Silhouette Giveaway

Great Christmas gift idea for you creative girls!

But you could win one here.

BYU---A World Class University!

World Class University Commercial from BYU HD Video on Vimeo.

Have you all seen this? Doesn't it make you proud to be a Cougar?

Once upon a time.....

Twenty-six years ago a sweet little dolly was born on a bright September day.....



She grew to be a beautiful, happy young woman with many talents and a strong faith.

She went to school and found her handsome prince to marry.






And now she will soon have a sweet little dolly of her own!

Have a wonderful 26th birthday, Katie! It's your own special fairy tale to live! We love you!

And now for Evan's big day....

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Evan at Chris and Sarah's. They served a great pulled pork dinner and Chris made the cake (with supervision from Sarah) and Sarah made the filling and frosting for a fabulous German chocolate cake.

I wish we had taste-a-vision so you could taste how wonderful the cake really was! Melt-in-your mouth good!

We had a fun treasure hunt for Big-E where Max and
Cooper hid the presents and Evan searched for them.

We also got to see the Primary Presentation that Sarah wrote and was in charge of as Primary president. It was great and Max did so well delivering his part and singing every word of every song!

It was a special treat holding sweet baby Owen...I think Evan had a very memorable day and to top it off, now he gets the senior citizen discount! What more could he ask for?

An Anniversary and a Birthday!

We just returned from celebrating our anniversary and Evan's birthday all in the same weekend! Since our real 30th anniversary is next week on October 3rd, general conference Sunday, we decided to celebrate a week early in Galveston. We stayed at the historic Hotel Galvez which will celebrate its hundredth anniversary next year and is in the process of major remodeling.
We enjoyed walking on the beach, sunning on the sand and plenty of good food. (Obviously, that's the very thing I should not indulge in given my swimsuit picture!)

One memorable moment was when this showed up in our room after we were out for the evening and the front desk discovered it was our 30th anniversary. That's champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries!

Now look below to see what we really indulged in!




(Milk, chocolate chip cookies and those fabulous strawberries!)

It was a very relaxing mini vacation and the hotel was quite memorable with all its history and nostagia. It was so interesting remembering the 1900 hurricane that took the lives of over 6,000 people and it was amazing to see so many Victorian homes that were restored and so beautiful. We had a great time walking on the Strand (quaint little shops) and just driving around.

Thirty years is quite a landmark anniversary! We are so blessed to have each other!

Stay tuned to see how we celebrated Evan's birthday.....

nana, we're glad you came!

Bitty Booties

Here are some "bitty booties" (courtesy of Heather Bailey) you girls could make for your babies.
I loved the website for beautiful baby shoes Sarah suggested to Katie as well (joyfolie.com), but these might not take quite as long to make.


(photo courtesy of claire's campervan photostream on Flickr)

Your baby's pinkies will be stylin' for sure!

Go here to see the post and get the free pattern!

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/heather_bailey/2006/06/bitty_booties.html

Max's Kicks

Extreme Home Makeover!

Here are the pictures (finally!) of our home makeover. We loved how it turned out (even without that expensive decorator--I finally got my confidence back--we really do know what we like after all!) Once we began redecorating, we realized we really want to continue through the whole house. So stay tuned for more makeover in the future.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Hilarious "Dummy" Baby Costume!

Look at this cute idea for a baby costume--a ventriloquist and baby "dummy." Hilarious! (Unless you're one of those people who are creeped out by ventriloquists)

(Found on "Be Different Act Normal" via Craftzine)

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/08/ventriloquist_dummy_baby_costu.html)

Get Ready!

BYU Football from Andy Brimhall on Vimeo.

Still learning how to use my iphone... Here it is Max playing with legos, sorry you have to turn your head.

Don't argue with an ibex

max and cooper dancing...

I'm on a cart!

GO BYU

Here's the orginal in case you hadn't seen it.

Make Today Count!

Sarah cued me in on a great blog called Bloom which led me to another great blog called "The Mother Huddle" which had a really fun list of things to do with your kids called "40 Ways to Show Your Child Love."

Check it out! (You may have already, but I love all the fun activities for spending time with your children for future reference for some!)

if saliva were red.

this is chris...

for dad

Pretty Posies

I saw the following necklace (the first one) in a magazine and thought it would be fun to make (maybe in a little more toned-down fashion--it's way too big for most of us to wear credibly).

