Hurray for summer!

It's finally here! That thing called summer vacation!! Abby's been asking for about a month when it's going to be summer. She's actually asking when her birthday is with that question (in the winter I told her that her birthday wasn't until summer), but that's okay. I think we're going to make a countdown chain to her birthday because she really can't wait until the middle of July and I'm really getting tired of telling her when her birthday is.

I have been really trying to play around with my camera in the manual settings lately. When I first got home from the workshop, I snapped a few pictures and they turned out completely black, lol. I've actually gotten better since then, though I still am not sure what I'm doing. Here are a few from the other day:


Grace's party was yesterday and it was pretty fun. I hope the girls thought so too. I gave the girls some flip flops and a spa robe (white t-shirts cut up the middle and a tie cut from the bottom hem) when they walked through the door. They first had facials which Corey's mom did. After a quick game we headed outside to the different stations. There was the manicure station, the body glitter creating station, and a table to decorate sleeping eye masks. As the girls were doing that (Corey's mom and sisters kept the girls busy) I worked on getting lunch ready and outside onto another table. As soon as lunch was all set up, it started to rain! So I grabbed the food and brought it inside. Grace had a great time so I guess it was a success. Now I get to plan a water party for Abby!






Since we didn't get to eat outside at the party, I thought we should eat outside for dinner. The girls and I grabbed subway sandwiches and had the picnic table all set up as Corey pulled in the driveway. He's not a huge fan of eating outside, but I really love it (even if it's just in our front yard), so I hope that he starts to enjoy it one of these days, lol.


The one thing with photography that I don't know if I've figured out or just gotten luck with is finally being able to freeze time! Whenever I tried to take an "action" shot before it would be completely blurred. I told Abby to twirl last night and this is what I snapped.


Have a wonderful weekend. xoxo until next time.

ps. If you have any fun summer activities ideas that are super cheap or free please send them my way!

Presents & Pancakes

The last few days have been crazy! As many of you might or might not know, I turned 30 on Friday. It was a pretty low key day with a few fun surprises along the way :) A sweet friend in my ward made me her carrot cake that is seriously "to die for." That in itself made me smile just looking at it all day, lol. I probably gained 5 pounds eating that yummy cake.

My mother-in-law surprised me with this owl that is now keeping watch over my kitchen!

On Saturday I went to Emilie's photography workshop which was a lot of fun. It really made me even more excited about photography. I am so completely clueless about ISO, shutterspeed, and Aperature though, ugh. Need to figure those out. Then I hit Tai Pan and bought some fun things.

This week I'm in party mode gearing up for Grace's bash. I decided to change gears with the invites since she's having a pampering party. This is the picture that I ended up using (thanks so much for your ideas though):


While we were delivering a few last minutes invites on Monday the girls were noticing how many kids were running around in their smimsuits. So we finally broke out the suits and the sprinkler for a little (very little) water fun. Kaylee joined them and they had a great time splashing and they said they were having a cheese and water party :)



Yesterday Grace officially turned 7! When Corey was growing up they opened all of their presents in the morning and when I was a kid we waited until that night (before cake and icecream). I gave Grace the option and of course she chose morning. I don't mind, but all of our birthday pics are going to feature bed head.

I can't believe she's 7 already. That's probably why I'm 30 already, lol.


I hope to have some fun party pics here in a few days to show. Summer vacation starts tomorrow and I'm realizing that I'm not quite ready, but still excited. Before I go, here's a picture of Kate doing something that she really enjoys. I take one finger out and the next one goes in. Have a great day!


ps. I realized that I didn't even mention pancakes in my post, lol! When I was a kid, we would have ice cream on our pancakes when it was a special day. I still like the thought, but Corey thinks it's weird. So yesterday for Grace's bday we had pancakes, but with cool whip (still good, and not at wierd I guess).

Help!

I'm planning Grace's birthday party and I thought it would be fun to have this picture for the cover of the invite. The only problem is that I don't know what I want her to be saying, lol. Any ideas?

More fun with pics

I've been having more fun taking pics of the kids (yes, still totally in auto mode). My parents also came for a short visit this weekend and it was nice to see them. They took Grace and Abby with them to my brother Jon's Saturday morning until Sunday and boy was it a quiet day. I was excited for the quiet, but it turns out that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It felt so weird without them here. Corey and I drove down to see everyone (including Devin and Holly) yesterday after church and then brought the girls back with us. It definitely hasn't been quiet today, lol. I've been wanting to sew for days now and so I finally sewed Abby a skirt this evening. I have many more things on my list, but it felt good just to break out the machine and do something. I guess I better get the girls to bed. Hope you have a wonderful night and here are some random pics in closing :) Good night.

focus, focus, focus

Maybe if I say the word three times I'll actually have an ounce of it. I don't know why, but I have such a hard time focussing on anything for long periods of time. I've always been that way and I hate it. It's pretty much that way with EVERYTHING!!! UGH. I have so many unfinished projects and so many that I haven't even started yet for that matter, lol. I can't even focus on my home long enough to get it totally clean (I also hate cleaning so that doesn't help). It's been really bothering me lately. I thrive on feeling inspired and feeling creative and lately I haven't been working on anything or even known what my next creative venture will be. I think that's also what's been bumming me out. All things that can be fixed of course. I really need to start making lists so that I can stay focussed on what I need and want to get done. Then I need to actually check the list daily and work on it. Just thinking out loud here aren't I, lol.

