Easter Dresses

I am so far behind, it isn't even funny. I don't know where to start with the excuses, or where to start with the photos!! (I will post Cozumel, that's coming up.)

I decided I wanted to make the girls Easter dresses this year. I LOVE sewing - I just have too many hobbies I want to do and not enough time to do them. But the dresses - SO FUN! I just loved making them. I tried really hard to get a photo with the two girls, but Adalyn decided photos are overrated. So you get only one of my gorgeous daughters!

The Royal Ball

Once Upon a Time in a far away land, lived two very beautiful princesses that shared a very special birthday together.

Princess Adalyn, 3

Princess Juliana, 5

The time came for them to celebrate their birthday. It was a glorious spring day! (HA! If you call 40 degrees, glorious!)

The baker spent all week choosing the cake and decorating it into a beautiful castle. (Only to discover that the cake needs more than four anchors if we wish to keep it standing longer than one hour.)

The beautiful princesses were whisked away to an enchanted beauty college to prepare their hair and nails for the Royal Ball. The Royal assistant (Mimi) escorted the lovely princesses in her beautiful white chariot. Upon arrival, the princesses were pampered to their hearts content. The Royal Assistant was told to tip the Royal hairdressers, but misunderstood the Queens instructions. What should have been an inexpensive, enchanted "updo" and "manicure" (normally $6 per princess) cost a grand total of $30 royal dollars!!!

The Royal Assistant is in the dungeon now, awaiting execution.... Back to the story:




At last, the Royal Ball was beginning! Each Royal quest was greeted by a Charming Joker and Prince Charming.



Not to mention, the wonderful King himself! (I love my parents, they totally rented this costume on their own when I mentioned that I would like Dad to read the princesses names at the Royal Ball! How sweet!)

Upon arrival, the princes and princesses decorated their own crowns, played pass the glass slipper and rescue the princess. Then they entered the dining room for the Grand Feast of cake, raspberry soda and fruit kabobs before the royal ball.


After eating (and spilling several glasses of soda), the Royal Ball Began!!!

Each princess was introduced by the King himself and escorted down the stairs and into the dancing hall by a charming prince.

Prince Charming took the lovely princesses into his arms and danced the first dance to Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman (a real tear jerker, if you have girls!)
Then we cut the sentimental stuff and "jam, pumped it up" to Miley Cyrus, Hananna Montana and Disney Mania. Those kids can dance! The ball lasted longer than anticipated and hit a climax when prince charming released a net full of balloons to the ground!

But, Oh NO! A Dragon! (No princess story is complete without one!) The prince and princesses all had their hand at slaying the dragon!
Princess Juliana even acted the part and showed her amazement when cousin Mosiah (dressed in his finest dancing attire) attacked the dragon with pure courage!

Finally, the beast surrendered, lost a wing and distributed candy to the cold Royal Party.
The two beautiful princesses sat on their Royal thrones and opened many generous gifts bestowed to their royalty.
But alas! That is not all! For a final surprise, a beautiful princess from a far off land (Draper) came to visit the party and tell the children of her enchanting tales! She read a book about three daring knights seeking the hand of a princess. Each princess was enthralled as they asked questions. And yes, Princess Ashli does know all the princesses. In fact, Ariel is her cousin! Imagine that!
All the princesses were jealous that Princess Ashli knew Adalyn and Juliana. They wish she could come to all their parties. But she's a busy princess and may not have time for all of them. Just the special ones... ;)

It was time for the Royal Ball to end.

Each prince left with a shiny foam sword and a goodie bag. The princesses left with a beautiful tiara, a princess pencil and candy. And the princesses lived happily ever after. The queen did too, but went to bed exhausted...

Stylish Jake

When I heard I was having a boy, I basically envisioned a well kept, stylish boy; a Gap commercial. Instead, I got the DI version of bad fashion. We pretty much argue daily about what to wear.

I've gotten lots of advice:

"Just pick the outfit and don't take no for an answer." (Ahem, they have never dealt with this child.)

"Only buy clothes that you both agree on and he'll wear those." (Even if he DOES agree, he can, and always does, go back on his word. Something that was cool, suddenly becomes hideous.)

"Only buy things that you want him to wear." (These people don't have a mother that purchases horrid cartoon shirts, then grins at me while giving them to my child.)

You get my point. The boy can't dress nice. I understand that it is a direct reflection on his mother, but just note that his mother tries. Very, very hard.

So that's why it was so very, very hysterical when he opened his fortune cookie a couple of weeks ago:

"You will make a name for yourself in the fashion industry."

I really hope I'm not around to find out what name that's going to be!

Halloween Recap

Yeah, I know. We are almost to Thanksgiving - but you've come to expect that in me, right?

Halloween was a blast this year! It came and went and we didn't have time to carve pumpkins, go to a pumpkin patch or eat any fun halloween treats. I usually host a Halloween party, but once again, I didn't this year. Jeff's MBA takes up a lot of our time (yes, mine too...someone has to be home while he is at school!). Luckily, our friends invited us to a Halloween party. It was a blast!

I was a flower, if you can't tell. I put glitter on my eyes. A

dalyn told me I was beautiful. I didn't know that was all it took! ;)

Here's the guy that won the costume contest. Ol' Abe himself!

We went to the Halloween parade at Jake's school. This photo (above) is proof that I actually dress my children up for holidays. But usually, by the time we leave the house, someone's hairbow is missing, socks dirty and clothes have been changed. For some miraculous reason, none of those things happened this day!

He couldn't wear his mask to school, so I guess a lot of people asked what he was. Duh! Hasn't anyone seen Transformers??

