Happy 3rd Birthday Kylie!

Kylie turned 3 this month! We celebrated with a party with a few of her friends. She wanted a Go Diego Go cake and we gave her friends Dora and Diego books as party favors. The kids played outside on the swings and colored the front sidewalk with chalk. We had lots of fun!

We went to the zoo this month with Cameron's preschool. Shirley joined us and we had lots of fun! The kids enjoyed playing with their friends from preschool and we got to see a white Crocodile. Sadly, there will be no butterfly exhibit at the zoo this summer :(

We have also learned that it is best to not let Kylie watch TV while coloring with markers. This isn't the only time this has happened and what is funny is that she seems to not really think about what she is doing. From now on, only crayons when the t.v. is on.

April Happenings

I can't believe its been almost two months since I've updated our blog. We've had a ton going on. In April, we visited Grandma Jonna for her birthday. We had fun going to the Boise Zoo and meeting Papa's new dog Taz. We also went to the Birds of Prey exhibit where Cameron was excited most by the power line display and not the birds. We stopped by Mary's Barber shop in Middleton and Kylie got her first haircut (just a few wispy bangs).

Our Creative Saturday

Saturday was a rather creative day for Jen, Cameron and Kylie. It all started with a new hair bow that I made for Kylie. I've decided I want to learn to make hair bows so I did a few web searches, bought some ribbon, and spent hours curling ribbons in the oven on Thursday. The result was a blue, purple, and white korker bow. Today's pink rose bow was much easier.

The kids were also busy making cards and drawing pictures. Cameron drew a thank you card as well as a picture of our family on a boat (he's stuck on boats right now for some reason). Kylie drew a picture of a giraffe and zebra.

And I also made/finished 2 cards. One was an easter card that I started last year and finally finished up to mail to a friend. The second was a 3D goose card for a Fiskateers.com challenge.

Our busy weekend...

Friday night, Jen's parents (aka Papa Chick and Grandma Jonna)came into town. We met up with them at the Mayan restaurant where we had front row seats for the cliff divers. Jen got sung too for her birthday and we enjoyed Mexican food. The kids got a balloon train and penguin made by a very talented balloon artist.
Saturday morning, Jen made an iris fold and paper piecing card for Grandma Jonna's friend Darlene's wedding while Grandma took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. It was from a pattern posted by Ingrid at CircleofCrafters.com.

That afternoon we went to The Living Planet Aquarium that is now in Sandy. It is only a preview exhibit but the kids had a great time. They got to say hi to sharks, sea horses, Nemo and Dori. We also got to pet friendly sting rays that jumped up to say hi. We got a yearly family pass so we will be visiting there lots. Its great that it is only about a mile away.

Today, Sunday, Grandma and Papa headed home to Idaho to put their house on the market. Hopefully we will get to go visit them one last time at their current home and see Mary's spring lambs.

Kylie's drawings today

Kylie had lots of fun at church today drawing flowers and faces. It is so cute to watch her try to get eyes and mouths in the right places. Considering she isn't even 3 yet, we're pretty proud of her! The first picture is a quick drawing of our family (including grandma and papa since they have been visiting) by mommy. Kylie drew in all of the faces and colored the kitties at the bottom (the blue blob) and her's and Cameron's clothes. The 2nd picture is of flowers. The far left flower has eyes, a nose, mouth, a "flower holder upper" (stem) and leaves. Aren't her drawings cute!

Last Snowfall of the Season?

We had a good snowfall on March 4th and it was finally wet enough snow to make a snowman! And the kids didn't have colds so we could go out. Yeah!!! We had to pack really hard and it took forever but the kids had fun so it was worth it. A few days later, our snowman was a lump of snow.

We are looking forward to spring though. Today was a beautiful day and I am so grateful that we have a fenced backyard to send the kids out to play. The tulips are sending up shoots and the grass is slowly turning green. Here's to more sunshine and no more valley snow til next year!

Pergamano Temple Picture

When I bought my pergamano kit, I intended to do some temple pictures. I tried one of the practice cards from the instruction book and wasn't very happy with it. I set my kit aside for the past 2 months thinking often that I should try it again. CircleofCrafters.com had a contest this month to do a card with something unique to where we live. I decided to finally try out a temple. I traced the temple with white ink from a photo I took years ago. Then I embossed the white areas. I decided to be brave and do some color. I used gold gel pen behind Angel Moroni. The rest of the color is watercolor pencil spread in places with lavendar oil. I'm really happy with how it turned out and have decided I won't be giving this one away.

Some Recent Cameron Pictures

Cameron has been busy drawing as usual. He wakes up drawing and goes to bed drawing. The first picture is of Tow Mater (from Disney's Cars) when he was younger and had his hood still. Cameron drew the big rig and police tow truck for mommy for her birthday. The writing was on the back of the picture when he gave it too me. We are always amazed at the detail in his drawings.

Happy 5th Birthday Cameron!

Happy birthday Cameron! Cameron turned 5 years old today. We started his celebration last week with our trip to see Happy Feet with Grandpa and Grandma. Then on Saturday, we went to McDonald's for Happy Meals, Chuck E Cheese to play games, and Maggie Moos for ice cream. Today, Cameron had his birthday party with 6 of his friends. We had so much fun. The kids ate pizza and birthday cake and watched Cameron open his presents. He got so many wonderful presents from his friends. We didn't play any games but that was okay because they had so much fun playing with the balloons.

