Mmmm...mmmm...mmmm!

We had our monthly Neighborhood Girl's Lunch at PF Changs...
As always, good grub, good conversation and good times!

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Left side of Table (Left to Right): Angi, Ashley & Linford, Amy, Christina, Sara

Right Side of Table (Left to Right): Jyl, Molly, Shannon, Natalie, Cheryl, Me

Front Row (Kiddies): CeCe, exhausted little Dayne, Becca & Trev

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Notice who has 2 children along...

Yes, TWO...

2 very tired, grumpy, not-wanting-to-sit-still-at-a- restaurant-children, I might add...

Hmmph... I am having daytime babysitting issues... sigh!

Daynen Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Geneology

Trevan Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Kaden Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Fun FHE...

It was a gorgeous, BEAUTIFUL day here Monday... in the 80's.

How could we possibly resist the boys HOURS...

and HOURS...

and HOURS ...

(you get the idea)

of begging and pleading to go swimming for Family Home Evening?

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Especially this persistent little "Booger"... literally!

(Don't worry, Matt made him get out and wipe it right after he snapped this shot!)

Seriously, SICK!

T's mind at work...

This is Trevan's Star-Bellied Sneech.

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As in, from the Dr. Suess story...

(For those of you who don't remember it, here's a recap in a nutshell:

In the village of Sneeches, the cool ones have stars on their bellies and the other ones wish they did...

One day, someone invents a machine that PUTS a star on your belly, and of course all the non-starred Sneeches flock to it in herds and are so proud of their new stars...The originally-starred Sneeches don't feel so special anymore, so they rush to have theirs removed and set a "new trend"...

Before long, amidst the chaos, no one can remember who had stars and who didn't and they have to learn to like each other regardless of any status symbol...)

So Trevan's Class read this story at school today and made these puppets.

He was so proud and couldn't wait to show me and tell me all about it.

Like every good Mom, I pretended I'd never heard anything about it before, and hung on his every word.

At the end of his description I asked, "So, what do we learn from this story?".

"Well, the guy who made those machines was so super-smart."

I was surprised by his answer. "Why do you say that?", I asked.

"Be-CUZ! All those Sneeches kept giving him all their money to go back and back and back!

He prob-ly got like, SUPER rich!"

...Oh... he is sooo his father's son...

Aside from the obvious entrepreneurial/industrially-minded spirit behind the comment,

his little brain is just sooo very logical and practical... always looking for a solution to every problem and a way to overcome every obstacle. (Wonder where he gets that?)

I think his favorite word is, "but..." followed by some enthusiastic reason why what he wants/thinks is possible.

He comes up with the most imaginative, outrageous ideas and often ridiculous scenarios,

but it is so funny to see this problem-solving personality at such a young age!

Love this little smarty-pants!

Carpets America ROCKS!

I had to take D in for a quick Dr. visit yesterday morning (just an ear-tube check... he's fine).

I bribed (Yes, I'm NOT above it!) Trevan and his best-est buddy, Hudson (who comes over to play after Preschool on Mondays), that if they were good, we'd go see Matt at work...

they were so excited!

The BEST part about having a Dad that works at a Flooring Store, is playing in the Warehouse!

The boys LOVE to climb on top of...

and crawl through all the HUGE rolls of Carpet!

It's like Little-Boy paradise!

Even little Dayne had a blast playing peek-a-boo with the Big Boys...

Of course the highlight of the warehouse is the Fork-Lift.

Trev & Hudson had fun hanging from it and trying to see who was "toughest" and could hang on the longest...

...we won't say who won!

Hudson, whose Dad teaches at Provo High asked,

"So what Class does your Dad teach, Trev? Carpets or something?" :)

After a real-life Fork Lift ride with Daddy, they never wanted to leave!

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So did you have fun, Trev? ..."Oh, YEAH!"

We came home FILTHY dirty (sorry, Gina!) and happy as can be... Mission accomplished!

More of Kade-o's work...

I promised a shot of Kaden's finished "Sports Balls" Image-Panel once it was finished and up on the wall. We finally got around to taking a quick shot of it...

