Happy Happy Birthday Reyes!

I know, this is a few weeks ago. Ok, so over a month, but I still have some cute pictures from Reyes' birthday so no complaining!

It was Reyes' birthday and I was so excited to give her what I had made. Usually all the nieces and nephews get the same thing, but this year, I decided that Reyes would LOVE something a little bit different. She's still pretty super though.

How to describe Reyes? She love animals. A lot. She likes to line up her plastic animals. She likes her stuffed animals. She likes Daisy. She likes to pretend to be an animal. You get the idea.

So, when I saw this on Pinterest, I couldn't help it.

 

 At first, she didn't quite know what it was.

Ryan didn't help too much in that regard either.

But then she realized what it was...

A dinosaur suit! She was quite happy. And looked quite cute trying it on.

Like I said, she's still pretty super, but she's also a darn cute little dinosaur!

What Can I Say?

What can I say, I love to craft. And I've been told that I am pretty good at it. I just see the ones that I messed up on, but I show everyone else the good ones. Haha, have them fooled.

Anyway, we needed to make new t-shirts for the YW sports. Well, I don't know if needed to is the right word, but we decided to. And the YW wanted to bleach them. I hadn't ever done this so I read up on it on the internet and Sarah and Chloe consented to be the guinea pigs.

They picked out some super cute designs:

I cut them using my favorite machine out of freezer paper so we just ironed them on.

We made sure our outfits were ones that we didn't mind getting a little bleach on and we went outside to bleach the tees!

It had said online that some colors need about 20 minutes to start showing the bleaching affect. So, I wasn't worried when they just looked wet at first.

Then we went and made some headbands with old t-shirts...

Then we checked again and they still just looked wet.

Then Chloe made a bag out of an old t-shirt...

(Can you tell that we had just gone through Brent's t-shirt drawer and pulled out all the holey ones?)

And they still were quite yellow shirts, just wet. Sadly, the bleached tees didn't work AT ALL. Why is this? I don't really know. The t-shirts are a little bit lighter on the front than the back, but not even that noticeably.

I was so glad I tried this BEFORE wasting 15 t-shirts for the YW.

It was a sad fail, but the YW t-shirts did turn out quite nice. We just painted them. I found this great soft fabric paint.

But the bleaching would have been so cool. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Happy Happy

As of today, I have been married for 15 years. Yep, that's right, 15! When exactly did that happen? I am sure not old enough to have been married for 15 years. I must have gotten married when I was 10.

Alas, it is not so. I am old enough to have been married for 15 years.

See..don't we look young and in love?

And 15 years later...

(Ok, this picture was earlier this year, but you get the idea...) Still young and in love! Hey, we are to young!

I hate the cheesy saying, but I really am married to my best friend. He's kind of a great guy and I wouldn't change a thing!

Happy Anniversary!

Time Saver

As you can see, the batteries on my clock by the computer are dead. They've been dead since before Girl's Camp. Yep, I got home from Girl's Camp 2 weeks ago. And rather than go and find the batteries that are still packed from Girl's Camp - don't judge me - I just keep looking at it and realizing it's not the right time and setting my alarm on my iTouch.

Time saver or the height of laziness? You decide.

**Hint: Time Saver**

Ok Daisy, Now That's Just Crazy!

I was downstairs doing some things when I heard some banging upstairs. Knowing my cat, I came up to see what was going on, but couldn't find her. Thinking she was just under the couch, I went along my merry way until I walked past the bathroom and happened to notice a few things were messed up. One of the doors was ajar and a drawer was pulled out. As I was shutting the door, I noticed this....

Yep, little eyes peeking out at me. No only did she get the door open, but she somehow got the drawer out so she could crawl into the drawer underneath that. And in all the craziness, she's now lost her collar.

Seriously Daisy! (But at least she's good for a laugh!

The Fourth of July

Even though the Fourth was inconveniently located in the middle of the week, we had a great time. We have decided that everyone should actually get the 5th off. Nothing starts until later on the 4th, which leads to a super late night. And, as for Brent, a super early morning.

Anyway, Brent and I worked in our yard that morning until we both felt like we were going to fall over. Then we happily took a break to go over to Court and Brad's for a bbq.

It was a very festive meal with red, white and blue drinks, jello and cake! (Science all around us!)

Then we went to our favorite place to watch the fireworks. There didn't seem to be as many people there this year as there were last year. Maybe they wanted more sleep than Brent got.

We took some pictures while we waited for the sun to go down - which takes forever around here! At least in the summer. If only we could have fireworks in the winter when it's pitch black by 4 pm.

We circled our chairs because it was warmer. I love the Pacific Northwest. It doesn't get to be summer until at least the middle of July!

I mean, seriously, that is so cute!

Oh my gosh, this picture cracks me up. That's cute little Emma. She kind of looks like a troll in this picture.

