Army of Helaman

When I was flying home from a convention in the air port I saw a group of military men ready to leave somewhere.  I felt such a surge of pride and respect for the military and service men and women and their families.  I'm so grateful for all they do.   

Then I looked over a little and I saw some missionaries getting ready to go on their missions.  Another deep surge of pride and respect.  This time not for a group of Army men but for the "Army of Helaman" about to embark on their service.  I'm so grateful for all they do. 

Daddy's "work"

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Brandon's office.  It's a great place! (Sony Pictures)  He love love loves his job!  I grabbed a couple pictures because it's just such a fun place!  

I had to grab this shot because of the Cloudy picture.  We love that movie and can't wait for the second one to come out!  

We visited the the Monday after Hotel Transilvania came out.  (We call it Hotel T)  They had a ton of Hotel T stuff up because the movie did GREAT!  We were so happy it did well!  It was a great movie and I loved it!

Some GIANT Meatballs from Cloudy!  

I love that he gets to do what he loves!  Some story board art and development art from some Sony pictures.

These were some of the little cut outs that were all over the courtyard. THey were sooooo cute.  I hadn't seen the movie yet.  B and the kids had seen it that weekend.

This was one of Juliet's favorite characters.  She was super cute in person and was about as tall as Juliet and Juliet wouldn't take a picture with her.

Her favorite character was Mavis.  She would take a picture with her.

The whole cast.  These pictures were with my phone or they would be better.  (Brandon dressed Juliet that day too....they were picking me up from the airport.  I love that she is wearing socks with her dress shoes in 100 degree weather.) ;)

The star of the show.  "I don't say blah blah blah blah blah"  We love that line!    It really is an amazing place to work and we are not only blessed that he has a job but that he gets to do what he loves every day!

The surprise Sanford Visit

Over General Conference weekend we had a knock on our door.  It was THE SANFORDS!!!!  I don't know how they pulled it off but they surprised us!  They were coming out to San Diego for the week and stopped by our house on the way!  I loved every delicious second of it!  Nat didn't utter a word of the trip to me for the few days before.  I know how hard that is because I can NEVER surprise her.  Not even with her birthday gifts.  I just have to tell her.  Every time I called her she didn't let it slip.  

This yummy little CoCo loved Max and Max LOVED him.  

All these little rascals loved playing with each other.  It just felt right!  I love everything about these pictures!  I love that Braden is wearing a Darth Vader costume, that my kids are in pajamas, that a lot of them aren't wearing shoes, or pants, Juliet's dress in on backwards,  and that Cole has a saggy diaper.  If you could see closer their faces are dirty too.  That is just a good day in kid world.  A good day all day long!

These 2 disappeared to make videos and take goofy pictures like 2 peas in a pod....you can see two other peas in the background.  Dane and B had a GREAT time together!

These are our America's Next Top Models!  SO cute!

And these 2 dudes just think they are ANTModels!  I guess they are pretty cute too.

and these are the models gone crazy with my computer.  I had to blog these so they would have them documented somewhere for years to come.  They sure had a great time being goofy together and that is my favorite part about them!  Darby can be her true self with Hailey and Hailee!  She loves them both so much!

and you can see why!  True colors! ;)

Halloween Pumpkins 2012

I wish I loved carving pumpkins.  I don't.  SO over the last  couple years I have purchased little "plug ins" like Mr. Potato Heads for pumpkins.  It started with a skeleton and now we have a lot of little eyes and noses and ears and teeth and fangs and so on.  Enough for EVERYONE and a friend or two to do a pumpkin.  My kids LOVE them.  They don't need any help with them.  If we were carving I would have to help with a knife or a lot of knives.  They would get bored and tired and I would end up carving 8 pumpkins by myself.....O.K.  Brandon would end up doing it! 

This is Dash's skeleton.  I bought it for him a while ago on a date.  So he does this one every year....he is very proud of it.

This is Brandon making our "Witches Curtain".  Thanks to Martha Stuart this has become one of our favorite Halloween decorations!  It is trash bags that have been cut in strips and then the strips are stretched then you hang it in a door way!   oi

The finished project.  This is a 2 sided pumpkin that Juliet and Darby did together!

