat hooks above, etc., but how can I pass up this lovely little cabinet? Can I just put a chair next to it? Is that too much?

You may remember me gushing about the fact that I wanted to paint my piano yellow.

While I still think it would look super-rad, I have had a change of heart. Why? Because of this little emerald.

Could. you. die. I am obsessed with this couch. Look at that color! And it folds into a sleeper! I can't very well have a green couch and a yellow piano, could I? So the piano will remain the same and this lovely jewel will be the shining focal point. Until, of course, I find something shiny that takes my attention.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-08-10T10:14:00.003-07:00

Good laws, how long has it been since I've done WILW? Too long. So, what am I loving?

My neighborhood.

That's right. I went there. My neighborhood RULES. We were invited to a big BBQ in the cul de sac behind our house. Everyone brought something to grill and something to share and it was so much fun! It was great to just sit and visit and eat. Not to mention that my neighbors might be the greatest bunch of people in the State. We do this every Summer, such a cool tradition. So while you may have thought that your neighborhood was cool? I'm here to put those thoughts to rest - my neighborhood wins. Move here already.

In stitches.

2011-08-08T08:11:00.004-07:00

It was only a matter of time, really. I mean, I have two boys. Chances are I'll be in the ER at some time or another. That time has come - Cole got stitches.

Bless his little heart. He and Cache were playing at a friend's house and Cole fell backwards and hit the back of his head on their fireplace. It wasn't a horrible gash or anything, but it certainly required stitches. Cody was on shift but was able to rush over to the home and pick up Cole, I was close behind and I picked up Cache. We met at the ER where our friend Chad was working (yay!) and he got us right in. Cole was doing so great, he was laughing and making jokes...I'm sure the sucker helped. When it came time for the stitches he wasn't too thrilled with that, but he handled it like a champ and it's healing up great.

Me? How did I do? Not well. He'll be fine, it's me that will be scarred for life.

Patch Powell Property

2011-08-05T10:21:00.058-07:00

I. Love. Lake. Powell. Even more? I love going to Powell with my family. Our (some number or other) Annual Family Powell Trip this year was a raging success! So, so fun. So, so relaxing. So, so marvy.

We all arrived late Tuesday night sans Scott and Andrea (who were arriving the next evening). Wednesday was super mellow - we just ate and rested, we worked on the boat and finally headed out on the water to do some surfing that evening. Marty and Jess brought their new baby girl, Penny. How cute is she in her life vest?

I married a cowboy.

It was seriously the most beautiful night...these pictures don't even capture how pink everything was.

We wakeboarded and surfed until the sun went down!

Scott and Andrea got there Wednesday night and Thursday morning we set off to find a beach. We actually parked in almost the exact same spot as we did last year - up in Dungeon Canyon. The water is so high this year that a lot of our favorite beaches are covered, but fortunately we found a cherry locale and stayed there all week. We wasted no time in getting out on the boat.

SABOTAGE!

Marty tried getting up on the surf board without the rope.

It didn't work out.

Sad story? I have NO pictures of our fun times on Thursday night. We had a dance off between couples to 'Just Dance' and it was HILARIOUS. My parents even got in on it, they dance a mean Charleston. Rest assured, it was epic. And it's probably best that I don't have photographic proof.

Friday was yet another lazy day that was totally dominated by this miserable puzzle. Andrea is always so great at bringing a challenging puzzle for us to do, but this year I think she went too far.

It took us forever to finish it. There was much murmuring and swearing.

We deserved a reward, so we took a boat ride to the marina for some ice cream.

The gnats are always a problem, but for some reason they were relentless at this beach. We hung this lovely lamp in the kitchen every night...
While listening to the sizzling deaths, we played some fantastic tunes on Guitar Hero. 'You Give Love A Bad Name' is always a boat favorite, and this year we rocked out to 'The Final Countdown' which we were all singing and laughing to. Ah man, I love my family.

Saturday we headed out to find a cool canyon hike. And when it comes to buns, size doesn't matter.
Turns out our hike was under water. But not to be discouraged! It made for some beautiful pictures and a fun ride up some really narrow canyons...

The tiniest frog in the world!

Back in his wee hole.

Marty, our fearless explorer...

...was actually feigning fearless.

Cliff jumping!

When we got back to the boat, Rich and Randi were on dinner so we did some evening surfing.

Cody is the cowboy, so I guess Scott is the bandit?

Sunday we had a family lesson taught by my Dad. He's a wise man, friends. The lesson was really great and we had some wonderful spiritual moments on the top of the boat. It was just incredible! I mean, really. I can't even convey how grateful I am for my wonderful family. LOVE them.

We did some crafting during the afternoon. Andrea and Randi brought some tea towels and we spent a few hours painting and sewing our own designs. I must do this on my own, it was so fun and how cool to create your own towels for your kitchen?

Our finished towels:

Monday we headed back to the slip, Scott and Andrea had to leave that day. We stopped at the marina for some treats before sending them off. Mmmm, lime pops.

Some weird old dude...

The rest of us didn't have to leave until the next morning, so to extend the fun as long as possible we went out on the boat and did some surfing in the channel until it was almost too dark to see.

The sky was awesome.

I love Rich's face in this picture.

Jess and Penny!

We watched 'Sherlock Holmes' before going to bed. The next morning we packed up and cleaned the boat. Right before we left the boat I had to take some pictures of the water...peoples, it's so beautiful.

My heart just ached, I hate the thought of leaving the Lake and not going back until next Summer. I have to find a way back! I have to go one more time! These trips are so important to all of us and we all look forward to them every year. I love Lake Powell. I LOVE MY FAMILY. I love this trip.

(PS - I just called my Dad about available dates for the houseboat... looks like I'll find a way to the Lake one more time after all!!).

Announcing...

2011-08-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

Baby Jolley #3!

Coming February 2012

Cayenne

2011-07-25T18:10:00.007-07:00

Can we talk about how gorgeous these roses are from Cody? Happy Anniversary indeed! Pictures don't even do them justice, they were like neon coral, SO pretty. They are called 'Cayenne Roses'.

Our anniversary was so great. My dear friend Tanya offered to watch the boys that day and night so Cody and I could just spend some time together (after he worked for 5 days straight? Yeah, I was ready for some Cody time). We had lunch at JCW's and then went shopping for Motorhomes. Yes. We're looking into getting a Motorhome. Probably won't happen this year, but we really want one. That afternoon there was a huge thunderstorm in true Jolley anniversary fashion (it rained on our wedding day and has rained on our anniversary every year...I sort of love it). We came home, got ready and went to dinner. Did some shopping, came home, ate ice cream and watched some of our shows before going to bed. Simple? Yes. Perfect? Yes. It was just so nice to be together! I will admit, it seems like every other year I get super uptight about our anniversary and I want a huge production and fuss. This was a simple year...hopefully next year I don't go crazy.

We did finally sample a Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand that we pass all the time...and boy was it delish. Half coconut/half pineapple for me! I took the boys there a few days later. The cup was a little difficult for Cole to maneuver, but he's clever.

Andrea and her kids came to town again for a few days, so we spent some time with them. Cache and Luke are always so great to watch together...

Saturday I spent all day up at my parents house and we planned some stuff for our family Powell trip which we leave for TOMORROW!! Oh man, I'm so stoked. I'm so looking forward to having a nice, relaxing vacation. The aforementioned Tanya is watching my boys while we're gone because she is dipped in gold. Leaving town is always stressful, am I right? I have to get the house clean and go grocery shopping and get me and Cody ready since he just got done working for 3 straight days, trained all day today and teaches tomorrow. My word.

