Too many years of baby oil and tin foil....

OK OK OK...

I will be the example...

I have been a long time worshipper of the sun.

Far too many burns too count...

Far too little sun screen used.

So I'm here to tell ya...

those two things in conjunction 

...NOT A GOOD THING...

I had a little dry patch on my chin that wouldn't heal

come to find out...

It was skin cancer

...NOT A GOOD THING... 

That tiny spot turned into 10+ stitches.

So boys and girls

The moral of this story is...

lather up yourselves

and your boys and girls...

(I apologize for the slightly gross picture)

Oh...
and to make matters worse...
I'm leaving on a sisters trip to New York tomorrow...
GOOD TIMES...

Appreciate a teacher...

The girls made

 some little paper flowers 

to let our teachers know

 how awesome they are.

 Teachers...

they really do
 take CARE of our kids. 

Don't forget...

to show a little love...

Run Forrest Run.....

Track season just ended. 

IT was long...IT involved a lot of traveling...

...IT was awesome...

When Dre decided to run track last year it was a completely new scene for me. 

I had never been to a track meet, ever.

Let me break it down as simple as possible...

I AM NOT A RUNNER

(although my sister Spring and I were completely obsessed with the movie "Chariots of Fire"

 there's simply no denying that theme song)

For his first meet,

 I packed up a few snacks for the kids,

 thinking it was like going to a football game.

 Little did I know that

 they were all day events! 

I was so not prepared. 

But can I tell you how exciting they are!!!! 

This year at regionals Dre qualified

 in 3 events for STATE

200 meter, 

4 by 1,

 and the sprint medley

PRETTY AWESOME

His sprint team finished 2nd by fractions of a second...

HEARTBREAKING

But the time was a new school record...

INSPIRING

American Fork High Schools boys track team finished second overall in the entire state...

 AMAZING

We are pretty proud of our oldest baby...

I Made it Monday....

Crocheting isn't just for your Grandma anymore...

Although I'm pretty sure a Grandma crocheted this dandy...

Too hip for a Grandma to crochet?
My 50 year old sister who IS A GRANDMA would beg to differ :)

I saw some really cute crocheted headbands at a boutique.

(and bought a few, I always support my fellow crafters!)

 My "sew sisters" and I  

decided that we would try our hand 

at crocheting.

Although it IS a handicraft...

It involves major parts of your 

left brain.

Way more thinking during a "craft" than I'm accustomed to!

After a lot of "pulling out" and starting over,

this is what I ended up with...

Not bad for a novice...

The Crazy Craft Scene

So "The Beehive Bazaar" is a wrap. 

 It entailed tons of work, a lot of sleepless nights
and much fretting on my part.  

All that aside...

it was a really great event to be a part of. 

Already looking forward to applying for the next show...
                                                              

(I think)

Happy Mothers Day...

A Mother's love

is the fuel

that enables a normal human being

to do the impossible...

Happy Mothers Day

to all you exceptional women

doing exceptional things...

The "C" word....

I get totally psyched for this show every year. It's definitely not your run of the mill craft boutique. They advertise it as something like "not your mothers craft show." It's full of really creative, funky artists/crafters from right here in Utah. I think crafting has taken an up turn in the last several years. The mention of the word "crafting" no longer evokes images of grammies knitting toilet paper roll covers. It's not thought of as a swear word (the "c" word) anymore... It's actually pretty cool to craft. It's the new scene to be a part of :) Crafting has graduated from tole painting and homemade hair bows the size of a small planet to...

My "Queen of the Circus" cage girlie
I made it into the show this year!!!!!
...excited...nervous...wish me luck....

More pictures coming soon....

Who me?

When my little Blythe was first learning
 how to spell her name,
 she used to "practice" writing it everywhere...
seriously...EVERYWHERE!
 I would find b-L-y-t-H-e or fragments of it
 on the wall,
 on the side of her dresser,
on the table,
 etc. etc....
If it was a fixed object, her name was on it.
 It was kind of cute at first.
 As soon as pencil moved to sharpie...the cuteness factor was gone.
 The funniest thing was that
every time I questioned the kids about who the graffiti culprit was,
Blythe never fessed up, ever.
 Like she expected us to think that someone else
was writing HER little name,
 in HER little kindie-garden handwriting,
 all over OUR house!
 Well.... things are much different with the new "tagger" in the family...

  Introducing... SMITH CARTER SNOWDEN...
mess maker and graffiti artist extraordinaire!
 He too enjoys writing his name around town,
but whole heartedly wants the artistic recognition.
Yesterday I found this on his shoe,
which he proudly took credit for.
 Funny how things get progressively less "cute" the more kids you have...

I Made it Monday...

I made these, um... I don't know what to call them

um....

vintage book assemblages?

I always pick up vintage children's books

 whenever I'm out on a hunt.

They have such great images, I love them.

I have accumulated sooo many,

 I needed to come up with an idea 

to use some of them.

I gathered books that "worked" together,

like if they had a similar theme or title.

Then  glued a vintage toy on top

and a vintage glass on the bottom

to finish it all off.

They turned out pretty neat huh?

I know some bibliophiles are probably horrified

that I'm "defacing" books...but the books are still intact...

promise. 

(um...just glued together) 

April showers bring May flowers???

A light dusting turns into...

three inches!!!!

I'm thinking the April showers bring May flowers rhyme thing is a farce! Daffodils and snow...an oxymoron at it's finest.  Snow is awesome and Utah has the "greatest snow on earth."  We are just kinda over the whole snow in May thing! Come on Mother Nature, throw us a bone....

(preferably one with a big red bow of warmness tied around it)