April Showers Bring May Flowers.. Except My Yard. (Sat. #6 & 7)

I bought 50+ tulip bulbs from thanksgiving point last year ($8) and planted them in my yard. So far, only 2 bulbs have blossemed. I guess these left-over European beauties only sprout for large crowds. These pics were taken at the Tulip Festival last Sat. I may blow-up these photos and post them in my garden. This is the way my garden should look about now....




And.. this is what my garden actually looks like with 50+ tulip bulbs still sleeping. :) In need of color!

Due to a rainy Saturday, I wasn't able to get much accomplished over the weekend. "before shots" ....




Rainy Saturdays are excellent days to read, shop, and.. snack.

Saturday #7, April 25-- It's All About the Hair!

My sister, Angela, came to visit. The original plan was to check out the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. But, because of rainy weather, we had fun on Saturday playing "beauty shop." We started with our niece, Miss Madeline (Max & Brityn's daughter). At 2 1/2 months, she still has the long hair she was born with...long enough to put into rollers. See? She likes it!

Even if it turned out a little "bouffant!"

Isn't she the cutest thing ever?

In the afternoon, we went to visit Janelle, Brian, and Lauren. Janelle just had foot surgery and I think she was pretty out of it--poor thing! We wish her a very fast recovery!

While we sat visiting, Angela started to play with my hair. Miss Lauren (15 months) wanted in on the action, so she grabbed her little brush, crawled up on Angela's lap and helped "style" Aunt Amy's hair. I promise we were having fun...even if we look a bit like "deer in the headlights!"

I just had to add a cute picture of Lauren holding Madeline. Lauren loves the baby and Madeline loves watching her big cousin. I'm sure as they get older, they will have the best of times together!

On our way home from visiting the Smith's, we stopped at the new Walmart in Cedar Hills to buy some hair color for Angela. Here are her before and after pictures. I think it's a good color choice! It was called "Hot Chocolate" which was a prefect idea on a wet, cold, rainy Saturday!

Thanks Angela for coming up to Utah to play. It was fun to have you visit, even if we didn't get everything done! Don't forget...100 names by the end of May!

Saturday #6--April 18, 2009

My cousin Rachael is in town, visiting from Milan, Italy. It's a tradition when Rachael visits to get pedicures. So, part of my Saturday o' Fun was a good visit with Rachael while our feet were scrubbed and massaged and our toe nails painted.

Rachael picked a fun blue color and my color pick was a purple called "Queen of West Web-erly".

And here are the results! Aren't they cute toes?

Many thanks to Nona Eileen who watched over little Miss Charlotte while she slept and nearly starved to death waiting for us to get our pedicures. Luckily, Becca came to her rescue! While our toes were drying, Becca and Grandma went to Roberts and then we all met for (a late) lunch at Zuppa's. Yum!

After lunch we met up with Teresa (my aunt, Rachael & Becca's mom, Nona Eileen's daughter, and Charlotte's grandma) at Jordan Commons for a movie. Our pick (over "17 Again" & the Hannah Montana movie) was State of Play. It was a pretty good flick...even Nona Eileen liked it!

After the movie I got to play with Charlotte! Isn't she just so cute? I think a couple of trips to Italy are in my future so I can visit my new friend!

My Saturday was great. Jen, how was yours?

My Big Fat Greek Firework Battle

I know how much you like fireworks...

Pesach (Passover Haggadah)

"Great is the reward for whoever who finds the Afikomen!" I found it! Well... I already knew where it was, it was hiding under some Matzah, next to the Seder Plate. I sneaked a peek, while I was eating my Karpas, when it was hidden. Dayenu! ..."Gesundheit"? Nope, it's not German, it's Hebrew! Amy and I had the opportunity to attend a Passover at the Isaiah Institute in Provo Friday night. It was a wonderful and very educational event! I was disappointment however, we didn't have the opportunity to eat any Zeroah.. (mutten). It's been my quest to find mutten in Utah County. Well.. to be more specific, to find "year old lamb." I suppose this may exist in someone's deep freeze somewhere, considering it has to be frozen for at least a year. One of my favorite parts of this evening.. dancing a Jewish dance around the room and toasting and drinking 4 glasses of grape juice. I love learning about the rich traditions and symbolism associated with the Passover. This was a wonderful event to help prepare me for my Easter Celebration! (2 Nephi 11:4).

Amy's first bike ride!! Since Amy had Friday off, and I took the day off ... (I needed a short vacation, and a day away from the office),
we decided to test Amy's new wheels and ride our bikes to Utah Lake Friday morning! It took us 41.3 mins to hit the lake and return. Not bad! I had to do some serious peddling on my "Big Wheel" to keep up with Amy's new bike! ;) Check out the shocks on those front tires! I think we need to test this bike on some jumps next...

