Instagram Hates Me

First let me explain that my blog is in fact my journal, it is where I post what is happening in my life and how I keep track of photos. Instagram also helps me keep these things straight unfortunately Instagram decided it hates me (or pictures of sunsets) and barely let's me post and won't let me comment. I tried deleting the app from my iphone and ipad and re-installing with out any success. So I am going to post some of my failed Instagrams here so they can be preserved somewhere.

 This one actually did post but it did not post my comment. I had a couple of project I did while listening/watching General Conference this is the case I made for my ipad. I would suggest actually tracing out letters rather than just winging it like I did.

 My friend Katie and I rode our bikes down to Gecko Grill, it was fun having a bike buddy.

Debbie's kids came over last Saturday and we went swimming in the heated community pool. 

This little video was completely spontaneous Miss Grace just ran over to me gave me heart shaped clover leaves and then ran off singing and dancing. I added the song after, it is called Always Summer it is from the Brideshead Revisited soundtrack, which I don't really recommend but oh man I love this song.

These are pictures from the same day.

This is from The Riparian Preserve Debbie and Russ let me crash their family outing.

I LOVE the Riparian Preserve here are some pictures I took while going for a walk a few week prior. 

I felt silly with my iphone while all these people were walking around with professional looking cameras with huge lenses on them. 

Booking It

The Tucson Festival of Books was a month ago and I got to see my friend Elizabeth Eulberg again! We went to lunch, conveniently Cornish Pasty is just a couple miles away from Changing Hands. After lunch we headed over to Changing Hands for her signing and my dear friend Jenny came who I don't get to see enough came. Because of the Tucson book festival going on it was a small crowd for her signing but one of my favorites because first of all Elizabeth is super funny and super nice. We were able to all chat together and I made friends with some strangers. 

Then down in Tucson I got to meet Gayle Forman and hang out with a couple more of my book buddies Espe & Jen! Gayle was on a panel with Elizabeth & Maggie Stiffvater after their signing I asked Gayle while she was eating an apple to take a picture, it turned into a recreating the Twilight cover. 

 I wore my Team Adam badge and was able to hand them out to a few girls in line by us.

In the book Just One Day someone tells Allyson to have a macaroon every day she is Paris.

I had been craving one since I read it and when I was in Tempe I stopped off at Essence Bakery and got one in pumpkin, raspberry and lime, the pumpkin was so divine! 

 When I arrived at the panel and Elizabeth saw me she got excited and held up a doll, why because we have bonded over Jane Austen and she knew I would appreciate a Mr. Darcy doll. A friend had given it to her and sadly it was the last one but she showed me the tag so I could find it online. I was so excited for my Darcy doll to finally come so you can image my disappointment when I opened the box and it was Dracula! But I called the company they saw it was their error and sent me a Darcy and told me to keep Dracula so now Darcy has a friend.

And a few weeks ago Cassandra Clare came for the release of Clockwork Princess. She came along with authors Maureen Johnson & Sarah Rees Brennan, it was a fun event.

 But man it was a lot of books to be carrying around and they had us stack them a certain way and I some how had missed a couple books so I didn't have time to write my name on a sticky note for Maureen's book so I had to tell her my name and she heard wrong and I started laughing and she felt bad and then wrote that she has gone insane in my book, it was awesome!

Anyone who has gone to a book signing with me knows that I can get a little carried away talking about books or whatever when I meet an author. While Mimi and I were in line we talked about how we both realized that the first video Mimi really ever edited was the one we made for the contest Cassandra Clare did for an ARC for City of Glass. Which we did win one by the way! So for the first time Mimi did the talking and told Cassandra that we had made the video and how it pushed her into her now career path. Cassandra was sincerely touched and she actually grabbed Mimi's hand, it was so sweet. Blast the confounded pile of books in my arms because I could get to my phone so I could take a picture. I will sign off with the newest City of Bones trailer!

