Ward Memorial Day BBQ

This morning/afternoon was the 4th annual E.Q./Ward Memorial Day BBQ. It was well attended and the kids had a great time. Lots of yummy food (I made potatoe salad and thank goodness it was all eaten!), fun games and good friends. It's amazing how even though you are surrounded by lots of friends and a great ward family, you can still feel alone. Guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself. Anyway...it was a lot of fun, even Bronwyn enjoyed herself.

paige's bathing suit is packed for our trip so she had to do the water games in jeans and a tshirt...she still had fun though and got soaked!

in fact all 3 got soaked. guess that means they had a good time!

everyone was ganging up on the bishop!

sand castles in the hot sun....

keegan kite flying

Keegan came out of the shower the other night and this is what his hair looked like. Too bad no amount of product will keep it like this.

Wyatt Earp Days

Every year on Memorial Day weekend Tombstone celebrates Wyatt Earp Days. We missed it last year and so this year I wanted to make sure that we went. We called up some friends to see if they wanted to join us and we headed in that direction. This year we planned on Touring the Birdcage Theater. We've always wanted to but never really wanted to spend the money but they had a special going so we went for it! It's a lot smaller than I would have though it was, but interesting none-the-less. I think the kids enjoyed looking at everything. Since we had seen it being investigated on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures we recognized most things in the building. But it was still very interesting. I was really excited to see the Black Moriah. The original hearse used during the prime time in Tombstone. Then afterwards we window shopped and watched a reenactment of the shoot out at the OK Corral. Fun fun! Afterwards we went to the Mormon Battalion memorial marker and took a quick picture. Then it was on to Circle K for ice cold tasty beverages! It was hot out there-98 degrees! Yikes!! It's a wonder that we all didn't get sunburned. But it was a fun day and a great way to kick off summer vacation! Hooray for summer!

some of the actors

some of the "rooms" inside the birdcage

i had the settings on my camera wrong and so this picture is a bit dark, this is keegan and his friend fox.

looking at the stage

the Black Moriah Hearse

our friends that joined us on the tour

josephine's bed chamber

the high stakes poker area, the table closest is where the longest poker game in western history was played-it ran non-stop for 8 years, 5 months and 3 days.
 The tipped chair is said to have been exactly in that position when the last game ended.

the other half of josephine's bed chamber

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. Bittersweet, but I think we are all ready! The boys had a good year and had some great teachers. Now to get ready for summer break and our NC vacation!!

 i saw this idea on a website somewhere for teacher gifts and thought it was pretty nifty!

a flower pot with the class picture modpodged on it with potting soil and forget-me-not seeds and of course some chocolate! I really thought it was a cute idea. I did one for each of their teachers and one for the bus driver.

 keegan and his teacher mrs. whitcomb-all ready for 2nd grade!

 seth and ms. tabler-all ready for 4th grade

 the boys with their bus driver, ms. sherri

i want to be a polar bear too

Paige was watching Nick Jr. and a song came on that talks about wanting to be a polar bear. she loves that song and starts to dance every time the video comes on. today i was actually able to catch her in the act of dancing.

diaper bag

I saw a website a while ago that made purses and bags out of military uniforms. You could supply your own or buy a bag made out of one they had. I thought it was a fabulous idea and set my sights on acquiring one. I wrestled for a while on the price. It was really expensive for the bag and I figured this is the last diaper bag i'm ever going to need so I went back and forth. Then one day I remembered I had purchased a diaper bag pattern and thought, i could make one for WAY cheaper than I could pay those other gals to make one. So I went to Walmart to buy some contrasting fabric (Paige picked it out) and brought it home and went to town. I have to say that the end result is better than I ever could have hoped for. I LOVE IT!!!! I can't wait to use it. I'm really proud of how it turned out and what I was able to do (all by myself might I add). I followed the pattern pretty closely. There were a couple of parts where I had no idea what they were trying to say, so I did it my own way. Instead of making outside pockets I got the brilliant idea of using the pockets on the bdu coat. I made sure a bottle would fit in it before I cut them out and viola! it worked and i just used those. I also used the bigger bottom coat pockets to add extra storage on the outside of the bag. The pattern didn't call for it, but I couldn't just throw those pockets away. So now I have ample storage. I also used the name patch and the usarmy patch. just because i'm a proud military wife like that. anyway.....huzzah for the finished product!! i won't tell you how many sleepless nights i had with this bag or how many needles i broke because, let's face it, bdu fabric is not home machine friendly.

the white "snow" all over the place is the fleece. after cutting all the pieces out it looked like it had snowed all over my kitchen table. i didn't bother to clean it up until the bag was finished because every time i moved a piece it got all over the place.

all that's left of dan's coat-i actually went back and cut out the other pockets to use so there really was next to nothing left of the coat by the time i finished. i still have the pants so i may make a small bag out of those later, much later.

i just love how it turned out. there are even 3 pockets on the inside!

she likes it, she really, really likes it!!!

I hadn't tried baby cereal for a while with Bronwyn because of the last reaction she gave me when I tried to feed her. Well I tried again the other day and I left it a bit lumpy. Not so soupy. She loved it!!! Ate the whole bowl as you can see and was a very happy and content little girl. Soon we'll be trying peas!

a new dress

Walmart has some fabric that is already smocked and has elastic on it so all you have to do is buy the right yardage and sew it up the side. Nothing fancy, but some of the patterns are really cute. I bought some for me and bought what I thought would be enough for the girls. Yeah....um....no. Perhaps next time I should measure. Anyway so I had enough for Bronwyn and I made her a dress. There is enough left that if I feel so inclined at some point I can make a matching fabric flower. We'll see if that ever happens. But at least the dress is done. I also bought some ribbon to add a couple of bows at the top. I think it turned out cute. Very easy and it only took an hour to make it.

orthodontist

Seth is now in the care of an orthodontist. Sigh......it was bound to happen. Our dentist said we needed to take him in, but I kept putting it off. Well not any more. The reason behind all the crowded teeth in his mouth is that his palate is too small or narrow to properly fit his teeth. So, he will have to wear a specialized retainer for the next year that we'll be turning a screw on weekly. That will slowly but surely open up the palate and help his teeth to space out. If it works like the doctor suspects it will, then we won't need another year (or two) of braces. I'm ok with that. ug.....
The neat thing about his appliance is that it's colored. He was able to choose the colors and even got a sticker put in it. He wished he'd been able to choose a pokemon sticker but settled for mickey mouse because "well he's cool too." So he chose red on one side and green on the other. As long as he's happy with it and will want to wear it then I don't care what it looks like! Although I have to say I was hoping for the one that glowed in the dark. Oh well! He talks funny for now until he gets used to it. The good thing for him is that unless you hear him speak or know that he has it in his mouth, you'd never know he was wearing one. No front wire. Guess that's ok. Just hope this retainer lasts the whole year.

I got a new camera for my birthday and have enjoyed it tremendously! Not to say the my old camera wasn't great, it was, but this one is very nice! So on Tuesday morning I took some random pictures to test it out. I also got a new do and had to take a picture of that!