All the while, the people all around us were setting off their own fireworks. It makes for a nice pre-show.

I will never understand spending hundreds of dollars for fireworks, but then again, it's a little bit like gambling. I would much rather just spend the $20 on something I wanted and knew I would get.

Do you remember the firework function on my camera? I discovered it last year. I kept trying to talk myself out of taking a lot of pictures this year, but I just couldn't help it.

Normally the pre-show fireworks are not as good, but I got a couple of pretty good pictures this year.

The glow sticks were passed out and we had to see what would happen if I turned the flash off...

Interesting things happened, that's what.

I love watching the fireworks right on the water because all around people are setting off more and more as we wait.

This is Bremerton. See all those boats out there. Another reason we have to find someone who has a boat.

And now for the main event. I tried to take different pictures this year... 

I think that's an upside down smiley face. I'm going to get a good picture of the smiley faced ones one of these years!

I think this one looks like a black hole or something.

When the smoke finally cleared and it was time to pack everything up, look what we found...

Yep, Aaron fell asleep. Amid all the noise. When Court woke him up, he was confused about when we were going to see the fireworks.

It got COLD as we were walking back to the car, so we were happy to have the heater on. On the 4th of July. I love it here!

Anyway, we got home at about 11:30p, which made 5:15a come a little early for Brent. And I was less than motivated the next day.

We rounded out the week with a lovely bbq with Ryan and Marcela, et al, where I didn't take any pictures, but we had much fun.

Hope yours was fun too!

The Best...

Would you look at those strawberries? They are by far, the best strawberries I have ever tasted! I didn't even realize that you could buy strawberries that were red all the way up! Way to go Colello's! (If you're not in my neck of the woods, I'm sorry you don't have a Colello's.)

We've eaten them, made great shakes, Brent put them in his oatmeal. The possibilities are endless.

And, raspberries should be here next weekend. Woho!

(If you think this is an advertisement for Colello's, you might be right. It is a great little place to get fruit. But don't buy all the raspberries before I get there.)

I Had to get Some Flowers

What trip to Seattle would be complete without getting a bouquet of flowers from Pike Place Market? I like the Market, but that's really the only reason I go...for the flowers.

It wasn't even that busy when we got there. I know this may look like a lot of people but it really isn't. Sometimes in the summer, it's like a sardine can. Maybe one of the reasons it's not my favorite place.

There's the ferris wheel on the waterfront.

And the last view of Seattle from the ferry. So pretty. And there's a seagull in it. Dad says animals sell the picture.

And so ended a fun day in Seattle.

I forgot to add this one to the Chihuly Garden post, but isn't this a cool thistle?

We had a great week, but it went really fast. Guess time flies when you're having fun! Thanks of coming Mom!

Ah, Chihuly

Who is Chihuly, you ask? Well, we were first introduced to Chihuly glass when the 2002 Winter Olympics were in Salt Lake. He lent Abrovanel Hall (the Utah Symphony's home) a beautiful piece for the Olympics. Someone bought it for the hall so it's still there.

Isn't this a cool picture? Found it online.

Chihuly is this kind of crazy guy who is from Washington and makes blown glass. He's getting quite old now and has a few scars from the years of working with glass - like no eye and a bad shoulder - so now he teaches people how to do what he does.

Anyway, I'm a fan. I love blowing glass. It's a fun thing to do. I wish you didn't need so much equipment to do it.

So, they are redoing some thing at the Seattle Center and one of the new things is this Chihuly Gardens and Glass. It just so happened to open the Monday Mom got here, so we were some of the first ones to go through it. It was so cool. I took a lot, I mean A LOT, of pictures. Just be warned. A...L-O-T of pictures. And these are even my favorites.

 

I think my favorite room was this one. With all the glass above you. It was so cool!

Every step you took was another cool picture.

Then on to the Mille Fiori – Italian for "a thousand flowers." I think this was my mom's favorite part.

Again, every step you took, there was something else to see and admire.

And then the floating boats...

A little too abstract for me, but I like all the colors. And I now know how you make those balls and I'm so impressed by how big they are! They must be super strong. Glass is heavy.

A room with hanging things...

A room with these giant bowls. Which I am again impressed by because I had a hard time with the little bowl I made.

And then, you go out into the Exhibit Hall which would be so cool for a party. And probably so expensive, but still cool.

Could you imagine if it had been a sunny day? Even more beautiful!

And then the gardens...ahh...the gardens. There's just something cool about glass art interspersed with natural art! I love it.

This is what the outside of the exhibit hall looks like.

We thought the black ones looked like huge slugs.

I can't wait to see the gardens in a few years when the plants have had more of a chance to get established. And can you imagine this place at night?

We got the coolest umbrellas though. On the outside, it's black and looks like a normal umbrella, but when you open it up, it's the glass ceiling. So cool!

I'm so so so glad we went. Thanks Mom for suggesting it!