23.12.08

Two Fast

Annie turned two today. I can't believe my sweet, tiny little infant has grown into a beautiful, hilarious, caring, curious, and smart little girl. Life offers no greater emotion than what we feel as parents. Her laughter makes me happier than I ever thought possible. Her tears bring me more pain, and her successes fill me with a pride I've never experienced.

I'm so grateful for my little friend who thinks my name is Mommy Kaye Mounts.

disclaimer

The following images may be too graphic for young viewers. Yeah, annie's second birthday party was pretty intense.






Annie blew out her candles like an old pro this year.


She unwrapped presents with increased finesse. 


Grammy and Bomp gave her a Cabbage Patch doll named Fern Trudy (special thanks to Auntie Peach for opening the darn box. She decided giving birth to real babies is easier).  Annie loves the doll; the name we're rethinking . . .


She especially loves Fern's shoes, and wore them all around the house.


Annie in her new kitty jammies from Gramma and Bampa.

Annie rocked out with her music maker set from Gramma and Bampa too. We're encouraging her to start a band in our garage.



24.11.08

Dough heads



We had a great time cooking the dough then smashing and mixing the color in. Annie loved tearing it into tiny pieces that were super fun to clean up. She made a snake, and when I asked her what his name was she said, "Thomas Kaye Mounts." The recipe is pretty simple and makes a nice textured dough (not too grainy like salt dough). It does leave a film on your hands, but washes off easily.

Playdough Recipe

2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornstarch

Mix with a fork until smooth. Boil over medium heat until thick. Spoon onto plate or wax paper and mix in color (if desired).

31.10.08

halloweena ballerina

17.10.08

public disclaimer

I knew it was only a matter of time before Annie said something uncomfortable in public. Yesterday at the store, a teenage girl was browsing near us when Annie announced that she needed to do her hair. The girl's hair was a little disheveled, and Annie kept saying it with increased clarity. "She need do hair mom. Mom, she need do hair."


So if your breath smells, your house is messy, or you're mildly obese, I apologize in advance. And if your kid has done something similar, please share to make me feel better.

24.9.08

handy tommy

I'm convinced that the Disney show Handy Manny is based on my handy husband. Except maybe the fact that Manny (and his tools) speak Spanglish.

21.9.08

Babies having babies


Annie has really taken an interest in her "babies" lately. She loves to push them around, read them stories, give them time-outs, slather them with sunscreen, etc. When she gets them out of the stroller she even says, "Come 'eer sweetie."


Annie's modeling debut

check it out here . . .



24.8.08

tom's pretend vacation

Thomas (being the fantastic husband he is) decided that during his vacation, he would re-roof our house. So Monday morning he began ripping all the old shingles and shakes off. Our house is so old that there isn't plywood sheathing under the shakes, just wide planks with 3" gaps between them. Tom removed a pretty good amount of old stuff that day. That night his manager called and said he'd heard that Tom thought he was on vacation. Oh dear. Turns out, his vacation was the next week. So we've been sleeping under the stars (sort of) all week and praying for clear skies.


So if any of you have been craving some good hard manual labor, Tom will be shingling our naked little house during the coming week, which is his real vacation.

(Oh, and thanks to those who have already helped out a bunch, namely Addison, Alex, Glenn, Stephen, and my dad).

hand-me-down

I wore this little dress when I was Annie's size. My Grandma Hammond made it for me I believe (mom please verify). Annie already loves to get dressed up, and I'm happy to oblige!

23.7.08

cabin fever!

22.7.08

The Exhibitionist




My neighbor Emily invited me over to watercolor with her. It's been forever since I painted. All the illustration and fine art majors at BYU-I  really killed my confidence.


This banana series was fun though. I'm glad I have an artsy neighbor!

5.7.08

fourth of july

27.6.08

critique please!

I've been working on a logo with my sister Amy, and this is what we've come up with. I'd really like some feedback from anyone. (Constructive criticism is welcome)!

Does it have quick readability? What kinds of things would you guess that they sell? Does it look professional? What was your first impression?

Thank you!

17.6.08

sizzlin' summer

The temperatures have gone up, and we're finally enjoying a little sunshine. These pictures crack me up because they're so classic summer.



11.6.08

summer?

Changing my header was somewhat wishful thinking. Our weather is supposed to be in the 70's by Saturday, but we woke up to snow this morning. Yes snow. Not to be confused with Sno-shack. Although I would rather have woken up to one of those.

