Wedding Dress Fashion Show

Weddings are in the air!

Titus and Stevie just got married and soon my niece Shannon will get married.
I guess wedding dresses are in the spotlight right now.

My sister-in-law Melanie showed me some pictures of her girls wearing her wedding dress

and I thought it sounded like a fun idea...

so I pulled out my wedding dress and let the girls try it on :)

I have to say that I'm a little freaked out at how it almost fits Grace!
Sometimes I wish I could slow down time :)

Really wish I would have been able to use my real camera for this, 

but it isn't working. I really need to get it fixed before the next wedding!

Dressed up for Service - 50s Style

Our youth participated in a fun service activity with the special needs youth group.

It was a 50s theme activity night.

I think they look great!
Isaac told me that he kept getting compliments all night :)

Dressing up wasn't a requirement, but you could do it if you wanted to.
Dallin went to the activity too, but chose not to get dressed up so he didn't want to be in the picture.

I'm glad that my kids like to serve and help others (usually)
From the report I got after the activity, it sounds like they all had a great time!

A Practically Perfect Halloween

My Halloween posts are always late, so this post being late should come as no surprise!

All the kids dressed-up (to some degree) for school on Halloween

Noah was Clark Kent

Dallin was Tony Stark

Grace was a huntress

Isaac was Clark Kent too

Anna was Hermione Granger

That night our family dressed up as characters from Mary Poppins

Mike and I were Mr. and Mrs. Banks

Anna and Isaac were Jane and Michael Banks

Noah was Bert

Dallin was Uncle Albert

and Grace was Mary Poppins 

 I was pretty happy with how the costumes turned out this year and we got

great reactions from our friends and neighbors, which is always fun.

Grace, Isaac and Anna were pretty happy with the candy they got...

Just Being Silly

I bought some hats at the thrift store recently.

Last night Anna and I had fun just being silly with them :)

Daddy Daughter Carnival

I'm an activity day leader in our ward. That means that I help plan and carry out activities for the girls ages 8-11. I usually work with the 10-11 year olds, but sometimes we get all the girls together for big activities. On Saturday we had a Daddy Daughter Carnival that turned out so well. We had a huge turnout! Even some of the girls that don't usually come decided to attend.

We had different stations set up for the girls and their dads to go to.

We had a "put the tie on the dad" game which was a lot of fun and I heard laughter coming from that station a lot. Basically the girls were blindfolded and had to try and put a tie over their dad's head.

They also played a game that was a lot like fruitbasket. And we had a station where they decorated a picture frame. We also had a popcorn machine and chocolate fountain and other yummy treats for them.

I was in charge of the photo booth station. I brought a bunch of dress up clothes and accessories for them to choose from and then I took pictures of the girls with their dads. It was a lot of fun and we got some great pictures of everyone. By far the most used dress up was the big and little Fred Flintstone outfits that I brought from our Halloween costumes way back in 2008.

A bonus for me was that I usually don't get to be around at Daddy Daughter things. It was fun to watch Mike and Anna have such a good time together!

Christmas Cowgirl

The elementary school had a Christmas assembly for the kids and each class sang a different song.

Anna's class sang Christmas for Cowboys. She looked so cute!

I didn't get to go to the assembly so I'm not sure what Grace and Isaac sang,

but I guess they didn't have to have any special outfits for theirs.

Ready for Halloween at school

Dallin's school had a costume contest on Halloween. He says he would've won if he would've gone with his first choice (Gandalf). But he knew he was worried about the costume being to cumbersome to wear all day, and he knew he had to dress for P.E. too, so he went with Fred Flintstone instead...much easier.

Grace, Isaac and Anna all dressed up too. 

Grace went as Legolas

Isaac as a soldier

And Anna as Zorro

The elementary school had a costume parade. I think they had a good time.

I asked Noah if he wanted to dress-up and he just looked at me like I was crazy, ha ha!

Grace was the only one who dressed up for the school Halloween carnival earlier in the month.

She went as Peter Pan.

Oh and I must say that it's nice to have a supply of costumes for them to choose from :)

Some School Projects

Grace had to do a book report and create a "people poster" for school.

She chose to do it on Albert Einstein.

She enjoyed learning about him and we had a good time creating the poster.

(I think she had a better time wearing it and presenting her book report!)

Isaac had to choose a person to report on for Black History Month. His teacher sent home a list of suggestions and Isaac chose John Lee Love. He was an inventor. He invented the improved pencil sharpener and the improved plasterer's hawk. Isaac had to dress up like him and do a first person presentation about him. There was not a lot of information out there about him, but Isaac did a great job with his his report and presentation.

Anna had to choose someone famous for her 2nd grade wax museum project. She had to report on the person and then dress up like them. She chose Helen Keller. She did a great job and we had a good time researching and learning her. She was a pretty amazing person.

I got to go to Anna's class to see the wax museum. It was pretty cute. Each kid stood by their desk and had their person's name and then a button to push. You pushed the button and the kids would tell you about their person (in first person.)

Here is Anna with two of her cute friends

Sa-Vonne (Rosa Parks) and Sydney (Elvis Presley)

Hat Day

The Fellowship of Halloween

The kids have been asking, or begging, for a Lord of the Rings Halloween theme for 3 or 4 years, maybe even 5. But everytime they asked I just thought, one does not simply make these costumes! Not with a thousand sewing machines could I do this. It is folly! 

Seriously, I kept saying no because I just didn't think I could do it justice. I mean The Lord of the Rings is probably one of my all time favorite books and the movies are on my favorites list too. So I knew that if I ever did it, I would want it to be right...

Anyway, I finally gave in this year and so here you have our LOTR themed costumes. There are still things that I wish I had done differently or whatever...but oh well, it is what it is...

