Black Friday

It finally arrived. It was known to all of you as "Good Friday" but it was labeled "Black Friday" on my calendar. Yes, that's right, I'm in the 40 club now.

Usually on our birthdays, Cassie puts a sign on our bedroom door with our age in huge numbers (not always appreciated ;o)
but this year she went easy on me. The kids hung up kind sayings and brought me breakfast in bed and wonderful gifts and coupons. Mom and Dad got the family together earlier in the week and treated us to Mexican food and the most delicious chocolate cake! Wayne treated me to a fun day in LA at the Getty Museum. It wasn't so bad after all and I survived! I've heard 40 is the new 20 anyway ;o)

The picture is blurry, but this card from Ethan was really creative. It's in the shape of a birthday cake and even has a candle coming out the top.

Nice reminder from Brynn...

Cassie's sign included a few of my favorite things.....
chocolate, sunshine, music, Arizona, the color green, Sting, reading, tennis, etc.

Phonebook friction

Congratulations to Ethan on a spectacular Science project! Once again borrowing from one of his favorite shows, Mythbusters, Ethan tried the phonebook experiment. This is when you interlock two phonebooks (or any books really), overlapping each page. Once they are all interlocked, it is impossible to pull the books apart. (Although Mythbusters finally pulled them apart with two tanks!)
Why is that you say? Well, we discovered, it is due to friction. The more sheets of paper you have on top of each other, the more friction is created. Who knew? Supercool!

Ethan and Connor trying to pull the phonebooks apart.

Wayne and Ethan added weights to try and pull with more force.

the project....

Thanks to Wayne and Jon, we have a little wainscoting project going on over here. I'd say we're 1/2 way through and it's starting to look very cool. Can't wait to put my living room back together again and have my garage back as well! Hopefully, the finished pictures are coming soon.

New Beginnings

Hello, this is Brynn again :) I'm posting another event for my mom today. New Beginnings is a Young Women's church event that happens every year in most wards. It recognizes all the new beehives and the new move ins. I was in charge of the entire event this year and I was really pleased with the way it turned out! The night was Princess themed and I titled it "A Royal Heritage." The idea was that we are all daughters of a Heavenly Father and we have a divine potential to become queens. Here are a few pictures from the night:
Me and Cassie

The programs


Yummy Cupcakes (Thanks again Jodie!)
All the Young Women singing
And me in the throne (courtesy of Sis. Raica) at the end of the nightThanks Mom for helping me so much with it! I really could not have done it without you! You made my vision a reality :) I love you!

I would also like to thank Tammy Mitchell for the decor inspiration and the lovely crowns! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is very belated, but we want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's day! This is Brynn posting for my mom, because if you didn't already notice by our lack of posts, we have been very busy lately! Especially mom! So anyway, for Valentine's day every year that I can remember, we have done a scavenger hunt put together by our parents, with a fun treat at the end. Since we are getting older, the indoor only ones are getting easier and easier. This year our mom thought up the idea to move it outdoors! So we had one around our neighborhood, and I must say it was a lot trickier! We got on our bikes and had a real fun time figuring out each clue. I forgot to take pics along the way, but here is one of us when we saw the prize at the end.
Also some heart shaped cookies we made that day:
The Valentine's made earlier this month:
And some pretty flowers dad got for mom ;) :
We hope you all had a happy, healthy February!

If I were a smiley...

I tag...Brynn and Teri (because Teri hasn't posted FOREVER!) just post a cute smiley :)

only in California.....

This came in an ad on my doorstep last week. I thought it was so hilarious, I had Brynn take a picture of it. It's an ad for a fashionable "jacket" for your transponder. I can't believe someone actually thought of this (hope it's no one reading this--sorry ;o) It just would never occur to me that my transponder might be "unsightly". Too funny-

cold weather

I know this will sound crazy to our Utah relatives, but it has been seriously cold here and we've been doing lots of staying indoors. I don't remember it actually dipping into the low 30's here---ever! Good news for us is that it never stays this way for long. I heard we'll be back in the 70's by this weekend....yeah!

It's kind of bummer when you get an outdoor toy for Christmas and then it rains all day.

They got creative in the hallway though...

Christmas Day...

See the snow....(pic. taken from our Elem. school)

More Christmas Day....

It doesn't get any better than this...



Here's a few items I received from my family.
Hmm...The lotion says "stress relief". What are they trying to tell me?
This robe is so comfy, I kind of wish I could wear it all day.


So glad Mom's health is better. We loved having Mom & Dad share in our festivities this year.
Here they are at the Owens traditional "We're all tired, so let's go out for Mexican food" Christmas Eve dinner. It's not quite like the AZ Mexican food, but it works!

Great-grandson Jason Karl...