. . . these little piggies . . .

. . . better keep their nasty flu to themselves . . .

. . . my boy's got work to do . . .

. . . but, for now, he's grounded . . .

. . . and bored, evidently . . .

. . . thirty years of daffodils . . .

. . . not long after we built our home, 

i stuck some daffodil bulbs 

in the ground 

in the front planter . . .

. . . and though i pay them no attention whatsoever, 

year after year they show up 

and look all springy and stuff . . .

. . . and they always remind me that 

"springy" is what i craved 

after living through a provo winter . . .

. . . BRRRRR! . . .

. . . during which i'd found this cool guy 

who wanted to marry me! . . .

{*we were stylin' huh?}

. . . so on 19 april 1979 ~ our wedding day . . . 

. . . daffodils {and stephanotis} were definitely NOT in short supply . . .

. . . holy wedding cake! . . .

. . . carrot ~ with cream cheese frosting ~ best ever . . .

. . . and just for fun . . . 

. . . this super dramatic/serious pose . . . 

. . . demonstrating our photographer's skills . . . 

. . . meaning there was 

NO such thing as photoshop 

way back then . . .

. . . and yes, pam, i guess i'm a brave soul ~ again! . . .

{*photo courtesy of byu's daily universe ~ 

we graced the cover of 

the valentine's day edition in 1979} 

. . . happy thirty years to us . . .     

. . . seeing spots . . .

. . . yes, i've done animal prints before . . .

. . . leopard and cheetah and zebra . . . 

. . . oh, my! . . .

. . . but giraffe is probably my favorite . . .

{i've even got the [fake] purse to prove it}

. . . however . . . 

. . . my hunt for giraffe ribbon has been unsatisfactory . . .

. . . oh, i'd seen plenty . . .

. . . but it was always u•g•l•y . . .

. . . today my luck changed . . .

. . . behold ~ the giraffe collection . . .

. . . i'm kind of wild about these . . .

. . . and they're totally available . . .

. . . email me . . .

. . . easter present . . .

. . . not to be confused with easter past . . .

. . . hope you're not sick of treats yet . . . 

. . . because these kids are pretty sweet . . .

. . . who says they're allowed to wear big girl shoes? . . .

. . . you can also see them on amber's blog . . . 

. . . if you're lucky . . .

. . . easter parade . . .

. . . this post that started out as 

an easter retrospective . . .

. . . quickly turned into a tribute to:

"our mom spent a lot of time 

trying to find matching outfits for us"

. . . no matter the season/holiday/time of year . . .

. . . this photo hung in our entryway for a long time . . .

. . . because of the extreme cuteness . . . 

{and penny loafers}

. . . easter circa 1992 . . . 

. . . next up ~ christmas 1989 . . .

. . . raffia on a christmas tree 

was never a good idea . . . 

. . . but candy canes on little girls' tights rocked . . . 

. . . two different looks of christmas 1987 . . . 

. . . simply "coordinating" outfits vs . . . 

. . . exact "matchy~matchy" . . . 

. . . make that raffia on a christmas tree 

AND perms were never a good idea . . . 

. . . easter 1988 . . . 

. . . even cousin meagan wore blue . . . 

. . . drew was happy 

to have his gymboree outfit serve as 

the inspiration for this color scheme . . .

. . . fall 1990 . . . 

. . . bangs to heaven and acid washed denim 

were probably 

never a great idea either . . .

. . . sometimes we even let dad join in the springy fun . . .

. . . easter 1987 . . . 

. . . when we finally had a boy 

we went with un"girly" navy blue . . . 

. . . easter 1989 . . .

. . . and the all-time matchy-matchy miracle . . . 

. . . occurred without planning 

at a halloween night 

mhs football game . . . 

. . . especially knowing how i feel about orange . . .

. . . hi lorelei! . . . 

{apologies for scanned photos from the dark ages}

. . . +2.00 . . .

. . . yep, that's the strength of reading glasses 

i've recently "graduated" to . . .

. . . yep, they're everywhere in my house . . .

{desk, computer, sewing machine, piano, kitchen, 

purse, car, makeup drawer, scrapbook tote, beads}

. . . yep, i think they're mocking me . . .

. . . do i look as cute in them? . . .

. . . nope . . .

. . . something about conference . . .

. . . turns my thoughts to white shirts . . .

. . . maybe it's the power of suggestion . . .

. . . simply seeing church leaders 

i respect, sustain, 

and can't wait to hear from . . .

. . . wearing white shirts themselves . . .

. . . whatever the reason . . .

. . . it's great to catch up on ironing, 

but more importantly to 

feel the strength, testimony, 

and love these wonderful leaders 

have for me as a member of 

the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints . . .

. . . there was just the one little mishap . . .

. . . mascara drips on 

the last one i was pressing . . .

. . . it might have happened while 

the choir was singing 

"consider the lilies" . . . 

. . . or was it during president eyring's talk 

about dealing with adversity? . . . 

. . . both were exceptional . . .

. . . olé . . .

. . . what a surprise it was tonight . . .

. . . when this silly crew burst into our room . . .

. . . crazy south o' the border music 

blaring from an iPhone . . .

. . . wearing traditional garb . . .

. . . and doing some sort of 

festive choreography . . .

. . . {see photo} . . .

. . . that was only the beginning 

of a surprise fiesta they planned . . .

. . . celebrating elder romney's halfway day . . .

. . . highlights included delicious soft tacos ~ 

chicken or beef . . .

{in honor of drew's future business venture}

. . . all the taco accessories you can imagine . . .

. . . red velvet cake pops 

and two kinds of homemade cookies . . .

. . . not to mention strawberry and pineapple soda . . .

. . . along with a ridiculously adorable 

welcome home banner . . .

. . . you'll see it in about 364 days . . .

. . . needless to say ~ 

these kids/grandkids are the best . . .

. . . camel/hump day update . . .

. . . i should have thought 

to ask them in the first place, 

but special thanks to brent&amanda . . . 

. . . who shared these photos 

from their personal files . . .

. . . a couple of little souvenirs from 

their middle eastern adventure . . .

. . . "watch out, they spit!" . . .

{name that movie}

. . . twelve/twelve . . .

. . . we are seriously out of the loop . . . 

. . . our chain started with two one-year sized loops . . . 

. . . in october one and a half loops remained . . . 

. . . and look at it now! . . .

. . . one loop and counting . . .

. . . happy half way/hump day . . .

. . .to elder romney . . .

{have you every tried to find a cute photo of a camel?}

you'll for sure want to see today's video

. . . megan joy . . .

. . . hey, megan . . .

. . . let's think back to the good old days . . .

. . . a time when the judges said you were:

•different {meant as a compliment}

•one of the few [we're] going to remember

•original

•interesting

•relevant

•hip and

•beautiful

. . . after tonight we could add a few more:

•awkward

•screeching and birdlike

•crazy

•whatever the opposite of graceful is

•bratty and

•sassy {not in a complimentary way}

. . . sorry, but based on your 

strange/unattractive behavior alone, 

you deserved to go home . . .

. . . singing? we won't even go there . . .