A little taste of summer

some garage sale hunting with Darbulous. Got her up bright and early!

Taber 3 on 3 tournament, watching the Hubster play some ball!

Some beautiful sunshine finally!! Sitting out at the Dunlops hoping for a tan

The kiddies takin a break from the pool getting some sun

Showing the kids how to skip

Nothing I love more about Summer than BBQing!

Hangin out with Berkley Baby! She is sporting the headband I made her :)

Stake Conference Morning we headed over Mom+Dads in our pajamas for some breakfast. Crepes and Dad's famous omlettes. How cute is Brightyn?! 

 Mmmm nothing like homemade crepes. Custard, Fruit and Whip Cream!

Royski Roo having a "fruit taco"

Better than Cora's I tell you

Daddio cookin' up some Omlettes. 

 Ya ok we look bad, but we rolled out of bed and came over ok??....

Baseball Season

There's something about driving past the baseball diamonds in the summer that really stir up some good memories for me. We had 7 kids in our family so you grew up watching your siblings do pretty much everything. You got dragged everywhere. Someone always had a piano recital, choir concert, volleyball game, basketball game, baseball game, soccer game, swim meet, school play, you name it. We were always going somewhere. Baseball games were the best because there was so much freedom. We got to play at the park with all of our friends, catch foul balls, find money to spend at the concession. We got to run around.

This all began with my Dad. He was President of Lethbridge Southwest Little League for years, and was on the committee for 20 years before he eventually "retired" (we all know he still keeps his nose involved somehow!) He coached Shane, Steve, TJ, Brody, and many other teams my brothers never played on. My childhood best friend, Maggie, was my partner in crime because our brothers were always on the same team. We would hunt for foul balls and trade them in for double bubble gums. Sometimes our mom's would give us money to get a treat at the concession, or we'd run off to Turbo to get a slurpee or 5 cent candies. We would grab a full bag of spitz, suck the flavoring off and spit them out in the bathroom.

I would go and sit in the dug out with all the boys and they would teach me baseball talk, "here we go TJ here we go" " good eye buddy good eye". I thought my dad was so special when he coached, and I felt so special that I got to sit in there with the team. I would run errands for him, chasing after balls, filling up water bottles, finding bats, getting gloves. The dug out was my favorite place to be.

Even as a teenager my summer job consisted of doing all the data entry for Lethbridge Southwest Little League. Entering registrations, entering teams and tournament schedules, paying their bills, doing their bookkeeping. It was baseball all day all summer.

Do I like watching baseball on TV? Not really... but there's something about sitting out in the sun with a bag of spitz and a hot dog watching a game that is just absolutely perfect. Take me out to the ball game!

Maggie (3 yrs), Kylie (2 1/2 yrs)

Lately

Making: banana whole wheat pancakes 

Drinking: cherry limeade 
Reading: DIY blogs
Wanting: a bike
Looking: for upstairs tenants
Savoring: the smoked ribs Daddio made this weekend

Wasting: away.... I hope   
Wishing: I knew how to work Twitter
Enjoying: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Waiting: for my next holiday, road trip with Sharee and Nate!
Liking: all these facebook posts with newborn babies
Wondering: where that huge spider ran off to in my house 
Loving: F.R.I.E.N.D.S episodes
Hoping: for some more awesome garage sale finds this Summer
Needing: Watermelon. at all times in all places. 
Marvelling: over how many times I have to pee after eating watermelon

Smelling: the freshly cut grass
Wearing: my BSB hat and half tees. cannot live without them.
Watching: Nashville and 24 (Bauer is back!)

Following: Kim Kardashian's wedding
Noticing: my pasty white skin
Knowing: my extrovert limits
Thinking: a lot about parenting
Feeling: like glue gunning something  
Pinning: camping ideas
Giggling: over everything the primary kids do during church

Canvas Tutorial

I've been staring at this dead space in my kitchen for a while now. Last month when I went to Utah I was determined to find a cute canvas or picture set. I came home with nothing!! (disclaimer: I came home with LOTS of stuff.... just nothing for my kitchen... :) So I decided I would make exactly what I wanted instead, after all, that's the beauty of crafting!

