Is Your Family THIS Awesome? Yeah, I Didn't Think So. :)

There's a cute little girl I know that just turned 8.

She looks a little something like this:

Turning 8 at our house is a very special thing for lots of reasons.

Of course the biggest deal is that she gets to be baptized.

But I think Olivia might think the biggest deal is that she gets a BIG birthday party! 

(something we only do every 4 years).

However, since we do them only every 4 years we go ALL out when we do them.

Unfortunately Olivia's Grandma Susan has been dying of cancer and at the beginning of this week was so sick that Olivia and I took a last minute trip to Utah to get a chance to say goodbye.  Luckily we did because she passed away this morning.  She and Olivia had a very special bond and I'm grateful for the chance we got to go.  I had just resolved that her party would be a little less "spectacular" and that was okay.

My mom and sisters, however, didn't think any such thing should happen.

They wanted Olivia's party to be even MORE spectacular!

So they stepped up and rocked her birthday world.

But before they could do that, I have to say I came home from our trip to Utah to a SPOTLESS house.  My sweet Shane made sure everything was clean...not clean to boy standards, but super clean!

I was SO impressed and grateful because I had no energy to do it.

He had also installed a quiet fill toilet kit in our bathroom and kept Morgan and Owen thoroughly entertained while we were gone.

Seriously, how did I get the best husband in the world?

(I don't like to do braggy husband posts, but I just couldn't help it. Sorry.)

Anyway, Olivia, being the girly-girl she is, decided she wanted a "spa party".  

So we called it "Olivia's Pamper Me Party" and went from there.

My mother made 10 spa robes so each of the girls could have one.  10!!!  I think it took her 2 solid days and they turned out so dang cute it's not even funny. 

She has some extra material so she decided, why not make them matching gift bags?

WOW!

But just in case that wasn't enough she also made matching eye masks too.  

Can you even stand it? 

My oldest sister Dana knows I love to do cakes for the kids' birthdays and offered to do this for me. 

I was just planning on buying some grocery store cake since I wouldn't have time to even think about making one but Dana wouldn't have it.

She made this masterpiece along with 10 giant cupcakes for each of the girls to take home. 

OH. MY. GOSH.

My family is amazing.

But it doesn't stop there.

After playing some games, each of the girls started their "Spa Experience".

They each got a facial, manicure and pedicure.

My mom, sisters Dana, Allyson & Jenny, along with my sis-in-law Lana and adopted sister Julie (who is Allyson's sis-in-law) all came to be our Spa Workers.

And they were FABULOUS!!!

I didn't make any assignments they just all jumped right in and started doing their thing.

I am so grateful for that.

Here is Olivia getting her facial from Julie.  Julie is a massage therapist so whoever got her was lucky because they got some lovely face massage as well. :) 

Don't even think we would forget the cucumbers.

Puffy eyes be gone! 

Pedicures were full out, performed by my mom and Lana.  

They included foot spa soaks, exfoliating foot rubs, foot and calf massage with lotion, and a nail polish of your choice.

Look at these girls relax!  They loved the "pampering". 

Manicures were done by Allyson and Dana, our resident nail experts.

Hand soaks, fingernail buffing, cuticle oil and fingernail trim/filing when needed.

Then they picked out their favorite color and also got some nail art stickers! 

After all the pampering we "beautified."

Julie is also a Mary Kay girl, so she had fun doing some make up on the girls.

Lana did hair and the rest of us tried to help with hair and make up when we could.  Jenny is actually really good at the hair and make up too.

Our final result was a bunch of beautiful and pampered 7-8 year old girls.

Aren't they adorable?

I don't know how Livy has so many pretty friends. 

It was the perfect day.

Livy loved her party, her robes and her beautiful cake.

She told me the party was even better than she thought it would be.

Me too Livy, me too.

Thank you so much to each of you wonderful ladies who went above and beyond my wildest dreams to make Olivia's birthday so special.  

We will never forget all you did for us at this crazy, emotional, hard, exciting time.

My family is truly the best.

We love you!

..........

And Morgan was happy because even though she wasn't invited to the party, Grandma Dian made her a robe & eye mask too. :)

Snow Trip

Here are some pictures from our snow trip to Flagstaff last weekend.

Oh, what's that?  You don't see any snow?

Yeah.

Olivia looked high and low.

We did find a pancake size bit of left over snow.

Don't even worry, the kids made 3 snowballs out of it.

I suppose it makes the snow trip legit. 

I did know before going that there would most likely be no snow since it hadn't snowed in awhile and temps were in the fifties, but it was our only weekend available and we had already promised the kids we would take a snow trip this year, so we gave it a shot. 

We stayed in the Little America Hotel where we got a smokin' deal on Priceline.

I must say I was really impressed with the hotel, especially for the price! ($65/night)

The kids thought it was the Taj Mahal.  Loved it.

Plus, the beds and pillows were super comfortable! 

They had lights up on 100's of trees, the lobby was all decked out and they had a huge fireplace to lounge by.  Here Shane and I are lounging and I'm holding his face so he doesn't try any funny business since all the pictures before this were goofy faces.  Look how handsome he is when he acts normal. :)  Love you babe. 

