Our 4th

We carried our 4th of July traditions on this year with our friends/HB family the Wilsons!  We had a busy and fun 4th of July, and we all loved it!

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood...A-mazing!

We rode our bikes down to Main St. to watch the 4th of July Parade with the Wilsons and their family.  

{Max and Marie watching the parade}

 Here's our crowd getting ready for the parade to start! Teri and Dickie (Doyle's Brother and SIL), Marie and Ivy, Jeff {applying a thick coat of sunscreen to his legs} and Max}  We had an awesome spot to watch the parade, thanks to Marie and Teri!

 Max and Ivy were so great during the parade..Max was cute waving his little flag at everyone that went by.  

 Ivy floated around to each one of us, but I think liked Daddy the best...who doesn't like a little breeze up their skirt every now and then...I think Jeff liked the shade on his dome, too!

 Some of our favorite sights: the Jets scooting across the sky...and the low-flying fast helicopters that flew right over our heads!

 The ginormous Wagon car that we see everytime we exit the freeway...so fun to see it actually moving!

 The old-fashioned fire-trucks...especially the one with the REAL dalmation!

 and the long-legged-magee!

I think this was the first year that we did the parade, and I loved it!  I can't wait for next year...I hope the Wilsons are still here!

I made a couple of these goodies to keep the kids occupied while we watched the parade

Let Freedom Ring{pop}

 and Patriotic Twizzlers...they were both a hit!  (compliments of here)

 Then we rode our bikes back home for the kids to take a nap while I whipped up some treats for our BBQ

I made White-chocolate-dipped strawberries with blue sprinkles..they were yummy!  And Red Velvet white and blue cupcakes with toppers from the Tom-Kat studio toppers (find them here)...so cute! (I hate it when I don't take pictures!)

 We had Carne Asada (I know I spelled that wrong...not even going to try to find out how to spell that word..you know what I mean!) tacos that Dickie made...YUM!!!  and that same fancy drink that Marie makes...{LOVE} Good company just chilling with friends and family.  

then Daddy had to go to work, so the kids and I stayed at Doyle's house, and we did bubbles and pop-its

 ...and these crack-snapple-pop confetty fire works that don't require matches...I got them super on sale last year and the kids LOVED them!

 Then when the time was right, we rode our bikes down to the beach and set up shop to watch the fireworks off the pier!  Both kids got a glow stick from Grandma while we waited...they were completely entertained with the bibbity-bobbity-wand and the glow-gun!

 Here's our little crowd while we watched! (Doyle, Justin, Marie, Dickie, Jeff{Wilson}Max, Teri...and Ivy was laying on the side playing with her wand.

 {max, marie and doyle}

We had such a fun day!  

Nose Harvest

Today we harvested our entire pot of carrots...they were ready, but they were all teeny little chub carrots.  Perfect for a little snack...or for Frosty's Nose.  aren't they cute?!?

 But look at this crazy little mutant?  I want that one!

**  I steamed these little suckers for dinner tonight...they were A-mazing!  holy yum!

Steamers!

My hub's so great...look what he made me for our anniversary!?

My Favorite Dinner: Steamed Clams!

I haven't had them since our first anniversary in San Francisco! 

Big treat, Jeffer, thanks, Babe!

name hunt

I'm OCD...

Obsessive...about lots of things..and once they catch on, all whoop-whoop breaks loose.  So, I've had this obsession for forever about street signs, and every time I see one with a name of someone I know, I wish I had my camera to whip around and take a picture of it to send them...I've never done that, but I've wanted to!

Anyways, that's where the idea for our name hunt came about.  I already knew we had an 'Ivy circle' in HB from here

and recently, I ran into a Max street on an iCandy adventure with Jen...and actually saw my neice's real name "Alexa" while we were there...So, I got to thinking...I wonder if I could find an Autumn St in HB...and a Cheryl St in HB...I google mapped it...and sure enough!

So, while Lexi and Grandma were here, we went on a name hunt.  I mapped out our route, and we all kept our eyes out for our own signs...i thought it was fun.  :)

here they are:

AZ- to HB

Because Jeff had to work for 2 weeks in AZ, Grandma and Lexi brought us back and stayed a couple of days in HB with us, which we LOVED!

We started off the trip with a trip to the Tire store...just in the nick of time, we learned all about how to fix a flat!  woo hoo Grandma for catching it before we even got on the freeway!

(waiting for the nail in the tire to be removed!  hee hee)

 While Lexi and Grandma were here, we did lots of things...we went on a name hunt...more on that later, we went recycling, went to church, the Beach, Grandma treated us to Pretend City...woo hoo!!!  (most pics are of pretend city)

 We went to the street fair and walked around on the pier...saw two random pelicans...

 Went to the Great Park to ride the Balloon and the merry go round...but the wait was too long for the balloon ride (that was the first day back, and there was no way I was keeping my kids up late!)

