Recycle That T

Be Green! Go Eco! Whatever your reason to slash up an old T...
I made this little knit number (the scarf) the other day and it actually worked.
Check Academe for instructions on making your own.

Newport in Oct

We just returned from our seemingly annual October visit to California. It started a couple of years ago taking the kids to Disneyland for all the Halloween hype and we keep coming back. Don't know how much longer we can do this as the kids miss some school days, but we made the most of it.
Wednesday night we left and hurried to our friends house in Corona where the kids stayed and Scott and I left right away to catch The Drums and Surfer Blood in L.A. It was cool to compare this show to the one we saw in NYC in Jan. They sounded better and performed better. I expected the crowd to be going nuts but they didn't. We were tired, though. Most shows start at 8pm and end around 10 or 11- this one began at 10:30 and ended after midnight. Wow- we are old potatoes because we were beat the next day - too old for that kind of crazy night life. But it was worth it for one night. This old surf sound trend is enjoyable and great for people watching.
The rest of the trip was relaxing and fun. There were some uncommon hot days so we enjoyed being outside, going to the beach and the pool and even hitting Disneyland Sat night (another late nighter). Then Monday we woke up to rain! Bah. We went to Dland anyway. I guess it's fair in all our visits that we finally hit a rainy day. It was more like a misty day and it disappeared after lunch time.


I so enjoy our little family. My husband makes me laugh and the kids are great. We had a nice time but it is good to be back in routine again today. October is already on it's way and I still have yet to release my decor everywhere. Whatwhat?!? Time to get going!
And do stay tuned for the famous Rogers Gardens update. Oh yes. I went. And I took many a pics to divulge the spooky fun.
PS- The store fronts in the last collage are some I saw while visiting Laguna in August. Along the same strip mall was an Andrea's Liquor store and a Scott's Donut store. I had to show S and take photos. I think these fit the bill. In another life I would probably be a lush and S would be... soft and sweet. Ha!

Like I Said

The warm nights are diminishing and the calm cool is tip-toeing in. Tip-toeing? Did you know I was talented at writing? Good grief. That is horrible but I just read an awesome book so I thought I would try and be poetic.
Moving on.
For reals, though, y'all, it's gettin way nice at night now. (That's better)
The other night whilst watching yet another soccer practice, the sun was perfectly behind this goal frame, shading my face for a few precious moments (I sure love it when it gets behind those mountains instead of in my face).
Looks like my attempt to have a peaceful, insightful comment with this picture is so not going to happen. What I meant to say was:
Ahhh... beautiful evenings as summer closes.

Starring

TaDa!
Scott's name is in lights!
It is so exciting to see the final touches coming together in all the office relocating. Scott has been balancing so many things... I'm amazed he can keep things straight. The new location in the North West is almost done and looking great.
And they finally got the signage done at the already open South West location.
Woowoo! Way to go, S!

FunFunFun

September is going out with a bang. These last two weeks we've had day to day things happening. Some normal/ boring stuff, some fun/seasonal stuff, and some exciting/lucky stuff.
From the Fun/Seasonal category last week: Interbike. Always a candy store to walk around and check out. I still love all the color that is blooming. Even Neon bikes!
From the Exciting/Lucky category: Phoenix passed through town so we went with some friends. I was just as excited to see Neon Indian open but they were a little anti climactic - what you'd expect from chill wave, I guess. They did don a guitar that lit up (see pic) so they get points for that. But Phoenix sounded AMAZING and they played a good mix of old and new. We'd never been to the Palms before and that venue was smaller than I thought- so double bonus.
Also last week was book club. This month we read The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I enjoyed the book a great deal and highly recommend it. The food theme was anything 'fall' flavors but the night before I had a vision to make meringue mushrooms and that is where my Thursday went. Making this darn cake. Actually, the mushrooms were the easy part- it was fitting in a homemade cake as well that took more time. I am so starved for creative windows that when I find a reason to require it, I have no self control. This was way fun to do. It is a little brown and blah but I did not have the energy to make green frosting and pipe grass knolls around. Take it to the next level, readers! You can do it.
Now we have more fun and music around the corner.... Yippee!

Follow Follow Me

I've had this in my downloads and forgot to share it.
This was on the wall when the kids started school and it stopped me in my tracks. I loved it! How fun to walk around art like this in the halls.

