Photoshoot

ALL the Blackwells got together for my parents' 60th birthday parties. It was so much fun! My cousin Laura came to take some professional photos. It was my Dad's wish to get a picture with him and Mom and all the grandkids for their Christmas card! What a fun thing to want for your birthday, right? Above is my grandparents with some of their great-grandkids.

(Allison looks too grown up in this one.)

All the boys!

Yes, we love our kids! My sister Lindsay has the great idea to
take a picture of the people taking the pictures- fun!

All the girls! Little Mataya didn't like sitting in the wood chips!

Thanks, Emilee- I borrowed these from your blog. :) Me and my

brothers and sisters. I love them all so much!

My smile is way too big in the above pic, I was trying to put all my weight on my 'little' brother there! My cute pregnant sister is on top!

The WHOLE family! It's amazing that Laura got such a great picture of this many people at once. I love you, Mom and Dad! Happy Birthday!

Target Optical and FREE kid's glasses

I know you may have already seen this over on Savvy Sister Shops, but, just in case.... I wanted to be sure that you know that Target Optical is giving FREE glasses to elementary age kids!

This was a great find that someone e-mailed to me and I feel it's especially helpful for families! There are only a few Target Optical stores participating in this, and they are all in Utah! If you know of someone that needs to buy glasses for their kids, please send this story to them. More details are here.

More dress-up fun at the Treehouse Museum

"I dub thee... Sir Thomas!" Tommy & his Kindergarten class had a field trip at the Treehouse Museum. He was chosen as the 21-year-old knight, the one that gets the armor! The Treehouse volunteer is showing the "king" how to dub Tommy in the pic above.

Yay! Sir Thomas!

The kids are looking at the knight's armor here! Ooooh... aaaahhh!

Preping for the armor helmet- first the little black cap... I don't know what this is called.

Next came to chain mail. Everyone in Tommy's class got to feel it before he got to wear it. It's really soft!

And... the helmet! It was really heavy, so he only wore it for a second or two.

They are acting out a story where the knight marries the ugly princess. The king lost a contest!

He kissed her (not really) and she turned into a beautiful princess! Whalaa!!
Next came the theatre where all the children got to dress up and play parts of the Three Little Pigs Story. Tommy was a crow. This group of birds helped the first little pig to build his house of straw. Well, the other birds are helping and Tommy is posing for the picture!

There we go... now he's a good little bird helper!

And to top the day off, one more dress-up: the firefighter! This was a super fun field trip- I'm so glad I was able to go!

Blonde Harry Potter

I don't how this got started, but the girls decided that Tommy should dress up like Harry Potter tonight after family home evening. It started out pretty innocently, then they got more and more excited about this- as you will see with these pictures! Tommy was a VERY good sport and an even better poser!

This one is where he sees the 3-headed dog!

That's all.... just wanted to share!

Mother's Day Walk at WSU

Tommy's still wearing (part) of his Sunday best!



We found this cool little 'trick duck'!

Mom fashion show

I was invited to a 'Girls Night Out' for Allison's Young Women activity. I knew that they were to serve dinner, but that's all I knew about the night. Allison had this huge shopping bag with her and told me that I couldn't look at it. Hmm.... something was up!

So, we get to the church and the place is decked out with flowers and a gorgeous display of the dinner foods. We played a 'Newlywed' type game where they tested us to see how much the mothers and daughters knew each other.

After dinner, the Young Women President announced that the girls brought some items to 'dress up' their Moms for a Mom Fashion Show. The girls were to dress up their moms with accessories and such and then tell special things about them. Oh boy, I knew why Allison was being so secretive with the shopping bag. I saw some of the other moms getting dressed up in things like gardening gloves and hat, one mom was wearing a Lowe's apron and bandana on her head, a lady we visit teach had curlers in her hair and a leopard skin print robe on, and another was wrapped up in a toilet paper dress.

Allison took me to the restroom where she said I should get changed. I was nervous about what dress up accessories she pulled out of the play area. We get into the restroom and she pulls out.... a bridesmaid's dress! (Yes, Melissa, the one from your wedding!) Allison took to heart the whole "Fashion Show" idea and thought that I should look my very best. She also brought my heels and a flower clip to put in my hair. I thought it was so sweet!

When I walked out in front of the other girls and moms, this is what Allison said about me: "My mom likes to think of fun things for us to do. But we can't spend a lot of money, so she makes a game out of pullling weeds and raking leaves. She also makes good food and she knows how to make everything homemade like bread and milk." She said some more things, as well, like she has a dress like the one she dressed me up in, etc. She's just adorable, and I wanted to share this story with you, and also have it recorded so I'll always remember.

Happy Mother's Day to all you awesome Moms!

Primary teachers

Tommy has these amazing Primary teachers. They are a retired couple that LOVE their huge 15+ kid CTR 5 class. We took them some treats about a month ago just to see them and chat for awhile. We met their 2 little dogs and noticed that their family picture included their dogs.

So, when Tommy came home from church last Sunday and told us that one of their dogs got run over the day before, we were really worried. It's all he could talk about. "The doggy ran out the back door and the car runned him over. And he died."

When Becca said the prayer on the food for dinner, Tommy scolded her for not blessing the Burkes because their dog died.

He also added another little tidbit about the Burkes running into a moose! What!?

Anyhow, we were worried for the Burkes losing their dog and we decided to take them another plate of cookies. What else can we do when someone loses something/someone close to them?

We get to the Burkes house, and their 2 dogs are running around the house! They were probably wondering why we were coming over with treats in hand... again. So we tell them that Tommy told us that their dog got run over the day before and that he was killed.

They said, "Oh, we told them about our little dog that was killed on Halloween two years ago!" Okay, well he got part of the story right. He just got the day that it happened a little off. At least we know that he's listening in Primary, right?

By the way, the Burkes had run into a moose! They had a terrible accident two years ago in Wyoming. They ran right into a standing moose on the freeway. Wow. They showed us the pictures of their truck. Oh my goodness! It's a miracle they are still alive. We're glad they're here to teach our innocent little Primary boy.

By the way, Tommy still scolds us for not praying about the little dog that was killed in car accident. :)