I love Old Nauvoo

This was my third great grandfather's home.  Joseph Bates Noble built this home and then it became Lucy Mack Smith's home when he went west with the saints.

Here is the full view of his home.

This is inside the house.  I love the bed nook where Lucy would have stayed.

This is how close our accommodations were to the temple. Nice squinty picture.

We loved our accommodations.

I've got lots more pictures but I think I will save them for a scrapbook page and post it later.  It was a perfect day of sight seeing.  The next day it poured rain.  So we were really fortunate.

I absolutely LOVE this temple.  We got to do a temple session there and it was such a beautiful and wonderful experience.  I even ran into a dear sister from my mission that worked in the temple.  It was so fun to see someone I knew there.

Here We Come...

A week from today we get to visit Nauvoo!  I'm so excited.  I can hardly wait.  I served my mission out there but haven't been back since before the temple was built.

Nauvoo Temple here we come!

Weekend Project Part 2

I made this sign to go over Addie's bed.  I got the vinyl lettering from Stampin' Up.  Then I found an old frame I wasn't using anymore and painted it white.  I found the cute knob at Hobbie Lobby.

So this is how it looks.

I found these cute flowers at Hobbie Lobby for 50% off.  They ended up being only $4.50 for the set!  They match her curtains perfectly.  Oh, and her bed frame we had painted white a few weeks ago.  

These glittery flowers are so happy!  Now here room is all put together.

Weekend Project Success!

I have been wanting to make something cute for Addie's new room for a long time.  So this last weekend I finally made this name decor for her.  I just covered some cheap canvas pictures that I found at the dollar store and used the cricket to cut out some letters.  I found some felt flowers that I had and added some layers with bling.  The paper and ribbon is Stampin' Up of course.  I'm working on something for over her bed...I'll post that later.

Last Big Summer Splash

We took advantage of our last weekend before school started to go to Bear Lake...a favorite family tradition.

It was great to have to Lake so full this year.

Pinkalicious Party!

Pinkalicious strawberry cupcakes!

Pink jelly belly thank you party favors

Each party guest got a butterfly hair clip.  I found a pkg of these butterflies at Zurcher's and made them into hair clips and used them to decorate the banner too.

We made pinkalicious bead bracelets.

Tissue pom poms are actually really easy to make.

Homemade banners are the thing to do right now.  I think I'll keep this and get it out every year for her.

Found the perfect pink cupcake pinata and filled it with pink goodies.

We had pink cupcakes with pink ice cream and pink lemonade, of course.

I think I had just as much fun as Leia getting ready for this party.   The little girls were so good and enjoyed every minute.

 After Pinkalicious story time, and pink bracelets and pin the pink heart on the crown and pink pinata candy and pink cupcakes don't be surprised if your girl wakes up completely pink all over! Thanks friends for a wonderful pinkalicious party!

Bre's Special Day

It was Breanna's baptism day on Sat the 6th of August.  She looked so pretty all in white.

The family picture was an afterthought on our way out the door as we were leaving so everyone is squinting in the sun...would have been better in the front of the church.

Then we took the kids to Temple Square.  To think that all this wonderful church history and teaching resources are so close and we hadn't taken them there since Addie was a baby.  We decided it would make for a memorable baptism day for Bre.

We love to see the temple.

We saw the Brigham Young Beehive House and ate at the Lion House.

We saw the Joseph Smith movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg.  It had recently been revised and was so good...one of the very best church history movie depictions I have ever seen.  

The kids were fairly good and really enjoyed the day.

However, sometimes they were more like this.

Overall, it was a very special day with our very special girl.

5 Things...

For all 1 or 2 of you who may look at this blog...
I found an article that is very insightful and helpful in my journey with my son. It is called  5 Things Every Autistic Person Needs .   I have struggled over whether to post anything about autism or my struggles with my son for fear he would come across it someday and somehow feel bad.  But I want my extended family to better understand...because that is how we learn to love.  Some of you may have a special needs child and you will relate and hopefully understand more.  In fact the needs apply in some way to all of us.  Sometimes I think I will never be a good enough parent for my child.  However, I am learning that his uniqueness and challenges are a blessing for me to learn to be a far better parent than I could have dreamed.  And for that I am grateful. 

I love this image for the "Big MAK's" or Big Mom's of  Autistic Kids.

Family Reunion 2011