mystery

Check out this story from the NY Times.  I love this idea!  What a cool thing for this family.

i want s'more

I totally want to make this with the kids.  It looks simple and fun.  Directions can be found here.

out of the oven

We got home last night from our trip to St. George, Utah - man, is it hot there!  We had a lot of fun and it was nice to have Grammy Baker traveling with us and also meeting up with my mom, dad and little brother Garin.  We loved visiting with Derek's cousin Doug and his family as well.

Posts about the trip to follow soon.

Megan was off this morning at 4:30am for a youth activity to Lake Nacimiento.  She has been quite the summer traveler.  She will spend the next few days camping with the kids from our ward at church and learning to wake board.  I'm sure she'll have a great time while the rest of us clean, do laundry and get life back in order after our trip - oh to be a teenager again.

some party inspiration

I was doing my daily search over at Hostess with the Mostess today and saw these fantastic plates.  I am in love!  I knew immediately that I had to have them but for obvious reasons I needed to have a purpose for buying them (Hello Derek?  I fell in love with some plates today so I bought them for the heck of it.  No, I have no reason for them.  I thought I would just stick them in the cupboard and pull them out periodically to look at them and smile) The light bulb went off and now I am the proud owner of these too cute plates and Luke is having a superhero/comic book party for his birthday in September. Remember how much he loves superheroes?!?!?

I already have the general idea for the invites - similar to what I did here.   

I'm gonna hit the Internet and see what else I can find to go with our chosen birthday theme. I know for sure we'll be making some capes and other superhero accessories.  I'm wrapping presents with comic book paper.  The possibilities with this theme are endless.  If anyone has ideas that they want to share please leave a comment.

bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?  

I guess Kari wasn't happy that I took the girls camp picture off her blog because the cops showed up at our house last night.

They really did show up but unfortunately it was not because of the picture but because my car got broken into Tuesday night.  Broken into is probably not the best choice of words - how about our car got opened through the unlocked door that we left unlocked (at least we think it was unlocked since we can't see any forced entry)  It was our fault, "our" meaning me or the kids and I'm going with the kids on this one  :)

Seems that some folks were cruising through the neighborhood last night checking for unlocked cars.  We got hit as well as some friends of ours another street over - both their cars were targets.

The damage wasn't too bad for us.  They took my ipod and Derek's ipod (which happened to be in my car) Both of our ipods are the original 1st models so they are pretty old and worn. Mine only works in my car charger.  Once you take it off the charger you can only get through maybe one song.  Derek's worked fine but had already been refurbished at one point.  They also took a cup of change that couldn't have been more then $5.

In the end I think the kids were happy that our safety and security had been violated (that sounds more scary then saying our 2 old ipods were taken out of our unlocked car)  The police officers that showed up were nice enough to give the kids a tour of the patrol car.


They let them try on a bullet proof vest.  All the kids commented on how heavy it was.


And the kids even got to check out some rifles - no touching, just looking and got to hold and check out a bullet.  

It all made for a much more entertaining Wednesday night then what we had planned (which was nothing) So thank you Mr. Bad Boy Burglar for providing us with a fun evening activity. Hope you're enjoying the $5 in change and the $30 bucks you might get for our ipods. If you get arrested I hope it was worth it.

copyright infringement

Shhh!  Don't tell anyone - I stoled (stole? stold?) this picture from Kari, our Young Women's president at church. I'm sure it's illegal and she is probably contacting her lawyers right now as I type this. It's the chance I must take so that I can document Megan and Emily's adventures to Girls Camp

At the end of June Megan and Emily were off to Girl's Camp (a yearly church adventure for girls 12-18 years old)  This was Megan's 3rd trip to camp and Emily's 1st. Both girls had a great time.  They loved being with friends and leaders. 

I am so thankful for amazing leaders that do so much each year to provide these girls with such a great trip. They give up a lot of time away from family and give up even more precious sleep time while they are away at camp.  

Back to the stolen picture...if the cops come looking for me I need a hideout.  Anyone willing to take in a fugitive of the law?

she's a baker

Emily loves to be in the kitchen.  She is often asking if she can make a treat or help with dinner. The other night she wanted to make cookies so she whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  At first I didn't really want her to make them - I hate the after cookie mess but after I got a taste of a warm cookie I was glad I had said yes.  

Em is getting good in the kitchen.  She is capable of handling herself without much supervision and she turns out some really tasty food.  Perhaps someday soon I can turn over all the cooking responsibilities to her - wouldn't that be a fun little break?!

stinkin' up the neighborhood

Last weekend we had a big delivery.  Nothing fun mind you, just a big pile o' stinky cow poo.  

