July Jamboree

7/12/10

Oof.

July Jamboree has come and gone (**sigh of relief**). My beautiful and talented friend Michelle was doing a booth and invited me to bring a table with my jewelry and share her spot. That was only two weeks ago, so I had to scramble to get everything ready. I was planning on investing in some more advertising and display items for the consignment shop anyway, and plus I made a whole slew of new pieces. Did I break even? Noooooo. But I'm going to put everything left up for sale on etsy or at Ambience and I did get a lot of publicity from the event. Somebody give me a high-five for trying.

July Jamboree is also a car show and they block off Main Street for it

The Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire was going on at the same time and so there were TONS of booths (hence, tons of other people selling jewelry and hair accessories...) but we had fun and got some good experience under our belt. I've never seen that many people in Cedar City all at once. As it got later, the crowds kept coming. We were there from about 2:30 to 10:00pm.

See the lady in the corseted gown and fox tail? These are the type of people that are at the Renaissance Faire (at the park on Main street). I want to dress up like that one of these years. Michelle is the gal in the pink.

And then there's gentlemen like this.....(I love Cedar City!)

It was POURING rain as we were trying to set up our tables. Luckily the canopy was already up, but Michelle and I were so flustered and bedraggled and everything was getting soaked. It rained for a good 30-40 minutes and then the weather finally cleared.

Mmmm. Nothing like dripping wet tulle to shower onto all your customers!

There's our booth!

I had free Dum-Dums (Mark: "What age are your customers? Two???" Well, it got a lot of people to stop.) and a drawing for a free pair of earrings.

My table

Baby bracelets!

My mom also contributed a bunch of jewelry to sell. She's the one who taught me how to make it, so really this is all her fault. :)

Michelle has a business called Binga Bows and she makes the CUTEST flower clips, headbands and bows and also has some super chic jewelry and hats.

I think we're going to need to buy a few more of these....

I'm bummed that this picture is blurry, but you can see what an awesome banner Michelle helped me make and the chandelier she put up in the middle of the canopy. We had the cutest booth out there, for sure.

Thank you to Mark and Jake for watching the kids alllllll day. Luke wasn't a happy camper by the time I finally got home, but he survived. Madelyn had a blast at the street fair and had a huge meltdown when it was time to leave.

Here she is with the new flower clip she picked out! Isn't she ADORABLE?!

Since most of our stuff is still for sale (haha), I will do a post later about the items if any of you are interested.

Now I can finally get to my mending pile and laundry. Yay.......

Madelyn goes emo

7/8/10

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Oh. That's more like it!

Party Hearty Part II

7/7/10

Here's the rest of our festivities.......but first:

Happy b-day Tyler and Monica! Monica's birthday is today and Tyler's is tomorrow. Awww. (They're 5 years apart in age, though.) I am so glad they moved back to St. George so we can see them all the time now.

PS. Monica, can you mail me some of your cheesecake? Thx.

After we got back from the lake on Monday, one of my besties, Liz, came to visit with her family on their way back "up north" as we say. She has a 9-week old baby boy named Jace with the CUTEST red mohawk you ever did see. Please pretend like I have combed hair in this picture instead of what it actually looks like.

Hey, the kid has two sisters...the pink looks rather lovely with his complexion, though

"Dude....life ain't that bad...."

Madelyn had so much fun playing with Kelty and Adelyn (not sure where she was--I didn't get any pictures of her)

We're so lucky that Mark had the day off. Yay for Utah holidays!

Chewing on daddy's ear....

....and grabbing his glasses....

Then we had fireworks

and "sparks"

By the time the city fireworks started at 10:00, Luke and I were too tired to even stay outside to watch. It was a crazy day.

Now, two days later, I finally have a cleanish house again and am ready to get back to work on my projects. Uuuuuggghhh. Wish me luck--I only have a couple days left to get ready for the street fair!

Party Hearty Part I

Luke's first swim! Don't you love his octopus trunks???!?

7/6/10

As you can see, we went to the lake yesterday. Me, being the Good Mother that I am, covered Luke with baby sunblock from head to toe before we left, and Luke, being the baby that he is, rubbed his eyes with his fists, got sunblock smeared in one of them and spent the next hour with a goopy, puffy, red watery eye. I know. Tally another point under the "Well meaning parenting maneuvers gone wrong" category.

Anyway, we finally got to Sand Hollow, set up the beach gear and then my brother and sister arrived with their families. We had a great time and as long as we stayed in the water, the 105* heat wasn't too bad.

Nathan, Shay, Madelyn Luke and Mark

Monica, Madelyn, Ava and Tyler

Luke and Auntie Maria. Wait...WHAT is going on with that diaper??!

Eeek!

So I forgot to bring Luke a swimmy diaper (the car ride down was 45 minutes--so I didn't want to put it on prematurely. They don't absorb liquid. Their function is to keep poop out of the water.) But Monica (aka Super Prepared Woman) came to the rescue with an extra. Thanks! Luke was hauling around 5 lbs. of water in that regular one...

Mark and Shay paddled out on our raft to go cliff jumping

(No, Luke didn't go with them...see reference above to me being a Good Mother.)

There were some polygamists on the spot next to us. They swim fully clothed in long dresses or pants and long sleeved shirts. They are nice people. There's tons of them in southern Utah.

Cute little Ava

Obligatory dorky self portrait

Madelyn, Nathan and Tyler

Shay and Maria, Luke and the little muffin niece they're cooking up for me

Part II will have to come sometime later. This has been a freaking long holiday weekend.

Summertime

7/3/10

It feels like summer over here! We've been hanging out in the front yard while Mark works on the sprinklers, going to the park, flying kites and drinking milkshakes,* going to St. George to shop and getting reacquainted with that awesome sensation of standing inside of a giant convection oven.

*Ever had to scrub milkshake out of a couch at 1:00am? That's what I was doing last night. I was making jewelry and didn't notice that Madelyn had fallen asleep holding hers and the whole thing dumped over and went underneath the cushions. It was fantastic!

We are going to be busy working this weekend (the great American pastime!), but I have some evidence of our kids having fun**, at least.

**You know what I've discovered about myself? I have to be coerced into having fun and "relaxing". Like last night: "Come to the park with us!" Me: "Nooooo--then I won't be able to work on anything!" I need a life. One that does not involve seven hundred unfinished projects.

Mark letting her have it with the hose. She wanted him to do this.

"My sister is crazy!"

Look at those lil' Yoders! Aw. Those kids get so filthy. Look how green the water is...

Summer dance classes are going well for Madelyn

After she got home from class one day, she decided she needed to go hammer some tent stakes into the lawn.

♥!

Back after a costume change...

Those #&^%*%$$^@*!! sprinklers! We have had so many issues lately!

I'm glad that quilt I made is finally getting some use.

So there you have it. Now I've got to get back to work. Or I may just surf the internet for baby shower ideas. (My sis Maria found out she's having a girl!!!!!!) Procrastinate now, freak out later...yep, sounds like a good plan to me.

PS. I heard that M. Night Shyamalan butchered The Last Airbender movie. I was lying awake last night being annoyed about it.

Well, that explains a few things.

7/1/10

Quote from a Newsweek article I read last week:

"One study found that simply having a husband creates an extra seven hours of housework a week."

Huh.

How many hours of housework does each child create then? Is this why I can never get anything done? Is this why every time I do something other than clean all day, a pile of rubble four feet high accumulates in my living room?? Discuss.