We love our Daddy

Dave is an amazing dad. There aren't words to say how proud I am of him and our little family. The kids enjoyed making and giving him his presents this year.

All four of the little monsters


Willow wrote this card for her hero. I couldn't have said it any better.



Phoenix is so proud of his.... present. (I think it's a pencil holder.) We had to replace the erasers on the pencils because he ate the first ones.


We knew he had to have the "MOUNTAIN DUDE" hat and shirt when we saw them. Dave's two favorite things combined Dew and Nascar.

Easy Smelly Playdough

Homemade PlayDough (NOT EDIBLE, actually it is, but it tastes terrible!)

Here's a picture of the ingredients most of which you keep in your pantry.

2 TBS Cream of Tartar
1 cup flour
1 TBS oil
1/4 cup salt
1 cup water
1 packet unsweetened Kool Aid (or a few drops of food coloring)

*Cream of Tartar is a spice used to make meringue. You can buy it at all the major grocery stores or in bulk at Costco.

In a sauce pan combine all the ingredients and stir on med heat until it forms a dough ball. It takes about 3-4 minutes. The plop it out and knead it until it's really smooth and cooled down. ¡Vióla playdough! If you don't have koolaide you can mix food coloring instead of koolaide (or both to make different colors). The koolaide makes it smell good, but then little kids are more tempted to taste it. It's not toxic, but I wouldn't let them eat it anyways. Store it in a ziplock when your done.

Fun with Friends

One day last week we had a full house. The kids enjoyed having their friends over and the house was already a mess (as usual), so I thought what the heck, let's get out the PLAYDOUGH. I know you moms are thinking, "WHAT?? THAT'S LIKE CLEANING SUICIDE!" and you're right but the kids had a really great time. Mom you might want to wash the cookie cutters before you use them next time! Tee Hee.
Eli and Phoenix


Emma and Poppy


Elias hard at work.


Phoenix pounding...I don't think thats what the hammer is for son.


Dave trying to kiss Preston Minor...at the Mary Bono fundraiser. Should I worry? Nahhhh Preston's not interested his cute wife is going to have a baby girl soon. Dave's not his type.

Sweet Expressions Photography

I got these today! Aren't they beautiful! This is Lily in her blessing dress. It was made specially for her by her Mimi. The purple blanket underneath her was knitted by Uncle Gene's sister, and the white blanket was crocheted by Grandma Margaret. I don't think there is anything more beautiful than a sleeping baby. (Especially when they're mine). It reminds me of when they were in heaven. They seem so peaceful. I wonder if they dream about the life they left to come here? I hope so.

Michele Tolley of Sweet Expressions took the photos! If you want to look at her blog/web site its at http://sweetexpressionsphotography.blogspot.com/ If you click on the title of the post it will take you there!
You should see some of the stuff she's done. If she can make all those old time Corona people look that good then you can count me in. Thanks Michele! Last year she took photos of Poppy for dance and Poppy has never looked so good!





I love this one of her hand and mine. It makes my heart flutter.

I wish you could hear her talk. It's too cute. It's almost like we're carrying on a conversation with OOOo's and Ahhhh's.

One CRAZY MAMA

Okay so Shannon tagged me a long time ago to do this Quirks thing...I'm supposed to list some of my "quirks". I assume that most of you reading this blog know me quite well or at least well enough to wonder what we do everyday. So you already know I am... certifiable. So I have been thinking of some "quirks" that you may not know.

First the obvious, I have a hard time walking because my foot is constantly in my mouth. A while back I said, "I can't believe how old you are!", to a friend in my ward. What kind of idiot says that to any woman? Sheesh. And to make it even worse, she was bringing ME dinner after I had Lily! So if I have hurt your feelings really it was unintentional. Really.

Next I have almost a compulsion about my toenails. I can't stand to have them at all long. At all! I clip them as close to the quick as I can get them. All these cute ladies with long toenails done in a french manicure look so good, but I can't it gives me the willies to have any nail at all on my toes. Weird huh.

Third. I love little packets of condiments. Condiments are so cool. Have you ever really thought about how they get them into those little packages? Who decided that much ketchup was a serving? Why doesn't the mayonnaise need to be refrigerated? How do they make them so easy to open when regular packaging is so hard. I love condiments. I take them. Yep, you read that correctly, I steal condiments. Bizarre you say, well I don't care! (See how liberated I am!) I will no longer ask for extra condiments just so I can take them home in the closet any longer! I have a whole little area in the frige for them. I can produce a Taco Bell OR Del Taco hot sauce if you need. I keep Chick-fil-A honey mustard for rainy days, and I have enough ketchup that if we had an earth quake that could sustain us for a month! And I am proud of my condiment selection! Mustard, Mayo, BBQ, honey, butter, jelly, sugar, relish, you name it I've got it. I even found tartar sauces the other day. You never know when your going to need tartar sauce right?! I hate that you now have to ask for condiments in the drive through. Who doesn't eat ketchup with fries? Booh hiss on you Carl's Jr. and Wendy's!

So there's a few of my idiosyncrasies. There are many more and my husband can attest to that. He KNOWS I'm one CRAZY MAMA.

The New (Old) Pool

This is Poppy and Phoenix testing the waters at the new house. It will be fun, fun, fun, to have a pool.


This is the slide. It needs a little TLC, but for now with a hose it works great.


This is a campout/BBQ with some of the other members of the County Pistol Team after a Shootout (Match). Phoenix had one of the other wife's wrapped around his little finger. He's such a schmoozer like his dad.