 (Lexi and Ivy)

Lexi was darling with my kids...they both adore her, and can't get enough of playing with her.  She was such a good sport to sit in between them in the back of the truck the whole way back, and every time we went anywhere, and was a good sport about doing things that were fun for them.  We love you Grandma and Lex...come back again soon!

Happy Anniversary, Deeds

You're my favorite!

(2004)

Happy 7th anniversary!

i love you all the time!

(2011)

Arizona at a glance

Jeff had to go to Arizona for work for a couple weeks, so the kids and I tagged along for part of it.  It just happened to be the same weekend of a fun "crafter's night out" hosted by my {real life}friend Kristyn from Lil Luna, so I scored me a ticket and got to go to my first 'blog" shindig.  I loved it...!

I got a ton of fun things, and met a bunch of really cute crafters...namely, Dave's Wife, Kristy!...loved her!

Funny thing is that she was wearing the dress that jen had just posted on our iCandy blog....it was hilarious, and she was hilarious!

After that, we celebrated Father's Day in Tempe...My friends in HB had a little tie-decorating party, and we didn't get back from swim lessons in time to decorate with the girls, but I had already started painting Jeff's tie, so I figured I might as well finish it off with the kids.  Jeff was the best-dressed dad in Tempe 10th ward...

followed closely behind by Grandpa...max made him his tie in Preschool.  We made one for Paw Paw too {bow tie of course}...did he wear it?  let's see it, Paw Paw!

 Grandma made Max an official Bug-Explorer vest, per Max's request.  He's obsessed with traipsing around the yard looking for bugs, and for sure needed a vest to hook all of his tools on to.  It was just exactly what he wanted, and he couldn't get enough!  Sad thing was that Grandma's bug guy is just too good...he couldn't find a bug inside or out!

 We got to participate in Grandma Day with the AZ cousins...Grandma got the slip n slide out for part of the time, and we all played in the pool for the rest of it.  It was so fun to play with the older kids!

Daddy was able to play with us too, for a couple of the days that we were there....woo hoo!

 We fed the ducks in 114 degree heat...those were some hungry ducks...I don't think they've been fed since March when it was below 80!

 We went to our favorite, the Tempe Historical Museum, which is free and totally awesome...our kids love that place! 

 and we got our own spontaneious tour of the inside of a fire truck

AND we got to play with our friends the Halbisons at the Splash park in Tempe (didn't bring my camera there!) AND have a BBQ and a swim with Jeff's friend from BYU and his Family, the Wilkes (Adam was a Catcher for BYU, and Jeff was a Pitcher)

we had so much fun...and then Arizona came to HB!  more to come!

I Spied

Today, I was reading one of my fav blogs...Ucreate, you know the Oprah of craft blogs...where all the cool stuff appears...

Anyway, Kari, the blogger, was featuring Kristen Duke, a photographer, who I actually signed up to take a photography class from here in HB in July...anyways, I was reading the post, scrolling and reading, and then at the very bottom...here's a picture with Kristen Duke (Amazing Photographer) and Kari (Ucreate Blogger) 

and what did I spy?

Do you see what Kristen is wearing around her neck??

and Kari happened to comment on it!...hee hee

go here to see the post.

I'm feeling a little happy about it!

Max's Preschool Graduation!

What a big boy Max has become!  

Today I got to go to his Graduation Ceremony from Preschool. (and I actually teared up a little...what a dork!)  I"m so proud of what a smart and amazing boy he is becoming!  I'm so lucky to be his mom!

All of the parents sat outside as we waited for the kids to come out in a single file line to find their chairs...Max was looking for me...

 They read each of the kids names, one at a time, told us what they want to be when they grow up and what their favorite part of preschool was.  Some kids wanted to be Doctors, Hair stylists, or a worker guy who fixes things...can you guess what Max wants to be?  I was surprised!  here it is:

After their ceremony, they showed us some of the fun things that they learned this year...sign language, yoga, spanish, etc...here are the yoga and Spanish performances from today...heehee, maybe only Grandmas will like it!

 Yoga:

Proud Mama

 His Teachers, who are so cute with him, Miss Teri:

 and Miss Audrey:

Max loves his teachers, and so do I, They've come to some of the boutiques I've been in, and we run into them occasionally at the grocery store or fabric store...They're so cute, and we'll be sad to not get to see them  every week.  Maybe Ivy will get lucky and have them in preschool when she is old enough!  I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Summer's coming!

I"ll miss the spikes, but this is our favorite cut for summer!

Ivy's Stunt Doubles

 One of my friends just told me about this little character named Oona on a show called Bubble Guppies totally reminds her of Ivy...I hadn't heard of the show, so I google-imaged her...and I must agree...how cute is this little purple-haired mermaid???

and the other little characters that remind me of Ives...Chaca from the Emperors New Groove...i love that little girl in this movie...she's suuuuuper cute...

and of course the reason we had a "pinkalicious"-themed first birthday for Ivy was because I thought she looked just like her...

anyone agree?

{is it the pig-tails?}