Sunday Goodness

I love my blog. I love my blog. I love  my blog....  I do - for real. But I have been so neglectful. I have turned over a new beginning {again}.  Sunday is the key I think. Sunday will be the day to work on my blog. If I can do it once a week for sure, I'll feel much better. 

quiet
creative
up to date
inspiring

Because as it is, I THINK about blogging everyday but then think "I can't TODAY, because I need to get it up to date first." No way. I'll get the pictures up and the projects and the {STUFF} eventually  But I need to document my todays as well.

So here's to New Beginnings.

**New planner, too!!  I am so excited. I just ordered myself a Mormon Mom Planner and 2 YW planners for the girls at this nifty site. (it is a blog but there are links to order right there) They are beautiful & amazing and I am hoping worth every penny. They have Regular Mom planners, too.  In both academic (Aug-July) and yearly versions.

The YW one has sections for seminary scripture mastery, and dating 101 and scripture reading chart, and budgeting and the calendaring of course.
The MOM one has FHE, budgeting, gift giving pages, a section for each child, vacation planning pages, planning pages for each holiday, a visiting teaching section and even a place to plan out date night each week.

You can "page through it" HERE.  Coolest thing ever!

I am super excited to get it and write in it. I have a vacation to plan and a house to organize and kids to raise and a business to run and callings to do and, and. and...I need a little help along the way. PERFECT.

Missing those Girls

My girls...those silly and giggly girls, those loud and rebellious girls that drive me crazy! 
I have been missing them for 4 weeks. (they come home this weekend! yay!) They get to spend 5 weeks with Dad each summer.  And it's getting harder to do the summer thing the older they get. 
It was CRAZY hard to send my itty bitty girls - 6 months & 2 yrs off for the weekends it was hard to send them for a whole week at 4 & 6 yrs. and it was REALLY hard when they were 7 & 9 yrs, to send them off on a plane for spring break (that was doubly hard because I was induced the next morning for Tallen). 
But now that they are 13 & 15, it's even harder!  They have friends to see, places to go and obligations to tend to. Sariah wants to get a summer job. Miranda needs to start getting conditioned for fall sports.  They have Youth Conference and Girls Camp to prepare for.  Oh, and did I mention that I miss them?  I miss the loud laughter and girl-stuff they do in their room (curling hair and make up and talking of boys :o) ) I don't miss the arguing so much and am not looking forward to that again, but I guess it's kinda part of the FINDING ONESELF during the teen years, that goes on.
Anyhow, I was looking around on YouTube and found this song. "Walking Her Home" (good song. you'll see)   It especially makes me think of my girls. My sweet growing up “thinking of boys” girls.  I want them to have a good experience with love,  THIS kind of love.  The kind that lasts all those years: through the kids, the work and lay offs, the injuries and offenses, the in-laws, the good and the bad.  This song makes me think of my sweet Steven and the love we found and now share (and hope to continue to share as we head into the twilight years of life.)  I want my girls to grow up and feel the love of a GOOD man. A strong and upstanding man, To build a life and a marriage to the Glory of God.

Lights, Action, Brrrr

It’s always fun to see the children use their gifts. This year the girls did not go south for Thanksgiving. So we got to go to the Parade in town on Friday evening after Turkey. This is only the 2nd time since 2003 that they’ve been able to go AND Miranda was in the parade this year, playing her trombone.  I have told her that she should do the Turkey Trot 5K run/walk next year before the parade. (maybe we should ALL do it…We shall see.)

Here are some pitures we grabbed:

Yes, that is a pink and blue poodle

A Nativity scene on the float. sweet.

Middle School band turning the corner JUST before our seats on the curb   (I didn’t get to see her play)

Tallen’s favorite float so far – a HUGE motorcycle! Very cool!

Ya gotta love a school bus covered in lights in an American flag!!

 

One of the Symbols of the Christmas Season…

My kind of gift!! There’s more than enough to share

 

The Howell Highlanders Marching Band

They did NOT turn the corner where they were supposed to.

The director felt it would be nice for EVERYONE to be able to SEE and hear them.!  Thank you, That was very Nice!! I LOVE the drums!