Lotoja 2010

Lotoja this year was great fun.
I actually forgot my camera so you'll have to enjoy pics from the phone for these memories. And not many at that! I am getting lazy in my memory keeping me thinks.
This trip we tried more new things. A highlight of which was our stay at the Anniversary Inn in Logan. This place had different themed rooms and Scott and I were in the "Lost In Space" room. It was a riot. Black lights lit up the space wall murals everywhere and we had the coolest toilet EVER. It's the big, chrome pillar you see here with a door. While within the 'transport', you are encompassed with dials and blinking lights. That night after dinner we had a room tour and visited everyone's different themed rooms. We started with a European Vacation and then went Under The Sea (WOW- we got some good stories on that one- the bed was a boat) and finished with an Arctic Adventure. What a way to kick of the race!
The next morning we were up early to begin the race. I did a leg with some other friends so I took off before our group. I thought it would be freezing but it was perfect and I felt good throughout. This is the second time I have done the first leg of the race and love it because it's flat and fast.
Then the caravan of the day, following each team mate along and whooping from the car. We were lucky to have beautiful weather all day. Other than some traffic frustrations, we didn't encounter any problems and all were safe and well. The guys made great time and came in 6th place this year. Movin' up!
After the race, we all checked in to our (awesome!) hotel and then ate one of the most delicious meals we've had yet on these trips at Osteria. YUM.
Most everyone in our group had to head back after breakfast the next morning except for Rich & Randi so we hung out with them all day relaxing in Jackson. Then Monday we headed back to Provo. One of our good friends and relay team members, Shep, had an open house for his new salon space that evening so we were happy to be in town to attend that, followed by some Thai with R&R.
Scott and I had a nice bike ride the next morning and I gasped when I looked up and saw all the colorful trees. So beautiful! Then we met my parents for lunch before going home.
I love spending this weekend with Scott as we drive, being with great friends and family, making new memories and enjoying the beauty up there. Another great summer end cap!

Do Wait, Dahling

We're back from our fun Lotoja weekend but I don't have time now to post it so until then, these charming Lake photos must do, dears, must do.
(I'm behind on a few others as well)
While scouring for Juls Bday pic I found these from our summer trip. I thought you could use a good laugh.
Or inspiration? Maybe I should overlay a motivational word in large letters, like "Courage", "Grace" or "Idiocy".
Hm. It's a toss up. They all work...

Happy Birthday JULS!

Obviously I've been pulling from the Powell pics lately. How could I resist this photo when posting a Bday photo for Julia? The girl never takes a bad shot! So, as my sisterly duty to undermine her beauty, I chose this one. Not that it worked. She still looks good even at the Lake. Meh.
Juls, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Do you like the hat I gave you? I think Cody LOVES it.
I hope you have a great Birthday!
Thanks for being my awesome sis.
We are kindred and I love you eversomuch.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo!

Happy Birthday BreeOHN!

Yesterday my Dad turned 60.
SIXTY YEARS OLD!
He is so not old that I had to beard his Bday photo just for the contradiction.
My Dad is awesome. I LOVELOVELOVE him.
He is one of my best friends.
Full of energy, hardworking, always willing to listen and help, gives great counsel and jokes and I could go on and on.
Dad, I love you through the smellies. Thanks for being such a good example to me (except for that weird hat. Don't know where you got that...).
Here are to many more young years ahead!

Cool Crew

Ah. Fall Fashion.
There I was. In my kitchen, going through my stack of put off mail and came to the latest Jcrew. Sweet. As usual, things I loved and in great colors. But also pages that beg the question, "What the...?". I thought it would be fun to share my inner dialogue with you. Luckeeee!
My latest catalog review of a brand that has been with me since Jr. High (ordering men's polo & rugby shirts - obviously I'm not much of a feminine, frilly girl).
It's classic, modern and inspiring. And as with all things fashion, sometimes wacky.
Let's begin, shall weeee?
Class, you may open your textbooks.
I really liked the textures in the first few pages- the satins and wool... but stopped at my first 'what-the'. This scarf thing looks like a shaggy poodle. Pardon me- it's called a 'Mongolian Lamb Stole'. Can you see me wearing that when I pick up my kids at school? Hmm.... I ... don't... know..... I think I'll pass.

Few more pages in and stopped at the Cashmere section. Woot! They are making cashmere hoodies again! And the colors are fab. Now I just need to rob a bank.
PS- I want to brave this look of rolled hems. But not so sure about it with the oxford flats. I can't help but think she looks like she's going to break out and sing something from Newsies.

