Meet Chippy

So when my brother was in town from MI a couple of months ago, he couldn't get over how big Avery's eyes are. (Which is funny, because he's my brother....and we ALL have big eyes! I suppose mine are the biggest, but still. We all have abnormally large eyes.) He put a picture of Avery and a picture of Bugsy from "Bedtime Stories" on the fridge and said "separated at birth."

Before they left, they got Avery a little stuffed animal that would match her. They've become great friends. Because of my un-cleverness at the moment, he got named Chippy. I know, it's incredibly unique for a chipmunk, but what can I say? I'm a genius.

Ooops!

Warning: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!

This is what happens when you don't turn the light on when you're putting your shoes on to go to work. Unfortunately I don't live close enough to have gone home to change, so...I dealt with it. All day. Hope not TOO many people thought I was loony!

GREAT Giveaway!

Okay! So my good friend Launi is having some give-aways on her blog. This is the best one yet! She makes these adorable purses - get this - out of grocery bags!! How cool is that? She's giving one away, but you have to check her blog out and enter TODAY!

And who wouldn't want one of these?? For the "green" in you, they're from recycled plastic. For the "diva" in you, they're sassy! And for the "practical" in you, they're the perfect size, AND are washing machine safe, and incredibly sturdy!

So go and enter - QUICKLY!

http://www.graciousrain.com/

4th of July

We had a pretty laid back 4th this year. We ended up having a low-key evening at my parents' house and then doing fireworks in their circle. Avery had fallen asleep earlier, but we woke her up so that she could experience her first fireworks. She was mesmerized!!

(Not sure why this one turned out so funky)

(A firework show isn't a firework show for my dad unless it contains mortars. Pretty much the only bad thing my dad ever does/has done in his life!) :)

My Mother

So my mom often has me help her with projects that she needed for her YW (she was the president - recently got released.) Well, for their girls camp, they had to make these paper dolls into "them." She gave me the doll and told me to get creative.........so I did! :) The only think she told me to do was to make her doll wearing workout clothes because she likes to exercise. I went a little further than that.

In addition to workout clothes, she's wearing a kitchen apron because she loves to cook. She has sunglasses and a visor on, and of course a party hat, since she is the life of EVERY party!

Her left arm carried her fabric purse which was filled with: A For the Strength of Youth booklet, as well as the YW Personal Progress book. A family picture. A water bottle. Her passport (she travels a LOT!!) Her crochet thread and needle. And of course, her Cafe Rio and Subway giftcards.

Her right arm has a blowdryer (she's a hairdresser) - complete with electric cord - and a pom pom. She was a cheerleader in high school, and while it may not be the case for everyone, for my mom..."Once a cheerleader, ALWAYS a cheerleader!" ;)

Her apron pocket contained a wisk (for baking) her nail polish and nail file (for you will never find my mom without her nails done!) and her comb and shears for cutting hair.

While I may have gone a bit overboard, it was VERY fun to make. I think it was a good representation of her - if I say so myself! :)

Our Garden Experiment

So I finally downloaded a heapload of pictures off my camera. While some of them were quite awhile ago, who cares, right? So here are some fun things our Summer was filled with.

So we planted a garden for the first time ever. Notice I didn't say "grew" a garden? Well, apparently our thumbs are more of a shade of black than green. Needless to say, we didn't do so hot. We tried the square foot gardening method and built a nice little box and planted our nice little starts from the nursery.

We planted zucchini, 4 different tomatoes, 2 peppers, lettuce, 2 kinds of onions, and some cilantro.

At first things were going quite nicely. Near the beginning, our cucumber plants got eaten by something that must just love cucumbers 'cause everything else ended up fine.

But after not too long, things started growing on their own...

It was all so miraculous. These wonderful little plants just started blossoming, and then bearing fruit. I was so excited. Then it happened. My tomato plants' leaves started dying. So I thought I must be over watering. Then my cilantro went to seed practically overnight, so it stopped growing. Then my lettuce started growing a little tower instead of a big bushy lettuce head. Then my zucchini had these curious little bugs that seemed harmless.....until one day the entire plant shriveled up and died a horrible death. Who ever heard of bugs that ONLY feed on squash??? Not me, I tell you?! I suppose they're called "SQUASH BUGS" for a reason??

This little guy is the lone survivor of the zucchini plant. I did also get one yellow straightneck before it died too. I've gotten a fair amount of tomatoes, though one of my plants literally only produced a whoppin' TWO tomatoes!!! I'd take pictures, but I wouldn't want to further embarrass myself. What makes it worse is that I live between two people who's gardens could feed my entire ward for a month!! ONE of their tomato plants was easily as big as my entire garden!! The interesting thing too, is that the extra jalapeno plants that we couldn't fit into the square foot bed, we planted in the ground by the garden. They've done AWESOME!!

Go figure, eh?!