Pintetest DIY Project

Ok maybe not technically DIY I did have Ted's help with this.

I've been storing my necklaces in a craft box w/ little sections and it was ok but sometimes the wires got bent in an odd shape. I saw this idea on Pintetest and really wanted to do it.

I love how it turned out. It's funny how it really is the little things that make us happy.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (part 2)

So I was finally able to put together a quick girls weekend and it was to one of my favorite places...Park City! The fall colors were amazing, the nights and mornings were cool...all reminders of why for me fall is "the most wonderful time of the year."

We even found some time for crafting. Cute fall pumpkins and the story behind those stems is quite funny.

We let the teen/tween pick the movie so we saw Abduction which was very action packed.

It was great to get away and spend some time together we need to do it again. Thanks everyone for taking the time to get together.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (part 1)

Most often we hear this phrase at Christmas time...but fall really is a wonderful time of year (my favorite in fact.)

I took this picture a couple weeks ago at Fish Springs. It was really beautiful there. All the cattails were blooming (is that the right word? do cattails bloom?) Cattails are always something I associate with fall.

This weekend I'm hoping to get the pictures for part 2 of this post (the more traditional autumn leaves.)

What is your favorite "Time of the Year"?

Happiness Is...

I was taged by Penny and two posts in a week is a record for me but here goes...

To Me Happiness Is...

*A clean House

*Lunch out with friends

*A good book (and some free time to read it)

*Shopping trips with Sydney

*Bunko (when it's not at my house)

*An ATV Ride with Ted

*My tulips that had just poked through the ground before they were covered with snow

*Serving in the YW (they are such an amazing group of girls)

*Having all six of our Girl Scouts memorize the GS Law (bribery goes a
long way-but they did work hard and I'm so proud of them)

*Family that loves unconditionally

*The cutest, brightest, smartest, most adorable grandkids ever!

*Vacations (and you all know my rule: If there's not a beach~it's not a real vacation!)

*Friends who encourage and love you

*and finally Birthday's (they are not as much fun as you get older but they are a great excuse to get together with family and friends)

And the award goes to...

Ok so can we all agree that I win the worst blogger of the year award? But you all still love me right? right? Oh well!

I really do enjoy reading everyone else's blog and know that I do need to be a better blogger. So Penny this post is for you.

Since we had such beautiful spring weather today...not! Sydney and I spent a little while this afternoon making these cute hair clips.


Sydney is determined to grow her bangs out and I can't stand them in her face so hopefully these cuties will help us both! They are also very spring like which is what we needed today.

What Color Are You?

So I love a good personality quiz. Go here to check this fun one out.


I happen to be RED!

You boast incredible willpower and are capable of overcoming obstacles that would normally leave others shaking in their boots. You have a penchant for colorful environments and often impress others with your energetic bursts of energy. Your interests in many areas of life often leave you scattered, but when you focus you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

I don't know why the link is not working but here it is again: http://www.truevaluepaint.com/content/Color/ColorQuiz.aspx

Awesome Chore Chart

Can you believe it a new post-finally!




I just found this chore chart that is so awesome. You can customize it with your kids name and their chores.

We have been trying to come up with a system that will work for us so we're going to try this, it can't hurt.

If you have any suggestions for getting kids to help with household chores, I'd love to hear them.

Land of 10,000 Lakes

This years Polaris dealer meeting was held in Minnesota. I had never been to Minnesota so it was really fun to discover a new place.

Polaris combined 3 days of meetings into 1 and 1/2 realy looooooooooong days. The new product reveal was held at the Excel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul, MN. Despite all the crappy economic news, Polaris introduced a lot of new stuff including......

an all electic powered Ranger. Several other models were also updated and red is the standard color this year.


The second day of meetings were held at the Polaris R&D (research and development) facility in Wyoming, MN. We boarded the bus at 6:30 a.m. and returned back to the motel at 9:30 p.m. The R&D facility is amazing! It is a state-of-the-art multi-multi million dollar facility with an awesome test track.

With the meeting behind us, it was time for some fun (i.e. retail therapy) and the best place for that is:

Our first stop of the day was (of course)

the American Girl Doll store. What an amazing place. So many dolls. So many clothes. So many accessories. Not to mention the hair salon and Bistro. Sydney and I were in doll heaven (Ted not so much).