Okay, well let me tell you about the things that aren't bumming me out and really inspiring me lately. I really want to be great at photography and actually shoot in manual mode (eek! I said that out loud). I get to go to Emilie's workshop on the 30th (the day after I actually TURN 30) which I'm stoked about (not stoked about turning 30), but until then I've been having so much fun just playing around.


This one isn't really in focus, but I love that little tongue that's always out. She also rarely stops moving:)



Here are also some things that really get my creative juices flowing!!! I just ordered this pattern:

I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get this for my birthday:

I'm seriously drooling:

There are just no words to express the cuteness


The sewing machine it going to quickly make it's way to the dining room table today I think. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. xoxo until next time.

Smithfield Health Days

This last weekend was Smithfield annual Health Days festivities. For being a weekend about health, I sure didn't eat healthy AT ALL! On Saturday morning there was a parade that the girls got to participate in. They rode on a trailer with their dancing group and probably threw all of their candy within the first minute, lol. They loved it and I didn't have bring home with a bunch of parade candy that I would have ended up eating when they weren't looking. They also got to dance later that afternoon at the park. We couldn't leave without hitting a few fun things, train ride, blow up slides, etc. I don't think that I'll be able to afford anything when I'm paying for three kids to do everything. Yes, I am cheap, but sheesh those people make a killing.

About every 30 seconds Abby asked if it was time to get cotton candy (yes very healthy). Finally it was time and Grace, Kaylee, and Abby enjoyed a few mouthfuls of the teeth rotting sweetness :)

Needless to say it was a fun day. We planned on going to the fireworks that night, but Kate fell asleep early and I felt bad about dragging her out. Corey was also busy preparing food for Mothers Day! He doesn't usually cook because he hardly has any time to breath these days, but he really enjoys it. Even if he's making pancakes he'll look up gourmet recipes online. It's kind of funny, but definitely delicious. Mothers Day was nice and relaxing. Corey didn't have any bishopric meetings after church and it was nice to have him home for a few hours just hanging out before going to his parent's house. Here are a few pics from yesterday.

Here's Corey chillin' with his homies, hehe.

Corey gave me a gift card to Tai Pan!!! Thanks again honey :)

Hope you all had a great Mothers Day! Happy Monday.

xoxo until next time.

My Randomness

My brain is stashed full of miscellaneous thoughts. Here's a bit of what I've been doing and thinking lately.

1. I started doing coupons again after a year or so and am feeling good about spending less and getting stocked up.

2. The other day my friend Milana mentioned something about visiting teaching kits (or something like that) to me. I'd never heard of them so of course I was intreged and went home and googled. There were a few different results so I took bits and pieces from what I found and created this (yes, I went visiting on the very last day of the month):

I decided that I'm going to make these little envelopes, handouts, a magnet, a recipe, a bit of chocolate, and whatever else comes to me every month. I'm going to create them early and then post a link so that if anyone else is interested you can download the files, print, and put together a visiting teaching kit of your own. If you have any great recipes please send them my way! I will get May's kit done this weekend!

3. Grace and Abby are having a great time playing soccer. This is the first time for them and they're getting better every week. The first few games Abby kept getting the ball and running the wrong direction, lol. She didn't care though. She is so carefree and just loves running around and being part of a team. They both love being the goalie, which I'm surprised by and always a little nervous about, but it's all fun. Kate doesn't care much about soccer, but loves licorice.






4. I had to copy my friend Emily and whipped up some strawberry freezer jam yesterday. They've practically been giving away strawberries lately their so cheap. I also love them for smoothies!


5. If you're ever tempted to by window clings for holidays, DON'T DO IT! I saw this months ago and finally got around to putting the girls to work on some window decor. They had a blast and I love what they created. This is a horrible pic, but you get the idea.


6. I just recently discovered Scentsy and love it. I got this plug-in warmer and now my house smells like apple pie most of the time (Corey's favorite) :) I'm even considering selling Scentsy products just so I can have easy access, lol.



Okay so I guess that's it for the moment. There's a lot more going on in my head, but that's going to have to wait until later :) What's consuming your thoughts today?

xoxo until next time.