The smell was horrible and it brought back memories of a Halloween party gone bad.

  

Quite a few years ago I painstakingly made some mummy hands to be used as centerpieces for our annual Halloween party.  I loved how they turned out but they looked so plain just sitting on a table.  I envisioned a mound of dirt on each table with the hand coming up out of the dirt surrounded by candles.  The day of the party I run to Home Depot bright and early, buy the dirt and get it home and on the tables.  It quickly becomes apparent that I did not buy plain old, looks good on the Halloween tables dirt - I had bought manure-y dirt and it was now sitting on the middle of every table we had set up.

  

The memory is all somewhat of a blur at this point and I try not to remember it but I know that some tears were shed.  The tears were increased when friends would stop by to help with party preparations and exclaim as they made their way through our gate "What the heck is that smell"

My solutions you ask?!?!  I tried spraying down each poo pile with Lysol and carpet freshening powder.  As I type that now I realize how absurd that idea was but at the time I was desperate. Laugh if you want but you might have done the same thing if 80 people were heading your way and the party stunk like a farm.

Super party husband to the rescue.  Derek ran to Home Depot and got the right dirt.  He came home and dumped all the manure and then vacuumed any remains from the tablecloths. He then loaded the tables with dirt smelling dirt, added my mummy hands and candles and the tables turned out perfectly - just how I envisioned them.  The only downfall of it all...every time we vacuumed our house during the next few months it smelled of manure.  It was a small sacrifice to pay in order to pull off the party.

But back to our work day....


Derek, Nate, Davis and Donevan got to work hauling the stinky pile to the back yard so that we could mix it in with our less then ideal soil to get it ready for some planting.  The backyard stunk for a few days and we add a bunch of little buggies flying around but they along with the smell are gone now and we are on to our next step - planting!

my guilty pleasure

It's finally back...Project Runway.  

I love this show!  

I love watching the creative process at work.  Seeing what is created each week is a total thrill for me.  I love a lot of what goes down the runway and hate a bunch of stuff as well.  I can't tell you how many times I have said "what was he/she thinking?" as a terrible outfit has appeared on the runway.

Not sure what I think about the cast just yet.  No one really stands out to me right now. There definitely seems to be a few nut jobs (every season has at least one) and there seems to be some talent but I'm not sure who I am rooting for yet.

I'm just happy to have it back on tv - oh how I have missed you Tim Gunn.  Don't worry Heidi I haven't forgotten you - I patiently wait each week to hear you say "Nina Garcia" in your accented English.  Does anyone else love how she says Nina's name?  The one person missing that could make this season complete for me is Christian - I miss his fierceness.  Please come back you hot mess designer you!

I have to comment...the man is a wizard with the flat iron.  Why can't I get my hair that straight?

Just for posterity's sake the other shows I'm watching are...Next Food Network Star, Design Star, The Baby Borrowers (this show cracks me up), The Mole (so glad this show is back on the air - my guess for the mole is Craig) Wipeout (I am not sure why it is so funny to watch people falling all over the place into mud and water but we laugh every week.  The kids beg Derek each week to try and get on the show - I'd love to see him do it!)  and Ace of Cakes (Janae, you have to go to Charm City Cakes and take a picture for me) 

commitment

Megan has been up early every morning this week (a huge feat for her - she loves her bed) to head over to the high school for cross country runs.  She decided that she wanted to try out for Tesoro's cross country team and has committed to a summer full of early morning and evening runs.  

She has not done much running except for her weekly mile runs in PE so she is struggling through the 3 to 6 miles runs she has been doing every day  but she is still pushing through and we are proud of her.  We hoping that she'll be able to increase her time over the summer so that she will be able to make the team.  Good Luck Megan!

mom, i'm bored

I'm sure I am not the only parent hearing this phrase at the moment.  Some days I am tempted to run away from home if I hear "i'm bored" one more time.  It hasn't been a constant whine but we have had a few days that were worse then others.

On one particular day we headed over to Michael's to try and beat the boredom.  We were met with success.  

Nathan got a kit explaining all about the virtues of marshmallow shooters.  The kit came with everything necessary to make a small shooter.  Couple that with the 3 bags of mini marshmallows we got at the store and Nate was set for a good few hours of entertainment.

Luke's purchase was a Superhero kit.  I actually didn't think that this would be a successful activity for curing his boredom but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Who am I to mess with the power of America's superheroes?

The kit came with a fantastic red cape, a superhero i.d. card (all good superheroes carry an i.d.), face masks, wristbands (that contained powers to control the universe) and a bunch of stickers. The end result...Luke saving the world for hour upon hours.  He managed to fight the villain Boredom for the whole day and continued to battle evil up until bedtime.  

