Worms are so good to eat.....

Our little Canyon, what a character he is. On Mothers Day my brother Doug dared Him to eat a worm, or should I say bribed him with $5 bucks. I'll tell you he doesn't get that from me, cause I wouldn't eat that thing for $100 bucks. So if you want a little gross in your day, watch this: (you can tell by me in the background that I was way more excited about the yummy dip than anything else going on)

Not so little anymore....

My little girl, what happened. She just seems to be growing up faster each week. You always hear they grow up too fast, but then your stuck in the terrible two's and it just doesn't seem possible. Then all of a sudden they're asking if they can hang out with their friends and get dropped off at the mall.

And then comes the make-up thing. I look at her and just smile cause she has no idea how beautiful she looks. She wants to ruin that with make-up. She gets to wear mascara and lip gloss. And still she insists she's the only girl in America her age not allowed to wear make-up.

She's borrowing my razor, asking what to use to wash her face, wearing my sweatpants and shirts. Seriously. How does this happen.

But the one that threw me over the edge, was when she asked this week for me to buy her some "self tanner", huh, is all I could muster.

I know I can't stop it, I know I might actually love it once she gets past that teenage thing, but right now I'm wishing for that magic wand that could take me back to baby gap size 2T.

A favorite....

Just thought I'd share a favorite. I keep saying I'm going to, but then never do. So here we go. I'm only fanatical about a few things. Like socks. I have to have good socks. And lots of them. If I find a pair I love I buy dozens of them. Another thing I'm crazy about is a good writing pen. I hate squeaky thin pens. Like bic. My house is full of them cause there cheap, but I won't write with them.

A few years ago I ran into this baby by Paper Mate. It's called "Profile". It's smooth, it's fat (that's a good thing), it doesn't smear.I hoard them. I have them in my purse, my nightstand, my office, my car. I hate to admit I don't like to share them. If someone is using one, I steal it back the first chance I get. Not because I don't like to share, but what if I need it? What if I can't find one? I told you, I'm fanatical. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds about right........


Go buy some, you won't regret it....if you do, you can always give them to me :)

Houston, we have a problem.....

Have I neglected you, did I ignore your email, did I forget to call you back, did I skip our lunch date, or forget to fold your laundry? Did I even wash your laundry? (I can't remember :0). There is a good explanation, jewelry. I've been making it all day, in my sleep, at three in the morning. All in the name of the Tulip Festival which by the way got rained, no, snowed out.

And so my sweet friend Brooke threw me a last minute open house. And it was such a huge blessing in disguise. It more than made up for my snowed out show x10. And because I sold so much, I had to stay up all night for two additional days making more for another party the same week. I'm so grateful. I've had a lot of support from friends and from Willie and my kids.

So, yes I have been busy, but not because I don't love you all, it's because of my passion for beads. So forgive me. And I'm back on track, all caught up. At least until my next show :)

Yard work

It's that time of year, when you actually start caring what your yard looks like. Most of the bark in our front had blown away. So we got a butt-load delivered. And then we let Ridge do all the work. He's half way done in this photo, didn't he do a great job :).........

My quilt

Thought I would share this beautiful quilt my friend Sha Ree made me. She makes amazing quilts and I told her I had childhood memories of a denim quilt with pockets my moms friend made us. We used to fight over it. Next thing I knew I had this quilt and a beautiful letter to go with it. Thanks Sha Ree, I love it.

Opps....

I think I may have waited to late to put him to bed. I walked in a saw him just "hanging" there on the couch..... :)

The Big Boat

Willie and I recently went on a week long cruise to the Mexican Rivera. Great time, good food, a running track. We had a really good time. This was our first cruise, hopefully not our last. I guess you could say it was celebrating our 15 year anniversary. That's no easy task. Willie's brother Richard and his wife Jodie went with us, well technically we went with them.

I call it the big boat for two reasons: first it is a big boat. I was blown away when we first pulled up to it. I think it would take up my whole block if it parked out front of my house. And second, Since we got home Ridge keeps saying he wants to go on the "BIG boat".

Here is a run down of the trip:

Big boat, enough said.

Another shot of the Big boat.

This was the first morning before we set sail. Jodie and I taking it all in.

A shot of the outdoor pool area. This boat holds 3400 passengers and 1200 crew members. I think that's bigger than the town I live in.

Enjoying the sunshine. Not missing the snow at home whatsoever.

The boat had some amazing things to do, Here is a shot of willie rock climbing. Go baby go. Of course he had to take the hardest path up.

