Emma

Emma shared her talent in primary today. She played 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' on the piano. All the kids started singing along. It was very cute.

After church she wanted me to take a picture of her with all her Barbie dolls and friends.

Touring the State Capital

Since we were already down at the State Fair, we stayed the night so we could check out the town.

Our first stop was the Capitol building. And in case you are wondering ...Occasionally, capital and capitol are used interchangeably to refer to the "seat of government," but "capitol" more properly refers to the actual building in which the government meets, while "capital" is the geographic region (city) where government is seated.

Inside was this statue of George Washington that was made when he was still alive.

Here are the kids on the Robert E. Lee statue. Georgia, Rebekah, Emma, Spencer.

Here we are: Heidi, Rebekah, Melinda, Hallie, and Jeremy in the back.

Cool foot bridge to an island on the river.

Our Family.

State Fair

We skipped out on school and work to go to the State Fair. It was a raining a little bit, but not enough to ruin the fun. We met up with the Rosenlunds at the fair. Melinda is an excellent cook. I know because we get invited over frequently. She entered some of the baking competitions and won (duh- they're really good).
3rd place -brownies
2nd place -decorated cake
2nd place -coconut cake
1st place -oatmeal cookies

Her daughter, Georgia (8) also entered their decorated sugar cookies. She won 1st place and BEST IN SHOW!

Emma and Georgia love to play together! They had tons of fun going on all the rides.

So do Evan and Rebekah!

I took a picture of the beautiful silk embroidery picture. This is done on silk fabric with silk thread. It was beautiful. The photo doesn't do it justice. I only wished I had $1200 to bring it home.

The best/worst thing about a fair is fair food. You can find some neat treats, and some really gross stuff. This was truly a reminder to me that we do indeed live in the South.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture??

How does fried Mac & Cheese sound? No? Well, then try the Pork Parfait! Pulled pork, mashed potatoes and BBQ sauce all in a handy cup! Mmmm-boy!

Beautiful day for a wedding

Clay's coworker, Josh, got married today. We drove just over 3 hours to the wedding. Stayed about 4 hours and then drove over 3 hours back home. Very long day, but we were happy to celebrate with the happy couple. It was also a great excuse to dress up the girls!

Bad hair day

If you are anything like me, you dread getting your hair cut. We have lived here for over 6 years and I still have not found anyone that I like/trust to cut my hair. Trying to find a good hair dresser is so hard!!!

Once I went to a Hair Cuttery grand opening near me. The gal who did my hair was a total disaster! The ends were all zig-zag and the layers were...I can't think of the right word, but it was bad. Then she wanted to blow-dry my hair. I reminded her that I have curly hair, so she said she would just do it straight. I ended up with hair sticking out about 4 to 5 inches from my face, kind of like a triangular afro. I looked at her through the mirror and she suggested using a flat iron to make it "shiny" for an extra $10. To which I promptly agreed since I was not walking outside with my triafro. When I got home you could see the gagged ends all over.

I returned 2 days later for a redo with someone else. Jackie, the assistant manager, remembered me and begged to let her fix my hair. She did a wonderful job. She cut my hair the same way as my $60 Los Angeles stylist did. I was so happy! Jackie cut my hair again 2-3 months later. Then when I called for my 3rd haircut she was gone!!! She was just barely 20 and decided to go back to school. I was heartbroken! Finally a good stylist and she was gone.

Finally, two of my friends recommended a stylist in town. I went in June and just had her give me a trim and blend in long layers. That is my standard initial hair cut when trying someone new. She did a good job, but it was a very basic cut.

Today I decided I needed my hair cut again. My hair is too long and has gotten out of control. I have a wedding tomorrow and up-coming family portraits around Thanksgiving. So I figured, get it cut now, then if it is not quite perfect I still have a while to fix it before Thanksgiving. I decided I wanted my hair at my shoulders like I had it on my mission.

