Summer 2011 Wrap quattro: Baby, You're A Firework

I find that song to be really annoying. FYI. But it fits the title. 

We made it home from Pine Valley in time to QUICKLY shower and find a spot to catch the fireworks show. They lit the show this year at the new Heritage Park facilities. We parked at the church and enjoyed it from the sidewalk.

baby girl fascinated with the lights. and a well-timed shot for Joe.

couldn't quite get meself in the shot, but D looks handsome even with the lazy-eye stare goin' on,  so I thought I'd share anyhow.

did I mention that we got ready real fast? As in my hair is still wet and that face is fresh out of the shower? Sadly, this look is not a terribly uncommon occurrence. Meh. Oh and, I totally enjoyed Miss Millie's star flashlight more than she did. :)

Happy belated 4th of July!!!
I get to meet baby Clark (Brianna and Milan's baby boy) in a few hours- yippee skipee!!!

MY husband IS that ONE Cintas guy...

Too dang funny.
I got a text from David sometime last week telling me to turn the radio on to 94.1. So I did. I missed the funny conversation that he wanted me to catch the end of, but about a half hour later they did a quick recap of what Mark and Mercedes had talked about and I heard something about, "Mercedes thinks Cintas guys are cute". 

That was all good and fun and I got a laugh from it. But when David got home and told me the whole story I was rolling on the floor. 

Mercedes doesn't think just any Cintas guy is cute in their uniform, but she thinks MY HUSBAND looks good in his blues. She mentions where she saw this Cintas guy (Starbucks) and she thought he was cute, and that Cintas' blue uniforms look good. Well, my David is the guy that services that Starbucks.

Small world folks, small world, indeed.

Hopefully this link works and you can listen to the podcast from a few days ago.

this is not my husband. Just a google image.

When Mercedes asked if that Cintas guy she saw is listening and if he could call in, David didn't want to. lol. He says, "I almost did. But then I figured I didn't have time to talk, I was working. And it would have been weird."
the end.

Oh dear, what have I done?

So I sent this email out to the Robbins family last night, and I think it's pretty funny and want it in our "blog book". And because if you Robbins are trying to ignore my funny, but completely serious and sincere, email then maybe you'll stumble across it on the blog!!! I believe the phrase, "two birds with one stone" is applicable here.
It would be helpful to mention that I'm the primary chorister for our ward. It's fun and exhausting and stressful, but mostly fun. For those of you that don't know what a primary chorister is: I teach and lead the songs in church for the children ages 3-12.

Without further ado: 

Hi everyone,
Remember that one family home evening this summer when we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" and after the lesson I had a "Big Announcement" and you got all excited thinking it was going to be something really exciting, but then I let you all down by asking you to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever" in River Mountain Ward's primary program and now most of you think I'm crazy? :)
For those of you that weren't there or left early that particular evening, now you know what happened if you hadn't already heard. And for those that were there and didn't think I was serious about it because nothing else has been said about it since, this email is sitting in your inbox to make all of your worst dreams come true! :) I haven't sent a reminder/heads up sooner because 1- I'm a procrastinator. 2- In my mind, doing something like this isn't all that crazy because my [Stolworthy] family sings all the time. So it didn't really hit me that this family needs some convincing. 3- If I gave you too long to think about it, you all would come up with excellent reasons to not show up. So, I feel this 6 day heads up is a perfect amount of time. :)
I know you think I'm crazy, but here are some of my thoughts:
1) Our primary presidency really wanted this song in the program, and they wanted a family in the ward to sing it. Having already asked several different families to sing other songs for the program, they didn't know who they could/should ask.
2) I know this group isn't all for the singing and show choirs, but: having been an "outsider looking in" at this big ol' Robbins family basically my whole life up until two years ago, I have often thought how unique [and large] and truly amazing this family is! So when the question was posed to me if I could think of a family to sing, I immediately imagined what an awesome sight it would/could be to have as many of the Robbins group as possible up on the stand singing those powerful yet simple words.
3) There is power in numbers! I know most of you are not willing to stand up and sing in front of a crowd, but if a good portion of you show up, it won't be nearly as scary. So if you are one of the awesome people that do come to sing, and your family ends up being the only family up there, you can't get mad at me. :) Blame your siblings that didn't bring their family.

