Aubrey's Pageant

This weekend was our first Pageant.

I think it would be fun to do it again next year, but Good Looking thinks once is enough.

Like I said earlier, I made Baubi's dress.

I was hoping not to, because I am crazy trying to get this quilt done.

This is what we learned when we went shopping,

She doesn't fit anything.

She is to short for ladies size 0, and too small around for girls size 14.

I tell her all the time to get enough sleep and eat her proteins,

now we have the proof that I know of what I speak.

This is the first time we have ever done anything like this, we are lazy parents so we don't have our girls in dance and gymnastics, we tried soccer once, and that has been about it for extra curricular activities at our house. This was her first time on stage, and her first time talking to an audience of strangers. Considering all that I think she did fantastic.

Her are the shots of her dress, and her competition.

Good looking got to be her escort for the formal wear, he did a good job and twirled her around when they were walking off stage, it was very cute. The girl in the back ground was one of the finalist.

Here they are on stage.

If her grandpa were writing this post he would say this...

"If that is not perfection I don't know what is"

He has said that about her her whole life, he is a really good Grandpa.

Love you Dad.

I have created some pretty fabulous things in my life, but I think she ranks pretty high on that list.

Here are the stair step sisters. I told Good Looking that we could have them all in it next year, but I don't think he is going to go for it.

How could I not do the bridal mirror shot.

Here you can see the back of her dress. I did bridal loops up the back and hid the plain buttons behind and showed off some fancy ones on the top. I hate zippers but that is a tale for another day.

This is the low down on what she won, a state finalist trophy (everyone got one) and a medal for being a runner up in casual wear. I was the really great mom who remembered half way there that I forgot my camera for that competition so I don't have a picture of her in her casual wear outfit.

If you look close you can see that her eyes are very red :(

She was hoping to do so much better than she did.

So I would like to publicly say

I think you did a great job, I so proud of you for trying. Next year the world.

The great flood of 2011

Did it rain yesterday where you are?

We had a down pour and here is the sad sad tale.

I woke up, prepared the Sunday school lesson, prepared children for church and headed out.

Survived church, which is a feat in it's self because Good Looking is doing a job in Alaska. So I got to sit through sacrament meeting and teaching our seven year old boys by myself.

After church I did the unthinkable...I went to the Joann's. I am making Baubi's pageant dress and because she is so tiny, I could not just go to the store and buy one. (trust me I tried) Anyway I am making Baubi's pageant dress and ran out of thread. All I wanted to do yesterday was go get my thread and sew her dress and make taco salad for dinner. I really don't think I was asking too much, but I guess higher powers wanted to punish me for breaking the Sabbath and going shopping.

On the way home it started raining. I like summer rain. I think it is fun to survive a hot day, see the clouds build, and then feel like the day has been refreshed after the rain has stopped and the skies have cleared.

The rain kept building and building, I commented to Baubi "I think this is what they call a torrential down pour" (little did I know). We went a bit further, and that is when we experienced a true a torrential down pour. We couldn't see very far and the rain drops were about the size of quarters, then the hail started. It was so loud in the car we could barely hear ourselves. It slowed down the closer we got to our house.

As we turned into out neighborhood, I noticed that our good friends had friends over. The closer I got I noticed that their friend had a shop vac in hand. That is when it hit me, their house is getting flooded. Sure enough three window wells in their basement were filling up fast and they needed help. We pulled in the garage and I sent the girls over with our shop vac to see if they needed it. I could hear my back yard neighbors yelling at each other, the husband was on the roof trying to clear out the gutters and the wife was reporting on the state of their window well. 

All the while I was calm, we have had at least four floods in past and I really thought all the problems were solved and I had nothing to worry about....oh was I wrong.

I had just posted on my facebook that I was so glad that my husband had fixed the gutters so I didn't have to worry.Then I thought maybe I should double check that one. Sure enough I went downstairs and the carpet was wet. This is at least the fifth time the basement has flooded and Good Looking has only ever been here for two of them. I went running back to our friends house to get back our shop vac. I tried to move the couches out of the way and tried to get the water out. It did not take long for word to spread that I needed help. The men in the neighborhood were over in no time, trying to get out what they could, but it was so much worse than we thought.  

