Fashionistas

I'm always looking for a fun birthday party idea that won't break the bank. Last year when June did her Culinary Competition, we had a blast. This year, an idea popped into my head and I told June about it, but then kept looking for other options. When it came down to crunch time, she said she thought my original idea sounded like a lot of fun. So we went for it.

Here is the basic idea: It is a fashion night. Girls come and are put on teams. Then each team is supplied ten dollars and given an item to purchase for June. Then June is dressed up in her completed ensemble, prizes are given, treats eaten, etc.

But let's start with an opening activity. We ended up calling it 'Scream!' Get all participants in a circle. Everyone looks down and on the count of three, everyone looks up at a different specific person. If it happens that the person you are looking at, is also looking at you, you scream and sit down. (You are out of the round.) Here is everyone looking at a different person. You may even be able to see June screaming. She was not so lucky. (I think she was looking at Hannah who was looking at her, so they were both out that round.)

The funniest one was Daisy, Missy, and Lydia. They ended up being the last three standing in one round and they kept missing each other. It took them five tries to knock it down to one person.

Once everyone arrived, we were off to Savers, a local discount store. (Discount is key when you only have $10 per team.) Here are the official teams and their designated items.

TEAM 4: Your mission is to find an 'accessory' for June. It can be anything to add a little color or bling. Scarf, necklace, hat, gloves, shoes...you name it.

With the ten dollars, some teams were able to buy more than one item.

TEAM 3: Your mission is to find a 'covering' for June. Think sweater, hoody, shawl, wrap, jacket, etc. Something that might keep her toasty.

The store is pretty big. Tyler had his work cut out for him finding each team and getting pictures.

TEAM 2: Your mission is to find a 'top' for June. Some kind of shirt. It needs to be modest, so no sleeveless ones. Good luck.

June's job was to go around to each team. She was supposed to be giving them clues for a later activity. Also, teams were allowed to measure things against her or ask her questions about things she liked. But she had to keep her eyes closed. No peeking.

TEAM 1: Your mission is to find a 'bottom' for June. A skirt would probably be easiest, but if you are brave, you can try for shorts or a pair or pants. Be creative.

When teams had found their items, they were in charge of buying their own stuff. I was proud of the teams. Some people got really close, but no one went over the ten dollar limit.

It was quite fun watching the girls shop. There were so many fun options. I was excited to see what they would choose for June.

My girls were distributed among the teams. Pearl loves all June's friends.

Daisy borrowed Holly's jacket. She ended up pulling out the drawstring and I had to re-thread it later in the evening. She keeps things interesting.

Sarah showed up late, but it was good to have both my redheads on the scene.

There was plenty of silliness going on.

Curtis was invaluable. I'm so grateful he was free that evening. We had enough kids to fill three cars. We couldn't have transported everyone without him!

We can't forget our good looking photographer. He is priceless when I am supervising such a busy activity.

It is a little insane managing that many girls, but surprisingly, the devil mom didn't need to come out...much.

I do think management heaved a sigh of relief when our crew walked out the door. Thank you Savers. It was great doing business with you.

Back at home, my job was to dress June in her new outfit. She had to keep her eyes closed for the big reveal. The teams didn't work together, but I think they did a fantastic job coordinating regardless.

The last step was for TEAM 4 to accessorize June. They went to town on her. New earrings, socks, and a scarf.

Okay everyone. Are you ready for the new June you have created?

It was so much fun and June loved everything she got. The awards included 'Best Deal,' Fancy Nancy,' 'Most Eye Appealing,' and 'Celebrity Look.'

There was also a final award for the item June liked the most. It was hard for her to choose, but she eventually gave the prize to TEAM 2 for the shirt they picked out.

While at Savers, June was supposed to be giving out clues to go along with a quiz. She got caught up in the excitement and forgot about giving clues to all the teams. It didn't matter though. The clues were a diversion from the real test... There was only one question on the quiz. What was June wearing earlier this evening?? (We were testing their fashion observation skills.) June listed off each item she was wearing previously.

The winner of that quiz got to choose first from the party favors. We picked up a whole bunch of earrings and gave each girl a pair to take home. When I brought out the earrings, I was mobbed. Tyler got a picture from the other side. Girls crowded together.

So, we sent kids off to open presents with June and I called in girls one at a time to choose earrings. June got some fun stuff as usual. Her friends know her well.

Evelyn brought a really fun thing that I have never seen before. It was a ball maze called a Perplexus. It is a 3D labyrinth inside a sphere. It was really cool.

Meanwhile. earrings were being distributed. I took a chance on that. There were a few girls without pierced ears, but I sent them home with earrings for sisters or mothers. I think they still enjoyed picking out a pair.

No cake for June this year. She called for toffee. Yum. And we sent the girls home with Jolly Rancher suckers as well. (A Hannah request.)

