Summer in Arizona...so far

Okay, well, we have done a lot since we've been in Arizona this summer. We've had 2 trips to Lake Powell, a trip to Colorado, spent a weekend at the cabin with my grandparents, and just had a lot of fun. My dad bought a brand new wakeboarding boat, but I don't have any pictures of that. It is NICE though. At the lake we learned to wake surf, which is apparently the new cool thing to do. It was fun, but no one took pictures of me doing it. I had too many pictures to show, and I don't even have half of them, so I decided to do a montage with all the stuff instead.

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Jaci's First Haircut

We've done some fun things since our trip to Lake Powell, but I didn't have the pictures from our trip to Colorado, and then we went to the cabin with my grandparents, Nana and Bopy, and I left my camera there. I'll be getting it back tomorrow! We do have one exciting thing to document...Jaci got her first official hair cut. She's 2, I know, but before now I just couldn't make myself cut anything but her bangs, but I decided it was getting kind of long and scraggly!

This is before.

This is after

This is my mom's friend Jennifer, that we've known FOREVER!!! She had these wonderful muffins that she's getting me the recipe for, so when I try those I'll put them up on my other blog. Jaci actually did a lot better than I thought she would. She HATES even getting her hair brushed or put up for the day, but after she got her popsicle she did REALLY well. She sat fairly still and it went pretty smoothly. I've tried to blow dry her hair before too and she freaked out, but she just sat there while Jennifer did it today!

We'll see how this haricut works out. She has this horrible cowlick on the back of her head that makes most of her hair fall straight forward into her face...and she HATES her hair in her face! But for now I think her hair is adorable and now she won't look so much like a ragamuffin! Thanks again, Jennifer!

This is the best after picture I could get today. Even though she was good getting her hair cut, when she was done, she was DONE. There will be more pictures to come because we're going to Lake Powell again this weekend! My dad just bought a new wakeboarding boat, so I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures coming!

Lake Powell!!!

Well we just got back from our yearly trip to Lake Powell. We had so much fun, and Jaci LOVED it! Last year she SCREAMED when she had to put her life jacket ON, and this year she threw a HUGE temper tantrum when she had to take her life jacket OFF. She would have worn it the whole time if I'd let her. She is a little fishy! I guess it's time to get her in swimming lessons.

We went on the tube a ton and Jaci didn't ever want to get off that either. My dad started driving a little crazy, even with Jaci on it, but she would not get scared off of it. Everytime I asked her if she wanted to get off she'd say "no, no, no, no, no" or "hmm-mmm" and adamantly shake her head NO! She was so funny because she'd scream....after the bump was over, and just because we did!

The kids liked going to the beach and getting to be on stable land for a little while! The second time we went to a beach to play in sand, Jaci threw her biggest tantrum of the trip. She screamed bloody murder for at least 45 minutes straight. She did NOT want to get out of the water. Then she'd calm down and I'd take her life jacket off and she'd start all over again.

Wow! I'm so white I could be a vampire! Usually Lake Powell helps with that a little bit, but NO. I got a little burned a couple of days and then it went away...back to pasty white!

There are more pictures to come, including the annual "Tireless" life preserver picture, but those are on Caryn's camera, so I'll have to wait!

Jaci's Photo Shoot

I've been wanting to get some pictures taken of Jaci for a while. Lucky for me, my friend Lindsay is starting up a business and used Jaci to build her portfolio...and let me tell you, if she can get some good pictures of Jaci, she can take good pictures of ANYONE. Jaci absolutely HATES getting her picture taken...so Lindsay, you are amazing! This one with the bubble in front of her face turned out really cool!

In this one I think she lookes like a model posing for a magazine!

Yummy hair! I can't believe we got all these good ones! There are a bunch more too, along with the grumpy faces, but these were some of my favorites...along with the new topper for the blog...that one is my absolute favorite! She looks so precious!

Since my last post we've had my grandparents, Nana and Bopy, come to visit and today we had Jaci's friend birthday party. I'll post those pictures later, but I was so excited to get these ones today that I had to put them on first! I'm going to get several of them blown up and framed! Yay!

Watermelon Skirt

We've had a busy week! Bill's parents were in town and we had a great time with them! We miss them already! We went up to Mississippi to visit with Big Bill's family and down to New Orleans for a crawfish boil with Melanie's family. Big Bill and I had a good time on the shooting range, and Melanie and I went shopping just about everywhere. They were in town for a wedding an dwe had a wonderful visit! On one rare quiet night during their visit (during the rehearsal dinner when I couldn't get a babysitter), I threw together this little skirt. I think it is adorable! I saw a baby bib like this and I figured I could make a cute watermelon skirt. I LOVE IT! It is so perfectly summery! I have a candle from Gold Canyon that smells like watermelon jolly ranchers and it helped inspire this skirt.

We are so excited for this coming week too because my grandparents are coming out from Arizona for a visit! I can't wait to see Nana and Bopy for a few days! We'll probably be doing a lot of driving...my grandpa wants to go see just about every plantation and antebellum home within 75 miles! We're excited to play tourguide and eat yummy food!

Jaci Turned 2!!!

I can't believe that my little baby turned 2 today! It doesn't seem possible that it was two years ago that they put that sweet little baby girl in my arms for the first time! We have had so many good, sweet times since then. Her favorite place to be is still in her mommy's arms! Everyday I look at her and can't believe how "grown up" she is. She isn't a baby anymore, but a little girl. I love her so much and I am so lucky because she loves me so much too! I just hope that lasts forever! I love getting to spend my days playing with her and watching her grow. She is so smart and it is so fun hearing her talk and tell me all sorts of stories. She loves to sing, and that is my favorite sound in the world.

Bill's parents came in town last night so they could celebrate Jaci's birthday with us. Jaci had a great birthday! We started out the day at the park for a ward picnic. Then tonight, we had a little party for her and Bill. (Bill's birthday was 3 days ago.) She LOVED her presents! Bill and I gave her a sandbox (along with a few other things). Bill's parents gave her a little picnic table and umbrella for the backyard and some sand toys, and my parents gave her a little dolly and a baby bed and stroller for the doll. My sister-in-law made her some beautiful necklaces (including the one she's wearing in the top picture), and my "little" brother gave her some "treasure". She also got some great presents from Bill's cousins, including: dress up shoes, coloring books, crayons, and tinker bell dishes. Thank you everyone!!!



For the party, I spent all day yesterday baking. I made a Red Velvet Cake for Bill, a giant cupcake cake for Jaci, a pan of my brother's favorite Chocolate Dessert, and homemade Strawberry Ice Cream!!!

More Sewing and Baking

Okay, here is another one of my latest creations. I saw this little skirt on a couple of blogs and I decided I had to try it. I have stuff to try it in some other colors too, and I'm going to make it a little shorter next time, but I think it turned out pretty cute! I'm having so much fun sewing! I'm going a little crazy with patterns and fabric and everything and my guest room is a disaster with all my stuff spread out everywhere, but oh well! It will all have to be cleaned up by next weekend when Bill's parents come.

She didn't like that I took one of her chairs outside, so she promptly took it back inside "where it goes"...lined up with the other 3 right in front of the TV.

I've also been doing some baking. I'm putting together a cookbook of my favorite recipes and I'm trying to take pictures of them to put in the book as well. These are two that I tried out on some of my friends and they LOVED them! Above are Peanut Butter Polka Dot Bars and below are German Chocolate Bars! Yummy!