Every year I LOVE this one!! One of the HUGE snow scraper trucks dripping with lights!!

And of course it’s just not a Turkey Day parade without Santa!!

Are you ready for him? I’m not as of yet.

Happy Holidays!!
Bronwen

Steven

Today I am grateful for my sweet Husband. Steven is eternally mine. And that brings me joy. He works so hard for our family. He is kind and generous and one of the best people I know!! I love how he loves me! The love and support he shows in wanting me to be the best ME I can be. Here, let me show you…keep reading!
We just returned from a week long trip south to see my in laws and to try and see Mickey. (we saw him dancing, does that count?)
Like I said, we just returned from a trip to Florida and back. 23 1/2 hrs. of driving down and back...ugh!! My back always kills me when I sit for long periods of time. And during this trip my feet and legs swelled up like water balloons. (it took 2 days to go down after we got there.  And another 2 days after we returned home.
This morning Steven woke at 5:45 to take Sariah to early morning seminary so that I would not have to get up. I got up to get Tallen around and then crawled back in bed...why not??  The next time I woke up, it was to Steven massaging my feet with warm lotion.  ahhhhh. BLISS.  Then he massaged my aching back. More luxury.  But wait...there is more! He took me to lunch as well!! It was a lovely treat. It was like an extension of vacation.  You know what they say "You need a vacation to recover from vacation." This was JUST what I needed today.  Soooo grateful to have Steven as part of my life.

Gratitude - day 21

Today I am thankful for medicine. I know. SILLY.
Tallen has a cold and had an earache. The doctor didn't give anibiotics for the earache and it went away by itself. THANK YOU!!!!
Steven has also been sick - hacking and coughing - for about 10 days now and the end is not yet in sight. I am ever grateful for the cough meds he takes. So I can sleep...in a seperate room. 

I will be happier when he is cough free and able to come back to our room. I don't sleep as soundly when he's not there.  I look to the day when all are germ and sickness free.

Gratitude: Day 18

I am grateful today for knitting! (my one true passion, along with sewing, and baking and card making and...well, you get the idea.) I like knitting best, it's portable.

Knitting brings me such a sense of peace and solitude. And I am able to make beautiful things for the people who mean the most to me.  

  Those who know me best, know that I carry a project with me all the time EVERYWHERE.

LOVE IT!!!!


I was talking to Beth; a friend and owner of the coolest spinning shop in Michigan, The Spinning Loft; yesterday. I stopped in to check things out and check in with her as she just returned from Peru.

So, we were sitting there talking as she unpacked her treasures. She brought back the most amazing and beautifully worked bags and scarves.  Alpaca that is cleaned, dyed, spun and then woven into beautiful bags, scarves and clothes. Truly renewable products = alpaca and llama and sheep wool.

Beth was telling me how The people of Peru do beautiful work and the real shame is that they work SO hard and make so little money doing it, because people now-a-days do no treasure handmade textiles (or handmade anything) as they should.  She commented that the MACHINES that make sweaters were invented to imitate what HUMAN HANDS have been doing for hundreds of years. And she is right. 

She also commented that that same mass marketed sweater (or shirt, or anything) is disposable. We go to the store, buy it wear it, it wears out and we throw it away in the trash. Then she told me about a bag from Peru, she has been carrying for three years and it isn’t worn at all, because it is made to last and last.

The whole conversation came to a fun conclusion. Beth unfolded a weaving loom that is typically used by the people of Peru. If you “Google” LOOM,

you will see pictures of a large and boxy thing that takes up LOTS of space on the floor.

 
This is NOT what Beth brought back.

THIS is what the people she learned about use to make amazing products. THIS is what Beth brought back. 

It’s called a back strap loom
(Do you SEE the woven goods hanging there!  They are made on what is essentially a few sticks. I have tears in my eyes.)  AMAZING!!!! (If you happen to be near the shop, stop in. and of course, Beth is posting the bags online as well, go check it out!.)


What a gift it is that we, as sons and daughters of God, can learn such things as knitting and weaving and sewing.