It was a really delightful evening with many laughs and fun surprises. I would do this party again in a heartbeat, although I would suggest this type of party for an older audience. It seems it would be harder for younger girls to get the right sizes for a person. (Also, June is a pretty average size. It helps that most things fit her.)

The last thing June was doing that night was the Perplexus. And first thing in the morning as well. She loves a good puzzle. Happy Birthday Junie!

Teenager Alert

June has officially entered the teenager years. I'm not sure I feel old enough to have a teenager, but it does seem right for June to be this old. She is growing up into a lovely young woman. She is responsible, funny, kind, and an example to me.

She opted for a friend party this year, so that means there were no presents from us on her birthday, but we still try to make it special. She went to school early for an orchestra rehearsal, so I didn't get any morning pictures. But I caught her right after school with her bouquet of balloons. (It was a 'B' day at school which means June has more stuff to carry, but we thought it appropriate that her b-day was on a 'B' day.)

Sadly, when we took the balloons out of the bag they were in, the largest balloon, a Jack the Pumpkin King balloon, was not tied to the string very well and his head floated away. Up, up to the very high glass ceiling. Can you see him up there?

He has been there for a couple weeks. I'm assuming he will eventually deflate and come down. I periodically ask June if Jack is still hanging out at school.

June was okay losing that balloon, because she said her favorite was the ghosty and the marble swirl one.

In the evening, we had cheesecake by request of June. I got a sampler and we cut pieces up so everyone could sample more than one. Thank you for that face Robyn.

Only three candles. Because they fit better than 13 candles. (Don't worry, we will make sure to do 16 candles when she gets there.)

We sang to the birthday girl and she basked in the glory of a day especially for her.

I think she made a wish or two...

And then she blew out the candles...all three.

Tyler photobombed her picture. He wasn't actually blowing out the candles, but when June finally noticed him, her face was pretty funny.

I pride myself when I can actually fill June up. She is a bottomless pit. By the end of dinner and dessert, I think I did her in. She was in a cheesecake coma.

But she managed to revive herself for a present. Grandma Dargan sent her a really cute owl necklace.

She also wrapped a gift in many boxes. June opened box after box. I think she is about three boxes in, in this picture.

Many boxes later (much like many moons) she found a special black box.

She was very happy with the contents. (Thanks Grandma!)

That's owl for tonight. Stay tuned for her birthday party, which was quite the event.

A Weekend Close to Heaven

Women's Conference is an important tradition around here, especially now that I have three of the girls that can go with me. We usually go out with the Keen's afterward for dessert, but this year I thought we should head up to Idaho to see Grandma and go with the women up there. (I don't think I have ever gone with Kathryn and certainly not Jami yet.) Plus, there was a new addition. Jami and J.R.'s baby girl arrived in early September and we all wanted a personal introduction.

Introducing Henlee Mae, the freshest Cazier.

Baby love. The cousins were very excited to hold her.

Sadly, Henlee was not quite old enough to come to Women's Conference. (Well...they make exceptions for babies, but JR was happy to watch her.) We gals went out to dinner first.

Don't forget Kathryn. I need more excuses to come to Idaho and hang out with these lovely ladies.

The first session of conference was wonderful. It is great to hear from the general auxiliaries and President Uchtdorf spoke this time around. We finished with some yummy refreshments and took our spirit and tummy filled selves back home.

But even more inspirational to me was getting to listen to my nephew Hinckley speak in church the following day. Unfortunately Hinckley is not progressing as quickly as we would like him to. He is still doing chemo therapy and I think his body is just trying not to regress with all the stress it is under.

He still needs help most of the time to walk. His speech is slow but you can understand him if you concentrate on his words. His attitude has been unwavering in the positive. He works hard and never gives up. When asked to speak in church, he said yes, although he had every reason to say no.

With the assistance of his father, the Bishop, he approached the podium. He shared his solid testimony of missionary work and how we should accept what the Lord asks us to do. I felt it was a call to repentance when he told people that they should accept an invitation to speak or a calling even if it seems difficult. Here was this righteous son of God with so many trials behind and before him, speaking with halting speech telling people what they should already know. The Lord won't ask us to do something we can't handle. It makes me realize how strong Hinckley's spirit is.

Too soon, it was time for us to leave. Sorry Gizmo, Robyn will bring back Coral for you to snuggle with another time.

The car ride isn't too long. It seemed a little longer this time around since I threw my back out Sunday morning. It was BAD. Sometimes I just tweak my back, but this time I was having trouble walking, sitting, standing, and all that good stuff.

Luckily, I have a great team. The kids are understanding when I can't do as much, and I have a super husband. He's got my back. (Well...not literally. We don't both need a bad back.) The miles fly by when you have a good view.

p.s. We always take the dog when we go up north. We stopped using the kennel a long time ago. Princess Moxy likes to ride in style. She clearly is enjoying her trip.

Little Pieces of My Life

I have a cold. I guess life is catching up to me. I should slow down a bit.

