Fun in the Sun

There’s nothing like a slip-n-slide to while away an afternoon. Of course accompanied by otterpops!

Now that’s what summer’s all about!

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Catalog Shopping

You know how most people hate junk mail? So do I, except when it comes to catalogs. I love to flip through and redecorate my house or my closet in my head. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I have actually ordered something out of a catalog, yet in my mind there is always that possibility that keeps me flipping through the pages. Tonight I am going to clean out my catalog basket, but first I want to share some of my catalog “favorite things”.

Cafe chairs from Potterybarn. Aren’t they happy and cute?

Zebra rug from JCPenny (can you believe it?). I think it would jazz up my family room.

Glass spheres from Ballard Design. I collect variations of glass/mirrored globes and display them on my living room fireplace. I like the way they catch the light coming through the windows.

This is the Edison chandelier from Potterybarn. I think it’s cool and interesting. It would make a modern contrast in my eating area.

This is a fun crewel pillow cover also from Potterybarn. I like the bold contrasts in the colors.

So now that I have made a note of the things I like — I guess it is time to say goodbye to the tall stack of catalogs sitting in my basket. Thanks for stopping by and happy catalog browsing!

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One of My Favorite Websites

In March my sister Wendy turned me on to the greatest website I have seen for a long time. It is called http://www.Goodreads.com.

The point of the site is to connect people who enjoy reading. You make yourself a profile and you can list the books that you have read and rate them and even add a review. Then you invite friends that you think could appreciate the site and you link them to you. That way you can see what books your friends like and they can see your books and reviews.

Before I found this site, I would walk into the library or bookstore and blindly walk through the aisles of books in a haze. Finally I would select a book that’s thick and has a cute cover. Maybe half of the time I would find a book that I liked, but the other half of the time I would lose interest or end up reading something that wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Also, it seemed that I had read everything vaguely interesting.

Now, after having been on the Goodreads site, I have found there are literally hundreds of books that are interesting and I can’t wait to read them! Now I print of the list of books that I have saved on my site under “to read” and take it with me to the library or bookstore. This has saved me so much time!

There is an cool option on the site where you can “meet people”, which means that you can see who is on the site at the same time as you. You can go on their profile and it is so funny to see the kind of books that people read. Sometimes the pierced woman with the black eyeliner in the picture loves the classics like Jane Austen and the little old lady with her cat loves paranormal romances!

Also, there is a section called “upcoming events” and it lists what is going on in your area. Like the Breaking Dawn book in the Twilight series is having a wedding reception theme for the opening of the new book at our Barnes and Nobles this Thursday night. Also there are groups of people who have the same interests and you can join their groups. Like I joined the “50 book in 2008” group for this year.

Check it out and see what you think! I hope you like it as much as I do!

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Pioneer Day Festivities

PIONEER DAY 2008

Pioneer Day is a day in Utah when friends and families meet to celebrate the pioneer trek across the country and the founding of our fair state. Of course it just isn’t complete without a BBQ! This year we were able to spend the holiday in Syracuse, where Jeff’s sister Jamie, her husband Joe, and their three kids live.
Jamie ——>

It was a beautiful day. The kids had a blast running through the sprinklers and shooting down the slip-n-slide.

No party is complete without a little water action!

Do you see the mischievous gleam in my 3-year old daughter Ella’s eyes?

Watch out — she’s on the loose!

Ella found a victim — Grandma S. while Grandpa H. has a bite to eat.

Two cool dudes — son Nick and nephew Justice

Hannah and Nick checking out the newest member of Jamie’s household — miniature Australian Shepherd dog Max.

The day ended on a scary note when our Niece Cheyanne fell and hit her head on some cement curbing and was rushed to the hospital for stitches. We are happy to report that she is doing much better now. Thank you Murray’s for a wonderful Pioneer Day!!!

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Mamma Mia

I love music from the 70’s. I really shouldn’t since I was too young to really appreciate it when it was new but there is something about the music from that decade that I can really appreciate. In college my roommate Chrissy and I would dress up in disco clothes (she had older sisters who had given her their old prom dresses) for Halloween and sometimes just for fun. And on the weekends we loved to go to “Classic Skate” and cruise around the rink to such classics as “le Freak” and “YMCA”.

So when I saw that Mamma Mia had been made into a movie I was so excited. I had seen the Mamma Mia play twice in San Francisco when we lived in California.

Tuesday I took my daughter to see the film. I hope the fact that the daughter in the movie could have 3 possible fathers went over her head — and a couple of other comments I hope she didn’t understand :-). The music was great. Meryl Streep did a fantastic job. There was this older lady sitting in the same row who was leaning forward in her seat and dancing along to the music from her seat! I thought it was sweet.

So, if you can also appreciate the music from that decade , be sure to go see Mamma Mia on the big screen. It is a great movie to see with your girlfriends — I don’t think there was one man at our screening! LOL.

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Moms are people too!

Hi, welcome to my first blog. My lovely sister Wendy has been asking me for months when I was going to start a blog. In my head I quietly thought “never”. What do I have to contribute that people would want to read? I am not a writer. I don’t come up with smart witticisms on the fly like my husband. I am not supermom with miraculous answers to household dilemmas.

This morning one of my daughters flung out the words “you are the meanest mom in the world!” and I thought “when did I become this mom person without my own identity?”

I think of myself as I used to be 20 years ago, young, fun, spontaneous and moderately cool. Where did all the time go? Some things are better now than they were then — for one thing parachute pants are history, there are no more “big” bangs (unless you are a polygamist), mullets or skinny ties.

Seriously, how much cuter is Billy Ray Cyrus now than he was in the 80’s?

Other people who look better now than they did in the 80’s are:

Sara Jessica Parker

Michelle Pfeiffer

and John Bon Jovi

So maybe this blog will give me an outlet to be “me” and not just the “mom” of the house. Thanks for stopping by! Here’s a picture of me now. I will have to dig out one of the ones from the 80’s. Hopefully I have improved on myself in the last 20 years. I am certainly wiser than I was then as well as having better fashion sense! 🙂

Bye!

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