worthy alternative?

An online search unearthed these alternatives. I like them also and they are much more affordable, but is it worth the compromise? What do you think?

The DKNY dress above would be for Sarah, from Macy's.


This one would be for Abby, from Dillards. Actually, if I could get by with a 6X for Abby, I could get them both the same dress, but I'm not sure I want to do the match-y match-y thing. Bloggers are such great advice-givers... keep it coming! :)

As our friend Emily pointed out, they would be good for many more things (Easter, family pics, convention...) so if you divide by the number of wears then they aren't quite so pricey. :)

Another option: Today we found out Mom will be coming for a visit next weekend, and she said she would help me try to sew dresses like the ones from Chasing Fireflies (I spelled it right this time) in the previous post. Now I just need to decide how much our time is worth. It might be a pretty big project for a weekend!

dreamy dresses

I've been thinking about buying the girls new dresses for the beach wedding we are attending in February. I really admire these dreamy dresses over at Chasing Fireflys.

The catch (there is always a catch) is that they cost way more than any reasonable person should spend on clothing that will only be worn, at best, one season before it's wearer shoots up another 3 inches. But, no ever accused me of being reasonable . . .

first ski trip

Crazy or brave, I'm not sure which, but we decided to take the girls skiing this weekend for the first time. One major piece of motivation was to get out of the ugly inversion that has the smog of the city locked in to smother us. We just knew that above the smog was a beautiful sunny day, and true enough, it was beautiful on the mountain.

Now I had visions in my head of watching them snowplow down the hill, but I totally forgot that you had to teach them to do that. I just thought they could do it naturally or something. :/ So, the first run down, when Abby was clinging to me and running over my skis, and Sarah was screaming, I was pretty sure we were nuts and just wasted our money. But, we survived the adventure, and we have sore muscles to prove it.

Abby did awesome. She is pretty sure she is a pro now. She does do a pretty mean snowplow.

Sarah, well, she might be a bit young for this still. She wore the smallest size of skis and boots and looked pretty cute, but... well, next year she'll be old enough to do ski school. We'll let them teach her. I think that is a pretty good gig, actually. Mom and Dad can get a couple of good hours of skiing in, and then we pick up the kids and they are new and improved!

Sarah spent the time skiing between our legs, like this. No wonder she wasn't thrilled. She couldn't see! Actually, as long as we were moving at a good pace down the hill, she was happy. But when we stopped, she commenced her crying. She would say, "Mommy, Daddy, you're in my way!"

Notice in the photo above how Tom is only wearing one glove and Sarah has one giant hand? Well, Sarah dropped a mitten off the lift, and by the time we got back down to retrieve it, it was gone. We kept checking, but nobody turned it in. Who do they think they are, walking off with a mitten like that? Oh well, it was so warm we could have almost gone without coats.


Here is the brave daddy. If it weren't for him, I'm pretty sure I never would have braved this adventure.

This photo was before we got started. Sarah was pretty worried and kept saying "I don't want to go sledding!" After wards we asked her if she had fun, and she nodded an adamant "yes". This was after a little catnap as she sat with Mommy in the snow while Abby took her last few runs.

Guitar Hero heros

When we were at the cabin over New Years I snapped this picture of Tom and Justin playing Guitar Hero. Don't you love the expression on their faces?

Fast forward to this weekend. Lee and Tawnya stayed with us last night, and we pulled out the Guitar Hero again. It was Uncle Lee's first time to try the drums (he plays in real life) and he did a respectable job. Of course, we haven't graduated from the easy level yet. So, we were playing some Steve Miller Band and Lee said "I wonder what it would be like if you actually played the whole song". So, he flips it up to EXPERT like he's a pro or something and I'm like "yeah right, whatever" and stuff. And he plays right through it. I didn't think Guitar could ever be anything like the real thing, but LEE, YOU MADE ME A BELIEVER!

lens play

I've decided to buy another new lens for shooting photos indoors without a flash. I find myself shooting in these situations a lot, and you need a fast lens. I borrowed one from work tonight to try out. So, I give you this Abby and Sarah silliness. My ISO was set too high so these are a bit grainy, but oh well. Better luck next time!

This is Abby playing the Wii.



And this is Sarah eating her dinner.

And finally . . .

. . . a link to my pictures from the cabin, as promised. (Sorry it took me so long, Tawnya!) You can find them here and order prints, if you so desire.

Here is a family pic from Tim's camera. My photos were over exposed. Oops. But here were a few photos of the "couples" that I thought turned out okay for flash photography. I wish I had one of Tom and I.



And last but not least, here is Abby on the snowmobile. Just wait. She'll be keeping up with the guys in no time.

All 4

I also wanted to post this pic of the 4 sibs from our weekend at the
cabin. Not the best quality off my phone-sorry.

Dentist time

The dentist said she was way better behaved than most 3-year olds. Can
you imagine that?

New Year's Day and Christmas all over again.

We are in West Yellowstone enjoying a weekend of snowmobiling with the Clarks. The cabin is very cozy and sleeps all 18 of us very comfortably. And that is a challenge!

This pictures are in no particular order. If Blogger would make it easier to add/reorder pictures I might make an effort to put these in order, but I am just not in the mood to figure that out at the moment.
This is the sweet and adorable Elijas. He had loads of fun diving into the wrapping paper when we were all done with our Christmas. While he was doing this, we were all sitting around talking about the things that were our greatest blessings and lessons in 2008. It was the best part of the night.

Gorgeous Tiffany

And her fabulous husband Justin, reading to us from "1001 movies to see before you die."

The lovely and beautiful Petra, bringing another grandbaby to the family in 2 more months.

Sweet Maddy, the youngest grandbaby at the moment. I bought this hat for her on Etsy and was happy when she didn't want to take it off all night. :)

I snuck a picture of this moment between Tim and Petra across the room.

Although they thought the only pictures they could get of themselves were the ones they would take of themselves. You see, they are quite used to this after living on an island for so long.

Dawson, shirtless and sweet.

Tawnya and Lee always make our family parties lively and fun. Love them.

I'm not the only one documenting the event. It's a good thing. I'm not so great at taking indoor photography.


I love the joy of these kids when they open their toys.


Tristin, the oldest and most wise of the grandkids. He is the one to set the others straight when they fall out of line.

Sarah bear.

This was our attempt to take a photo of all 8 grandkids. As this was taken, we were asking them what they thought #9 should be. I'm pretty sure "boy" won out.

If it weren't for Claude and Cheri, we wouldn't all be here, enjoying each other.

Girl cousins are so great. Hannah, Ilona, and Abby.

And, I'll leave you with Ilona's beautiful brown eyes.

New Year's Eve

We spent our New Year's Eve time with my family at Brad and Amy's house.

A game of Settlers of Catan. Try it if you never have.


Brad and Mom make homemade pizza. Soooo good.

My patient husband.

Grandpa is always good for a read.