Fourth of July...

The boy scouts place a flag in our yard 11 times a year - most the people in our neighborhood pay for the service which means we get to enjoy the view of flags waving in the breeze. I love it. My kids love it.

This morning Hallie was asking about the fourth of July and why we celebrate - so we had a nice history lesson. We learned about the star spangled banner and how it came to be. Google helped fill in the details that have somehow escaped my memory since my high school US history class. It was good to have a little refresher.

We live in a great country and we had a great day celebrating our freedom. Happy Independence Day.

4th of July...

We were in Idaho over the 4th of July celebrating our country with my family (second year in a row). We spent the afternoon in the park with at my parents ward gathering. It was all-american. Fried chicken. Watermelon. Snow Cones. Cotton Candy. Dunk tank. Face painting. And a whole lot of red, white and blue.




My mom got ready that morning and walked out of her room in an orange shirt. Hallie insisted she be more patriotic and even went as far as to go to her closet to pick something out. She was relentless and finally wore her down which led my mom to change to a red/white sweater. The power of persuasion.

Hunter waited patiently at the face painting station - far longer than it was worth. He asked Steve what was a football team that had red, white and blue in their logo - he ended up with the Patriots without knowing the team whatsoever, he was just happy to be patriotic!


I'm pretty sure Bennett giggled the whole time they painted the fireworks on his face. Hallie and Bennett were face painting twinsies with their matching fireworks.


Every time we turned around this kid had more food in his mouth. He was in heaven.


Cannon got too close to Hunter's cotton candy with his wet sucker. After getting sufficiently frustrated trying to get it off he stuck the whole thing in his mouth.

The potato sack races might have been my favorite to watch. They got laughing so hard it was hard to jump.

Pure bliss on that girl's face.

That evening we met up with two of my brother's families at the park. The kids rode scooters and we played frisbee and spike ball until the sun started to set and we made our way to a firework show.


Armed with glow-in-the-dark necklaces, sparklers and licorice we watched a great show where fireworks went off just in front of us and the boom of the firework vibrated in our bodies (my favorite part).




We got home late and the kids were filthy from being outside all day and had maxed out on their sugar intake - which by most accounts made for a pretty successful Fourth of July.

However, it was painful to have to wake them up the next morning for early church.

Father's day 2015...

I love a day to celebrate the fathers in my life. I live too far away to give my dad a big fat hug - but a Skype call is second best. He's amazing and he comes and helps me with my building projects which has strengthened my relationship with him more than anything else. I enjoy learning from him and take advantage of our time together.

My father-in-law lives close and I was able to give him a big fat hug. He's loving and generous in more ways than one.

And then there's Steve. He is a great dad. I don't talk much about him on this blog because he doesn't particularly like me complimenting him so publicly - but he goes above and beyond. The minute he gets home from work, he's with us - he's present.

He has made it clear that his family is his hobby. That's how he chooses to spend his time. And I emphasize choose because it's a deliberate choice he makes. We've had some stressful periods with school, work and church and yet those kids know that when dad walks in the door he's there to wrestle, swim, bike and play games with them until he helps tuck them into bed at night. He is actively fathering.

They adore him. And he adores them.

And he is everything to me.




The kids showered him with homemade treasures. I showed him how much I loved him by giving him noise canceling headphones with the agreement he can't put them on when I'm trying to talk with him!

Happy Father's day.

Easy Pennant Banner...

Here's my latest post at HowDoesShe.com - it's not too late to make some 4th of July decorations!

One of the easiest decorations that is in my holiday arsenal is the pennant banner. I use them for holidays, birthday parties, wedding and baby showers and more – I’ve got a lot sitting in my closet. And I think I’ve used just about every material to make them: Wood, paper and fabric. Wood is heavy and hard to hang. Paper is the easiest – but buying cute scrapbooking paper isn’t always cheap. Fabric is my favorite because of the durability – but its also the most time consuming because you have to finish edges (unless you’re going with burlap and frayed edges is expected.)

