I Heart Photoshop

On a scale of 1 to 10, my photoshop skills are about a 1.5. I'm totally self-taught so I never even know if I'm doing it right or if there is a better way. Regardless, I still have fun with altering my pics.

Here are some original and then "improved" pics:

Finger "PAIN"ting

Dale was away all weekend playing softball in Show Low so finger painting was one of the things I thought would be fun to do with the kids while he was gone. Well, fun until I realized I had an unbelievable mess to clean up!
This is what the table looked like after I took all the paper off:

Change

I was released from my calling as Relief Society Secretary today. I served in that position for 2 and a half years at it took me that long to start spelling "relief" correctly. Who else wants to put the "e" before the "i"?

Regardless of my spelling capabilities, I loved that calling and I loved serving all of the sisters in the ward. I learned so much and met a ton of people I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. I will miss being secretary dearly but it's truly time for a change. And that change is... Primary!

Dale and I will be teaching the 8 year olds together. Here's a moment of truth: I cringed just a little bit when they asked us to teach. I love teaching the kiddies, don't get me wrong. It's just that I've gotten really attached to going to RS. I'm totally going to miss it. I'm sure that as I get going on this new calling I will love serving in primary and not want to leave there either. I told Dale I was so happy that we were teaming up because now, I can slack off while he teaches the lesson every week! Kidding, I love to teach so this will be really fun for me.

And a huge thanks to Stacy Johnson (the pres.) for being one of the best examples of service I have ever seen. That woman doesn't stop. She must have figured out how to squeeze two extra hours out of every day because I don't think I could ever do as much as she does in a 24 hour period. I'm grateful to have served under her and to have learned so much from her. I understand that everything happens for a reason and it happens on the Lord's time so I gladly accept this change and I'm happy to serve anywhere He wants me to.

Graduation!

I can't belive my tiny baby girl is ready for Kindergarten this fall! She had her preschool graduation yesterday. I absolutely LOVED Tabby's preschool teacher Mrs. Tiffany. I can't say enough about her. She did amazing things with the kids.
Who taught my little lady to sit like this?Tabby and her good friend Morgan who is moving. We will miss this sweet girl!
Not graduated yet...Now we are!

I dunno...

I stole this quiz idea from blogging superstar Kim Skinner. Have to say, I hope it's not right because it makes me seem like a big fat jerk! I promise you I have no "urges to crush the weak."

What Alys Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Happy Anniversary!

This is Dale, hijacking Alys' blog again! Today is the 7th Anniversary of the best day of my life. It's the day that Alys became my wife. I still don't know how I managed to get her to say yes, as any fool can see that I must be a lucky guy to have married a girl that is way better than me! I am so grateful to be married to Alys. She makes me a much better person. She's my best friend and I can't imagine what it would be like if she wasn't mine. My wife is kind, loving, dynamic, extremely talented, righteous, a great mother, and very very hot! Here's the 60 or so more years, sweetie! I love you Alys!

GAAAAAAAA!

Everyone pretty much knows by now that my sweet little Ella is actually a very naughty baby. She is smart and cunning and she uses her mischievous powers to torture the rest of the family as evidenced here and here. But she has upped her game.

Last Saturday, I was out in the front yard washing the van with the kids when I looked up and Ella was out in the road. When she goes in the road, her punishment is that she has to go in the house. So I put her inside and quickly finish up knowing that she is unattended and all sorts of misconduct could be going on in there. Well, she proved me right. I get inside and see that she is covered in dirt (from being outside) and stickiness. I figured she had just gotten into the plates left out from that morning when we had waffles for breakfast. So I wash her off and put her down for her nap. Then, when I came out from her room, I see the real reason for her stickiness. WHICH IS THIS:
HALF A BOTTLE OF SYRUP!!!!! And she couldn't have just dumped it out on the kitchen floor. Noooo, she had to do her DIRTY WORK on the carpet!!!! It's almost like she said, "Sweet, I'm in here by myself. Partytime. I'm gonna get my mom back for punishing me. Hmm, what's the worst thing I can do? Ooo, there's a bottle of syrup. Let's see how bad I can mess her up with THIS!" She even left the bottle next to the spot as if to create a little display for me!

