The Douglass Family

Regis Snow Day #1

2012-02-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing since 7pm last night without stop. The snow is over a foot deep. Expected to get to 20" before stopping. I believe it! We HAD to get out in it, even though it's still coming down. The girls were ecstatic and couldn't wait to put on their gear.

Yes, Ellie is standing up right here

These boots come up to mid calf... and they were below snow level.

Standing, once again

Brook LOVES icicles! Eating them mostly.

Here is Ben's superman dive into the snow- it was good times!

He almost hit a rock wall :)

Here's the girls falling back in the snow- watch til the end!

Hope everyone else in CO is enjoying this! Ben just left to pick up Sam & Jenna because they are completely snowed in with their little Prius- Loving the 4Runner about now! Gonna do us some sledding when Ellie wakes up, so stay tuned!

Oh, Kids

2012-01-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

For the last two days Brook and Ellie have been playing "House" if you want to call it that. Regardless of what you call it, one is the mom and the other is the baby and they have a great time. The funniest part to me is that Ellie is actually the mom and Brook is the baby. And Ellie does a great job mothering her little baby. She puts her down for a nap, gives her a fake bottle of milk, lets her eat her real fudgesicle... all the things a good mother would do. It's the cutest thing ever. And Brook makes a great baby too :) Whiney at all the right times, but very obedient.

Reminds me of the times when I used to be Gramps to my older brother, Stan, who I affectionately called "Sonny."

Kids are so silly.

Family Home Evening

2012-01-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Nephi & Sam got the Brass Plates

King Laban got his jewels...

and what was coming to him

Everybody got a little into the jewels...

They can't help themselves

I am their mother after all :)

Yosemite in HD

2012-01-26T17:49:00.001-08:00

My dad sent me this link and it is incredible- took me back to this summer. If you haven't been, you NEED to go.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Dinner Flopped, But Dessert....

2012-01-25T16:54:00.001-08:00

...was heavenly.

Ho Hum

2012-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

Saved a dresser from the garbage yesterday. Waiting for this girl to get done moving so she can help me refinish it. Until then, I guess I'll do laundry.

Found This When I Went To Bed Last Night

2012-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

Random Blessing

2012-01-19T10:40:00.000-08:00

The other night, I started importing Ben's old mission pictures off his camera CD's so we can finally throw the huge stack in the trash. I was once again bemoaning the fact that our honeymoon CD had been destroyed before we could capture the pictures to the computer and I put in a blank CD and started to import it.... and it was our honeymoon pictures!!! For the last 5 years I have been carrying around this scratched CD hoping beyond hope someday we would be able to get our pictures off it and it was the wrong one!!! So I finally have my honeymoon pictures!!!! It was just a cool blessing- the Lord sure loves us. So without further ado and 6 1/2 years late, here are a few highlights of our honeymoon to San Francisco:

Few of SLC from our AMAZING suite at the Grand America

Seriously Dad & Mom Douglass- Thank you SO much!!!

The Oakland Temple

Our amazing gold PT cruiser... Ben was LOVING it....

(not even a little bit)

Some skyline

Wishing WE were on that motorcycle after sitting in traffic to cross the Bay Bridge for over 2 hours....

We paid SEVEN WHOLE DOLLARS to get on a California beach.

And when we got over the dunes, what we found will be with us till we die.

Garbage... and this:

The vineyard we drove past everyday on our way to San Fran from our AMAZING condo out in Windsor

Seriously Dad & Mom Smith- Thank you SO much!!

Ben making me a DELICIOUS dinner :)

The Golden Gate Bridge

Chinatown- which we were too busy seeing other places to go to

"Bucketman" playing the drums on old plastic containers. Our favorite song was "All My Friends are Low Riders" Read his sign if you can :)

On the Trolley

Steepest Road I've EVER seen- except maybe in Astoria, OR

Our very first apartment- with all our gifts in the dining room

Dr. Mom- My 1st Attempt

2012-01-19T10:15:00.000-08:00

Since the girls were born, I've taken care of them while sick and otherwise afflicted. We've seen very little injury around these parts, having girls, and mild ones at that. Well, today we had our first injury requiring more than a band-aid. I was nervous, because I'm the least medically inclined person I know. But it went well! Ellie was really brave :) She only cried for about 30 seconds when it happened (the injury- which I will probably never know, because I was working in the office and then heard crying and no one seemed to know what happened) and then held really still, with a little concern on her face. Brook couldn't even watch. She kept asking if I was going to "sew her" and then she'd hide her head in horror.

The injury:

(don't laugh at me all you real moms who have taken on way more than this!)

The remedy:

I just really hope she doesn't have a huge scar because it will be all my fault! Maybe I should take a community ed class on first aid..... but if 8 years of girl's camp didn't help....

I'm probably a lost cause.

UPDATE PHOTO:

Looks pretty good I think!

Growing Up

2012-01-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

Both my girls are in big girl beds....

(she is really happy, even though she looks angry in this pic!)

We Love The Snow

2012-01-16T18:02:00.001-08:00

Skiing Is My Favorite

2012-01-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

SKIING IS MYFAVORITE

Written and Illustrated By Brook Douglass

For Grandma & Grandpa

for Christmas because I thought

they would love it

I love to ski when

I’m grown up.

I love Grandpa and Grandma to hold the rope when I’m skiing when I’m a kid.

Going home to Grandma’s house

after skiing in the mountains is fun because I get freezy

and you get warm.

One time Grandpa and Grandma and I went skiing down the hill.

It’s Good Morning

and the sun comes up.

We’re sitting on the couch reading

ski books.

It’s bedtime when it

gets dark after skiing.

I’d like to eat

Mac & Cheese when

we go to the

Starting To Ski

Building.

I love the thing that takes people up to the top of the mountain.

I love to eat snow;

I think it’s funny.

It’s everybody’s snow andI ski in it.

Home Again, Home Again

2012-01-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back in CO after a WONDERFUL month long vacation visiting the fams in Idaho. We were busy busy busy while there and had endless hours of fun and lots of great memories to cheer us up when we start missing everyone! Here are about a thousand pictures from the holiday :)

Sarah, Brook, Uncle Harry, and Ellie building gingerbread houses

It was quite the masterpiece- Uncle Harry only had to hold the roof in place for about 30 minutes :)

Brook's war wounds:

"I was taking Ginger (Grandpa's dog) for a walk (insert audible gasp by listening audience and threats on the poor dog's life) and I was walking on the sidewalk and suddenly my hands were in my pockets and I walked off the sidewalk and then back on and I fell and I landed flat on my nose and I couldn't catch myself."

You'll see how bad it really was in the pics to come!

Preppin bikes for a Christmas ride! Thanks for the no snow, Mother Nature! I think he'd rather be skiing....

Grandpa and Ellie- peas in a pod!

Ellie's gingerbread man friend

We had a little Christmas at Papa & Gramma Perry's house- it was so much fun!

Annual Christmas Eve party at the Douglass House

My fam came as a)their numbers were few and b)the food is amazing!

Ellie & Papa

Papa & Uncle Bill- brothers :)

Uncle Harry, Dad, & Uncle Sam- brothers :)

Neenaw & Aunt Becky

Our good friend Chuck was teaching Brook all kinds of spin-dip moves

Grandma Harward- we put her to work on clean up duty :)

A NEW sister!!!! That's right! Harry and Sarah are engaged as of Christmas Eve!!!

