Princess Ella

Tomorrow I will post pictures from our fun Halloween experience tonight, but for now, enjoy the pre-Halloween preparations picture of Ella in the only costume that could have made her truly happy this year...A Dancing Princess.

Here she is, lounging on our bed, watching her new favorite show Little Einsteins.

Even after the Library excursion in the morning, I had to drag this costume off of Ella and she finally won out and wore the sparkly pink shoes the entire day. This prompted a mind boggling amount of dancing in stores and sashaying through parking lots.

She's girly to the extreme and I love it.

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Secrets

Secrets are interesting.

Keeping secrets means that there is something you are so ashamed of that you can't tell even the closest people in your life.

I have personally suffered from keeping secrets in my life.

Therefore, I try now to lead a completely genuine life in every way.

It is liberating.

So it's funny how intrigued I have become with this website called Post Secret. People send anonymous postcards with their deepest secrets and they get posted on this blog. It's really fascinating what people submit. As a warning, some are a bit racy at times.

I want to know what you think about secrets and the keeping of them.

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Pumpkin Carving Party Report

We just had our annual Pumpkin Carving Party and it was fabulous this year. I made the invitations digitally and emailed them, since I was WAY to behind to make and mail real ones. I made these using the October oscraps.com Collab Kit called Jack-O-Latern. Here it is with our address and phone number blurred for potential stalkers. I know you're reading this.


We had the largest guest list ever this year, inviting 10 adults and 6 children. the first thing we did was help the children hang ghosties in the trees in our backyard. This is Ella and her best friend Brinlee hanging ghosts.


We stuffed ourselves with homemade beef stew in bread bowls and with pumpkin cake. And it was delicious if I do say so myself. I made these cupcakes for the kids with the cutest ghost Peeps sticking out. They looked so cute all lined up on this platter. And as you can see the kids loved eating them.


We had the kids each decorate their own favor bag by coloring a pumpkin and then choosing black foam shapes, which I precut into different jack-o-lantern facial parts, and built a jack-o-latern face on their bag. Then came pinata time. Jackson was our pinata master. He really whacked that thing and loved every minute of it. We had stuffed that pinata with enough candy and Halloween glitter to force these children into insulin shock, but hey, that's what Halloween is about right? The kids stuffed their bags with candy and afterwards I filled the rest of their bags with rubber snakes, glowsticks, noise makers, bubbles and other fun Halloween trinkets.


And of course the best part of all was visiting with old friends and new ones. We invited our new friend's, the Lloyds. Matt serves with Tyler in the Elders Quorum presidency and Tori is in the new R.S. Presidency. Our friends of 2 years, the Keelers. And of course, our friends of forever the Meeses, who have been a part of every Pumpkin Carving party we have ever had. Good Times. Kudos to Jenny for coming on a Saturday when she could have been napping since she's due to have twins in early December and is adorably, but uncomfortably round.


I had such a great time and loved his entire experience so much. But I was also a bit sad that this will probably be our last PKP in Utah. By this time next year we will be in an entirely different state. And it's not changing states that I care about as much as leaving behind these amazing friendships which we value so much.

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Geneaology...I am doing it...

My Geneaology.

Yep. It's been a love affair of mine for a few years now.

This week I am scanning, fixing and documenting heritage photos of my husband's side of the family. I scanned this photo today of Alma LeGrande Owens, the man my husband shares a middle name with.

It is so binding and meaningful for me to look at these old photographs and see the faces of these ancestors who paved the way for the people I love.

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Papier Mache Day

Today was a milestone for a very special person in our family. It was their very first papier mache project. No, it wasn't Ella. It was Matt. Hello? Didn't he go to 3rd grade like the rest of us?! And he's never done papier mache?!

Of course, I had to snap a picture, complete with devilish grin.

And then there was Ella who was not too excited about the papier mache, but way excited about the pumpkins we purchased today. For the past week she has been handing me different containers and saying "Trick Or Treat!" She's really gearing up. Today she was watching the Dora the Explorer Halloween special and when Dora talked to the audience and said "What are you going to be for Halloween?" Ella answered, "A Princess!"

Yeah...she gets it.

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daddy & fifi

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dillusional daddy

Me: I feel gross. I didn't get a shower today.

Matt: Why not?

Me: I didn't have time.

Matt: What do you mean? How could you not have time to take a shower?

Me: Oh my gosh. You have no idea what it's like to be a Mommy.

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Contain Your Excitement...

It's a picture of our front door.

I know...it's pretty boring, but to me...it is beyond exciting! Yes, confessions of a bored Housewife. I am proud of all of the work I did to improve our house.

