Ayla's new shirt

So, I have known for two weeks....been nauseous that long as well....and already had to go get some fluids from the ER Friday. This is the surprise:

Talent show

For the primary talent show tomorrow, Zenock wanted to do swimming tricks. Today we went over to Brady's mom's house to film his tricks so he can show them on the tv at church. He was doing pretty good. I even filmed Ayla doing her talent, jumping in the pool. We sure love swimming in the summer here!
Ammon is spinning a ball on his finger for his talent. It's pretty cool....and I totally can't do that.

First Craft Night with Ayla's Attic

During my first night as hostess for Ayla's Attic craft night, I had 4 moms and 3 daughters (including my MOM, she's on the right with my little sister, Kalina) attend. I taught them how to take boring pieces of 2x4 and paint them into cute firecracker decorations. The daughters also put some vinyl on a 16x16 tile for their Dad's for Father's Day. The tile says, "To the world you are a Dad, to your family you are the world." We ALL had such a good time, and I am really, really excited to do it again next month. Thanks ladies for coming!!!!

 Brady's Father's Day present. LOVE IT!

This cute 14 inch wreath is what we are making for the July craft night. It's a straw wreath with paper umbrellas pushing into it. I decided after I took the picture that it's not full enough, so I will be adding more umbrellas....as soon as I remember to take it off my door :)

This is an 8x10 sign I have wanted to make for YEARS!!! I really hope the UPS man, mailman, and the silly neighbor kids will quit ringing the bell and knocking so dang loud when I have 2 kids taking naps every afternoon!

Shark Reef and Nature Center with Idaho family

 My parents came to visit with my youngest sister, and they brought a surprise! Drake, my nephew came with them too. Saturday we went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Everyone loved it! Above is a Komodo Dragon.

 Petting sting rays and horseshoe crabs.

 In front of the really cool shipwreck.

 One of my favorites, the sea turtles!

 Brady was at work, so this is our family pic. For some reason I didn't take any pictures of my sister or my parents......sorry guys!!!

 Fun at the Clark County Wetlands Nature Center. We went here to kill a little more time before lunch after we were done at the Reef. Kids love this place.

 Gideon was really wanting to show Grandpa the animal poop display. He kept saying EW YUCK!

 Some puzzles in the hands-on section

 He was walking around the snake's tail in a circle.

Family portrait at the Shark Reef. Scary!!!

Swimming at home

 Christa and Ronny got this pool for the kids Christmas and birthdays this year....which is awesome! The kids totally love it, as seen by the video below :) It's just the right size for our tiny back patio, and we made a water slide!

She hopped in the pool before I could change her clothes. She even has shoes on. When she was done and I took her regular diaper off, I had never seen or held a diaper THAT full before. It must have been about 4-5 pounds. Oh wow!!

Father's Day Homemade!

 

I made this shirt for Brady for Father's Day. The kids helped me take pictures, and we had to have some goofy ones too....below.

This one I made for my dad. I thought it would be really fun, and extra special, to include a surprise on the back...which is also Zenock's goofy picture. It's a list of all his grand kids, listed in birth order.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS AND GRANDPAS TODAY!!!

Funny Dads

This is what he says at the end:

 Dear Steve, I’m sorry for being so flippant last evening in front of your friends and associates, just for a laugh. I know you didn’t take it seriously, but I wish I could have said something like this: “My experience with music and my children had its challenges, but there were some very exciting and thrilling moments. With Steve it happened around age 15 when he began to show some surprising elements of talent. These included the relative ease with which he began to compose some simple but delightful music with the computer, and his natural sense of rhythm with the drums, which now are evident in his musical performances. It was also evident that he was a natural performer evidenced by school plays he starred in. It was a type of transformation that was unique in our family and one I observed with amazement. I began to recognize not only his mother’s musical genes but his grandfathers “performers” genes. I have continued to marvel the development of these and other qualities he has manifest through his experiences and his willingness to try new things and explore new ideas. He’s met adversity with dogged determination and not let discouragement stop his progress and has learned through each experience, in various aspects of his life, not allowing disappointment to stop him. My memories of music and Steve are marvelous, including string quartet sessions, private recitals in the home, string camp, and now performance after performance of wonderful music that is exciting to see as well as to hear.” By this time my listeners would have fallen asleep or wandered away, but I would not have embarrassed myself with foolish chatter.
Your admiring father and greatest fan,
Love, Dad

So, I want to say to the world on this Father's Day, thank you DAD! Thanks for helping us when we asked, and when we don't ask you just jump in and offer assistance anyway. I am trying my best to raise my boys to do the same. I love that you are such a hard worker, always willing to serve others. Thanks so much for helping me with my crafty stuff yesterday, and for the assistance in doing more in the future. I love that my kids love their Grandpa and ask to go to his house all the time. We are all sooooo happy you came to visit us this weekend. LOVE YOU DAD!!