The big day is April 27th and we can't wait!

Christmas Eve Pajamas- SO DARN CUTE!

Thanks Grandma!

Listening attentively to "The Night Before Christmas" after we read the real Christmas story

We had tried to put Ellie to bed in her pack n play, and she just kept crying and crying (much to our dismay because Santa was trying to show up but couldn't until all the kiddos were sleeping!) and Aunt Emma finally figured out Ellie just needed to be by her sister- set her down next to Brook, she snuggled up and passed out!

Christmas Morning- Santa's Helpers!

Ellie got new boots and a beautiful handbag complete with furry gloves!

The most amazing present ever :) Just sayin

Brook wrote and illustrated this book for Grandma & Grandpa all by herself. She even typed the words out! Pics and story line to come in a follow up post!

New sleeping bag! Awesome!!!

Annual picture in front of the Christmas tree in the Christmas dress

Brook was too tired to smile- and get her own pic taken

Reading with Grandma

This is one of my Christmas projects- I crocheted this doily rug for Jenna

The typical trophy wife pose....

Santa brought us a Kinect for Christmas..... it is SO fun!

Me and Dad :)

This is another of my projects- a giant scrabble board for Mom and Dad

Totally passed out!

Ellie & Grammy enjoying the Kinect!

Chop that fruit Harry!

Beautiful new dress-ups from Grandma

I painted this doll bed for Ellie that I built with my grandpa, Papa Perry, when I was about 10. It's been at my mom's forever, and Ellie is such a baby lover, I just knew I had to pass it on to her.

We were so spoiled and blessed this Christmas. We got to be with family and dear friends, we received many thoughtful, wonderful gifts, we enjoyed safety in MANY HOURS of travel in the car, and so much more. We are so grateful to the Lord for the blessings we've been given!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

It was so wonderful to spend the day with family! I love our families and I'm so happy to be blessed with such a heritage on all sides!

We enjoyed our Christmas so much, kicking it off by getting a new family member!!! Harry proposed to Sarah, so come April 27, 2012 we will have another sister!!!! Hooray! We are beyond excited to have Sarah in the family (well, officially- she's been part of it for WAY longer!)

Christmas day was wonderful on Sunday- it was so nice to attend sacrament meeting and be able to sing Christmas hymns and worship our Savior. We were also spoiled rotten, which was fun :)

The best part of Christmas this year was we started a new tradition. First thing in the morning, we spent a few minutes talking about the best gift we were ever given, our Savior Jesus Christ. We talked about why we give gifts on Christmas and we each wrote down a gift to give our Savior. Brook was very attentive and I was really proud of her to be able to focus on the real reason for Christmas when all manner of surprises and gifts awaited her downstairs. It was a special moment for our family and I look forward to doing it every year from now on.

I hope all your Christmases were wonderful as well :)

Love to all!

P.S. Didn't bring the right camera equipment, so I will have to add photos later!

4 Days People....

2011-12-12T20:57:00.001-08:00

4 MORE DAYS!

Blogs

2011-12-05T22:28:00.001-08:00

I just spent about an hour (in which I should have been sleeping) re-reading several of my friends and my own old blog posts. I love how they capture the memories of fun and happy times in the past. Those are the most fun to remember anyway. It also makes me feel like I'm not as huge of a loser as I feel like I am sometimes- I accomplish things.... randomly. It makes me want to make my future days "noteworthy" or "blogworthy" I guess, so I can look back 3 years from now and see how far I've come and remember the good times. Cuz they're always good times. I'm really rambling now- that's what I get for doing this late at night :)

Anyway, I'm bustin out Christmas gifts left and right, even though I promised my sister I wouldn't get all caught up in making a bunch of stuff and missing out on everyday chances to play with my girls and make Christmastime memories.... I've still got 20 days left! We can get to those memories just as soon as I get done with my list.... which may or may not be 12 pages long...

Sick

2011-12-04T10:58:00.001-08:00

My poor kiddos have been sick this weekend. We are missing church today so we don't spread the flu to our ward- I'm pretty sad- my favorite meetings are in December when we get to sing Christmas hymns and focus on the Savior and his birth and life. Brook and I are going to make the nativity from the Friend today to help make up for it. I just love this season!

Except for the sick part :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T20:55:00.001-08:00

Decorating for Christmas

2011-11-28T20:30:00.001-08:00

It just really brings the Spirit of Christmas into my home. I love it. I have started collecting Nativity sets because they really speak to me. I love how beautiful and unique they all are. It's so neat to see the artist's interpretation of the Holy family.

This is my newest acquisition- Merry Christmas to me from my mother in law!

Thanks Mom! I love it!

My very first Nativity- given to me by my big sis Jen

Just a sweet little one I got a steal of a deal on

This is all I have so far- I hope over the years to add to it a little bit at a time.

Hope you get to decorate for Christmas soon too!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T16:49:00.001-08:00

From all of us Turkeys in Colorado!

Brook's Turkey

Ellie's Turkey

Last Wednesday Baking Day, Which Happened On Thursday- Apple Pie

2011-11-14T14:06:00.001-08:00

This is my Grandma, Trudy Smith's Apple Pie recipe... it's the best one in the world.

And it turns out perfect every time!

Pie Crust:

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

3-5 Tbsp. Water

Mix ingredients until dough forms. Split in half. Roll out between two sheets of saran wrap to fit your pie dish.

Apple Pie Filling:

5-7 Apples (Golden Delicious are best!)

1 cup Sugar

3 Tbsp Flour

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Peel, core, and slice apples. Mix with remaining ingredients. Place into pie dish. Put a few pats of butter on top. Cover with vented pie crust.

Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes. Then bake at 350 for an additional 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or room temperature with cool whip and a slice of cheddar cheese.

Random IPhone Pics

2011-11-13T20:45:00.001-08:00

Pink fountain in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness....

Brook was ECSTATIC:

It did this:

So we did this:

And Ben bought this:

Just kidding. But he should have. It was amazing.
I'm just sayin.

Ben's other Halloween costume-

Regis has a tradition of themed dressing up

I know, they're all identical- you can't tell them apart

Ben is in the back left side-
the only one in purple suspenders....

A trip to Chuck E Cheese:

My ever-good-looking hubby with some classmates

Won't he be such a dish when he's done!

Also, a shout out to my lil sis Heather! Congrats on your new baby! Can't wait to meet him!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie!

2011-11-07T19:54:00.001-08:00

Snow

2011-11-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Baking Day- FAIL!

2011-11-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

So Brook and I made this pumpkin bread for our baking day today. We were supposed to make pumpkin pie, but I didn't have any evaporated milk because I used it all up for nachos.... anyway. So we mixed it up, put it in the pans, baked it for an hour, took it out- it was BEAUTIFUL! And it smelled AMAZING. We were so excited to eat it. So ten minutes later, I cut into it, expecting beauty and deliciousness.... totally not cooked. Completely wet inside. How I could insert a toothpick OVER 5 TIMES and have it come out clean I know not. So I shoved it rather angrily back into the oven... but it was no use. Never cooked. Went totally flat. Was horrible. Brook still ate some of it and loved it, but I threw most of it out and I am angry about it. I hate baking fails.

So what I'm still trying to figure out is why it didn't bake properly- is it the altitude or a crappy oven?
Yesterday we made leaf placemats- they kinda failed too. The leaves are turning all brown, even though I covered the placemats in contact paper.... sad.