This is where it is found under "PD Couture." They are very expensive, though.
Check it out! (or you can just scroll on each necklace to go to the site!)
http://www.prismeradesign.com/category.php?category_id=25

"This Is the Christ"

Here is a beautiful video of the song we are singing for Easter in choir.

Also, I am playing this for my seminary kids tomorrow as we study 3Nephi 11 where the Savior appears to the Nephites in the New World and allows them to see and feel the wounds in his hands and side which helps us remember the price that He paid so we could be resurrected as well.




This is another version and I love how it begins with the picture of Christ just barely visible as He is appearing to the Nephites. Evan always says how much he loved this picture as a child because he would look really hard to see the Savior in the brightness of all of His glory---such an inspiring picture and song to help us remember what He did for us.

Can you find it?

Just thought you, Chris and Sarah, might be interested in viewing this picture from CJane (her house makeover on another blog) because it displays the pic you now have too! I won't tell you where it is, but you will find it among these pictures. She does have good taste (but I would never decorate my house like this!)

I'm especially interested in home decor right now because we are in the midst of trying to redo and I know for sure some things I can't have (contemporary furniture and pop art) and some things I must have (oriental rugs and beautiful lamps).

So any ideas or websites to look on would be helpful.


http://www.freshnestdesign.com/2010/02/12/one-fresh-nest-cjanes-retro-house/

Snow Day in Texas! We Party on!

The big news here is that 6 inches of snow fell in Tyler yesterday! Luckily, we knew what the weather prediction was (and we believed it!) so seminary was already canceled. In fact, everyone had a snow day from school and made snow men and snow angels. For some reason, Sadie loved the snow and I witnessed her plopped right down in it and lapping it up!



The brave souls that ventured on to Evan's work got together and even made a cute snowman! Here are a few pics of our day.

Evan and I had already invited 5 other couples over for a fajita night. We were getting concerned when we still had no power about 4 pm. So Evan pulled out his trusty generator (the one which allowed us to watch BYU football during the power outages for Hurricane Ike two years ago with Chris and Sarah--we have our priorities in order!) and after quite a few pulls and some careful adjustments, got it going so we could have some lights amid our candlelit dinner table. We had a fun night and played the Newlywed Game and ate delicious fajitas off of Evan's grill despite having no electricity. Power was restored about 10 pm, but we were happy to say we survived quite nicely without it! Our friends said it was pretty amazing driving up to the only lit up house in the whole neighborhood. Our neighbors would have to admit that we truly believe that no matter what happens, the show must go on!

"Fireflies"

Have y'all seen this? Remember how much I liked Sam Tsui (who goes to Yale, btw) when he sang that Michael Jackson medley or "Don't Stop Believing," all with himself?

Isn't this amazing? I love his music which is all arranged by Kurt Hugo. Apparently they are on iTunes now.

I love fireflies anyway (Remember once, Katie, when thousands of them appeared in the backyard, in early summer--it was truly magical--like stars glittering amid the trees? Chris and Sarah--you saw them sparkling up the night too with Sarah's parents when they came for your reception. We saved them in a jar!)

Anyway, it just makes me happy! Show this to Max and Cooper! The beginning staccato part even sounds sort of like fireflies!











Look at this version. More visual with all the toys. This must be the original artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4

Really Cute Paper Valentines

Happy Valentines's Day!


Here's the link to a really cute and easy valentine that could be for boys or girls to make. I can even make these!

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-heartbreaker-valentines.html



And as a bonus, there is candy inside. What's not to like?

Wear your seatbelt!

Tunnel of Terror!

The Making of "Avatar"

You may have already seen this video of how "Avatar" was made. It truly is an amazing accomplishment. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you ought to! (This video is lengthy--22 minutes but it is fascinating.)

Vintage Roses

Is this not beautiful? I found the link for it on "A Gift-Wrapped Life," a blog I follow full of beautiful things. This is from an etsy shop by Mimi Charmante which has other beautiful headbands with roses too. The ornament is a vintage brooch, I believe. It's been sold, but I thought you clever girls could probably figure out how to copy it!

www.etsy.com/shop/mimicharmante