Buddy the Elf paid us a visit. :)  

Olivia thought it was fun to pose for this picture because we were laughing, but when she saw the picture, and Shane mentioned she looked like a boy, she was horrified and wouldn't put her hair up in her hat the rest of the trip. 

Don't we look special?

I was just proud that I was able to get us all in.

Sheer talent. 

There was a big plasma screen TV in the room, which, as you can see, completely pleased the kids.

"Hey everyone, let's go to Flagstaff so we can watch TV!" 

Here we are leaving room 287.

The kids wanted to show their sadness by crying for a picture.

Lovely. 

Even though there was no snow, we had a great time.

Maybe next year we can see some of that white stuff!

Sold

Every once in awhile I have a great idea.  This week I had one of those.

A stroke of genius really.

I decided my kids should actually earn the money they use to buy each other gifts this year.  Instead of saying, "Here's $5 for you to buy a gift for your brother/sister," I figured they should work for it so it meant something to them.

But what to do?

I'm a firm believer in NOT paying kids to do things they should do anyway like clean their rooms, make their beds, do chores, be "good", etc.  I thought of creating "extra jobs" like wiping down baseboards and stuff, but I decided that fell into the same category as "earning their keep".  But what can 4, 6 & 7 year olds do to earn money then?  I kept my mind a thinkin' and I came up with a plan.

What are my kids really good at?  Looking adorable (irresistible in fact) for 1-2 minute increments of time.  How could I exploit that and help them earn some sweet cash in the process?

Selling cookies!

They were totally down with the idea--quite excited in fact.  Everyone had a job:

Job 1: Hold the cookie basket and speak to the customer (this was the most important and coveted of the jobs--the actual selling.  They all wanted to do it.)

Job 2:  Hold the sign that clearly explained 3 cookies for $1 with a Santa that was telling you that you were "lucky". (which indeed you are because 3 cookies for a dollar is a smokin' deal).

Job 3:  Hold the money can up for the sweet cash to be deposited.

Job 4: (mom's job) make all the cookies and wrap them up all cute-like.

We did two days of selling.  The first day (Saturday), I thought went pretty well.  We sold about $14 worth in just under an hour.  Today we doubled our amount to sell ($28 worth) and sold out in 35 minutes! 

We did two things different today:  One, I dressed them all up.  I know this made a big difference.  And two, I let them take turns "selling". (the first day Livy did all the talking per her insistence, but I thought it would work well to change it up).  I am certain this made a big difference too.

Here's the sales team:

Could you say no to this? 

Or this? 

How 'bout THIS?! 

Morgan was our secret weapon.  When she was in charge of selling NOBODY could say no.  

We didn't get many "no's", but Livy and Owen did get some.  

Morgan got none.

I told her to speak real loud so people could hear her.  So she spoke real loud in her raspy, perfect, Morgan voice and I could literally watch grown men, teenage boys, grandma's, anyone that was standing there, melt into puddles and run for their wallets.  She was proud that she wasn't even being shy.

The kids loved this experience.  They think selling is fun and pretty easy.  They were SO excited to count their money at home and figure out how much they made.  They all made enough to buy each other gifts and maybe even have a little left over.

So, as Livy said when we got home, "This was a great success!"

Van Morgan

Once upon a time there was a naughty little girl that looked like this.

Don't let that adoreable-ness fool you.  She's naughty.

And because of this naughtiness she got sent to her room for a time out.

Fast forward a few days later when I go in to make the bed of this naughty girl because I can't look at the messy room for one more moment.

As I start to pull back the covers I notice something.

Is that a drawing?  On the sheets?

Why yes, yes it is.

And it is distinctly a Morgan.  You know how you can tell a Van Gough from a mile away?  Well I can do the same thing with a Morgan. 

Now, I had to muster up some anger because the drawing was so dang cute and pretty good for being done on a sheet.  And it extra melted my heart because it's a dog or cat (or animal of some kind because that's all Morgan loves and it cracks me up).  So I pulled myself together and marched out to Morgan to demand some answers.

Did you draw a picture on your sheets? I asked all mom-like.

She sheepishly answered that she did indeed.

I demanded to know why she did such a thing and she informed me that she just really likes to draw, even when she's in time out.

I reminded her that we ONLY draw on paper and she confirmed that she knows this and will do so from here on out.

I don't want any more bed sheet drawings, but I have to admit...it was kind of fun to be greeted by a little drawing while making the bed.

Naughty girl.

Is it too late?

I do realize it is nearly Thanksgiving, but here are our Halloween pics nonetheless.

This was Olivia's first year to be something scary instead of something "pretty".  She had been talking about it for quite some time and was very excited about it.  I was surprised because I didn't think she'd ever want to be anything but pretty.  As it turns out, she just really likes to play the part.  And she did well.  Cackling laugh and all.  I did make that smashing witch dress with some leftover material I had.  It was just what she wanted...and just what I wanted (free!).

