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Monday, June 30, 2014

winter in the summer

utah weather is crazy! people talk about having 4 seasons, but it's more like 2-winter and summer. sometimes winter shows up during summer, but summer rarely shows up in winter. a few weeks ago, the weather was completely crazy. the temps dropped to the 40s, and i was freezing my booty off. cold=super dry skin.
enter bare foot's new spa professional line.

i will try anything i mean anything to help my dry skin. this stuff actually works. my hands and feet are so much smoother after just a few uses. all the ingredients are from the sea, and i couldn't be happier. don't believe me, head on over to your local store and try it out for yourself.

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***i received this product from influenster for testing purposes***

mathis family reunites part 2...the sports

like most families there's a pretty big age gap with the cousins. i'm the oldest, and the youngest is 11. some of my cousins and my sister now have kids too so planning activities for everyone is a little tricky. there was quite a bit of free time during the reunion, but most of us ended up doing the same things including some sports.

my cousin eric and his wife love pickleball. some of the local cousins have played before too. even my grandpa got out and played.
granpa|jamie and christine
jamie and corey
troy and christine
zach

maybe it's not exactly a sport, but we spent a lot of time in the pool.
chelsea and kyler
karlee
karson|andrew and abby

my family never plays games, but the johnsons always love games
christine, troy, avery, corey, jamie, shaylee

shotting rockets at the park

cayden

i was too busy taking pictures to really know what was going on, but it seemed more like softball hitting than a softball game
dad
karson and grandpa







i'm a much better spectator and participant with the sports. there were a lot of people not playing so it was still a lot of fun. 

what kinds of activities do you do at your family reunion?
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Friday, June 27, 2014

mathis family reunites part 1...the food

most of my mom's family actually lives in the western part of the country, but since our family always lived far away we haven't been especially close with the extended family. we have a great time when we get together, but those get togethers don't happen very often. my grandparents celebrated their 60th anniversary earlier this month, and they both turn 80 this year. it's the perfect combo for a family reunion 10 years in the making. i wish i was kidding.

we took a ton of pictures, and i want to share them all/have them on the blog when it gets printed. that means this reunion might have a few parts.
the schedule
thursday-arrive when you can, swim, dinner, hike, dessert, games, catching up
friday-hike the red hill, lunch, pool/games/sports, dinner, talent show, more talking and laughing
saturday-rockets/sports at the park, lunch, children's museum, pool, dinner, talent show, pickleball
sunday-church, lunch, leave
it took months and months and even years of planning and coordination to get us all together, but it was all worth it. we all had so much fun catching up with each other. 
probably one of the biggest challenges is figuring out what to feed such a large crowd. my mom's sister, malea, did all the food planning, and she did a great job.
what's a party without the food?
 dad and grandma post eating
 david cooking dinner #1
 grandpa, jeff, jordan

 jordan, chelsea, kyler, karson, karlee
 david, abby, shaylee, troy, corey, leina

 zach, jordan, and the kids
 troy, corey, gale, dad, richard, cayden

 corey, troy
everyone was obsessed with malea's pellet ice maker.we all want one now.

we stayed in a house with a big open main floor-big enough to accommodate us all for meals. we started kind of sitting with our own families to eat but eventually mixed it up. it's funny how food is always the social thing. major thanks to malea for all the planning to make sure we didn't starve.

i'll be back monday with part 2...the sports.

do you live close to family? do you have organized family reunions? how often? please say more than every 10 years.


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Thursday, June 26, 2014

birthday fun

when you have a december birthday, a half birthday seems like a good idea. the problem is it never seems to work out. my half birthday was a few days ago, on sunday actually. i was pretty sick on sunday+sunday birthday celebrations are kind of tricky. despite being sick, i couldn't miss the usa vs portugal soccer game. laurann had a few friends over so we can just pretend it was a birthday celebration. i mean there was silly string and waffles sweet enough to count for cake.
waffles courtesy of flippin waffles

the other issue with this half birthday is i don't really want to celebrate it or my next birthday. i'm turning old, and i'm not excited at all. and now i'm closer to that age than my current age #freakingout

even though i'm freaking out about my next birthday, i do love a good birthday celebration. bethany is so nice and sharing her celebration with all of us. enter below for your chance to win a copy of 
the creative habit+$200 amazon gift card.