Yes, this was a highly successful kit from Michael's and worth every penny.

Protecting the universe...Super Zap!

Stinging evil with his bare, dirty hands...it's Captain Buzz

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Star Boy!

this time last year

I decided to check out my blog to see what I was doing this time last year and found that I was having much more fun last year on July 16th. 

 

I also realized that I am ready for a Potter fix. Where is my favorite boy wizard?  I believe the movie comes out this year (November, maybe) and I'm dying to see a trailer.  Rumor has it that it might play before Batman (which would mean tomorrow) or Star Wars in a few weeks (I think)  I don't have a desire to see either movie but would be tempted to buy a ticket just to see the HP trailer - crazy, I know but the HP movies are a favorite.  I love the sets, costumes, stories, etc. 

My secret desire is to be a set designer for the HP movies.  My dream will be ending soon since there are not many more movies but I can still wish - so if anyone can hook me up with some of those Brits in charge that would be great.

I would love to throw another Harry Potter bash but if the movie really does come out in November I don't think I can swing it right after all the Halloween hoopla that will have taken place.  I should have thought through it all and gone with a Potter theme for Halloween but I'm far too into the ghost town theme to change anything now.

Speaking of ghost town...Halloween plans are moving along.  I took care of my costume last week thanks to Ebay.  I also purchased 6 costumes from Costume Castle at a steep discount for the girls that will be our servers.  I have been hitting up Goodwill looking for western decor and have found a few things.  I have papers upon papers with lists and drawings of everything that needs to happen in the next 99 days.  Yikes, that's not much time to get ready for the big event.

bring on the disaster

Created by OnePlusYou

Apparently we are in better shape then I thought for a disaster.  Don't quite know how the computer figures it out with only three questions but the computer is always right, right?  So it must be accurate - bring on the earthquake, bird flu, or any other disaster because the computer says we're set.  And no, I'm not sharing so don't come knocking on my door. :)

i heart fred

I love almost every product from Fred.  I run across Fred's stuff often and nearly always resist buying anything.  I did break down in San Francisco and bought some freaKEYS!  How cute are they?  I smile whenever I have to use my keys.

Here is a ton more fabulousness from Fred that I love...
How fun is this for your cell phone?  Impractical?  Yes, but oh so cute.
I want this door mat waiting for me and the family when we return home from a run.  Megan who is trying out for cross country would find this an especially rewarding way to return home.
These "dentures" are just one of the many ice cube creations from Fred that I find terribly entertaining.  I want to plan parties around the ice cubes that they have.
I was so close to buying these salt and pepper shakers in San Francisco but the line at the store was too long so I put them back.  Now that I see them again I wish I had them.
More fantastic ice cubes - Guitar Hero party for sure.
I would get this cutting board for my book lovin' sister Lauren.  I would also get this for Megan as a going away gift for college.  I think this is a perfect gift for anyone with a love for books.
I totally want this alarm clock.  What a way to make you get out of bed to exercise.  The alarm doesn't stop until you do so many reps with the clock - love it!
Perfect for a party.  I wish I would have done a renovation party when we were redoing our kitchen - these would have been a perfect addition to the party.

More great ice cubes.  I realize that the Titanic cubes are not so politically correct but look at them...you have to admit they are pretty dang cute and quite ingenious.
Last but not least, I would get these for my lego loving brother (and no, it's not the 13 year old it's the 20 something year old)

swimming and rock band don't mix

Two weeks ago we had a fun night planned at the Chamberlin's - some nighttime swimming and a little Rock Band.  All was going well until...

Nathan had a bit of an accident - a slip brought contact between Nate's chin and a tile wall, followed by lots of crying and trauma (Nate was crying I was the one with trauma - I don't do well with blood)  After hours (oh ok, it seemed like hours - it was probably a half an hour) of trying to convince Nathan he needed stitches he calmed down and we got the medical attention he needed.
I put this gem of a picture in color because black and white does nothing for blood.  This picture seriously gives me spine chills.  Does anyone else hate stuff like this or am I just a bad mom that I would prefer to run screaming when my kids get hurt instead of comforting them with hugs?  Can't stand to be by someone bleeding - let alone actually have to touch them by giving them a hug.
When all was said and done Nate had a sweet bandaged chin and was soon banging on the drums and rocking out to some hard rocking tunes.

Nate finally got back into the water last night - we sent swimming at the community pool.  He has missed swim lessons, trips to the water park and swimming with friends because of the stitches so he was thrilled to be back in the water.