But here’s my secret weapon- use oilcloth fabric and you don’t have to finish the edges and they don’t fray. You get the best of both worlds. Here’s a decoration you can hammer out in 20 mins.

Buy some festive oilcloth – think washable tablecloth material. I’ve seen some fabric stores with great selection but it’s hit or miss. I usually buy oil-cloth online – even then selection is not near what it is for fabric.


Easy Pennant Banner Tutorial
Cut strips of fabric (mine were 6″) and then cut out the shapes of your choice. Triangles are always a safe route. Squares are fun. Sometimes I mix it up like I did for this patriotic banner and mix shapes.


The next secret weapon to make this project a breeze: extra wide double fold bias tape. It’s double fold which means all the edges are finished.

I like to lay the tape out and line them all up so I can adjust what needs to be adjusted. Then slip your fabric in the tape and sew from one edge of the tape to the other. I’ve done enough of these that I usually pin the first flag and eyeball the rest.

You’re done. I wasn’t kidding about this being a 20 min project. 15 minutes of cutting. 5 minutes of sewing. It took me longer to get a step stool and hang it than it did to make it.

Easy Pennant Banner TutorialI had some scraps and made a miniature pennant for our chalkboard. I didn’t have extra bias tape so I ran the sewing machine from one piece of fabric to the other with a half inch gap and it worked great.

Happy decorating!

Father's Day Ideas...

Father's day is around the corner and we're gearing up to celebrate Steve. Here's some easy ideas from years past that gets the kids involved that I'm sure will be recycled this year!

I think we need to recreate this picture with Cannon:


The kids like to give him homemade cards and candy posters.



The kids dressed in "tie shirts" all day - and Steve had a matching one.



They fill out a questionnaire about their dad. (Download printable file) These always crack me up - like Hunter saying, "Dad loves to go to...meetings." who doesn't love a good meeting!

Memorial Day Weekend 2015...

Memorial day weekend: A chance to head to the mountains and enjoy cool weather, go to bed late, wake up early and eat a lot of food with some of our favorite people! Gathering so many Pothier's is no easy task, yet when it can be done, it's guaranteed to be a good time.

There was a summer kick-off party at the community pool that the kids enjoyed. There was nail painting, sno-cones, cotton candy and they were passing out sunglasses. These girls were in heaven!



Cannon wasn't entirely sure what cotton candy was. In fact, none of it ever made it in his mouth. He did use it as a wand and made sure to rub it all over his head. He smelled delicious!


Bennett practiced his cannon balls in the heated pool and stopped every once in a while to enjoy his treat.

Hunter spent most of his time and energy at this spot. He built and re-built and had cousins by his side the whole time. It reminded me of myself, years ago visiting my grandma in Montana, I had a pretty good fort going!

We played tennis. It's been a while since we played but it was fun to get back in it.




Sunday we went to church.


This picture was too cute not to post: My awesome nephew and his darling wife (we attended their wedding in NC) who are expecting their first kid.

After church we spent time gathered in one cabin. Eating, talking and playing games. So many fun games. Steve said Sunday afternoon was by far his favorite from the whole weekend.


We played hide and seek throughout the whole house - Adults vs Kids/Teens. I thought for sure we would win with my amazing hiding spot...in the dryer. First of all - it's a pretty small dryer. My brother-in-law and I were dying of laughter as I struggled to climb in. He hid right next to the dryer to make sure nobody accidentally turned it on! And even though I was the last adult to be found - we still lost to the kids.


We gathered that night for a family fireside - minus the fire. These kids sang a song and the older half of the cousins each talked for a few minutes. It made me grateful for all the great examples my kids have to look up to - they are some great kids.

It was a great weekend for lounging, meaningful conversations and to reconnect. The family as a whole is starting to change as more of the kids grow-up, go to college, go on missions, get married and start having families of their own. Seeing Rob and Kathryn pregnant put into perspective that our children will be closer to their cousin's children rather than their cousins.

And then I saw this picture and thought - A cousin is a cousin no matter the age. And this cousin was great to watch Saturday morning cartoons with Mr. B.


Grateful for these friendships and weekends like this to spend time together.