The pic of Cam and his daddy was taken at McDonalds. The family pic was taken yesterday 11 February 2006. The last two were taken at Cameron's party today 12 February 2006.

Happy Feet!

Yesterday afternoon, we met up with Papa Curtis and Grandma Reita for lunch and a movie. Cameron's fifth birthday is next monday so it was a birthday celebration for him but it was also Kylie's first movie in a theater. We saw Happy Feet and it was really cute! Cameron was scared a little a few times but did really good. He and Kylie loved eating popcorn and sucking on their suckers. Kylie wasn't sure if she wanted to sit by herself or on Mommy's lap and finally ended up on Papa's lap. When we got home, Cameron immediately drew a picture of Mumble with Mack (from Cars). He also kept drawing pictures of the excavator that fell into the water (in the movie) being rescued. We tried taking a picture of Cameron with his Papa and Grandma but he was being too camera shy/ tired (he fell asleep five minutes into our drive home). We did get a cute picture of Kylie with them though.

Jen Taught an Iris Folding Class

I finally got to teach an iris folding class at a local scrapbook store called Heartfelt Creations. http://www.heartfeltpages.com/ I've taught several classes at church and privately at home three times but this was my first class in a store. I was nervous because I was told that the students like their finished project to look just like the sample. I had a hard time matching a few papers that I had used on my own card and then my Fiskars Ultra cutter blade wouldn't cut the bazzil. It took me several hours just to prep for the class as I had to hand cut my templates and search for the matching papers.

I was so grateful that my students were so kind and patient. We learned a simple circle pattern first before we moved on to the heart. They all picked it up so quick and I was so happy when one of them decided to embellish her card her own way. I even did a jig for her creativity! One of my students even stuck around to make more cards and we had fun picking out papers. My students are all excited to take my next class that I have scheduled for March 1st. We will be doing the Salt Lake Temple and Angel Moroni as well as a castle or Easter pattern for those not wanting to do an LDS pattern. I am always suprised at comments from people who see iris folding who say it looks too hard. When I tell them it is really easy to learn, they just won't believe me. Believe me please, its easy!

Update on Dennis

Dennis has started physical therapy for his back and is going three times a week. He has been doing pool therapy and feels like it is making his back lots stronger. He also went to a new doctor this week for an assessment and the doctor was just shocked at how great he is doing. He has very little pain and only takes ibuprofen occassionally. He has also been drinking Tahitian Noni Juice since a couple weeks after the accident and his doctor was impressed enough with how much it helps manage his pain, that he wrote out a prescription for him to keep taking it. We are anxious for him to get back to work but glad that he hasn't been out working in the extremely cold weather we've had here.

More Drawings From Cameron

Cameron has been drawing a lot of pictures of Tow Mater, Mack, and Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. He drew the picture of Mater's back from a picture "in his head." The drawing of Mater with a red front and top was of Mater on "Big Rig Day." He and Mack are coming off the freeway and Mater is wearing a "half circle like big rigs do." We are amazed at the perspective in his recent drawings. He stills loves to tell stories while drawing and he has so much fun drawing them - which is great!

Kylie can draw!

I looked over at Kylie drawing today and realized she was drawing a face. She showed me the eyes and mouth and added a nose for me. Then I asked if the person could have arms and legs and she added them too - in the right places! Sorry I just have to brag! She is only 2 1/2. We think she has been watching Cameron draw so much that she figured it out. She was so proud of her drawing and loved to show it off to everyone. Luckily, I took a picture of it before she added more drawing and coloring over the top of it. Hope you can see it too. The scribbling around the top is the hair. The eyes, nose and mouth are in the middle. The arms and legs are coming off the sides and bottom of the face. Okay....I'm done bragging

This recipe is soooooo yummy. I should have taken a picture of the cake but didn't think to. I was too busy eating it. It took about 7 bowls, a double boiler, a mixer and a really big mess to make. It didn't last more than 2 days. It tastes best after it has chilled a couple hours and the mouse topping has set. Not that we waited for our first taste. Oooohhhh, this is taste bud heaven. This will be what I make for my birthday cake.

Playing in the Snow

The kids had a great time playing in our recent snow fall. They enjoyed swinging, digging in the snow with shovels, and making snow angels. After, Kylie said she wasn't tired and didn't want a nap. The picture shows different :)

Jen's Recent Cards and Pics

Here are some of my recent iris fold cards and a tebag card. The temple picture was 8x10 and done with fabric textured scrapbook paper. I was going to see how much it would sell on ebay or deseretbook.auctions/ but Shirley bought it as soon as she saw it to give as a wedding present. I am in the process of making another one. I made the heart cards to show a scrapbook store called Heartfelt Creations. I am going to teach an iris folding class there on Feb 1st. The teabag card was made for a monthly challenge at cicleofcrafters.com. I gave it to a friend who recently miscarried.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. It is 2am and I can't say I'm up celebrating. I've been up doing geneology and checking out posts on CircleofCrafters.com and Fiskateers.com. I love both websites but CofC is my favorite. I love to get ideas for iris folding and teabag folding.

Here are some pictures from Christmas. We drove to Boise to visit with Jen's parents. The pictures of the Salt Lake temple grounds are from Saturday Dec 30th. The lights were beautiful but it was very cold. Dennis and Jen were married in this temple 10 years ago this month.