And you know what else is on my mind? PLENTY. I'm sort of over having every one of my posts an overview of my week. How lame is that? I mean, I want to update since this is a quasi-journal, but every time I read one of my posts I get super bored. And it's my life!! Changes are a-coming. I need to blog more often and of more interesting things. I will still update, forshizzle, but trust me. Changes. Are. A-coming. Along with a fun new development! Oooh, I will make you wait until I get back from my vacation. Til then? I'm out. Powell bound!

Celebr8

2011-07-19T17:39:00.003-07:00

We are the Jolleys.

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!

And then July happened...

2011-07-17T21:38:00.028-07:00

Where is Summer going? We have been so crazy busy it seems like it's flying by! Lets get right down to binness.

The Girls Trip was a complete blast! Oh man, I had the best time. We went to Hollywood, San Diego, we shopped, we ate, we laughed until we cried...it deserves it's own full post, so I'll cover that later. Just know that it was epic.

The Sunday after I came home was my sweet niece's blessing. She is such a darling little girl. Marty gave her a beautiful blessing and the meeting was so awesome. We met over at Marty and Jess' for some lunch and mingling.

How sweet is her blessing dress? That bonnet...

Such a delish spread, I think I ate about 40 of those strawberries.

This also happened to be the weekend of the 4th which always seems jam packed with goodness. My sister and her family were in town so we had lots of fun with cousins and hanging out at my parents house. Cody had to work over the Holiday, so I woke up the boys early and we raced down to meet the Patches and the Sumsions for the Grand Parade!

Here's Cache with his cousins Luke, Graham, Sadie (best face award) and Elliet.

Storm Troopers! Totally radical, I geeked out.

While I love the parade, I really don't know if we'll go next year. My kids get bored after 45 minutes and while it was wicked awesome when I was growing up (our house was on Center Street so we used to sleep on the lawn with friends the night before), I'm kind of over it. Is that horribly un-American?

That night was the PGFD Firework show which never disappoints! Plus we get to sit superclose - turns out sleeping with a fire captain has it's benefits. Before the show started the boys were busy with their glow sticks.

Then BOOM!

They put the best show on every year. You may know that they have legalized a bunch of new fireworks this year, so the whole valley was booming all night with huge fireworks... so cool. Our 4th was full and fun! Phew!

The next evening Cody and I went down to Lake Powell with our friends, Marc and Jessica. We've never been down there with them and we had the best time!
We've known them for years. Marc is the Fire Chief and they live just down the street from us. I honestly took about 7 pictures - that's it! Although I did manage to snap this pic of a duck eating out of Marc's hand.
We were only there for 3 days, but it was so relaxing and so great. We had huge thunderstorms every afternoon (I LOVE the storms there), we went into town for dinner on Cody's Birthday!, and Marc and Cody hiked the famous dune while Jess and I (the smarties) waited in the boat.
Our friends Drew and Dana were down there and we go to spend a lot of time with them. So excited that Cody and I get to go back with my family in just two weeks!...wait, almost one week now. Woot!

Since we've been home things have been going 100 miles an hour. We wanted to do all kinds of fun stuff with the boys and work on the house, but that hasn't really worked out. Cody has been working constantly and I'm SO not lying about that. Just take a look! Here's what his past week has been:

Sunday: PGFD

Monday: PGFD

Tuesday: Trained all day at Viking CrossFit, took an overtime shift at PGFD that night.

Wednesday: Taught a class til 5:30, meeting at 6:30.

Thursday: Saratoga Fire

Friday: Saratoga Fire (was able to come home at 9:30pm).

Saturday: PGFD

Sunday: PGFD

Monday: Saratoga Fire

Gah. It's been rough having him gone so much. I have been trying to get caught up. Our internet was down so I spent some time over at the cable company and lots of time on the phone trying to figure that out. I've been the grocery store what feels like 4 times a day, our yard was a disaster and after I exhausted myself trying to do it alone, I hired some neighborhood lads to come take care of it. Worth every penny!! Cody was able to come home the Friday night and we had a yummy, Summer dinner: homemade hamburgers, corn on the cob, potato chips and homemade apple pie.

The boys helping with the corn.

Seriously? Probably the best pie I've made to date. YUM.

Saturday I took the boys to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie - have you seen it yet? It was good! I liked it quite the much and the boys were totally captivated. I must get the soundtrack, all the songs were super catchy. I loves days out with my boys. They are so patient running all kinds of errands with me, which feels like all I've done the past 7 days.

Today has been a real day of rest and goodness knows we need it. It just feels like we've been going and going non-stop all week long. Cody is working again tomorrow (but it's the last shift in a 5 day run!!) and will be home Tuesday, our 8th wedding anniversary. How will we celebrate? Probably with a nap.

Is this thing on?...

2011-07-14T14:01:00.002-07:00

It's been far too long, BC readers (or readER). Summer is crazy, our internet was down, we went on vacation...there is SO much to blog and yet I find myself not wanting to blog at all. Bah. If I have any time I just want to relax on my front porch or hang out with my boys...not that I'm saying that those of you who do blog would rather not relax or spend time with your families. Chillax.

But there is much to update on and I will get to it. Hang in there, new posts are just around the corner

Girls Trip 2011

2011-06-22T08:53:00.004-07:00

It's here! It's finally here! Girls Trip 2011 and I am headed out this morning. This year is a little different - we are road tripping in California. L.A., Long Beach, San Diego, we're even going to take a trip to the SD Temple! It's a small group this year - Rhonda got a new job in Atlanta last month and can't join us and Carla is also out (so not awesome). Kate, Sara, Sheila and I will miss them but we are determined to have a ball. And honestly, how can you NOT have a good time with all of us? I have to finish cleaning up the house and do some last minute packing before I hit the road - California here I come!

Busy Week

2011-06-21T17:34:00.015-07:00

What a week I'm having! Strawberry Days in PG is awesome/super crazy. I so look forward to it, but my goodness it's just gogogo! The weekend before the big shebang, Cody ran the Utah Valley Marathon with the rest of the Fire Dept. Remember how we ran it together last year? Yeah well, I wised up and opted out this time around. Here he is at the finish line:

Doesn't he look great? Doesn't he look like he didn't just run 26.2 miles? Not only did he do that, he also shaved 30 minutes off his time from last year! Mr. Indcredible!

Cody also just got hired on at Saratoga Springs Fire working part time. He's only worked a few shifts, but so far he really likes it. And speaking of far, do you have any idea how far away S.S. is? I mean it is OUT there, peeps. Waaaaay out there. I almost need to pack provisions before trekking out there for a visit. But I digress... with this new job means more time away from home. He worked an extra shift last week which meant I saw him for about 45 minutes total. When he got off work Wednesday night we took the boys over to the carnival and met up with our friends Mike and Michelle. The kids were having a complete blast!

Bless Cole's little heart, he was getting over strep...but he was making the most of it!

The next afternoon we stopped at the carnival for a few rides. This dragon roller coaster was their favorite, their faces were hilarious.

Saturday morning was the parade and it was the first time Cody was able to watch it with me! It's your typical parade with bands and beauty queens, but the boys loved every second.

So, so many rodeo queens. I have no idea who the first two chicks are... maybe Arabian Princesses?

This kids were laughing so hard at this inflatable can guy.

We got some friends to take the boys to the carnival (yes, again) while Cody and I grabbed some lunch. Then that evening we got on top of the fire station to watch the fireworks.