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(By the way, he's decided he might try selling these prints ($30 per set of 3 8x8's), if anyone's interested... he's going to save up for BYU Football Camp...)

I also thought I'd give you a peek at another project he and I (mostly "I" on this one, though) have been working on his his room.

This is the East Wall in his Bedroom...

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which we decided to make into a funky 3-D Sports Collage, featuring... HIM!

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Since I am in LOVE with those Gallery-Wrapped Canvases lately, we made a few from some of our favorite shots of him in action.

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He helped me choose which pics he liked best and what monotone-shade to make them into.

We even got Dad involved, since he is the one who builds the frames and wraps the canvases for us... Thanks, Babe! You're a pro!

We just LOVE how this wall is turning out and plan to add to it and update it as he plays each different Season... something we can BOTH look forward to!

What a play-a!

Spotlight: Megan-angelo...

No special reason for this post...

just thought I'd give a shout out to my lovely and talented Sister-in-law, Megan,

who is (insert corny french accent) an a-MAZ-ing "Art-eest Extra-ordinaire"!

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Meg painted this Salt Lake Temple painting for me for Christmas 2 years ago,

and it is truly one of my favorite things in our entire house!

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It hangs on a shelf in the vault of our Master Bedroom, and is incredible!

Matt did some accent lighting to spotlight it, and you should see it at night!

Mmm... makes me happy just thinking of it!

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It's like the gift that keeps on giving! It brings me joy every time I look at it!

Anyway, Meg asked me FOREVER ago to please photograph it so she could include it on her website/blog. Well, I finally got around to it yesterday, so I thought I'd post the pics while I was e-mailing them to her.

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I wish the pictures could do it justice... her paintings are just gorgeous!

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She actually uses sheet rock mud in a frosting tube, so they are all chunky and full of awesome, rich texture... unlike anything else I've seen! I just love, love, LOVE her stuff!

If you want to check out MORE of her beautiful work, click here:

http://artwithdimension.blogspot.com/

She is sooooo very talented and we are so blessed to have her in our fam!

(Thanks, Meg... hopefully you'll get a few extra hits from this post!) :)

Daynen's 1st Birthday Party!

Drum-Roll puh-leez...

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Look who turned ONE!

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And here are the long-awaited pics from

Dayne's 1st Birthday Party

last Saturday!

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(It just took me this long to download, edit and post them!

To say there were a LOT of pictures is an understatement!

Here are just a "few"!)

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Welcome to the wild and crazy PAR-Tay!

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Just a small little gathering, by our usual scale, with 75 of our closest friends & family!
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Thanks to all of Dayne's adoring fans who came to wish him well on his special day!

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We had GREAT grub...

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Fabulous entertainment...

including Jeremy, our highly-popular (look at that line!) and INCREDIBLE Balloon Guy...

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No... seriously... A-MAZ-ing balloons!

(This 3 1/2 foot Clown was bigger than the Birthday Boy!)

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...and for all 40 kids!
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He also tells jokes...

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does Magic...

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and juggles...

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with FIRE!

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The kids thought it was awesome... even the big ones!

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And what Party is complete without a Pinata?
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...and Cake & Ice Cream?

(Thanks again Suz, Mauri & Cheryl for serving it up!)

(And Cupcakes for the kiddies...)

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The Birthday Boy got his own little Cake...

(This was actually post-party, because we ran out of time!)

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and "walked away" with a pretty good stash of LOOT...

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including this HOT set of "Wheels" from Mom & Dad...

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which turned out to be popular with his friends! (Look at Sela's face! :)

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He was spoiled-rotten, for sure!

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The Bounce-House we set up Downstairs was a hit...

(...Thanks again to the generous Jane!)

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especially with the Big Kids...

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and Dayne-o's 2 Big Brothers!

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who actually ended up sleeping in it!

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Thanks again to everyone who came and enjoyed the evening at our "Crib"!

We all had a great time and most importantly, so did the Birthday Boy!

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After all... You only turn 1 once! :)