Last Day of Vacay

We were able to go boating with Andy's brother Jeff, and his Aunt Lorraine. The boys got sunburned but the girls did not.

Lukers, Andy and Mally at Sand Hollow:

Mallory in a life jacket:

Out on the boat:

Connor, Luke, Marcus and Anneke tubing

Unlce Zack made a neat sand castle that the kids promptly destroyed

Marcus and Connor kickin' it in the water.

It was a fun, busy and eventful trip, but we are glad to be home.

Day 4 to 5

We were better at taking pictures some places. On Thursday we had breakfast with Aunt Tummy, Dutch and Dane. It was good food. I had to laugh when Anneke ordered macaroni and cheese for breakfast, though. Then we visited Uncle Scott's story time. (He is really good.) We stopped at Ikea and ran into our friend's from Las Vegas. (Hi, Stacie.) We stopped at the Dittmar's and my children tried to destroy their home. Poor Andy saw visions of working overtime to pay for a damaged TV and got quite frustrated. We cut our visit short due to being tired. We spent a lovely time with Popi and Doreen. (Why did I not do better at taking pictures?)

Anneke's cake at Grammy's house:

We headed down to St. George. We had a great dinner and then Jamie and I went shopping. I love going places with her. It was really fun to pick stuff out for her baby girl that is coming next month.


Fireworks at Uncle Jeff's house.

 Snap Pops:

Connor and Landon are excited to have a baby sister. I suggested they name her Shivonne after Jeff's mom Shirley and Jamie's mom Yvonne. I am not sure what everyone else thought, but that is what I am calling her until they give a real name. :)
Landon practices by holding his cousin Mallory:

Day 2-3

We visited friends in Ogden on the second day and then traveled to Logan. We got to see Julie, Matt and their boys. It was great to see them. Why do I always forget to take pictures when I am with them?

We stayed with Andy's Uncle Greg. We haven't seen him since Marcus was about 4 months old. It was great to spend time with them. Anneke loved Alana, Marcus enjoyed Shaley and Luke just followed them around. 

Day 3 we spent on temple square. We watched the movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building then had a late lunch at the Lion House. 

I love this shot!

 Beautiful

 By the Beehive House:

 In the Church History Museum:

 Just looking at this shot you are probably thinking I am weird. But, I had the camera in my hand and Mallory stood up and looked at me. I quickly took this picture. Yep, Mal stands on her own now!

 A shot of me standing behind Gordon B. Hinckley's podium. (Not many shots of me this trip, so I included it.)

 We let the kids get souvenirs. Luke got Captain Moroni, Marcus got a Stripling Warrior and Anneke got a liahona necklace. (Andy got a Nauvoo sunstone belt buckle and I got a snowglobe of the Salt Lake temple that plays Come, Come Ye Saints.)

We visited Dave and his family then stayed in a hotel for the night.

Utah Trip Day 1

Mallory got her top right tooth today in honor of her grandpa's birthday. The first day of our trip was the longest drive. It felt so much shorter than last time, though. After visiting our friends, Aleta and Andrew, we went to Aunt Susan's house.

Here are 9 of the (soon to be) 14 Bahlmann Great Grandchildren (top to bottom) Johnathan, Luke, Hannah, Anneke, Mallory,Kayley, Amy, Marcus and Amelia.

We had FHE outside. It was so nice to be cool outside. Mallory eating her duck on Andy's lap:

Holly is awesome! She played with the kids and made things so fun for them. I love my husband's family. I know I am family and they are my cousins, too, because they treat me like it.
Anneke (holding a doll she dubbed *Annabelle, which she late used for her own doll.), Holly and Hannah

Amy enjoyed feeding Mallory things from the garden. We put a stop to it when we realized, but it was sure cute. Here the kids are waiting for FHE treat:

Aunt Susan's house just makes you feel comfortable and safe. Before we left in the morning she helped the kids make Shrinky Dinks. Anneke loved it.

*When I was little I wanted to have twins and name them Annabelle and Andrew. I had twin dolls with those names. I love that my daughter named her doll that with no encouragement from me.

Anneke's 7th

While other LDs people celebrate Pioneer Day we celebrate Anneke Susan's birthday. Yesterday she turned 7! It is so hard to believe. Here are some highlights from her day (out of order):

Since she is having a joint birthday in a couple of weeks we had friends over for cake and ice cream on her birthday:

First thing she did was open presents.

 Her spoils; an 18 inch Madame Alexander doll that she named Annabelle Jennifer Bahlmann, a wardrobe, a doll birthday set, some hangers, an Almond Joy (her favorite candy bar) a doll church dress and some doll shoes.

 Anneke was greatly disappointed that on the 4th of July we did not do a parade. So, I made many tin foil crowns for the children (and dolls) and they marched around the neighborhood singing "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked..."

Stay tuned for posts about our whirlwind Utah trip last week. It was pretty eventful.