Strawberry Days is really so much fun, but I'm a little relieved that it's over - I need to save up some energy for the 4th of July!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T10:28:00.003-07:00

Dear Cody,

Thank you for being the most wonderful Dad to our little boys! You are an incredible example to our sons and they love you and admire you so much. You are their hero. I feel so, so lucky to be raising a family with you! I hope you have the most amazing Father's Day, you deserve nothing less. Your little carbon copies love you!

See? Aren't we lucky?

We love you - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Inmaterial

2011-06-13T17:13:00.004-07:00

Friends? I don't have patience. I sort of do, but not generally. Ironic, considering I'm usually always late and am easily distracted by shiny things. My amount of patience is largely determined by my mood, of course. If I have to be somewhere, have a million things to do and/or I have two crazy boys with me, patience has moved to another state and the back of my neck starts to sweat the longer I have to wait. I overreact and don't see logic too clearly. Like this story I'm about to tell you? It's obvious that I am freaking out over nothing really, so remember to laugh.

Case in point: today at JoAnn's. I want to have a dress made by the brilliant Gloria to take on my girls trip next week. Next week! While Gloria assured me that she'll have plenty of time to construct said dress, I still wanted to get the fabric to her asap. After dropping Cody off at the gym, I raced over to JoAnn's to quickly pick out some material and (hopefully) drop it off at Gloria's before racing home to put my Costco groceries in the fridge (what?).

The first 8 minutes of my trip are marvy - I'm cruising through the aisles, the boys are doing great and I find some awesome orange material that just might work for my dress. I call my Mom to ask her a sewing question and as we're chatting I pick out the liner, pull a number for the cutting table, find a zipper and some thread and start to wait my turn. I hang up with my Mom, the number at the cutting table was 58, mine was 64. I take the boys to the bathroom, then go back to wait. Now they're at number 59. Hmm, taking a while. This is where I start to panic and get upset. They had 1 person at the cutting table who was older and clueless, not to mention just chatting it up with the woman she was 'helping'. Finally another employee comes over to help and the woman she calls up has two carts FULL of fabric bolts. And she didn't even know how many yards she needed from each one! No, no she had to consult her 11 year old daughter about that. "honey...what's this for? You want this for your pillow? And why do we have this one....honey?" (11 year old daughter was also watching her 2 year old sister, therefore she was never in the same spot, therefore my patience was packing it's bags).

Oh, and the little number counter dealio on the ceiling? That tells you which number they were on? Yeah, they weren't updating that. So it stayed at 59 forever. Finally ANOTHER employee comes over to help (since there was like 9 of us waiting) and calls out, "Number 60?" Someone in the line informs her that they are past 60. Again, she calls "60?".

They are past 60. I chime in, "The woman at the table is number 61."

"Ok, so no 60?" I tell you what, you call for 60 one more time and I'm gonna set my hair on fire.

Then she calls out, "ok, 61?" Um, they are already helping number 61. Remember when I said that? Yeah. Finally number 62 gets up there, but they still don't update the counter dealio. Of course not, why would they. At this point there 3 women at the cutting counter, none of them being efficient or considerate of the rest of us waiting, they are chatting and slowing folding the material and gushing over each other's projects with, "Oh, how darling!" and "You're so brave to sew your own duvet!". I just need my fabric cut. For the love of all that's holy.

It's been 20 minutes. Somewhere between the slowness, the sweatiness, the 'captain me planet'-ness and general 'I'll cut your material when I'm good and ready' mentality, I'd had it. I pushed my cart in an aisle and got myself to the nearest exit before I went completely postal on this store. I mean, really people!?! That store is like riding a big wheel through molasses. GOOD LAWS. I had been there for an hour - and hour I and my costco butter did not have. I tried to rationalize what happened: "Maybe that older lady was new...it's not like they can make people hurry up and only get 3 bolts cut at once...they were just trying to be nice to their customers...they have no way to determine how long each customer will take...". But I got over that real quick and called my Mom to complain and threatened to open my own fabric store that has a self-serve cutting table, not to mention an express lane. Gah.

Today I will go out once again to find some fabric for my dress. I'll calmy walk in and grab a number for the cutting table before I do anything else. I will be going to another store, of course...I'd sooner die than step foot in that JoAnn's again.

Fact:

2011-06-10T20:43:00.002-07:00

I met Cody exactly 10 years ago today.

Best. Decade. Ever.

Bug Juice

2011-06-08T19:50:00.002-07:00

When I was little my Grandpa called soy sauce 'Bug Juice'. Why? He felt that if you squished a bunch of bugs, that's what it would look like. Naturally, this made all of us laugh hysterically. "Bug juice! Grandpa wants bug juice!"

Tonight for dinner I planned on making teriyaki chicken. After getting started, I realized I was out of teriyaki sauce. I hate that, don't you? When you start making a dinner only to find half way through that you don't have all the ingredients? No? Just me? I'm the only one who forgets to check? Moving on.. so in my panic I think, "Ok, I can add some onions and ginger...maybe some garlic? Still give it an asian flare.." Whilst looking in the fridge I spot some soy sauce. Bam! I can use that! Ahhh, even better - I'll call it bug juice and my kids will think it's hilarious and eat every bite of their dinner.

So I finish up and it smells really good, I toss some bug juice on the top and bring it to my boys. I tell them the story of 'bug juice' and they laaaaauuuugh and think it's so funny. In my proud mommy moment I decide to call this dinner 'Bug Juice Chicken' and we'll eat it all the time because it will be so good, blah blah blah. We all take a bite... and it's nasty. I mean, it was fine? But nothing noteworthy. I mean, the whole thing didn't make ANY sense. Dinner fail. We scrapped it and I made sandwiches.

I still want to master 'Bug Juice Chicken', I just don't want it to taste like bug juice.

Summer is here!!

2011-06-07T08:44:00.009-07:00

And just in time, I must say. The weather has FINALLY turned warm and balmy - thank you, June! This was a tough Spring. It was cold and wet (so much rain) and not awesome. Fortunately things are started to dry out and bloom - I'm all about it.

Cache had his Kindergarten graduation and tons of activities during the last week of school. There was a dance festival a few days before school got out and Cache was super stoked about it. Each grade danced to a song, here is Cache stomping away to 'Step In Time'.

It's sort of customary to give a teacher a gift on the last day of school, right? I'm new to this whole thing, so I wasn't sure what to do. But I saw this idea somewhere and embellished it a little. I love how it turned out! And it probably took me a whole 30 minutes to put it together, so great.

Cache was super excited to give it to her and even made a sweet little card to go along with it. He's in this weird phase where he doesn't really know how to smile for pictures...I swear, no matter how many times I try to get a good shot, he makes this goofy forced smile. Sigh.

That Friday Andrea was in town for a race, so I got to spend the day with her and my Mom and Jess. We lunched with Marty and then hit some of our favorite stores. I introduced Andrea to Decades where she scored a sweet tooled leather bag - I swear, she finds the coolest stuff. All afternoon we shopped, our last stop was at a consignment store called Home Again. We split off and perused some of their cool wares, and then I saw it - I saw this beautiful piece leaning against the wall...a gorgeous, velvet tufted headboard.

MINE!

It will be mine. I must admit, when I first saw it I didn't love the color. I was like, "Peach? Really?" But I walked over and looked at it closer, convinced it was probably for a Queen size bed. To my surprise? It's a California King size. Win!! And the price? $145. I know. MINE. Small snag, friends - I didn't dare buy it without checking with Cody, so I talked to the owners and they said I could just call and pay for it over the phone if it was still available. To my delight, Cody is on board! I was surprised, I must be honest. I mean, a peach headboard? Really? Tough guy Cody likes it? He's sort of given me cart blanche on decorating the bedroom, so I'm all over it. I called the store this morning and left a message - fingers crossed that I get it!!

