My Baby's 4!

For Carly's B-Day, me and Carly met my sister Stacy, and her little Hannah for Pedicures. You can't tell by these smiley pictures, but Carly was TERRIFIED! She put her fingers in her mouth, looked away, and pretended they weren't even there. She looked really nervous. Hannah, however, jabbered the whole time! Because I love before and afters so much, here's our disgusting feet BEFORE pedicures...

and AFTER....

After that, Carly wanted to go to Noodles (Wisconsin Mac & Cheese). As you can see, the "cheese" wasn't only in the Macaroni!

After that, we came home to let the boys in on all the fun. We opened presents (I say "we", because its always a group effort)...

We had a PINK heart cake with PINK frosting with strawberries on top...

Frank rounded out the night with her first "big girl" bike...

Edit Design Co.

So, here it is...I just finished the first project for my "DREAM JOB". My dad is the real estate agent for this bank-owned home up by Parley's Way. It's vacant, dated, and has been on the market for six months. They asked me to stage it to help get it sold. So, I hired a painter, rented furniture, moved half of my own house in, took down dated spindles, smoke mirrors, hideous bathroom mirror/cabinet, light fixtures, and VOILA! I had exactly one week from start to finish. Here's the before and afters...

I also staged the kitchen, bathroom, and office. It was so much fun that I'm starting up a staging company called, "Edit Design Company". I will do home-staging, and re-design. It was stressful, but so FUN! I'm sure the next one will be much easier now that I have one under my belt. I want to try staging occupied homes too with existing furniture and accessories. Sweet Frank also spent countless hours at the Wilshire home - my personal "handy man", AND accountant. I can't believe I actually made money doing something so FUN!

Kelly Concert

Kelly Clarkson put on an outdoor concert last night. The tickets were only $35, so I had to get in on that. I LOVE her new album. I was a little worried about the water situation, but it turned out to be a beautiful night. Just of few sprinkles here and there. There was even this amazing rainbow that arched perfectly over the stage - it was like it was planned...

Me and my sister went with my neighbors, Anna, and Robynn. Anna's sister was one of 5 performers before Kelly came on. She even won $500. SCORE! Just a fun night - pretending to be some crazy teenager again. Here's Stacy and Anna "trying" way too hard...

Scottsdale

Frank had a business conference at a Scottsdale resort, so of course, I had to tag a long. We left last Wednesday, and got home Saturday. Mark, and his amazing wife, Lorena agreed to come stay at our house with the kids while we were gone, so the kids could finish their last week of school. I had been cleaning the house for two days. Our bags were in the car, and then Frank said the flight was cancelled. Well, I couldn't spend one more minute in the house, so we went to lunch, and then headed to the airport. Since they cancelled our flight, they gave us $14 food vouchers at the airport. In our thrift, we spent $13.76 on cinnamon rolls and smoothies at cinnabon! Yum!

The trip was so relaxing. I forgot what it was like waking up when I want, only getting me ready (and spending as much time as I want), letting someone else serve me three meals a day, napping anytime I want, going to movies at all times of the night, spending as long as I want at the pool (without leaving for potty breaks, and break-downs), shopping without kids and letting valet park the car! It was AWESOME :)

I was so lost in excitement, that I kept forgetting my camera, so here's the few pictures I DID get...

This was Frank watching TV when we first got there. I like to play this little game where I keep taking pictures until he looks at me and smiles. It only took five times to get a smile! It's his favorite game!! I tortured him even more by showing a little PDA for the camera :)

Thanks again to Mark and Meg (Chase decided to change Lorena's name to Meg, since that was easier to say! Those L's, and R's kill him everytime - Wowena)

Dinosaur Park

Not BIG plans for memorial day, but we did manage to get to the dinosaur park in Ogden with Grandma and Grandpa, Stacy and her family, Julie, and her family, and Mark and his family. The weather was perfect, and the kids had a great time!

Carly playing "mommy" with her cousin Skylar (Mark's)

Mark and Lorena

I love this picture...the girls (Sadie, Carly, Hannah, and Rachel) look so busy!

My Little Duckling

Yesterday was our first ballet recital! I say "ours" because I have waited so long to have a little girl, so I could go to her dance recital.

