Have you ever been this tired?

My Girl

Today is my Ella's birthday. She is 4. She is such a beautiful girl and so much fun. I am so grateful for her. I think Heavenly Father knew that I needed a girl. Ella is so spunky. She has a sparkle in her eye. She loves to tease, especially her Uncles Adney and Jared. She loves princesses and barbies, makeup and twirly dresses. She is a girlie girl, but also loves to play with her brothers and she isn't afraid to get dirty. She loves to be on the go. I'm so glad that she still likes for me to hold her. She loves her dad so much and has a special place in his heart. He is so protective of her and worries about her more than the boys. It is so sweet. She loves vegetables and will eat almost anything. She also has a sweet tooth and is always asking for candy especially chocolate. She's mischievous and clever. She keeps me on my toes. She's my girl!

Butterfly Nets

I saw these butterfly nets at the grocery store the other day and I couldn't resist. So that is what we have been doing today. Hunting for butterflies. We haven't caught any yet. But I am sure we will. So far we have just been finding all kinds of caterpillars everywhere.

My favorite place

These are pictures from one of my most favorite places in the world. They are pictures from the hike I go on several times a week (I wish I could say everyday). I love it so much. I love being in the mountains by myself. I love how beautiful and peaceful it is. If I have had a rough day and the kids have been driving me crazy this is where I want to go. The hike is good exercise, but it also really helps me clear my head. It restores my spirit. When I come back I feel like I CAN handle all of the messes, and nagging and chaos. There is something so soothing about nature.

"Then whisper, blossom, in thy sleep
How I may upward climb
The Alpine path, so hard, so steep,
That leads to heights sublime;
How I may reach that far-off goal
Of true and honoured fame,
And write upon its shining scroll
A woman's humble name."

- The Alpine Path

My Sister

What makes her Lisa

the color purple & old movies
a writer & journal keeper
determined & loyal
a voracious reader & the family librarian
tea parties & book stores
spiritual & valiant
colorful pens & old vintage hats
quiet & sensitive
fantasy & mystery
red hair & beautiful big eyes
sweet, loving & kind
musicals & peanut butter M&M's
tall & graceful
anything L.M. Montgomery or Jane Austen
independent & strong
late nights & long talks
romantic & nostalgic
purses & shoes
adoring aunt & daughter
sister, confidant & friend

I love you Lisa!

Happy Birthday

Keeping the kids busy this summer

Here are a few blogs I thought I would share. They have some great ideas for activities to do with children.

Crafty Crow

The Write Start

Lemonade Stands

Don't you just love lemonade stands? I do. They are so summery and reminiscent of childhood. Today, Gordon was going to go play at a friend's house so we all loaded up on the 4-wheeler to take him to her house. Once we dropped him off we continued down the canyon to pick up our mail. That is when we saw the sign for the lemonade stand so of course we had to check that out too. Our cute little neighbor was selling lemonade so we bought some.

The whole thing, riding the 4-wheeler up and down the canyon and visiting the lemonade stand was like a trip down memory lane for me. So many childhood summers were spent doing those same things.

Here's to icy cold lemonade on a hot summer day.

Summer Reads

I thought I would do a post about some of my favorite books I have read lately. In case anyone out there is looking for some good summer reads.
The synopsis and pics come from Barnes and Noble .

Happy Reading!

The Lot Art of Keeping Secrets- Eva Rice

Synopsis

Eva Rice, daughter of the famed lyricist Tim Rice, has written a captivating and wonderfully stylized novel about a group of friends in postwar London's glamorous and daring young society.

With mannered prose dripping in the charm of 1950s London, TheLost Art of Keeping Secrets centers around Penelope, the wide-eyed daughter of a legendary beauty, Talitha, who is unable to move beyond the loss of her charmed husband to the war. Penelope, with her mother and brother, struggles to maintain their vast and crumbling ancestral home-and the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed-while postwar London spins toward the next decade's cultural revolution.

Penelope wants nothing more than to fall in love. When her new best friend, Charlotte, a free spirit in the young society set, drags Penelope into vibrant young London with all of its grand parties, she sets in motion great change for them all. Charlotte's mysterious and attractive brother Harry plots to use Penelope to make his American ex-girlfriend jealous, with unforeseen consequences, until a dashing, wealthy American movie producer arrives with what might be the key to Penelope's-and her family's-future happiness.