In other Summer news, we decided as a family to make a Summer To Do list with all the fun things we want to do. Here is a rough draft:

What other things should I put on there? This doesn't involve some trips Cody and I are planning (Lake Powell) and trips with my family (Lake Powell again), the girls trip and stuff like that, but I need some more ideas of fun stuff to do with our little family. So spill! And Happy Summer!

Projects

2011-06-02T19:56:00.020-07:00

The weather is FINALLY starting to warm up, which means it's time for some serious doing! There are so many things we want to get done this Summer - lots of painting and building and just plain doing.

For starters, I painted this cute little table blue. It was a cool green color, but I wanted it to sort of play off the huge ikea map we got for the wall in the living room. Now, I should state (if I haven't before) that I hate prep work. This is not a good thing. Prep work is essential, but I am so eager for the end result that I sometimes just start something before really taking the time to prep it. Sometimes it comes out just fine, other times you can tell that I hurried.

I lightly sanded the table, wiped it down and got to painting. I chose 'Aqua', it's such a bright happy color. I was getting a few coats on, loving it...

The top tier is totally smooth and awesome, but the lower level kept looking a little rough. That's when I thought, "OH yeah, I can unscrew the table so it's easier to paint..." See? Prep work fail. After I removed the top I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed...and it's still not 100% smooth. But my can of paint was gone, so was my patience with this piece, it looks great and bam - she's done.

Perfect! Other Living Room projects? Putting up our rock wall! We're going to dry stack these rocks on the North wall behind the piano...
I'm SO excited. It will be a lot of work, but look rad when it's done! And it should give me enough time to paint my piano. Yes. Paint my piano. What color?

Saffron! Mmm, a dull, mustard-y piano. All laquered and shiny? Stoked.

I finally bought paint for my buffet - a luscious color called 'Lagoon'.

It's the exact shade I wanted and looks so great against the green in our kitchen. I fixed a bent hinge on one of the doors, so now I just need to sand the buffet and get it ready to paint!

Cody and I have spent the last two days working on our front yard. We weeded our flower beds and ripped out some old stumps, planted some new flowers...ugh, so much work. I was feeling pretty proud of myself as I pulled out two stumps using the 4-wheeler. "I totally have this." I wrapped the chain around the 3rd (and biggest) stump, hooked it up and started to pull. The 4-wheeler was spinning a little, but I could feel the roots getting looser and I heard a snap. Then I saw water pouring out of the ground. That's when panic ensued. I ran in the back and grabbed Cody, then shut the water off. What did I do? I snapped the elbow section of our spiget. Nice.

After a quick run to Home Depot, Cody helped me repair it and now it's as good as new. So yeah, feeling pretty awesome at first, then was re-introduced to some serious humbleness.

It's been nice working so hard the past couple of days, and now it's time to take it easy for the weekend! My sister is in town, Cache's last day of school is tomorrow, Summer is here! Still lots of yard projects to do, but at least all the stumps are out. Well, most of them...I'll let Cody tackle the rest.

At Peace...sort of

2011-05-31T18:40:00.005-07:00

So, remember how I wanted black wood floors? Sort of like this?

Well, my floors don't look like that. They are gorgeous, but they don't look like that. They look like this:

Before you think me ungrateful (how could you?) for not appreciating the fact that we did not have to refinish the floors ourselves, lemme esplain: We told the floor guys that we wanted a black stain, to which they gaffed and gaffawed and promised us that we would end up hating it. They told us horror stories of other misguided homeowners that chose black floors and wound up ripping their hair out and were finally admitted to the psych ward. It was a pain to clean, it showed wear really fast, we would end up hating it - they promised us. Rather than stand our ground, we caved. We thought, "Oh man, these guys have been doing floors for decades, they know what they're talking about. Maybe we will hate it. What if we're wrong?" So with that we chose a black walnut stain and crossed our fingers that it would be dark enough.

As soon as they spread it on the floor, I knew it wasn't dark enough. HOWEVER, it really warmed up the tone of the wood and the stain locked into the grain and made it really stand out. They turned out so great! So pretty, like a tobacco stain.

Mmm, but those black floors! The past few months I have entertained the idea of perhaps using a black epoxy on our floor to get the color I want. We don't have our baseboard on yet or the kick boards around our base cabinets, so really the time is ideal. It's our only option (other than replacing the floor entirely) since we can't refinish our floors again. I talked to my brother at length about the process, it sounds totally doable and Cody and I could finally get those black floors!

But Cody and I talked this morning. "Am I crazy?" I asked. He knows better than to answer truthfully, but he did say that while the floors aren't the dark color we wanted, he really likes how worn and sort of 'saloon' they look. He thinks they look warm and inviting and give the house that country feel without it being a country house. I so get that.

So while I initially wanted (and may always yearn a bit for) dark floors, I do love the color of mine. I love the idea of how these floors will look years down the road. They are so pretty and warm. They fit the feel of the house and everything plays off them beautifully. I regret that we didn't stand our ground about what we wanted, but man... I think we came out alright, don't you?

Closeout Sale

2011-05-27T08:20:00.014-07:00

One of my favorite shops in Gardner Village is closing. Not awesome. 'The Christmas Village Shoppe' went bankrupt and is having a ginormous liquidation sale this week. My Mom told me about it last weekend and we made plans right then to get there early the first morning of the sale. When we got there a line had already formed, but it wasn't too bad.
As soon as the doors opened we headed straight for the Halloween and village pieces area. To my great disappointment, there were hardly ANY village pieces to choose from! I think employees may have had first pick, because it was slim pickins. I did get two Christmas houses for $12 each - not bad! I was pretty bummed, however, that they didn't have more. That's the reason I went! Not even village accessories - it was all cleaned out. The pieces that were there weren't anything spectacular, but that didn't stop people from loading their bags with whatever was left. I didn't think to bring my own bag...I should have. There was one couple that brought LUGGAGE and they were just filling it with whatever they could grab.

This pic was when the chaos had started to calm down...but you can see how empty the shelves are. EVERYTHING was for sale, even the display cases and tables. My Mom scored a sweet iron urn that was hanging from the ceiling!

So weird - the ceiling used to be FILLED with cool Holiday goodness.

That far wall is where all the village houses used to be...bare! Again, this pic was taken as soon as the craziness started to thin out.

Friends? It was like jungle madness. You could hardly maneuver in there and people were just grabbing stuff off the shelves. How do people do the day after Thanksgiving sales? Why would you submit yourself to the crazy? A positive note was that the prices were super great. You know how some sales start with 60% and then progressively get lower each sale day? Yeah, not here. So many things were .99, I think my village houses were the most expensive thing I got.

Each was originally marked at $45.00. Two for $24? Done.

I love that golden turkey.

My chocolate tinsel tree! This was such a find, I think it was $8.00.

The total? $80.00.

The check out line was another battle entirely. They didn't have any cash registers, so they were just manually writing down everything and totaling it up on a calculator. I know. It took forever, I think the line was about an hour long. We barely got out with our lives at noon and we were exhausted! Of course Gardner Village promises a great new store in there soon, but I will miss that shop. That was a vital stop when doing our Halloween shopping! Where do I go now?

Moab

2011-05-22T19:01:00.022-07:00

Last weekend Cody and I took the boys down to Moab for some Jeeping (or 'Jeepin' if your nasty). I got really sick a few days before we were supposed to go, isn't that just the way of it? I thought I had the flu, then I got strep...not pretty, friends, not pretty. My dearest friend Celine watched my kids while I recovered and even brought me some apple blossoms to cheer me up. Fortunately I got on some meds and was on the up and up just in time to leave town!