After about 8 hours of shopping we headed back to St. Paul for our RiverBoat dinner cruise down the mighty Mississippi.

The morning of day four found us at the Wabasha Street Caves for their "Gangster Tour" If you ever happen to be in St. Paul this is a MUST! We all had so much fun and learned so much about the history of St. Paul (it was a safe haven for gangsters such as John Dillinger, Ma Baker, and Babyface Nielson).

Our guide played the role of Edna Murray (the kissing bandit) and she was amazing!

We saw the gangster sights such as the Baker Boys house

John Dillingers apartment building

as well as other historic St. Paul sights

F Scott Fitzgerald's home

the Cathedral of Saint Paul

and the Minnesota state capitol

After a "Gangster" filled morning, we headed back to the Mall of America to the Underground Aquarium where we saw lots of fish, sharks, and seahorses. Then finished out the day with some more shopping and rides.

It was a really quick trip loaded with lots of fun!

Camp Cloud Rim

Sydney survived a week of Girl Scout camp (and we did too). She attended Camp Cloud Rim with another Girl Scout in our Service Unit. Camp Cloud Rim is just beautiful. Here are some of the fun things they did at camp:

Lake Brimal - they have soooo many fun things to do on the lake: swimming, kayaking, canoeing, wind sailing. The girls even do an early morning "Polar Bear Dip"


Granite wall - Sydney said climbing this granite wall was a ton of fun!


Mosquitos - I guess they have a pretty intense mosquito season. Sydney came home with over 50 bites (and she says she used the bug spray)

I am so proud of Sydney and that she survived (and thrived) at camp. I trully thought she would get homesick. I just can't belive how fast she is growing up.


This is part of a conversation we had on Saturday when I picked her up.
Sydney: (pointing out a couple of the girls who were really homesick) "...see that girl, she just cried to go home...can you even believe that!"

Sheri: "Didn't you even miss me at all?"

Sydney: "Well yeah~but not enough to cry about it!"

So needless to say, mosquitos and all, she is ready to sign up to attend again next year.

Out of a Blackout!

Yes~I am finally posting! Let's just say we have had major techinal difficulties at the Dearden House. If it wasn't for my Blackberry we would have been in a complete technology blackout.



But we are back among the technology blessed with a new laptop! Now to get all those files/pictures transferred. Hopefully you will be seeing more posts (with pictures) in the near future. We have had a really busy/fun/crazy summer, so we have lots to blog about.

What Book Are You?

My dear friend Shirley has this on her blog. She saw it on the blog of one of our favorite authors...so of course I had to try it.

You're Mrs. Dalloway!

by Virginia Woolf

Your life seems utterly bland and normal to the casual observer, but
inside you are churning with a million tensions and worries. The company you surround yourself with may be shallow, but their effects upon your reality are tremendously deep.

To stay above water, you must try to act like nothing's wrong, but you know that the truth is catching up with you.

You're not crazy, you're just a little unwell. But no doctor can help you now.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

So insightful...I'm glad to know I'm just unwell and not crazy.

Let me know what book you are.

Foodie Giveaway!

If you love cookbooks and cooking as much as I do, you have to check out this new blog. They are giving away a new cookbook each week as well as tons of other great food related stuff. Stop by and check them out! Foodie Giveaway

Google Fun

Okay so I read about this on the blog of one of my favorite authors and then my friend Shirley did is and the results were pretty interesting, so here goes…

You Google your name, but add “needs” (i.e. Sheri needs)

Here are some of the results:

1. Sheri needs to find out why she’s being contacted by a collection agency.
Nick better have paid his student loan this month.

2. Sheri needs help with Twitter. I can barely blog let alone Tweet!

3. Sheri needs to stop playing with Google. Yeah~but it sure is entertaining.

4. Sheri needs more data. cannot compute, cannot compute, cannot compute

5. Sheri needs a new phone since she dropped her phone down the toilet. okay I can totally see this happening

6. Sheri needs to get more sleep. AGREED!

7. Sheri needs more help please. I asked please. If you only knew how much help I need.

8. Sheri needs to reinvent what she thinks marriage should be. This one was very interesting...

You should try it. Remeber Google is your friend.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Yes this is about all we have done for the past two weeks~dance, dance, dance.

Sydney and all the girls from Dance Break Studio have been working so hard this year and the past two weekends they have had competitions in St. George and Parowan.