3, 2, 1, GLOW!!

My all time favorite part of the Howell Balloonfest is the Glow. 

          

The girls hanging out on the hill waiting.  Tallen wouldn’t hold still for a photo.

You (the public) gather on the grounds and hill surrounding a huge open area near the high school as some of the balloons are taking off. There was a live band to entertain during the wait. Nice. It’s cool to watch the balloons float over and hear the “Whooosh” of the fire heating the air for more lift, but the really cool part is later. Just as the sun has set and it’s getting dark (and the mosquitos are REALLY coming for you) the field by the is filled with hot air balloons still flat and deflated all over on the ground. Then they are blown up, all at the same time it appears, in a rush to be ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the countdown begins…  the crowd yells and counts…

 

3, 2, 1, GLOW!!!!

and the balloons go from big dark blobs to globes full of light as the pilots turn on the flames under the balloons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balloonfest 2010

Balloonfest 2010

The pictures don’t really do it justice, so here are some video clips I caught.

Howell Balloonfest

Each June, Howell hosts the Balloon Fest. Challenge. It’s a hot air balloon race of sorts.  It amounts to lots more traffic through town, lots of area churches making the charging to park people on church grounds,  yummy fair food (so not good for you),  and there are plenty of hot air balloons that go overhead. There is also an arts fair and carnival.  Thursday night was “park for free and go to the carnival for $15 arm band night.”  Everything else opens on Friday.

The girls were dropped off early to hang as a gaggle of girls until 7pm when we got there with Tallen.

Tallen was not sure how to do this all and WOULD NOT get on any rides – and we had just paid $15 for the arm band!!

So needless to say, Mama was getting agitated by the boy crying and not riding. 

THEN, I had an “AH HA!! Moment” and pulled Randa off her rides and she introduced Tallen to the joys of carnival rides. 

             MUCH Better!!

 

 

Then, for the rest of the night it was hard to get him OFF the rides!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Boys are a good thing!!

Steven and I didn’t go for the arm bands, but I wanted to ride one ride with Tallen. So we chose the Huge Ferris Wheel  

Here is the top most car from the ground. WOW!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Steven taking pictures. We were still on the ground.

 

Here he is from my view at the top of the Ferris Wheel. (He’s the tiny yellow dot) Boy was it high up!

 

 

 

The plan with the girls was for them to hang in the gaggle of girls and call or text me every so often to check in.  This is actually Sariah dialing the phone to check in with me. 

 

I crept up and scared them….

hahaha  !! (evil laugh)

 

I know, I’m bad!!

These girls  are  so beautiful!

I forget sometimes how grown up they are becoming.  I am finding that balance between holding them tight and letting them test their wings…but I digress.

Back to the fun…

 

Here are the kids while waiting to go on the bumper cars I think.  Sariah and Tallen drove together and Miranda in her own car.  We had tons of fun and stayed until 10pm!!! They rode and rode and rode!  Good value on that arm band.

 

 

This is video of the the girls on the tiny roller coaster.

And after of the roller coaster…don’t get motion sick. hahaha

This is one of Tallen on HIS roller coaster – his favorite ride of the night.

Great Father's Day Gift??

I saw this posted on a friend's Facebook page and laughed out loud!  Laughing loudly while at the library is frowned upon but what can I say!!? It's an ad for a PILLOW TIE!!! A tie with a blow up pillow inside!?!  Too Funny!!!!! Is this for REAL??? (Thanks for the laugh Elise.)

I thought of my father-in-law when I saw it.  I think he needs a new tie for church.  Maybe Steven needs one, too. My concern is the clean up. My father-in-law needs a way to keep his ties clean for Sunday dinner. Any ideas?

They actually look like regular ties!!! Not bad for $19.95...I think it's too late to get it this year anyway.  Maybe next year, or Christmas. I only have 6 months, 3 weeks and 1 day to get it all together for Christmas!!! (Ughhh. I better knit FASTER!)

What are you getting your special father-figure-person for this weekend?


to go to the site - just punch on my title up there. VERY COOL...I'm still figuring this all out.