Victory for Vittoria

We are holding a fundraiser to help Vittoria's family with medical costs as she prepares for a heart transplant. You can read some of her background here.

We are having a yard sale & bake sale on Saturday, August 15th 7 am- 4pm at 4880 West 6040 South.

I am looking for anyone who has items to donate for the sale. We are looking for clothes, furniture, household items, camping/hunting/fishing gear, toys, baby items, books, craft supplies, appliances, tools, anything that might be a treasure to someone else. In addition, we are going to put together gift baskets with new items. If you would like to donate your resources to a gift basket (ie Scentsy, Avon, art supplies, scrapbooking, cooking, gift cards, baby shower items, etc) we would LOVE it! Donate a basket or just a few items. Every little bit will help!

Please spread the word to family, friends & neighbors. I would LOVE a mention or link from your blog. We want to do all we can for this wonderful family and their angelic daughter. Even if you don't know this family, I hope you might help. It could be anyone of our loved ones in a similar situation! Thank you so much!

Please pray for Vittoria

Sweet Vittoria is having a rough time. Please pray for her and her family. She will hopefully be a candidate for a heart transplant, so if you feel the urge, you can even make a donation via paypal on her blog. http://vittoriascorner.blogspot.com

e-mealz.com

I have been meaning to blog this for a long time, but I'm just now getting to it. I have started using this great website called e-mealz.com. You get a week's worth of recipes/dinner plans and a complete shopping list each week. It has made my life so much easier! They have a bunch of different plans to choose from and everything is very easy to make. I have skipped a few recipes that didn't appeal to me, but everything we've tried has been really good!


Go check it out! For example, I have chosen the "Wal-mart Points" plan, so every Friday I get a week's worth of meals- broken down into Weight Watcher's Points! One thing I love is that the meals are planned using what's on sale that week and the shopping list tells you exactly how much each item costs and what your total will be. I have been able to substitute staples from my food storage (beans, spaghetti sauce, etc) so it has been even cheaper. I also cross-reference the grocerysmarts.com alphabetical coupon listing for some of the larger items when I'm feeling ambitious.

It is $1.25/week and SO worth it to me! I used to panic about 4:30 in the afternoon wondering what we would have for dinner. Now, it have a nice list to choose from, knowing I have all the ingredients ahead of time. I'm sure Little Caesars misses me, but I'm not so sad!

Float preview

Head over to the South Town Expo Center in Sandy today or tomorrow to see the Days of '47 Float preview party. 11 am-9pm.

Our stake float is #17 entitled "Catch the vision of Kearns: From World War to World Competition." Thanks to those who helped get it finished! You know who you are because you are radiant- thanks to the glitter permanently attached!

It is free to see the floats and blissfully cool in the air conditioned building.

I intend to do a whole post about the construction, but in case I don't, here is a peek.

This is when we got stuck in the door leaving the Oval- long story.

The float orphans. The girls have been angels thru the whole process!

A moment of levity...

I've been so crazy busy with the parade float and other projects that I've totally neglected my blog. I know that my faithful readers (all three of you) rely on my wit and wisdom to get you through each day and I have been slacking in my duty. I'm almost done floating, be patient!

In order to keep you entertained until I return, please check out this hilarious blog. It's real estate photos gone horribly wrong. Makes you feel better about your own home, no matter how big the mess.

This post in particular should give you a few good laughs.

If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to pick the glitter out of my hair & teeth.

5K

5K
cool morning
dead grasshoppers
road kill
cow pies
don't look up
Eddie Rabbit in my ear
husband by my side
turkey poop in the air
short strides
consistent
even pace
steady
think I might puke
push through the blahs
inhale diesel fumes
wave at my father-in-law
keep going
ran the whole way from the T
goal accomplished
40:04
puked in the weeds
satisfaction
self-esteem
fulfilment
pride
cried good tears in the shower
PURE JOY

Natural History Museum

Tomorrow is free day at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Hope fully it will be easier than my last trip there. Come take advantage of the ZAP tax we all pay so happily!

Happy Birthday, dear Jenna!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, funny, smart, helpful, insightful, diligent, prompt, book-loving, dancing, riddle-telling, sister-loving, seven-year-old sweetheart! We love you the purplest!!

Our world would never be the same without you! Love, US

Recital night

The girls have had a great time taking dance since January from Becky's School of Dance. They had a recital last Thursday at the high school.

Some of Jenna's class- The Little Mermaids

Some of Aubrey's class- they dance to "Only You"

We had a great cheering section: Aunt Kat, Zachary, Uncle Greg &Aunt Kelly(thanks for the cute suckers!), Papa Gary, Grandma Barb, Colleen, Daphne (thanks for the beautiful flowers!), Madison & Cassidy. Thanks also to the Lunches for keeping Lydia, who would not have allowed us to watch the recital!This time we opted for rag curlers for Aubrey's hair instead of the curling iron & it was SOOO much better all around! Faster, more even, stayed forever & looked great! This is right before we took them out so she had slept in them, been to the park in them, and played the rest of an afternoon, so they were a bit worse for the wear, but her hair was super curly!

Recent Crafting

I don't think I've ever gone so long without a post. Oops! I've been sick and we've been super busy, so there will be some catching up to do.

Here are some recent craft endeavors- mostly because they are easy to post, not much to say about them.

Flower hair clippies for the girls-

started with a little set from the scrapbooking area at Michael's, hot glues clips, viola!

I hurried and made them before church one morning, and each happened to match one of the girls' outfits.

Tinkerbell hooded towel for Jaclyn.

A little extra added to the body of hooded towels a nice lady in Ohio ordered from my website.