I've cleaned that spot over five times now and it still totally smells like maple. I did manage to get the brown stain out. However, it is still sticky so dirt gets caught in it and the spot turns brown again! Meanwhile, my house is going to smell like breakfast for the next 2 years.

She turns 2 in August and I think she and I need to go to therapy together before this gets any worse!

And if ya don't know, know ya know...

My favorite time of the year is here! I've been looking forward to this forever! That's right, SYTYCD!!!!! It's starting up again a week from today. This is by far my most favorite show ever. Please watch along with me so we can share the love! And now I will stop sounding like a 12 year old girl.

Slump

My crafting skillz have come to a screeching halt lately. It's almost like I don't even have the ability to try and think of something creative anymore. So, please help me think of what to do with this darn box! Something different. Something "out of the box." Ha Ha! Okay, sorry that was really bad. Anyway, I bought this thing thinking I was gonna do something cool with it and there it has sat in my office for I don't know how long, it looks so sad and bored. Any fab ideas out there?

Mama Mall

I have no idea how it started but for some reason, my kids call the new outdoor San Tan Mall the mama mall. Dale and I were supposed to go out for our Mother's day date Friday night but we couldn't find a babysitter so we decided to all go to the mama mall and play for a bit. And to maybe let mama buy a new shirt to make herself feel better about not going on a date.

Not many people can pull off the big glasses:

Rex is a soda freak and we hardly ever let him have some so this was maybe the best night ever for him:
We found this cute little guy:
Actually, he's not real. As soon as Tabby reached out to pet him, I made a barking noise. She jumped about a mile. What a mean mom! Rex was really nervous about the dog. He didn't know what to make of it.

We love the play area:
This is the first time Ella actually played on the toys. Usually she is trying to escape:
She's got awesome sliding skills.

What? Filthy feet? Me? Never!
I don't care what kind of shoes they are, Ella will get them off. It's more trouble finding the pair of shoes she chucked in a store somewhere than just having her go barefoot.

I know this is an odd picture but there's a cute story behind it:
These little sprinkler markers are all over the mall area right now. Tabby goes up to one to see what the picture is on it. Then she runs over to me and says, "Those flags mean we are supposed to watch out for reindeer." Well, obviously. What else could they mean?

Good Times

I had the best girls night with my sis in law Becky on Wednesday. She wanted to go to the fundraiser for Justin Bluth at Gelato Freeze so I came with. I didn't know him at all but it was still a good cause and it was neat to see just how many people showed up to support his family. And Gelato Freeze is yum. Go there.

Of course we had to stop at Old Navy which is in the same area. I love love love to find bargains and I did find the cutest black and white print dress on clearance there. I've gotten so cheap that I won't buy clothes unless they are on sale, clearance, or just plain inexpensive.

We had to stop at CVS on the way home. Who knew the drug store was so fun? They have these weird magnifying thingies in the aisles and they were great entertainment for us.
I thoroughly enjoyed having a break from my kiddos (I needed one) and hanging out with my super-fun sis in law!

My New Nephew!

Meet my new nephew Max! He was born on May 1st which was one month early. A bit on the small side at 5 lbs 14 oz. but perfectly healthy! Oooh! He's so snuggly! Good job Magi!

Midnight Cookies

I had promised Tabby all day that I would take some time and make cookies just with her. The day came and went and I wasn't able to find a moment to be with her without the other two kiddos around. So at bedtime, I told her to act like she was going to sleep along with the others so they wouldn't notice that she got to stay up. When Rex and Ella went down for bed, Tabby and I went into the kitchen to make sugar cookies. So sneaky.

How Apropos!

I found these kid's shirts while wasting time on the internet the other day.