ACTIVITY: PAPER BAG SCRAPBOOKS

I seriously have the best calling. I get to hang out with 5 of coolest the little girls and do fun activities. Tonight we finished off our 2-parter Mothers Day project and put together our scrapbooks!

At our previous Faith in God activity night we did all the prep for the scrap books. We did a photo shoot in a pretty little park area outside the church and  I had them each fill out a questionnaire about their Moms. (I loved reading their answers by the way....hilarious) 

So last night we actually put together the scrapbooks. For the book itself, I used brown paper bags. Once you fold them in half they make perfect little 5"x5" pages. Every alternating page has a little pocket from the top of the paper bag which can be used for thank you notes, drawings or whatever you like. We used them for some Mom-coupons.

What we used:

-brown paper bags

-scrap booking paper cut into 4.75"x4.75 squares

-twine or yarn (to bind the book)

-photos (we did a really pretty photo shoot with lots of flowers!)

-questions and answers about their Moms

-quotes from General Conference about Motherhood

-Mothers day coupons (find these here!)

-hole punch

-washi tape 

and here are some shots of of my pretty girls from our photo shoot:

MY NIECE LONDON

My niece London did some modeling for me yesterday. I had so much fun moving her around in the light and experimenting with my new canon EF 50mm lens. Thanks girl!

 

DATE NIGHT

For our Saturday night date night Dallas and I went to the Newport Pier to watch the sunset and then over to Balboa island to grab a frozen banana (and a balboa bar) at Dad's and walk around the island.  Balboa at night it seriously pretty close to heaven. Its astonishingly quiet, amazing views, cool ocean air and the best frozen treats around. We love walking around the waterfront and deciding which beach house we would buy if we had 3 million dollars lying around.

 A+ date night!

A VISIT FROM MY SISTER// MIPHONE DUMP

Yesterday I posted a portrait of Sara that I took while she was visiting me, but I have so many pictures on my phone I figured it warranted another post. 

//THINGS I LOVED//

• introducing her to hi chews and other awesome treats from our neighborhood Daiso Japan
• getting delicious Chinese at PF Changs
• getting late night frozen bananas in Balboa Island 
• HUGS 
• sleeping in and eating french toast 
• macarons at Honey & Butter
• doing nails and watching sleepless in Seattle at night (and then again in the morning)
• taking Sara on a tour of all of my favorite shopping spots in Orange County
• Going to ocean view open houses in Laguna Beach 
• bonding and watching the sunset at thousand step beach

MY SISTER

My beautiful sister came to visit me in California! I'm seriously so so lucky to be related to this human being.

A TRIP TO THE FLEAMARKET

Last weekend we loaded up the gang (Mom & Dad, myself, Reese & the kids)  and headed to Trade days in McKinney, which is this super fun big flea market that hosts hundreds of vendors. 

I have been getting really into flea market flip on Netflix, so it was really fun for me to look around and brainstorm/dream about the projects I would take on if I didn't have to worry about shipping back to California.

It really was such a nice day with the family! It was wonderful to get out and enjoy the sun, look at antiques and most importantly drool over all of puppies. 

She's an IT GIRL

Polka dot pants, top knots and cheeks that just wont quit...

Girlfriend is kind of an it girl, wouldn't you say? 

back in the backyard

Spring has finally arrived in Barrie (knock on wood).

Mara and I put our shorts on and headed outside to take care of chasing away the lions, catching all the baby tigers and drawing lots of friends for the backyard bugs. 

You know, normal stuff.

Engagement Photos

Even though it SNOWED all day today (thanks a lot Ontario), and I have a mild self-diagnosed case of strep throat and I missed tonight's episode of the Mindy Project, my mood is at an all time high. Why you ask? We got our engagement photos! And I am honestly so thrilled with them. We were so lucky to have had such a wonderful and talented (and not to mention beautiful) photographer who also happens to be my lovely sister Sara Bell. (find her here!and here!) 

Dallas and I really wanted our pictures to feel natural, candid and just capture how much fun we have with each other. We had a  strict "no balloons, bow ties, suspenders or picnic baskets" policy. Essentially we wanted to stay away from contriving a scene with props, and just keep it real instead. 

I didn't know how easy "trying-to-be-natural" would be and how attractive that would end up looking, but D immediately had me laughing and then it just snowballed from there. So it was easy. Attractive? I guess that's subjective. We can all be our own harshest critics, but I honestly wouldn't change a thing. The cracking up squinty-eyes, giggle double-chins, laugh lines and overly-animated storytelling faces, it's us. And it makes me truly happy inside to look at.

So here are a few...more to come