The One with 4th of July 2009 Part Two


Sunday, July 5, 2009

Here's how our 4th of July went.

We woke up around 7 and headed over to my Warner grandparents to help them clean off their deck and prepare for their annual after-parade lunch. Every year for the Freedom Festival people go up in hot air balloons which dot the sky. We were able to see a few of the balloons from the top of my grandparent's hill. Allie got much better pictures because she was closer so I might have to steal some and add them here later.
After we came back home and got ready and made cupcakes (see previous post) we drove back to the Warners, 'cept it took about 15 minutes longer than it should have because of the parade traffic.
Lunch was delicious, as always. My cousin James and Allison graced us with another rendition of "Rise." See previous, previous post.
This is my ENTIRE family on the Warner's side, including all the great-grandbabies, fiancees, etc. The only person missing is my brother Eric who gets back from Mexico in three weeks from tomorrow! Left to right: Ashley, Allie #1, Chris, Paige, Allie #2, Tom, Carolyn, Sneakers the dog, Sara Jayne, Tyler, Elizabeth, Maren, James, Katy, Tanner, John, Grandma Doris, Grandpa Ted, Cissy, Dave, Steve. Here's how we're all related: Grandma Doris and Grandpa Ted have three daughters: Katy, Cissy and Carolyn. Katy married Steve and they have four kids: John, Maren, Sara Jayne and James. John married Ashley and they have two kids: Allie and Tanner. Sara Jayne is going to marry Tyler next month. Cissy married Dave and they have one daughter: Elizabeth. Carolyn married Tom and they have three kids: Paige, Eric (missing from photo) and Allie. Paige married Chris and they have no kids as of yet. And a partridge in a pear tree.

After lunch we headed up to the Taylor family cabin in Sundance. I think this is my 4th year in a row attending! Here we are, chillaxing.Oh em gee. My cousin Leah is the CUTEST little girl in the whole wide world. If my kids looks half as cute as she does, I will consider myself lucky. I love her tousled locks. After lunch a few of us went on a "hike" up to Stewart Falls.

My cousin Benji, deeply enthralled and animated while telling us about the carcasses he found last time he went on this hike. It's so nice being married to such a merry person.This picture totally reminds me of all the trekking across the island in LOST.I know how to hike in style - I got these ruby red shoes in Paris. But don't let them fool you, on the bottom they've got some mad rubber treads which kept me on the straight and narrow.
Final destination: these beautiful falls. A li'l snake crossed my path. I thought it was a big worm at first. Twasn't.After hiking through the blazing hot sun, it was nice to cool off by the mist coming from the waterfall. This was the view looking back from the falls over Sundance. Sooooooooo green from all the summer rain!My mini me. Me.Uncle David letting Leah play in the river.
I heart sun spots. More more more!
Allie and her friend Bianca love getting their picture taken. Literally every 100 feet they would stop and make us snap a few. I don't mind so much, they make for great pictures to scrap.
They sure are cute friends!My lovely Malm and Dald.
Back at the cabin, we once again had to take a picture of the ENTIRE Taylor family, sans Eric. From left to right: David, Benji, Anissa, Leah, Natalie, Kenny the dog (Shelties are the Taylor family dog of choice), Grandma Cathie, Cat, Daniel, John Jr., Grandpa John, Carolyn, Tom, Allie, Paige, Chris.Here's how we're all related: Grandma Cathie and Grandpa John have three sons: John Jr., Tom and David. John Jr. married Natalie and they have two kids: Cat and Daniel. Tom married Carolyn and they have three kids: Paige, Eric (missing from photo), and Allie. Paige married Chris. David married Anissa and they have two kids: Benji and Leah. And a partridge in a pear tree.

We drove back to Provo to take a nap and then 'round 7 I went with my cousin Elizabeth to the Stadium of Fire.Four loud fighter jets flew overhead. Pictures for you Dald. Glenn Beck MC'd the production. He's a funny guy.
So much to see, so many dancers, so much fun.Then a pair of helicopters flew overhead. Another picture for you Dald. SHeDaisy performed first. I don't really know who they are, but they're from Magna, UT so that's pretty cool I guess. Then there was some more music and dancing. Finally the moment we'd all been waiting for: THE JONAS BROTHERS!! That Joe Jonas is somethin' else. Woooo wee!But seriously, they were very entertaining. The little girls were screaming so loud, it was hard to hear the dudes singing!The evening ended with a spectacular specticle of fireworks.About 10 minutes after the fireworks started, they stopped so this ginormous flag could be retired. Meaning, they burned it up. I thought it was sorta weird, but I guess that's the proper way to dispose of a flag.
Then the fireworks continued and ended with an awesome finale. The smoke-filled stadium looked a little eerie as we were walking out. But I like eerie so I took a picture.And that concludes my 4th of July 2009. See ya'll again next year!

