Awesome

We saw this as we were sitting outside someone's home waiting to take prom pictures.

Just Call Me Martha

1T needs cuff links for the prom.  What to do, what to do.  I know! I will make them!

It always sounds like a good idea at the time.

1T needs big pink cuff links that I can make out of big pink rhinestones.  Shouldn't be a problem. I will just go to the store. . .  wait, I see a problem.

I went to the local 'catch all' store, and couldn't find anything big enough. All I found was some pink earrings.  I bought them anyway just in case.  A few days later, and closer to prom, I went to school, and found a girl in my 1st grade class wearing these!

I found out that she had purchased them at the dollar store. Perfect. I went and got a pair.  I brought them home and cut them apart.  The pink rhinestone had a post on the back that fit perfectly through 1T's button hole.

Now I had to figure out how to make it stay.  I enlisted DSH for that.  He found a piece of plastic from a printer cartridge cover that worked perfectly. He then designed the backs.

He put a hole in the middle, then cut it into a circle with a slit down one side so it could be slid on and off.

 

Then all 1T had to do was push the stud through the button hole, and slide the piece of plastic on the back.

Voilà! Perfection!



Prom

Yawn!! Last night was prom. I am too old to stay up until 2:30am. 

Did I just admit to that?
Both 1T and 2T went to the prom, both with senior girls.  2T is an underclassmen, a sophomore, so was not allowed to attend prom unless asked by an upperclassmen.  1T is a junior, and so allowed to go, but asked a senior anyway.

It was kind of fun for me to have them go, because I got to break my sewing machine out of storage, and work on a project that had a deadline. I decided, with the help of my boys to make 1T a bow tie, cummerbund and cuff links, and for 2T a vest. I didn't have to make him a bow tie because we already owned a black one.

Like a smart mommy I started working 2 weeks early, so I could procrastinate and finish it all the day of the prom!

I like the way my masterpieces turned out though. What handsome boys.

We met 1T with his date at dinner, which they had at a friends house, to take pictures. 

We met up with 2T at the Grand March, and hurriedly took pictures at the high school before the kids were shooed to the museum for the dance.

They both came home about 2:30, after having some fun at their friends homes.

End of an Era

R received his Arrow of Light tonight. It is the highest rank in Cub Scouts.  It is the only rank that is carried over onto the Boy Scout uniform.  It also signals the end of Cub Scouts, and the beginning of Scouts.  We are now officially done with Cub Scouts (and pinewood derby cars!). All three of my boys received their Arrow of Light awards. What good kids.

Easter

My kids and I were luck enough to spend Easter weekend in Poky.  We got to see friends and family, and go to the orthodontist! 

True to Idaho style, the morning after we got there, it looked like this. Gotta love Idaho.

  

The Saturday before Easter we went to DSH's parents house to color eggs, spend time with the cousins, and do the whole Easter thing.  As we left, we switched cars, and one of my children said that they would get the camera. Just a few blocks from leaving, we had to turn around and go back.  On the way back to the house, I saw my camera laying in the middle of the road. As we realized what it was, my child said that he put it on the roof of the car, and forget to get it when we got in! I had driven off with my $1000 camera on the car! It was in it's case, but had fallen off, and the corner was damaged.  I called DSH and cried, thinking my camera was ruined forever. 

While I was driving to DSH's parents, another child started messing with the camera to see if he could get it to work. He got it turned on, and taking pictures.  I was elated.  I then spent the rest of the afternoon snapping pictures of everyone and everything trying to see if my lenses were aligned. I think they are OK.  There is an Easter miracle.

Once we got to the in laws we colored eggs,

Hung around in the yard

 Had an Easter egg hunt

 Enjoyed Grandma, Grandpa, Uncles, cousins

And baby chicks.  Grandpa ALWAYS has baby chicks!

Very Expensive Photos

I do hope you enjoy the photos that you are about to see. They ended up costing me quite a bit of money, not to mention time, or the breaking of a Sabbath day.  I guess the 'ox was in the mire', but he may have been pushed, by me.

When I was young, we used to travel from Colorado to Utah on I-80 through Wyoming about twice a year for as long as I can remember. I have become somewhat familiar with that stretch of road as you may imagine.  But since I have been married and have had children, I don't believe I have traveled that route more than a handful of times.  I had moved to Idaho, and took a different route to Colorado, and to Utah. 

I have since moved to Wyoming. 

A few weeks ago, my brother got married in Utah, and that gave us the occasion to travel down the I-80 stretch that I had not seen in several years.  As we were closing in on the Devil's Slide, I realized that R, my youngest may have never seen this interesting rock formation before, and that my other children may have been too young the last time they saw it to remember it.  As we passed, I pointed it out to R and the other children.

As we were returning home on Sunday afternoon at the end of our trip, I thought it would be fun to stop and take pictures of the Devil's Slide with the kids.  In all the years I have driven past it, I can't remember ever stopping. There isn't really a 'stop', it is just a pull off to the side of the road.  As we were driving up the canyon, I decided to stop.  I pulled onto the turn off, and wanting to make this a quick stop to avert any complaining, I started watching out the passenger side of the car to gauge where to stop for the best picture. I guess I should have been watching the road a little more because I pulled into park while going a little too fast, pinched the sidewall of the tire against the curb, and this was the result.

2T was helpful as always.  DSH and 1T changed the tire, which I thought was great practice for 1T.   He needed to brush up anyway, right?  We got the donut on, and drove another hour to Walmart to get a new tire.  We then spent a half an hour wandering through Walmart on a Sunday afternoon while our car was being put back together. What a great way to spend the Sabbath, with quality family time!

But, at least I got the pictures.