Saturday finally came and we started our evening festivities. We headed to the Wright's to say hi, then we booked it down to Mimi's to trick or treat.

Juliana was a cute princess. She was all ready with her trick or treat bag!
For some reason, this little girl knew what she wanted to be months before Halloween. I really, really, really wanted to make her a costume this year (I've had my eye on a witch dress for years) but she would not deviate! I found this cute costume at Disney store for 1/2 off. Once she saw it in the window, she booked it out of her stroller and into the store. By the time I found her, she was in the dressing room frantically tearing off her shirt to try this dress on! I've already gotten my moneys worth! It has been worn to the store, the library, the mall, and yes, even church (for primary practice rehearsal.)

And we had to get the matching shoes, of course!!

Now can you tell? He's Optimus Prime! This was the first year that Jake went trick or treating with his friends. His best friends' cousins live right across the street from my parents. As luck would have it, we tend to meet up there every Halloween! This year, his friends asked if Jake could go trick or treating with them around the neighborhood. The girls were done, so I let him go with the boys (don't worry, it was around the neighborhood, and a dad went with them). It was a "he's all grown up" moment for me. I kept sticking my head out the window to watch for him. I hate how fast they grow up!

We were orignally going to come back to our house to finish our trick or treating, but, like always, there was something exciting to do there. Daren started a tradition before he left on his mission. He brewed homemade rootbeer, placed it in a metal box and buried it in the garden. We opened it up when he returned from his mission. Ryan also did the same thing before his mission. Halloween seemed the perfect night to dig it up, seeing as how it's called "Operation Blackbeard."

Everyone (but me) took turns digging. It took a very, very long time. Things sped up when we realized that we (ok, they) were digging in the wrong spot! Ryan finally went inside, found Dad's photos of him placing it in the ground and announced we were digging about 2 feet to the east of the actual location. We finally hit the jackpot! (And this was only the beginning on the gleaming booty!

Then we popped the tops, took a shot glass and drank it up! Was it any good you ask? Depends on who you ask. I thought it tasted like bed dough mixed with cough medicine. Strangely, my girls couldn't get enough. (And before all you uptight people start commenting, it isn't possible for it to become alcoholic. You have to add more ingredients. So calm down!)

But that didn't stop everyone from pretending it was spiked! The "drinking games" began! ;)

It was a fun, fun night!

Ryan's Home! YAY!

Craig and I welcomed Elder Lifferth home Monday afternoon! It was so exciting to see him after two years. He looks great, doesn't he? He jumped right back into life and is doing great. WELCOME HOME!!

The Family Friendly Hike

We decided to take a family hike last Saturday evening to the letter above our house. (I'm trying to be tricky so people can't figure out where I live based on my blog. Is it working?) We have never actually been to this location, but I've heard from most people that it is an easy 30 minutes stroll; perfectly suited for children. It can be a little steep, but only for a moment.

We gathered some water, a couple of snacks and a cell phone and headed up the trail. Jake's little friend came with us too. We arrived at the trailhead, which is literally up the road we live on, and started up the trail. I was in the rear, directing children, while scoutmaster Jeff lead the way. Our first mistake was when Jeff said, "which trail do you think it is?"

I replied, "I heard it is a little steep, so I assume this way (meaning up) but we should head this way, (meaning left) because that's where "the letter" is. Now, I've been on several hikes with Jeff. and unless we are with a group, Jeff has an uncanny ability to get us lost. Not lost like call a ranger lost, but off on a trail that takes us on the most difficult and unconventional route. (Remember Lone Peak Scott and Leann? Yeah, that's what I am talking about.)

So, up, up, up we went! With four children, I might add. At several points I thought, this is WAY to steep to take children, but she DID say it was a little steep!

We finally made our way to this:

Amazing, isn't it? This is in our own backyard! Can you see the waterfall?Beautiful.

We were kind of in a time crunch, as you can see by the lighting. So I tried to hurry things along. Two year olds, on the other hand, don't like to be hurried along! Addy stopped to pick up rocks every few minutes.

All of a sudden, the trail ended! I could see "the letter", but there were no trails leading to it. Now, normal people would have turned around. Oh no, not my husband. He started leading us to "the letter"over bushes, rocks, ledges and grasses. The children were slow due to the rough terrain. They were loving it. I, however, noticed the sun starting to descend over the mountains. I was edging them along. Jake was doing his best to hurry. But his friend, oh my goodness! HE WAS SO SLOW! I didn't want Juliana to hurry. She's a tad uncoordinated. She trips. A LOT. I happen to be the lucky one to hold her hand during the hike. I bet she set a record for the most trips. The funny thing is, she just keeps chatting despite the fact she falls every second!

Anyway, light is almost gone and we still had three ravines to go. They started to get steeper and steeper. And Jake's friend walked slower and slower.

Jeff went ahead to "find a trail" leaving me with three of the four children. I led them over one ravine and I was done. Jeff finally came back. We had a rather heated discussion during which I was told to "enjoy the adventure." I told him that HE can enjoy the adventure when we have to call the firefighters to come rescue us!!

We decided to forgo the destination and head down the mountain to the trail. (The one Jeff found SEVERAL feet below us). The sun was now gone and we were walking with very little light. We finally got onto the trail and booked it down to the car with no light left to spare.

Sure, it WAS an adventure. But one that I would prefer to take in the light and on the trail that we are actually supposed to be on! Once at the bottom, I realized that the "steep" part our friend told us about was certainly NOT steep. (At least compared to what we actually just walked.) And what was supposed to take us 30 minutes, took us over two hours! Next time, wait. There probably won't be a next time!