A little bit of magic

I never mentioned it but Jeff had a mother's day/anniversary/necessity present in the works though we weren't sure how long it would take to get it.

But by some magic I got it sooner than I thought ta da...my first brand new washer and dryer set!



No more stuffing a towel in the dryer door so it doesn't run for 24 hours...

hopefully no more worn out clothes that have to be dried for almost and hour and 1/2

...and the best part...

Since they are side loaders with the controls on the front the whole family can do the wash!!!! Even Jacob and Ashley can reach them!

I'm sure everyone will be willing to pitch in right away...today is wash day...any takers????

Anyone???




This week Jeff and I drove out to Hollywood to hook up with my brother-in-law Joel and my sister Angela and her husband Robert to have dinner and watch magic at the Magic Castle...



This is one of those places that you can't get in without and invitation. Angela and Robert know someone who has "the card" to get us in. They gave me one for Christmas...last Christmas and we still had never been so we had been looking forward to it for awhile.

Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside. So you'll just have to imagine it. It was very eclectic, whimsical and dark. With holograms, pictures with bulging eyes, a haunted playing piano that took requests, interesting posters and pictures of famous magicians and past magic shows and a numerous bars to service all those willing to pay $12.00 a drink. (Another reason I'm glad I don't drink)

We watched 3 larger shows (even though none of the auditoriums were too large) and 2 small side shows. We saw card tricks, tricks with lights, slight of hand and our favorite comedy acts mixed with magic.

The first guy we saw was from Japan and all I can say is maybe sitting on the front row isn't always the best idea. I felt like I was watching magic secrets revealed 1/2the time...luckily it got better from there.

Our favorite was a guy that's been on Jay Leno. He was funny and sharp and didn't take his magic so seriously, he was there to entertain us and entertain us he did. Jeff and I had fun time even though we didn't last as long as the rest of them. We left LA at 11:00 or so and that was late enough for us.



This was my brother in law's last business trip before my sister Virginia has her baby so I had to finish her baby quilt to send back with him! She's going with the blue and brown theme so here's a picture of her blanket...



The next night Jeff took the boys to the Father and Son's campout and Ashley and I went over to a friends for a girls night out. We hung out and ate food and visited. The idea was to watch women's conference together but we ended up just talking over it the whole time.

That's OK because we had a lot of fun. I didn't get any pictures because Jeff had the camera but here's the pictures of the father and son outing...













....well you'll just have to use the magic of your imagination because Jeff didn't think to pull out the camera until it was already packed back in the car under a bunch of stuff.


And for my last pictures the progress of my wall painting so far...






I still have a lot of work to do but it's getting there.

I have to say the kids were impressed the first day they got home from school and there was actually paint on the wall. There had just been pencil marks up there for the last couple weeks and I'm sure everyone in my family was wondering when I'd actually get to the painting.

Taylor admitted to me that first day that he had been worried about what it would look like because it didn't look so good with the pencil marks up there.

The erased and re-erased pencil marks was really bugging him so he was really relieved when he came home and saw that the painting covered them up.

All the kids seemed really relieved that the painting so far doesn't stink too bad. I agree.