I still need to repaint the exterior door jam, but the door itself, with accompanying hardware and new locks is complete.

Where are the before pictures you ask? Yeah...I don't really have any of those. Just trust me. It looks better. I will try to find a before picture in my photo stash.

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Yes, I actually AM serious...

...seriously mad.

In honor of National Babbling Day I give you the following rant. Disney has recently played up the Disney Princess angle a lot. And Ella could not be more happy about it. Our entire world has become saturated with talking, dancing and dressing like a Princess. We bought the most recent Disney video of the Princesses called "Follow Your Dreams". Ella immediately loved Jasmine. The other princesses just don't do it for her. She picks Jasmine out every time and she is the Princess De Jour of Ella's world.




Unfortunately, Disney seems to have shut Jasmine out. Even when she is pictured with the other Princess she is always in the very back and literally smaller than the others. And that's just when she is pictured with them because 99% of the time she is completely absent.



And she is most noticeably absent from Disney licenced individual princess items. We have found sleeping bags, blankets, lamps, dolls, books and all kinds of other merch featuring every other Disney Princess as an individual, but not once have we found a Jasmine item.

Here's where this post is gunna get political, which I try to never do on my blog. But it's time because I really feel that Disney is giving Jasmine the shaft because of the post 9/11 climate we live in. And that makes me angry. Because what better time to have a positive Persian role-model than now because of 9/11 and an unfortunate growing intolerance for any person who may even slightly look to be from teh middle east?

This past month I was in the SLC airport and a beautiful woman wearing traditional clothing and a veiled head was working in a store. Ella and I went in to buy some Swedish fish. The man in front of me in line said to this woman, "I hope none of your people are on my flight!" as a parting sneer when his transaction was finished. I was so shocked I couldn't say a word for a minute and then he was gone...slinking towards his gate.

This offended my so deeply that I felt physically ill. As I stood there, paying for our treats, I pointed out to Ella how beautiful the woman's veil was and made sure Ella said thank you and then I said thank you and told her to have a great day. But can she have a great day when there are terrible and ignorant people like that man in her world? I hope our extra kindness made her feel a little bit better.

How can we expect our children to not feel fear of the unknown? It is a human reaction to do so and so I say to Disney...put Jasmine back on the shelves! And I encourage every Mommy reading this to buy an ethnic barbie or doll for their child the next time you are purchasing one. I will do the same. I haven't thus far because it is so difficult to find them in my area, but it's so important to show these manufacturers what will sell if they will make it. I am determined to do better and to teach my children that all of God's children are equal. I plan to write Disney a letter and tell them how I feel. It may not make a difference, but at least I let them know.

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DIY Tutorials

For the Home




Sewing




Paper Crafting











Adobe Photoshop







Other





***Feel free to use any of my tutorials to create for yourself or others.
Please give me credit if you feature your completed project on your blog.***
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I should be...

scrapbooking more
cleaning the house
eating more healthily
finishing half-finished projects
exercising
keeping up on the dishes
sewing Eva's Halloween costume
reconnecting with my neglected friends
reading from my book list
yelling less at Ella
having more alone time with my hubby
organizing better
snuggling with Eva while I still can
taking time each day to fill my spiritual needs
praying more often
wearing make-up on a regular basis
reaching out to those who are lonely
building my food storage
watching the dvd's that are due back next week
making more home-cooked meals
playing my banjo
arranging upcoming playgroups

So many things I could be doing better. So many areas to improve. How do you balance your life and make it what it should be with only 24 hours in a day? I am trying each day to make it all fit in. Some days I do a lot and some days I watch a Project Runway marathon and forget about it all. Maybe life is a process of figuring it all out. Prioritizing. Multi-tasking. Accomplishing.

Hoping to balance better in the coming months. This is going to be my new goal. Balance.

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Front Door Facelift

Today I made it my special mission to revamp our front door.

This may seem strange, but it was awful looking and I felt like it made the entire front of the house look ghetto. Just to give you a hint of what I was working with, there was a "chip clip" nailed to the front door for outgoing mail. Yes...it even said "chip clip" on it. Classy huh?

I sanded the door, painted it black, removed the hardware and scraped paint off of and cleaned the glass pains. Then I dismantled the screen door...removing the ugly metal swirls and cutting out the damaged screen.

Tomorrow I paint and replace the hardware, paint the screen door and hang the cool new metal leaf wreath. Whew!

It's looking better already.
Tomorrow it will be beautiful!

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Happy Birthday BLOG!

Today our blog turned 3 years old!
Wahoo!
I like to think I am a trendsetter since we
had our blog WAY before blogs were cool.