OK. This thing. This weird, collared "popover" thing. It's reversible. It's different. It's... kind of cool. It's also a freaking $1,200. What??!?! Um. PASS. I do love her slim trousers, though.

Speaking of slim trousers, these are awesome. I love the boots, too. They've had great shoes lately. Erg! (Pass on the cat coat. Achoo! Sorry, just not seeing it)

And slim trousahs with booties and wooly socks? I like it. Still am not convinced on the socks and heeled sandals thing, but this is fly.

Speaking of slim, this model needs some food, stat. Look at her thighs! She's gonna snap in half.

Ah. The classic hop-kick Jcrew pose. This ensemble is adorable. Anyone heard of MiH jeans? The marketing is working on me. If I can look like her, I'll try'em. That color of blue is great.

Ok. WOW. Seriously. SERIOUSLY?? You have got to be kidding. And what is that? lipstick eye black?

And enter the mens section. Yummers. Josh in jcrack threads? Include the entire photo shoot. He is almost, almost, as cute as my husband. :) I don't know about you but whenever I see his face, I think "Fergie? Really?"
Katie's beauty does not make those pants looks any better.

Insert record scratching sound.
The indie beard/stache/long hair thing? Yuck. It was never sexy. No matter how much I LOVE Grizzly Bear. Want to test this theory? There are pictures of Josh Duhamel and then this. Flip back and forth. Back. And forth. Which one is gettin' the chicks. There is nothing to think over. The clippers are over there.

Jcrew are selling some awesome guys shoes, IMO. I have a firm testimony that shoes tell the man. And right now he has some great help. The Indy boots, the Redwings, the chukka's, the Sperry's... any of them. Plus, plus, plus.
Maybe it's just a young look, but on the right guy this slim, rolled-leg look is, um, a good thing.

Well, I hope you all had as good of a time as I did. Do chime in if you agree or disagree.

Back To School

Back at school and back to work. As I resumed my routine of dropping off/picking up at the school I couldn't help but feel like I was just here. Summer went quickly despite the fun these three past months. But it's time. The kids needed routine back and I need to miss them again. The first day went well. The kids like their teachers and Luke & Sadie know kids in each of their classes making the separation smooth.
I'm still buried with a list of things I'm behind on, to catch up on, to prepare for and get on top of. Ugh. But I had to delay them a little more because my over-ambitious self decided, a month ago when the order form came around, to order two boxes of those delicious CA peaches I loved last year thinking {NOT thinking} that I would have time to bottle more peach jam this first week of school. Ha! What giggles! What jollies! I'm such a tease. I do it to myself, you see. But by darn, I did it. 18 bottles of preserves + sliced, bagged and otherwise later, I only have a handful of fresh beauties left without hardly any wounded soldiers to waste. It was good. I needed a creative/meditative release from responsibility, goodness knows.
Looking forward to the weekend at home (except missing my Dad's 60th!!). Scott and I are utilizing school tomorrow for a fun day date and then I have a Sunday lesson to wrap up. Don't you want my weekend?
PS- Some marvy new bands are posted. I'm in a little vintage kick and really enjoying these. And finally, Miami Horror's album is out. Finally something new to ride/work out to!

Dear Adonna

We returned from CA and began to settle into routine when my Mom called me on Tuesday afternoon to inform me that my beautiful Grandmother had passed away. She was the last surviving Grandparent that I had after my Grandfather died almost two years before.
We packed back up again and left on Friday night to attend her funeral Saturday.
My Grandmother has always been such a lady (hence her requested title). So fun and vibrant and quick witted. She loved travel and art and life. She raised 9 children among other wonderful accomplishments. We will miss her but I can't help but feel so happy for her. She is with her best friend and husband now and must be so happy to be home. And what a legacy she has left! I grew up with so many cousins, fun aunts and uncles and family events. The chapel was full of most of them and many many friends who cared for her. I am honored to come from this family. I look forward to the better times we'll have ahead when we see her again.
On this last trip to Utah we attended the regular Friday family lunch where she was always there, no matter how she was feeling, looking her best. Now I'm especially glad we made that trip so I could visit with her that one last time.

Laguna

Trip #2. After returning from Utah and having a week to rewash and repack, I loaded up the kids and joined some friends in Laguna Beach. We left on Monday morning and met them at the beach that afternoon. I had a wonderful, relaxing time! Because the plan was to do nothing but sit on the beach. There are so many things to do in CA that I find myself fitting in errands and shopping when we visit. But this time- No. And as a result we enjoyed lazy conversations and sunshine as the kids played and we would plan as the day went on. This change for me made for a great vacation. Here are some pics of our fun (I didn't take many- I was lazy).