Vibrant, witty, and filled with vivid historical detail, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is an utterly unique debut novel about a time and place just slipping into history.

Digging to America - Anne Tyler

Synopsis

Anne Tyler’s richest, most deeply searching novel–a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport – the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate: an “arrival party” that from then on is repeated every year as the two families become more and more deeply intertwined. Even Maryam is drawn in – up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by Bitsy Donaldson’s recently widowed father, all the values she cherishes – her traditions, her privacy, her otherness–are suddenly threatened.

A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that immerse us in the challenges of both sides of the American story.


Eat Cake- Jeanne Ray

Synopsis

Ruth loves to bake cakes. When she is alone, she dreams up variations on recipes. When she meditates, she imagines herself in the warm, comforting center of a gigantic bundt cake. If there is a crisis, she bakes a cake; if there is a reason to celebrate, she bakes a cake. Ruth sees it as an outward manifestation of an inner need to nurture her family - which is a good thing, because all of a sudden that family is rapidly expanding. First, her mother moves in after robbers kick in her front door in broad daylight. Then Ruth's father, a lounge singer, who she's seen only occasionally throughout her life, shatters both wrists and, having nowhere else to go, moves in, too. Her mother and father just happen to hate each other with a deep and poisonous emotion reserved only for life-long enemies. Oh, yes indeed!

Add to this mix two teenagers, a gainfully employed husband who is suddenly without a job, and a physical therapist with the instincts of a Cheryl Richardson and you've got a delightful and amusing concoction that comes with its own delicious icing.



I Capture the Castle- Dodie Smith

Synopsis

This enchanting novel tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her unusual family who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Cassandra’s eccentric father is a writer whose first book took the literary world by storm but he has since failed to write a single word and now spends his time reading detective fiction. Cassandra’s sister, Rose, despairs of her family’s circumstances and determines to marry their affluent American landlord. She is helped and, sometimes, hindered in this by their bohemian stepmother, an artists’ model who likes to commune with nature. Finally there is Stephen who is hopelessly in love with Cassandra. Amid this maelstrom Cassandra hones her writing skills, candidly capturing the events that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love.

Love Walked In- Marisa De Los Santos

Synopsis

A tribute to classic film and true romance, Love Walked In tells the story of two women – one older, one younger – and the unexpected ways in which their lives are forever changed by chance.

For thirty-one-year old Cornelia Brown, life is a series of movie moments, and "Jimmy Stewart is always and indisputably the best man in the world, unless Cary Grant should happen to show up." So imagine Cornelia's delight when her very own Cary Grant walks through the door of the hip Philadelphia café she manages. Handsome and debonair, Martin Grace sweeps Cornelia off her feet, becoming Cary Grant to Cornelia's Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable to her Joan Crawford. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, eleven-year-old Clare Hobbes must learn to fend for herself after her increasingly unstable mother has a breakdown and disappears. With no one to turn to, Clare seeks out her estranged father, and when the two of them show up at Cornelia's café, the lives of Cornelia and Clare are changed in drastic and unexpected ways. A cinematic and heartfelt debut that pays homage to the classic Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story, Love Walked In is sure to win over critics and readers of contemporary fiction.

Chubby little toes

My favorite picture that I have taken lately. It doesn't get any cuter than that. Sweet chubby little toes. Oh, how I love them.

Who looks like who?

I saw this on Rachel's blog so I decided to try it with my kids. I'm not sure I believe it (who knows how accurate it is). I always thought Gordon looked more like his dad and that the other two looked a little more like me or like my side of the family. Anyway it was fun!

Reid Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Reid Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family search - Roots

Reid Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Hanging with cousins

Gordon loves his cousins so much. His favorite thing in the world is to play with them, combine that with eating popsicles, another favorite and he is in HEAVEN.

Charles, Gene and Sina came up to play yesterday. It was so fun. They jumped on the tramp, played in the sand box and went on 4-wheeler rides with Keni.

Seeing them all play together reminded me that playing with cousins was one of my very favorite things to do too. It was such a blessing to me to grow up with lots of cousins all around. I am so grateful that my kids are getting to do it too.

Hello Sweet June

So glad you are here! You have been much missed, often dreamed about, and long awaited!