The Never Ending Winter

So today was a pretty nice day. I think that any day where I can wear flip-flops without my toes getting cold is a good one, and today definitely qualified. I got Lily some flip-flops over the weekend, and she loves to wear them too. Definitely a momma's girl in that regard. I have even got Matt, who hates toes, to wear them sometimes too. You just have to have the right pair. I am kind of a flip-flop snob. You can buy them for as cheap as a dollar, but I would not recommend it. I have six (6!) pairs of Reef's that I practically live in from April to October. They are the greatest. I did buy a pair of Simple flip-flops at Ross over the weekend as well, and they have treated me well so far. If you have any other kinds that you can't live without, let me know. Anyway, I have been thinking about it because it is supposed to get cold tomorrow. I heard there might even be snow! And it is almost May! Spring, where are you?
http://www.reef.com/

Me with new hair?

Check out this site! It is really funny.

http://www.hairmixer.com

I still fit, right?

We were getting around to some much needed organizing in our house, and I decided it was time to put the baby swing in storage. Well, Lily decided that she wasn't about to let it leave the house without one last swing, so she begged me to let her get in. She looks a little big for it, but she looks so happy...

Sick and Tired

Hi, I just found this picture, and I thought it was sweet. Lily wasn't feeling well, and we were watching "puppies" and I looked over at one point and she was totally asleep. I let her stay this way for a while, because she looked so comfortable and hadn't slept well the night before.

ScrapbookUSA

Okay, yes, I did it. I went to a scrapbooking expo! As we were getting out of the car, I remarked to my friend that this was the sort of thing that I made fun of a year ago. Now, nothing against "scrappers"* but it just wasn't really my thing. But, as some of you may know, since Christmas, when I got a Cricut, I have gotten really gung-ho. As Matt says, it is good to have hobbies. There were still many, many people who are much more serious about it than I am, as evidenced by the ladies who brought huge bags and boxes (mostly on wheels) of stuff to work on while they were there. I am amazed at the talent and creativity of these ladies (and men, as I did see a few there). Maybe someday I will be that good... All in all, we had a lot of fun, spent too much money, and saw a lot of good ideas. Now if I could actually buckle down and start doing things with all this stuff I am acquiring.

*Just a note on scrappers, I was talking to Matt about scrapping, and he said, "What is that, the cool way to say scrapbooking?" I don't really think there is a cool way to talk about scrapbooking (are you catching the lingering ambivalence?) but I did think it was funny that I am picking up some of the lingo! What a nerd!

Here's a picture of a project I made at the Expo. It is an acrylic album put together with the Bind-it-All, a neat little tool that will punch holes through plastic, license plates, CDs, etc, and then bind them together.
*Here are a couple of other make and takes I did.



*I was sad I forgot my camera, otherwise I could have scrapbooked about the scrapbooking convention. How great would that have been?

Colorado the Beautiful

Hi, all! Well, this past weekend, we (my sister, Lily, and our friend Rachel) decided to take a short trip to Colorado to visit Angie, and also Alicia who was in town. It was fun to have the sisters all together again, even if it was just a short trip, and also to have the kids be all together. Lily kept calling her cousins "ba-ba" which means baby or really just about any kid, older or younger. She had a lot of fun being with them. I think she spends too much time with teenagers and not enough time just being a little girl. We were able to go to the Denver Zoo, which I think is really exciting. They have Komodo dragons, which Matt finds fascinating, and I just find repulsive. You can see most of their animals up close and personal, something that the Hogle Zoo is trying to do, but it did give me a pause a couple of times. At several cages they had signs posted that said "These animals are dangerous, stay back" which made me wonder if even if being caged up all they time, they are still pretty wild. A few of the animals looked at Lily like they wouldn't mind having a taste of her. She was fascinated by the gorillas, who she called "Da-da," but she was a bit scared by the huge silverback. When he came into the room (behind glass of course) she jumped into my arms and kept hiding from him. She did sneak peeks at him, though, and was sad when we finally had to leave. Needless to say, we love the zoo, and have an annual pass to the Hogle Zoo here. If anyone would ever like to go, we do have a guest pass, too!








The sisters and the kids!











This was an example of how close the animals were.








Angie and Ellie riding the oxen. I wonder if pregnant pioneer women ever got up on the oxen when they got tired.


*Oh, the post title is because the song "America the Beautiful" was originally written about Colorado. The "purple mountains' majesty" refer to the Rockies. Just a little tidbit I learned while touring the Capitol. Also, the dome is leafed with real gold!

Happy Birthday Lillers!

Our little girl is 2! Happy birthday to you!