"DoctorSush" date

Our sushi jar has been full for some time now. Josh wanted a date night, so I took him with me to a doctors appointment, and after a little detour (about an hour at a ceramic supply store), we ended the evening at a Nagoya's. (not our favorite by far, but decent)

Josh named our date night "dr-sush". (kind of like Dr. Seuss, but "Dr. Sush" for doctors visit and sushi) He is brilliant, and he knows it!
His drawings of Ben 10 aliens while he waited for our meal.

While we ate, we decided to document our very special Dr Sush night.

Then he took over the camera while I finished my food.

When he got tired of taking silly pictures of me....he turned the camera on himself. This boy is dangerous!

No more. The end.

Can you believe it!?!

I HAVE A KILN!!!! this is it, a Skutt 1027. Not too big, not too small. Perfect for my size studio. This is it, minus the bottom, which is in my art room. The kids have already left a few nicks on the top, so I am anxious to get it out of the office and into it's little corner where it can be safely fired. :)
The base is waiting. (and I'm waiting for the master electrician, aka father-in-law, to wire up the room for this sucker)

I used to have a tall set of utility shelves in that corner. I split them, and they will be my drying shelves. I need to build shelves all over the walls to accommodate the supplies which are now taking up space on my drying shelves (as well as the supplies not yet acquired). Lots of work to do still. ;)

That corner sure seems empty right now. But it's going to be great when it's covered with shelves and tiles.

Everything that was on the metal shelves before, are now sandwiched in any space I could find on these shelves. It's quite crowded right now. I am really looking forward to building a few more shelves in this area. I sure need it!

So that's it for now. I will post more when all is said and done. I am more excited than I can express. I feel like a fish in water, finally!

My Eddie

He drew all over his arms today, (not a first), and put on one of my hats, (also a regular activity). He is so stinkin' cute! I love my baby!

"wass hans"

My uncle, aunt, and cousin from Ca were in town today, and almost all Utah Heinzens met and went out to dinner. We were sad to miss Ammon, Amanda, and Enos. :(

There was this fountain right by our table. Eddie thought it was for something else....
Eddie LOVES to "wass hans" CONSTANTLY. This turned out to be quite convenient. :)

half the gang, Paul, Jon, Andrew, Chris, Aunt Janis, Uncle Alan

the other half, Jade, Lindsay, Matt, Mica, Paul again

I got half of Bill, and we are missing Josh, Eddie, and myself in the photos. ;) It was so much fun to hang out for a little while with family. THANK YOU Uncle Alan for the wonderful treat!

New look

I am giving my art blog a new look. THANK YOU LINDSAY!!!
And this one is for my Etsy shop. :)

Also, I now have a kiln! I am SO excited! This is going to be a busy year for me, and I am thrilled, (also grateful), for the blessing of this opportunity. THANK YOU to those of you who have helped me with all of this, I love and appreciate you so much!

little brother, big brother

I love this about brothers. How the younger one idolizes the older. Josh did this a bit with Jade when he was younger, but not quite this much. I wonder if it's a same-sex-sibling thing? (Jamie, you get this with all your girls, right?)

Here Josh is reading one of his homework readers while I'm on the computer. Eddie mimics Josh every chance he gets. Even when he reads, Eddie repeats the last word of each sentence Josh recites. It's pretty cute, I love it.
So once again, Eddie has to copy everything Josh is doing. He sits himself down next to Josh, with the same green reader book, wearing Josh's shoes, (daddy's dog tags), and is simply content to sit there and pretend he is doing exactly what big brother is doing.
He occasionally looked up at Josh to make sure he was doing things right, and would adjust himself or the book accordingly.

Baby bro Joseph on zip line

What can I say? My dad is brilliant!

Jade art

Jade's "ugly dolls" she likes to create.

a little girl she came up with at church. cute!

One of her horses

This is my favorite. She said she wanted to design what she would want to look like if she was a dragon. :)

You might need to click and enlarge it to see the cool details. I really need to find a place for her to take lessons. I keep saying that, and never do, but she continues to improve on her own. I wonder what would happen with formal training?

This is the whole unfinished drawing. I can't wait to see it done.

kids

Josh doing his "look" that mommy can't resist. We just finished another fun sleding adventure.(and Bill experimenting with the B/W feature)
Bill took Jade on a date Saturday to Snowbird. BTW- Jade does not like pink, except Breast Cancer Awareness pink is OK, so she wears her ski helmet and goggles with pride.

We got back from sledding, (which Eddie now loves, and goes down on a sled by himself!) and I had taken everything off except his snow pants. He is obsessed with "boots, hats, gasses", and insisted on putting back on his boots, hat, and glasses. By himself of course, so it's amazing that his hat is on straight for once. Can't say the same for his boots. ;)

Way to start the New Year!

