Red, White and Blue

Yesterday, ten years ago I arrived in the US of A. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!! I can't. Ten years already. Wow!

Time Away From It All

Tazling and I have been enjoying the sun, sand and "surf". Allyson invited us up to Bear Lake to spend a few days with her and the kids. We had a super time up there. Here's the proof:







Oh and "the girls" learned to windsurf as well. Technically though, is it still considered windsurfing if there isn't very much wind? Would it just be considered surfing? But, then again, there wasn't any surf. So all I was really doing, was standing on a board holding up a sail looking a little like a wally.







(Allyson was by far the best...the woman has skills I tell you...skills.)

No More Dirty Knees

I promised pictures of the munchkin getting her walk on - here they are. I call her my little monkey walker, cause she walks with her hands above her head and her little tongue out. Way too adorable for words.

Baby Steps

My baby has finally picked up the courage to let go of my finger and take her first tentative steps by herself. She is LOVING it! Today I sat on one side of her room, and she would hold onto the side of her bed, take about five steps and then launch herself into my arms. The smile on her face was incredible. Then I'd turn her around and steady her, and she would walk and throw herself against the bed in her room. It won't be long now and she'll be two stepping around the whole house. I'll post a picture as soon as I don't have to be as hands on in the process. Trust me - its worth the wait!

Rose Bowl Weekend

We debuted fern & lola at the Pasedena Rose Bowl in California this weekend. I was so nervous to go, to get feedback, and to just try and sell our stuff. What if nobody liked them? What if people told us it was a stupid idea? What if we didn't sell a single thing? The night before I didn't sleep, my stomach was in a knot.

We got up at 4am, packed up the car and headed out to Pasadena. We set up our little tent and waited. And, would you know people really liked our stuff. We had one woman wanting to represent us. A textile designer gushed over us. A woman who made and sold goods for Bloomingdales window displays told us we were amazing, and that we should be selling on Rodeo drive. And, they bought our stuff. We actually sold stuff. Even people that were just there to brouse or as something to do, stopped, asked us questions and gave really favourable comments. Even MEN! (and they weren't even gay). So we came away from the experience pretty elated, and ready to take fern and lola to the next level.

Check out our little set up( you can't really see it, but our banner has a border of leaves scratched into the paint. It looks much cooler in person), oh and especially take a look at Allyson's paisley design which I just lurve.

Whew!

I know I've been a little distant lately, but I have been oh so busy with my little life.

I'm flying to Los Angeles this weekend for the debut of fern & lola at a pretty darned huge craft market called the Rose Bowl. So, I've been painting my rounded rear off (if only that could really reduce the size of my posterier I would be a very productive woman). I also volunteer with the Family Readiness Group (FRG) for Mack's military unit, and so have been doing stuff for them. I also spent a fabulous 4th of July weekend at Bear Lake, where I just vegged. I am also in alot of pain and can barely walk with a bit of a hip problem ( I have to see an orthopedic doctor). I also have a very active one year old that has suddenly decided she can't function unless she's attached to my leg in some way. I also have decided that I really, really, really need a massage.

And thats all for now. More after the weekend.

Wonder Balm

I suffer from lip sores. I'm not sure why, but my lips are always dry and invariably end up cracking and bleeding at least once a month. These lip cracks are really painful, because once they scab over, every little face movement I make, breaks the scab seal and makes the lip bleed over and over, and, they're not very pretty. I've tried SO many products but nothing seemed to work.

My last cracked lip happened this weekend. I was not a happy chappy. The only lip ice (chapstick) I had was a tube of Alcare that I bought on my last trip to South Africa. I pretty much caked my lip in the stuff before I went to bed, and lo and behold, when I woke in the morning my lip had pretty much healed overnight. WOOHOO!!!

Can you say: Wonder product? (I have the vanilla one).

zzzzzzzzz, Huh!

I've realized, that one year olds are very selfish little people. Oh, and very disobedient.

Take this morning for example. The Taz decided that 5am was a very decent time to wake up. Not so for the rest of the civilized world. Taz however decided that because she was awake everybody within a 20 mile radius should be awake as well, and proceeded to scream and perform at the top of her lungs, till I groggily stumbled into her room. I then asked her very nicely to keep quiet and lie down and go to sleep and not wake again till at least 8am. Did she listen. No. ( I swear I saw the defiance in her eyes.) I asked her again very nicely, this time explaining that her daddy had to get up in an hour and needed this last little bit of sleep. Her reply - a spine chilling, ear piercing, eye popping SCREAM! I then went into full rant mode letting her know how selfish she was and that if her attitude didn't change we were going to have to ship her off to some wilderness training camp to break her spirit and get her in line. Her reply to this, was to slap me in the face.

So instead I just made her a bottle of warm milk, and rocked her back to sleep.

But don't you worry, I'm still the one in charge. Oh yes I am!

Happy Birthday little Pumpkin!

My little girl is one today. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I love you munchkin pie!

fern & lola

Well every body, let me introduce you to fern and lola - hand painted linens. A little business idea that I've had for quite some time, that has finally become a reality. Now I'm not doing this by myself. My friend Gillian and sister-in-law Allyson are working with me to create one of a kind hand painted table cloths (for now - we have so many ideas to expand we're about to burst).

We finally have some of our work up on Etsy which is very exciting for us. Go to www.etsy.com, under sellers we're listed as fernandlola, otherwise you can search for table cloths and you'll find us.

Tell everybody you know - please!!!! Also, if you have a blog and wouldn't mind giving us a shout out we would be super appreciative.

Yay for momtrepeneurs!

San Diego Fun

We spent a few days in San Diego, cause I seriously needed to get out of Utah for a little while. It was definitely what I needed.

San Diego Zoo - Loved this place, and so did the Tazling.







Swimming at the hotel - Miss Madam LOVES water.


Sea World - At the Shamu show, they do this whole thing where you have to put your hands together and wave your arms up and down to make Shamu splash you. It was all smiles and giggles, till Shamu splashed our side of the auditorium. Would you believe that the splash came in a straight line and hit only one person in each row of seats. Its true, and guess who the one person in our row is who got doused - exactly! The person on my right was bone dry, and Mack had a few drops on his shoulder. I however looked like a drowned rat and had rivulets of water running from each butt cheek when I stood up. Good times, Good times!


(Mack feeding the seals - Taz did not appreciate the noise)

(Taz checking out the bat rays)

(The bat ray that touched Taz's foot and made her FREAK out!)




(The infamous Shamu splash - I still can't believe I was the one that got wet - Mack was the one that wanted to sit in the splash zone. I can still feel my damp jean clad thighs rubbing together. At least it was a nice warm day.)

Santa Monica Beach - we spent a couple of days in LA with Gillian.






Lego Land - We didn't have much fun here cause little missy was too small to go on any of the rides. We'll visit again when she's 5 or so - then she'll have a blast!


(she did not appreciate the coolness of being in the sharks mouth.)

(Moi looking super cool in a borrowed hat - I sunburnt my scalp the day before - looking like a dork was far better than getting a double burn.)