They even added some hair pieces!

The skeleton!  We usually do him in a smaller pumpkin but Dash chose a very large one for him this year.

Max chose a LOT of eyeballs and a beak!  Very spooky!

Juliet called this her "Uncle Ryeley" pumpkin.  She thought it looked like him because of his goatee!  She is behind him yelling at me because I said it DIDN'T look like Uncle Ryeley.  She sure loves her uncle!  I would highly recommend these!  They usually go on clearance after Halloween.  I know I will be getting a few more!  ;)

The finished products......

 The witches curtain finished and hung up!

Endless Glow Event

A few weeks ago I was blessed to be able to continue my education and go to our annual "Endless Glow" convention/retreat/continuing education weekend/SO much fun!  One of the best things about it is that I get to be with some of my best friends.  Tiff and I started this whole crazy world of tanning together!  I am so happy that we get to share this part of our lives together!  

Another one of our friends Natalie, Tiff's sister, Tiff and Me!

We laughed and worked hard all weekend!  SO much fun together.  I also got to spend the weekend with Natalie and have big girl sleep overs!  I saw my parents and brother and niece and nephew but only for a few stolen moments here and there.  They really kept us busy.

There is always one night set aside for a guest speaker.  They had asked Tiff to share a few words with all of us before the speaker.  Tiff has one of the biggest teams in Endless Glow.  I am lucky to be a part of her team!

Tiffany didn't know, but they were also honoring her with an award.  They awarded her with the new Mobile Teeth Whitening system.  I was so very proud of her.  I couldn't stop crying.  I love that I get to do this with her!  If anyone wants any information on this crazy wonderful "mommy job" that I have feel free to contact me!  I have been doing this now for over 2 years and it has literally changed my life!  I meet the most amazing people and I love that they feel better after they leave me.  OH, and I make money doing it!  WIN!!!   I could talk about it forever!  I feel really really blessed to have stumbled upon this!  

Autumn Ginger Snaps!!!

This is Ginger (on the table where she is NOT aloud to be!!!) but she LOVES to snuggle with the floral arrangements!  I let her stay there because she made it look all homey and fall like!  She is lucky that she is an autumn color or I would have booted her off!!! ;)  Happy Fall Y'all!

Birthday questions! What a cute idea!

I saw this on Pinterest and I am soooo sad that I haven't done this with all my kids on their birthdays!  I think I will just fill in the blanks the best I know how and start with all of them.  The cute lady who started it has a book you can order here:  http://reavespartyofthree.blogspot.com/2012/06/20-questions-new-birthday-interview.html

You ask the questions every year on their birthday and put a picture of them in the book.  So cute to remember them.  I may just do it in the blog.  I'm not sure.  SOOOO cute though!  So many good moms out there to inspire us all to be better!  Cant' wait to start this with Juliet!  


1. What is your favorite color? 
2. What is your favorite toy? 
3. What is your favorite fruit? 
4. What is your favorite tv show? 
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? 
7. What is your favorite game? 
8. What is your favorite snack? 
9. What is your favorite animal? 
10. What is your favorite song? 
11. What is your favorite book? 
12. Who is your best friend? 
13. What is your favorite cereal?
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? 
15. What is your favorite drink?
16. What is your favorite holiday?
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? 
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? 
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? 

Goofing with Dad...

Sometimes you  just have to goof off with this guy!  He is really really fun to goof off with!  

They learn from the best!

I don't even know what to say......imitating dad.....

Sister Spa Day

Sometimes I will find the girls just doing fun things that they have set up all on their own.   I just walked in because I smelled the nail polish so I had to check and this is what I found.   Darby set this one up.  It was a little Sister Spa Day.  She had done Juliet's hair and dressed her up in a church dress.  They had put on make up and now they were doing each others nails.  Darby is such a fun big sister.  She doesn't care that their is over 8 years between them.  She loves Juliet and loves to spend time with her.  

I love that they have the whole set up including a people magazine!  In case Juliet wanted to catch up on what was going on with J-Lo. 

Getting a little bored with the process......sigh.....it's not easy being beautiful.

....maybe this magazine will help.......

.....so exhausting being beautiful.......

....almost done......

TA-DA!!!!!!