Try again next week? We'll see....

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Rapunzel

The Lovable Pascal

Mr Pumpkin Face

Fleshy Fingers

Monster Eyeballs

Portrait of a Monster (my favorite by far!!!)

The spread

Our Halloween party turned out pretty fun. The girls were showered with candy in a great neighborhood- they both got more than one full size candy bar! And NO nasty peanut butter taffy things- remember those? Gross. Anyway, it was a great night!

Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, Flynn Rider (Eugene Fitzherbert), and Pascal

Jenna was Waldo and Sam was looking for her. :)

Wednesday Baking Day- Spiderwebs

2011-10-26T15:12:00.001-07:00

Like a Boss

2011-10-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Don't listen to this song by Andy Samberg, cuz it's horrible. But the first 25 seconds are hilarious, which is all I've ever heard. Anyway, I'm feeling a bit like Andy Samberg's "Like A Boss" today....

-Leaving food on the table until it's too crusty to wash off Like a Boss
-Spending money I don't have on things I don't need Like a Boss
-Haven't done laundry in 3 weeks Like a Boss
-Letting the stickers and coloring books babysit my children while I craft Like a Boss
-Pinning things I'll never do Like a Boss
-Under-appreciating my poor husband Like a Boss
-Waiting to do my Visiting Teaching til the very last minute Like a Boss
-Changing plans on my friends the day of 30 minutes before for the past week Like a Boss

Pretty much, I'm livin it up, Like a Boss!
Ever have this feeling?

Tuesday Art Day- Skeleton Guy

2011-10-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Week #2- yes, I am on a roll!

I was really excited about today's craft because I remember growing up my sister Jen had made this skeleton guy out of paper plates and it was one of my favorite Halloween decorations. I tried to find a paper plate template I liked, but I couldn't. So when I stumbled on this little guy, I thought PERFECT! He's cute, but not too cute. And now I don't have to draw one. So I printed him out on cardstock and Brook cut out EVERY SINGLE BONE by herself- I was really proud! There were a lot of pieces! Then she put the brads in the joints, I closed them up, she gave him a coat of marker and named him "Mr. Bones"

She's very original :)

Brook and her new best pal, Mr. Bones

When Ellie woke up in the middle, she got in on the coloring action too

And if you're tired of the poor quality of my pictures, tell my husband to get me a better phone :)

Hiking, Halloween Cookies, and a Sickie

2011-10-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

We drove up the canyon to get to Evergreen last weekend and went hiking at this really awesome place called Alderfer. Ben and Sam were mountain biking, and Jenna and I were dragging the girls around the trails in the bike trailer. Not a good idea. There were roots and rocks all over the trails and most of the time, Jenna had to give me a hand trying to get the trailer over them! It was a lot of fun though! And SO beautiful up there with these fall colors!

My cuties climbed this rock all by themselves!

Okay Ellie had help!

Brook found this rock with the holes in it- Perfect seat!

This is her "Ariel" pose :)

Catching Jenna mid-bite.... totally awesome.

Wow Ellie, that is some great hair....

Fence in the middle of nowhere- so of course I thought, PICTURES!

For Wednesday Baking Day, Brook chose Halloween sugar cookies. She did such a good job adding the ingredients. She even kept track of the number of cups we were adding of sugar and flour. Then I rolled out the dough and she cut out tons of cookies, being careful to put them close together, but not get any holes in them. She was very precise :)

This is the favorite frosted one... or at least my favorite. We didn't have any ghosts, witches, or bats, so we had to get creative with the helping hand cookie cutter I got from my grandma!

It's a monster hand. Brook was very nervous for me to eat it since it might get me from the inside.

Our poor little Ellie is a little sickie right now- she's done a lot of this and a lot of sitting on mom's lap for hours on end. She's on the mend though, thank goodness for modern medicine!!

Tuesday Art Day

2011-10-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

I started something new with Brook this week. We are going to have special Brook activities while Ellie takes her nap every afternoon. I assigned categories to each day. This is what I came up with: Sunday is Journal day. Monday is PBS kids day, Tuesday is Art day, Wednesday is Baking day, Thursday is TV/Video day, Friday is Social day, and Saturday is Family day. I'm hoping this will help with the begging to play PBS kids or watch a show everyday (even though we never do, it for some reason doesn't keep them from asking about it about a thousand times a day....). Instead I'll just say "Sorry, it's not PBS kids day," and then redirect to the activity we'll be doing. I'm also excited for the one on one time I can spend with Brook by doing it and the skills she can learn. So we'll see how it goes!

Yesterday we made a Halloween craft project:

It turned out even more fun than I pictured it would! We just used what I had on hand. Brook painted the frame and picked out the picture, then arranged the googly eyes on the frame. I hot glued them down, printed and cut the picture out, and voila! I was really happy with it and Brook couldn't wait to show Dad. Ellie loved it so much she ripped eyes off it three times....
nothing a little hot glue couldn't fix :)

Anyway, during this process, Brook and I scoured the web for ideas for baking and art days for the next two months and printed out a calendar off excel to help remind us. Still don't know where I'm going to hang it, but we're both excited to have some more structure in our lives!

Hudson Gardens Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T11:21:00.001-07:00

There is the COOLEST garden center about 5 minutes up the road from us. This year is their anniversary year, so they have reduced prices to get into their beautiful gardens.1.50 for 2 and up, so we went with the plan to get a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch with some of our friends from our ward and Uncle Sam and Aunt Jenna. However, apparently they are educational pumpkins, so we weren't allowed to purchase them. But it was still really fun and so pretty! We will definitely have to go in the spring!

Such pretty flowers!

Waiting for our friends and Uncle Sam

Love her pose! Don't mind the lady in the back...

Brook, Brystal, and Ellie going through a fun little rock tunnel

Cool apple pressing demonstration that was not very productive- the amount in the bowl is from like 75 small apples.

Plating spider plants- so appropriate for Halloween!

Ellie making a scratch leaf- LOVE how she holds her pencils!

These were the coolest carvings! We were quite disappointed though when we discovered they were FAKE PUMPKINS. REALLY?!?!?

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Aren't the colors just beautiful!?!

Ellie in the Hay Bale Maze. The girls made it through pretty quickly, so we had to go through it like 4 times. It was pretty fun, but the corridors were SO tiny, so it got awkward going around strangers at times.

Sittin on a bronze donkey. I don't know why, so don't ask.

It's Getting To Be Halloween Around Here

2011-10-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ghosts in the Dining Room

Bats and Spiders on the Mantle

And building webs by the ceiling!

Candy Corn (was) abounding

Tricks....

and Treats :)

So from our family to yours:

September in Pictures

2011-10-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Brook's Birthday Breakfast in Bed

(say that ten times fast!)

Getting a beautiful ballerina magnet doll

Thanks for the princess shirt Kai!

Birthdays are the best!

Ellie's NATURALLY curly hair right outta the tub!

Can you say Jealousy????

Bandaged thumbs after a run in with the Gillette Fushion... poor girl!

Sisters are the best.

Fun at the Lakewood, CO Fire Station

Rachel, Ellie, and Brook even got to go inside the truck!

That tire is as big as me mom!

