Happy Easter

It's Easter Sunday, and we get to enjoy it with nearly all of our family. We will miss Simon up at school, but hope that he feels our love headed his way.

 I happened to be at Pottery Barn the other day and happened upon these cute little Springtime offerings. I took photos until someone told me 

I wasn't allowed to. It's fun to look at pretty things.

Aren't these little bottle brush chicks just the cutest?! They really wanted to come home with me, but I had to say no. I will remember them fondly.

For those of us living in Mesa, we have an opportunity every year to see the life of the Savior portrayed in the annual Easter Pageant. For those who missed it or were unable to attend, here is a great little movie that gives an overview of the Pageant. You can watch it here.

HApPy EaSteR All!

A girl, a giraffe and Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Up until a few weeks ago, "giraffe" and "Valentine's Day" would not have appeared in the same sentence for me, but Emma changed that. She came home from school talking about their upcoming Valentine's Day party and how there was going to be a competition with the Valentine's containers that the kids brought to school. 

I started giving her ideas:  

Me:  "Hey, why don't we make a little blue mailbox? Wouldn't that be cute??"

Emma: "No, I want to make a Giraffe. I asked my teacher how big it could be and she said as long as it fits through the door, it's o.k."

Me:  "But, a little blue mailbox would be so much easier." (I should know by now that this type of reasoning does not work with Emma.)

Emma:  "I'm doing a giraffe."

I made the mistake of starting with my best idea first, so when she shot it down, I had no where to go. At this point, I officially retired as helper on this project and Brian stepped in. Apparently he was on the same page with Emma when it came to how big this giraffe was going to be. I just kept saying, "If it were up to  me (and it clearly wasn't), it would be a cute little table top giraffe, if it has to be a giraffe." But, I was no longer part of this project, so my opinion carried little weight...none at all. 

The box for the body and the 1 gallon milk jug for the head determined the size. When Brian showed me the neck, I laughed.  I told him that this was beginning to remind me of the 500 lb. stairs that Allen O'Reilly (a great actor, but questionable stair builder) made in Theater Workshop class up at NAU...but, it was their project now and my opinion didn't matter (but I still couldn't help sharing it!). 

The only thing I had anything to do with was the tubes to keep the ears from completely flopping over. After the legs joined the body and the head was attached to the neck...

It started to take on a personality and I must admit that it was growing on me, even in all of it's hugeness and I started to think about the love wrapped up in the making of that giraffe: A girl had a vision and a dad, who loves the girl, helped her make her little (big) giraffe dream a reality.

But there was more work to be done. A giraffe needs spots and if the giraffe is going to hold valentines, then the spots better be hearts.

I tried helping with this part, but could clearly see that I was NOT wanted, so I left them. It was the best thing I could have done. Emma's friend, Maddie, was the perfect helper. They really didn't need me. I'm such a control freak sometimes that I would have interfered, for sure. 

I love how it turned out without me!

 Friday, the 11th, was the big day. The giraffe and valentines are ready to go.

 The Dream Team.

Remember how back in December we sold our suburban, which would have been the perfect giraffe transporter, but now, we only had a car big enough for my little table top giraffe. I started to wonder if we were ever going to get him in the car. Trunk was a no go. Back seat......uh, no. Last resort...

front seat with the seat reclined. Emma was a little squished in the back seat, but we had a giraffe who needed to get to school!

As we park in front of the school, I can feel her excitement mounting. The first stares...

Around the corner to Mrs. Brown's class.

I forgot to mention that the giraffe had a name: Ervin Griswald. Ervin found a place next to the pyramid of gold bars brought in by one of Emma's classmates.

Taylor gives us a Carol Marrol. I could tell by the enthusiastic responses that Emma got from her classmates and the teachers in her building that she had been talking about her giraffe for the past 3 weeks.

Some of the other fun valentine boxes. The kids were all so creative.

When I saw the box below, my heart swelled. I loved it and the image it created of the little boy who brought it in sitting at home gluing and coloring to make his wonderful treasure chest. So cute.

It was a good day.

