Who doesn’t love ruffles?

Now that I own a sewing machine, I sometimes look for cute projects on other people’s blogs.  I saw a tutorial online on how to make ruffle-y skirts and I thought I would make my girls Christmas skirts. Originally, they were going to be red, white and green, but as I was sewing them, I was thinking, they should be going to a mexican fiesta. I showed Jeff and he said it looked like a ruffled flag of Mexico. So I took off the green. Now they just look like candy canes.

Anyway, these were my first real sewing projects. I have made some jammies and pillowcases, but they were pretty easy. These skirts were a little more intense. So in my head, they are darling, probably because I am proud of myself for sewing them. So if they are actually, not in fact very cute, please don’t tell me. I would like to go on believing that I am nurturing a talent.

Twilight changes everything...

Wikipedia

Does anyone else look up random stuff on wikipedia when you’re bored? No? Just me? Oh.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!

That’s right, our annual trip to Disneyland!! For the last couple years we have gone in November, right before Thanksgiving.  We love to go at this time because the park isn’t crowded, and all the Christmas decorations are up. We usually go with our friends, the Cotterells, and this year, we took the Davis family, too. (That’s a party of 15, in case you were wondering.)

It was a lot of fun, as always! Thanks Cotterells and Davises for sharing the Disney magic.

9 kids total, (one is missing from this picture)

  Can’t wait for next year!!

You're invited to our wedding reception, 11 years later

Saturday was our anniversary.

So I wanted to relive the memories from 11 years ago.

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart! I love you!

more gratitude

Everyday, I have tried to recognize those things and people in my life that are blessings. Wow! I am amazed at how much I have!

-My house- I sometimes complain that I want a new house, or that this one is too small, but I am grateful that we have a house!! And a house payment we can afford. A lot of people right now don’t have that… I am grateful for a nice, cozy, warm home that we can afford and we aren’t worried about losing it.

-Education- I am grateful for the education that I received. And also for the education that Jeff received. I know there are some people who can’t (or don’t) get an education, and I am glad that I did (and will).

-my neighbors- I have the BEST neighbors. Not only can I borrow sugar or butter from them, but they also help out with my kids, and any other problems I may be having. I am very blessed to have such great neighbors.

-My country- I know that there were many people who sacrificed their lives so that I could enjoy the freedoms I do. I am grateful to Heavenly Father for setting this choice land apart.

-Music- Though I am not blessed with any musical talent (that’s an understatement), I have an immense appreciation for music of all kinds. I am especially grateful for those who are musically talented who share their gifts with others. I have been uplifted and inspired many times by music.

These are a few more things I am grateful for. 

An attitude of gratitude

In this month of Thanksgiving, I have decided to focus on gratitude. I was inspired by reading a talk about having more gratitude. If you want to read it, go here.

Of course I am grateful for my family, our health, the gospel, my Savior and His Atonement. These are fairly obvious to me. But I am grateful for the small things. the everyday manifestations of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. So I want to post about things that I am grateful for, that I may recognize more blessings, and draw closer to Him that gave them to me.

So day one of my ‘attitude of gratitude’ I would like to give thanks for my children. I know it’s obvious, but they really are my greatest source of joy. Not just happiness, pure JOY! I love being a mom, and I love taking care of them. I love to squeeze them,and tuck them in every night. I love to listen to their stories, and help them learn new things. I especially love to hear them tell me they love me, too. I give gratitude for the blessings (and trials) of being a mother.

Halloween

 

A black cat, a musketeer, and a skeleton.

Last night after trick or treating, Brynnlee was already planning next year’s outfit. She was kind of bummed that Lauren got to wear makeup, and she didn’t (aside from the eyeliner whiskers).

Hope you had a great Halloween!!

U2!!

I am the U and Jeff is the 2. See it?

Oh, you guys!! It was SO FREAKING AWESOME!! I wouldn’t say No Line on the Horizon is my favorite album, so I was kind of thinking this concert wouldn’t be my favorite, but luckily they didn’t play everything from the new album. They played a lot of the old stuff, too. It was so great when they started Mysterious Ways, and after 2 notes, everybody is jumping and screaming, and singing along. Oh. how I love that band!!

The band is as awesome as ever. Bono is singing the whole time, running around the stage and bantering with the crowd. He is such a great performer. I loved it!

Rumor is they will be hitting Salt Lake on the second leg of their North American tour, so maybe in June or July… You know I will be there!!

VEGAS- here we come!!

Tomorrow morning, Jeff and I, with Susy and Clark are roadtripping to Vegas to see THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME!

Yes, we are going to see U2!!

Happy birthday to me!!

I’ll let you know how it was, but it’s a pretty safe bet that IT WAS AWESOME!!

BEST DAY EVER!!

In our neighborhood, we have this thing going around- if you get “booed” someone leaves a treat and this picture on your doorstep, anonymously. Then you put the picture up in your window, and take a treat to two other houses who haven’t been “booed” yet. Imagine my delight when last night, we open the door to find that we had been booed!! And it isn’t even halfway through the month yet!! I mean, I don’t want to brag, but I think that the fact that I was an “early boo” speaks for itself. Can you say POPULAR?? Plus, we got Oreo Cakesters! Could this day be any better??

Word of Warning

If you have all your pictures stored on your computer, and no hard copies, or not stored somewhere else, like an external hard drive, or backup discs, because you think ‘I don’t have to back my pictures up, nothing will happen to them.’  be warned. This is a picture of my hard drive. Smashed. I won’t go into details of what happened, but I am warning everyone who reads this (all 7 of you) to BACK UP YOUR PICTURES! Because I can replace my music, retype my documents, redo my genealogy, reload all my fonts and almost everything else lost on my computer except the pictures. Learn from my very sad mistake. :(

I LOVE GOURDS!!