I haven't been to Moab in YEARS. Cody and his friends try to go down every Spring, but it's usually just the boys. I forgot how pretty it is down there...

We camped with our friends Jon and Eric, and our other friends John and LaRobyn met up with us for dinner Friday night. Saturday morning we got started early and hit Hell's Revenge. The boys in their new hats, ready to go.

This was the first part, driving up this spine...I swear we were going to slip off the edge.

Cody spotting for Jon.

It was cool to see these bikes up on the edge.

Right?? How amazing is this?

This picture doesn't really capture how steep this was...nearly straight up.

Jon is pretty adventurous anyway, but as I look through some of these pics he didn't really try anything that outrageous. But I was happy to just sit and watch rather than experience it firsthand!

Cute.

After the trail we got some lunch at Milt's.

John and LaRobyn.

Next we went on Fins and Things. It's a pretty simple train - LaRobyn even drove!

Great day of trails! That night John and LaRobyn had to head back, so the rest of us had some tasty mexican food for dinner and then it was back to camp.

After breakfast, Cody and I took the boys for a drive in the canyon. Seriously. SO pretty. The place looks just like Powell without water. Red rock is so amazing.

This is the face Cody makes when he's driving. Seriously. All puckered.

It was a GREAT trip, we really need to take advantage of the fact that it's only 3 hours away. That's nothing! A quick weekend getaway? I'm sure we'll be making many trips this Summer.

Momshell

2011-05-08T21:51:00.005-07:00

To celebrate Mother's Day, we started a little early and went out last night with Dave and Celine. I LOVE these people, we had so much fun! We went to Texas Roadhouse and ate too much and laughed too hard. We must do it again, stat!

This morning Cache surprised me with a pink rose he bought the night before with Katie (the best babysitter in the world). He also bought me a Hershey's chocolate bar...his favorite treat. He told me during Sacrament meeting that I was to share that treat with him. Also during Sacrament they had all the Primary kids go up and sing. This was the first time that both my boys were up there! Cole held it together for about 12 seconds and then started to cry. He put his little hands over his eyes and sobbed. Awww! Poor little dude. In RS we had 15 minutes at the end of the lesson to just sit and visit while the Priests brought around our Mother's Day gifts. A plant? A notepad? A quote? No. A bag filled with treats. Win!

Cody gave me these beautiful lilies that we're going to plant outside and even kept the kids entertained so I could nap in the afternoon.

He did everything for me today...love him. We went and visited the Jolleys and then had dinner at my parents house. It was a marvelous Mother's Day! Being a mom rules. There is no better job. It's hard and frustrating and overwhelming, but the rewards are unmatched. I'm sure I'll have my doubts tomorrow, but today I love being a Mom.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-05-04T18:25:00.004-07:00

What am I loving?

Summer evenings.

Now I know it's not quite Summer, but tonight got me excited for those warm, orange nights. While making dinner my kitchen was filled with that bright, gold evening sun. Man, is anything better than that? That rich, warm bath of color that can fill up your house in the evening? Gah, I just love it. Our windows were open and I could hear my kids playing in the backyard...it was just perfect.

During dinner Cole asked if I would make the piano sing. I love him.

MAY

2011-05-02T08:59:00.011-07:00

Oh, it's here! It's finally here! The month of May! Warmer weather, lots of planting, the start of many BBQ's... stoked. Even my hibiscus plant starting blooming!

This weekend was totally crazy. In a good way, of course, but quite busy! I got to lunch with my dear friend Kim on Friday and we caught up and talked for a few hours...just love her. That night I went out with Mindi. We laughed over our chicken wing dinner and then went to see 'Water for Elephants'. Have you seen it? Oh my, I loved it. I haven't read the book so I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I loved every minute of it. Go see!

Saturday I met up with my dear friend Spencer! I love this man. We were super tight in HS, then he moved away to California and became a designer and make up artist to the rich and famous. No lie. He was in town last Fall and we had lunch together, but this time his boyfriend Owen was with him and we met up with another friend, Kelsey. We had the best time! We sat and talked for hours, love those people.

What I didn't love this weekend was the weather ohmyword. It was super windy and FREEZING and snowing. That's right. Snow. We've had loads of moisture lately and flooding is certainly a possibility. Not so much 'if' it floods, but 'when'. Fortunately it started to warm up yesterday and this week is supposed to be balmy!

Yes - I took pictures of the blue sky. I haven't seen it for a while and I love when it's SO blue. I'm so excited for May! Cache got his final schedule for school - they have all these fun field days and movie days planned...wasn't the last week of school always the best? I'm even entertaining the idea of having a little 'Summer Carnival' in my backyard for some of his friends. Bring on the Summer!

Royal Wedding!

2011-04-29T18:08:00.006-07:00

Initially, I was not one to follow the Royal Wedding business. I mean, Prince William is a dish and his fiance Kate Middleton was gorgeous and they seemed so happy, etc., but I wasn't watching all the build up. Meh. A lot of my friends were talking about watching it and I found myself saying, "Yeah! I'm so excited!" What? No I wasn't - what was I talking about?

Then there was some show on the Wednesday before the wedding and I got sucked in, all about the love story between Kate and William. Friends? I. was. hooked. So dreamy! Ahhh, I couldn't get enough. All the talk about the plans and her dress and the ceremony and reception...

Friday morning over a bowl of Raison Bran I watched Prince William marry Kate Middleton. It was BEAUTIFUL. Her dress was amazing and everything went perfectly. They would look at each other and smirk and squeeze hands...I was enamored. Not to mention this was a historic moment, right? My whole life I saw clips of the Royal Wedding between Charles and Diana and now it was happening for my generation. It was historic. So I had to watch it. See?

Walking down the aisle after the ceremony. Her dress was amazing.

I so love them, I want to send them a Christmas card.

I have to say my favorite part was watching them ride to the palace waving at everyone that came out to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. It seemed like the entire country was there cheering them on, it was cool.

What the hat? I love seeing all the British doves wear their incredible hats, but this was ridiculous. My friend Celine and I have talked about bringing hats back (another post), this however will not make the cut. And this girl is a Princess! Come on, your highness.

Ahhh, the dreamy kiss on the balcony.

Did I mention that Kate has no royal ties? No noble birthright? She was a regular girl who fell in love with a Prince. He fell in love with her, married her, made her a Princess and they lived happily ever after!

Easter

2011-04-29T17:25:00.013-07:00

Ahhh, Easter! I love Easter Sunday. Getting everything ready for my kids is so much fun. We got them a few small pressies and LOADS of candy. Too much. I stayed up late the night before filling eggs.

Our Ward is at 9:00 and I told the kids that the Easter Bunny would come while we were gone. Cody worked that day, so after I got the kids settled in Primary I rushed home and Cody met me there. We hid the eggs and I made little paw prints out of brownie mix, placed carrot ends and tootsie rolls around. I need to come up with a better 'stamp' for the prints, I just used my fingers and you can tell. I want them to look better. Yep. More authentic bunny prints. Maybe a sponge? The brownie mix worked well but it was a pain to clean up. I need to do some fine tuning.

When we got home the boys were SOOO excited! Cole loves his new little trumpet. Me? I'm not loving it so much.

Bunny mess.

Cache thought the messes around the house were hilarious and took this picture right before I cleaned this one up. My smile is forced, that brownie mix was sticky.

