Hair

UPDATE: This is a shout-out for the PIXIE PATCH

They have the cutest hairbands and blankies for babies - and I just found another use.  Madison here is wearing Ashlyn's Pixie Band (the talented folks at Pixie Patch custom made this for Andrea's wedding last summer).  I used it to cover up the unsightly ends and the bands have a velcro tab to attach gorgeous Pixie Petals.  So cute!!  I love the Bands because they are so, so soft and stretchy. 

People are always asking me how I do my girls' hair.  Usually for church, they have some really cute style, and (although the pictures below don't really show) Madison had a cool "chain" 'do for the first day of school.  People say they looked like the Olympic rings, probably because the first time Madison and Brooke wore the "chain" to church it was at the start of the Olympics.  

Anyway, I'll have to post pictures when we do some cool 'dos, but for now, check out the links on my side bar.  There are plenty to keep you entertained for probably too long.  And right now, Girly Dos is having a fun give-away, so check it out and be sure to tell her I sent you! :-)

Every week, my girls spend time perusing the 'hair' sites to pick a style we want to recreate.  

We've even had playdates over here where we play hair salon and the kids all pick a style they want.  Never a shortage of girly-ness over here!  (poor Christian). 

Congratulations on My Engagement, or our Marriage, Or However You Want to Look at It!

For fourteen years this lovely digit wore a beautiful bauble~handpicked by my betrothed, yet spent the last year and a half in utter nakedness, alone, sad, desolate. Finally, yes, finally, attention was paid (a lot more than attention, actually) once more and another beautiful bauble was found to again wreath the lovely digit for what she hopes this time will last a lifetime.

Clothed in sparkles and sublime beauty, lovely digit no longer looks single.

Hooray for me! Now no throwing this one away!

John and I finally found (made) time to go ring shopping - after spending the morning "walking" for Prop 8 last Saturday.  It was really fun spending the afternoon with him downtown and meeting a wonderful jeweler and having this piece custom made.   

Happy 15 Years!

School Has Begun!

The First Day of School!

New outfits for the first week all picked out, new shoes, new lunch boxes, and 20 tons of school supplies purchased.  Bulging backpacks, butterflies in tummies, hair in curlers . . . we're ready!

Out front for our traditional first day of school photo shoot . . . always in a rush as we are ready to load into the car and hurry to school.  Christian and Ashlyn wanted to start school, too.  Christian will have to wait for next week for Pre-K and they'll enjoy MerrillSchool here a little while longer.  

I love how Madison and Brooke still want to match.  Or at least Madison is going along with it.  I know it won't last much longer and Madison will put a stop to her sister copying everything, or wanting to strike out on her own, but at least for now it's cute - and they'll be matching for the first week.  Like I said, the outfits are already picked out. 

Madison is happy about her teacher and excited for 4th grade.  After school she said she had a "really, really fun time!"  Oh, good.  I hope the enthusiasm lasts. 

The sun was too bright in her eyes to look at the camera.

Brooke got one of her really good friends in her 2nd grade class, so she's happy about that!

Ashlyn wanted to go to class with Brooke.  She is really going to miss them all day long!  

2nd and 4th grade?  That seems so old.  I don't know how I'm going to handle middle and high school.  This is going a bit too fast!

Renee's Wedding!

My first niece got married today!

Renee is one of the most beautiful people I know and 

today she was sealed for time and eternity to Brandon, the

love of her life.  We are so happy for her and wish her a forever of happiness.

The ceremony was really nice.  It turned out that my mother-in-law was the bride helper, and my father-in-law performed the sealing!  We kept it all in the family.

She couldn't have picked a better day.  The weather was perfect and had a nice cool ocean breeze.

She was a stunning bride!

The Norris crew tends to get a little crazy.  They love goofing off and having a good time. They are all just so cute!

Danika, Renee, CJ, Amber

Renee's Cousins (missing Shaun)

Beginning the receiving line.  The reception was held at Brandon's house, which is only three doors up from Renee's.  His parents really outdid themselves.  Not only is their home spectacular with a gorgeous yard and view, but his mom painted the entire downstairs sage green to match Renee's colors.  She tore out all the beautiful flowers in the backyard and replanted orange flowers.  It was unbelievable and really made the whole reception come together.

Congratulations Renee and Brandon!  

By the way, it was nice meeting you today Brandon.  We look forward to getting to know you in the future!

Our Last Day of Vacation

Our last day we stopped at Rachelle's house and what great timing!  Adrianne just got home from the hospital so I got go over to her house to see her brand new baby!  So precious!!  

This picture is to blackmail Madison and Noble. They took a while to warm up, not remembering the times they've played together in the past (ok, they were babies, we'll give them a break).

Rachelle took us to a great community pool and the kids had a blast swimming until sunset.

Thanks Rachelle for a fun stay - great dinner, fabulous breakfast and fun company!

Back in St. George where we stayed a night, I took Madison and Brooke to the Tuacahn Theater to see "The Sound of Music". 