A Red Mountain, A Salt River & A Fort

Our office was closed President's day and Debbie wanted to take her kids to do something so we discussed ideas and settled on going exploring by Coon's bluff were we had been repelling when we were in high school. Well found a little park area on the way there and decided to check it out instead. 

 

We walked along the Salt River, found some sticks and played Harry Potter, Jungle Book, and I was a giant chasing Joe he would turn around and swing his wand at me. While Debbie and Joe went back to the car to get food William, Gracie and I built a fort using fallen branches. Debbie and Russ did not get a dog they were just dog sitting for a lady from church.

A Birthday and Galentine's Day

March is about halfway over I better catch up on some things that happened in February. First there was Debbie's birthday I offered to throw a real birthday party after her not so comfortable roast birthday party but she just wanted to spend the day by herself they meet up for dinner with the family, which we did.

We got her some pretty books, Les Miserables and Jane Eyre.

Also in February we remembered to celebrate the most awesome holiday ever.

Some people don't get Galentine's day they think it is an anti-valentine's day, but it is not it is just a day to celebrate your lady friends. Debbie and I invited our best ladies to meet up for dinner at The Olive Mill where we ordered pizza at candy and enjoyed an evening in each others company. Debbie made bracelets for everyone and I made rice crispy treats in the shape of hearts and little cards to go with. It was great and I hope we keep up with this awesome holiday!

Book Releases and Mustaches

Today is the release of my cousins husband Chad Morris's debut novel Cragbridge Hall, The Invetor's Secret. But Chad & his wife Shelly don't have much time to celebrate and worry about promoting this new book because their daughter Maddie is in the hospital recovering from getting a tumor removed from her brain. Chad wrote a lovely post last week...
"So, my book is coming out, but I don’t think about it much. Writing, you play second fiddle to a beautiful brave nine-year-old girl. You’ll have to wait and see what time I have for you. I have a more important dream right now."

In his post he also mentioned how Maddie thinks mustaches especially on babies are hilarious and so family,  friends and strangers have been posting pictures of themselves with mustaches on facebook & twitter to cheer up Maddie while she is recovering in the hospital.

Today I would like to do something small to try and make Maddie smile and I would like to spread the word  of Chad's book. I am going to go and get it this afternoon so I can share it with my nieces and nephews. 

If you feel like doing something nice today you could join the Mustaches for Maddie and post one twitter with hashtag #mustachesformaddie or send it to Shelly or Chad or spread the word about Cragbridge Hall, tell a niece or nephew get it for them for their birthday. 

 And some outtakes :)

The 50th Anniversary celebration

Did you guys know that my mom also has (I should say had) six brothers and only one sister as well? Her sister, my aunt Earlene and her family live in Idaho but they came down for Christmas every year while I was growing up. Needless to say we became really close with our Porter cousins and a lot of them were able to come for the anniversary so we had a small Porter/Huston reunion before the family dinner & reception.

We sat around telling funny stories and looking at pictures, it was very nice to laugh and remember fun times.

And like so many other times when they came to visit they were a huge help in helping set up. 

Do you remember how I told you I asked my aunt about my parents wedding reception? Well one of the things she told me was that they had an aluminium Christmas tree with turquoise ornaments. Debbie was able to borrow one and when my mom saw it she got teary eyed and asked how we knew. My aunt was able to give her a sly smile and tell her she had. 

Here is a dress from one of my moms formals and my dads letterman jacket that we had on display. 

 Party favors CD's that look like records and a playlist of some of parents favorite songs. 

After we finished setting up and getting ready for the family dinner/program. 

My parents original cake topper. 

We did a bake potato bar

The smoked meat was particularly good!

 I didn't have a lot of time to eat as we had to get going on the program. First we had the grand kids get up and sing Lollipop which was pretty adorable if I do say my self.

My brothers Clint & Mark along with a family friend Dusty played my parents song Sleep Walk and did such a good job and when my dad cried of course I cried. 

 We took some quick family pictures and then it was time for the real party to start!