Here is Owen as a vampire.  Also his first year to debut as a scary Halloween character.  He and Livy both really enjoyed the make up process.  We lost the cape for his costume (which I just found today!) so I had to come up with this make shift cape which is actually a curtain to a puppet show thing.  Eh, it worked.  This costume...also free. (I am not including the $2 make up I used from Walmart).

And lastly, our little ballerina.  This was Morgan's dance costume from June.  It cost $60.  But for Halloween, it was free!  :)  Isn't she just gorgeous?  She won the costume contest at our ward for her age group.  She totally did a twirl right when she got in front of the judges. How could she not win?

Here's a little action shot.  You know, the 'ol ballerina/witch duo.  

And last of all, here they are together.

We did some trunk 'or treating, went to two ward carnivals, the second of which had 19 different booth games to play, tons of prizes and treat and craziness, and then on Halloween we didn't do anything but sit on the porch that night to hand out candy.  When all was said and done I asked the kids what their favorite part was and Owen said, "Handing out candy. That was so much fun."

I have an idea for Halloween from here on out....  :)

Cast Off!

Want to see something creepy?  Well, read this.  I'll get to it.

This little girl has been a trooper.

6 weeks she has been in this cast. SIX!

And yesterday, she got to get it off.

Here's the nurse cutting it off.  

Morgan hates loud noises, hence the fingers in the ear.

Viola!  It's off!!!  Finally she can itch her leg.

She doesn't seem too enthused.  But she humored me with the thumbs up anyway.

Okay, here it is.  The creepy part.  Apparently Morgan smuggled an adult male's leg into her cast because seriously where in the heck did that much hair come from.  Certainly a 4 year old girl can't have legs that hairy.  What the heck?!?!  

No wonder her legs were constantly itching!  She was growing enough hair to make a wig and send it to locks of love.  I really did think about shaving her leg when we got home.  Ew.  These pictures

aren't even doing it justice.  It's really long.

We had a "Cast Party" to celebrate the occasion.  First everybody had to smell the stinky cast.  It was quite stinky.

Then we had ice cream sundae's.

What everybody failed to mention to me was that after you get your cast off you can't walk, so there really isn't anything to celebrate, except the fact that you can itch your hairy legs.

Hooray!

What Matters.

As you all know Shane teaches students from all over the world. He spent 2 months in Iraq and 23 of those Iraqi teachers have been here for the past month receiving further instruction.

A few days ago one of the Iraqi teachers said to Shane, "Your life is so hard."

Shane's brain nearly flipped upside down trying to grasp what this woman...from Iraq...could possibly mean. I'm sure he probably wanted to remind her that she was from Iraq, SHE is the one that gets bombed on a daily basis, SHE is the one that has to worry if death is around the corner for her or her family members, SHE is the one that comes from a war torn country. Certainly it is SHE that has the hard life.

Instead, he asked her to explain what she meant.

She talked of how scheduled he is (as most Americans are). How he has to spend so much time working on and accomplishing tasks. That in Iraq they all go home at 2 pm and have a big feast and enjoy time together every day.

And as he told me this I couldn't help but think...she's right.

Our lifestyles here are actually pretty crappy. They consist of work, work, work and more work mingled with some family time. Why do we work so hard for things when it's people that matter? We want a bigger house, a better car, nicer clothes, the latest technology, or just to be the best in our business...but none of that matters.

If I could be in Greer with my family, every day, with the possibility that there might be a bomb, I think I'd take it because every day matters so much more. Every day is so enjoyable. Every day is worth living. Every day I'm surrounded by people I love and that love me. Not a 54" TV screen or iPad's or granite countertops--but people.

Want to know what matters?

Them:

Bizarre-O World

What would you say if I told you I attended my ex-husband's wedding...and enjoyed it?

Or if I told you at the wedding dinner that I was given the opportunity to stand, introduce myself, and give marriage advice? Ha!

Well, it's true. This really did happen. It was probably more weird because it really wasn't that weird. Cameron has a really great family and really great friends that I was so happy to see and visit with. And, as it turns out, I think he made a fabulous choice in Erin.

Almost 2 weeks ago Cameron married Erin Del Torro on the beach in California.

It looked like this:

Erin looked beautiful and I got some beautiful shots of the kids. Olivia and Erin's daughter's (Ava and Beatrice--twins) were the bridesmaids.

Owen was the ring bearer (that was brave). I had to put this one in because seriously...look at Liv's hand. She just came that way! Also, they tied the rings on really tight knowing that Owen would be holding them. Smart.

Morgan was the flower girl. I love how admiringly she is looking at Owen.

Super cute smile on Morgan and...well, classic Owen.

One of my favorite pictures ever of this girl.

Owen, lost in his own world.

Livy, lost in hers.

Morgan was playing in the sand and water the whole time. Even during the ceremony she was trying to build a sand castle. She ripped her dress and was a mess, but it wouldn't have been Morgan if she was doing anything else.

Love this kid. He looked like such a stud in his tux and he LOVED the bow tie.

Beautiful girl. When she noticed me taking pictures across the way she immediately started smiling and tried to hold back full on poses. So cute.

Congrats Cameron and Erin!