Li'l Miss Lady Bug turns 2!

Our li'l lady bug turned 2 and since she loves the Lorax (among a few other things) we threw her a Lorax party.

Mom and I are pretty much crazy, but it was fun, even though it was a lot of work.

The feasting table. Those are Truffula Trees. They are made from cake balls and covered in cotton candy.

Her little outfit made by maternal grandma, Gammie.

Another view of the cuteness

Half of her gift table.

The other half. We gave her that Schwinn bike.

My Lorax punch holder.

Up close. Truffula trees, teddy grahams, marshmallows, and fishes. We had little bags of cotton candy that we called Thneeds.

Look at those colors in that cake!

Maternal grandpa and the birthday girl with their Loraz 'staches.

Mommy and the birthday girl with their Lorax 'staches

Opening the gifts

My nephew earned the money and picked everything out in this gift. She loved it. He turns 3 next month.

Showing the proper love of shoes from Sassy.

Saying "shoes"

From her maternal grandpa.

She loved her cards. This is one is from Tree Monkey.

Hugging the Tangled dress from Aunt Tree Monkey

Wearing the Tangled necklace that came with the dress from Aunt Tree Monkey

Sidewalk chalk from Gammie and Papa Russ and mom's sisters and brother.

Pretty much what she did with every gift.

Isn't that bow perfect

Her new ride with Aunt Tree Monkey.

I cannot believe she is 2. I love being a Nana and being her Nana is especially rewarding. She is learning to talk and repeats everything. She comes to my nursery class on Sundays and I so enjoy watching her learn.

Well......Hello again!

So I changed jobs. Yeah and kept a few clients from the old one AND do a few clients in private practice. So I pretty much work 6 days a week. But when I get home I spend time holding my granddaughter, go to the gym with my daughters, have engaged in some retail therapy (to motivate me to continue attending the gym regularly) and just take time to breathe. I am hardly ever on the computer for fun anymore. I am busy, but it is great!

The girls had their dance recital and rocked it. Sassy did a lot of work and presented a teacher who is leaving to follow her husband to grad school (silly girl, what is she thinking leaving us?) with some sweats and a t-shirt that matched the two teams that she worked with to show how much she loves her. The other team girls were great to pay their part so that this could all be done. We will really miss her great skill and choreography. Sassy is affectionately known as "the instigator" at the studio and at home. She can be found working on all kinds of things to make others feel loved or appreciated.

Currently I am sitting and watching them at a dance workshop 70 miles north of our home. We got up early on a Saturday to drive up so they can dance all day with choreographers from High School Musical and other great performances. All in the name of self improvement for the dancer.

Yo, me holding the  l'il lady bug, aka NanaK's angel

That's a little slice of Heaven right there folks.

Over and out for now!

Go vote for my girls

They are entered in a contest to win a photo shoot from this fabulous photographer.

Clickety here and vote for Kimi or Shelby

Thanks much peeps.

To Tie You Over

I am still waiting for the wedding pics to get to me.

In the meantime here are some bridal shots. They were kept secrety until the day of the wedding. No way was Monkey Wrench going to see his bride in her dress before it was time. :)

My favorite - reminds me of Gone With the Wind

The Bride's favorite

An Overdue Update and a Boatload of Pictures

So much  has been going on.

I played hooky from church to go to Temple Square and meet this lovely lady, Nancy Face

She is truly wonderful, fabulous, and leaves you feeling great about who you are. Much thanks to her Kris Face and Zach Face for sharing her for a couple of hours.

She hangs out with classy ladies whom I also got to meet

Baby J jot a urinary tract infection. He had dilated kidneys in utero so they think that contributed to his infection. He was hospitalized from Sunday to Friday, which is so NOT fun for new parents. It was hard for me to see him in pain. His heart rate was spiking and just seeing him uncomfortable was painful for me. His dad does a great job of calming him down. I sure hope his parents have been able to catch up on their lack of sleep some since he got back home. They were looking pretty tired.

  The day he was admitted. He was feeling warm and his mommy took his temp and he had a fever. Not good at 16 days old :(

We left Wednesday night about 9:30 PM to head out to California. My cousin's daughter was getting married and I had an opportunity to take some time off of work so we made arrangements and Hubs, the girls and I took off for a mini- get-a-way. We stayed in a hotel in Riverside, where my family lives. My dad's only living sibling lives there with his wife and their youngest daughter lives there with her hubby, too. My cousin Tammy went down with her kids and hubby and most of the family was able to come support Kim in her wedding.

2nd cousin Kim and her new hubby, Brent

The bride's sisters, Tammy and Crystal with another cousin, Cheryl taking pictures in the background.

My Uncle Joe and Aunt Reva, the proud grandparents.

Uncle Joe with cousin David- I love those guys.

Kim's dad died in a plane crash when she was little. Her mom died several years ago on her way to surprise her big sis Tammy on her birthday. Her family really supported her and made sure she had a great wedding day with all the beauty she deserved.

Hey look a pic of me on my own blog. Compliments of Tree Monkey :)

David and Marlene

Kathleen and her hubby Jim

Sassy

Tree Monkey- with David in the background

We went out to dinner with the family, laughed, took pictures of funny things, hugged a lot, and made promises to come back and visit when we can just sit and talk. I love this family. They are dedicated to family and to doing what's right. Perfection is not desired here. Just be yourself and you will be loved.

The wedding was Saturday. On Friday we went to Newport Beach. While my girls were collecting sea shells they had dolphins swim about 50 feet away from them. It was so cool to watch.

No pics of the dolphins cause they were under for a time and then when they came up we didn't know where so we didn't get a shot of them. Here are a couple pics of the girls on the beach looking for shells.

Swimming and dancing in the pool at the hotel

We stopped by the Shark Reef exhibit in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Vegas on our way home.

I sure do wish my family members didn't live so far away. Traveling is easier on us than them, so we will be going back to visit. Hopefully in a couple of months.

We are home from now and will be back to the grindstone working hard and saving money to travel some more.