I am currently listening to wise council from Blue October. "Life's like a jump rope. Up. Down. Up. Down." True that. But sometimes I think it is more like double dutch. Life can be up and down at the same time. The trick is to not get your feet tangled up.

Today is a bit of a phone dump. Time to get all those pictures squared away and taken care of. Let's start with that science project that Robyn made. I forgot to take pictures before she took it to school, so I went to her classroom a week later because I was worried it would be destroyed on the way home. (I ended up stopping by right when Robyn was picked to debate micro organisms. I love catching snippets of school life.)

She worked very hard on her project. The assignment was to research a swampy habitat and document an organism from the 5 kingdoms. Robyn chose to make a diorama, which is right up her artist alley.

She researched the Brazilian wetlands, known as Pantanal. Then she began assembling her diorama, once piece at a time as she drew them. Here is the finished product.

Can you see her eagle flying? It has a poisonous snake it its mouth. Her tree has fungi growing on the side. Here are some detail shots. I love her jaguar and orchids.

Her otter is eating a fish and if you look closely, you can see the algae below the water.

She is very creative and I was thrilled that she didn't leave it until the last minute. That gets extra credit in my book.

Let's talk about lunch for a minute. I make the kids lunch almost every day. Last year I took Tuesdays off and made them all eat pizza at school, but this year I decided to suck it up and make lunch every day. I'm surprised that June doesn't want to eat lunch at Jr. High. It seems they would have better food, but she has shown no interest, and I just keeping making lunch. It is possible that she gets home lunch because she likes the designs on the bag. My mom used to make a different design on my bag everyday and I have continued the tradition.

It is hard to be creative everyday. I have added in jokes on some days because it is super easy. The joke is on the front and the answer is on the bottom. I never document the bags because it seems crazy to try and keep pictures of hundreds of bags, but I have taken a few pictures in the morning this year, because June leaves after the others and sometimes she misses all the designs. (Although Daisy likes to save her bags when she likes the pictures. That makes me feel good, but eventually I have to throw them away.)

Here are a few that I took pictures of so that June could see them when she came downstairs. This was right after I made Smelephant.

Can you guess all the princesses?

Sometimes it is easier to see the bigger picture when the lunches are all together.

I can't even imagine how many lunch bags I have done over the last seven years. Hundreds easily.

Speaking of Smelephant, I finally got that picture of Daisy with Smelephant...while she was awake.

Halloween decorations are up around here. (Have been a while.) The little pumpkin people are still a hit, even with the teenager. June set them up the other day and it looked like some weird convention or seance. Are the ghosts in charge? I am just not sure.

One more story. This one is pretty funny in my opinion. I'd been thinking for a while about getting my hair done. Tyler doesn't want me to dye my hair because of the crazy upkeep at the roots. But I thought I could do a melt or balayage since it is at the bottom of the hair and it could keep growing with no upkeep. For those of you who don't know what a balayage is, it is when the hair gets lighter towards the end. So a brunette could have dark on top which changes to blond at the tips. Some people call it ombre. There are plenty of pictures on Pinterest if you are confused.

I set up an appointment and went in on a Tuesday. My friend Kellie does an amazing job, but she was worried about going too extreme, so she did caramely colors and not so much blonde. It was very cute, but not very noticeable. I told her Tyler would probably not notice. Hair wasn't really his thing. But no one in the family said anything...not even Robyn who knew I was going to get my hair done that day. I was not satisfied. I didn't spend money for results that only I could see. Kellie was happy to have me come back in and put in more blonde. So, Friday (carnival day, egg drop day, leaving for Idaho day) I went in and she put more pizzazz in my hair.

It was perfect. I loved it. The kids noticed right away. I was excited to see what Tyler would say.

When I first saw him, he was wearing sunglasses, so no go. But as we dropped off children and went to run errands, he took off his sunglasses and I could tell that he hadn't noticed. We dropped off his Grom, we stopped by the library and picked up books, we went to the school carnival. No go.

I should have just said something, but now I was curious to see how long it would take. To be clear, I was NOT annoyed or mad at him. It was just fine that he didn't pick up on it. But to me, it was very noticeable.

Later that evening, we drove to Idaho. We had lots of time to talk and I mentioned Kellie a few times. (After all, I spent a LOT of time with her that week.) He picked up on that.

"Why were you at Kellie's this week?"

"I can't tell you. I have a bet going with myself."

"Oh no. I was supposed to notice something, wasn't I?. Did you get your eyelashes done? No. Haircut? Did you dye your hair? I can't win. I am in trouble now."

All guesses. Poor guy. And the car was dark and he couldn't see anything.

He was not in trouble of course. As soon as we arrived in Idaho, he figured it out. I know in the future to just tell him when I get something done to my hair, no matter how noticeable I think it will be.

I took this picture in the car when we were coming home. I really like the balayage. Thanks Kellie.

p.s. Tyler always notices when I get new clothes. He is just attuned to different things.