Later Friday afternoon, we sat with Amy's adorable niece Madeline. Such a cutie! Amy's new niece! Isn't she adorable!!

Speaking of adorable nieces and nephews! We had our annual family Easter egg hunt on Saturday. I have 11 beautiful nieces and nephews who are a blast! Better yet... check out the telephone my brother hooked up on his shed.. how convenient.


HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

"Saturday" #5, April 10, 2009

Nope, the date isn't wrong! Jen and I actually did all our Fun Saturday things on Friday since we both had the day off.

We started our adventures with a bike ride--my first ride on the new bike I bought a couple of Saturdays ago. Friday was the first good day of weather when I've actually had some time to get out and ride. And good thing we went on Friday, because Saturday was cold and rainy! Note to self...get a new softer seat for the bike before the next ride!

We took a 6 mile round trip ride to Utah Lake and back. Not too far, but a good bit of exercise! Along the way, we saw "wild life!" I had to take this picture of Jen with the cougar...a photo reference to a comment she made about our 1st Saturday of Fun. Oh, and how do you think one of these will look in my front yard?

Jen and I regrouped around 11:30 and spent the next couple of hours babysitting Jen's adopted niece, Madeline! We took turns cuddling her and while she was napping, we watched The Duchess.

Our next adventure was later in the evening. We attended a Passover Haggadah hosted by The Isaiah Institute. We enjoyed 'Four Cups of the Fruit of the Vine' representing the four aspects of Jewish bondage and deliverance. We ate Matzah and recited the Ten Plagues as we dropped grape juice on to our plates. We even learned Jewish dances and a few traditional songs. I'm glad Jen suggested this activity...I learned a lot and really enjoyed the evening.

Jen's Saturday # 4 Spring Cleaning!

Most of my Saturday consisted of Spring Cleaning! Why do I associate April General Conference with Spring Cleaning? With conference blaring in the back-ground, my usual goal is to have everything "squeaky clean" and beautifully polished before the 4:00 session is over. I finished my Saturday cleaning at 4:02! That's a new record! Fyi.. my cleaning sessions never seem to end.. I start in one area and continue throughout the house until I'm completely exhausted.
It wasn't until the Mormon Tab Choir started singing "Consider The Lilies" I realized my yard was next on the list.. this may have to wait for Fall General Conference.

Here are a couple cleaning tips I've picked up..

Company will arrive in 30 mins. your house is a mess. What will you do?
1. Door Locks. Employ the Locked Door Method of cleaning.
2. Duct Tap. Great way to fix drapes, tablecloths, pants. No muss, no fuss.
3. Ovens. If you think ovens are just for baking, thing again. Ovens represent at least 9 cubic feet of hidden storage space.
4. Dryers, washing machines, & freezers. Like tip #3, except bigger.
5. Dusting. Never dust under what you can dust around.
6. Dishes. Never use them. Use plastic or paper.
7. Lighting. The key here is low, low, and lower. It's not only romantic, it hides the dirt.
8. Use air freshener on the front door. While your guests wait they will smell the fresh lemon scent and think you've cleaned all day.
Happy Spring Cleaning!

Saturday #4, April 5, 2009

Amy's Fun Saturday Activity:
I started my day bright and early with a hair appointment with my friend Kim. I was anxious to cover the gray and maybe do something fun and different...even extreme. Luckily, Kim is more conservative than I am, so rather than ending up with crazy hair (I'd asked for purple), I got some red and blond highlights and they look GREAT! Here's photos...during the weave, in the foils and then after all cut, colored and styled. Kim took a close up shot so you can see the cross sections of color. THANKS KIM!!! (Kim has a blog...H2K Family Blog. I've posted a link to the right.)

Amy & Jen Fun Saturday Activities:

It's the first Saturday in April. Guess what that means? Fabric shopping for our block-of-the-month quilt.

Jen and I started a quilting project in January and every month we work on a new block for our quilts. April's block is three tulips and we had fun shopping for the fabric. Here's our first step... labeling and categorizing the fabric we already have and determining what new fabric we need.

When our quilt is finished (all 12 squares!) we'll post a picture of the finished projects!

After buying fabric we decided to go see a movie. Have you seen TAKEN with Liam Neeson? Makes me rethink my next European vacation. Lessons from the movie:

1. Listen to your father when he says, "I don't feel good about this!"

2. Don't ever share a cab with a stranger!

3. Hiding under the bed NEVER works.

We followed up the movie with a visit to Jen's favorite cookie place SMART COOKIE COMPANY for the best sugar cookies ever!

(See how loyal I am to my brand? I love their sugar cookies too, but since I work for MFC, can't claim SCC as my favorite cookie place.)

Jen's Fun Saturday Activity...to be added