In the end I have no carpet pad in my family room. The play room/office has only about half of it's carpet pad left. Two sections of my couch are in the garage the corner section is in Baubi and Gowyn's room, along with the extra family room furniture. I have a bookcase in the laundry room and the entertainment center is in pieces off the carpet in the family room.

Here is the photographic evidence.

See that white line on the glass, that is how high the water got before it decided to see what my house was like. No the gutter pipe in the window well is not connected to anything, my husband likes to store stuff like that under our deck.

See that dark line in the carpet pad. that is how far the water got. Just so you know that wall is usually covered up by the entertainment center.

My father in law came over with a fan to try to blow it dry, it is not working the carpet is still soaking wet.

This is the whole room view. To the right sits a very large, very heavy sectional couch with a hide away bed and two recliners. To the left sits our entertainment center, it is big and has three sections. There is also a small bookcase next to the entertainment center.

This is the opposite view, this is the office/playroom the desk is usually looking at you, and a book case is in the spot where the desk is.

Now that book case is in the laundry room, blocking it.

Here is the inside of the laundry room, yep no laundry is getting done today. 

This is Baubi and Gowyn's room, all of that furniture is not suppose to be there. 

I really wish I could say that this part of their room looks like this because our basement flooded and we had to get things off the floor, and their room got it all. Nope it always looks like this.

This is our garage today, the kids love it. They think it is great to have such a cosy place to relax during the day. That white piece of furniture was a vanity of my great grandmother's it was in the office waiting to be refinished. It got so wet that the drawers are swollen shut. I hope that the heat of the garage can fix that problem.

This is the pony wall in the entry way, it suffered some damage trying to get the couches out.

This is what we figured happened. My husband buried the gutter pipe under the ground, with a pop up so that we wouldn't have to worry about it getting knocked off and flooding again. The unforeseen problem with this fix is where does the debris go. I will tell you... it gets stuck in the pop up and then the water doesn't have anywhere else to go but up and over the gutter, then onto the deck, and then through the cracks in the deck, and then finally into the window well and onto the floor.

I am sure it could have been worse, no one was hurt, there was no structural damage. The thing that is bothering me today, is that the carpet is still soaking wet, my house is in great disarray, I am suppose to be sewing a pageant dress, but my sewing room is also full of stuff and it is getting stinky down there, there are no screens on the basement windows so I can not open them up and let the stink out. The number one thing that is bother me, is the number one thing that I can not change, my husband is not here. He is not here to get the screens on the windows (I don't even know where they are, and if they are even OK to go on the windows) This whole fan business is just the thing that he would do, so I wouldn't have to. He would have everything organised and not crazy piled all over the house.

I am sure there are some of you saying "do it yourself woman" but here is the thing...... I don't want to. I want to be sewing a pageant dress, and finishing my quilt. I do not want to worry about calling the neighbor to find out who had the extruder, so that I can get the water out of the carpet. I don't want to worry about where we are going to put all the stuff until the carpet is dry and new pad is laid down. I do not want to worry about the proper placement of the fan to get the best air flow. I only want to worry about what to make for dinner, and how I am going to thank everyone who helped me out yesterday. 

I began this long tale of woe by saying that I like the summer rain, and here is the fun part of the rain from yesterday. Our sad little dessert town now has a lake or a pond. 

This is our local park it is also the retaining pond for situations just like yesterday. It was fun to see everyone gather to see how full it is (It's ten feet deep in case you were wondering) My friend even had her boys out there on the kayak, because what else are you suppose to do with that much water?

OK I am going to look for the silver lining, and never go to Joann's on a Sunday again.

Vacation Number One

We are already down one vacation, and one more to go. They are both in the same place, our favorite place, the place that our children are always asking to go, and that place would be...

LAKE POWELL

We have our houseboat in bullfrog, so if you are ever heading to Lake Powell and are on your way, look for this...

the actual bullfrog that the canyon is named after. See there in the mountain side, you can see it jumping.

We stayed in Iceberg canyon, and the man in the moon kept watch over us. Can you see his eyes and nose?

