Yard Sale

This is the big weekend! We are having our yard sale on Saturday (31st) from 7 am- 3 pm. So far we have at least 11 families bringing things to sell. We will have tons of furniture, crafts, fabric, tools, appliances, LOADS of baby stuff, toddler beds, strollers, sinks, office supplies, and on and on and on.

You are welcome to add your cast-offs to the mix. Make sure they are clean and marked with the price and your initials, so you get some money!

If you are interested in coming and don't know where I live, let me know and I'll give you directions to get here. Sorry, I'm not throwing my address out here for strangers!

Happy shopping!

Aubrey's graduation

It feels like I just wrote about Jenna's preschool graduation, but it's that time of year again already! On May 19th Aubrey graduated from 3 year old preschool. Yes, she has another year, but they had a cute year end program.

Even though she wasn't there for the entire school year, she knew every song and poem very well and wasn't shy about singing!

Some of her favorite parts of preschool this year were the giant fridge at Harmon's that they got to stand in during the field trip, gluing, and her cute friend Tessa. She learned so much every day. During her first week of school, I think she aged a whole year. She can hardly wait to start again in August!

We are so pround of you Aubs!

Scandinavian Festival

I need to recommend a fun, small town activity for next year. We spent Saturday in Ephraim at the Scandinavian Festival. It started with a parade at 10 am, complete with local princess, float pulled but trucks, kids on 4-wheelers, and lots of flying candy. These are all things I had to get used to in parades, but now I can't imagine a parade any other way!

We met my friend, Kim(who lives in our ward in SL), and her cute girls at the parade and then we all walked through the booths and games at the street fair while Tim went to Walmart. FYI if you want to feed your family, walk down to the Maverick where they have BBQ-ed hot dogs and hamburgers, drinks, and cookies for $1- 1.50 rather than spending $7.00 per person on carnie food up the street.

While eating lunch at Maverick Lacie, who was one of my college roommates, was driving by and stopped to talk and then Katie, my neighbor in Salt Lake, was also driving by and saw us and came over to say hi. You gotta love Ephraim! Even after all these years, Maverick is still the happening place to be!

The Scandinavian Festival is held every year over Memorial Day weekend. All these years of going to Sanpete for Memorial Day and we had never gone to the festival. It was a great time!

Kim was super sweet and took our girls for the afternoon so Tim and I could see Indiana Jones. They were having so much fun that I had to pry them away from Kim's parents' house- even Lydia! That is HUGE! Thanks again, Kim, for spending your vacation watching my kids. I owe you!

If you are looking for a small-town experience next Memorial Day, this one is a tank of gas away!

When I grow up...

I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. This is either my biggest hurdle, or my biggest excuse for not finishing school. I thought I'd throw it out there into Blog-land and get some opinions. I have too many interests in too many areas for me to think that there is the ONE right career path for me. What are your thoughts?

My original path when I started college was Early Childhood Deaf Education. I also pondered interpreting. Three children and fluent Spanish later (not in that order), I would need to almost start over if I go this direction. I remember a lot of ASL, but I am no longer fluent. I have been blessed to pick up languages rather easily (as opposed to my math skills) so I don't think it would be too hard, as much as time consuming. The required classes just for interpreting would take about 6 semesters full time.

Another option is the medical field. I have often pondered nursing school, but not as a viable option at this point in my life. I have been looking at the radiology tech program at SLCC, but don't have many details. Any one out there familiar with this?

Completely unrelated to the above options, I would love to be a professional event planner. I LOVE planning large activities (much to the chagrin of my sweet hubby) and if there was money to be made there, I would be interested. I love the thrill of finding the unknown or under-utilized activity and sharing it with others. Too bad people don't use travel agents anymore!

I was a dental assistant in another life. (My pre-mommy life) Then there's my time at Blue Cross Blue Shield, so there's always medical coding or insurance. After time at a bank and processing mortgages for my dad, I am pretty sure the financial world is not for me, so cross that off the list.

Did I leave anything out? What are your thoughts. Right now I feel a bit like one of those "choose your own adventure" stories. If you have an idea of where my life should go, turn to that page and let me know how it looks. I feel blessed to have the talents and resources to even consider all these things! I know I should pray about it first and foremost, but I am afraid that I would then have to act upon my answer and I'm not sure I'm ready for that leap. I am a little old to be pondering these things but I'm not getting any younger, right.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject, so please tell me what you think. Thanks for listening to me ramble!

This island is cool, no, awesome!

That was Jenna's response to our trip to Antelope Island on Friday. She was right!

Having lived in Salt Lake my whole life, I have taken for granted that giant puddle out west, never having spent time there. We have talked about going out there over the years and Friday we broke down and went. It was amazing to see what has survived on such a remote, rather barren island. This was the view looking toward to the west as we drove along the causeway to the island. It looked like you would drop off the edge of the earth if you went too far! Being surrounded by mountains constantly, this view is a bit eerie!

This is from inside the visitor's center looking north. You see the cause way in the middle of the picture and Promontory Point beyond. Outside this window there was a beautiful pair of mourning doves. Everywhere you went there were birds of all sorts. You have to run through the "bat cave" of swallows to avoid getting bombed on your way into the visitor's center.

