Roundup of new designs

It's been a really really busy couple of days! First we had General Conference which is always fabulous and I feel so envigorated by all the talks. One of my very favorite quotes was this one:

and you can see it in my Etsy store 

This is one of my kids' favorite songs and we sing it all the time

Love is Spoken Here

And finally Conference always makes me think deep thoughts and while I was enjoying some thinking time, I remembered that Queen Esther is my very favorite heroine from the Bible. I read over her story again and I came across this amazing quote. Esther is young and beautiful, married to the king and secretly a Jew. The king's advisors are plotting to exterminate all the Jews in the kingdom. Her choice is to watch her people be slaughtered or to reveal her secret and face death herself. Esther is telling Mordecai that she's afraid of confronting the king because she could be put to death for coming into his presence unbidden. To me, its as if Mordecai tells her that she might have been put on this earth for this exact moment and there's no one else who can perform her duty.

And Esther says "bringeth it on."

Really its an amazing story and you should read it for yourself. And if you love it as much as I do, you can also get this great print!

Weep with envy

Or... you know. Just go get your own.


Shabby Straps has an Etsy store but you can also check these out live and in person at Pro Digital Photos on Main street in Pleasant Grove - which is where I got mine. Cute, no?

Online-issue magazines for $1

Click here for details

Assistant to the Princess

Minnie was invited to the birthday party of a girl in her kindergarten class. The invitation asked them to come dressed up like a Princess. Minnie was so excited and had lots of specific requests for her attire.

I love to do hair. When I was younger my mom gave me books to teach me to French braid. And because I learned to do tight, even braids, my mom had me do her hair for work every morning. I also loved to do Karin's hair, until she butched it all off to prevent any sort of cute style being attached to her head. (Oddly, she's currently the most fashionable of sisters, with a brand-new hairstyle almost every day.)

Anyway, when I was blessed with a cute daughter with lovely, straight, thick hair, I was excited to bring my skills back into practice. I must say that little-girl hair is the most fun to do because you really can't go too overboard with bows, curls, braids or flowers. In their mind, the fancier the better.

Even though this particular blogger isn't posting regularly anymore, I still use her blog for hair ideas all the time. I highly recommend the She Does Hair site. There are lots of others but this is my favorite for fancy-but-not-unrealistic style ideas. This is where we got the idea for Minnie's princess up-do for the party.


I wish I had a picture of the finished product with her makeup and teeny tiny crown - she was ever so lovely. But you get the idea. She loved that the ringlets were bouncy and flouncy and she hopped around for half an hour before we left for the party, insisting that everyone watch her hair. I love little girls!

Communal Restaurant

Am so VERY excited to be trying out Communal Restaurant tonight with a group of friends. I'll be telling you how it was. Right now this tops my list of Things I Must Try.

Nine years!

It's kind of hard to believe that it's been that long... but it has.

Sadly we were married in a small town that is short on quality photographers. So this is the only wedding picture that I really like. And it was taken by Brandon. The rest of the pictures he took were extreme closeups of people who wondered what on earth he was doing. At least we got one, right?

I have great memories of our wedding day. We were both students in the Geology program at USU so my dad searched all around until he found a fist-sized, pure white rock to put on our wedding cake (I still have it.)

We were married at the country club and some of our guests sneaked down the hill (with their golf clubs!) and played a few holes.

It took approximately 14 hours for the photographer to arrange every imaginable combination of family members for all his pictures ("ok now we'll have the groom, the ushers, the caterer and all of the sisters who are 5' 5" or taller"). During that time no one would let me sit down (because I would wrinkle the dress) or eat anything (because I'm a klutz I guess.) So my dad got me a delicious cherry coke and held it so I could sip it through two of those red coffee straws. I thought it was really cute.

The receiving line broke apart about halfway through the reception so some of the guests came through the line to be greeted by random friends.

Mostly I remember how excited I was to be marrying the greatest guy in the world. I love you!

Shoe exchange

Wednesday I ran with my new shoes and by the next morning one of my ankles and legs hurt. I was so sad! I wore one old Nike and one new shoe around half the morning (prompting numerous 'helpful' comments from my kids) trying to pinpoint the difference. I also talked to Jenny about it multiple times but as she's 112 weeks pregnant and trying to will herself into labor, I'm sure she graciously wished I would fall off a cliff. Pray for her.

