Christmas Crafty Projects | Glitter Glue Snowflakes

cWho ever invented washable glitter glue was a genius! Bridget has become obsessed with it and uses it for everything. Mostly she likes to glob it on. She's an artist, or so she tells me. I love that she's such a crafty girl.

She was getting pretty good and making wavy lines with the glue for about five seconds and then just gave up and put blobs of glue every where.

Another blob of silver. But very artistic.

The finished products. If you get one of these little beauties, you are pretty lucky.

Isn't she just the cutest crafty girl you've ever seen? Such a cutie!

Build a Bear

Yeah, it's been a while. Lots has happened. A fun vacation, a great holiday, a lost job. It hasn't always been easy but we have a lot to be thankful for.

We are very thankful for Ed and Cathy Gilmore. They live down the street from us and moved in just a few months after we did. It was destiny that we should be neighbors I think. They have three little girls (with one on the way). Jane is Bridget's age and they are best friends. They are in nursery together and will start in Sunbeams in just a few weeks.

Jane is about the sweetest child I've ever been in contact with. Her cute little smile lights up her face when she looks at you and has such a sweet disposition. We are so glad that she is friends with Bridget - I think they both have a lot to teach each other.

Cathy asked if Bridget wanted to come with Jane to Build a Bear yesterday (Dec. 4) to participate in an event that Shriner's Hospital was putting on for their patients. Bridget got to go with her BFF Jane and build a cute chocolaty brown bear she named Brownie. It was Jane's first time doing a bear and Bridget had so much fun helping her.

We picked out some cute clothes for the bears and it was fun to see what the girls picked out. Bridget decided her bear was a boy and she dressed him up like a soccer player. She said her Tiana bear needed a boyfriend. Oh boy, this is boggy territory. But its been all fun and we're grateful for the chance to spend time with the Gilmore's and for Jane and Bridget to be able to play together.

Jane chose a cream colored bear and loved it right from the start! After Cathy showed her how to push down the lever for the fluff, she did a great job!

Here she is putting in the heart, so cute!

Bridget is a pro at the filling part and she jumped right in!

Doing the squeeze test for softness - yep, it's done.

Next is time for the bear bath, a very necessary part before the
dressing of the bears.



The finished products! Cathy and I thought it was funny that the girls chose bears that match their hair! As you can tell, they weren't thrilled about having their pictures taken, but that's life! Mom's need the memories!

And if you notice a huge "soft" spot right in the middle of every picture, usually where someone is standing, that's an enormous smudge on my lens. Super happy about that.

Halloween 2010 | Pumpkins and Trick or Treating

Carving pumpkins is probably James's least favorite part of Halloween. Not that it matters, I make him do it every year any way. As usual he indulges my crazy traditions and humors me, which makes everyone happy. We have this planned out - he guts the pumpkin and I make it look beautiful. It's a great system that we're both happy with.

This year Bridget got in on the gutting action and was completely
grossed out by the pumpkin guts. Pretty funny!

I look pretty serious carving the face on this pumpkin, huh?

The finished products! Ever since Bridget's first Halloween, we usually do
two pumpkins - one for Bridget and one for James and I.
Bridget wanted a huge grinning pumpkin.
We love the University of Utah so it shouldn't come as a surprise what James and I chose for our pumpkin. All I can say is that even our produce are Utah fans.
Go Utah Pumpkin!

Bridget had the great idea to give the pumpkin pipe cleaner eye brows.
She loves the crafty stuff I tell you!

Another fun tradition we've done the last three years has been trunk or treat with Jenny's ward. This year Bridget really got into the idea of trick or treating so for this girl to be able to go twice, she was in heaven. It's also fun because all of the cousins get together to have some fun. Bridget is lucky to live so close to her Fisher cousins. In a few years the older kids will be too old for this sort of thing, so we're cherishing these times.

Don't these kids look fab? From left to right: Makensie, Bridget, Danae, T.J., and Mark

Makensie is always such a sweetie when it comes to Bridget. She took her around to all the cars and made sure she got her fair share of the candy. She is a doll and we love her!

Last year I started taking Bridget to see Cindy at her office on Halloween. This year Bridget was a lot braver and had so much fun. She filled her candy bag up so full she could barely carry it. After we trick or treated there, we went to the Olive Garden with Grandma and Grandpa Fisher and had lunch. It was such a fun day! I will be sad when she starts school and can't go visit Grandma at work on Halloween anymore!

This is the last of my Halloween posts and I'm really sad. It's probably my favorite holiday. Looking forward to next year already, hopefully we have a new baby to help with the festivities!

Father's Day

My dad and I have a great relationship, strange at times, but he and I are in sync most of the time - sometimes good, sometimes bad. If you know a Ballou girl you will know that those Ballou genes inherited from John and June Ballou are strong, bossy, opinionated, loud, and almost always right. I am a Ballou girl through and through and damn proud of it.

I never spend Father's Day with my dad because its the annual API golf tournament in Roosevelt, which means that my uncles over take my parent's house for a weekend of golf, food and of course, bull shit. But I always call my dad on Father's Day because I love him very much and because of the way he is, I don't tell him nearly enough.

Bob can be a bit prickly sometimes, doesn't show his emotions well (except for anger). But he's really a soft hearted, compassionate person that I favor not just in looks, but personality. But where he's quick to bluster, he's also loving and always fair. He's a pretty great guy.

I have a lot of great examples of amazing men in my life. I am lucky to have a great husband, dad, brother, brother in laws, father in laws, uncles, cousins, and two amazing grandfather's who I miss very much.

I love this picture! It's one of my favorites from my wedding. I was very close with my Papa but not as close with my Grandpa Ballou. I am who I am because of these two men and how they raised my parents. I miss them tons.

My uncles are a crazy group of guys when you get them in the same room. But they are fun and I love them a lot.

I love the look on my dad's face in this picture.

I took this picture at the park today because I wanted to make sure Bridget could see a picture of her and James on Father's Day. These two are so cute together. When I go to City Council on Tuesday nights, they go on Daddy/Daughter Dates. Bridget looks forward to them each week.

She was so small in this picture, just a few days old. I love this one because James's hands are so strong holding her and she's just so delicate. It was love at first sight for both of us with Bridget, but especially James.

Marcos and his two little monkeys. They were just babies when I first met them and now they are so big. Where does the time go?

This picture of Brian and his kids is old but I still love it.

Tom has a cute relationship with each of his kids and I really love that about him.

I love this picture of Jim and his three kids. They are all so alike in many ways and yet all three kids are so different. I guess that's what makes a family, right?

Alex and Paige - two peas in a pod for sure. He is a cute dad with her and lets her get away with murder!


Happy Father's Day 2010 everyone!