Click Here to see our very first post.
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the Interview and the Interview

Matt had his phone interview today with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. UPMC is one of the top rated hospital systems in the country and Matt is very interested in the fellowship opportunities they have there. His interview was at 2:30 so I took the girls out on an excursion. Krispy Kreme is our new babysitter.

Matt said that he felt the interview went really well. We wondered if and when we were going to hear back. Well at 7:00, just 4 hours after the interview was finished, they called and asked if they could fly Matt out for a face to face interview.

We are thrilled!

Matt flies out to Pittsburgh in the first week of November.

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Why do I delight in the sorrow of children?

This morning I went with my friends Kate and Alison (oh my gosh...that was a total flashback to an 80's TV show) and their kids to a local children's museum. I was the only mommy with a camera so I became the playgroup photographer. Which you know I did not mind at all.

Brinley, age 3, had an emotional setback early in the trip when she jumped from one bench to another and biffed it, hurting her leg in the process. This made the usually cheerful and delightful Birnley extremely grumpy at the lady trying to get her to smile for a photo...a.k.a. me.

The more I tried to get this kid to smile the more hell-bent she was on not smiling for the ever growing annoyment that was me and my camera. This was one of the photos I took in an attempt to catch a happy face and is by far my favorite picture of the day, despite getting many adorable and sweet smiling pictures of the other children.

Behold the adorableness of
The Grump...

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Ode to Thursday

Thursday has always been my favorite day of the week. I believe it started when I was small and that was the night The Cosby Show aired. The playground (aka water cooler) talk on Friday was always about The Cosby Show from the night before. Then came Friends and Seinfeld. Who can forget those golden years? Then while on my LDS Mission, Thursday was our P-Day (day off). And most recently came The Office.

My thoughts today are on The Office. Matt and I have been in love from the very beginning. The first and second season DVDs still make me pee my pants (except the episode called "Sexual Harassment" and that one just makes me feel uncomfortable). But this season has been seriously lacking in hearty laughs and I asked myself why? Here's my theory.

I saw an interview once with Jerry Seinfeld where he discussed his secret to the longevity of his show. He said it was that nobody ever hugged and nobody ever learned anything. That is why people laughed their faces off when Kramer just entered a room. This truly was genius. I think my problem with this season of The Office is that characters are progressing. And although that makes me happy on a personal note, it is far less funny. Part of the humor of character typecasting is that certain jokes are funny because the characters don't change. As sad as it was, we had a lot of laughs because Pam is always a doormat. Now the new season and Pam is standing up for herself...not very funny. Sad, but true. Good old Kevin remains hilarious. Why? Because he's still a doofus.

I also feel intense anxiety, more than is healthy, about how they are going to split Jim and Pam apart. Because you know it's coming people. Think Ross and Rachel, Tony and Angela, Sam and Diane, Remington Steele and Lora Holt (knowing those last 2 names was kinda embarrassing).
Good thing there is another show on Thursdays to make me pee myself....30 Rock. In comparison, last week's Office garnered 2-3 chuckles from me and Matt and 30 Rock got some serious laugh-your-face-off action! It's hilarious and I will depend on 30 Rock to help me forget my sorrows when Jim and Pam's relationship is on the rocks.

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Friends

Yesterday Matt headed out to the backyard to remove some stumps of trees we have recently removed. It became obvious it was a much bigger job than he first thought so he called our friend, Budd, and he came right over. Those two were out there for hours being very manly with saws, hatchets and muscles.

Sometime during hour 3 or 4 we decided we needed to plan a fun evening with the 2 families. I picked some apples from our backyard tree and made a homemade apple pie. We all headed over to Budd and Kate's new house which has a wicked fire-pit in the backyard. We made tinfoil dinners and let the kids play in the yard. Ella and their daughter, Brinley, are becoming bestest friends and I love seeing them play together. There's a lot of princess stories and dancing and general femininity.

Then the adults headed to a movie while a babysitter watched the kids all together. It was such a nice night and I really needed a date-night with my hubby! And Budd and Kate are so fun we just love spending time with them.

What a happy occurance to have such wonderful friends.

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Matt Ahern...Super Genius

Today I take a moment to brag about my husband.

(It's every wife's prerogative)

Matt is currently attending the University of Utah. He started last year with the intent to get a Masters in Business with an emphasis in Health administration. Usually when you have an emphasis it takes an extra six months, but Matt decided to do it all in 2 years, instead of adding an extra six months onto that time. We have just started his second year and Matt has decided to not just get an emphasis in Health Administration, but to make it a separate full Masters. But still doing both in only two years.

Last year Matt was offered a grant with the URLEND (Utah Regional Leadership Education for Neuro-Developmental Disabilities...whew!) That means on his days off from his doubled school schedule, he has done research and helped to develop better programs and helps for children and adults with Autism in the State of Utah.