I don't know if zucchini is technically a gourd, probably not, but I love it as much as a gourd!
So today for lunch I had yellow squash and zucchini (fried in butter, topped with mozzerella cheese-super healthy) and last night for dinner, we had butternut squash soup. I just found a recipe for pumpkin bread , and I am thinking of making butternut squash ravioli for dinner tonight! I feel so fall-ish!

What would cause this???

My eye has been twitching for the last three days. And not just an occasional twitch, an almost constant seizure. My left eye. Maybe I'm dying...

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Here's my little man. 5 Years old yesterday.
Say it with me... how time flies.
I am so grateful for this happy little bundle of energy. He is so happy, and sweet. Sometimes, he'll just say to me "Mom, I love you." Right out of the blue.
He is always smiling, and I love his little laugh. He is such a blessing to our family. He loves to help me out, even though he would rather be in pre-school. He is great at building LEGOS and riding his bike. Yesterday for his birthday, he got a new scooter, and has been riding around all day (in the house, by the way).
I love you, buddy! I'm so glad you are in our family.

A Poem by Brynnlee

When Cats Dance

Cats may disco when they're glad,
Rumba when they're feeling mad.
Hip hop cats are never sad,
But my cats love to tango.
Gliding smoothly through the door
Sliding 'cross the kitchen floor
To the music they adore.
Heads held high, they strike a pose.
In their teeth, they hold a rose.
Oh, those tabby twinkletoes
Are awesome when they tango.




Written all by her 8-year old self, with no help! What a smartie!

Speaking of BONNERMANIA....

Family pictures. The last time we had these done was 3 years ago.

The last time Jeff and I posed like this was for our engagement pictures. Which was 11 years ago! How time flies!

Dino-mite!!

Do you know where the World's Largest Dinosaur Museum is? Here in Utah, at a place called Thanksgiving Point. That's right, the whole world. So Thanksgiving Point runs a deal in the summer called "Two Dollar Tuesday" where you can get into the world's largest disnosaur museum for... you guessed it, two bucks. So Tuesday, my friend Courtnie and I braved the crowds (and I do mean crowds, at least a million people) and took our little ones to explore the Museum of Ancient Life.

It was very interesting and the kids loved seeing all the fossils and skeletons. they have a lot of hands on exhibits, where you can touch and feel different things. There is also a big sandbox, with water where you can build a canyon, but at least 300 kids were already playing there, so sadly for my children, we didn't get to partake of the germs, I mean build a canyon.

Ethan pretending to read about a Triceratops.

Kids not being scared of a giant shark. They tried to tell me this was real, but there's no foolin' me!

Like I said, the whole thing is really hands-on, and this exhibit showed where certain dinos probably lived.

Here are Brynn and Ethan making their own dinosaur with velcro appendages. Kind of creepy, 'cause you could have a headless, 5 legged creature, but whatever.


So on day 2 of being off track, we already have had 2 educational field trips (Monday we went to This is The Place State Park, but I forgot my camera). So now we can do nothing else for the two and a half weeks left before we go back. I wouldn't want my kids to learn too much.

Warning, bonnerites!

Do you know what I'm NOT good at? Well, in this particular case I'm talking about updating my blog. Either I am boring, and don't do anything worth blogging about, or I just don't have the time to blog our everyday adventures. I'm going to say it's because I don't have the time. Because let's face it, it's definately NOT because I'm boring. So to my blogging community (that's right, I called you Bonnerites), stay tuned... Bonnermania is about to get crazy.

A day in Temple Square

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Debbie came to visit from California. So we decided to take them on a tour of Temple Square. Debbie is a great photographer, but these pictures are from me. Maybe Grandma could have gotten Ethan to smile.

I NEED YOUR HELP!!

Attitude, attitude, attitude. That's about all I get from this girl. And not a happy attitude, either. She cries when it's time for school, she cries when it's time for church, she cries if Lauren gets something she doesn't, she cries when she doesn't like what's for dinner,she cries if she doesn't like what I pick out for her to wear, she cries if someone looks at her "in a grumpy way". You might think it's because summer is almost here, but she's pretty much been this way for the last several months. Crying, pouting, complaining, and crying some more. I have tried everything I can think of. Is it because she's 8? Is it because she is a girl? Is it because she doesn't get enough attention? Is it because I am a terrible mom? What should I do???

It's someone's birthday!

I know it's cliche, but how time flies. One day you are holding your tiny baby, thinking how sweet and innocent they are, and before you know it, that little person is turning six years old. She is full of personality, and still sweet, when she wants to be, but also not afraid to tell you what she thinks. She is sassy, and smart, and adorable and a little naughty, and sensitive and forgiving and a bit of a bully, but only to her siblings. She likes to tease but is not really fond of being teased herself. She is a born nurturer-she loves small babies and children, even ones who are about as big as she is. I just love the person that she is, and the person she is becoming. Happy Birthday Lauren!

Pondering the Beauty of the Universe...

I just saw these AMAZING pictures today. I don't really get that excited about outerspace. In fact, I kind of don't care that much about it. But even I can appreciate the beauty of these pictures.

If you want to see more pictures, go to this website.

EIGHT IS GREAT!!

Because of my church calling, I get to go to baptisms every month, and I love it. It's my favorite part of being in Primary. But this month was special. I have been looking forward to today's baptism for a long time. Why? Because it was my daughter getting baptized! Can you believe it?

Like I said, every baptism is special, but it was extra meaningful today. I love this gospel, and I love my Savior and I am so proud that Brynn chose to be baptized. I am proud of the girl she is becoming and I am touched when she bears her budding testimony. I hope that this church brings her the same joy and happiness it brings me. It is my greatest joy to be a mom, and I thank my Heavenly Father for my family, and the blessings of being a member of His church.