I have this bizarre fascination with the giant buffalo statues. I know they are all over the state, but I still like to see the different ways they are decorated. This one has a scene of an Indian hunting buffalo cut into the sides of the animal. Tim was nice enough to oblige my request for a photo here. I didn't make him pose in front of the other five or six that were around the island.

This pronghorn passed just a few feet in front of our van and didn't seem to care that we were there. It stopped and posed for me and then kept going. It was amazing to see how all of the animals and creatures on the island were not bothered by the human interruption. I guess they have never been given a reason to fear!

We were there too late to visit the farm/homestead on the island but we will definitely go back again to see it. I would like to go back in the fall during the bison round up. It was a great afternoon trip, which I would highly recommend. It was a quiet refuge so close to the city, yet so far from modern noise. All around we could see the metropolitan areas across the water, but we were completely surrounded by nature and peace (and bugs, but that's a story for another time).

Take your kids, your camera, your binoculars, some bug spray, and a picnic, $9 to get in, and enjoy this treasure in your own back yard!

Recent projects

If you have called my house lately, I apologize if you had to listen to my sewing machine while we were talking. I have been sewing all sorts of things lately. Most of them were for the afore mentioned craft show, but I also made a few U of U rice bags...




and a shopping cart cover for Emma's birthday. It was by far my best one yet!
Speaking of birthdays, I made Tim a trout cake for his birthday party and a flower cake and cupcakes for our Mother's Day extravaganza...

RS Outing

We had a Relief Society temple trip to the Logan Temple yesterday. It was such a beautiful day! We had fun visiting on the ride and at lunch at the Bluebird Cafe. I am lucky to have such sweet sisters in my ward to enjoy these times with!

A year ago...

I was just reading a post from May 10th of last year and at the end of it I wrote "What's with the 90s in May." Wish we could temper this spring with last spring!

Hill and I were talking about her friends that are moving to Cottonwood, AZ where the average high was around 80 and average low was arounf 50 (if I remember right.) I think that is heaven, or atleast the Garden of Eden!

An invitation

To any interested parties:

We are having a yard sale on Saturday, May 31st. You are welcome to bring your things and make a few bucks. You will have to excuse my control-freak way of having a yard sale, but- hey- I know what works!

Let me know if you want to put anything in & I will get you more info. Last year all together we made almost $1000 combined, so it doesn't hurt to try.

We have a good location for a yard sale, built-in customers in my circle, and a biligual jefe (boss-me) that makes for a successful yard sale.

If you don't want to sell anything, please feel free to come shop!

Shopping cart cover

Here's a picture of a shopping cart cover I made. The covers include a pocket and loop for toys where the child can reach. I can also put pockets anywhere on the cover for your car keys, cell phone, etc.
They are $35.00- $40.00, depending on the price of the material. I make them as they are requested, so please allow two weeks after ordering.
Let me know if you are interested!

Holy Cow

Note: I have corrected the dates.
HOLY COW BOUTIQUE
There is a boutique later this week in Pleasant Grove, Utah called the Holy Cow boutique. I am doing a booth there with my SIL Janika. (Thanks, Janika for all the encouragement!) Come check it out!

Here are the details:
May 7th-10th (Wednesday - Friday)9 am - 8 pm (W-F), 9 am-5 pm (Saturday)
Pleasant Grove Rec. Center (65. E. 200 S.)
Check out The Holy Cow boutique blog . You can print off a card to enter to win dinner for 2 to the Pizza Factory.

I have heard this is a great boutique. Come find something special for mom- especially if it's from our booth! Ü

Happy shopping!

Selfless service

Here's a wonderful thought for the day!

"As we serve we grow. President George Albert Smith taught, 'It is not what we receive that enriches our lives, it is what we give' (in Conference Report, Apr. 1935, 46).
"Selfless service is a wonderful antidote to the ills that flow from the worldwide epidemic of self-indulgence. Some grow bitter or anxious when it seems that not enough attention is being paid to them, when their lives would be so enriched if only they paid more attention to the needs of others.
"The answer lies in helping to solve the problems of those around us rather than worrying about our own, living to lift burdens even when we ourselves feel weighed down, putting our shoulder to the wheel instead of complaining that the wagons of life seem to be passing us by."

Topics: personal growth, selflessness, service(David S. Baxter, "Faith, Service, Constancy," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 14)

Super 6

Aubrey and our friend, Madison have the same number on their soccer jerseys. Aubrey idolizes Maddie, so here they are together!

This was right before the storm blew in on Tuesday. Last night at Jenna's game it was snowing, so I didn't get the camera out. I think I know why some parents only put their kids in dance classes. Those don't ever get rained out!

What day is it?

I have a tradition of taking pictures of my girls with the tulips in my parents' garden each spring. It is fun to see how they change! Well, the tulips have bloomed, but I don't think the girls will sit on the grass in front of them today! This is what it looked like at 9:00 am today.

The back yard...

Here's how it looked in days gone by...

Jenna 2003

Aubrey last spring

All three last spring.

All Aboard!

Frontrunner Tuesday, April 29th.

At the train station in SLCAubrey, Reed, Jenna on the last seat avaiable!
Waiting to get back on in Layton
Where are we going?...high speed train

(add your own Dora claps!)

Lydia was beyond done!
The station/platform in Layton