6.6.08

06.07.08

So Tom’s birthday is here, and I’m feeling the pressure to do something monumental. While looking at others’ blogs, I’ve seen some wildly impressive odes to husbands, and I considered that option. After much deliberation though, I decided it is more my style to embarrass Thomas as much as possible, and in doing so you might be able to see what it is about him that I find so irresistible.

I present to you a slideshow. Enjoy.

why i love thomas

bookmaking

I don't usually post stuff that I make, but I just think handmade books at this stage are so simple and beautiful that I had to share. This is going to be a photo album for Annie. It's pretty darn big, so I've spent quite a bit of time on it.

Now to just bind it in pink pearlescent leather. I'm so excited!




1.6.08

Biker babe

So lately the weather has been perfect for riding bikes, and we've been cruisin' around the Burg a little bit. Annie loves this activity, and kept her little sunglasses on the whole time today. She's pretty funny just kickin back with dad in her shades. I think she and Tom would both prefer that I carry her once in a while, but I lack the coordination (at least that's what I say). So Tom is really getting a buff left bicep.

Yes we know we need a seat and helmet for Annie, and they're on the to-buy list. Donations are appreciated. We accept paypal, no personal checks.





This is the gruesome twosome all ready to go to church (notice Annie waving her little fingers off). Tom and Annie have been total buds lately. Maybe it's because she is realizing that he's way more fun than Mom, or maybe because Tom's hoping for a sweet Father's Day gift.

28.5.08

websters visit

Our friends Rick and Collette Webster came to visit a few weeks ago. Tyler tried to get Annie to ride off into the Arizona sunset with him, but she politely refused. We're still trying to get used to 80˚ weather. I think our little Idaho flower would wilt in Phoenix.


26.5.08

rainy memorial day

We went to visit the cemeteries where my grandparents are buried today. We got rained on, but it was nice to see how many people remembered and cared about my grandmas and grandpa.

Although Annie is standing by my Grandma Gunderson's headstone, this picture shows just how little Gunderson she's got in her. She's Thomas in a pink sweater.


Tia Lisa, Bradley, Zack, G & G Gunderson, and Great Grandpa Aden came with us.

29.4.08

girls trip

We (my mom, Amy, Lisa, Annie, and myself) went on a girls trip to Utah. Dallin got to come too because Bret doesn't nurse so well. He probably wished he hadn't though, when Annie tried to ride him like a horse.

Annie got her toes painted while I got a pedicure. She loves her pink toes and still gets excited over them. She was quite the little shopper, and it was nice to have lots of moms around to take good care of her. We packed every minute of every day, and came home on my b-day (#22)!




This is the car ride home, and sums up how we all felt.


16.4.08

Mild Addiction

Annie loves the movie Hairspray. She won't watch Baby Einstein, Sesame Street, or even SpongeBob, but she'll zone into Hairspray any time of the day. She starts dancing and even sings along (she has "GO-GO-GO!" down perfectly).
I think she's secretly hoping Zac Efron would go for her chubby cheeks.

27.3.08

pretty darn cool

So if you need some basic photo editing done, and don't want to use your hard earned stimulus money on photoshop, this is a great solution!


clipped from mail.google.com
adobe-photoshop-express-web.jpg

Today, Adobe releases Photoshop Express for the web.

Now before you go berserk, let us exercise some journalistic caution — it’s not everything you can do in Photoshop fit into a web browser. Not nearly.

No layers here, no fancy pants masking. But for 95% of your photos, it offers pretty much all you need to fix ‘em up, and it does it with style.

Whether adjusting exposure, white balance, or hue, touching up blemishes, or distorting your image, Photoshop Express provides an easy slider and thumbnails to give you an instant preview of your image at various settings. Even undo is better than you’d expect.

No, it’s not a Photoshop replacement, but it is a remarkably slick and well-designed basic photo-editing and sharing application. Arguably the best so far.

So what does it cost? It’s free, amigo.

Adobe Photoshop Express for the Web

blog it

26.3.08

Annie's art


we call it "Spring Meadow."

24.3.08

Easter 2008

I'm currently the Primary secretary, and since Annie won't be old enough for nursery for another 87 days, she runs around during singing time, trying to get the CTR 5 class to do the wave.

Since it was Easter, we were watching a movie about the Resurrection in Primary, and after they'd laid the body in the tomb and pushed the rock over the door Annie started yelling, "Nigh-night! Nigh-night!" I took her out to try and salvage some reverence and to have a good laugh.

Here are some pics of our Easter jubilee. It's fun now that Annie's old enough to get what's going on. She actually had a blast looking around for Easter eggs, and gave an "Oh WOW!" every time we opened one up.