Peri's First Birthday Party! (a month late)

So, Peri celebrated her first birthday on July 23, a day after her real birthday, and it was a lot of fun and we have some good pictures, but I just realized that I totally forgot to make a blog post for all of our friends and family that didn't get to come! So finally, here is what we did!

First of all, Peri's birthday party was supposed to be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic themed. We didn't get to do all the decorating that we wanted to, mostly because it was windy. We wanted to make the party look like one that Pinky Pie would throw for one of her friends. It did not turn out that way, but oh well.

Peri got to wear her pretty pink tutu from her grandma, and a cute rainbow shirt I found on clearance the day before. She was so cute all decked out in pink!

We made themed food, but forgot to take a picture of it before we all dug in. There were little sandwiches cut into star shapes (my mother and sister helped, and they put all the leftovers in bags so that they wouldn't go to waste. There were a lot of leftovers. Gary and I ended up making savory bread pudding out of them. It was soooo good!) We cut up lots of fruits and put them into rainbows with mini marshmallows for clouds. I saw the idea on pinterest! But we had too much fruit and our pans weren't big enough to make them rainbow shaped. So they just kind of sat there in colors instead. They still tasted just as good though! For drinks we made my favorite sherbert 7up drink! I remember having this all the time as a kid.

We had cake too! I went to a lot of trouble to make ice cream cone cupcakes, but on the way they all fell over in Gary's truck and got all over the floor, so Gary had to hurry to Dissmore's and buy a cake from there. The only ones they had were frozen though, so it was hard to cut the pieces. And I didn't have a knife, since we were supposed to be eating cupcakes. Oh well. We put the cake toppers we'd made for the cupcakes on the cake instead. The rest we put in a basket, and the children all had fun playing with them.

Peri got good and messy with her cake. She must think frozen cake is yummy :D

My nephew Kinton is such a silly kid, he asked if he could pose for the camera, and this is how he chose to do it! Pretty much the best pose ever!

Gary made a beanbag toss, which I painted with Pinkie Pie on it. I also made beanbags that looked like a cake, a cupcake, and an ice cream cone! The kids liked it I think. We still have it if anyone wants to come play!

We played Pin the Tail on the Pony, but forgot to take a picture of the rarity poster that I printed out. Afterward some of the girls taped the tails to their hind quarters. Sarah had a lot of tails!

Gary made the pinata! It is a dragon, for those of you who can't make it out. I had something else in mind, but Gary's vision came out waaaay better than mine. We were going to make a wooden sword to fight it with, but we didn't get around to it in time.

So we used a hurley instead. This is Peri taking a good chunk out of his wing with the help of her aunt Katrina.

And this is Sarah (a child of one of Gary's coworkers) giving the fatal blow!

The kids went crazy over the tootsie roll treats inside. Who doesn't like tootsie rolls? There were flavored ones for those who don't, for some inexplicable reason, like the chocolate flavored ones. Which are the best by the way.

Peri opened presents too. She really really loved these leopard print pants given to her by our downstairs neighbors. She couldn't wait to try them on! Peri loved all of her other presents too, and wears/plays with them all the time! Thanks everyone who came (and some who weren't able to) for making Peri's first birthday a special one!

New Craft Storage!

I'm so excited about this! I got really tired of looking at the mess that is my crafty corner, so I'd been trying to find a good piece of furniture to fix it for ages. I just found one about a week ago, and Gary and I took yesterday to paint it up and move it into our home. It makes me so happy!

Here is what it used to look like:

This was taken after Gary removed the board games from the top shelf, which makes it look even more sad :( But now we have this:

Excuse the mess, that's all the stuff that I have yet to put into the cabinet. I found this old entertainment center at Palouse treasures for $30 and snapped it up, since it just looked perfect for what I needed. I didn't take a before picture of it, but you can see we didn't paint the bottom of it, so you can imagine the color if you want (that was just an oversight by us, it was standing up when we sanded so we forgot to do that part, and then we didn't want to get the sander back out. We're just lazy). I am really loving the color and the new hardware that we put on it! Now I just have to figure out how to get all of my junk in there. It may be time for a bit of a purge...

Sonogram Frame the Third

I was invited to another baby shower a few days ago, and I decided to make another sonogram frame like this one I made for my friend Emily, and this one that I made for myself.