My dearest friend here, Alyse, came over this morning with her sisters who are visiting for the holidays. They made pendants, I taught them how to solder, I made matching lampwork beads, and they walked away with cute necklaces. It was so much fun to have "girl time" making jewelry! I can't think of a better activity on the first day of the year. And I was able to get Alyse to pick out one of my chunky bracelets too. She is such an amazing friend with such brilliant ideas for me, but it's like pulling teeth to get her to pick stuff out for herself. I'm glad I have Christmas as an excuse to give her something. She has contributed to the advancement of my creative world, more than she realizes. :)
Julie and Dena are Alyse's younger sisters, and it is SO fun to get to know them better. Alyse is one of those package deal friendships, there are so many good things that come along with being her friend. Awesome sisters are one of them. :)

lazy day

The kids have been playing a lot of video games during this vacation. Mainly because I have been too tired to take them anywhere. Today, I mustered up just enough energy to run them up the street to a little "park" (empty landscaped lot), where there is just enough of a hill to please the neighborhood kids.
It worked, they had a blast, even though it was nothing much. Jade keeps complaining that she wants to go skiing, but we don't want to deal with the long lines for the lifts. She will just have to wait till Jan. She was happy with this for now. :) Josh was ecstatic.....that is so sad....it really was nothing much.
Eddie thought it looked fun at first.

snow flinging in his face.....didn't go over too well.

face plant in the snow didn't encourage either.

didn't turn out too good for him.......poor little guy. He gave it one more shot though, a little while after his wipeout

Josh is getting a little pooped at this point, but he still wanted more.

I wish I could have caught Eddie when he was really excited watching the kids. This was is a bit "muted", I think he got camera shy. But really, he was yelling and screaming with excitement with each run the kids sled.

The funniest part of the whole thing, was Eddie's reaction to Jade after his traumas. You can see in the video how he didn't look thrilled when she called him. What you didn't see, was that every time she called him and held up the red sled, he started to shriek and cry "NO NO!".

We will try with him again next month.

look Grandpa......green mustache!

Seriously........1/2 apple, ice-water, suger, and wheat grass.....it rocks!
We Heinzen's start them young.

a little reunion.....

My oldest friend is in town with her family for Christmas, but it's always so hard to get together since time is tight for them, they have a lot of family to be with, and most of her good friends all live here as well. (sound familiar to anyone?)

She has some really great friends she grew up with, who were all so kind to include me in their circle everytime I would visit her when we were young. Since we all love Jamie so much, but there was so little time for individual visits, Katie offered her home for a little get-together of all the old gals and their families. She was nice enough to include me, and I am so grateful she did! I will post the picture of all the ladies once I can steal if from someone else's blog. :)

Eddie and Peyton are just a few months apart. Jamie's girls are just little dolls, they are all so beautiful!
Lexi, Eddie, and Jordyn

I didn't get any more pictures, Josh was running around with one of the little boys most of the time, and Jade was her big-sister self, playing with all the kids.

I don't know why the background is so fuzzy, but this is the only shot I have of Jay and I. We have known each other since before she was 1 yr old. (I'm older hehe, I was already 1 yr old) Friends like this are more like family, and I cherish every chance we have to be together.

*As always, it was wonderful to spend some time with you Jay! I love you so much!*

Katie, you are awesome to get everyone together and open you home to the friendships (and a little chaos) with all the families. Thanks again!

Random and and update

Update; I am doing much better as far as my health goes. I have had a bunch of scopes and tests to figure out what my issues are, but no news yet. So far, I just think my body hit a wall and needs some time to recover. That's all. I will post if I find out anything exciting. :) Thank you all for your concern and well-wishes. I really appreciate all your support. For now, I'm doing good. YAY!


I just posted a few new things on my art blog, nothing big, but check it out if you want.


Of course I'm behind on photos, so here is what I have......

Eddie's love affair with marshmallows has increased with the gift of marshmallow guns from Uncle Enos and Aunt Lindsay. Not only has the bag been more accessible, he has found no shortage of dried marshmallows left behind in the war zones. (even with our constant nagging to the kids to pick up after their "battles") Awww-yeah.....the marshmallow shooter

I almost missed being hit!

For my dad - look at my wheat grass, it's growing! yum! ...I mean....HEALTHY!!!

Jade's school performance. Can you find her? I took video while Alyse had my camera. She wasn't able to get the best angle, but she managed to catch Jade anyway. :)
Alyse's son and daughter, with her sister and two little nephews. It was fun to hold a cute baby boy again, he was so cuddly! (Can't wait for Lucas!)

I only took video of Joshua's performance. He was darling in that one too. I will post more after Christmas. Hope everyone is having a wonderful time!!!