There are so many fun things to see and find, but the best has to be what you see at 6:30 in the morning.

The water is so still it is like a mirror, I love it.

This one actually fooled people when I asked which is the reflection, just so you know it is the bottom one.

Baubi went water skiing, look at her skinny legs.

Then she went wake boarding.

Gowyn loves the knee board and could be pulled behind the boat for hours on end. We tried to get her up on the wake board but as soon as she head planted on the water she was done.

Another "fun" activity is the tube as you can see by Baubi's face the term fun is used loosely.

The girls loved having a party on the boat. It has a stereo so they would sit on the boat and listen to music and get their party on.

This is what I did for the trip. I sewed all the circles for my quilt. I followed this tutorial. I did not want to pay $15 dollars for the one size circle I needed, so I got template plastic that is heat resistant and Martha Stewart's circle cutter and cut out 45 circles. I would sew them up in sets. See I knew that assembly line experience would come in handy.

I had it down to a system, templates circles, thread and a baggie to hold the done ones.

I had the girls paint on the starch, and then I would iron them with my tiny iron. I had my sister in law help, until she burned her finger. It was after that, that we realised the circles hold their shape better if you let them air dry. It is surprisingly easy when it is over 100 degrees and the wind is blowing.

This is the final count after a week. They are all in nice stacks of ten, and in rows of ten, so the total for the week was 481. I finished the rest on the way home. I am now in the process of sewing the circles onto the fabric. I have 168 done 420 to go.

For those of you who don't know what quilt I am speaking of I mentioned it here. I am entering this quilt in the Riley Blake quilt contest. I am needing it to be done by August 17. So wish me luck, if you want to know more about the contest check it out here.

Tragedy of Tragedies

Tragedy of all tragedies happened at our house a couple of weeks ago, and I am now just telling you about it. OK maybe "tragedy" may be a bit harsh, but to a mother of four girls this counts.

It happened back on the 15th of June. I was down stairs cutting out the circles for my quilt and Lala came running down stairs. she said the words that just cut to a mother's soul "Baby Sister cut her hair"

Now I know I may be being dramatic here but really to a mother of girls this is hard. I mean they were all born bald, hence the name of my blog (bolo means bald in Hawaiian) I wait for their hair to grow and get long as soon as I can I start putting ponies in their hair. I look forward to the day that their hair is long enough for curlers, and can I just tell you that baby Sister's hair was so cute curly. I always come up with funky ways of putting it up, and try to match hair thingies to outfits. 

Also I think I need to let you in on some of my own history here, so you can further understand the trauma of hair cuts for me. 

When I was in fourth grade my hair was down to my waist and I loved it, apparently my mother didn't, which I can understand now that I am the mom long hair can get irritating but still I love it. So here is what happened my mom came to me one day and said that her friend was going to cut my hair. I was OK with that and at first though I didn't think much of it. I also didn't think much of it when my loving mother put my hair in a pony, braided it and said OK let's go. Next thing I knew I was sitting in the chair and my braid was sitting in my lap. I was in complete shock, I could see the end of my hair out of the corner of my eye. It was not over she kept cutting I did not get a cute bob but a mom cut, I walked in looking like a girl and walked out looking like a boy, or at least like a little version of my mother. The next day at school boys were coming up to me saying are you the new boy in school? You kind of look like this girl who went to our school named Robyn, but we can tell you are a boy so you can't be her. My mother kept me hair short until I was a teenager and rebeled against her and started growing it out. Good looking would like for me to cut my hair short but I just can't do it.

I hope that gives you some idea of why I hate what she (baby sister) did on June 15th.

This is what I imagine happened, the neighbor was cutting flowers with a pair of scissors and baby sister saw this and thought that might be fun. She went on the house and found her own pair of scissors and started cutting the weeds (we still don't have flowers in the flower beds) It was a bit breezy that day and I hadn't got her hair done yet, so as the breeze blew her hair in her face she thought it would be a good idea to just cut that piece off, and the next, and the next, and kept going until she had given herself a mullet.

So here for your viewing pleasure Baby Sister the hair stylist.

