Me and My wide Brimmed Hat

I've been wanting a wide brimmed hat for me to wear outside for a long time.  When I was pregnant with Lilly I got MELASMA.  After I had her it stayed.  Everything I read said it would go away.  I went to a dermatologist who suggested that since I was still nursing, that was why it was still there.  After I stopped nursing her it slowly faded and went away.
So since I knew I was prone to Melasma, I wore a hat anytime I went outside when I was pregnant with Max.  I got the dark patches again anyways.  Only worse.  I nursed Max for 2 years.  After I stopped, they never went away.  I still have it.  I've used a Mary Kay product that has lighten them, but I obviously need something stronger.  In the last 4 years I very, very rarely leave the house without a hat on.  The only hats we have had, have been baseball hats.  Which still allow the sun on your face more than I would like.  So the answer is this $2 hat from Target.  We are going to become best friends this hat and I.

School Carnival

Can I just begin by saying that I think I have Enochlophobia.  It's a fear of crowds.  I'm not kidding.  I guess it's not so much a fear of them as it is a hatred of them.  And lines as well.  So as you can guess,  School Carnivals are at the top of my list of fun things to do.  But for fear of making my children like me, I go.  They love it and seeing them so happy makes it worth it.

This last photo has got to be one of my all time favorite photos of Max.  Ever.  I love his cute little feet and that smile just melts my heart.  Thanks Jarrett for taking photos (again) while I'm busy trying to keep my cool in the hoards of people.  The only thing I hate worse than being in crowds of people, is trying to take photos in crowds of people.

I'm trying people.  I'm trying. 

Watercolor Wednesday (err... Thursday) Week 3

Almost didn't make it this week.  Busy being a mom and that leaves very little room for painting or any else.  I guess I'd have more time if I used it a little more wisely, but I'm just not sure what to cut out.  Eating?  That's not going to happen, Exercising?  That's not happening either.  It's the only thing I do for myself.  Sigh.  Guess I need to cut out blogging or Facebook.
Anyways this is getting depressing.
I'm fairly happy with my painting.  It almost got the trash bin at least a dozen times during the process. Salt and rice paper were used as well as a small amount of white paint.
View my other work Here.

Spring Break Part 3

We spent some time at  the Army Surplus Store and and D.I. (Deseret Industries)  It's a thrift store here around these parts.  We found some good finds. Sometimes it's just fun to go look around, something we don't do very often anymore at least not since having kids.  The kids are getting older now though and it's much easier to go "look" at places.
 I don't have a picture of it, but Lilly found a boy scout book, that has all the badges and things and all the things they need to do to get their Eagle Scout award.  She is a little obsessed with scout stuff.  See HERE.  She really wants to do the cub scout stuff and I might just have her do it.  She won't get any public recognition since it's for boys, but if she wants to do it, I'll buy her the badges and stuff and help her do it.  The first girl Eagle Scout.

Max found a mini clip board

 Jarrett, a leather jacket

 And I found some vintage sheets

The Fly

We recently watched the 1958 version of The Fly and Lilly loves it.  She's watched it several times.  In church the next day Lilly drew this picture.

The craze was brought on by a favorite band The Cramps playing the song "Human Fly"

The kids love the song and ask to listen to it all the time and it's on LILLY'S CD.

Enjoy!!!

Wonky Stars

First Bouquet

 One of the many reasons I love having flowers in my yard, is the ability to go out and pick a bouquet any time I'd like.  The tulips and Bleeding Hearts are in bloom.  I love having the color and beauty in the house to enjoy.

Old Photos

Once a month our little family cleans my grandparents house.  I've always loved the old photos of my grandparents from when they were younger.

Spring Break Part 2

 Jarrett took Thursday and Friday off this week and so we went hiking again.  We wanted to go up to Stewart Falls which is above Sundance, but when we got to the trail head there was 2 feet of snow.  so we went up by where Jarrett and I were married.

 Proof that i was there.

I would love to live in that house.  I've always liked it, since I was a little girl.

A storm was  brewing.  We hike up until the last second.  We turned around a few minutes after we heard the thunder.  We ran all the way back down and just as we were getting into the car, the snowflakes started falling.

I've always wondered who lives in that remote house....Lucky.

Watercolor Wednesday Year 2 week 2

This first painting is done in a John Blockley style.  The textures were achieved by splattering both water and paint.  The Mountains base texture was done by blotting the wet paint with a piece of tissue. I also used India Ink to achieve the black. 

It measures 15x11

The second painting was done by first applying a wet on wet wash for the sky and while still damp, applied the distant blue trees.

I used wet on dry to achieve the rocks.  I purposely left some areas white and sprinkled salt into some areas.  I also used the edge of a credit card to scrape the rock shapes.

A sea sponge was used for the yellow and orange trees and the edge of a credit card was used once again to scrape out some tree trunks and branches.

Rice paper was used to create the spray for the rapids as well as the branches on the fallen trees.  I also splattered white paint to simulate water spraying on the rocks.
It measures 15 x 11

View my other paintings HERE.

Jack O Lantern

This last Sunday, Lilly lost two teeth.  In the same day.

Two dollars and a pack of gum from the tooth fairy.

This makes 7 teeth lost.

Spring Break Part 1

I've always known that once my kids got old enough I wanted to hike a lot with them.  I love hiking and I always enjoyed hiked with my family.  I recently came across a list of different hikes you can go on in Utah Valley click HERE to view it.  I'd like to go on as many of them as we can this year.  With the exception of the Top of Timp which is a bit too strenuous for a 4 year old I think.  One of these days we will make it to the top as a family!  I've hiked it three times I believe.  It's at a good 12 hour hike, but it's beautiful and lots of fun!

Over Spring break we went hiking several times.

The first time was with my sister.  We packed a lunch and ate before we started hiking.

Max and Lilly packed some Easter candy and Max ate a green Laffy Taffy and thought he was pretty clever to spit the thick green goo and slurp it back up before it hits the ground.  I took about 10 pictures before I got this one....but Max was happy to keep spitting over and over again so I could capture it.

Spring hasn't quite sprung yet up that far in the mountains...In fact we only got to hike about halfway before we ran into deep snow and mud.

While we were hiking Amelia picked up this walking stick and carried most of the way, until she carried Max on her back, piggy back style.  Max sure knows how to sweet talk his way into having people do things for him, it's a good thing my sister is a good sport.  Thanks Amelia.

As you can see in the picture below, Lilly is now carrying the stick and as we were walking, she said "Why do people buy things when they could just find or make them? Like walking sticks or slingshots. They probably feel like they wasted their money"  My response was "yes, Lilly you are definitely my child."

The scenery was beautiful and I had fun taking pictures and playing around with Pixlr o matic's (which is an app for your phone) different lenses and layering techniques to come up with these next few pictures.

My Children are Monkeys

Before the above two pictures were taken, Max got up on the A frame bar of the swing set and stood up, not looking what was above him or how close his head now is to the top of the swing set when he stands. (He's grown since last year and being 4 didn't take that into consideration) and stood up right into a bolt.  

It looks worse than it really was. 

As you can tell from the first picture, which was taken after the cut head, he was back to playing in no time.