In St. George Sydney's group took 3-2nd place awards and a Gold. In Parowan they took 3-Superior and 1-Excellent.

Their final show will be this Friday @ 7 p.m. at the new gym if anyone wants to come.

I have to say that I am so proud of Sydney. When she got mono earlier this year, I took her out of dance for about a month, and she really missed it. On the day when I was going to let her go back, I picked her up at school and could tell that she was really tired. I asked her if she didn't just want to go home and rest and she just cried because she wanted to dance so bad. It has been very hard couple of months for her and with the mono the competitions just wipe her out, but she has worked hard and has not quit, and I am so proud. Good job Sydney and all the girls!

PS~I will post some pictures as soon as our internet is working again. (Yes it is down again)

Wicked!

Okay so I finally have something post worthy to share with you.



Sydney and I were able to attend the opening night perfromance of Wicked at Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. It was AwEsOmE, FABULOUS!, exciting, inspiring, intoxicating, stirring, moving, exhilarating (can you think of any more adjectives~it was all of those as well).

I was just about to sneak one quick picture of the stage before the show started as the usher told the people behind us that "no pictures are allowed!" so I don't have any pictures to share. You'll just have to believe me when I say it was incredible.

I was only slightly familiar with the storyline but was so moved by all the great messages of friendship, love, and "looking at things differently". The cast was amazing they just made you fall in love with each character.

We were able to get tickets thru Girl Scouts and after the performance they had a "Chat Back" with some of the cast and crew. Here are some interesting things we found out:

* They have 14 semi trailers full of sets, props, costumes, etc. (about 40 tons of stuff)

* They make Elphaba green with a water based make up and a green spotlight

* Yes! Fiyero and Elphaba really do kiss~aren't Girl Scouts so cute :)

* There are a lot of costume changes in the show and some of then happen very quickly. There's one that happens during the sceen when Fiyero arrives at school that happens in 11 seconds!

* A few members of the cast shared "their story" and they all come from very diverse backgrounds. The stand-by for Gilda was a Girl Scout. She received a degree in neuroscience before deciding that she really wanted to be in the theater.

I am so thankful for this great experience that I was able to share with Sydney. It truly was well....WICKED!

New Technology

Well you all know how much Ted likes to spend $. I have wanted a new cell phone for a while now, because the display on mine goes in and out sometimes it works sometimes there is just a blank screen, but I have just had to deal with it. Well this week Ted's cell phone quite working, first the buttons wouldn't work so he couldn't call out and then finally he couldn't answer so he decided it was time to UPGRADE!

and this is what I got:




Yes a BlackBerry! I chose the RED one of course. So now if I can just figure out how to run it. I have to admit that I have only ever sent maybe 5 text messages so this could be interesting.

FYI - Ted chose another flip phone similar to what he already had (he said he doesn't have the time to learn anything new)

Word of the Year

Since we were having so much fun in California for New Years, I really didn't have time to stop and think about resolutions, goals, etc. (I really don't like New Years resolutions anyways) But the past few days I have been seeing a lot of posts about choosing a word of the year and I like this idea. So my word of the year is:

BALANCE

This is something I feel I need to try to achieve in my life. Last year I felt that as a family and each as individuals we had too much going on. There were times when I knew that I was trying to do too much and I don't really like the person I become at those times. So this year is going to be about BALANCE. I know that we will have to make some tough decisions this next year to accomplish BALANCE in our lives and I'm sure that some people will be upset when we say 'no', but I believe the end result will be worth it.

I think a big part of acheiving BALANCE in our lives has to come from looking at yourself in a different way. I know that I cannot give 100% to my job, 100% to my family, 100% to Relief Society, Girl Scouts, etc., etc. 100% of the time (although I have tried for many years) I know that in order to acheive the BALANCE I want I need to realize that I can give 100% to my job when I'm at work and 100% to my family when I'm with them and everything else will have to take what they get.

So what do you do to acheive BALANCE in your lives? and what would your word of the year be?

We {heart} San Francisco

Since we didn't take any pictures of Christmas day we are just going to say that Christmas was wonderful for us this year and move on to the next exciting event in our lives...our trip to California!

This is a trip that we have wanted to take for several years, but never seem to find the time, but this year several things came together and I was able to convince Ted we really needed to go.

