Tragedy!

This morning I was cleaning my glasses and...

NO!!! 

I have had these glasses for 8 years and the prescription is still perfect.  Guess the frames couldn't hold out.  The big bummer is that my insurance won't cover glasses until January...
I'm wearing contacts.  My eyes are dry.  My vision is a bit blurry (like this picture).  My contacts have never been as good as my glasses. 

Isobel was so sad for me when she saw them after school -"It'll be okay, Sweetie --whoa.  I sound like I'm your mother -heh."

Super glue didn't work.  I am seriously considering some masking tape.
Wish I could call Hermione to fix them - repairo!

Happy Halloween! (Day 31)

Isobel decided ages ago to dress as Princess Mononoke and I decided to go with one of my old costumes -Captain Underpants!  Eva was an elephant at school but decided to be Piglet for Halloween.  Aren't we so cute? 

(I had to take the picture myself on the timer because Bryce was driving back from AZ with G.)

Several people seemed quite moved by my costume - one woman had to take a picture with her phone - one feld inclined to give me a wedgie - it was mentioned in Sunday School the next day - and when I taught Relief Society, one of the sisters told me she can't look at me the same way.  Right on!

Apparently the other best costume was Captain Jack Sparrow - I guess the Captain thing was a good idea ;)

It was great - he had the swagger and everything. 

We had ZERO trick-or-treaters - good thing we gave out candy at the trunk-or-treat at the church.  Did I mention there was a carnival at the church?  Anyway - we still have tons of candy.  Dangit!

Hope your Halloween was fun, too! 

Week 4

Ok, so I lied about doing 8 days this week. I decided to do Halloween as it's own post because it's easy. So, here we go. Day 24: We kinda just hung out on Saturday, can you tell?

Day 25: We had the Sheffers and the Jensens over for dinner and games. I love it when we get to use the whole big table. I love this table. (We don't have enough matching chairs - good thing we still have a few nasty gold ones ;)

Day 26: We woke up Monday to snow. This was my first view of it. Beautiful!

Day 27: Bryce and I went to see Built to Spill. It was so fun - and cold. It was a indoor venue so I assumed it would be warm. We left our coats in the car. They had a "no re-entry" policy. Good thing I was wearing long sleeves at least - I was still cold.

Day 28: I love good sweaters. It's hard to take a picutre of yourself in a sweater without looking chubby. Oh, well. I love the bright orange stripes and the long sleeves. It's super fuzzy and warm.

Day 29: Share recommended Bleak House ages ago...I was putting it off because it's very long - but it's split into episodes. Bryce and I started watching and had to keep watching thru 4 episodes until it was 12:30 and we HAD to go to bed. Oh, man. It's good. Check it out on Netflix instant play. You won't be sorry.

Day 30: Last night we carved pumpkins with our friends the Summerfields. Isobel and Eva drew the faces on and Erica and I cut them out. (Isobel's pumpkin has 3 faces - hers is the little one)

We've had a fun week and fun plans for tonight! I'll show you pics of our costumes and such later.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Week 3

This week has 8 days in celebration of the Sheffer's new Beatles Rock band Wii game :D Day 16 - Bryce was so kind to help me load my stuff in the car - but he accidently caught his eye on the corner of the door. Love hurts.

Day 17 - Saturday I got up early with a list of things to do. On the top of the list was to hang a curtain on the front window. The one I bought was too big and too dark. So I found some scraps and sewed this one. I had about 5 inches of thread left on the bobin when I was done. Whew!

Day 18 - Happy Birthday, Kyle! We played games with the Sheffers.

Day 19 - Monday Karen watched the girls while I went to class. Bryce was camping. The girls LOVED Beatles rock band. Isobel got pretty good. Eva loved singing Yellow Submarine ;)

Day 20 - Tuesday I drove to Las Vegas, NM. I am loving the fall colors - tho I miss Sardine Canyon.

Day 21 - I drove north again. I was snowing this morning. This mountain was still getting hit. I can't wait for snow!

Day 22 - Karen won this and shared it with me. Took me 2 hours to get it downloaded. I need to get my computer updated and cleaned up.