The boat had a golf coarse. It was kinda a challenge with the waves and the motion of the boat. They also had inline skating, but we never gave that a try.

We did hit the ice skating rink. It was small, but still kinda fun. The skates were painful though. The ice show they had was amazing. It put the olympic athletes almost to shame. They were that good.

Willie off the deck in Cabo. We went to "Lover's Beach". Can't tell you what happened there. You'll just have to go there to find out.

Our first Formal night. It was crazy how dressed up some people got. I only brought one formal outfit, so I had to wear the same dress twice, next time I'll know. :)

This was a boat ride we took. Kinda fun. We saved ourselves about $100 finding our own ride after we got to the port.

Just a fun shot at sunset.

Doesn't get any better than this.

In Puerto Vallarta we did a Zip line tour. It was pretty fun. Except they painted our faces. Some how Willie got out of it. We did about 12 different lines. It was awesome.

After the zip line Willie jumped in the freezing water. Pretty fun, pretty cold.

The Zip line was at an old moving set for Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "The Predator". I think it was made in the 1980's. Never saw it, but I guess now I should.

This is a shot of Richard, Jodie and I shopping the markets in Mazatlan. Not much but junk to buy, but I did get some Mexican vanilla.

We hung out on the beach after shopping, but we couldn't escape the venders. Even the kids were playing on the tourists. We had a little boy come up and sing a song with his little toy guitar. His sister stood next to him holding out a cup. Kinda cute, and sneaky. Yes I folded and gave them a dollar.

Big Boat continued.....

Willie and Richard playing in the waves in Cabo. Waves were pretty big, Jodie totally got taken out, lost her glasses, earring, and hair band. Willie lost his wedding ring. He didn't even realize it tell later.

Every night our room attendant would make these towel animals. It wasn't always apparent what they were, but it always made us smile.

This was one of my favorites, the monkey. We had to take him down before we slept though. I didn't want to wake up and be scared to death :).

Enjoying the sunset every night was awesome. There is something about the ocean and a beautiful sunset that is magical.

This was one of our "Formal nights" where you get to dress up for dinner. Kinda fun.

The boat had a wedding chapel on the 15th floor (yes there were 15 floors on this boat). We were goofing off.

This was our last night, we took a photo with our waiters. They served us every night and were a fun group. Every time he tried to sell the Lamb dish he would make us laugh. He kinda baaaa(ed) when he presented it. Apparently it was his favorite dish. never sold us on it though.

One of my favorite features was the running track. I ran every morning. It was awesome running on the ocean. The first morning I wore my sports watch and it said I ran 16 miles. More like 4 but since the boat was moving it couldn't keep an accurate chart.

We had some fun clouds and rainbows, of course Willie was happy about that. made for some great photos.

Shot of outside the boat where the pool is. Notice the double rainbow, we never got rained on, but it was raining around us.

Last night shot. It was kinda windy, so my hair was the entertainment. At least that's what Willie thought.

Just a fun shot with the boat life preserver.

We had a great time.It was the perfect trip to catch up on doing nothing. No laundry, no cooking, no cleaning. We could sleep in and still have breakfast. If you haven't been and have the chance, I highly recommend it.

How come.....

How come some days, you just want to shut the bedroom door, climb under the covers, turn it all off. No more dinner clean up, no more temper tantrums, no more tattle tailing, homework help, jammy time, dishwasher loading, tear wiping, clothes folding, or bedtime kisses........how come.

"Surprise"

Because Willie and I had a trip planned over Aspen's birthday, we decided to throw her an early "SURPRISE" party. And was she ever surprised. She had no idea. I think she really thought I was a horrible mean mom to be gone for her "birthday". Thankfully I redeemed some of my niceness by throwing her a surprise party. She remembered we really did love her.
In this photo she was in complete shock. It took her a minute to realize, hey these guys are here for me.


Aspen taking her friends for a ride in the elevator. Who knew they could have so much fun going up and down two floors.


Present time.....


and a little dancing.


We had pizza and cake before we headed off for "Jump on It".


Aspen enjoying a little down time, all that jumping can really wear a girl out.


I think the party was a success, everyone seemed to have a great time.


Aspen sure did, wish I could pause time and enjoy her happiness a little longer.


Oh and Canyon's suicide jump....yes, he survived.....barely.

Happy Belated 11th

Happy Belated Birthday to my sweet, funny, creative, loving, messy girl. My life would not be complete without you. You add just the right spice to our family. Love you and thanks for forgiving me for missing your birthday! I promise I won't leave on vactation again.....well on your birthday. xoxo