For Trisha

My Father-in-law suggested that we all fast for Trisha this coming Sunday, May 1st. I think it was a great idea. Trisha was diagnosed with a stage 3 brain tumor a little over a week ago. If you have any suggestions or advice for her, please let us know. Our family is new to this cancer thing. Be sure to send some prayers her way as well.

It's been a while

The picture above is a picture of our last family vacation. We spent Easter in St. George that year. I did take the girls to Cherry Hill a few years ago, and also to St. George last year, but Tyler was unable to come with us either time.

We decided it has been way too long since we've been on a real family vacation. Knowing that it would be more than a year before I could request any time off at my new job, I told the company that I would need 2 days off for Spring Break in order for me to accept the job offer. We almost spent those 2 days at home. Working. I think Tyler could tell that I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Thursday, he called his brother Ryan and asked him if we could come stay with him in St. George for a day or two. An hour later we were packed & headed to St. George.

We didn't do a whole lot in St. George, since it was kind of a last minute decision to go. The kids were sad that we had forgotten to bring our swim-suites. Despite our lack of planning & swim-suites, we still had a great time.

We hung out at the Arts Festival.

We also hiked the Dixie rocks. Twice.

I don't ever recall being afraid of heights. But on this trip, I was afraid. Can you see Lily & Ella at the top sliding down this very steep rock?

Me: Ella, don't go to fast. Wait for me. Please be careful. Don't get too close to the edge.
Ella: Don't worry mom. I'm just following Luke & Chandler. You don't need to come with me.

The picture above is Luke & Chandler up at the tippy top of a very tall rock. No, I did not let Ella follow them all the way up that particular rock. (Although she tried.)

I blame my new fear of heights on my kids.

P.S. It's never a good idea to bring a reckless 3 year old rock climbing.

Tyler's brother Ryan is Lily's new best friend.

Thank You Ryan & Lolly for letting us come stay with you at a last minute notice.

B-B-Q Sauce

Tyler: How's your BBQ sauce?
Lily: Not good.
Tyler: Why? What's wrong with it?
Lily: It's throwing a fit.

How can such a scary book be in the children's section of the library?

...And, how can such a cute girl love such a scary book so much?
...And, if you think the cover is scary, you should take a look inside where it shows pictures of people dressed up as werewolves chasing little girls. It also has a picture of a werewolf running off while caring a baby with it's sharp teeth.

Come Rain or Shine!

Party Invitations

My mom came over a few time while I was working on party favors, & invitations for her party. We told her they were for an Activity Day's breakfast. It was the perfect cover, and this morning Trisha & I put together an activity days Mother/Daughter breakfast with the same theme. Here are some more pictures from last night & some from today.

Party Favors are lemon drops & say; “Thanks for dropping by.”

Trisha had a cute idea to call these chocolate covered sunflower seeds "raindrops."

Emily made pretty white cloud poofs, and together we made lots & lots of raindrops to hang everywhere.

(Photo above by Shaun Stevenett)

(Photo above by Shaun Stevenett)

Emily made lots of yummy & cute cloud treats.

(Photo above by Shaun Stevenett)

(Photo above by Shaun Stevenett)

(Photo above by Emily Call)

It was my mom's birthday "Weather" she liked it or not!

April Shower's bring Rainy Day parties. We threw a surprise birthday party for my mom tonight. Happy birthday mom! (more pictures to come.)

In Denial

If you haven't heard yet, it's because I'm still in denial. I have a new job. It's a good job. I'm designing scrapbook papers to be sold in major craft stores such as Micheal's, Jo-Ann's, & even Target. Although it's always been a dream of mine to have a product I've designed sold at Target, I'm very sad that I'm not going to be around for my kids as much. I'll be working an hour away from home, so I'll be gone 11 hours a day... only to come home & help Tyler run our businesses at night & on Saturdays. I'm going to miss getting the kids ready for the day in the morning. I'm sad that I'll have to find someone to comb Lily's hair for dance pictures next month. I'm going to miss Ella's presentation at school, along with a play she's going to be in while she's Off Track from school. I'm really sad about it all. Hopefully it isn't for too long.

After we moved into our house our business sales dropped in half. We found out that some major companies in Europe were stealing our artwork, having vinyl produced in China, and selling it for less than we can even purchase vinyl for. There's not much we can do about it, since European copyright laws are different from U.S. copyright laws.

In the meantime we've purchased some expensive equipment, and we are in the midst of starting a new business called Say Hello. It should be more difficult for business thieves to steal our artwork from our new products (I hope.) Hopefully we can get it up and running, and profitable soon. Then I can spend time with my kids again. Until then... I may not be around as much.

Woo Hoo!

Ella got 100% on her Chinese spelling test. You can ask any parent who has a child in the Chinese program, and they will all tell you it is very difficult to study for this test.
Nice job Ella!

What I've always wanted

I remember working at Stampin' Up! and talking with some of my co-workers about how awesome it would be if we had an indoor spray-paint booth in our homes. Well, guess what! I have one! It's true. Tyler built me one out of scraps of our plastic & some PVC piping. We already had a blower, and a hole in our basement, so it didn't cost very much to make at all. I used it tonight. It was wonderful. No dirt blew onto my project. It wasn't cold & windy. Best of all, there were no stinky fumes in my house! Hooray for Tyler & Hooray for homemade indoor spray paint booths!

Ella was not impressed

I didn't spend weeks preparing awesome April Fools Day jokes like I have in the past, but I thought the few that I came up with at the last minute were pretty funny. Ella was not impressed by them. It's hard to find a joke to play on Ella. She doesn't like crazy surprises.
Yesterday morning while making her lunch, I emptied out a bag of fruit snacks. I replaced them with a cookie, some jelly beans, and a small toy, then re-sealed the bag to look like new. I figured since she likes all of the above more than fruit snacks, that it would be a funny and happy surprise for her. I was wrong. She was not happy about it. When she expects fruit snacks... she wants fruit snacks. It totally threw her off. Lily on the other hand was quite pleased with what she found in her pack of fruit snacks.

Lily: Oh my! These are not fruit snacks.

Before Ella left for school I showed her the Easter dress I had bought for her. Little did she know, that the Easter dress came with a mini replica for her doll. When Ella returned home from school I showed her the replica and told her that I had accidentally shrunk her dress. Without hesitation, she replied: “umm mom, that's a doll dress.”

In the years past I've tried switching beds with my kids, but that too backfired. I just ended up with crying kids for the rest of the night.

If anyone has any good jokes I can play on Ella next year. Let me know! She's a tough one to trick.

3 year olds are the best

I love all the funny things 3 year old kids say.

Me: Bye, I'm going to my meeting.
Lily: Bye mom. Have fun! Try not to pee in your pants.

Sometimes it's hard to understand Lily. Here's a guide if you find yourself in a conversation with her but you have no clue what she's talking about.

Wizzywand = Disneyland
Cupscups = Catsup
Barking bot = Parking spot
when I was a widdo mommy = When I'm a mommy I plan to...
eee-wear = underwear
bybearbee = library

Scrapbook Expo

We sold our stamps at the Scrapbook Expo over the weekend. Lily came with us to help set up. She had the time of her life carrying in boxes, putting decorations on our back wall, and riding her scooter around. She was a fantastic little helper. My mom & Trisha watched our kids during the actual show. My cousins Brooke & Heather came for a few hours each to help us sell our merchandise. Although the show was ridiculously long (ending at Midnight) we had a great time.