Day 23 - Look what Karen did to my hair! It was her first time coloring and it was fun to have a change. I hate the growing out phase.

Next week will be eight days, too. Can you hardly wait? I wonder what I'll have pictures of...road, car, tree, kids...I'm so predictable :)

Week 2

Alright. I have tried twice to post this and blogger was having issues. SO sorry it's late - and not particularly accurate - but here was my second week of picture taking.Day 8 - I had to sneak away Thursay evening to see if they had some super fun running shorts at the Nike outlet - oh yes they did!Day 9 - I stopped by Target with Karen and I found this bag I had been eyeing for a while - now on clearance for $2.50 - wahoo! Bryce asked me, "how many bags do you have?" Don't ask.
Day 10 - we got up super early to warm our breakfast burritos (yum) and head for the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta. It was so packed. I vote not going on Saturday again (unless one of you come to visit and that is the only day you can come). It was a beautiful, cold morning. Perfect for balloons!

Day 11 - Sunday we got up early and drove home to go to church. But isn't sleeping Grant so cute? And I LOVE that chair!

Day 12 - Monday the girls were off so we took Colette and Dathan to Bandelier. Eva drew this great picture in the dirt of her standing next to the ladders. LOVE IT!

Day 13 - Tuesday I took Colette to see my scrapbook stuff at Karen's. She loved this one :D
Day 14 - I drove around for work and looked at the lovely trees. (This pic I actually took at Bandelier - but who cares, right?)

Day 15 - I drove up north for work. I saw many beautiful rocks. (Tho this one was taken a few days before ;)

Another good week. I like this game - even if I forget some of the days :)

Picture-A-Day: Week 1

So I am doing this challenge Share suggested and taking a picture a day for the month of October. I've been slacking at posting them because I thought maybe I wouldn't. Then I thought, "why the heck not." So here is my first week. Day 1: It was so chilly October first that my wool socks were not warm enough to keep my toes toasty on their own - I needed my slippers. (Bryce gave them to my our first Christmas ;)

Day 2: Karen helped me solve my big office problem. I get pop-up sticky notes from my work, but I didn't have a way to help me know which end was sticky. I often wrote on them upside-down. I presented the problem to Karen and she had this ready solution. We made a dispenser. (And I spent lots of time at an office store this day ;)

Day 3: I cleaned my kitchen. It was such a mess I would get ill just walking into the room. You know when it gets to that TOO OVERWHELMING point and you just avoid it. That was me. Bryce left at 6:30am and I couldn't go back to sleep - so I cleaned all morning before conference.

(I ended up spending the rest of the day at Karen's making scrappy stuff - but I couldn't put all those pictures up. I was most proud of my kitchen. I cleaned the girls' bathroom, too.)

Day 4: We went to Albuquerque to watch conference with G's family and Mom. During the break, we walked to the temple and I took this pick with my phone. It was windy but nice.

Day 5: I left at the butt-crack-of-dawn to drive to Clayton - 3 1/2 hours from Santa Fe. Honestly, this is dawn. Lovely.

Day 6: I drove to Maxwell - it's 2 1/2 hours away. It was chilly and I drove a lot. This is the view of Wagon Mound I took while driving. Can you see the covered wagon?

Day 7: I went to Coyote - 2 hours away. Yes, I drive ALOT - incase you didn't already know. On the way I was taking pictures of the beautiful red rocks, yellow trees, and blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. I was taken by how beautiful it was. Then after visiting the family - I drove past their home. It burned down a couple weeks ago. They had been building it for 2 years, moved in all their stuff, and then lost it all. This picture reminds me of all I have to be grateful for.

I am liking this project. Thanks, Share. It is good for me to be on the look out for beauty/blessings everyday (and to document them).

Sew, Sew, Suck Your Toe

Argh. I'm tired and this isn't working right. So this is a short post. Period.

When Devin came to visit - most of us got sick - not Devin's fault, of course ;) So when the rest of the family went to Carlsbad to see the bats, I stayed home and sewed.