Their little bags were filled to the brim and they took their sugary treasure down to the play room while I watched 'Easter Parade'. I had never seen it and I LOVED it! Oh, so much.

We had a yummy dinner and just spent the day together as a family. Love my boys, best Easter ever. Until next year, that is.

Vegas!

2011-04-29T11:54:00.018-07:00

Two weeks ago I drove down to Vegas for the weekend. I go every year to visit Sara with Kate and Rhonda. Sara and Rhonda have Birthdays in April, so we spend a weekend together just shopping and eating - sort of a mini Girls Trip. Sadly Kate couldn't come this year and we missed her like crazy. Even though the trip is really only about 36 hours, we love every minute of it!

After some errands on Friday morning I headed out on the drive. You know I don't mind driving alone? I'm sure if I had to do it for 12 hours I might lose my mind, but driving to Vegas by myself isn't so bad. Before going to Sara's I stopped at my sister's so I could spend some time with her. We only had an hour (she was leaving town, too!), but it was so great to see her and spend some time with her and her kids. Love her. No pictures of course, because we're ultra secretive of our visits.

I met up with the girls at Sara's house and we went to dinner at Swish. Such a fun little place, they bring you your meal raw and you cook it in a wok right in front of you. Swish was delish!

Afterwards we went to see 'Arthur'. Have you seen this yet? I was pleasantly surprised, Russell Brand is hilarious.

Saturday the weather was gorgeous! Ahhh, so balmy, just beautiful. We grabbed some breakfast, sat in the sun and then had lunch at Brio. I love Brio. I have to eat there every time I go to Vegas.

We shopped at the Town Center shops for a few hours and scored some finds, then drove over to Fashion Show Mall to shop some more...never enough!

'Forever21' was freaking ginormous. A bit overwhelming.

I did love their pink dressing rooms doors, though.

Waiting for our shoes...

Waiting some more.

Strangely - none of us bought any.

Dinner at PF Changs.

We went to the store to grab some treats and bevs and then back to Sara's house.

The next morning we sat on the bed and talked before packing up. Rhonda and I had lunch and then hit the road. WONDERFUL weekend! Love those girls so much, I can't wait for next year! Good thing the Girls Trip is only two months away!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-04-13T08:36:00.009-07:00

What am I loving?

This dress form from Urban Outfitters.

I have wanted a dress form forever! Do I sew? Yeah, not really. I can a little, but nothing uber-fancy. However, when I was changing the sleeves on a dress last fall I thought, "Hmmm, this would be much easier on a dress form". Plus I could dress it up for Halloween! A draped, dark figure in the corner...which would freak me right out, so maybe not. Anyway, me wanty! And I love that color! It's $300. Aaaaaand there goes my dream.

I'm also loving that Spring may have FINALLY sprung. I dare not hope to much, the weather here is anything but predictable. We have woken up to snowy mornings more than once the past few weeks. The upside? We still get to use our woodburning stove, so I'm good with that.

Cody and I have been anxious for the ground to thaw so we can start working on our yard! We want to rip a lot of stuff out and then get to work on planting our flower beds and perhaps adding a few trees. I'm no gardner by any means, but I am excited to get our yard in ship shape! The weather was cooperating a few days ago, so I went up to my parents house and split some of their day lilies to transplant here (I had permission, don't worry). This little guy was making a quick escape...

When I got home I looked at our railroad ties. Do you know what those are? Huge, square 'pegs' of wood that can be used to line planters and the like. I am not a fan, never have been...ok, unless they are used like this.
But ours weren't dark or framed cool stairs. Ours were rotted out and nappy. Ugh, so over it. So I grabbed a shovel and in 20 minutes we were tie free! I ripped them out! Good riddance!

...not that the hollowed edges are that much better, but I'm working on it.

I have some dirt distribution to do, but anything is better than that wooden mess. I have been weeding off and on for the past three days, I'm about to head out there now - it rained last night so the ground should be nice and soft. I'll keep you posted on my green thumbery! If only I had a nice dress form to keep me company.

How is it...

2011-04-09T08:48:00.006-07:00

We spent the majority of last year remodeling our kitchen. It was a JOB. 7 months using nothing but a microwave, a grill and our smarts to make meals. Dust covered everything, wires were exposed, we had sheet rock mud all over the floor...messy.

So, how is it that when I see pictures of my brother's attic remodel, I get an urge to rip out walls again?

My fingers start to itch. I need to tear things out. This isn't good, friends. I mean, it's not that we have a shortage of projects to do around here, but our kitchen isn't 100% done. And how do we choose which project to do next? The bathrooms? Combining the two room downstairs to make a big room for our boys? Or do we spend the Summer focusing on our yard?

I'm not sure I can supress these demo feelings much longer. Stay tuned...

PS - The reason they are remodeling their attic? To make room for my new, beautiful little neice!

Penelope Kay Patch, born March 27th, 7 lbs 1 oz, 19.75 inches.

Welcome baby Penny!!

Closing Night

2011-03-29T09:18:00.016-07:00

"Earnest" closed last week - SUCH a great show! Easily one of my favorites, this was an incredible experience. We never had an 'off' night, we always felt so great about our performances and had the biggest blast every night. It was such a delight! I don't know how else to describe it, truly a delight. Such a light spot!

I have only a few pictures of the show, more to come! More to come! Here is the scene where Jack has just proposed to Gwendolyn...even though I basically talked him into it, every girl must act surprised when she's proposed to, no?

"The simplicity of your character makes you exquisitely incomprehensible to me!!"

The carnival of corsets.

Charlie doing her hair - every night she had thousands of curls to make...and she always made that face.

Tom and Tanya came to see the show closing night! My love for her is as big as my sleeves.

Me and my Mom flanking Jeff.

Me, Luone, Jeff and my Mom.

...I'm sorry.

My favorite leading man of all time, Jeff. Truly the most stellar gent around!

Me with Bert and Charlie! These two crazy kids, I love them like family.

And of course, working with my Mom was the biggest blessing of all. How can I even put that into words? I know we'll work together again, but doing this play together was amazing. She is amazing. I love, love, LOVE her. After our final bow, we hugged.

I will miss laughing with the girls in the dressing room before the show, lacing ourselves into our corsets, I will miss my garden scene with Charlie that I loved so much, I will miss (terribly) wearing the beautiful costumes, and I will definitely miss spending so much time with all those wonderful people. I love them all so much...
I'm done with shows for a while, but I'm so grateful to have ended my run with a high note!

"I am always smart...am I not, Mr. Worthing?"

Visits

2011-03-21T12:50:00.007-07:00

Craziness, friends - where have I been? Where does the time go? Forgive my absence, I've been having too much going on and entirely too much fun. Not to mention that the longer I wait to blog, the harder it is to blog! Bah.

A few weekends ago my dearest Bethany came to visit me for the weekend! Oh my, I love her. You may recall that we met during 'Singin' in the Rain' and became instant besties.

She moved to California last Summer and we have seen each other on quick trips since, but this is the first time we had some full days to spend together. I picked her up on Friday morning and we spent the day laughing and shopping to our hearts content. It was so fun to just sit and talk and laugh hysterically...awesome. That night she met up with her 'Funny Girl' cast while I did a show. Another bonus? My sister and her family were in town that weekend as well, so they all came to the play Friday night! So wonderful - we had loads of family there that night, including my little niece Elliet. (Psst! Andrea...send me pics!).

The next day Bethany and I joined my Mom and Andrea for lunch at Texas Roadhouse (always, ALWAYS a good idea) and a bit of shopping at Planted Earth in Orem. I found a few little treasures...

