Our weekend......

I will start by saying that I think I have the most wonderful and amazing (almost 11) daughter in the world. She pretty much was the little mother ALL weekend. This is the only picture I took of the kids, (Josh is scratching, not picking, his nose). Thank you for your incredible help Jade!
For those of you who have seen my art room, you will probably notice a difference in this picture. I used to have ONLY one light fixture, it was SO dark. Bill and a neighbor put in 12 can lights, and it made a HUGE difference. My sweet husband insisted that we paint this room to make it look better for my art classes. It's his wonderful way of supporting my business. :) I won't complain. It is turning out AMAZING! I love it! So the following pictures are of "before, middle, and after"........

It's kind of hard to see, but I took the top cabinets, cut out various holes, carved funky details around them, and then painted them white. I will finally put to use some of my colorful Japanese papers by putting them behind each hole.

The crazy thing about this whole project, is what it took to pull it off. 12 GALLONS of white! It took 12 gallons to paint our whole house on the outside in Vegas, and it took 12 gallons just to paint the top half of the walls, ceiling, cabinets, and shelves of this room. Then we put a gloss sealant on the concrete, as well as a gloss slate color concrete paint on the floor. We still have to add the semi-gloss white on the cabinet frames and shelf edges. Almost done and then I can move back in and decorate! :)

Random.....

Bill's side of the family got together for Father's Day. We have not been together like this in over a year, and even then, we did not have this many grand children together.

The grandkids

Josh doing his "flirty face" (not sure how I feel about that yet, but it's a cute little face with a stud nod going with it), and he loves his uncle Dave. Dave lives in Seattle, we hardly ever see him, so this was way fun.
Hannah was trying to take a goof picture where it looks like she has her cousin Gabby on one hand and her sister Lennon on the other. We did our best. It was tough with the light, I do not have a good camera.
Gabby told Jade she loves the monkey and zebra, so of course Jade whipped out a drawing for her.
It was so nice to visit with all of them. We love you guys!!!!

While I was typing an email, (to Lindsay actually), I noticed that I couldn't hear Eddie. He was downstairs last time I heard him singing, but I realized it had been a while.
I called and looked EVERYWHERE. I started to panic, since he figured out how to open the front door and escaped twice this weekend. (our bishop drove by and found him in the middle of the street!)
The LAST place I checked, was our bedroom, and there he was. He had climbed up on our bed, and just fell asleep.
I know every kid does this, but it's always super cute when they do it for the first time and when they are so little.

and yes, because I didn't move him right away like I should have, he fell off and bonked his head. I just thought this was a cute picture of Eddie. My mother-in-law has this on her blog, and I just had to steal it! I love his dimples!

So Lindsay rescued me, and drew up this cute logo for the boutique I'm a part of. The ladies settled on Posh Purse Boutique. It's growing on me, especially since Lindsay made such a cute little logo, that makes the name sound better to a visual person like myself. :)

More stolen wedding pics

I stole these from the Martin family blog, since I have yet to receive my own copies. These are just a few of my favorites. I hope you are able to click and enlarge the group shots, they were fun to do! If you want to see more, go to the Martin's blog.

a LONG post of pics from M&M's UT open house

Ok, so this first one has nothing to do with Mica and Matt, but this is my blog, I will do what I want. :) The friday before the open house, I picked up my ring from Staci's uncle, (who is a jeweler) and wore it for the first time in nearly 10 years. It's a long story, but to sum it up, half of this ring is 36 yrs old, (my mother's original wedding ring), and the other half is 12 yrs old, (from Bill). I had it cut off after pregnancy with Jade, and I finally got it repaired. So there you go, my hand is once again complete. :)

Now for the "M&M Open House" pictures..........

My dear friend Alyse made all the flowers for the wedding party and tables in CA, and she did the florals and food for this open house as well. I think it looks lovely..... and it was yummy!

Well, I'm not sure how to explain most of these pics, but I will write what I can....

I love Miles face in this picture, I know he really loves his auntie, but it's just funny here.




This little girl is one of the cutest little things I have seen, she was just a little doll.

The Redfearns are long-time friends of my parents, it was really great to see them!

Bill's parents came as well, along with his sister Diane and her kids. They are still on their mission, but took a break to stop by. :)

The "after-wii-party"
Mica and Matt opening gifts.....

I have about 50 pictures total, and it was hard to narrow it down. Jade was so sweet, she spent the entire time going around taking pictures of people. Her first photography job at age 10, I think she did pretty good! :)

(she did take a break at one point, found a hiding place with Aunt Lindsay, and got some good drawing time in). That's the way of an artist!

Split Level Studio opens! (in two weeks)

No, I'm not doing pottery yet, like I would love. BUT I am going to start teaching, I am really going to do it this time. I've been talking about it forever, but pretty scared to take the plunge and go full into it before now. I have a line of classes to do this summer with kids, I just need to advertise. I'm working on making a sign to put in our yard. The few mothers I have talked to already are jumping up and down over this and want their kids in it. There is not a lot in the arts and crafts area for kids, mostly performing arts and sport here. I am just waiting on an electrician to light up my studio, (hopefully this week), and I plan on starting classes in 2 weeks. I posted an unofficial class schedule on my art blog. Wish me luck!

Random kids

This is a little catch up. Jade had her "UOL graduation" right before school ended. (university of learning, where she had to do projects to earn degrees through the year) This is one of her best friends, Natalie, from her class.
Jade and her wonderful teacher, who also has a daughter Jade's age and they are on the same soccer team.
Last soccer game, this is Jade and Rachael, a girl from our church. Jade played mostly fullback, and let me tell you, she was one TOUGH cookie out there. Nothing got past her, the other team only scored goalies when Jade was sitting out.


Eddie's favorite pass time is to find MY favorite shoes, (these Rocket Dog wedges, some of you know the story behind them), and walk around the house. It is common to walk upstairs and find the kitchen and living room scattered with shoes, he will go into our closets and get whatever shoes he can, but his favorite ones are my RD wedges. It's kinda cute.

On Joshua's last day of Challenger school, everyone dressed up in costume for carnival. Josh REALLY wanted to be a clown, but we do not have a clown costume. So the night before, his brilliant sister hooked him up. She CREATED this costume, made the accessories, and put everything together for him. I know he might look a little scary in this picture, but he really looked super cool. His teachers said he was the best clown ever!
Jade's last day of school was spend performing in a music festival. All 4th graders had to wear white. She looks great in white, doesn't she?
I also have some new stuff on my art blog, so check it out when you get a chance.