   

For fun, here is a close up of that face

I think she is thinking... maybe this wasn't the best idea.

looking left

looking right

The back, oh my the back

the evidence

all in the grass.

Now thankfully my sister in law cuts hair. We have tried to get into the girls heads that only Auntie Staci cuts hair, that is what we told baby sister the last time she cut her bangs (when she was two) because she didn't want them anymore. 

We got in the car and headed to Staci's house and she worked her magic.

She still is not sure about it.

I kept asking her does it have to be that short? She kept saying to me I am not the one who started it, I am the one trying to fix it.

Here is the end result...

I promise I did not choke her, (although I might have thought about it) that mark on her neck is from the hair cutting cape.

I would have to agree with what my brother said when he saw this picture.

"Why is that boy wearing a dress"

Brothers are fun

The other issue that I have with this whole situation is this if I had a boy this is the hair cut he would have. I would not shave his head and keep it super short, I would have the long bangs and tussled hair. I realise that some time has passed but I still hate it. All I want is a pony tail in the back of her head. maybe some little buns, for sure some curlers. I guess I will just have to get over it.

  

Well hello there

I feel like I have been gone from here forever, I am not a very good blogger, 

I really need to remember to tell YOU what is going on.

School is out, and glad to say all the girls graduated from their classes and are moving up to the next level.

Baby sister by far had the cutest graduation, seriously what is cuter than graduating from preschool.

See told ya...

I told you about grandma Kath and papa Bill coming to visit, they are coming back in three weeks and the girls are all excited about it.

Then this crazy thing happened, I went to the Joann's, and wonder of wonders, I was alone, so I thought I would look at the quilting books, mostly because I could (it is impossible with small children with you) and I found this book, I fell in love with the quilt on the cover.

It is one of those things that I would look at, and think one day, when I am a better quilter, or one day when I have more time (like that is ever going to happen) I would love to make that quilt. I am sure we have all had those moments, where we try to talk our selves in and out of things that we know we could do, or want to do.



Then the day I found out about the wedding dress I found out about this competition. I was hoping to enter the apparel competition, I mean really I could have taken it, but I had to make a bride's dreams come true.

Then I was in bed one night about to go to sleep stewing over all these silly things (fancy quilt, contests, and a deadline) I thought to my self now is as good a time as any. So I have put on my big girl panties and have dived in.

The rules of the contest are make a quilt using Riley Blake fabrics, easy I mean really what is cuter than Riley Blake. I have decided to make this crazy quilt out of Lori Holt's new line of fabric,Sew Cherry. I think it is the perfect bit of vintage for this quilt, I am doing red for the rings, and white for the background. and I have a time frame to finish it. You see I always do better with a deadline, I will put things off until forever without one. That is why I stay up sewing until 3:00 am sewing Christmas dresses, but that is another story for a different day. This quilt needs to be finished before August 17. Please keep me in your prayers, I am going to need it. I will be coming back here to keep you up to date on the progress, and hopefully you can keep me motivated.

If you have made a quilt out of Riley Blake fabrics, and you think you want to take me on, go check it out here.

Aubrey's Pageant

Baubi got a letter in the mail a month ago saying that she had a chance to be in the National American Miss Pageant this year. So Baubi and I went to the open call, not even a week later, we got that call! I heard her scream so I ran into the kitchen. Now in July she will be competing in this Pageant. BUT she won't be able to if she doesn't raise enough money. She is also going to be doing optional contests, the photogenic contest, Casual wear modeling and the Top model photo shoot. Also in this Pageant she will learn valuable skills like: Interview skills, Public speaking skills and it will even raise her confidence!
Please, please help her out.
http://www.gofundme.com/Aubreys-Pageant

Thanks so much! :)

Grandma Kath and Papa Bill

Grawma left this morning so now we are sad.

I should have taken a lot more photos, and then I should have taken better care of said camera so I could down load the few I actually took. I will blame it on the girls that is always more fun.

This is the tale of Grandma Kath and Papa Bill.