Then Bethany and I headed up to our favorite haunt: Decades. We both LOVE this store and for good reason - we both totally scored. I sadly have no pics of Bethany's finds, but she got some beautiful jewelry, a great shirt and some fabulous scarves. I walked away with 3 dresses. THREE!

Oh my, they are marvelous. The gold and the blue one need to be altered, can't wait until they fit like a glove.

Saturday night Bethany came to the show and sat front row with my dear friend Heather! It was so fun having them there... Our mutual friend Kim, who we also met during 'Singin', came with her husband. She is SO great and is always so supportive of my shows! Love her. Here we are after the show! Fanny, Kathy and Anna (don't worry, it makes sense to us).

Sunday we had dinner with my family and Monday (sadly) we had to say farewell. It was SO marvelous having her here, the trip was not long enough. Hopefully we'll get to see each other again soon! We can't let Decades and their delicious butterscotch candies sit for too long without a visit from us...

Sneak Off

2011-03-10T09:54:00.006-07:00

I am avoiding my responsibilities. I'm avoiding chores. My insta-bestie Bethany is coming to visit me for the weekend and she arrives tomorrow morning! I'm oozing with excitement, I cannot wait for her to get here! In addition? My sister and her family are arriving today to stay for the weekend, too! This weekend hasn't even happened yet and it's already one of my favorites. The chores I speak of? That I'm dodging? Ugh, I have to clean my house. I have to do laundry and put things away and clean and dust and vacuum and scrub. Quite frankly, I have no desire to do any of it. Not that that will get me out of it - if I don't do it, who will? So until I buckle down and start polishing my floors, lemme fill you in on what's occupying my thoughts:

These little beauties.

Saucony makes the most comfortable shoes. Ever. I have owned said style of shoe twice, both times there were red. Loved them. Years ago my sister's sister-in-law (got that?) was wearing these shoes in this color combo.

Um - I instantly fell in love. White and Navy. So simple, so basic, SO cute. That was easily 7 years ago that I saw her in them and I have looked off and on for a pair like that since. Only to discover that they are NOWHERE to be found! Blast.

I'm getting desperate, BC peeps. I have found this version...

...which is close, so close in fact that I'm seriously considering painting the black stripe on the side blue. Yeah. It's ridiculous, I realize this.

On the other hand, they have some that come in sky blue.

Have I revealed my weakness for sky blue? Oh man, I love it - you could paint a smelly diaper sky blue and I would be tempted to showcase it in my living room.

So the hunt goes on, but I will own me some Saucony Originals in the extremely near future, be they painted or otherwise.

The Importance of Being Earnest!!

2011-03-07T12:10:00.009-07:00

We opened our show this past weekend and it has been a smash hit!! We had a great turn out opening night - the audience was great and super responsive (which is always nice). Saturdays' show was even better. We're all having a ball, I'm loving every minute of this.

It was a little chaotic getting everything together for the opening, but as per usual everything came together and we have a delightful show. The COSTUMES are to die for. For reals. I can't post pictures until after my sister sees the show this weekend (I'm making her wait - the suspense is killing her, I know. Also, she's bringing her family up from Vegas to see the play, what's your excuse?). The cast is second to none - probably my favorite I've ever worked with. I'm paired with Jeff Thompson again, my (favorite ever) leading man from 'And Then There Were None'. He is such a stellar chap. Bert and Charlie (who play Cecily and Algernon) are a newly married couple and a total blast, Dennis is a PGP regular and I worked with Debra (who plays Miss Prism) a few years back and I absolutely adore her. Then of course, is Tayva Patch. My mom is timeless and SO good in this play, I'm so lucky to do this with her I could pop.

My Dad came to opening night and surprised my Mom and I with ginormous bouquets before the show. Here we are in our tiny dressing room.

I was so touched by all the texts and messages I received from friends on opening night. Thank you so much! You're all marvy. Now get your tickets and come see the show!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-02-23T12:36:00.001-07:00

What am I loving?

This lady. April Smith.

Her voice is so beautiful, my oh my. She has some MARVELOUS songs, so go have a listen!

Here's what I know...

2011-02-21T09:19:00.003-07:00

1. My play opens in less than two weeks. Commence freak out.

2. If '5 Hour Energy' has sold more than 1 billion bottles, they should have plenty of funds, right? Couldn't they spend it on better commericals?

3. I know it's cold outside, we're all cold, but would you mind wheeling your grocery cart to the cart return? Honestly.

4. I'm seriously considering painting my art room pink.

5. We have now told Cole that if he goes potty in the toilet, we will let him drive. Yes. It has come to that.

For Love of a Good Man

2011-02-15T09:49:00.007-07:00

Valentine's Day did not disappoint this year, BC lovers. It started Sunday night when I created Cache's Valentines box for his class. It was a bit of a challenge, I mean - how do you create a frilly love box for a boy? Apparently I went about it the wrong way. I wrapped a shoe box with some wood grain wrapping paper (because wood=tough, right? Maybe...except mine was silver) and then covered the top with blue paper. I put hearts on the corner and decorated the top...bah, I don't know. I painstakingly applied a bunch of tissue 'flowers' to the top, only to remember that I had intended to use silver tissue paper instead of pink. Bah.

Cache loved it and was very proud taking it to school, but I realize I should have had a game plan before I started making it. Maybe I can make him a monster truck one next year.

Here are the invites I (stole from my sister) made for Cache's class.

They were very simple and easy, but you know what? They were the only custom ones. I know! Apparently preschool is much more cutthroat than Kindergarten. Cache's owlvines were in a sea of store bought cards.

Cody had the day off, so my dear friend Celine watched my boys while Cody and I went to lunch. He then took the kids to the gym and ran some errands which left me the afternoon to read through some magazines, nap and relax. My goodness he's a great man. Once he got home we thought it'd be fun to take the kids to get a movie and grab some pizza.

Before we left, however, Cody gave me a tight hug and was holding something behind his back. It was a little box...with this inside.

I. Love. It. Isn't it SO pretty?! Oh my, I never want to take it off, it's so beautiful. (ps - My Dad made it, so I can get you one if you want!).

We sent the kids down to the play room with their movie and Cody and I feasted on pizza and watched some of our shows. A very simple Valentine's Day, not even roses. But my husband carved our initials in a tree, isn't he a Prince?

Be Mine

2011-02-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a week I'm having!

2011-02-08T15:30:00.018-07:00

Forgive my lack of posting! It's only been a week, I know, but I must admit - the longer I wait to blog the harder it is. I have good reason for my absence, there's much going on. At least it felt that way when they were going on...

First of all, it's February! The month of love! Love me some Valentines Day. Have you any plans? Neither do we. Don't know that we'll do anything spectacular, sometimes just having dinner together is the greatest thing. Cache has a Valentine's Day party next week and we get to help him (i.e. I'll be doing all of it) make his own mailbox to receive Valentines. I'm so excited! I also have to get all creative and make custom Valentines to take to his class. See, remember last year? Turns out that won't cut it. I have to get crafty. Now accepting ideas.

"The Importanct of Being Earnest" rehearsals have been a total ball. I'm having so much fun! We never want to end because we're having such a great time. The show is going to be so, so funny. You MUST come and see it. Along with being in the show, I'm also in charge of costumes. Normally I can just ask the cast to use some of their own wardrobe for their costume and I just supplement with some pieces the theater has. However, this play takes place in 1895. I can't really...just put stuff together for that era. I knew from the first that all of our dresses would have to be made (do you have any idea how expensive it can get to just rent some of that stuff?). Fortunately, my genius of a Mother is helping me with that and I have relied on her wealth of costume knowledge more times than I can count! We have been to just about every fabric store in the state, gushed over ribbons and trims, fallen in love with super expensive velvet and picked some truly gorgeous material to use for our dresses. You remember Gloria, right? My Mom's best friend and master seamstress? She is making our costumes and I am SO excited to see how they turn out. Here are some of the costume sketches.