I'm afraid the rest of my family was not nearly as thrilled to attend a 2 hour ballet performance in the middle of their Saturday. Frank met us there, and the boys played their Nintendo DS's in silence. They were good sports, and gave her plenty of attention after.

My sister Stacy, and her little girl Hannah came to watch. Franks parents also came (we neglected to bring them quiet activities...)

If you couldn't tell by the costume, Carly was a duckling. It was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!! She is in the youngest class, so of course, they were a big hit. They would walk on their tippy toes, then bend down to "wiggle their feather", or as Carly says it, "wiggow my feadows". She practiced that part in the mirror. She was especially excited for the make up. She would ask, "am I so gorgeous now?" I don't think I say that...do I?

Teacher Appreciation

Well, it's done. This year, I decided to sign up to help with teacher appreciation. Since it was going to be catered by Famous Daves BBQ, the western theme would have been obvious. So, in an effort to be original, I came up with the "down home country" theme.

One of the girls on the committee made these really yummy muffins, and I put them in little birds nest baskets, tied with gingham fabric, then attached a little wrinkled tag with gromet, that read, "There's "MUFFIN" like a great teacher!" We lucked out because my sister Julie had 25 of these baskets that she just let us have (easy on the budget).

Thursday was the teacher luncheon. We had room moms come in and help with the classes so that ALL the teachers and staff could enjoy lunch together. I had all the committee members bring as much produce as they could so we could set up a little farmers market (these were supposed to be the centerpieces, but the tables were smaller than I planned). It actually turned out well. We set it all up right in front of the librarian's desk as they walked in. It added a lot of color, and transformed the room. I made little signs on skewers to make it look more like a country market.

We set up the tables in a U-shape, and lined the tables with square vases filled with popcorn seeds, with a pillar candle, and tied with ginham fabric strips. Between the vases, I covered the table with votives - 50! We turned out the lights so the table was lit with tons of candle light.

We had their place setting with cafe rio style tins (for plates), and a mason jar for a glass. I collected denim pockets, and stuffed a red napkin and untensils inside, and tied with twine.

The place setting was finished off with a home-made carmel apple. We made them earlier in the week over two days. They were gorgeous! We finished them off with a ginham ribbon, and little "thank-you" tag. It was their teacher gift, dessert, AND decoration...WIN-WIN-WIN!
The buffet table was set up on the other side of the room. Since the meat was being supplied by Famous Daves, and the salads were being made by the PTA, we bought a bunch of $1 roasting pans so they would all be uniform. We put 4 tables together like 4-square so the buffet line could be on both sides. I lined the middle with 8 glass lanterns with candles and, of course, tied with gingham. It was simple, but the color of all the food made it beautiful.

For entertainment, my sisters, Julie and Stacy wrote some new words to "Home On The Range"...

Oh, give me a school, where the teachers are cool

Where the children are happy all day

Where never is heard a discouraging word

And we learn something new everyday

Oh, how we love Valley View

Our school is second to none

We follow the rules, at this greatest of schools

And our teachers make learning so fun

The falcons soar high, in the big bright blue sky

and we always give it our best

Our great teachers we thank, no, this isn't a prank

So, please do not give us a test!

I had the student council dress in country attire, and they sang it to the teachers. It was so fun to tranform the library, and do something really special for the teachers They really appreciated it!

Logan's Baptism

This is Logan's baptism announcement. Thanks for your help AMY!

Here's the video we played at the open house after the baptism.

Logan has been counting down the days 'til his baptism for about two months now. The day before, he was announcing it to EVERYONE at his soccer game. I've never met a boy more ready to be baptized. Both grandma's spoke, and my two brothers, Brad, and Kevin sang the Baptism song. It was a great day! After he got baptized, he told Frank he wanted to get baptized again. We thought, "wow, he must have felt so good, that he wanted to do it again". No, turns out the water was really warm!

Since he got a journal from his grandma Jenson, I thought I would read him my first journal entry from when I was baptized. I had written that the water was really cold. He thought my journal was so funny(especially the spelling mistakes). Ever since, he hasn't put his down. He writes several times a day! We'll see how long that lasts! Hopefully longer than me :(