If you have other things to do that is OK, I realise it could get lengthy and there are no photos as just mentioned, but for personal records here is the tale of our "Soul Grandma"



My husband served a mission in Michigan from '88-'90

He is the only son, and his mother was very worried for him. She is a worrier any way,  I always say that if she didn't have something to worry about, she worry about the fact there wasn't anything to worry about. The fact that her only son would be gone for two years with out her was a little too much for her to handle. My father in law gave him a blessing (a special prayer) that he would be looked after while away, and that he would find someone on his mission who would be like a second mother to him, watch over him, and care for him while he was gone.

He went to Michigan and was there for about a month. His first companion was a football player,and very big my sweetheart is neither, he had a 29" waist up until six years ago. One day he and his athlete companion were walking down the road his companion about ten yard ahead of him. Across the street in a cafe watching this from the window was Grandma Kath.

She had been baptised herself only two months prior, so she was familiar with the missionaries. She turned to her friend and said "Oh my look at that little missionary" He touched her heart that second. She invited them to dinner at her house and had a "greenie" meal for him. All the food was green and the funny thing is, is that the man hates green food. While she was making dinner she looked out the window to see that a dog had torn apart her garbage. It was all over the back yard and for a single mother and nursing student it was too much for her to take. They ate the green dinner and while she was doing the dishes she once again looked out the window and saw my sweet husband picking up all the garbage off her lawn. Once again her heat was touched. They all sat around talking and getting to know each other, later my sweety fell asleep on her couch, she has said that when she put a blanket on him she felt a wave of motherly love sweep over her for this little missionary asleep on her couch.

I don't know your faith or what you believe, but for me this is a testament that the Lord knows us, and our needs. The Lord knew that my Mother in law needed to know someone would be out there loving her son. The Lord knew that a missionary in Michigan, was going to need someone he could call and get support only a mom can give. Most importantly the Lord knew that a junior in high school was going to graduate, date and marry this missionary and need another mom in her life.

I could sit here for hours and tale you tales of our Grandma Kath. She told him what kind of girl to marry (once again glad I made the cut) Good looking and I got engaged in Alaska he called her at three o'clock in the morning Michigan time to tell her I said yes. They drove twenty hours in an old beat up van to be there on our wedding day. I tell her that our anniversary, is also her and my anniversary because it was the first day we met. I was so happy when they moved to Arizona that way they could be closer. They have been here for every baby blessing and baptism, we have been there for almost every Easter. She has helped in raising the children and dealing with all the drama in our lives. If something happens she is usually the first one I call.

We have told the girls they have blood Grandma's and Grandma Kath. I was thinking about it the other day and I think this is the best way to explain it.

I was adopted so I believe the Lord looked down and found the mother I needed. He then stepped in and gave me the mother I wanted.

We all grow up loving our Mother's everything about them, but then we wish they could be different. That is what Kath is, she is the mother I wished for when mine was driving me nuts as a teenager. Now that my own mother is living in the middle of the ocean serving her own mission, it is really nice to have Kath come and visit. She says she loves us like we were hers and our girls truly were her first grand daughters. We are all in the will along with their own kids. We are loved and bonded to each other. It is amazing what happens when the Lord steps in.

Just so you know Kath is married I promise he is our Papa Bill. After playing with the girls he sits in the chair and holds his heart and says "You have no idea how good this is for me".  He is one of the hardest working men I know. He would work in the hot Arizona sun all day and then come home and start a major project, like yard work or working on the car, nothing ever waited until the week end. If it needed to be done it was going to be done that second. I have often told the girls that I hope they marry men who know how to work. I don't care what degree they hold, I just hope that they know how to be men, and they know how to work, just like Papa. It may seem a little past tense, that is because a few years ago Papa was diagnosed with MS.He can't work anymore, he can barely walk, he has to ride around in a scooter, he has braces on his legs, and he is still the same, While he was here he sanded and stained our deck, because he said it needs to be done and Good Looking was busy working. 

She did all my laundry, cleaned the pantry, cleaned the storage room and we started making Christmas presents for the sister's. She did it all, and said the whole time said this is what parents do and I am glad to help you out. They are going to be back in July, she said to make a list of all the things that they can help with when they get back, It is going to be one long June waiting for them to come back, I hope we can make it.