Sundays Are Special

2011-10-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays. Ben has the whole day off. We get to go to church and be spiritually uplifted. Then we get to spend the day with family and/or friends or just us. It's just nice to have a day out of the week different from any other. I've been trying to think of activities I'd like to do on Sunday with my family that would bring us closer to each other and to God. Some things I've come up with are:

A nice little walk in nature
Baking a special treat together
Reading the Friend to Brook & Ellie
Playing games together
Write in a family Sunday journal

What does your family do to keep the Sabbath day holy and make it different from the rest? Please share so I can add more to my list!

We sure do miss spending Sundays with our Idaho family!

Everyday After Ellie Eats...

2011-10-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

I really wish we had a dog.

My Monkeys

2011-10-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

This one keeps me grounded and happy

This one keeps me busy and laughing

Love these two little monkeys!

Long Weekend

2011-10-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

Man, just when you think you're getting the hang of life again or you've just overcome a huge obstacle and you're ready for a nice break for awhile, you get slapped again! I guess it's just life!

Saturday we enjoyed watching General Conference and then Ben washed the car. As he was cleaning up to get ready for the Priesthood Session, he went to unscrew the hose from the spigot in the garage, and all the sudden water is just rushing everywhere: flooding the kitchen floor, the hallway carpet (which we just got the smell out of!), and the basement- water was just pouring into the basement like a waterfall. Well, we not being the prepared renters we should be, did not know where the turn off was, so Ben ran from neighbor to neighbor trying to find someone to help us find it- Found a wonderful man next door who came and helped us shut it off after about 100 gallons had poured into the house. We luckily have a small wet/dry vac, which we used to clean up the kitchen and even more luckily, the basement had a drain about 3 feet from our entertainment center. So no water got to the expensive equipment! Hooray! So we lost a rug and quite a few towels, but that was it! The water cleaned up well, thanks to Sam and Jenna (you guys saved us!). We spent the night at their place since we didn't have water and watched morning conference with them. Unfortunately, we had a little dispute on Sunday with our landlord over the financial responsibility of the incident, but I am happy to say that it was resolved when the plumber came and discovered the pipe had never even been soldered! So they are being very cooperative and will be paying for any damages to the home. We will have to replace the few things we lost, but it is a minimal expense compared to what could have happened! In retrospect (at the time, I was struggling!), I feel very blessed by the Lord that everything played out as well as it did. I can definitely see His hand in the course of events after the incident. We are very lucky for that and for great family and friends here to help us out in our time of homelessness!

Now I just have to put the house back together :).

Monday Night, Nachos, Castle, & Sisters

2011-09-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

What do these things have in common? Only the most awesomest thing in the world!

Stacy and I started a tradition back in season 2 of Castle. She would come over to my house and we would make the most AMAZING nachos (documented above) and then eat them while watching the best show ever:

How much do I love these two?!?!?!?

Last year, for the season 3 premiere, both my Castle buddies (Stace & Becks) were at BYU-I and I just couldn't stand not watching it with them, so I made an impromptu trip to watch it with them! It was so awesome!

This year I live in Denver and they live in Rexburg.... not really close enough for an impromptu trip for the premiere. Which was a week and a half ago. Why post this tonight? I had nachos for the first time here and all I could think about was watching Castle and how my Castle buddies are not here :(

I MISS YOU GUYS!

Move Forward- Regis DPT 5k for the Argyle Elderly

2011-09-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ben's department at school puts on a 5k/10k race every year for a home for low income elderly people as a community service. We decided it would be a fun event for the whole family to participate in, so we all got signed up for the 5k.

Map of the race:
(5k was one lap, 10k was two)

(photos/video from Ben's phone- we forgot the camera!)

Brook's Grand Finish:

Brook was so excited because everyone started clapping and cheering for her as she ran across the finish line. "It's because of my fast power Mom."

Ellie & Mom's Grand Finish:

Poor Ben had to hang back with us slow folks during the race or he would have finished it a lot sooner. Next year our goal is to run the 10k and win a prize!

Afterwards, the school had a ton of booths where we got some sweet S.W.A.G.

The girls got their faces painted and got to jump in the bouncy house.

Brook had a butterfly- Ellie got a flower

We also enjoyed a nice BBQ and got t-shirts and water bottles! It was so much fun!

The girls had a little too much fun I think:

Thunder Storms In Denver

2011-09-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

are cool.

The Princess

2011-09-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

The Birthday Party Part Two

2011-09-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

When is that Prince coming?!?

Sister Princesses

So you're saying he's NOT coming?

Even though I got all dressed up?

Who needs a prince when you've got friends!

Beautiful Girls

The Whole Party

The Super Hero

Playing Games

Kai's Dance

Brook's Dance

Brystal's Dance

Darn Crowns

Patiently Waits

Make a Wish

Brook had a wonderful party! Thanks to my dear friend Jo for the photos and all her help!

The Birthday Party Part One

2011-09-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Making Curls

The Frosting

"I don't like this- is this made with Sugar? I don't like sugar."

Ellie does.

The Castle

The Pink Balloon

Patience is a Virtue

The Worry

The Giggle

Her Prince Charming AKA Iron Man

The Spread

The Cupcakes

Her Princess

Princess #2

Best Buds

Complete Adoration

The Beauty

Making Crowns

Super Heros have to protect their identity

My Baby is Four

2011-09-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Brook turned four yesterday. I can't believe she is already FOUR! Time goes SO fast! Anyway, we have been working on getting her to stop sucking her thumb since she is a big girl now. We collectively decided that she could get a big girl bike and only ride it on days when she didn't suck her thumb. Took one day of sucking it and not getting to ride the bike to cure her! She is so disciplined! We are very proud of her!

She calls it her "Care Bear Bike" :)

Smith Family Reunion 2011- OR Coast... Ed#4

2011-09-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Mo's is the best restaurant on the Oregon Coast. You have to get their clam chowder. So we went there as a family- it was AMAZING.

Ellie passed out on the chairs

Am I creeped out she sleeps with her eyes open? A little.

The gang!

Jetta, Brook, and Laila watching the kites

Outside the candy shop in Cannon Beach. Also a tradition to get a caramel apple there!

This toy store in Cannon Beach has this fun mirror and we had a blast with it!

Ellie LOVED the starfish! Brook got brave enough to touch one :)

Haystack Rock is a cool place!

What a fun vacation! Thanks everybody! We had a blast!

Smith Family Reunion 2011- OR Coast... Ed#3

2011-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

We went on a hike at Ecola State Park. We thought it would be a nice little loop. Took us like 5 hours. But it was still really fun. I was proud of how everybody held up! The trail was fun and beautiful!

Laila, Jetta, and Brook

Rach, Paisli, Stace (& Evalee), Jen, and Becks

Ellie and Broxon- he looks THRILLED to be strapped in next to her :)

Ah... how Jen and I both love mossy logs :)

Oh Stan.... I'm LOVING the headgear here!

This was a pretty cool tree we saw

Grammy, Papa, and all the grandkids (minus William- we missed you guys!)

Apparently I'm the only one enjoying this hike!

Ellie doing two of her favorite things: Eating and climbing up on stuff

Berkli being brave!

Jetta being brave!

Becky, Mom, & Dad- it was SUCH a beautiful view at the top!

Mom and "The Babies".... not babies anymore!

The totally creepy dungeon type place we randomly found... is anyone else completely disturbed by this?!?!

There were like two mine shaft things with cage-looking gates covering them. We were tempted to let Beck explore them, but thought better of it.