We had a soft serve ice cream machine along with cones and root beer for floats. 

 We of course had to dance The Twist.

And it was so nice to catch up with old friends. 

It was a lot of work and a long day but to see my mom glowing like she was a new bride and see me dad chatting away with old friends made it all worth it. What I really loved about the whole thing was how there was so much that needed to be done and I never had to ask. Like when I was last to get my food some of the toppings were running low but before I had time to even look for someone to get more there is my brother Kent bringing more food. Our cousins cleaned up the food while the program was going on and my aunt spent all night in the kitchen washing dishes. I also went in to were the kids had been playing knowing it was a disaster and I don't think I mentioned this but I was sick and just exhausted so when I went in to the nursery and saw that the room was spotless I almost cried with relief. My dad told me my other brother Brett had cleaned it. I told my parents the next day to me that is the biggest testament of what great parents they are is how we work so well together as a family.

We did get my aunt out of the kitchen long enough to take a picture and I just hope some day I can be like these amazing women, they are my heroes. 

50 years in the making

Back in June of 2009 my sister Debbie and I took a last minuet road trip to Salt Lake a ten hour drive, it was then that we started planning our parents 50th anniversary party. We discussed things like classy 50's decorations, a family program, a dinner, music and so on. Then in March of 2011 my family was in Utah again for my uncles funeral and I got the chance to be in the car with my aunt Earlene for half an hour and I peppered her with questions about my parents wedding reception. Part of that first conversation we had was this is going to come fast we need to be prepared how happy I am that we lots of ideas before hand to choose from.
One thing that Debbie wanted was hand drawn invites and a map, unfortunately she did not have time between her own children's birthdays and her church calling so I had to do it. I have never really been one for New Years resolutions but in 2012 I decided that I wanted to draw and paint more which wasn't really hard but to share it more, which is the hard part for me (I did talk about this here). I am glad I had taken this challenge otherwise I am not sure I would have done the invites.

Both of my parents were born in Arizona my dad in Florence and my mom in Benson but both families ended up in Welton a very small town down by Yuma. My dad was friends with my mothers older brother who set them up in a hey Mike needs a date kind of way. My mom was 15 my dad 17 they continued to date through out high school. Once when visiting Welton, my mom was showing us the church  as we walked down the hall she stopped and gave a soft gasp as I looked at her she had tears in her eyes. She pointed to the phone on the wall and told us about how when she was at the church on a weeknight after teaching her primary class she called my dad who was up at ASU or working in New Mexico (I can't really remember which one) at the time and tried to break up with him. You see my dad was not a Mormon and she knew she wanted to marry someone who shared her beliefs. *Edit I guess I was wrong my mom set me straight Oh dear, do I have to be honest and reply that it was him who was thinking we should break up? I guess I do. It was him. I'm sure glad he changed his mind by that weekend. :) I remember thinking that if I broke up with him, he would join the church eventually, and someone else would get to marry him. All the emotions of that phone call had come flooding back to her. How glad I am that my dad decided to take the missionary lessons in secret while living in New Mexico, you will never hear anyone talk about Gallop New Mexico with more love than my father. Every time I read this in the Book of Mormon I think of my dad "...how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall ^bsing to his praise forever."  
Needless to say my mom trying to break up with my dad did not stick and soon they were together again both attending ASU. My dad told her they were going to go to some sporting event, something they did a lot of and back and then women wore dresses to sporting events. But instead they pulled up in front of a church were two missionaries were standing outside, that is how my dad told her he was getting baptized. Soon after they got engaged while sitting on a bench on campus at ASU. They were married in that little church down in Welton and a year later sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple. Now you know why I drew the little church in Welton, ASU and the Mesa Temple. I also drew the house us kids grew up in and the church we attended, it also where we held the reception. My dads parents retired to Heber a small town in the pines, my parents also lived there one winter. Debbie did not draw the invites but she did help me out with feedback and ideas, it was definitely a joint effort.