Once Upon a Time

A Work of Art

The following are most of the art that Matt has been taking to the art shows this summer. There are a few other pieces that we haven't taken pictures of yet. I think they are all so beautiful and I wish I could keep them all...but I don't have enough wall space, and we need to make money to pay our bills. They are all different sizes, but with the pictures they look about the same size. The first one is my favorite and it is 5 feet by 5 feet. I have seen this painting "Jemez Walls" go through the "refiners fire." I remember when Matt was working on it for a school project about 9 months ago. He put many hours of sweat and tears into it. I hope for many reasons that it will never sell. I believe it represents Matt and how he has progressed with his art. Maybe we will be able to sell enough prints to allow me to keep the original. :)

Happy 4th of July

This year for the 4th of July, we joined our friends in the Rio Rancho Parade. The Dobbs are realtors and passed out their business cards along the way, while driving their Volkswagon "Thing". The Johnsons helped drive our Suburban and Sara passed out her business cards for her "Scentsy" Candle business. (They are the greatest candles and warmers I have ever seen and smelled!) Matt and I walked along and passed out our postcards. We noticed that we had about 35 hits on our website after the parade. Hopefully, something will come of it...for each of our businesses. All 12 of the kids had a great time participating in the celebration. They carried flags, helped pass out candy, rode in the vehicles and waved at the people. It was really fun for all of us, celebrating the Nations Birthday. We have already started making plans for next years parade. :)

Making 72 Hour Food Kits

In our ward at church, we have a food storage group that meets every month. We talk about all kinds of ways to become more self reliant. Well, this month, I volunteered to put together 72 hour food kits and share some information I have received about 72 hour kits. The response was crazy!!! We had 170+ orders for kits and so it became quite an overwhelming ordeal. It was fun to shop for the food with my friend Danielle. We took out all the seats in our Suburban and left the kids home with their dads. Several hours later, after going to Costco, Sam's Club, and 2 different Walmarts, we were on our way home. The back of the truck was full of food. It was fun to look at. We spent about $500 on beef jerky! :) Thanks to several friends who came over to help assemble them, we were done in a little under 5 hours. We had fun talking about the sisters in the church before our time who gathered together often to help each other. It felt good to serve and help our ward members be more prepared for an emergency.
Margret
Yvonne and Sara
Camille
Danielle and whoa...look at all that trash! :)
Josie, found the treasures forgotten under the table.
What a fun day! Thanks for everyone's help!

Matt's Birthday in Edgewood

For Matt's birthday and just to get away...we decided to take a trip with our friends the Johnsons and the Dobbs, to Edgewood. It is about an hour and a half from Rio Rancho. Doug Dobb's parents live there and so we all went to see what Edgwood was like. We camped out in "Grandpa & Grandma Dobb's" basement and had a great time trying to get 12 kids to sleep and still have some adult time playing games. With a bag of M&M's, a bag of licorice, and jelly beans...we were able to make it through another fun game of "And it Came to Pass." Miracles do happen, and we were able to fall asleep still laughing...thanks to Matt's snoring. What great times.

Josie and her obsession with water bottles. :)

Mason's Big Cheeze...Big Suprise! :)

Zander eating a piece of licorice...uh oh, Doug are you in trouble???

Doug's Dad has cut out a lot of trails on his property so we went on a little hike the next morning. We forgot to pack some water, so we were all a little parched by the time we got back.

This is the "mule" that Doug's Dad kept taking the kids for rides on. I think the kids were a little confused at first and were expecting some sort of animal.

This is the best "say cheese" we could get...


We had a great time and it was nice to get away for the weekend.
Happy Birthday Matt!!! :)

Josie's First Dress Up

I walked in to the girls room the other day and Chloe was playing dress up with Josie. Chloe had her on the little wicker chair wearing the pink feather boa, a knitted shawl, a fancy pink chiffon skirt, and her dazzling lace hat. It was too cute for words. I always get a little nervous when Chloe plays with Josie, because Josie still seems so little to me...but as you can see...Josie was having a great time. She was all smiles. They are doing what little girls do best. :) Chloe is such a great "big sister."

Look at that big happy smile! :)

What a little doll face. She is 7 1/2 months now and really growing up. She is a sweet princess.

Carter wanted a picture with little "Sweet Pea" too. He is a proud big brother and loves the babies.

Mason made it to 2

Well, I am a little late in posting about Mason's Birthday...but he had one and it was HAPPY! :) He turned 2, even though the terribles started months ago. Ok, he really isn't terrible, he is a smiling, sweet little boy, who is very energetic and curious. He is as independent as his older siblings. He had a great day and knew the day was all about him. Chloe wanted him to have a Nemo cake, so she and Carter gathered up all the little nemo toys and we cleaned them up good so we could place them on his cake. He was quite proud...needless to say, so were Carter and Chloe.
Boy, did we all enjoy that chocolate cake...makes me hungry just writing about it on the blog. :)
We got him a basketball hoop and he hasn't stopped playing. He just stretches up on the top of his tippy toes and puts the ball in the hoop. We are glad to find something that he really enjoys. He has always liked basketball.

Here is the video of us singing to him. Sorry it is sideways...I keep forgeting that I have to leave the camera horizontal in order to take videos. (Or I can't figure out how to turn the silly thing) Hope you don't get a kink in your neck! :)