I got 4 free 12x12 canvases from my sister so I decided that's what I would use. I started looking online for a printable template I liked that I could modge podge on them.

I printed off the printables I liked at Costco as photos

I used the "matte" finish modge podge so the canvases didn't show up super shiny. I applied a thin layer of modge podge on the canvas and let it set for 1-2 minutes before I put the photo on. Place the photo on, make sure it's perfectly centred. Then apply a generous coat of modge podge on top with a paint brush. Make sure the edges don't lift, and seal around the outside of the picture by painting modge podge around the sides of the canvas too. 

 Once they are completely dry hang them as you wish! Ta-da! Super easy. The awkward space isn't completely filled but it's a start.

Love them :)

BYU Women's Conference

My mom and her friends/sisters have been going to BYU Women's Conference for 10+ years (I know, my family is big into traditions haha, we have a tradition for EVERYTHING). It was my mom's little weekend getaway every year, which she totally deserved with 7 kids raging wild in her home. I remember her coming home uplifted, rejuvenated and more patient with all of us. I went for my first time a couple of years ago and I was excited to go again! This year we did a Pierson girls trip. My mom and 3 of her sisters, my sister Darby and 3 of my Pierson cousins came.

My Mom, Darby and I went down early to visit my brother Taylor, sister-in-law Kathy and their 3 little girls. We stayed at their super creepy house for 2 nights hehe. It's the house they filmed the horror movie Halloween 5 in, so for some reason that spooks me even more. They are renting out the basement. It was built in the 1800's so it was so fun to go exploring, and walk around the neighborhoods in downtown Salt Lake City looking at all the beautiful old houses.

these tulips had crazy frayed edges - they were so beautiful!

I couldn't wait to get my hands on little miss Story's strawberry blonde locks!! Did some cute pigtails one morning

Meet Verity, Story & Pepper. They are all a year apart in age and they are little bundles of energy! My sister-in-law Kathy is a busy mom! And she's pregnant with another little girl on the way. This picture pretty well sums them up perfectly haha

Verity doing exercises with Grandma in the morning

They love hanging out with Grandma

BYU Women's Conference

We stayed in the dorms on campus so it was fun to have everyone so close!! So many classes to chose from, I'm not sure which was more fun - the actual conference, or just being together. These Pierson ladies can get a little wild! After about 8pm you're in for a real treat. All the Pierson cousins grew up spending lots of time together so we are really close. (There are ~30 cousins just on the Pierson side) We learned, served, shopped, ate & drank (pop) till we burst!

Marriott Center filled with women!

Group Picture!

Barb and her 2 girls, Sharee & Crystal. Sharee on the left was my maid of honor at my wedding.

Mamma Ju and her two girls Darby & myself

Cousins

This picture about sums up these 3 sisters

Service

Sharee and I listened to Brad Wilcox's class while we made some cute sock bunnies to give to less fortunate kids.

Our sock bunnies!!

Some more service, modge podging a car set for some boys in places like the Ronald MacDonald house

It was Spring in Utah! Something Canada never got while we were away... we came home to snow. Some cute little baby duckies learning how to swim.  

Aunty Alice and I couldn't wait to try some dirty diet coke. But honestly I think the best part were those sugar cookies!!! One of the best I've ever tasted (and I make a dang good sugar cookie!) I gobbled it down so quick. 

Oh ya, remember that one time Crystal got an electric shock from the straightener? One of those not so funny/absolutely hilarious moments. I just had to snap a pic....

Shopping

I hate shoe shopping. It's one of my absolute LEAST favorite things to do. But I knew it was time to let these shoes go. I will cherish our 8 years together. I bought 3 new pairs of shoes on the trip.

The night before we left we were trying to unpack and repack both cars to fit everything, thank goodness for the thule on top of the suburban. I take the phrase "shop till you drop" a lot more serious now... 

Can't wait for next year!!