do you like birthdays? do you celebrate your half birthday?
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

patriotic pendant banner

i love all the holidays, but as i've gotten older the 4th of july has become one of my favorites. living out of the country for a few months during college made me more patriotic than ever. i got out my patriotic decorations at the beginning of june because i want to enjoy them longer. after making the spring pendant banner, i couldn't wait to make another one. it's a very simple banner than be done in less than 30 minutes.


supplies
banada in various colors (i used red, white, blue, and flag)
premade burlap banner
mini stapler with colored (blue) staples

1. cut 12 triangles out of bandana
2. lay out triangles in pattern (or lack of a pattern if you're like me. i prefer less of a pattern)
3. staple bandana to burlap with 2 staples
4. continue with staples until you are done
5. hang and enjoy

i cut the triangles out a few weeks ago. i actually had a little hard time finding the premade burlap banner, but i finally found it in stock at hobby lobby. i spent less than 5 minutes last minutes last night finishing the banner. i love crafts projects that are easy and can be done quickly.
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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

blogging the bach 10.6

is anyone else struggling a little this season? i don't know exactly what it is. i loved andi last season, and i was so excited for this season. maybe i don't love the guys. maybe i don't love the dates. or maybe it's because i can't really figure out this season. you know you've watched too much of the bach when you can predict what's going to happen before it happens.
i'm excited to have ashley co-hosting with me this week. head on over and check out what she has to say and make sure to link up your post below.
i've forgotten to include the bleachable moments several times so let's start there.
josh's scarf during the evening of the group date. i don't care how cold it was. that just didn't work or help his cause (more on that later).
cody's deep v neck shirts. i love a good v neck, but a deep v just doesn't do it.
in other fashion news...
andi's olive jacket in the beginning is great.
google image

chris is the token guy in pink shorts and actually wears them well and then we see dylan in pink shorts too.
andi rocks those sequin dresses
let's forgo the lessons this week and go for commentary instead
nick's 1 on 1
unreal, amazing, unbelievable, romantic (the place, not the date)
andi-"i don't find it attractive for someone to have enemies that easily". me neither andi. i don't care what nick says. that is a big red flag.
how could you not fall in love on this date?!?
nick makes me nervous. is it justified? or is it the edit he's getting?
group date
honesty is so important. lying is never ok with me.ever, but a lie detector date...
no one feels trusted and ripping up the results was very smart.
brian...after last week he's trying. andi likes effort.
marcus...convo gets awkward so let's just kiss-usually an effective bach strategy
josh...josh already feels like andi doesn't trust him=defensive. andi goes into attorney mode=defensive. convo is bad, and they're both upset. it doesn't get much better later. josh wants andi to trust him. andi wants josh to say he's falling in love, but he's not quite there yet. saying he really likes her isn't enough. josh is lucky he got a rose=andi really does like him and needs to get over her trust issues.
chris...unsuspected secret admirer. and here emerges chris...who obviously gets the rose
jj...a lot of drama seems to follow poor jj
cody's 1 on 1
does anyone know the latest episode someone gets a 1 on 1 and makes it to at least close to the end?
cody totally grew on me the past few weeks, but it was obvious he and andi aren't a good match.
he's really sweet on the date, and andi did the right thing and sent him home.
cocktail party/rose ceremony
nick steals andi right away. she loves it, and the guys hate it. i'm kind of with the guys. you have a rose. back off.
marcus is in love as we already know
brian writes more bad poetry (can we even call it poetry?)
things still don't improve for josh
andi talks with chris harrison and we wonder where he's been all episode. maybe andi needs a few more heart to hearts with CH.
thoughts on the remaining guys
nick...i don't like him. dudes should really be able to get along with each other.
chris...he might be my new fave. he's so cute and sweet.
dylan...how is he still around? prob because someone has to stay. 
brian...he seems like a great guy, but i don't think he's the one for andi.
marcus...all he talks about is being in love with andi. maybe he's in love with love.
josh...i still like him. i hope things get better for him next week.
word tally
journey...2 (not used much this season)
amazing...15
love...20 (i think we'll be hearing this more and more each week)
fairytale...0 (maybe that's why i'm not feeling it this season)
right reasons...6 (they're probably all there for the right reasons at this point although i still have my doubts about nick)
husband...1 (andi said this so many more times earlier on)
lucky...1 (very limited use of lucky this season)
connection...4 (i felt like we heard it a lot more than 4 times)
and because we all know it's andi's fave
stop it...1 (only 1. seriously)
week 5
week 3/4
week 2
week 1
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