Yes - my Mom did those. Free hand. Because that's how she rolls. The sketch she's holding up is for my dress in the second act.

So amazing, right??

Here is my material for my first dress, the 'Tea Scene'. It's this beautiful gold/yellow trimmed in teal. That gorgeous striped satin is for the ruffles on the front of the dress.

This is for my second dress: A taupe satin, stripes for the ruffles in the back and hot pink accents. Gorge.
And that's just the dresses, just wait until our hats are done. I'm ALSO designing the posters for the show, too. Because apparently I need to get my hands into everything. The show opens 3 weeks from Friday (what the what?) and I'm sort of freaking out about that. There's no time to lose!

My dear friend Melissa's 30th Birthday was this past weekend and her husband asked if I would make 60 cupcakes for the party. I wish I'd had more time to work on them! They turned out fine, but you know...I wanted them to be fantastic. She's a dancer (she choreographed 'Singin' in the Rain') so I made some little toppers for her.

Her favorite color is purple and she wanted lemon cupcakes. I had to miss the celebration due to a bridal shower and rehearsal, but I heard the cupcakes went fast.

Saturday morning we had a Patch Family Bridal Shower for my cousins' new little wife. It was so great to see all my Aunts, I love them all so dearly. Afterwards my Mom and I had lunch with my Aunt Lora and her friend Jeannie (both are hysterical). It was a blast, we laughed so hard and chatted non-stop. Love them. Family rules.

Finally, my son Cole is hilarious. If you have a spare cello case lying around, here's some ideas on how to use it:

Hopefully this week runs a little smoother, but I have many Valentine crafts planned and lots of rehearsals...so we'll see. I'm off to a costume fitting - yay!

Super Delicious

2011-01-30T13:19:00.003-07:00

"Warner Bros. has announced that Henry Cavill will play Clark Kent/Superman in Zack Snyder’s franchise reboot of the ‘Man of Steel.’"

...I have no problem with this.

Driftwood

2011-01-28T16:20:00.007-07:00

Modcloth.com. I love this site. They have great clothes and trinkets, really unique and vintage-y pieces. It's so great. Every now and again, however, they present a ginormous failure.

Case. in. point.

Can someone PLEASE explain how this got past the board???....no pun intended. Who approved this? WHO actually pitched this idea and more importantly, who chimed in with, "You know what I've always wanted to feel like at the pool? Wood panelling..."?!? I mean, what's the draw? "Now you can wear wood without getting a sliver!" and we're all cheering, "ahh, FINALLY!!"

Is it for people who can't swim? "The suit that helps you float!". Someone actually looked at this and said, "Hmm, it's missing something..." Not style or self-worth or anything like that, no - it was missing a red belt and plastic heart buckle. Mwah! Perfection!

Really, Modcloth? Take my advice - skip the pool and just dive into a fire.

(I have now decided that I need to create like 4 publicity posters for this atrocity...stay tuned).

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-01-26T22:23:00.006-07:00

Is it too soon to talk about what I want for Valentines Day? I didn't think so. What am I loving?

Ultra Gold Bake Ware.

In truth, this may be one of the most trivial wants I have ever posted on WILW. Gold bake ware? Really? Really. So glam! So chic! So Vegas in my oven! I wanty. The pans come in a plethora of sizes and I know that I will be baking like Martha with these dreams.

Well, baking like Martha were she dipped in gold.

Cole Quotes

2011-01-25T09:23:00.002-07:00

Me: "Open the blinds and you'll see a surprise! Look out the window!"

Cole: "*gasp* It's snowing!!!...That means it's my Birthday!!" (His Birthday is in August)

Me: "No bud, it's not your Birthday."

Cole: "Oh...that means I can go to school!!"

Me: "No bud, no school yet."

Cole: "Oh...then that means it's just snowing."

Space Robot Party

2011-01-24T21:48:00.021-07:00

Cache had a swell Birthday on Friday. I woke him up by blaring 'Birthday' by The Beatles. My parents did that for us growing up, such a fun tradition. I was dancing in the kitchen making french toast when I saw him at the top of the stairs looking at me funny. "Happy Birthday!!" I said with a huge smile. His response? "This song is giving me a headache". Kids. Don't worry, he'll learn to love it...I'm sure by his 12th Birthday he'll love it. After I dropped him off at school I ran to the store to pick up a few things and then stopped by his school with treats for his class. SO much fun! I gave Cache some balloons and passed out the treats to everyone...look at the little dears: (See that little blonde girl in the front? In the purple shirt? Cache LOVES her, her name is Megan. "She's the prettiest girl in my world.")

They all gave me a huge hug before I left, which makes me want to bring treats to his class every week. After school we went to lunch as a family and spent time together that afternoon before taking Cache to his BFF's house for a sleepover.

The next day was Cache's Birthday party and it was outta sight!! So much fun...and so exhausting. Cache wanted a Space Robot theme (love me some robots). Here's the invite:

We started off by having a robot dance off. Hilarious. What song did they dance to? 'Birthday' by The Beatles, of course. Hmpf. Doesn't look like it gave anyone a headache that time.

Oh man, their little poses, I was dying.

After we got our groove on it was time to construct Space Robots! Our materials? A box of nerds covered in tin foil for the body, tooth picks, marshmallows, starburst, candy eyes, silver pipe cleaners, smarties, space stickers and blue frosting for 'glue'.

The Italian Space Cadet. My friend Celine made this...love his name tag.

Cache's robot - I LOVE it.

This is Celine's son, Jack. Look at that face. I want to keep him.

Opening presents at a Birthday party for any child under the age of 10 is always a nightmare. It's all quiet and calm....and just as you see the first glimpse of what's inside...

...that's when they swarm.

Grandpa setting up the Hex Bug game which was a smash hit.

The party was so much fun and Cache is still talking about it. He already knows what kind of party he wants next year. Is he my kid or what?

Six

2011-01-21T09:05:00.009-07:00

"When I was 1, I had just begun...

When I was 2, I was still quite new.

When I was 3, I was barely me!

When I was 4, I was a little bit more...

When I was 5, I was just alive.

And now I am 6! As clever as clever!

I hope I stay 6 forever and ever!!"

Happiest of Birthdays to my sweet, brilliant boy.

I'm a Pepper

2011-01-20T10:36:00.007-07:00

I. Love. Dr. Pepper. Not a simple love, no...a deep, everlasting love. I love Dr. Pepper like other people love puppies or Christmas.

Do I have an addiction? Possibly. Sometimes it's just the comfort of having a frosty glass near me. When we go out to eat I'll order my trusty soda and I'll sip it occassionally...but soon we're getting our check and my glass is only 1/4 down. I don't drink the whole thing, but just knowing it's there is enough. Other times, like when I have a plethora of errands to run, my first stop is to grab a frosty bev to accompany me. Somedays just having a soda will instantly make my day better. It's the best therapy.

While I love it so, so much, the fact of the matter is I have to quit. Not forever, but for a while. I need to get in shape and my love for soda is a major road block. I have started back at Viking CrossFit and I'm loving it, but CrossFit and soda don't really mix.

So I'll raise a glass of water and say, "Farewell, old friend. Until we meet again".