We left on Tuesday morning and flew into San Francisco. We had to wait about 30 minutes on the runway (due to fog in San Francisco) before we could take off, so when we arrived in San Francisco Lon, Sandee & Ann were waiting for us at the airport. We collected our bags and drove straight to the Golden Gate Bridge. Sandee had packed a lunch so we had lunch right there with the most awesome views of the bridge.

After lunch we decided to walk across the bridge (it is 1.7 miles) and the girls thought the first .5 mile was fun, but after that not so much. But I told Sydney that now everytime she sees the bridge she will be able to say that her mom made her walk across the entire bridge.

After we finished our walk we drove up the hillside just as the fog was rolling in and got some awesome picutres. The entire pacific ocean looked like a sea of fog.

We stayed and watched the sun set and then drove to Lon & Sandee's house. They live in Santa Rosa which is about 90 minutes north of San Francisco.

On Wednesday we got up early and headed back down to San Franscisco to Fisherman's Warf. We rode the cable cars from Fisherman's Warf to Union Square and back. I loved the cable cars (it was my favorite part of the trip). We had lunch on the warf and then went the Ghirardeli square (chocolate heaven!) We went to pier 39 and saw the sea lions and then finished out the day with a drive down Lomard Street.

I have to say the Lon & Sandee are the best tour guides we have ever had!

Thursday we went to the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. The redwoods were amazing (how can something grow that tall?) After the redwoods, we went to Bodega Bay Beach at the ocean. The ocean was cold, but it was water so of course we had to get in. We saw starfish and crabs and sea enenemies. Sandee helped Sydney find a sand dollar which she loved.

Friday was Ted's nephew Thomas' wedding at the Oaklund Temple. When we arrived at the Temple the fog was so thick that you couldn't even see the Temple from the parking lot (about 200 yards). During the ceremony Ted and I took the girls and Sam (Rex's youngest son) to the visitors center and were able to view some amazing bronze sculptures depicting the life of Christ. After the ceremony the fog had lifted enough that they were able to get some pictures that you could see the Temple in. We then went to the family dinner and then drove back to Lon & Sandee's. It was a very long day for everyone, but especially for the girls. It was so fun to be there with Ted's family. Thomas and Katie are such a cute couple and we wish them the very best (having a year and a half honneymoon in Hawaii should be a great start!)

Saturday we had a quiet morning and then decided to go to Lake Sonoma and to the fish hatchery. Lon also wanted us to see the area where the Prows family had settled (the Prows and Dearden family lines cross a few generations back) it was a beatiful area that is now mostly vineyards. In the afternoon we had just stopped for lunch when Sydney got sick (this was the only bad thing during the whole vacation) but after eating something she felt better and so we went to the movie Bolt. Then we came home and let the girls play, and play, and play.

Sunday morning it was very hard for Sydney and Ann to seperate. It is amazing that they usually only see each other once a year, but when they do see each other they are inseperable.

I just want to say 'Thanks again' to Lon & Sandee and their family for they great week that we had. We had so much fun that I don't think we will be able to wait another 10+ years to do it again.

What Holiday Drink Are You?

You Are a Seasonal Latte

Your holiday personality is energetic.
The holidays give you a bit of a natural buzz, and you tend to get a lot done.

You are an expert on the holidays, and people often rely on you for support.
You know the best places to shop - and the best seasonal lattes to drink.


What kind of drink are you?

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Today we celebarated Sydney's 9th birthday. We had Derrick & Monica and their kids over for dinner and then had cake and ice cream. (I left Ted in charge of pictures so what you see is what we got)

In honor of Sydney's birthday I thought I would share 9 things about her:

1. Sydney loves animals. If she had her way we would have a new pet every week.
2. Sydney is a good student. I'm so grateful that she likes school.
3. Sydney loves swimming.
4. Sydney is very independent. Probably out of necessity-but she can entertain herself for hours.
5. Sydney loves stuffed animals. The storage bin is always overflowing.
6. Sydney loves to dance. She is taking dance lessons--but her favorite is to just put in a CD and make up something.
7. Sydney loves her nephews and niece. She looks forward to Fridays each week because she get to go play with them.
8. Sydney is always willing to help.
9. Sydney is always up for an adventure...and I'm looking forward to many more in the future.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY! WE LOVE YOU!