Well, at the beginning of this year he was informed that he had been nominated for a scholarship. We never applied for a scholarship, but they gave it to him none the less because of his excellence. He was then asked to be the Vice President of the College of Health Administartors student council. All of this while finishing both degrees and serving in our church's Elders Quorum Presidiency. Amazing.

At the end of last month, we sent out the first batch of fellowship applications. They were due on October 1st and we sent the first two out. Yesterday we received a call from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center requesting an interview (of course our family in Pittsburg is pretty excited!) It's only been one week since they received his application! We were not expecting to hear back so quickly.

It's clear that everyone realizes what I have known all along. Matt is a Super Genius and a great people-person and pretty darn hot to boot. I am so proud of his achievements and accomplishments and that he is already making a difference in his chosen field through his helps for Autism.

He is an amazing man and I love his guts!

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At the Zoo

Someone told me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe its true.
If it's raining or its cold,
And the animals will love it
If you do.
Somethin' tells me
Its all happening at the zoo.

-Simon & Garfunkle

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Fifi's New "Do"

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a MUCH better picture to share...

After yesterday's 7th grade train-wreck photo, I thought I had better renew your faith in the camera lens by posting this picture of the girls together.

Ella was showing Evangeline the dogs outside of our window across the street. A cute moment of sisterly togetherness caught on film. I love that Eva is sucking in her bottom lip, like she always does when thinking deeply and Ella looks a bit mischievous. A true life photo. Happy times.

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Humiliation Made Easy

I was recently inspired by my brother and sister-in-law's blog where they showcased their ugliest pictures ever. I immediately knew what I had to do. I dug through my old photos and produced this school picture from my 7th grade year.

As is the tradition of crazy pre-teens everywhere, I chose school picture day to experiment with a new hair cut, which I executed that morning in the bathroom mirror with a pair of my Mom's dull sewing scissors. Add a mini-barrel curling iron and some Aqua Net and you have this gem of a photo. That poof on the top is all bangs. The rest of the hair was pulled back tightly and scrunched within an inch of its life.

And how about those brows folks?! This begs the question...why didn't she pick up any tweezers until she was 16? Who knows. But the fact remains that this school photo is the last time you will likely see my real hair color and my real eyebrows ever again.

Oh little 1987 Emilie, I wish I could help you kiddo.

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RECIPE // Portobella Burgers with Basil

I present to you one of my very favorite Vegetarian recipes. It's so delicious and good for you too! You really need a hearty bread for these because they release a lot of juices.

Portobella Burgers with Basil Mayonnaise

Recipe by Family Circle Magazine

Serves: 4

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 large loaf ciabatta bread or other very hearty bread

4 large portabello mushrooms (1-1/2 pounds total), stems removed

4 slices (1/2 inch thick) tomatoes, from 2 large tomatoes

1 bunch green leaf lettuce, cleaned

1. In food processor, blend mayonnaise, basil, 1 tablespoon vinegar and garlic powder. In small bowl, whisk together remaining vinegar, the olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Heat grill. Cut ciabatta bread into 4 squares, making each square slightly larger than the mushrooms. Split each square in half. Grill, cut side down, until toasted, about 1-1/2 minutes. Brush mushrooms and tomato slices with balsamic-oil mixture. Grill mushrooms 8 to 10 minutes per side and tomatoes 2 minutes per side, brushing with additional balsamic-oil dressing, or until tender.

3. Spread generous 1 tablespoon basil-mayonnaise mixture on each cut side of onion rolls. Evenly divide arugula among 6 onion roll bottoms. Top with a portabello mushroom, a tomato slice and onion roll top. Serve immediately.

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Big 30th Bowling Birthday Bash

And now for the juicy gossip from last Saturday's big 30th birthday party. You may know that I have a bit of an obsession with arcades and for my birthday party the whole extended family went to the Spare Time Family Fun Center. Let me just say it was SO FUN! We bowled, we ate pizza and cake, we played arcade games and we celebrated my birthday in style.

Many thanks to all of those who came to support me on my big milestone birthday. I loved seeing each and every one of you and will always cherish the Deal Or No Deal moments we spent together in the arcade.

Here are some pictures from the fun day! Okay...there wasn't any juicy gossip, but it's still a fun post right?


Somebody loves pizza...


(left) They had a great little ramp for the kids to be able to bowl. (right) Extended family means Uncles to throw kids WAY too high in the air.


A self portrait of Mommy and Baby


(left) The cake was delicious and covered with fresh fruit and whipped cream. (right) The picture on the right clearly displays my lustful feelings for food.

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