I know that some people have never seen The Lord of the Rings (and I guess I can still be your friend if you haven't) but hopefully those of you who are familiar with it will appreciate what I tried to do...and hopefully those of you who aren't familiar with it will still appreciate it :)

My precious trick-or-treaters

Noah as Aragorn

Aragorn: Are you frightened?

Frodo: Yes.

Aragorn: Not nearly frightened enough, I know what hunts you.

Dallin as Legolas

Gimli: What's happening out there?

Legolas: Shall I describe it to you? ... or would you like me to find you a box?

 Grace as Gimli

Gimli: It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men.

Aragorn: It's the beards.

Gimli: And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground! Which is, of course, ridiculous!

 Isaac as Samwise

Sam: It's that Gollum. It's this place. It's that thing around your neck. I could help a bit. I could carry it for a while...Share the load.

 Anna as Frodo

Frodo: I will take the ring to Mordor...though, I do not know the way"

I love these pictures of our Frodo and Sam

Frodo: Go back, Sam. I'm going to Mordor alone.

Sam: Of course you are, and I'm coming with you!

Sam: I made a promise Mr. Frodo. A promise. "Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee." And I don't mean to. I don't mean to.

Mike as Gandalf

Gandalf: You shall not pass!

*funny side note here...I didn't have his wizard hat finished in time for the ward trunk or treat, so everyone thought he was Moses :) He's such a good sport!

 Who knew that Gandalf and Galadriel were a couple? hehe :)

Things our kids say - August

8-1 I was playing Monopoly with Noah and Dallin. On Dallin's turn he counted the spaces to free parking and then picked up the dice and said, "I need a 14!"

8-1 (Still playing Monopoly) Dallin: Be quiet, I'm praying for 2 things, my breakfast and free parking.

8-4 Noah: That truck looks cool, like it survived an attack of rabid donkeys.

8-5 Anna: I know what I want to be when I grow up...a lunch lady, because I love to cook.

Dallin: ...but lunch ladies have to wear hair nets and serve people mystery meat!

8-5 Mike leaned over to kiss me and Isaac said, "Ew! Don't get all PG13!

8-6 Dallin: People will do crazy things just to get on YouTube.

8-11 We were driving somewhere and Mike asked the kids to stop playing their games and look outside at the beautiful scenery. After a few minutes Anna said, "Dad can we stop appreciating nature now?"

8-12 Mom: Isaac were you good in your class today?

Isaac: Yes-ish.

8-12 It was all quiet at dinner for a minute and Anna just piped up and said, "I'm not special!" followed by a lot of giggles.

8-13 I was doing AB Ripper and Isaac came and started doing it with me. After about 30 seconds he stopped and said, "Oh, my Abs!"

8-14 Dallin started to do my workout with me this morning, after a few minutes in he was on the floor and he said, "I think I have a laziness disease."

8-17 I had the kids each pick out a movie to bring with us on our trip, when I asked Anna, she wanted Jaws (which we don't even have) or Jurassic Park

...Dallin wanted Wall-e.

8-17 Isaac: Dallin called me an idiot!

Mike: Is it true?

Isaac: Yes! 

(obviously he meant it was true that Dallin said it...it just sounded funny.)

8-18 Noah: If I was allergic to bacon, I would cry. (that one's for you Joe and Greg!)

8-18 Noah: The best soda I've ever had was this black cherry soda in New York. It didn't taste like black cherry it was more like a rotten strawberry with blueberry.

Um yeah...sounds delicious!

8-20 Random outburst from Isaac: Shenanigans!

8-21 Anna: I wonder what it would be like to be an animal...like a dog, or cat, or dolphin or a horse. I wonder what it would be like...or like a monkey, a monkey would be fun just swinging!

8-22 Isaac: If you hit your head with a block of cheese it hurts.

It looks like Grace didn't get caught with a saying this month, maybe she was too busy being silly...

A Veterinarian, The President, and an Artist

Career Day at the elementary school :)

Mismatch Day

The elementary kids had another Spirit day this week.

This time it was mismatch day or mix/match day...whatever you want to call it.

 They had fun picking out their outfits and letting me do their hair.

Anna was kind of funny with this one.

First she had put on some white shorts with big green, brown and orange polka dots on them...but then she looked in the mirror and she decided she only wanted to mismatch her shoes and her hair. She said she didn't want to mismatch completely, and I told her that was fine.

Grace and Isaac on the other hand really wanted everything to be mismatched...Isaac even said he was going to walk around school with one eye open and one eye shut, ha ha!

Read Across America Week

Last week Anna's class at school had a Read Across America Week.
Each day they had something fun to do.
Some of the things they did...

Bring in a book to exchange with a friend

Hat day

Dallin let her wear the hat he got from Grandma and Grandpa Bush

Bring in your favorite Dr. Suess book to share with the class

Dress like a book character

I steered her away from dressing like a princess (not that there is necessarily anything wrong with princesses, I just had a feeling that there would already be plenty of girls dressed like that) and got her to agree to be Laura Ingalls. She loved it. She even took her lunch in a lunch pail :)

Here she is when I dropped her off for school...I guess the sun was in her eyes, but she still looks so cute! 

At first she was worried that no one would know who she was. I told her that if they didn't know then she could tell them, and that I was sure that her teacher had heard of Laura Ingalls and Little House on the Prairie. 

"But Mom, what if my teacher doesn't know who that is?"
I told her that if her teacher had never heard of it then I'd give her five dollars.

...after school I asked her how it went and if her teacher knew about Little House on the Prairie. She gave me a sly look and said, "no she never heard of it." I smiled at her and she broke..."ok, she heard of it, but can I still have five dollars?" Nice try sweetie :)

I did ask her what other people were dressed as, and as I suspected, the answer was...Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, etc.