With & Without

Other than thinking about taxes too much, here's what we have been up to this past week or so. I like to take pictures, but for many reasons, there are times when I don't take any pictures. Nonetheless, I like to attempt to preserve all memories, not just those with pictures.

Memories without pictures:

Thursday evening I spent a little time at a Humanitarian service project. That stuff makes me so emotional. We were tying quilts that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will donate to the people around the world suffering from natural disasters. I sometimes feel guilty that I have so much and I donate my time to helping these people a few times a year. I decided it would be really fun to start a quilting club. I don't hesitate to play Bunco once a month so why can't I gather friends for an evening to donate some time? Besides, the best part of Bunco is the visiting and that's easily done when tying a quilt. I'm serious. Who wants to join my Quilt Club?

On Friday we met some friends at San Tan so the kids could play at the splash pad. The weather ended up being surprisingly cooler than forecasted, so the kids got cold rather quickly. I think I was bummed that our outing wasn't a relief from the heat... since there wasn't really any heat... so the camera stayed put.

Saturday morning we planned to attend the Falcon Field Open House. However, after getting too little sleep, Clara started crying at 10am. We told her she needed to lay down for a minute and less than five minutes later, she was totally zonked out. She hasn't taken a nap that early in the morning for a really long time.

Saturday we went to my cousin's son's baptism in Queen Creek. It was my first experience attending a Catholic baptism so it was interesting to see how things are done. I am very fascinated by religious. Afterwards, everyone went to Lisa and Daryle's for food and a nice long visit. I figured I was having too much fun eating candy and talking everyone's ear off to get my camera. Even my cousin Rob was here from Washington and I didn't get out the camera. Ah well, pictures or not, we had a great time and I always love spending time with that family.

Lots of work... who wants to have memories of that?

Memories with pictures:
We went to the Zoo with some friends last Thursday. This picture has very little to do with the Zoo and everything to do with managing to capture one of Clara's hilarious expressions.

And if you are wondering why I would take a picture of my daughter falling into a cold stream at the Zoo, rest assure. She thought she was the funniest thing around and kept laying in the stream. Good thing we didn't stop at the splash park because I didn't want her wet. :)

Clara got her first "real" hair cut. I have been the only one to cut her hair up until this week. Lamar and I like to barter and this is how I requested payment. Clara was so good and loved it. The end result was darling. The bad news is, Clara has my fine, FINE hair. The good news is, with lots of hair product and lots of time styling, it can still be cute. Well, at least until she sits in her carseat for 30 minutes...

Friday was the crowning moment of Clara's week. Several months ago, Clara got to have a sleepover with Lucy and Elsa. She's been wanting to have them over to our house, but it's hard since I work Fridays. I had Friday off so we decided to capitalize on that and have the sleepover. The only mistake I made was telling Clara about it a week in advance. That meant every time I told Clara we were doing something, she'd ask if Lucy and Elsa were coming over after that. All week long this went on. At least I know she was excited. We started off with a princess tea party (Lucy and Elsa came over in dresses and by the time we had our tea party, all the girls had swapped dresses).

We also made crowns and wands, but mostly, the girls just wanted to play. Here are the four SLEEPY little princesses Saturday morning. I don't think they spent more than 30 minutes out of their dresses, not counting nighttime.

On Saturday we went to Ryan's party. Clara wore his batman cape around and carried a toy shot gun, telling everyone, "I am saving people" or "I need to go save some people".

Jason took this before church... and we were still on time to my 8:00am choir practice.

Man, I love this little goose. Only working on site one day this week was really nice. Lately Clara loves puckering dramatically for kisses and blowing kisses to me when I leave her room at night. Oh, the joy.