So here's what I'm asking/begging/pleading/wishing:
The program is THIS SUNDAY, September 18th. Sacrament meeting starts at 1:00p.m. I would love to have everyone be able to come, and everyone sing- Grandpa and GrandmaJune, parents, children, even the littlest ones that don't really talk yet. I know that that will be hard for those that already meet at 9:00a.m.
But here's the thing for those that don't want to go to a second meeting that day: you won't be sitting through another sacrament meeting filled with high council speakers or nervous teenagers [ not that I don't enjoy those talks]. It's the PRIMARY PROGRAM and all the kids are cute and fun to watch and it's always entertaining when that one kid totally yells in the mic and kills everybody's ears. Right? Right?
So, please please please PLEASE PLEASE: won't ya'll come sing with me? Well, I'll be playing the piano because my pianist said that song is tricky to play and she didn't have time to practice it. Which is fine. I just won't be singing with you. Remember power in numbers? 
I will make copies of the song for all of the adults. I will come to your house and practice with your family if you request. Or, you know, you could just sing through it (first verse only- how nice am I???) during prayer and scripture time each night the next few days.

So.....do I have you all convinced to come??? If everybody could respond letting me know if your family will or will not be there, it would be much appreciated [if you feel it necessary, feel free to inform me that you think I am ridiculous as well]. I left out Dan&Mel and Wayne&Dina, obviously because they don't live down here. I included Scott&Finis because I know they will be here this weekend. mwahahaha

And I think that's all I have to say for now...
I look forward to receiving all of your lovely responses!!!! :)

-Giulia
(please don't hate me after this)

Summer 2011 Wrap tre

We all ducked out of the reception early to get packed and loaded into my mom's Yukon (thanks Mom!) and on the road to Pine Valley. We, the Henderson crew consisting of Joe,Feesh,Millie, D&G, and Zach, got there safe and sound late Friday night and all piled into the tent that the Panaca crew set up earlier that day before heading down for the wedding festivities. 

Saturday morning we got our fishing poles ready, and Giulia figured out how to use her VERY OWN fishin' pole. David insisted that she get one. Thanks honey!

 

After waiting for the Panaca crew that never showed up, we decided to get some fishin' done.

 

And boy did we catch some fish. Everybody caught at least two or three, actually it was more like five or 6. David was getting upset because I was reeling in more than him. tehehee

cleaning the day's bounty.

Zachy brought up his fish fryer (I don't know how we had room for that thing on the way up; David is good at tetris, and he's the one who arranged all the bags and supplies, so of course he was able to make room for it) and got to fryin' up everything for lunch/pre-dinner snacks on Sunday. It was tasty! Even David enjoyed the few bites he was willing to take.

Just hanging out. Not the best picture of anyone really. haha. But proof that the Panaca clan did finally make it Saturday afternoon with the trailer and all the food.

plum worn out from all the fishin'.

everyone except the parentals and Miss Priss, who was probably taking a nap.

proof of Millie's attendance as well as her "shoes" and only a snippet of Feesh's awesome shirts those three days. bahaha. :)

Summer 2011 Wrap due

due pronounced doay (two)

Usually the big event that happens after a bridal shower is a wedding. Nothing crazy going on over here; a wedding is exactly what happened. 

A few pictures (that I stole from Courtney's facebook)

after seeing these pics I decided that I definitely need to get me some fringe (bangs). i'm tired of seeing my fivehead.

just 'cause they're so cute. :)

Summer 2011 Wrap uno

Not that this is surprising news, but I wasn't so great at taking photos of all our happenings and goin' ons this summer. Good thing that Felicia and her camera were always ready for most of anything that we did. The next few days will be dedicated to pictures and stories from this summer that have not yet been shared.

