Pillow Talk

Hyrum gave me a contour pillow a few months ago and I instantly loved it. But I didn't love it as much then as much as I am loving it now. I just slept over at my mom's place for 2 nights and it had to come with me. It is made by LeachCo and comes with a washable cover on it.

It kindof makes me laugh because I've seen the movie "The Back-up Plan" and the Jennifer Lopez character can't sleep without it and gets kindof obsessive about it. I hope I'm not that bad but I am pretty possesive.

Last week I was at Costco with my mom and Livvy (Ella was home with dad, asleep) and we were passing by some Pillow Pet looking things. But they were different. They are pillows, stuffed animals, and sleeping bags in one. AND they are so soft and made really well. My mom, of course, had to get them for the girls. They had 4 different ones to choose from: a brown bear with brown sleeping bag; a pink hippo with brighter pink sleeping bag; a green dinosaur with green sleeping bag; a brown puppy with blue sleeping bag.

Livvy wanted the green dinosaur and she told Gamma that Ella would want the puppy. She was right, too. They were only $15 each and cooler than pillow pets. They are called Snuggle Buds and I have seen that Target and Amazon had them too but for more $. They are great. We brought them home and they had to get right into them.

Here is Liv's dinosaur when the bag is stuffed in.

It can detatch from the sleeping bag too. Honestly, Livvy has not slept in anything but in the green dinosaur pet since my mom got it for her. She has slept in it on the floor in the living room, on her floor by her own bed and at Gamma's house.
Here's Ella's Puppy. She stayed in it for a while and does during the day if we are watching TV or if she just wants to but she's still sleeping in her crib without being in the sleeping bag. We have, however, put the puppy in her crib with her and she loved it.

4th of July

...well, the whole weekend really. It was fun to have the 4th on a Monday this year so we could celebrate all weekend long. We spent Saturday with Abuela Alatriste. We BBQ'd Mexican - a way to combine our cultures. hee hee. It was so good. We grilled Carne Asada and Chorizo, had Mexican rice and tortillas with it. yum. Then we hung out for a little bit, did just a few fireworks in the almost-dark and went home. But I have to say that Ella was definately not a fan of fireworks at all. She cuddled in my arms the whole time. I even thought she was asleep but she was just hidding. Here a couple pictures of our evening at "Buela's" house.

My dad invited us over for anytime of day on Monday so we went early, before naptime, and let the girls run around in the "backyard". I say it that way because it is full of weeds and lots of other things. It's slightly hazardous and we could not be at ease the whole time we were there. They have horses, which is cool, but the girls could really get to them the way that he had the fencing. I only got one good picture while we were there. So, here it is of Ella.

Later in the day we headed up to my mom's place. It was going to be her last day living at her home in Orem and that made it a bitter-sweet day. I seriously was refussing to believe that the next day she would be leaving me.

But for the 4th, we had a classic BBQ at her house and ate in the backyard. My brother, Ethan, came over too. Here is a picture of Ella eating watermelon. It's a bit out of focus but still worth posting, I think.

We started fireworks early with Gamma too but had to stop since it started raining. It would go from sprinkling to pouring for a little then stop. It was crazy. I don't ever remember having a 4th of July with rain. It's probably happened but I don't remember it.

Ethan has always been the Pyro in my family. Not kidding. So, why not let the tradition continue? I don't know if he loves doing it anymore like he used to but he does it for us. So nice. He actually was having a lot of fun using up some old firecrackers he had stashed. It was a good show - minus the rain.

Ella got used to the fireworks and I was surprised at how good she was being the whole night. She had such a hard time with them on Saturday and did a 180. It made it more fun and I'm glad that the girls had such a fun time.

So, I guess for the 24th, Pioneer Day, we'll be going to Gamma's new house...? I'm not sure but it's more fun with more family.

chopped!

I have a lot of hair. I always have. I had been thinking about how I wish that I could leave my hair down some days during the Summer but can't because I have too much hair and it gets too hot. So, I talked to my hair stylist and she said she would thin it out a ton and that should help. I do that all the time so I knew I needed to do more. I was thinking that my hair was pretty long and I could donate it to Locks of Love if I had enough. So, when I went to Jill to cut it that was the first thing I asked. The minimum is 8 inches so that's what I did! I had her cut 8 inches off to start (all in a ponytail holder to keep it together and send it) and then she styled, shaped and thinned. It's been a long time since I've had my hair short. It was about this length, I think, when I left for my mission. It's been so long and I don't remember. It's fun to have a change.