Finally I decided that the arch support was higher in my old shoe than the new one. The lack of support was making the arch in my foot stretch out too much and the muscles hurt all over. So I took the shoes back to 26.2 and they secured their place as my Most Favorite Running Store by exchanging the shoes and going through the whole fitting process over again.

Minnie is happy that I finally got my head on straight and picked pink shoes.

New shoes!

After running on Monday, my knees and ankles really felt like they had taken a beating. I've been considering new shoes for a while because my beloved Nikes have a lot of miles on them. I tried new insoles and it just wasn't cutting it.

So I went to 26.2 because they are my new favorite store for running shoes. The employees there have always been so nice and helpful. And they actually know what they are talking about which is a big change from shopping at Buy n' Large. My favorite thing is that they have a treadmill in the store and they will do a video analysis of your feet as you run (so bring socks and maybe your old shoes to run in.) They can decide what type of shoe you need based on the video of your gait. I didn't know this but I overpronate when I run, which basically means that your ankle rolls towards the inside edge. You can get a shoe that offers more stability to help support your ankles.
And I got these. Cute yes? Lisa loves them because they are shiny but has asked at least 28 times why I didn't choose pink.

I also appreciated the patience of the salesperson because it is pretty hard for me to find shoes that fit me the way I like. I think whoever determined my adult proportions had a weird sense of humor. My feet and toes are really long which I hate because it translates into a bigger shoe size. And they're really narrow which I hate because almost every pair of shoes is too wide and I feel like my fit slip from side-to-side in them. The poor salesguy brought lots and lots of shoes for me to try on before we found one that was not only narrow enough, but was the right type of stabilizing shoe. I'm sure he was wishing that a more normal person would walk in and demand his attention. But he was very patient and helpful.

THEN they will let you run on the treadmill some more and look at the video of your feet again to see if the shoe is doing what it promised to do! So yeah, this store is pretty much my favorite. And I'm excited to try out my new shoes.

Oh yes, I did 3.11 miles on Monday in 32 minutes, 13 seconds. That is a good time but I still need to shave off 2 minutes before the Labor Day 5K. I like to have goals.

Vacation giveaway

Head on over to Vanilla Joy to see the latest and most fantastic giveaway she is offering. I don't know how she gets all these amazing things. Enter and I hope you win! Or don't enter and hope I win!!!

While you're there, check out her styling new blog header that I designed. Yipee! This is one of my favorites (I say that about every new design though.) Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Tom & Lucy's Art Shoppe

I'm going to check this out today!
What: a boutique filled with local vendors for all your pre-Christmas shopping fun
When: today and tomorrow
Where: here

Card giveaway

I'll be giving away a set of Christmas cards next week! Check back and enter to win some!

Halloween Food

I have been having a heck of a time making any posts this week! And I'm sure with the amount of Halloween activities, most people aren't really keeping up with their blog-stalking either. Today I'm frantically trying to finish up Joe's costume, or he's going to go as Harry Potter and The Guy In Regular Jeans. If it weren't for Aleah and Missy, I couldn't have gotten this done. Aleah for helping me get the last things pinned together and Missy for loaning Mansfield Park to me so I don't die of utter boredom while I sew.

We have a few parties this week and I try to bring something both delicious and creative to them. Fortunately this month's cooking club theme was perfect for Halloween party food. We all made food that was Black & Orange. So check out this cool page of recipes! I'm making the Creamy Pumpkin Dip for a party tonight. And I'm sure Joe isn't going to say no to another batch of Black & Orange pasta... he loved that stuff!

Allrecipes is another great source for holiday recipes and ideas. This is my go-to site for most occasions.

Do you have a special treat you make every year, or something you're excited about making now? If so, let me know! And now... off for more sewing.

Christmas shopping

Laurie over at Tip Junkie had a great idea for holiday shopping this season - buy from other moms! She's hosting the Tip Junkie Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon, with lots of discounts, giveaways and great products created from other mommy-bloggers just like you... and me!