It was fabulous - no wonder they call it Broadway in the Desert.

All packed up and ready to go.  Five hotels, three homes, and thousands of miles, yet we still weren't tired of living out of a suitcase.  We had such a fabulous vacation and didn't want to go home.  Now it's back to life, back to reality.

THE RANCH!

On Wednesday, we drove up to Grace, Idaho to the Clegg family ranch.  This is where Lyn Schuffert was born.  Her family is still there - they were so nice and let us have the best day ever!  We borrowed Kent's quads and swam in his pond.  We also went over to another cousin, Nathan's, ranch just up the road and road horses.  They have a slice of heaven there - it was so beautiful and fun!

Little Savvy and Brooklyn on the horse we named "Bella"

Sav got stung by a wasp on her face so was holding a penny up to it.

Christian and Madison on "Skip"

Skip looks tame now, but he likes to run!  Scared me to death.  Carolyn and I had fun taking the horses off into the fields.  Horseback riding is a lot more difficult than it looks!  I was really sore and used muscles I didn't know I had.

Carolyn riding off into the sunset . . .

Brooke testing her skill at driving

They had goats, baby pigs . . .

and a calf that Madison got to feed a bottle to.  So cute!

This is the pond that Kent made for his children's entertainment.  He just added this slide on the side of the hill.  The kids loved it and really picked up a lot of speed going down.  They didn't care that it was cold water.

Savannah

Everyone tried the tire swing over the little creek.  We rode the quads through a little canyon to a campground they have set up.  

This is Kent's horse, Diego.  He is beautiful, but not tame so we weren't able to ride him or get too close. 

Too cool off, we rode through the sprinklers!   These are much different than our little lawn sprinklers at home!

After a wonderful dinner with Nathan and his extended family, we took a sunset ride on the Rhino.  The kids were thrilled to be able to ride in the back of a "truck"!

One last hoop shot before we head home. 

We were all tired, dirty and got home very late, but it was all worth it. It was an amazing day!!

LOGAN!

On Monday, we packed up and left Joe and Heather's and headed up to Logan to spend a few days with Carolyn.  Brady and Ty were in Denver, so it was just us girls!  Poor Christian!  The picture above is the view from her front yard, and most windows!! We had a fun time together.  Logan is such a cute town.  We walked to town and went to dinner and did some shopping at a fabulous book store.  Look how cute these little girls are trying to carry as many purses as possible. 

On Tuesday, we "let" the kids play most of the day in the house . . . we were both sort of hooked on "Breaking Dawn".  So funny!  So were Heather, Joe and Megan.  We all were up until wee hours of the morning reading and reading and reading!  Crazy!

We finally had to get out of the house and went to Gossmer's Dairy for some squeaky cheese and root beer milk.   Then headed out to this darling park where the kids had a great time playing.
The all experimented with static electricity.

Our Weekend!! . . . sighhhh . . .

To celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on August 1st, Dirk and Tina threw a wonderful party all weekend long in Deer Valley.  It started Friday night with a barbeque at their home (well, really it started Friday afternoon in the temple).  They booked the entire Hotel for everyone to stay in, and a weekend of festivities.  

Saturday morning we had a European breakfast at the hotel with everyone, then went over to Olympic Park for some ziplining,  Alpine Bobsleds, and a ski jump show.

The scenery was so pretty on the way down.  I thought the warning signs were pretty funny, too.

We watched the ski jump show in the afternoon.  This is the only facility in the world like this, so people come from all over the world to practice here. They had many Olympians, and Olympic hopefuls performing.  It is amazing!  The water is aerated right before they land to break the landing better.  They have to swim out of the water wearing skis and all the gear.  It was really amazing when 9 skiers jumped at the same time.  Here is a 20 second video clip of one jumper.

After the Olympic Park activities, we rented mountain bikes and took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and rode down. It was a lot of fun . . . but it was so hard! I nearly bailed so many times and all I could think about was having bruises and scrapes in my formal dress. Nothing like spin class!

It was so beautiful, serene, and peaceful up on that mountain.

Then we had appointments at a salon . . . I got an up-do and John got a massage.  I wish I had time for a massage after that bike ride!  

An hour and a half, three ponytails, one braid and 50 bobby pins later:

It was so heavy on my head I had to take Advil!

We got dressed to the nines.  John was so dashing in his tux!  I pretended we were celebrating our 15th anniversary (since it passed without a wink).  We had a marvelous time with wonderful people, a beautiful dinner, dancing the night away.

The next morning there was a farewell brunch put on at the hotel.

Then John left for the airport (he had to be in San Francisco all week) and I went back to Elk Ridge to get the kids!  Again, we are so grateful for Joe and Heather for taking our kids all weekend.  It's not like they don't already have their hands full with their own five kids!  Especially with Ashlyn . . . she never did warm up completely to Joe . . . not even after he was the lucky one who had to change her massive dirty diaper.  Thank you thank you thank you!!!