besties

Maddie and Parker still love each other after all these (two) years!

anna's party

today, during nap time, Anna invited me to a wonderful tea party. the whole gang was there, (except the sleeping sisters of course) including our old friend, Honey Bear, who did double time as both a condiment and a guest. a delicious snack of bread with (the aforementioned) honey, and apple was served. and the "table" was adorned with a beautiful centerpiece of purple and gold hand-picked flowers. i had a lovely time.

wedding fever

(mommy's little helper)

so, after my sister's wedding i was all hopped up on creative wedding juices, and talking crazy talk all week, of wedding design, planning, photography, all passions, budding hobbies of mine. then i got a call from a friend in the throws of wedding planning for her daughter. one thing led to another, and pretty soon i was getting my fix, arranging tables, setting up buffets, and blissfully helping a great girl have a beautiful reception. what next?.....

Aloha personal progress!

so, i'm not sure if i've spelled it out on this blog, but i am the young women's president at my church. this means i am responsible for helping the 12-18 year old girls in my congregation grow closer to Christ. and to improve themselves spiritually, socially, and personally. it is so much fun. this year, to add a little spice to our efforts in Personal Progress, we offered the girls a trip to "Hawaii." this week, we made that trip. it was so much fun. the girls worked really hard on their goals, so they got a chance to kick back Aloha-style and eat delicious treats, learn the Hukilau, have an island themed relay race, and do the limbo. i don't know if we could have had a better time if we went to the "real" Hawaii! (definitely better weather though!) well done ladies!

silly breakfast this sabbath day

last night, Madeline downed half a bottle of her allergy medicine. why? "betause i was firsty!" Aunt Tara and poison control both assured us she would be fine....but sleepy....and it would dry her out considerable. this was all true, she slept like a rock, didn't die, and lost her voice and completely broke out in hives all over her body. her eczema did not like being "dried out." so this morning we had a very silly breakfast with our very silly, albeit uncomfortable daughter. first, she could barely eke out any sound, but did not stop trying to talk, so we had to try and understand every squeal that escaped her lips. then, her usually sensitive eyes, were ultra sensitive calling for sunglasses at the breakfast table. finally, i got out the camera so she had to ham it up for me. that's my silly, silly girl!

another girl got in on acting silly: and then there was me. i'm just plain silly!

insomniac

this is a flashback to my childhood. which is why, i think, i can't bear to tell her, "no," when she wants to, "just read a book before bed?" i kick myself every morning that she is grumpy though.



i love this child (and all my children) she (they) is the very embodiment of all i dreamed motherhood to be!

girlies!

i love my children. i'm sure that goes without saying, but seriously - they're awesome. after decompressing from a near 10 day absence from my house, i spied these 2 cuties just hanging around being lovely! aren't they though?

tashy and ian's wedding!!!!!!!!!!

aunt Tashy got married this weekend. it was a beautiful day, begining in the Los Angeles Temple and ending up at home where uncle Barrett and i both had receptions. some special touches included her veils hand made by her loving sister. a beautiful love song performed by the groom and his friend John. on that note, Jason recently made me acknowledge that my taste in music is depressing. my idea of a love song is a breakup song. i did not agree until doing this slideshow and having the worst time picking a song that was happy. so here you go! congratulations Ashlyn and Ian. we love you!

getting clean w/cousins

in California the kids played all day/every day with their cousins, and took exactly one bath. gross! Avery was in there too, but i only have so many hands! fun times.

bachelorette party.....beardsley style!

Ashlyn's 80's themed bachelorette was hands down, the best girls night out ever!!!!!!!!! okay... so "best" is a relative term that is meant to incorporate laughing at little things that went wrong, like going to the Karaoke bar that Kiki checked out explicitly and finding that it has been turned into a sports bar that doesn't use it's karaoke machine anymore. then, googling karaoke only to go to 1) a closed sushi restaurant, 2) an all Spanish speaking karaoke night at El Patio (note to readers, when you call a spanish restaurant to inquire whether they have karaoke that night, and the person on the other line answers every question with "yeah", they do not speak english and you will be a fish out of water at their karaoke night), 3) a weird get your own room possibly all korean speaking karaoke center, and finally 4) the most awesome rock n'bowl/karaoke bar in the southland, (which we found by sight and not Google by the way!)

once we landed there, the night really took off and we sang our little hearts out 'til the wee hours of the morning. Corbynn even taught the whole bar how to do the Thriller dance.


we stopped by Denny's for a little all night dessert action, and only left when aunt Lori called to say Jude was awake and Kiki needed to come nurse him. don't all bachelorette parties end this way?


along the way Ash had to perform various dares that we wrote on her shirt including: 1) giving her earring to a dude ala Molly Ringwald in the Breakfast Club, 2) tipping someone by singing, "and for your tip - stay out of dark alleys at night", 3) dedicating "i touch myself" to a stranger, ( helped her out with this one, you owe me Ash) 4) having a "Jessie-style" meltdown about the wedding (that's a Saved by the Bell reference, holla if you get it), 5) "sweeping it up" which was an inside joke for Tash and Kiki, and was hilarious as Ash repeatedly asked out waiter for a broom. he would say "sure, right away," and then leave without coming back, 5) crutcherella (you had to be there), and 6) telling a guy he looked just like Ian from behind. she chose this guy:

the resemblance is startling.



these antics, plus the late hour made us deliriously happy! i maintain.....BEST GIRLS NIGHT EVER!!!!!!

what happens in vegas......

Jason and i left the kids for the first time ever!!!!!!! we went to vegas - 'nuf said.
(thanks Aunt Corb! the kids had a blast!!!!!!!!!)