It fits!

My wedding dress has been lost for 5 years. I couldn't fit it in the car to take it back to Utah after my wedding, so my sister kept it for me in AZ until I could get it back. Very nice of her, I might add. A year or so later when I asked her if I could take it back to Utah, she said she gave it to my mom to store. My mom was on a mission at the time in Germany, so I emailed her and she said she doesn't remember getting it from my sister. It kinda felt like a wild goose chase. So I asked all my sisters (6 of em) to check their closets and see if they could find it. It's not like it's a small object, you know? It has to be somewhere. No one could find it. A year or so later, my mom gets back from said mission, and looks all over for it. ALL OVER. My poor mom probably checked all her storage 100 times in summer heat in AZ and couldn't find it. I'm sure she felt terrible, I felt terrible, and I gave up. Enter sad face here. I loved that dress...

Fast forward to, what? Three weeks ago, maybe? My sister said she found it!!! With her wedding dress. It had fallen to the bottom of the bag and she didn't know it was in there. My mom came to visit and go to Education week, and she brought it with her. So, of course I had to get it out and try it on...

Sorry, they're not very good pics. I not very photogenic in the first place, and it had been a long day. Anywho...

It fits!!! (Picture wicked stepmother of Cinderella saying this. I do.)

Note: There's supposed to be a full slip skirt on underneath to fill out the bottom. I didn't have one.
Laney freaked out when I had that dress on. I don't know, maybe she thought there was a glitch in space and time, and by me having a wedding dress on, it would mean she didn't exist yet. So to try and help, we dressed the girls up in their white outfits and took a couple photos.

Those outfits are adorable. They might have to wear them in our next professional photo shoot.

This photo cracks me up. It was chaos trying to get pictures taken. But, all in all, it was fun.

Now you must all go get your wedding gowns and take a picture. Go. Now. I promise, it's fun. :)

Sponge curlers and ballet

Lexi let me put sponge curlers in her hair one night, and she actually kept them in the whole night long. When she woke up she told me that she made sure her curlers stayed in. She really wanted to look like a princess with beautiful hair. It turned out super cute! I hope she'll let me do it again, because her hair was adorable. Her hair is usually 4 inches past her shoulder, but with curly hair, it looked much shorter. Anyway...

Lex had her first day of ballet class yesterday. She was so excited! However, I had to wake her up from her nap to go, so she held on to her silky until we got to the class.

It was so cute. My goodness, all those little teeny girls, running around on their tiptoes, trying to hold onto the bar, dancing around with parasols, so cute...

And yes, I do have another child, that loves to pose for the camera. She's still stinkin cute too.

Up next, I put my wedding dress on... details in the next post.

My August Project

K, so, our table was a $10 purchase from DI about 3 1/2 years ago, and the chairs we got from my grandma. I can't believe I went this long without doing anything with them! I swore to myself I wouldn't purchase a dining set until I had a significant enough house to use it in, so I decided to just paint the ones I have....


Before:

How yucky are those chairs? My grandma kept them so clean for so many years, and in just 3 years, those white cushions were not so white anymore... And they simply don't match the table at all.

After:

At least they look like they go together now. And they match the rest of our house decorations. What do you think? I think it turned out pretty cute! And we don't dread people coming over for dinner anymore...

Hyrum's great great grandson

I have to tell you about the coolest, most memorable experience I had last week. Brandon's old boss from BYU, Jim, invited us to go to Salt Lake with him. You know those people you want to be like when you grow up, and you can actually call them friends? Jim's one of those people for me. He wanted to take us up to the home of Eldred G. Smith, the great great grandson of Hyrum Smith. He was also the last general patriarch of the church, until they made that a stake calling. He's given over 10,000 patriarchal blessings. Can you imagine??

Anyway, we went to his home, and the first thing you notice is the spirit. It's almost tangible. They also have all these sculptures in their living room- all smaller models of those in Temple Square- of Joseph and Hyrum, Joseph reading the bible, the pioneers crossing the plains, etc. It was so interesting to hear Elder Smith and his wife explain all the paintings and sculptures.

They also showed us a lap-desk that most likely stored the gold plates, a stool that belonged to Lucy Mack Smith, and a dinner bell that belonged to Emma. All very interesting, especially to see the craftsmanship involved. Then came the incredible part- we saw the clothes that Hyrum Smith was wearing when he was martyred. So humbling and so spiritual. We saw the bullet holes in the pants- one on his knee, one through his back that went through his vest and pants, one on his shin. The blood on his shirt because of the bullet that hit his face. It is hard to describe the feelings as I saw these things. It puts you in the time period- in the place where Joseph and Hyrum lived, it helps you picture it all. It was also really cool to see how well-made the clothes were. I know that sounds dumb, but the care that went into making their clothes is pretty astonishing. The women in that time period were pretty incredible.

Did I mention that Elder Smith is 103 years old?! Wow. He's doing pretty well for someone that age. He told us all about the clothes, and they also showed us Hyrum's pocket watch that a bullet hit in his vest. And his old sunglasses. I didn't feel right taking any pictures, so sorry this post is so text-oriented.

I just wanna say it again. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. It was such an amazing experience.

Then we went to Crown Burger in Salt Lake. Dang good burgers. This is the picture you get when you ask two men who are eating to smile for the camera. Brandon's trying to smile and eat at the same time, and Jim's trying to scare me away. They're very serious about their burgers.

Thanks, Jeem. That was awesome.

Lexi's 'wedding'

My conversation with Lexi the other day...

C: Lexi, who do you want to marry when you grow up?
L: Mmmm, Daddy.
C: But Daddy's already married to me. How about Andrew or Roman? (Roman is a boy at the gym she has a crush on. Yes, she already has a crush on a boy.)
L: They're too young, Mom.
C: But they will grow up too when you grow up.
L: Mmm, no, I still want to marry Daddy.
C: But Daddy is already married to me. What will I do if you marry Daddy?
L: You can marry Roman.
C: Oh, thanks, Lex. So you get Daddy and I get Roman?
L: Yep. That way we both have husbands.

Where does she get these things??