allowance, meet tithing

after we explained the value of a dollar,
we told Bayli now you have to account for tithing.

we explained it to her and that it was her choice.

after the lesson, Bayli said, "I don't want to do that right now."

We asked her why?

"It doesn't matter, it's my choice!"

She's right yet wrong.


A few weeks later, she had a lesson in Primary about tithing.

Her teacher had asked her what the Bishop does with the money that the members give.

She told us that Bayli said, "he could buy a cat!"

sustainable doors, meet ginormous ladder

our north facing (rear of the house) doors have a problem,

namely, the weather.

they get the brunt of weather changes causing them to shrink and expand more often,
thus, paint peels.

husband has wanted new door frames after repainting them year 2 in the home.
(he has painted them a total of 4 times in 6 years)

racking his brain to find a better solution,
he finally found one, clad them with composite decking.
quite the feat, he had to fabricate them entirely.
but they look wonderful.
best of all, no paint required!

while installing said doors, wife mentions that dryer isn't working.
also noted, the washer sounds like a wind turbine.
husband heads to roof to check the vents.

husband doesn't return in a timely manner so wife goes out to check husband.
chirp chirp... time waiting at the bottom of the ladder and calling for husband.
husband reveals self unharmed with a bucket and shovel in hand.

?? why the shovel and bucket??
oh, the gutters are full of dirt, that's right dirt!
we have a drainage problem.
add the gutters to the list!!!

and that is why we had to borrow my dad's neighbors ginormous ladder.

meanwhile, we are waiting for parts to fix the broken washer and dryer.

isn't being a home owner wonderful?!!!

what a blessing

We had Lily's special day on Labor Day weekend.
We had originally planned to have it in October.
But, we wanted to have better odds of good weather.
We knew we would most likely be missing some of our guests.
Especially since we changed the day about a week before.


Poor thing had to get all gussied up.
She was a beautiful little angel.
I will admit that I am one of those moms that likes to doll up the babes, on occasion.

She was graced with gifts from so many who love her.
Grandma Carol made her the lovely blanket.
Aunt Kami provided her pretty hairband, on late notice-she duh bomb!

Her darling wristband was inspired by a gift Aunt Katie had given Bayli on her blessing day. It is one of those sentimental things that brings me to tears when I read the poem that goes along with it. In an nutshell, she wears it when she is blessed, baptized, and on her wedding day.
I made it the week before. Trust me, I would have purchased it if I had found one.

I found her dress at JoLene's . (Funny to think that I worked there in High School. That is most likely where I began my love for dolling up the babes.)

I wanted a short dress, like Bayli's, but with lace.
I fell in love with the row of roses on the waist.

I love her little bare feet peeking out!

Such a beautiful baby!Lily and her mommy.

Lily and her daddy.
He gave her a wonderful blessing.


Some of the wonderful people in her life that attended the special day.
Unfortunately Lily's mommy gets chatty and forgets to take pictures of ALL of the guests.
Including, Grandpa's, Great Gandma's, big sister (how'd we miss that one?), and cousins.

Aunt Chalese, who shares mommies love for dolling up the babes, had fun taking pictures of Lily-who wouldn't! Tiny little wings.

Sweet little smile.

My favorite...Our little Pixie!

allowance

bayli is starting to learn about money.
all that you can do with money.
as well as the different values.

jed and i had both given her a big explanation on the different kinds that can make up a dollar.
we each went into description showing her that 4 quarters are the same as a dollar, as well as 10 dimes, 20 nickels, and 100 pennies.
we thought she was getting it.

after jed had given her some money that she had earned, she began counting to see if she had earned enough for that special item she has been saving for.

of course she started by counting each coin as one rather than their respective value.
totally understandable she is still learning.

so we repeat the process of showing her the value of a dollar in relation to her other coins.

after the lesson was taught, bayli approaches jed and says,
"thanks for giving me some cents!"

we had to restrain our laughter. funny girl.

rainbows and sunbeams

one of my fondest memories as a kid was playing in a summer rainstorm.

this summer has been ideal for monsoonal down pours.
i want my children to love the summer rain.
so on a rainy day, we take advantage and dance in the rain.
it's a blast!
everything is so bright and beautiful with the sun peaking through the clouds.
we truly capture the magic of the day.

august 2, 2010

august 2, 2010

chase was able to see his first rainbow.
let me just say, he LOVED it!!!

august 27, 2010

he loved shouting at it from the safety of his clubhouse, like a sailor at sea.

and bayli, of course, loves posing for the camera.
this is my favorite time to take pictures of them.

so pretty, even when she is out of focus.

it is also the best opportunity to capture a lovely view of the meeting of the sky with my blue atlas cedars.

and to see a gorgeous sunset graced with sunbeams.

august 27, 2010

tutu cute

seriously the cutest thing ever.
we love our dancing queen... or king?

the video is hilarious. we haven't had time to edit it so it is long, about 5 min. but every second is worth it.

let's go racing baby!

when asking bayli if she wanted to play on a soccer team this fall, she replied,

"we could do that, but i would really like to do bike racing or scooter racing!"

needless to say we signed up for soccer, running is healthy.
and we are looking into bike racing.
meanwhile, she is practicing by making laps around our circle.
gettin' pretty fast.

as far as the scooter racing...well, it is way too competitive.

month 1

Our little Lily is already 4 weeks old, unbelievable how fast they grow and change.

She is loved by everyone, especially big sister Bayli.

Along with her sweet faces, she can make some pretty funny ones.

These two will get along just swell.

...how sweet our Lily grows!

kindergartner

the count down has ended.
today marks "officially a kindergartner" day.
and boy is she excited!

all morning she was making me quiz her math and spelling skills.
i kept trying to tell her that she probably wouldn't go over those things today (or all year for that matter), yet, she wouldn't back down.
"what if my teacher needs me to read a story?"

when we went to school, she wanted to do everything by herself.
"mom, when do you leave?"

after school she mentioned that her favorite thing was playing on the playground.
already on the right track!

a taste of summer.