Check out the muscle tree behind the kids. I think the kids have him beat!

Becky and Brook hikin down the trail

This is the view from the parking lot- it was such a pretty beach! Great for surfing too it seemed.

Smith Family Reunion 2011- OR Coast... Ed#2

2011-09-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had a sand castle building contest one of the days. It was really windy and it took awhile for all of us to get out there, so it didn't go exactly as planned, but we all had a lot of fun and built some pretty fun things.

This castle was the combined effort of several parties

Becky and John's Alligator

Whit and Stan's Turtle and.... three hills... what were you making again Stan? :)

Oh little Luke- such a cutie!

Michael and Stacy just messin around

Camry and Jen's Castle

Sweet little thing

Poor girl was freezin to death!

LOVE this photo of Broxon. And yes, he was eating the sand too.

Papa distributing the "Chocolate Prizes" to the winners (all of us of course!)

The combined efforts photo. The football didn't help.

Smith Family Reunion 2011- OR Coast... Ed#1

2011-09-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

This year we were able to enjoy an entire week at Seaside Resort on the Oregon Coast! It was so wonderful! My parents are amazing for making it all possible. I was the sibling in charge of this reunion, so we had a few activities planned, but mostly just spent time together as individual families and as one big happy family. This will be posted in four parts because I took a lot of pictures and I can't not post most of them :)

The first touch of sand!

Oh Ellie- poor girl was so excited, she kept running, and then tripping, and then running, and then tripping- always landing in the belly flop position! But she loved it!

Wonder what they're up to....

Look at her poor knee! We didn't know it, but she had a scab rip off and it was full of salt water! Yet she smiles on- what a tough kid!

The first official day there, we headed down to Tillamook Cheese Factory. Because how can you not?!!?

Ellie, Papa, Grammy, and the newest grandchild (for now), Evalee (Stan and Whit's)

The quintessential family picture

Dad and Brook do this pose every time we come here.

Enjoying the best part of the trip- Fresh Tillamook Ice Cream!

Brook had Bubble gum, with REAL gum in it

Ellie had Chocolate chip cookie dough

Ode To My Sister

2011-09-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

My big sister is the best!

She rode for 15 hours in the car with me and my really whiney children less than 12 hours after returning from a 10 hour car ride with her family!

She fed them snacks, started their movies, bought them coloring supplies, hugged and kissed them, and did it all for free!

She visited with me the whole drive, even laughing at my lame jokes!

She single-handedly unpacked almost my entire house in the 24 hours she was here before flying back home to get her kids ready for school to start a few days later.

She is the best big sister in the world.

I love her.

THANK YOU JEN!

You'll never know how much you helped and how much it meant to me!

I miss you!!!

Littleton, Colorado

2011-09-02T11:41:00.001-07:00

Loving it here! Our house is the perfect size and we are really happy to be here! Ben started school on Monday. 2 1/2 more years to go and then we are DONE! That will feel amazing.

I will post pics of our place as soon as we finish getting settled :)

A Few of Our Favorites

2011-08-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

And a small comparison for you:

A Kind Word

2011-07-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

You just never know how far it will go.

I was paid a sweet compliment by a sister I served with very few times in our stake. It really brightened my day and made me feel like maybe I'd accomplished something in my calling.

Let's be more free in expressing gratitude to those around us, maybe even those we aren't in contact with that frequently. You just never know.

YOSEMITE!

2011-07-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Wow.... That is really the only word for that place. Wow. It is INCREDIBLE! COMPLETELY worth the 15 hour drive to get there. Well, we actually found out if you drive straight and only stop for gas, lunch, and dinner (30 min each), it's 13 hours of hard driving time. WORTH IT. Now you KNOW you need to go if you know how much I hate riding in the car.

Pictures and details to follow soon. A favor to ask. While we were there, just a few minutes from our campsite, a small family fell over the Vernal Falls. They haven't been found. I'm just asking you to pray for their family and for them that they will find peace and comfort. It was a really tragic accident and heartbreaking to hear about, especially when being right there.

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

We hung out with the Douglass Fam for most of the fourth. First thing, we headed up to Banks and most of us rafted The Main (Payette River). Ben stayed on land with his mom and the girls because a)the girls can't swim, b)mom hates rafting and needed man power to put on an AMAZING half-point bbq and c)he pulled his hamstring in his softball game and couldn't swim if he needed to save his life. I only rafted the first half, then Ben, the girls, mom, and I headed to the Gutter (a local river hangout) to play on the boogie boards.

Our Waite cousins met us there and we had SO much fun in the water together, even though it was FREEZING!

Ellie ADORES aunt Jen, though it's hard to tell in this pic :)

She did have fun kickin around in the river, until she tipped over and got her face wet. Poor thing!

Anyway, it was a fantastic day. We were happy and blessed to spend it with loved ones!

Brook's First Real Haircut {I Don't Know What Possessed Me!}

2011-07-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Actually it wasn't me at all! Brook had to beg me to take the first cut- I stood frozen with the scissors for like 10 minutes! It was really hard, but looking back on how her hair looked, I think it was definitely a good choice!

So long!

Not anymore!

She's going to LOVE those waves when she gets older... NOT!

She loves it and I do too! We'll see what Daddy thinks....

Fun at the Boise Zoo with Our Cousins

2011-07-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Completely Self-Gratuitous Post

2011-07-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

The other day, my little sister Stacy was over, and we decided to make jewelry while watching episodes of Monk. I sorta got on a roll and basically did nothing else all day. It was fun! Here are some of my creations from the day:

Purple Glitter Earrings.... I may be obsessed. Look for these to come in EVERY glitter color ever made.

Would you guess they were made from ugly buttons?

My new favorite necklace:

I'm calling it "Charmed"

My take on the Vintage Button Necklaces out there:

Okay, so my buttons aren't vintage. The purple ones are, the ivory ones are shell buttons I got at Joann's a coon's age ago! It's been so long, they're probably vintage now :)

Let's call this one "Shell We Dance?" Okay I'm a dork

This one I refashioned using a necklace/clip on earring set that belonged to my great grandmother on my mom's side, Vione Hyatt Cottrell Stolar

I LOVE the metal roses!

I {heart} big hearts!

This one looks weird when it's not on...

Maybe it looks weird on too, but I think it's the shirt! Sorry I'm WAY to lazy to change outfits to match my jewelry just to take pictures of it!

And this is the bust for the evening.. it seemed like it should be cute when I started, and then it went horribly, HORRIBLY wrong... the more I did, the worse it got... so yeah. Not every creation is a success, but don't give up!

I call this one "Our Love is Timeless"

It's dedicated to Ben :)

"The Attention Grabber"

Hence the exclamation point.

This ring was made using an old clip on earring from my grandma, Trudy Keithler Smith. I believe it belonged to her mother, Adina Clark Keithler. The match to it is missing :(

Well, I hope you enjoyed my post :) I am obsessed with making jewelry. If you haven't tried it, maybe don't start, because it is seriously addicting!

I just bought a kagillion beads from Craft Warehouse on MAJOR sale, so look for more jewelry posts in the near future! Unless you all beg me not to post them :)

I'm linking up to

Bruneau Sand Dunes 2011

2011-06-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

They have an observatory out there. We got to see Saturn and some kind of nebulous which looked like a mini blue Froot Loop and a few other cool "space things"....

That's the technical term for it.