Tonight we'll start with Courtney's Berry Fabulous Bridal Shower, June 25th:

Bride to be with her Mom and Sisters (with her "berry fabulous bride" banner, which did not make it in the final crop)

The entry/exit:

we had a raffle entry (with ALL of the money going to the bride for whatever she wanted/needed), address your own Thank You (making the bride's life easier), and game score card pick-up

informative signs: "Help the Bride by filling in a few lines"; and "Keep BERRY CAREFUL track of your score"

And I promise you I did not put that frame around the "Thank you Berry Much" board like that. It must have been shifted to its photographed state and will forever be categorized as that awkwardly framed chalk board at Courtney's bridal shower.  Anyway...the party favor was Strawberry Jam. Delish. 

The Menu:

Berries, fruit salsa and cinna chips, cream-cheesed filled strawberries (thank you Little Lindsey!), all to use to one's chocolate fountain dipping pleasure, muffins, and ham&egg cups- which were divine (and never got pictured). Brianna was captain of the food department and she did a lovely job!!!

Everyone Mixed and Mingled and enjoyed the good food:

and really was that not good food or was that not good food????

and Brianna was cute and pregnant (I just got a text from her saying that she's at the hospital workin' on birthing a baby. YAYYY!) and my Mom was telling some sort of awesome story, I'm sure. 

Games Games Games:

As guests mingled, they checked out this display of some of Courtney's photos and had to guess her age in each photo. If you were within 2months or 2 years you got 1/2 point, if you got the age correct you got 1 point (or something like that, I can't remember exactly how I worked the point system the day of)

pardon my awkwardness. But this is all I have with the Wedding Jeopardy board in the background. Did you miss that, we played a fun, quick round of "Wedding Jeopardy" filled with questions about Courtney, Courtney&Addam, Wedding Potpourrie, and some other category that I can't put my finger on at the moment. Humunuh, I'm doing a great job at this summer recap. Good thing that I made the board and wrote all the categories and questions and can't even remember what I did...Memory, why have you left me?

Prizes for the games: Bath'n' Body Works goodies (lucky that they were having a huge sale at the time). And the grand prize winner for the raffle was a gift card towards a "Spa Day". I PROMISE and cross my heart that the raffle was not rigged in any way. In fact, I couldn't have been more surprised and happy that Brianna won the raffle! too funny. She used the gift card for a well-deserved eight months pregnant facial. :)

We finished with a video of Addam answering questions that were equal parts hilarious and informative. If Courtney guessed his answer correctly, she got to open one of her gifts. If she got it wrong, we took a dollar out of her monies from the raffle jar. (but we gave it all back to her at the end, 'cause we're nice like that)

Overall, we think it turned out great! I wish I had taken photos of all the little details put into the decor that only I would notice. After finishing last semester I had a huge crafty itch that was begging to be scratched, and planning and throwing this shower did the trick. Thanks for being my partner in crime, Brianna (who will be a mother very soon and who will have a perfect lil' baby shower in her honor in a few more weeks- still waiting to know the whole boy/girl thing before I send those invites out) and thank you, Courtney, for being beautiful and wonderful and getting married! 

hmm, never knew that I was the tallest. Yeehaw- I'm the tallest!!!

the end.

...until I remember something else and throw that detail in at random...

nighty night!

oh and...the day before Courtney and now hubby Addam moved back up to Provo, I finally finished their wedding gift:

I think it turned out great!

"God Gave Me You"

I heard this song recently and I've been thinking about the lyrics ever since.
it's been decided that I absolutely love them, the lyrics that is.
just thought I'd share:

"God Gave Me You"

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me
And watch as the storm blows through
And I need you

Cause God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
And for when I think I lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you
Gave me you

There’s more here than what we’re seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
And I’ll be the flattered fool
And I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
And for when I think I lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I pray we never undo

Cause God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
And for when I think I lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you, gave me you.
He gave me you. 

Dave Barnes and now Blake Shelton sing it. I like both versions. I'd heard the Barnes one a while back and enjoyed it, but Blake's voice and style are more to my liking.