Hope your Valentine's Day is sweet, too.

Hello?? What?!

        It's been nearly 6 months since I last blogged. I have wanted to many times. In fact, I've been in the middle of something and thought to myself, "This would make a good blog post." and that's as far as it got. I have missed blogging. A big part of my blogging is photos and that's really where I place the majority of the blame for the huge blogging gap. My camera and I kind of had a falling out. Totally my doing. My camera is not to blame.

       My camera and I go way back. We have spent a lot of time together over the years. In fact we've spent so much time together that people question when I show up to an event and don't have my camera with me. We've taken vacations, gone on lunch dates,  gone to weddings and funerals, birthday parties, concerts,  hospitals, schools, hikes, walks, cooked together (it mostly watched), visited family, spent holidays together, even hung out when there was nothing in particular to do. Then,  slowly I started spending less time with my camera. I started spending more time with school and homework. Even when I could bring my camera long, I started leaving it at home. I thought I didn't have time. I needed a little separation. It was a welcome break at first, but it's influence lingered. I  found myself seeing the world through my camera even when it wasn't around and I started to miss it. Oh, we've still gotten together for special occasions and  like the unselfish, loyal tree in The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, my camera is always there for me when I decide to turn my attention it's way. I've spent a little time going over some of the good times we've had together and I realized that we were a pretty good team. So, I'm slowly making my way back. We are rediscovering each other and I realize that I can't stay away too long. 

Some of the things I like about my camera (in no particular order):

#1- I'm so familiar with it, but there are still things to learn about it.

#2-It helps me remember.

#3-It helps me focus on the simple things that I love.

#4- It helps me see things that I might have missed without it's company

#5-It doesn't mind playing second fiddle to my creativity and letting me get all the credit.

#6- It's low maintenance.

#7- It's dependable.

A few of the things my camera helped me remember in December:

Watched Poston's Da Capo sing at the Visitor's Center. Adam did great on his solo.

The temple behind a packed audience. After Adam's solo, I ran over to Mountain View High School...

for Emma's school's Winter Sing Concert. I love how random the kid's expressions are.

Emma's gift to Ben was the first gift under the tree. She wanted to get on it as soon as we drew names.

We made this cute wreath with the Activity Day Girls at church. Emma used hers to keep her "To Do" list.

This reminds me of why they say Christmas is for children. Emma looked around our house and made this Nativity for a teacher at school. I love the improvised Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, and the Shepherds, but the Sheep might be my favorite. Emma showed me that it doesn't take money to be thoughtful.

We sold our Suburban just before Christmas and bought my parent's Camry. I shed a few tears as I drove it to it's new owners. I miss the size, but not the gas $$. It served our family well for 10 years. *sniff*

Want to remember how cute Annie looked in front of the tree.

This is for my creative friend, Megan. I won the LOVE image on one of her blog giveaways and made this print on canvas out of it and love it. Thank you, Megan.

I love the cozy feel of my our house at Christmas.

Three Wise Men from Pre-school days and a candle topper that I don't put on a candle.
 Also, my cute parents on their wedding day.

Many of our  Christmas decorations remind me of people I associate with them. Angel: Lois, who made it. Ragedy Santa: Janet Turk, who gave it to us one year and one of my first nativities that I got through my good friend, Lynn.

This snowman is one of a pair and I love pulling them out every year.

I really appreciate the cards and greetings we receive every year, especially when we have been horrible about reciprocating. Thank you for sticking with us. We are grateful for your friendship.  Your cards and photos hang on the wall separating the living room from the family room so we can look at them often.

I love this simple nativity.

I also love these stockings made by my talented friend, Lois. I also love that they make me think of her every time I look at them. The family tree is a new addition. We are the branch that veers off to the right on the top. It follows Brian's mom's line going back to William Ridley, who was born in England in 1732.

This Yule Goat sits on our computer cabinet and reminds me of my Swedish roots.

This is one of the few things that stays up year round. Thank you, Tracy, for being so thoughtful. A Swedish star light for my 40th birthday.