I went back to the stylist in town and brought in 5 or 6 different photos of myself in the haircut I wanted. She looked at them and then started to cut. And cut. And cut. And then cut some more. All my hair was gone. Instead of being at my shoulders it just barely frames my face. There is no length to it at all. And the best part it she styled it like old lady helmet head hair. (Why I let people dry and style my hair, I really don't know. It always turns out bad.) As soon as I got in the car I put my baseball cap back on and cried.

Well the good news it that hair does grow back. But who knows what it will look like for our family portraits.

New Phone

As some of you know, I am not too big in the cell phone world. Clay bought me one a few years back and it has served me just fine. I don't use it much. I have a few people I call on my cell phone, like my mom, my best friend, and my husband. I always had it on when Emma was in preschool -just in case. Most of the time I keep in on so that Clay can tell me if I forgot something on my list of errands.

I needed to do a late Saturday night run to the grocery store. I grabbed my things and threw them in a cart and began my shopping. I soon realized that I had a faulty cart. So I grabbed my stuff and threw it into a new cart. By the time I got around to the meat section I heard a cell phone that sounded just like mine. I looked in my cart and in my purse but couldn't find my phone. I must have left it in the car, but I thought I remembered turning it on as I walked into the store.

The phone was still ringing. I glanced around and it seemed to be coming from 3 teenage girls sharing a cart behind me. I kept looking at them like "aren't you going to answer your phone!" They obviously were too involved in their conversation to be bothered by their phones. I quickly moved on to the cereal aisle.

After checking out I went back, loaded the groceries, and went to call Clay to let him know I was on my way. No Phone!! I ALWAYS leave my phone in my car. I only use it when I am not home, so that is where I leave it. Then it begins to dawn on me. That WAS my phone ringing in the meat aisle. I had left it in the faulty cart. Those girls must have picked the faulty cart and were now no where to be found. I brought the food home and returned with Clay's cell phone so I could track mine down. But the battery was so low on my phone that it must have turned off -it went directly to voice mail. And no one has turned in my phone. I scoured every aisle and every cart (looking for that darn faulty one) but it wasn't there. Neither was the cart. The girls must have taken the cart back to their place (happens a lot at this particular grocery store).

Meanwhile, my dear sweet thoughtful husband, had gone to the virgin mobile website. You see, my phone is a pay-as-you-go phone. So if anyone finds it and starts using it, it will cost a lot of money. He went on-line to stop the automatic top-off and then ordered me a replacement phone. It only cost $12 for shipping and the replacement was free.

My new phone just arrived! and I get to keep my phone number!
Thank you Virgin Mobile!

'Bye and See You Later

Rebekah is a girly-girl. She loves to carry my purse. She loves her baby dolls, and pushing them in the stroller. She loves to play on the toy kitchen downstairs and in the church nursery. And she loves to dress up in jewelry and shoes.

Too cute! Here is a video I got of her. She is also carrying Emma's bag of rocks and a toy kitty. Oh, and she is going out towards the garage.

Kiss, Kiss, I got it, gonna' go now, 'Bye, C 'Ya later

Our first home improvement project

When we came home from vacation, we found a surprise in our pantry. Very stinky spoiled potatoes. We tried cleaning it, but just could not get rid of the smell. Finally, we took everything out of the pantry and knocked out the shelf. A friend in our ward helped cut a new piece of wood to right size. Then Clay nailed it into place and caulked around it. Then I spent most of the morning painting the entire pantry. We rewarded ourselves with a babysitter and dinner at The Dock.

Can you tell which shelf it was?? Yes, it is a VERY small pantry. I can fit about 5 or 6 cereal boxes across the top shelf before we run into the air vent.

First Day of School

Today is Emma's first day of school. She is in First grade and at a new school this year. We walked down the street and saw the ENTIRE neighborhood also walking their kids down for the first day. It was a funny scene to see this mass of people crossing the street with the crossing guards.

Emma was very nervous today, but was finally comfortable enough to let me go home. She was crying in her sleep all last night, poor thing. So worried about not waking up in time, not finding her class, forgetting how to get there...

She came home so happy today. She really enjoyed the first day.

While the Cat's away, the mouse will play...in sister's jewelry drawer!!