Birthday time

Ah man, I can't believe I've waited a whole month and a half to post about William and Lizzie's birthday party. Better late than ever?? Oh well. Lizzie turned 3 and William turned one. We invited both my family and James' family. It was extremely crowded but I was grateful so many could come. The kids had a lot of fun.

These are actually pictures of the kids eating cupcakes at play group for William's birthday.

My friend posted a picture of a birthday cake with a skittle rainbow and I thought "That is so cute and fun. I want to do that." That's what got the rainbow wheels turning. So the theme was Taste The Rainbow. You'll see.

We made ice in six colors but decided they would just turn the soda brown. Eeew.

The Big Reveal.
I baked two cake mixes in six different pans. So cool.
Party favors: Baby food jars with skittles inside. I loved making these.

"I'm a rainbow king!"

I crocheted this garland especially for the party.

Paper Orbs. I love them.

Happy 4th of July

We had a really great weekend! I got excited for this holiday by making shirts for my family. Here's a look.
Lizzie and I got ruffles, Edin and William had straight lines. James was merciful. I asked if he wanted me to make one and he basically said he knew it would stress me out to make another one.


I decided to make these shirts on Friday. I saw the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Make it and love it. I was hoping to get them done for the family BBQ on Saturday but man, I was still elbow deep in this project Saturday morning. I stayed up until 5a Sunday morning finishing them so we could wear them to the Mantua family party.
I learned so much from this project.
--First, I went to the DI to get shirts to cut up. I'm not totally certain it was cheaper than buying, say, a third of a yard of fabric at a fabric store but the blue and red shirts were only a dollar. And I can never find the right "t-shirt" fabric at JoAnn's.
--Second, I've never used "Wonder Under" fusible webbing before. It's this iron on stuff you use for applicas. I used it to keep the strips and blue squares from moving around while I was sewing them. I guess I need some practice because I either ironed the stuff too little or too much. It was hard to separate the fabric and paper stuff. Then, it didn't really stick very well; the corners got bent while I was sewing.
--The third thing I learned was to make ruffles. I hope to sew straighter next time.
--And the fourth thing was using a stabalizer when I was sewing T shirt material on a t-shirt. Lizzie's ruffles got all bunched up underneath so I used a napkin on the back and sewed through it all. I admit it was difficult for me and I spent way too many hours doing it but I really like accomplishing something so cute and festive!

Now on the festivities. There was a BBQ at Bill's Saturday. We brought our swimming suits. I was the only adult with my swimming suit on and I didn't hold back. I ran through the sprinklers with the kids and I think they really had fun. The we all hopped in the hot tub and Edin and Lizzie thought it was so fun!


Sunday we traveled up to Mantua for the Bigler family BBQ. Yummy food, good games, and wonderful company. We play volleyball every year. They played for two hours this year!!

I like this picture of Lizzie because she's wearing her cute shirt but you can't tell at all!


On Monday we had a picnic for Family Home Evening at a Park here in Provo. We played t-ball, soccer and played on the playground equipment. I loved creating these memories with my children.
This is William's first "captured" smile. I'm in love!

Valentine's day the Strait way

James and I hate going out Valentine's weekend so we mostly stayed in. Friday night we watched the Olympic open ceremonies and made this divine chocolate cake together. Cary (my neighbor and friend) brought me a piece of one she had made and I just didn't get enough. So when James asked what I wanted to Valentine's day I said "Cary's chocolate cake!!" So we borrowed the magazine and made it together. That made it even better.

The recipe comes from "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine. Heaven. Seriously. It's one thin cake cut into thirds and stacked with this amazing chocolate frosting in between and around the sides.

Last night I made up some valentines for James and the kids. They're cute and funny and cheesy. I put cars stickers on the kids and they thought that was pretty cool.

James and I made a delicious chuck roast for dinner today, complete with potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. Um, heaven. The veggies were probably the best part. I'm not sure what made them so good but holla! They were. We also tried a new brand of apple bubbly. It's now my new favorite.
James chopping vegetables. I was about to say I didn't really do anything to help make dinner but I played with the kids and kept them out of James' way while he cooked. That's a big deal.

I forgot to mention we also ate some Frenchy cheese, Camembert, with a bagget. The bagget wasn't that great so it wasn't a "wow" experience.

The Spread. I added gravy after the picture. Seriously, the potatoes and carrots were the best I've ever had.

Today I got to tell James that he's my best friend. "What makes a best friend?" I got to thinking. Well, a best friend is someone you tell all your secrets to; happy, sad, personal, gossipy, embarrassing. I tell him anything. A best friend is also someone you want to spend time with, all the time. It's not like you get bored of them after a few months. I still want to hang out with James all the time. We can just sit on the couch and read next to each other, we watch movies, we go shopping together, we go on dates. I don't get sick of this guy! I can't say that about anyone else. (Yeah, I'm kind of a snob like that.) James sees me when I'm at my ugliest but I also want to be my prettiest for him. A best friend is someone you trust with everything. It takes time to learn about each other's weaknesses and strengths but I WANT to. And you know what else? A best friend is someone who just listens, who's there. James IS my best friend. I like living with my best friend! I love James so much and I'm so glad I get to be with him for eternity. See, we can do that. Isn't that neat?

This is James' favorite picture of us. He said "This is a sexy picture of us. We both look good." This is from our anniversary in 2008. We got massages at the collage and ate at The Bambara. Yum! I had duck and we shared a cheese appetizer. How very "French" of us.

Lizzie's Party

I know I wrote about Lizzie's birthday already but I wanted to take a second and write about her party. Because everyone one year old needs a party!

James wasn't able to be there for most of Lizzie's party and that stressed me out. He's such a good decision maker. He knows that's my weak point and jumps in to help. So the night before her party James realized people would probably be expecting food since our invitation did say there might be a BBQ. When James said he wasn't going to be at the party because he was going to a Marriage seminar thingy training I decided not to do a BBQ by myself. But then, people would want food at noon on a Saturday in the sun.

I've already said I'm a horrible decision maker and I was supposed to pick what to have for lunch the next day. What would be the easiest? I don't know!! I finally decided on little sandwiches. I was crossing my fingers Costco would have a deli tray.

Saturday morning I got up, got ready, cleaned up again, and scrambled to the store while my mom watched the kids. I got back in time to start setting up. Luckily, Lauren came to help me. Lauren is in James' cohort at school and we've become quite good friends. Anyway, she helped me get everything downstairs. At the last minute I decided to have everyone come behind our building where there were a couple of picnic tables. If James had been there it wouldn't have been so confusing for me or everyone else.


I thought for sure Lizzie would cling to me the entire party and be sad if anyone else held her. I was gratefully mistaken. She ate lunch with Krystal and loved it.


Some of James' friends (from the cohort) stopped by for lunch while they were on a break. Glad they did. (left to right James, Carly, Lauren, Lindsey, Benton, James...again.)


The spread, thank you everyone who contributed.


Some guests at the party. If you went and don't see yourself here, I probably didn't get a good picture and don't want to humiliate you by posting it on my blog.


Before the cake mehem

Inspecting. Look closely and you'll notice she's stolen an antler

I only let her have an ear of the giraffe.

And for good reason. Look at this girl!

Then we opened presents. Everything she got was dang cute! Including this tutu, a hooded towel, a pink sundress, some onesies and outfits.




She did spend a little time with me. I liked it.