More potos

Just so you know the beaver's still around.

Watching tv.

Summer Time Re-visited

Elena and her best friend Candace.

Climbing trees.

Playing in the neighbor's pool--the highlight of every summer day.

What a crazy bunch of kids we have between our two houses.

Eating goldfish.

Sebastian out for the afternoon.

My friend, Natalie, just emailed me all of these. I couldn't help but post them.

I forgot.

Leo took me on a date that he planned himself for our 8th Anniversary. We went to the Springville Museum of Art and then out for Mongolian BBQ. Delicious. And the museum was great! Because of this:

RUSSIAN

The Museum houses the largest public collection of 20th-century Russian and Soviet art in the western United States. These remarkable works, mostly in the Soviet Impressionist and Soviet Realist styles, deal with political, social and economic aspects of the former USSR.

I love Russian Impressionist works. I've loved them since before I met Leo and I was on a date with another guy going to art galleries in Scottsdale. I saw them and fell in love. And actually the picture above, was one of my favorites in the whole museum.

Also, we're not moving yet. Hopefully next spring, Leo will have a job and we'll move then. I was just thinking about the future. That's all.

And Ana went to the BYU football game on Saturday night with a friend. Lucky ducky.

That's it. Chao.

Autumn Leaves

Kids and leaves are fun. And my husband is sweet. He planned a date and took me to the Springville Museum of Art and then out for Mongolian BBQ. Delicious!

Rock Canyon and kids

Last week walking home from church I enjoyed this lovely view.

I love the mountains.

I really hope we'll end some place by mountains--I would miss them so much. Sniff.

I mean really, our street looks like it ends right in the mountains. I love it.

And here's my crazy kids and the boys I babysit.

I think my kids are going to miss them like crazy when we move. They're practically siblings, we spend so much time together. Sniff. Sniff.

Religious Art

I've never been a huge fan of religious art. Not at all. But all that changed today at the BYU bookstore when I came across these by J. Kirk Richards. I would hang these in my house any day. Seriously, if I had an extra hundred bucks lying around I'd be so tempted to buy the one above. I like his work that much.


Well, maybe not. It is a bit depressing-the one above though is not at all depressing.

And this one, well, I like it too. So go see his website and look at Narratives of Christ and they'll be one called The Holy Family, that's actually the one I would buy, out of the ones at the bookstore anyway. And look at the In the House of Caiaphas. I love it. Really. It reminds me of Picasso's Guernica but with the gospel. Fascinating. I don't think it will make it to a Relief Society room though. Hee. Hee.
Click HERE

Asleep

Elena and Isabel were watching a movie and then just Elena was watching.

So sweet. But really she's crazy. Trust me.

18th Century Stays

I made this for my sister Lindsay for her Halloween costume--she was a pirate--but I didn't get it to her in time. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to sew. I broke a pair of sissors cutting the heavy duty cable ties that I used for the boning though.

My friend Natalie's Halloween

We took photos together on Saturday. So I decided to post her family's pictures as well, because their costumes are amazing too.

Joshua is a king, Candace the queen, and Luke and Levi their knights in shining armor.

Natalie made all their costumes too, except this one. (More of a time issue, than anything else.)

This is the first major project she's sewn, and yes, I lead her down the path to join me in my addiction.

I don't know what our husbands thought of our late night visits asking each other questions on our various projects at the time.

Or for that matter, what the neighborhood thought of us setting up our sewing machines out on our shared front lawn and sewing constantly while our kids rode their bikes all around on our driveways.

And let me tell you, the cleanliness of our houses decreased drastically. But it was all worth it right? Happy Halloween! (And yes, Ana wasn't in costume for these ones, but just wait, we have something planned...)

A very difficult subject to photograph

Gnomes are a hard subject to photograph. I mean, they're pretty industrious.

I guess they have to be--living in the woods and all.

Picking berries and mushrooms and whatnot.

Sometimes they get a little annoyed when you interrupt their work.

And given the chance they can be a bit mischievous, stealing hats and playing pranks.

And other times just getting them all to look in the same direction, well....

it's nearly impossible.

They don't like being in the lime light either, so they try to slip off back into the woods.

And sometimes they just crack under the pressure.

They just really don't like being disturbed.

But, occasionally, if you catch one by themselves, they might be patient for a few shots.

Just a few.

So be quick.

And always offer Halloween candy. It might at least get one to smile. (And yes, I made every costume from top to bottom. And they won best costume at our ward Halloween party--that's two in row, but who's counting?)

My parents inspired me, by the way. They took a trip to Norway this summer and they were there over Norway's National Day. Hence, lots of pictures of cool costumes. Can you tell Sebastian's costume is based off of this Sami's outfit?

And with the girls, I went for the traditional Norwegian bunad. Yes, that's what it's called. But gnomes are cute, so they still stayed gnomes anyway. I bought all the ribbon off of Etsy--yeah, for Etsy!