Random Simplicity

Creating toys and art with everyday things,

fun snacks to share at preschool,

shooting bows at the range,

enjoying cinnamon pancakes and caramel apple yogurt....

life lately is simply blessed :)

Snow Day! (Kinda)

This past weekend, we went to sleep with it snowing

and woke up to enough to actually get out and play in!

I dug through the storage boxes for our winter gear and got the kids all bundled up. Ryder loved it! He was happy as a clam out in the cold. Keaton pulled him around on the sled... and Taron and Cooper! He was a trooper giving rides around the yard! Everyone enjoyed it- except maybe our sorry little jack-o-lantern here :)

Cooper is Cooper is Cooper- he spends the entire weekend Taron and Keaton are with us in wound-up mode it seems like! Between them and his Dad, he's been taught well the art of tormenting and teasing! Good thing Taron and Keaton are such awesome, easy-going older brothers!

November Bride

Remember awhile ago I had mentioned that

my baby sister is getting married?!?

Well, it's right around the corner now and

my younger sister and I hosted a bridal shower for her last week!

We played a fun tiara/ mustache, he said/she said, 20 questions game that everyone really enjoyed. Ben and Cyndel both answered 20 questions and Lundyn shared the question and one response with everyone, then they had to guess whose answer it was! We found this idea here. And after searching for longer than I've ever searched for an svg file before, I finally found a cute tiara to cut from here.


Another fun game was one Lundyn saw here. We gave everyone a blank nametag and they put an acronym that told everyone else how they knew the Bride... so, for example, mine said "OOS" for Oldest Older Sister, Grandma Karen's was "CNS" for Cyndel's Name Sake, and so on- it was fun to see what everyone came up with!

Best balloon decor idea ever- string yarn through the tails once they are blown up! Lundyn had seen this fab idea via, of course, Pinterest!

And this game turned out awesome- just as fun for us as we put it together as it was for everyone else playing at the shower! We strung up pics of Cyndel as she was growing up and people had to guess how old she was in each one! Lundyn got this idea here.

These taffy skewers are so cute and simple and never fail as a great favor!

 

My little nieces are always so good and they made the party really fun- love this shot of Quincy with one of the bows from a present!

Yummy treats that everyone loved! Again, Lundyn had the phenomenal idea (yes, she was the brilliance behind this party for sure as I sat amidst boxes needing unpacked and Halloween costumes to finish!) to use donut holes instead of making our own cake pops! Saved us a lot of time and were still really yummy! Candy melts make anything scrumptious, eh? :)

Cleaning up and having fun :)

Now on to the wedding!

Congrats again, Cyndel- thanks for letting us shower you!!

And thanks Lundyn for letting me in on the fun of hosting!

Thanksgiving Printable

I love Thanksgiving time.
love how Thanksgiving is about gathering and family and goodness,
and lacks the same stress of Christmas.
(Not that I don't love the goings on of Christmas!)
Anyhow, I searched for a quote I could use to decorate for this season of thanks
and loved this one by President Monson...

 

If you right click and save, you'll have a 5x7 print. If you click the link below to download from my 4shared account, you'll have a 12x18 wall hanging. I just didn't want to upload such big files here!

The 12x18 is a size that Costco Photo Center prints for just $3! You can go to Costco Photo Center, create a free account if you don't already have one, and upload this file once saved to your computer. Then select print size 12x18 and go to your local warehouse to pick up- cheap and easy! 

Click here for the larger size.

UPDATE: I've received a number of comments requesting an 8x10 size print and,

without further ado, here it is! I was only able to do the multi-colored one,

but if you click on this image below, then right click and save,

you can print your 8x10 right at home :)

Happy Thanksgiving decorating all!

Trick or Treat!

Wouldn't these two have been about the cutest on your porch all night?!? ;) Just kidding, but they sure had fun in their ghost and Buzz Lightyear costumes! Cooper kept saying all night, "I just love trick and treating!" I think they were the highlight of Grandma Laura's night for sure. She had little baggies ready with four quarters in them for both of them! So cool to be so close that we could just cruise up to her house to start our night :)

Cyndel came to hang out with us for her lunch break yesterday- another awesome benefit of being where we are! She helped me make jack-o-lantern pancakes for the boys for Halloween lunch! (I know, should have been breakfast, but oh well!)

I had made Ryder a sweet backpack with the fins and tucked wings and all... but he cried and cried when he had it on! He was just uncomfortable and Stephen very tactfully suggested that maybe the costume was sufficient without the backpack. :( I was bummed because it took the most time of his whole outfit! But he was much happier without it and just as cute all in all.

And I realize these won't do anyone any good for a whole year now, but here is a free dowload of the decals I created to go on the Buzz Lightyear costume! Just click the image, then right click and save!

Hope everyone's Halloween was awesome!