Here is my super cute (and easy) skirt. It's white eyelet with black lining.And my terribly cute pj's with blue and green big buttons on a brown background. How me is this material? And how me are these expressions? My face is all red from the tissues...I'm so cute.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Gosh! I'm 29!!! Hehehe. I got some fun presents from my friends. I had a little party at Karen's (thanks so much, you are the best!) with some friends. We made cards and ate cottage cakes (which are super yummy pancakes with cottage cheese in them - Karen has the recipe on her food blog) with Nutella and many other yummy things on them. So fattening! :D Then later that night Bryce and Eva made me my favorite...

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!!

Bryce made the little heart in the crust - he loves me!!!

We also had fried Ice Cream and yummy dinner. I am so spoiled!

On Sunday we played games and missed Gordon's family (they were a little busy with a new baby - and me with a cough - lame).

Anyway - the day was great - I love celebrating myself! :) Really, I love a party and people don't throw enough of them - so I have to come up with reasons to celebrate. Yeah, I'm 29!

All About Eva

Eva and I got to do our first school "art" project. It was supposed to be a circle map "all about me" of things Eva loves. I didn't have big enough paper to do a circle...so this is what we did.
Doesn't she look happy? :D I love this girl.

She picked the things she loves and took pictures of them (and I printed a few extra pictures of her doing things she loves). It was so fun to watch her pick something and take the picture. Here are a couple up-close pictures of the project.

I had lots of fun! Thanks, Eva, for letting me do this with you!

(And thanks, Karen, for the paper ;)

Really? Already? (Sigh)

My baby started Kindergarten on Monday - Eva, not Bryce ;)

Doesnt' she look grown up in her uniform? She was up and ready to go to school by like 7:05am (Eva is NOT my morning girl) and said she couldn't wait around for the bus to come at 7:35 - they would have to walk :) So we all walked to school on Monday.

Isobel started school last Wednesday - isn't she cute?The pigtails were just a coincidence - but the backpacks I got last fall on clearance at Target for like $3.75 - wahoo! They were happy to have matching packs.


I don't know about you guys, but have you noticed how ornery kids are after the first few days of school? Eva went from hanging out with Daddy ALL Day to Class ALL day - she is pretty grumpy. She came into my office and put on my graduation cap and made this face when I wanted to take a picture:
Notice how she had to get those tights and shoes off as soon as she got home?

So we walked the girls to school and as we got in the kindergarten hallway - I told Eva where we were and she said, "Bye, Mom!" and let go of my hand. :) I told her I was walking her to class. (We took this picture in the morning and she was waving to Bryce who was making faces at her thru the window.)
Oh, that little face! She can't be so grown up yet.

I have to admit, as Bryce and I left Eva and school and started walking back home, I did get a few tears in my eyes (and held back the rest). I wasn't sad for Isobel to start school - she was just SO ready and I was excited for her. I am excited for Eva, but I'm not ready for her to be that old yet. I guess I am a "normal" mom ;) People have told me how they cried when their kids went to school or whatever and I just couldn't imagine it. Now I get it. It's hard to let your baby go. I won't get a chance to do this again - or have her home again - or be more in charge of the kinds of things she is exposed to. I'm trusting her to the school for most of the day. I am not ready for her to be so grown up. I thought I was a year ago when we were talking about it - but now I want to hold on to her longer.

I love my little girls.

Very Large Array and Pie Town, NM

I am sure some of you have seen Katie's blog posts about the Very Large Array. Well, when Bryce and Polly came to visit, we drove down to southern NM near Silver City and we stopped at the Very Large Array on the way. (We also went to the Catwalk that Katie talks about.) Anyway, it was cool and I took a few pictures.

We also stopped in Pie Town, NM to eat lunch and PIE. When we saw the signs for it, we decided that we could make that stop "on the way" down south. I ate almond creme pie, Bryce had NM apple (which had green chili and pinon in it, of course), Polly had pinon pie, and I think Bryce Sr had triple berry or something. It was worth the stop, but I have to say that my strawberry rhubarb pie is better. ;)