Me, Brook, and Mom rockin our flannels

(pay no attention to my hair... I'm camping, alright?!?)

Brook was writing everyone's name in the sand at our campsite- she did pretty good!

The dunes there are AMAZING! Actually, the tallest dune out there is 470 feet- the tallest sand dune in North America! Someday we'll climb it!

Unfortunately, just before bedtime, our air mattress grew a goiter, so Ben took Emma's cot and Emma took the ground... what a good sister! Anyway, Emma and I decided to ride the air mattress down the very steep dunes.... it was good times. We didn't go as fast as we would have liked, but we sure did laugh a lot!

I would definitely recommend this campground/state park to ANYONE in the Boise area or visiting the Boise area. It was so clean and very nice (showers and flushing toilets! Woohoo! My kind of camping!) and not too many bugs. Totally worth the $$ for the camping spot!

Painting Shoes

2011-06-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Sadness.... Brook's shoes have cracked a little, but they still look pretty good. I wore my cream lace shoes on my b-day.... they are dominated. Paint peeling everywhere. AFTER I spent 2 hours hand sewing the beads on, I'm desperate to find a way to make them work still!

So unfortunately, I never took before pictures. So just imagine plain white shoes (Walmart clearance last year for 3 bucks)....

transformed into this!!!

Brook did these all by herself- no help from mommy whatsoever... okay, i did tell her not to mix the paints on the tray, but that she could dip into a new color without washing her brush off, but that's it! I swear! I think they are SO fun!

She's got skills, this kid!

Here's an action shot!

She has worn these probably 4 times and the paint is still staying on pretty good. It cracked right around the shoe tongue just a little bit. I seal coated them with Mod Podge, so we'll see how long they last! Either way, we both had a blast painting our shoes together, so that's what really matters :)

Here's how my acrylic painted shoes turned out:

These are Walmart brand slipper flats. They were originally gray and VERY distressed... I got them for free at an Other Mother's quarter sale... they were hammered. But a few coats of fresh ivory paint, some lace and glittery beads and Voila!

Don't look too close at the beads, you can see them already popping off :(

That's what I get for using hot glue.... I really do like them though, so I'm going to go ahead and stitch the beads on. Which will be fun to do through the hot glue. That's usually how laziness pays off. You do something the lazy way, then you do it the right way, which is now incredibly more difficult since you have to work through the lazy way's mess....

Here are my spray painted shoes:

I got the spray paint for free at the dump from their hazardous waste "shopping center" SuhWEET! I love how bright they are. However, the bloggers who say that spray painting shoes works, lied. Plain and simple, they lied.

The toes still look okay, but the sides... not so much. Oh well, I'll just have to wear them with pants! I think I'll continue to wear them until they just look too awful.

These are target brand- they were brown originally. I got them at the DI for 4 bucks 3 years ago. I got my money's worth and they were headed back to the DI when I decided to give the spray paint a whirl cuz I had heard it worked. So no big loss :)

I Like Pink

2011-06-21T21:50:00.001-07:00

That's Why.

Happy Father's Day 2011

2011-06-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

To Our Dad:

We knew you would be the best dad from day one

You've always brought joy and excitement into our lives

Your comforting embrace always makes us feel safe

How glad we are that we can be a family forever

And share many more moments like these.

~We Love You Dad~

Dena, Brook, and Ellie

Girlfriends

2011-06-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm just waiting for Ben to get home and perusing my old photos and came across this one. Oh how I miss the days of girlfriends! I'm still in regular contact with 3 of the 4, but we are spread across the country now and it's hard to get together. I miss them all! I LOVE YOU GIRLS!

Wild Asparagus

2011-06-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Who Knew?!?!?

Ben and I went on a date a few weeks back for like the first time in 3 months and it was stupendous. We drove up a little ways into the foothills and went on a 1.8 mile hike. It overlooked the Boise Valley- I tell you, that is a beautiful view and I am going to miss it! Anyway, on the down the other side, we came across this weirdly tall awkward stalk of... something... and we realized it was asparagus! If you know how big my hands are, you will appreciate this picture even more :) That is one giant asparagus.

Stacy, I know you want to eat it right now!

Rocky Mountain High!!!! Colorado....

2011-06-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so actually our new apartment is in Littleton, Colorado, but whenever I think of Colorado, I think of John Denver and I start to sing that song! I love it. It's a good song. My gramma is a John Denver fan. ANYWAY- we found a place!!! It's PERFECT! And it's as big if not bigger than our current house!!! Woooo!! So now I can take pretty much everything with me... don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I'm excited. Now we just have to wait until August to move in. Oh, and sell our house... yeah..... wish us luck!

Sprinkler Fun

2011-05-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Kids are Funny

2011-05-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here looking for an apartment and Brook is on my lap cutting up foam sheets into tiny pieces. Well apparently I'm in the zone, because I snap out of it to hear Brook saying, "Mom, I need help. Mom, I need help. And so for the rest of the time, she needed help because her mom couldn't hear her."

Oh Brook, you are too funny. I think she's going to be a writer.

Rousseau

2011-05-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm in a crafty mood. I decided instead of following a tutorial, I really wanted to try to copy an anthropologie necklace like all the cool blogs do. So I found this pic:

Isn't that beautiful!?!?! I love it! I wanted to compare costs to see how much I saved, but Anthro doesn't sell it anymore, so I don't have any idea how much it was.

UPDATE: I found the source! The necklace is the Rousseau and it retails for $138....

Anyway, I had some fun fabrics/laces from a yard sale last year- I got 4 garbage bags full of fabric and lace for $4! It was awesome! Anyway, I used two of the laces out of there and two different ribbons I had on hand (one from the dollar store, one from Hancock's 69 cent section)

Here's what I came up with:

It's not exact, but I like it. I wish the beading was a little darker, like the Anthro one...

Ben thought it was "different" but then he said he'd never seen anything like it before... seriously honey? You've never seen a bib necklace?!?!?! I guess I can't trust his fashion judgement on this one... so I need your input!

Tell me what you think!

A close up of the lace/beading. I added the pearls.

My total cost:

Lace: 2 cents

Ribbon #1: 20 cents

Ribbon #2: 13 cents

Pearls: On hand, but maybe 8 cents

Total cost: 43 cents.

I'm willing to bet that is SIGNIFICANTLY less than Anthro's...

Because I Love Them

2011-05-17T19:47:00.001-07:00

On a Roll... or Outta Control

2011-05-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

This happens to me a lot- I get working on something, and then I can't stop myself and I go crazy. Anyway, I had this button up shirt from my mom. Pretty plain, but the material is this tapestry looking stuff- I LOVED it

I tried to get a close up so you could see the design.

Anyway, I took some inspiration from this lady, but my final turned out nothing like hers, much to my dismay:

I wanted to leave sleeves on it so I could wear it without a cardigan, but it seems... matronly or something. The sleeves just aren't good... do you think there is some way I could make them cute? Or is it just a lost cause?

(And I just re-looked at these pictures and I look TERRIBLE, don't judge me)

I do like it with the cardigan though- not sure about the skinny jeans, I'm still trying to decide if I can rock them or not.

So that one was a little disappointing, but this next one MORE than makes up for it! I LOVE how it turned out.

Inspiration piece:

So this is what I started out with...

And here it is completed:

I seriously love it- favorite transformation yet!!!