So head on over there and see if there's anything on your wish list. Or, if you're like me, you'll just make your wish list a little longer. Maybe you should send your husband over instead...

Vacation!

I don't know if I'll be making any posts next week. It depends on if we have internet service at our hotel. We are taking the kids to Disneyland and, can I tell you, I am SO excited! Last year we were there for Christmas and it was spectacular. This year there are a lot of Halloween things going on that will be really fun. I might even be more excited than the kids - and that is saying a lot!

We are flying to California today and, even though my kids are good travelers, I still have Child On A Plane Stress. I am really scared to be the parent of a whining/fighting/shrieking/kicking/hysterical child that causes other adults to shoot me filthy looks and pass judgment on my parenting skills. In preparation, I have purchased a variety of entertaining toys - like animal-shaped crayons for Bart, new glittery markers for Lisa and some cool coloring books. I'll also be bringing 2.8 million Matchbox cars, enough fruit snacks to feed a third-world country and my iPod, so I hope we've got the entertainment bases covered.

I promise to miss you and return at the end of next week.

Recent books

I've had good luck with the last few books I've read and I wanted to share a few of them here.

This book has become really popular and won several awards so I imagine lots of people have read it. Even so, I just got around to it. It was a great book though! A young girl growing up in 1940's Germany discovers - amid the Nazis and the book-burnings - the power of reading and literature. A little depressing at times, it's still a powerful book full of hope, love and the power of friendship.

Definitely a lighter read after The Book Thief, this is more of a children's novel... but I enjoyed it just the same. When it's announced that the future bride of the prince will come from a small mountain town, all eligible girls are all enrolled in a "princess academy" for a year. At the end of the year the prince will choose his bride. The story follows Miri, a small girl who struggles between the desire to prove herself and the love she holds for her village and its people. The book is simple and sweet enough that young girls would like reading it (or having it read aloud) but the plot is detailed enough for an adult reader to enjoy. I think my daughter is too young to like this yet, but 7-8 years old would be a good time to read it with her.

I read this book after I watched the movie and I have to say, I don't know which I liked more. Recently-orphaned Flora Poste goes to live with the Starkadder family on their creepy farm - Cold Comfort. She makes it her mission to take every individual member of the family - from the hellfire-preaching Amos to the flighty-spritey Elphine - out of their gloomy circumstances and into a normal life. Her main obstacle is the home's matriarch, the mysterious Aunt Ada who is determined that no member of her family will ever leave the farm. The book is sarcastic, funny and sweet at the same time (plus the movie leaves you with a desire to say "I saw something narsty in the woodshed" at least 10 times a day.) Definitely my favorite of these three books, I think I'll be going out to rent the movie again soon.

Pinky's pigs

You may remember my sister's pottery blog from a few months ago (when I did her header design). In addition to her lovely plates, bowls, planters and serveware, she's started making these fabulous piggy banks!

I don't know if she takes custom orders or just sells them at the local craft fairs, but if you want the cutest piggy bank in the world, I'd definitely e-mail her.

Just so you can be jealous, these two little darlings now live at our house. The big one belongs to Bart and the little one is Lisa's. I'm sure they will agree - it is so nice to have a talented aunt!

Organize your craftiness

Remember Vanilla Joy? Well, she's giving away one of these.

Incredible, but true. So get yourself on over there and enter.

Announcement giveaway

I'm giving away 25 birth announcements (4x6" size) on VanillaJoy.com! I'm really excited about it - it's my first giveaway! Anyway, go over and enter if you want to win some cute birth announcements. Post a link on your own blog and she'll give you 10 extra entries! In addition to announcements, I also do blog headers, backgrounds and buttons like this one.

Rainy rainy day

While it may seem crummy that a three-day-weekend holiday is cold and rainy, it took Minnie about 3 minutes to think of the perfect solution.
It's Joe's birthday today so I have big plans for a nice lunch for him. Amy's Creamy Tomato Soup (recipe coming soon) and some homemade bread... mmmmm.

Want to win a Cricut?

Vanilla Joy is giving one away this week - along with lots of other crafting prizes. So get over there and enter to win!