This wall makes me happy. A project that I did with my father-in-law over a  year ago.
When I look at this photo I am grateful for Jim (the wall), Barb (the sewing machine) and my parents (the couch-their first couch). Part of the wall came from my friend, Diane's garage and the idea for it's design from her house, so thank you Diane M. for your contribution.

Found this cute sign last summer while visiting my brother and his family in CA.

This was from Bill and Rhonda, but it represents the kindness shown to us by so many of our wonderful, thoughtful friends and neighbors. We're so blessed.

Christmas has meant caramels for the past 25 years thanks to the best missionary companion a missionary could've asked for. Annette's friendship is one of the gifts my mission gave to me.

Swedish meatballs and cinnamon rolls come out of this loved little cookbook that I got from my Aunt Kerstin many years ago.

Even though the "season" is over, I hope to keep the spirit of Christmas with me throughout the year until it's time to climb up into the attic and pull down the decorations again. I am happy to reconnect with my camera AND my blog...and I plan on not being such a stranger, no matter what else I've got going.

Happy New Year!

(I am giving myself permission to do one more Christmas post before January is over.)

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

We decided that we were going to have a garage sale on the 4th of July, to help our kids earn some money. Ben and I drove over to my parents Friday night in the un-airconditioned truck to pick up a couch (anybody need one?!?), some stackable tables, and a couple of other odds and ends.

(image from the internet)

When we got home, it was later than I wanted it to be and I was less excited about a garage sale the next day. I also disovered a little water coming up through our floor in the kitchen. I had seen this before and knew it wasn't a panic situation, so I went to bed.

(By the way, I had also just finished reading "Enrique's Journey" and this made me think that every Latin family that came to the garage sale had family back in Mexico or Guatemala or Honduras or wherever that they were sending clothes to. It made it hard to get excited about selling anything...just take it, please.)

We also got up early and baked cookies and packaged them very nicely. That would give Emma something to sell. Thanks, Pele, for buying some cookies! :-)

So, what was the final tally? $31.00 plus $4.50 for the cookies. I guess having a garage sale on a holiday is not the best idea. We'll try again...after all we still have a couch and t.v. to sell.

Back to the floor AND the water...

Our refrigerator and our floor have been enemies almost since day one and the refrigerator finally won. I have barely tolerated our floor since it became water damaged years ago. It was only a matter of time before we ripped it up. That day was today. It was clear that water was underneath it out to the middle of the floor. Who do you call when this kind of thing happens?? We, fortunately, call Brian's dad...Jimbo. He is awesome...and a fix-it guy. He also happens to be our favorite Veteran. Marine, all the way! So, on the 4th of July, this Marine was again giving service, right here in his own back yard, Mesa, AZ, to our family as he has done on many occasions before.

We thought we had the problem fixed after tearing out the floor (Yay!!) and fixing one of the leaks under the fridge. Jim and Barb went home. Not long after that, the leak came back, and eventually so did Jim. It should be known that Jim is 76 and has a couple of compressed fractures in his vertebrae that he is dealing with.

The problem was bigger than we thought.

Jim knew how to fix it with this: 

And some of this:

Add a little of this:

Fixed that problem...but when we went turn the water back on outside. It wouldn't turn on! Oh, no. We had made plans to go over to our good friends up in Cave Creek for a BBQ and Fireworks, but it looked iffy. Brian and his dad stayed to fix the NEW problem, replacing 3 valves with Jimbo's sautering skills. They turned out beautifully. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Thanks to Brian's dad, we had water on Sunday AND Brian made it up to Cave Creek just in time for fireworks. (Did not mean for this to get so long, but I have to throw a few fireworks pictures in to what turned out to be a wonderfully LONG day!)

Last, but not least, probably one of my faves. It looks like something you'd find deep in the ocean.

The sky was incredibly black where we were...it felt like the middle of nowhere. Made for a nice backdrop for the fireworks. This was my first year photographing fireworks. Looked it up on the internet before we headed out and now I can't wait for next year. If you are bored and want to see ALL of my fireworks photos, you can here.