Brook is getting better at photos, is she not? :)

Transformations

2011-05-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

I think that is what I'm going to call my refashions from here on out- it just makes me feel that much cooler....

Anyway, I got some old dress pants from my mom and I have really been wanting a pencil skirt. The pants were INCREDIBLY comfortable, so I thought they would work great! I googled some images to find a skirt I liked the shape of for some inspiration. Here's what I found:

credit

Cute right? I thought so. So here are the terrible quality before pics:

EXTREMELY flattering pants, no?... yeah, No. Love that the mirrors in my gym are the only tall mirrors I have and Ben is never home to take a pic when I need him! I'm still training Brook, as you'll see below :)

Anyway, here's the terrible quality after pictures!

And Brook's attempt:

Right now my compy doesn't like my photo editing software, so you get what I get. Anyway, I'm really happy with it! SO comfortable and I think I will definitely get some wear out of it. I didn't get a photo of the back- I did a short little slit in the back seam so I could actually walk in it. It also has one back pocket. I'm really excited with the possibilities this project has opened me to! And if you've wanted to try "transforming" but you're nervous to ruin good clothes, just find some free ones like I did and take the plunge!

Great Mother's Day Gift

2011-05-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

I got THE BEST mother's day gift today at church. As you know, Brook has graduated Nursery and is in Sunbeams now. Today all the little Primary children went to the front to present their Mother's day song. They sang "Mother, Tell me the Story." Words can't express how much joy filled my heart as my sweet baby stood at the front, beaming from ear to ear singing her heart out. I was so proud of her- she knew all the words and smiled the whole time! She did wonderful! I wish more than anything I could have recorded it. Heaven knows I will keep that memory close to my heart and replay it many times. As she came back to her seat and saw the tears streaming down my face, I assured her they were "happy tears that Mommies get when their kids do something so sweet."

Thank heaven for my eternal family.

A Few Wedding Pics

2011-04-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

We took our camera, but forgot to get it out for most of the trip. So I just have a few random snapshots to share for now. It was such a beautiful wedding- Sam and Jenna couldn't have looked happier. I can honestly say it was one of the few weddings of all that I have attended where the bride and groom's love for each other filled the entire room. It was such a joy to witness. I'm so SO happy for them!

This is the only picture I have of Jenna's face- it's a weird shot, but isn't she beautiful?

Sam and Ellie

(notice the mark on her nose and above the left eyebrow? She totally biffed it into the fireplace dancing to Michael Jackson four days before the wedding... cool....)

Brook & James

(Jenna's brother and consequently, Brook's new love interest- when asked if they were a couple, Brook said "I am not playing games"... where does she get this stuff???)

In the car right after the luncheon

Funny crazy side story: When I was at LDSBC in 2001-2002, my friend Jo and I had a favorite bishopric counselor, Brother Norton. Just so happens that his daughter is Jenna's best friend and they were at the wedding and luncheon and reception! It was good to see him again, and totally crazy that I'd run into him in that situation!

That's all I've got! I'll probably steal some from Jenna's blog when they post pics after returning from their honeymoon :)

Bad News, Good News

2011-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

According to a three year old:

Dad, you wanna hear the bad news?
Sure Brook, what's the bad news?
Burning your face, stuck in a tree, high in a building, and shellfish.
Wow, that is bad news.
Wanna hear the good news?
Yeah Brook, tell me the good news.
Not sucking your thumb.

Apparently our attempts to get her to stop sucking her thumb are going well. Or she thinks all of that will happen to her if she sucks it. Oh well, if it works....what can ya do?

Cuz I Had the Time of My Life

2011-04-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wow- isn't it fun to run away from reality and spend the weekend with one of your best friends and do absolutely nothing responsible the entire time?!?!?! No? Just me? Well anyway, it was fantastic. Love you Sare!!! THanks so much for the visit! I feel totally rejuvenated!!!

Oh, and sorry for no pics- we totally didn't take any. We're losers. Or just past the stage of photographing the events of our lives.

THURSDAY

2011-04-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

So you might be confused since today is actually Tuesday, but remember THIS GIRL?

Yeah, she is pretty much totally awesome. The cat's meow. All that and a bag of chips.

AND I GET TO SEE HER THURSDAY!!!!

Last Ski of the Season

2011-04-04T21:13:00.001-07:00

Or should I say first?...

Okay, so it was Brook's second, Ben's umpteenth, and Stacy, Ellie, and my first. Of course I forgot to get a picture with Stacy- boo. I do have video though- it was her very VERY first time skiing- she did fantastic! I decided this year that next year I will get a season pass and go up at least 3 times a month so that I can master skiing once and for all. The bunny hill is getting pretty old after 4 seasons of skiing it... yes I am that pathetic.

Brook got the ski setup from Grandpa & Grandma Douglass for Christmas Learnin the ropes (Wait look! There's Stacy in the background!!! Purple coat, green pants. Way to go Stace!! You're a champion!!!!!) My cute little butterball- isn't she seriously adorable? She got to ride the chair lift up the bunny hill twice and ski down in arms- once with Grandma and once with Grandpa. She smiled and giggled the whole time and kept reaching for the hill. She is going to be a natural! Next year Ellie!

Fun With Premo

2011-03-24T17:03:00.001-07:00

So I saw this GORGEOUS necklace on Ucreate as a giveaway. Well, I never win anything, so I didn't even bother entering. When I showed the picture to my sis-in-law, Whitney, we decided we MUST figure out how to recreate it.

We went to Quality Art, where we were discoursed on the benefits of drinking Olive Oil while hiking as we picked out the color we wanted. Unfortunately, after arguing with the clerk over the fact that pizza and doughnuts are in fact more tasty than hummus, we didn't have time for Whit to finish a rose before she had to head home. I did, however, finish my rose, and a necklace to put it on too. I'm SUPER excited with how it turned out!

(The bottom chain does hang straight down- I didn't notice it was all tweaked when I was taking the picture)

Here's a close up of the rose- you can see my fingerprints, so I'm still trying to figure out how to avoid that. I tried wearing latex gloves, but apparently the brand I have on hand (no pun intended) has fingerprints ETCHED into the tips.... yes.... Really people? Why?!?! But it's not noticeable to those who will be admiring it from an appropriate "personal space" distance.
PS- This is the top of the lace shirt I made- I think it looks PERFECT with the necklace! Score!

A Top For Me

2011-03-23T21:21:00.001-07:00

All this wedding sewing has been fun, but made me extremely aware of my lack of cute clothes. (Could have something to do with my lack of funds...) So I raided my fabric stash and found some material that I could make a top out of, since that's what I'm lacking right now. Here's what I came up with:

Here's a close up of the top- I saw a pic of it awhile ago on some blog and thought it was pretty cute. I like how it turned out! I made it to go under a cardigan, but forgot to put it on for the pics- I'm glad I added sleeves though- I think it could be worn just as a shirt- well, maybe by the end of my BFL challenge :).

p.s. the material is knit, it's not shiny- I just had to take my own photo with a timer in our gym, so... yeah. I'm not a photographer. Judge me.

Oh, I also made a lace top, like One Pearl Button. It was SUPER easy, fun, and I like it. Maybe I'll post a pic if I can get Ben to take the picture... :)

Sewin' and Sellin'

2011-03-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

We'll start with the Sewing: Pardon the immodesty, I haven't finished the girls' cardigans yet, but here are their dresses for Sam & Jenna's wedding in April. I still have to make her niece's dress, my mother in law's dress, and all three cardigans, but I'm loving it! So much fun and I'm really happy with how it's all turning out!