Here are Luke and Sadie at the grocery store. They thought it would be so funny to reverse roles so they swapped glasses, hats, hoodies and voices. Sadie is Luke and Luke is Sadie. They posed like each other and I just noticed they even swapped flip flops. I was laughing harder at them laughing at themselves.

Some shots from the beach. I was too cheap to acquire beach toys so I made some eco (or ghetto) ones out of our recyclables. Owen is wearing one of the cut off milk carton 'scoopers' on his head. That works too, I suppose. Luke covered in sand.

My friend Allison took us to an awesome park up the street with some great climbing equipment. It was nice to play at a park again in cooler temps! The kids enjoyed this ring that spun around and got quite brave with their game of who-will-be-the-last-one-standing.

After a couple of beachy, dirty days we decided to go to the Sawdust Festival up the canyon one afternoon and I was SO glad we did (Thanks for the recommendation, Angie!). It was a beautiful outdoor art festival with really cool things to do with kids. Rows with booths of art all shaded by tall eucalyptus trees and cool breeze. I loved it. Here we are waiting for the trolley to take us up. It was Me, Allison and Jennie (three moms) with ELEVEN kids between us all. It was a class field trip, I tell ya.

Here is a glimpse of the environment. I love going to stuff like this! Good thing Scott was joining us the next night so I could soak it all up without him getting bored. :)
There was a great little art station for kids where they did finger painting and other projects that changed throughout the day. They sculpted wire art at another booth and one of the best shows was watching the glass blowing. Glass blowing! How often do you get to show that to kids? How's that for a job. I want his job. A shady, breezy office being creative all day to my tunes... sign me up.

But the best, BEST BEST thing that I'd read about on the website... that made me want to come the most... was a little ceramics session you could sign up for your kids. For FREE they could throw a pot with these sweet instructors and keep it OR for $15 they'd fire and glaze it and mail it to you. Done! We all did one. I just loved watching the kids get all dirty and explore this. Makes me want to take a ceramics class like the old days again.
Here is little Sadie...

And Luke (with Milo behind him)...

And Elliet. These little bowls and pots will be fun treasures from the trip.

After we got home that day, we were kind of wiped out so the kids played around the house while us Mom's vegged a bit. Then we fed them dinner and ordered Thai for us (yes!). After we walked a block away to Gelato Paradiso and had a some creamy heaven.

We swam with our friends on Thursday in Newport where Scott and I were joining Bob & MJ for the weekend. That night he drove in with the other husbands and it was so nice to have him with me again. That little spot where he was missing in Utah was also noticable here so I was glad he could join the fun for a couple of days. We spent the remaining time relaxing with them, going to the beach, getting cupcakes and more gelato and some shopping. It was a little tight squeezing in this last trip but very worth it. For sure we are doing this every August! Thanks A & J for the fun times- we loved it!

Yoot in August

So August came and it was mostly open. I decided to cram in two remaining summer trips that I wanted to take with the kids. One of which was back up to UT for some relaxing time with cousins and family.
I spent a shopping/lunching day with my Mom, Juls & Jess (no Randi due to school- wah), went on some bike rides and hung out with my parents mostly. It was really nice to slow down.
A little.
Because we found time to fit in a Halloween craft! Cool old looking candy sticks (instructions in Academe if interested). They were really easy and fun. I want to make some for Christmas next. Also, my Dad has had a spot welder that he let me try out so I made this little bike. What a cool gadget that is! Um... Dad... can I borrow that for a while?
I made some other things I'll eventually get posted.
I realized that, as nice as it was to fit in another trip, I missed not having Scott with me. I don't know if it's because the kids are getting older or what... because as babies the break was always nice, but now it's noticeable that our family is not quite complete when he's not there. Don't get me wrong- it was still nice. :) But I also appreciated noticing that feeling. That we are becoming a growing, close family. We missed you Dad!

It Is Upon Us

How fantastic is this new children's Halloween book? Rhode Montijo has some great illustration skillz. I love the art and colors. Oh yes. It will be mine.
It's never too early, you know.... Halloween is always 'in'. It's always 'now'. It's always 'super fresh, yo'.
I've even made my first Halloween craft of the season whilst in Utah two weeks ago (yet another delayed post) so despite these last weeks of summer, it'll git ya a bit excited yerself!