I really enjoy making these things. I think they will be my go-to baby shower gift from now on. I like how I can personalize them too.

For instance, my friend Amanda already has a boy-child, so I put him into the frame too. Well, I guess I'll show the picture and you can see for yourselves.

It's a little different, and I'm not sure how much I like her leg sticking out there, but I'm not sure what else to do with it. Something I ought to think about if I make another like this. The frame is something Gary whipped up with leftovers from another frame he made for a piece of art we have had lying around for ages. I think the dark stain (I sanded and stained it myself!) makes the pink pop extra-well. I think I also need to work in my writing.

I think she'll like it though, and that's really what matters right?

Edit 8/17:

Never mind. I decided that I didn't like it after all, so I redid it.  I didn't have another sheet of paper the same color though, so I used orange instead of purple. I think I like the color better anyway. Here is what it looks like now:

I think it's a good change.

Poor Peri

So, poor Peri got her first really big owie today. She tried to run downhill on her stubby little legs. I tried to stop her but she's a sneaky and fast little devil. I made sure it wasn't bad, and then couldn't resist taking a picture, because oh boy does it ever look nasty.

Let me make this extra large for you all so you will never get the image out of your head.

A couple things I'd like to make clear. She is only bleeding from her forehead (not her nose or her hands or arm or leg). I did check really good to make sure her pupils were dilating and all that. It is a really really small (but deeper than skin deep) gash on her forehead. She was pretty happy to see the camera, so I'm guessing it didn't hurt that much.

They aren't kidding when they say head wounds always bleed a lot.

On the bright side, she looks darn cute with a bandaid.

Now we'll just have to see if she knows better next time she goes out.

Simplify my life!

That kind of sounds like some reality show doesn't it? "Hi, my name is Naomi Jackson, and I want you to Simplify My Life!!!" (said at the very end of the sob story application video). You all can see it right?

Anyways, moving on. I've been reading a blog by a cute blogger named Kelly (she has the most adorable twins). She blogs at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking and has a lot of fun things and good points to make. I've been reading that blog, but this post isn't about that blog. It's about her second blog that she started recently The Year of Less.

Let me tell you now, it is the. most. awesome. idea. anyone has had yet. She and her family have decided not to buy into the idea that more stuff=more happiness. How cool is that? Not only has she and her family renounced this idea, they are actually doing something about it! That is really the coolest part.

 I struggle with this all the time. I think about it. I moan about it. Sometimes it makes me sick. But I still think a lot of the time that someday when I can buy this thing, or that thing, or be able to do whatever thing I want to do at that moment, I'll finally be happy. Even though I also know deep down inside me that all of that isn't a bit true. Suffice to say, I have very conflicting feelings. I go from wanting more stuff to being happy with what I have in the blink of an eye.

There is another bit about this blog that is even better. Kelly and her family are Christians, and she believes that her stuff is getting in the way of being a good Christian. She says it better in the About Us portion of her blog. As a Christian, and as a Mormon, I know that she is absolutely right.

I keep wanting more things, but what I really want--what I really need-- is to make my life more centered on Christ.

I really want to simplify my life just like Kelly is, by getting rid of things and whatnot, but what I really think I need to do is center my life first, and then perhaps the rest will fall into place.

To that end, Gary and I have committed to a "spiritual schedule" if you will. We wake up every morning and say our personal prayers. Then we go out to the living room and before anything else, we do our personal scripture study. Before Gary goes to work we kneel down and have a family prayer to send him off. When Gary comes home from work, after dinner or while dinner is cooking, we have family scripture study with Peri. When dinner is on the table, we have a blessing on the food. When Peri goes to bed, at the end of her bedtime routine, we have family prayer, and whoever is putting her to bed says her personal prayer with her. When we go to bed we remind each other to say our own personal prayers too.

Since we came up with this schedule, we've been sticking too it fairly well. Sometimes we forget to have family prayer before Gary leaves in the morning, and sometimes we forget to have family scripture study at dinner time. Everything else is going well though, and I think once we get into the swing of things, we'll remember those two things more often too.

I still want to get rid of a bunch of things though. And actually I have decluttered a little bit here and there. Right now we're working on a better solution to the crafty corner. It is a disaster right now, but it's the only place we have for that stuff.

Anyway, whoever reads this should totally go check out Kelly's blogs, because they are tres delightful! Onward to simplifying our lives!