This was my first experience with creating my own pattern from a picture and I'm really happy that it turned out!

Also, I'm making the bridesmaids' necklaces for the wedding. The top one is the one we're going with. They've been really fun to make as well. I got the idea from Little Miss Momma. It's super easy and really fun! I recommend it!

Okay, so on to the Selling part....

We've officially got our house on the market! So check out our house blog and let anyone you know looking for a great house in the Boise area to look us up!

Little Sickies

2011-03-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Poor girls- both have upper respiratory infections. Ellie has an ear and sinus infection to boot. But they are trying their best to still be angels... they aren't always succeeding. But it's the thought that counts, right??

Here's Brook planning a picnic for us- she's so thoughtful!
Poor little thing- she is really struggling, but she still tries to smile

This is a new one

Love my girls!

Love Birds

2011-03-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

My soon-to-be sister-in-law recently sent me this picture and asked how hard it would be to recreate:

I'm not sure where the picture is from, so I can't give credit

I believe the idea originated from Ann Wood's birds

My exact thoughts were "So easy, I can totally do that." Well, I was right and I was wrong. I did it, but it was NOT easy! It was really fun though (except for handsewing the 4 prototypes to try to get the bodies right). I like trying new projects that make me use skills I don't normally choose to use.

So without further ado, here is my take on the birds:
Meet Mr. & Mrs. Sam Douglass
The bride is absolutely my favorite... LOVE her veil!

Close ups of the groom

Not as cute as the real couple, but close :)

Thanks for letting me help with this Jenna- I hope you like them!

My Love, My Life

2011-02-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

January 2001

Prom 2001

January 2003

(Sideways because I'm too lazy to redo it)

First documented kiss :)!

(Two weeks after the first real one)

March 2003

June 2005

10 years in the making, today is the anniversary of our very first date.

And of course I love him more than ever!

Happy Valentine's Day Ben! Love always, Dena

Hockey Games

2011-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Are SO MUCH FUN! Ben took me on a date on Wednesday to watch some other team play the Idaho Steelheads. It was a blast! And we totally won in overtime. GO STEELHEADS! But I really did this post as a formality... you'll see why.

Another Hair Post

2011-02-14T14:36:00.001-08:00

I did Brook's hair in hearts for her cousin's valentine party.

These were the pics I took while doing her hair to get her to hold still, so they aren't great quality, but it was pretty fun to do! And she felt so festive :)

Emma's Hair

2011-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

My sister in law went to a dance the other night and was sweet enough to ask me to do her hair. It was really fun! She's not normally one to get dolled up, and she had me curling and pinning, curling and pinning, for like 2 hours and her mom was putting on fake nails and painting her toenails... she felt attacked. But she looked GORGEOUS! I only have pics of her hair before she got into her dress because I had to leave, but I just had to post them! She looked amazing!

In the midst of curling!!

The curls before we pinnned them up

The finished look from the side
And from the back!
Em- send me a pic of you all dolled up and I'll add it to this post! Love ya :)!

Here It Is! The Moment We've Been Waiting For!

2011-02-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

Regis University Update

12:47 PM (1 hour ago)

Dear Benjamin,

Congratulations! I am happy to inform you that you have been accepted into Regis University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program beginning in August 2011. We welcome you to the Jesuit tradition, where since 1877, Regis University’s values-centered education has prepared intelligent, caring men and women who excel in their chosen profession, in their community, and in service to others. We feel confident that your participation will be mutually productive and beneficial.

Sincerely,

Regis University
Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions
Associate Director of Admissions

Lazy Monday

2011-01-31T16:22:00.000-08:00

Not nearly as cool as Andy Samberg's Lazy Sunday. In fact, it's been one of those days where I start to wonder why my children or I own any clothes other than Pjs.

I did decorate for Valentine's Day, so that has to count for something... right?

I mean, Right???

My Baby is Getting Big

2011-01-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

She'll be 15 months on February 3rd. She still won't stand on the ground on her own. But if she's in a high chair, on Brook's bed, on the couch, or in someone's lap, she'll stand up and dance and giggle for 10+ seconds. She's in denial I think. I also saw her sneak a few shuffle steps from the chair to the stair railing when she thought no one was looking. What a silly girl!

This Is For Ben

2011-01-07T17:28:00.001-08:00

Christmas Songs Brook Sings

2011-01-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

"Beliz Lobilob"
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!

"Frosty the Snowman"
Fumpity Fump Fump!

"Jingle Bells"
Oh Mutt fun it is to ride!

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"
With everyone's telling the cage of the stories
Christmas is bound!

"Duck in the Halls"
Fa la la la la!!!

"Last Christmas I gave you my Heart"
and the very last day, you gave it away
This year, I'll save you from tears
I'll give it to someone special!
(It's Jan 13th and she's still singing it in the tub)

"We wish you a Merry Christmas!"
And a happy New Year.

She hates the slow songs.

He Did It!!!

2011-01-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

On December 17th, Ben graduated from BSU with a Bachelor's of Health Science in Pre-Physical Therapy and a Minor in Psychology. I'm so proud of him! We celebrated at Fuddruckers.

Shout Out to Sam & Jenna

2011-01-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

Our brother Sam got engaged over the Christmas holiday! We love Aunt Jenna and are so excited for her to join our family!!! Congratulations you guys!!

As you can tell, she already fits in better than I do :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Excited for the day!

Sorry Emma, I had to :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Christmas Disaster

2010-12-17T20:49:00.000-08:00

So.... I was making a present for Brook that I was really excited about and it was going AWESOME. Then I put on the finishing touches, and.... it's total crap. I'm depressed.

Fret Not

2010-12-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

I have found my Thanksgiving pictures... on Ben's computer! I hate it when that happens! I will post them as soon as I get them back!

Snow Day

2010-12-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Much to our overwhelming joy, we awoke this morning to 8 inches of snow while it continued to come down! Sure enough, dad got his first university snow day! So out we went to enjoy the wonderful chilly morning! It snowed two more inches while we were out there and it is still coming down! After naptime, we're headed back out!

Ellie's just a little too lazy to ride in this sled by herself...

It is so deep!
Our Snow Angels:
She was such a trooper in the cold!

The Girls

Looks like a winter wonderland

Sledding together

Ellie finally had to go back inside, but she doesn't seem to torn up over it

Brook's first snowman:

Dad helped roll him into a ball and Brook made the face.

I'm Scared

2010-11-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

I put my camera memory stick into the compy this morning. Oddly, it was already out of the camera in the adapter. The import button came up. "File is Empty"....

WHERE ARE MY THANKSGIVING PHOTOS???

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Harward!

2010-11-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend with Ben's family celebrating his mom's mom's birthday! She is such a wonderful lady- we love her!

Dad, Mendy (cousin), and Sam

Aunts Kay & LuJean, Uncle Blaine, Diane (cousin), Grandma, Alice & Daughter (Grandma's brother's daughter & granddaughter)

Jason (cousin), Yours Truly, Ellie Shquinkle, and Shelby (1st cousin once removed)

Grandma and her cousin- aren't they so sweet!?! Grandma is about 5'2" just for reference

Ben (1st cousin once removed) and Ben

It's Finally Fall!

2010-11-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

But not everybody's happy about it....