The One with 4th of July 2009 Part One


Saturday, July 4, 2009

I instantly fell in love with Nichole's amazing 4th of July cupcake toppers featured on the American Crafts blog last Thursday. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, eh? Thursday was a very productive day at work :)

This morning after helping my grandparents hose off and straighten their deck for an afternoon party, I came home to make cupcakes. Everything was going great, the cupcakes were baking in the oven, I had the sprinkles and frosting ready to go. I went to clean off the beater blades and I decided I better not lick the batter because there were raw eggs in it. But then I realized I forgot to put the eggs in in the first place. Haha. I'm losing it. So Chris ran to the BYU Creamery on 9th (which was no small feat as there are parades and marathons all over today which close roads and what not) and he got me a new mix. An hour later, we had the cutest cupcakes ever, if I do say so myself:I saved this cupcake for myself cuz it was my fave.
Everyone else seemed to like them too because they were gone within 5 minutes after the prayer blessing the food. MMMmmmmmph. Malm and her eye make me laugh in this picture.This is only a slice of what my 4th of July has been like so far. I saw EVERY SINGLE member of my extended family (and then some! on BOTH sides!) excluding my brother who is in Mexico for just three more weeks. We had two amazing lunches, went on a hike to a waterfall in the greenest mountains I've ever seen in Utah, and now I'm off to take my cousin Elizabeth to see the Jonas Brothers at the infamous Stadium of Fire. Just like last year!

This has been one of my top ten favorite days of my whole life. More to come tomorrow.

The One with Allie and James Performing Rise


Thursday, July 2, 2009

I could never have the courage to play a mandolin and sing in front of 1000 other teenagers. But Allie and our cousin James have the courage. And they did. This afternoon.

The One with Samples for CHA Summer 2009


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I really should spread these out over a couple days so it's not so overwhelming, but shoot dawg, I just can't hold it in any longer!

This latest release from American Crafts is our biggest and bestest yet. Here are most of the samples I made.

I never thought I was much of a stamper, until we came out with some awesome stamps and I was forced to use them :) Now I'm addicted. I stamped flourishes in watermark ink across the background of this pink cardstock to create my own patterned paper. I also stamped flourishes in watermark ink across the green cardstock block. I used the same watermark stamping technique on the cardstock flowers and topped each one with one of our new pearl brads.

I'm all about our new style of ribbon: different sizes, different textures, different patterns. These ribbons, papers and embellishments are all from the new "Merrymint" line.

The new "Junior" line is probably my favorite release this round. Everything is just so darn usable and goes perfectly with pictures of my nephew Drew.

We've done some fun things with our "House" shapes. They've got flocking and foil and add the perfect finishing touch. This is all stuff from the "Junior" line too.

I've been wanting to share these Halloween layouts for over six months now! We designed the "Halloween" line last year but it's been on hold for release until the summer show. I love Halloween. It's probably because of the abundance of candy.

A couple more layouts featuring the "Merrymint" line. I luv luv luv these patterned papers.

Another new line is "I Heart You." It's lovey dovey themed and my favorite part is the yellow included in the color palette. Oh my gosh. We just came out with glitter buttons, three sizes of jewel brads, pearl brads, and glitter brads. Phew that was a mouthful! I can't help but put these new elements on everything. See above samples. What can I say, I'm a sucker for all things sparkly. Hint hint wink wink nudge nudge.

Yet ANOTHER new line is "Blue Skies." So cute for every day scrapbooking. Birds. Trees. Flowers. Clouds. What more could you ask for?
The very first layout I scrapped for this round of samples was one using Lindsey's balloon pictures.
And last but certainly not least, another sparkly card. I love me some monochromatic cardstock and piecing stuff together.
Check out the American Crafts Blog to see more new stuff. I'm so totally stoked about everything.
Paige Taylor Evans © // Quinn Creatives DESIGN