4 Fun Filled Days in Phoenix

I just got back from 4 fun filled days in Phoenix with Tiffany. Tiffany was on her spring break from Kindergarten and I had planned on going out to help her finish up her baby nursery. She was so excited about the project that she was pretty much done - so we weren't buried with any big projects - just a few finishing touches. It left a lot of time for shopping for baby clothes, just visiting and having fun. A very relaxing and fun week! I love hanging out with my daughters.

An added bonus - we got to meet up with Lynnette and Dave who were in Phoenix for the weekend. Lynnette's youngest little guy looks just like Lynnette did when she was little. I love that I've known Lynnette since she was a baby and I can't wait to see what Tiffany's little boy will look like - I'll be back in Arizona in May for the big event!

The Cottage gets a make-over -

This last year the cottage has been my work station for cutting out patterns, storing fabric, etc but I decided it was time to make it more user friendly for when the kids come to visit (like the end of March). There was a bed upstairs and my treadmill downstairs but not much else inviting.

So I decided to do the "design on a dime" concept and try to fix it up a little. I found a couch and coffee table on Criag's list, hit a great consignment sale, and gathered misc stuff from storage that I wasn't using. Then I enlisted Bonnie's help to make it all come together.

Here's the barren look I had going before -

Now - VOILA! Bonnie came and did her magic arranging all my odds and ends and misc to look totally wonderful. She really has a talent - it was such a fun day.

I forgot to take before pictures of the bedroom - but it was just a bed and an empty dresser - now it's much better . . . .

The black round mirror was a hideous gold thing I found at a consignment sale - I taped it off and spray painted it black and it works great. I am so proud of my cheap deals!
Here's what we did in the kitchen - Bonnie is all about the "details" She even arranged things on the top of my fridge - that's a first for me!

So for my kids and all my out-of-town girlfriends - I'm ready! Come and pay me a visit. I've got things ready for guests!

Thanks again to Bonnie - she was fantastic. It really got me started - now I want to pull all the weeds that you can see from the cottage windows, purge through my closets and make my house more in order, and get up EVERY morning and hop on the treadmill and enjoy my new view. Not to mention it is really nice once in a while to accomplish something that you can actually see the fruits of your labor and that lasts (I guess that's why laundry, cooking and housework fails to feel all that rewarding). This was a mission accomplished. Now I'm assessing what my next project will be. :)

Highlights of my trip to Utah

Here's a few quick highlights of my last week's trip to Utah :

Getting to meet and get to know my new granddaughter Naomi -
Watching Boston walking everywhere - last month he was still crawling.

Seeing Boston having fun with the new toy I got him - (being a Grandma is so much fun!)

Getting suprised with flowers and chocolates from my son-in-law on Valentine's Day. Do Son -in-laws get any better than this? Sorry everyone - but I think I've got the best there is!

Making a cute name banner for Naomi's room and giving the nursery some girly touches.

Getting lots of time to hold this precious little girl that has stolen my heart!

I just couldn't get enough of her - or take enough pictures of her either. She's just too cute.

Maybe the biggest highlight of all was seeing Michele SO HAPPY! What more could a mother ask for. It is a very sweet and sentimental thing to witness your daughter being a wonderful mommy herself. Naomi is a very lucky little girl to have the family she has - of course we know it was all meant to be. Very sweet indeed.

Let me introduce you . . .

Let me introduce you to our new granddaughter - Naomi Grace.

She is a little miracle - to hear all about how she came to join Michele and John's family watch Michele's blog for more details. I arrived in Utah on Wednesday a few hours after she came home from the hospital and have been enjoying my Grandma time ever since. Life is wonderful!

She is so sweet and simply adorable . . . .

Michele and I have been having fun photographing her - you will be seeing a lot more of her.

She was born on Monday weighing in at 6 lbs 2 oz and she has captured all our hearts. She is such a blessing - we are all thrilled!

Bridal Show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

January 17th was the day of the big, once a year, bridal show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in SLC. We were excited for this event because everyone had told us it is the best bridal show of the season. We set up our booth and talked to brides all day long. The funnest part though was the fashion show:

I wish I had a picture just of the room they had the fashion show in - it was set up gorgeous - with a garden theme - there were flowers dripping from these gorgeous chandeliers and the run way was beautiful. The MC was the former Miss Utah and the fashion show was very classy.

It was fun to have John and Landon out for the weekend to see the show with us - now they have a better picture of what Michele and I have been spending so much time on.

We even enlisted my niece - Peyton to model for us. She was fantastic!

All in all a great weekend - it was rewarding to hear the compliments re: our bridal and special occasion line and to get to share the weekend with the whole family together.

Snowboarding New Year's Day

Landon has set a goal for himself that he want to get good a snowboarding this year - so what better way to start the year then to take a friend and head to the slopes on New Years Day. Landon and Johnny take off

A quick stop for lunch and they were back to the slopes.

By the end of the day Landon was zipping down the slopes - making it look easy.

A great way to start 2009!

Family Get together

My brother Gary, that lives in Florida, flew in with his family on Christmas Day for a quick visit. We all got together at my Mom's house and had a traditional family dinner (which at my Mom's house is like a Thanksgiving feast!) Here's the whole bunch of us (minus one photographer) Here's all the Hunt's with my Mom and Dad -

Here's the Clowards -

Here's the Brimhalls -

Here's the Grahams -

and here's all the cousins together. Due to the fact that my kids are grown and gone and neither one of us make frequent across the country trips my 2 girls had never even seen Marc yet (Gary's youngest boy - age 8) Seems crazy! Of course my boys and Gary's boys have gotten together several times in the past 5 years, but still time flies by without seeing as much of each other as we would like. It was nice to have a chance to all be together again.

At this point I have taken every possible family combination picture and everyone had had enough - so we went on to more enjoyable activites - like eating dessert and hanging out and more visiting.

Boston's first steps

We got to see Boston take his first steps - It was all very exciting. He showed off for us all a few times

and then he was done -

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Here's a few more highlights from the actual holiDAY. Boston's Great Grandpa (Faye's dad) getting better acquainted with Boston.

Boston in his Christmas P.J.'s

Opening Christmas presents together

Boston playing with his new blocks

Boston wearing his poncho from Uncle Tanner in Mexico.

Despite what the picture may indicate the whole day wasn't all about Boston - we all got to enjoy our call with Tanner Christmas afternoon. We used the speaker phone and all got to talk to him and hear his stories (and his mexican accent). It was good to hear him sounding so happy and well and to hear his stories and his take on life in Mexico that was "classic Tanner". It was a wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Week Highlights -

There were a lot of highlights from this past Christmas week - here are a few: Tiffany and Randy coming to California -and seeing Tiffany's baby bump - how exciting!

Michele and John coming into town with Boston

I have at least another 150 pictures of this cutie I took this week - he's just so adorable -

We couldn't get enough of him . . .

eating out

walking around San Francisco

scoring on great Christmas deals

and just hanging out together. One night we were all watching a comedy DVD - and all laughing together. Then John C. laughed so hard he fell off his chair on to the floor. We were all hysterical!! So thanks John C. and thanks Brian Regan - I can't remeber the last time I laughed so hard!