Go out with a bang...or a bomb

 Our grand finale, date number 10, for our 10 dates for 10 years of marriage was Wednesday. We got some groupons to the Atomic Testing Museum and dinner to Sugar Factory. I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because I was to busy reading everything they had displayed. WOW! The development of the Atom Bomb and the Hydrogen Bombs is amazing! I knew a little bit about them from history class when I was in high school, and the museum did such a good job to go way above and beyond simple information. We got VIP passes to the Area 51 exibit, which was also phenomenal. It was so nice to soak in a museum without kids asking a bazillion questions about the displays. We were there over 2 hours, and we could have made it three. Afterward we used our groupon to Sugar Factory at Town Square Mall. Brady got the bleu cheese burger, and I had the patty melt on rye. The fries were good, the burgers were delicious, the service was LOUSY!!! We were seated right away since we had a reservation, but we waited over 15 minutes for someone to get us some water and take our order. The waitress who finally came over wasn't even assigned to our section. The drinks took forever to arrive, the food even longer. We were given a choice of dessert, courtesy of the waitress and the manager for our long wait.....and that also took way longer than necessary. We were at the restaurant for almost two hours!! Finally, when dessert came we had to ask for a to-go box because our babysitter had to get to a church activity. Although the food was good (the final verdict on the red velvet ice cream we got is on hold since it's still in the freezer), I really have no desire to go back. It was not even packed at all, so I have no idea why we had to wait so long for everything. That said........HAPPY TEN YEARS TO US!!!!

I am extremely excited to make a shadow box with all the ticket stubs and pictures I have taken on all of these dates. Stay tuned for that :)

Father's Day shirts for sale

My most recent project for Ayla's Attic:

I sold 9 shirts, and made 5 to give away to family. It was a busy few nights, but I got it done. I love them!! After making so many shirts, I now have a heat press on my wish list.

#9

A friend of ours works for the Paris Hotel here and hooked us up with tickets to Veronic Voices. This show was pretty good. There were several singers she impersonated whom I didn't recognize, but overall she did a fantastic job. I think my favorites were Tina Turner, Katy Perry, Pink, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Aretha Franklin. We also got to go to Le Village Buffet, which was fantastic! The flan was soooo good. Thanks so much Baggets for sharing such a fun night with us!!!!

Cereal stealer

             She stole Gideon's breakfast after hers was finished. This often happens when any food is left unattended on the table.

Treat time!

The kids picked out a treat at the store, and the little kids wanted the bigger kids suckers SO BAD! I compromised and got them some little dum dum suckers...much more little kid friendly.

Making more vinyl

 This is my cute helper while I was cutting out the vinyl quote below.

 This is 5'4" of vinyl goodness :) (FYI, that's 3 inches taller than me).

And here it is all installed above my friend's front door. Right behind me is a pipe organ and a Baby Grand piano. She is currently taking lessons to be an organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Birthday clothes

 Birthday dress from Grammy. Thank you, she loves it!

 Birthday jammies I finally finished making a few days ago. They are too big in some areas and just right in others, but that's what happens when the pattern is too big and I try making it smaller while cutting it out. I think the pattern runs big anyway. It's really cute though! I love this knit fabric so much!

Looking for something?

Ayla lost Brady's wallet. It took three people looking at the same time before it was found. These kids of mine are hilarious!

Preschool is over

 Preschool end of the year celebration was last week. Because of preschool, Gideon now loves the Hungry Caterpillar book, knows the difference between red lights and green lights...so in the van he is always telling us when to go, and a few other things I can't exactly remember right now. He is a very good listener at school, and finally he is beginning to participate in some of the lessons Mrs. Dusty does with them. It was a long, slow process to get him to like going to school. His favorite parts are recess and riding the bus home.

Ayla loves hats, and she insisted on wearing one to Gideon's class. She loves to wear baseball hats backwards so she can see when she walks. It's adorable!

The Bear Scout

 Ammon earned his Bear rank last week. He was also awarded 12 things, most from daycamp back in April. He is thrilled to have all his badges!! Now I just have to sew them all onto his shirt.