June 23, 1910 - January 27, 2008

Awesome Old School Playlist

Pay close attention to my current playlist.  Old school all the way!  So please sit back, relax, and enjoy these songs and all of their awesomeness!

Sprinkles- Red Velvet Style

My love for Sprinkles cupcakes is no secret. The love continued with a fresh batch of red velvet cupcakes... they were so good! They actually just tasted like a really good chocolate but I'm not sure I've ever had red velvet anything so I don't know what they should taste like!

I also really love the container that the Sprinkles cupcake mixes come in. I might have to think of something creative to do with the containers... feel free to comment with any great suggestions!

You've Got Mail!

I love mail. I love getting mail. I love to open the mailbox and see mail in it. Jared and my kids won't get the mail... they wait until I get home because I love to get the mail. Yesterday as I was driving in from work I pulled in front of the mailbox to get the mail. Inside was not the usual stack of mail/magazines, etc. but four tiny, adorable letters. Even better, I looked at the house and from Aspen's window were four tiny little eyes peeking out just waiting for me to come home and get the mail. This was the mail day of all mail days... this was the best mailbox day ever!

The one with the truck is from Jackson to Jared. So cute!

"To mom, Can I go to grandma's house on Valintines Day? Can I can I can I? Can I. Just 1 time Please Please Please? I realy realy realy want to !!! Love Aspen P.S. I Love You"

So funny. She acts like she's never allowed to go to her Grandma's house... like she doesn't get to go there 1-2 times a week already! Note to my Mom: You have my permission (and Aspen's) to quit working and pick her up from school on Valentine's Day.

To Aspen: It's okay with me if you go to Grandma's house on Valentine's Day... but you'll have to ask Grandma. :o)

From Jackson. Short and sweet! "I love you!!!!!" Mine and Jared's were the same!

To Jackson: I love you, too! And even though you asked me not to write "I love you" on the notes I put in your lunch box (because it embarrasses you) I hope you don't mind that I'm announcing it to the world on my blog! :o)

"To Dad. This is the coler I want for my pine-wood derby car. Hot pink is the coler I want for my pine wood derby. Love Aspen P.S. I Love You"

Is that the best? Jared told Aspen that he would make Aspen a Pinewood Derby car next year just for fun. I guess she wants it hot pink (and I so love that she wrote the letter in hot pink)!

Pinewood Derby

Tonight was Jackson's first ever pinewood derby. We had so much fun! When he first started scouts and we found out the derby was coming up Jackson immediately had a vision of what he wanted:

• First off, it had to be a truck. He wanted nothing "car" about it. Jared explained that a truck might not race as well because of wind resistance and the way it's shaped. Jackson didn't care- he wanted a Pinewood Derby truck. So, over Christmas break Jared took Jackson to his shop and they built the body. Then they spent time at Jarom's house grinding the axle's down so the wheels would be smoother.

• Second- it had to be bright blue. Jackson did all the painting himself with a spray can (thank goodness for an unfinished basement and big cardboard boxes)!

• Third- Jackson's final request was that it had to have flames. This proved much more difficult than I initially thought. I drove all over town to multiple scrapbook/hobby stores looking for any kind of flame sticker or decal. No luck. Finally, Jared found some awesome flame graphics on the Internet and we cut them out with little itty bitty tiny scissors. I showed Jackson how to use my Xyron sticker maker and, VOILA- we now had flame stickers. He also decided he wanted his truck to be #10 so he put those stickers right on top.

Jackson's pickup truck was a hit with all the dads- no one had ever seen a Pinewood Derby truck! They added weights to the bed of the truck to make suer it would at least make it all the way down the track. Jared had prepared Jackson for the past month that the goal wasn't to win but to make it all the way down the track. He told him a truck probably wouldn't be the best racer. Jackson didn't care-- he loved the truck!

BUT... what do you know? A pickup truck wasn't such a bad idea after all. The picture below is a picture of Jackson getting his Pinewood Derby award. And what was the award for? FIRST PLACE!!! Seriously... first place. Jackson was blown away- complete and utter shock-- he had totally prepared himself not to win. They ran 4 heats so each car could have a race on each of the 4 tracks and Jackson' s little pick-up smoked every other car, every single race!
After the official races they let anyone race and lots of the other boys/dads wanted a turn to race against the smoking fast pick-up truck! The "officiator" who timed all the races apparently does this often and he told Jared after the races that he's never seen any Pinewood Derby car get times that fast! Whoa!
We couldn't wipe the smile off Jackson's face. He was so surprised and so excited! We had prepared him so much that it was just for fun and as long as his truck made it down the track, that's all that mattered... he was beaming! He was bragging to his scout buddies about his cool dad and his cool uncle Jarom who helped make his truck so awesome! He also thought it was so cool to get to help use the "big boy" tools (and I'm grateful he still has all of his fingers)!

FIRST PLACE OVERALL... PINEWOOD DERBY TRUCK!

JUNO

I loved this movie.  Absolutely.  Loved it.

(BTW- Jared liked it, too.)

Divalicious

I just realized that I never blogged about the Festival of Trees.  I'm not sure why... it was such a great experience!  It's been a tradition in our family to go to the Festival of Trees... not every year but we've gone a lot.  This year we decided to donate a tree in honor/memory of my beautiful sister Becky.  We decided we wanted our colors to be bold and bright- pinks, greens, turquoise, purple- and we also decided on all things glittery!  Over the year we collected ornaments, ribbon, decorations, etc.  We needed the perfect name for our tree and all of its glittery goodness... DIVALICIOUS is what came to mind and we all instantly loved it!

We hauled everything up to the Sandy Expo Center and the decorating started!  It took us several hours but it was so amazing to watch everything come together so perfectly.  It was so much more emotional (in a good way) than I thought it would be.  I teared up multiple times throughout the day- mostly having fun memories of my sister and thinking that she probably would have been making fun of us-- she was much more the decorator/artist than any of us!  It was neat seeing grown men like my dad and my brother get involved and tying little pieces of string onto ornaments, using the hot glue gun, and not being afraid to have pink and purple glittery specks on their clothes!  My mom, of course, thinks of EVERYTHING and she had brought a cooler packed with diet coke and a box of Dunford doughnuts!

The most important part of the process is that all of the trees donated go up for auction and every penny is given to Primary Children's Hospital.  It was a little sad to walk away from the tree... I fell in love with our Divalicious wonder!  It was a good feeling knowing that our hardwork was benefitting such a great cause... it was a good feeling doing it in memory of such an amazing person- a sister, daughter, mother, aunt, wife, granddaughter, cousin, friend, nurse, and much more... it was a good feeling being surrounded by family and sharing our love for each other and our love for Becky.  I hope whoever "bought" our tree could feel the love and emotion that went into to!

And now... MEET DIVALICIOUS!!!