Memorial Day 2012

It turned out to be a really nice Memorial Day after a few days of rain.  I was kind of sad that all my kids had other things to do and couldn't join me, but I had a great time with my Mom and Aunts, and 2 of my cousins who I don't get to see very often.  Margo lives in Alaska so we feel extra lucky when we get to see her.  Doug is the cousin that is closest to my age, so we share a lot of the same memories of my grandparents.  Their dad is Nolan, one of my mom's brothers.  Every Memorial Day, we visit cemeteries in Franklin, Preston and Weston.  Here are some pictures of my grandparents' graves in Franklin.

Uncle Bill is always the pro weeder.

Nobody else has flowers this gorgeous!!

Here I am with "the three sisters," my Mom and favorite Aunties!

Here we are in Preston at Great Grandpa and Grandma Dalley's grave.

Yes, I talk with my hands.  Must have been riveting.

Here's the whole bunch:  Karalee and Doug Nash, me, Margo Nash, Aunt JuJu, Mom, Aunt Marie and Uncle Bill.

"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"

Colton works for a company that makes mobile zip lines and rock walls.  They were recently commissioned to make this amazingly cool Spider Man wall that is being sent to the new Spider Man movie premiere.  It is like a rock wall, only you climb it with magnets on your hands and knees so you can climb just like Spidey!  Colton worked on it, but he didn't get to try it out before it got sent off.  He said it was a pretty pricey piece of equipment.  I think it turned out totally cool.  Love the graphics!  Needless to say, Colton loves his job!

This is the trailer that holds the wall.

This is the actual wall.

Zombie Attack

Seriously, he attacked me when he got home.  Just so you know, this is all MAKEUP!  No one was actually hurt here.  But it looks very real!  Clint and his Scout buddies got to participate as casualties in some CERT training the other night.  They were all pretty excited about it, and Clint liked playing the part of a zombie.  He scared the crap out of me when he got home.  They made him up with a piece of glass coming out of his head, and a lot of blood.  Gross!

Here's how some of the other boys looked:

So real looking!  Disgusting!

And some pictures Clint took of himself on the way home:

This is the look that met me as this zombie slammed against my front window.  Yikes!

Yuck.  It really is a piece of glass sticking out of his head!

Think I can get the stains out of his clothes??

Food For Thought

Here are my random thoughts for today:

I am INTRIGUED by:  The first lines of books.  I often choose the books I read based on first lines.

I am CONFUSED by:  My dreams and why I have such strange recurring ones.  What do they mean?

I am MOTIVATED by:  Fun.  If it's fun, I'm in.  Hence, it's hard for me to get just plain old work done!

I am ENTERTAINED by:  Clint's quick wit.  He makes me laugh on a regular basis.

I am TRANSPORTED by:  Music.  Some songs can take me right back to certain places or remind me of certain people or make me feel like I'm a certain age all over again.

I am IMPRESSED by:  My kids lugging their scriptures all the way to California and then reading them every night of our vacation.

I am EXCITED by:  The anticipation of going to a new show or movie that I've been dying to see.

I am DEPRESSED by:  The thoughts of having to get out and do yard work in the early Spring.  Once it's warm and I'm out, I'm fine, but early in the Spring thinking about it overwhelms me.

I am INSPIRED by:  General Conference.  I hang on every word every six months.

I am COMFORTED by:  Wes holding my hand, somehow that always makes things better.

I am TICKLED by:  Colton's laugh.  I love his laugh, and his voice is one of the things I missed the most while he was on his mission.

I am FRUSTRATED by:  Computer problems.  Bleh!

I am MESMERIZED by:  Dancing.  I could watch really good dancers all day long.  It's incredible what the human body can do and how emotional dance can be!

I am SURPRISED by:  Kori telling me that she wants to learn to cook!  Hallelujah!!

May The Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

Today we are celebrating with CAKE:

LIGHT SABERS:

SISTERS:

ARTWORK:

TEMPORARY TATTOOS:

BLUE BANTHA MILK:

And FRIENDS playing Star Wars Battlefront:

May the fourth be with you... always.

The Mane Event: Blake's Haircutting Party!

We are so excited to post these pics.  A little background for anyone wondering "who is Blake and why are you cutting his hair?"  Blake is our neighbor, our very hairy neighbor.  He has been growing out his hair, just for fun, for the past 10 months or so.  He is getting ready to graduate and get his mission papers turned in, and he knew he would need a haircut eventually.  He auctioned off the rights to cut the hair at our Ward service auction back in January, and we won!!  We've been planning and scheming for a few months now, and here are the results!!

First, we set up our arsenal:

People came!  We counted about 65 guests, but I think a few more showed up at the end, so a good turnout!!

strange women came...

school friends came...

part-time models came...

pretty girls came...

the mother of the beard came...

Young Women came...

confused people came...

hair aficionados came...

babies came...

teachers came...

YM leaders came...

little cuties came...

thugs came...

and at long last... drum roll please... the guest of honor arrived!!

Here are some before shots of the overgrowth and furry face.

Whoa!

First step:  let's straighten it out and see just how long it really is!

Blake's hair is so curly!  It was tough to get it to straighten!

love the expression Kori!

Yes, it did resemble Sawyer hair.

Lookin' good so far!

Next, Wes worked on the beard.

Blake, meet razor.

We couldn't believe what a difference it made to see that jawline!

So long, stache.

Hey Brock, yeah you in the background, see this razor???

You would have been such a stud in 1977!

Blake's dad conveniently escaped when the razor came out.

And here it goes!  Clint made the first cut!!

Michelle continued on with the haircut.

I am no expert, but it's looking pretty good!

The look of disgust as the new 'do is unveiled.

Can you say MULLET!?!

Blake, you're a handsome guy no matter what hair you have.

You have such good hair Blake!  I love how it just perfectly styled itself with a bit of gel in it.

And nice that it's wavy, so you can't really tell how unevenly it's cut.

If anyone can pull off a mullet, it's this guy!

Isn't he cute?

Blake, thanks for being such a good sport and letting us make a big deal out of this haircut!!!  We hope you enjoy the mullet for a couple of days, it should get some attention!  We'll be excited to see the official missionary haircut too.  Best of luck to you as you get ready to graduate and turn in your mission papers.  We have enjoyed watching you grow up, as well as watching your hair grow, and we can't wait to see what your next chapter holds.