"I made this for you"

This summer I had 2 crafty goals. 1) to learn to make hair clips for my girls and 2) to learn how to use my sewing machine. Done and Done. Thanks to my friend, Stacie, I can do both. She sat me down and helped me make a doll t-shirt. It took about 24 hours of work. I made a jean skirt to go with it. Anneke lot the shirt and I am so sad. Then, I began work on flower hair clips. I made 2 in an hour. Again, they were lost. I began to see a pattern, so I am doing other things now.

Anneke is having a small joint party in August. Since we are inviting 2 girls, these are the invitations:

 I found tea pots at good will for $2. Then I borrowed a paint pen. The information is inside attached to a tea bag. See:

 It turned out so cute.


This is a dress I made and am saving for Anneke's birthday. I got her an 18 inch doll with a dresser/wardrobe. This is all I have for it so far.

 Due to my frustration in making things for Anneke, I turned my attention to another child. I am making a Quiet Book for Luke. (Then after I figure out what does and doesn't work I will make one for Mallory.)


This page was fun:

 I'm gonna put the pieces in a drink cup on the side.


I liked this take on the classic face page:

 The front page:

 Paper doll page (It's gonna have a suitcase for the clothes and i still need to make shoes. I had to make up my patterns.)

 My favorite page:

 Not necessary for Vegas, but fun:

 My attempt at a bowler hat is sad and looks more pioneer than anything:

 Luke's favorite outfit:

They haven't been stuck down yet. I am trying to figure out the best way. These are only 4 of the 28 pages I have planned. I am excited and will post more pictures as they come. 


More projects to come. I have a fun idea for a head band for Anneke. I hope it works...

It's raining

While we were in Utah Andy told me that there was a huge rain storm. We were sad to miss it because it rains about 4 times a year here. (Seriously.) On Saturday it started coming down and we sent our children out to get wet and enjoy it.

I didn't get shots of them lying down in the river road. Mallory loved it. (my friend got pictures, so there is a chance i can get some.)


Check out the kids blog for more summer fun.

My book battle winner pick

I have been excited about judging the book battle for a while. The theme is Best Overlooked. (The best overlooked books in young adult literature.) Here is the bracket:

 I actually read 3 of the 4 possibles that could have made it to this bracket. I was pleased with the ones that were chosen. Here is my take:

 Intrinsical

By Lani Woodland

 YA, 2010

Intrinsical by Lani Woodland - This book is about a girl named Yara Silva. She is attending a private school and discovering her abilities as a Waker, a person that can see and interact with ghosts.


I was hooked from the start. It kept me intrigued and made me read it in 24 hours. It was a nice paced, intense read that was not as heavy and depressing as I thought it would be. It had a nice blend of creepy, humor and romance.


A's Take - Intrinsical avoids the whole, end of the world scenario, in fact most of the action is contained in one private school campus. The more I got into it, the more I was intrigued. Despite my best efforts, dang it, I cared about the characters. I wanted them to work it all out. I admit that I found some of the romantic notes rather cheesy, but it didn't pull me out of the book. Though I anticipated some of the reveals, the pacing was tight and I was pulled along by the roller coaster ride the protagonist was forced to endure.

Grade - A
A's Grade - A

Worthy of being overlooked? No. However, the book is super hard to obtain. It was not in my library system, which includes 12+ branches. I could not find it at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It was on Amazon, but that meant waiting for it to ship. We opted for the Kindle route since it was quick and we wanted to get our review in. In that regard it needs to be more accessible. The editor/agent needs to do better in promoting it. I really wish I had a hard copy to pass around. I think if you could see this book on the shelf and not have to really want to read it and know about it before it would be a best seller. 

Versus

The Grimm Legacy

by Polly Shulman

YA, 2010

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman- I was glad this one made it past the first bracket. The concept is so original. Friend deprived and neglected at home, Elizabeth gets a job at a library for items, not just books. A person can get things like a hot chocolate service, fondue pots, costumes, artwork, even chess sets. The part that intrigues her the most is the Grimm Collection. The items in there inspired many fairy tales and actually still work. Glass slippers, check. 12 pair of worn out dancing shoes, check. But, what can she do when things start disappearing?


I enjoyed the book. But, I did not feel the need to keep reading it and neglect all else. I know a book really speaks to me when I do that. The concept was fun, but it made me feel lost at times because I didn't know some of the fairy tales to which she referred. The characters were likeable, but kind of bland and predictable. The book went up and down when it came to interesting. However, the last 100 pages of the book were pretty intense and kept me reading. There were some fun twists and turns in the plot. It was enjoyable and lighthearted despite action. A definite read again book for me.


A says - The Grimm Legacy has a great concept, but doesn't really execute it well. For the level of potential, I didn't feel like they had nearly the spectacular toy scenes that they could have. The characters seemed to be a bit unrelatable to me as well. I honestly just didn't care about them as much as I would have liked. They weren't as vibrant and alive as I want my characters to be. Having said that, I did like that this wasn't an apocalyptic, end of the world kind of threat. It could have easily gone there and it was nice to see that there can be real threats to people that don't include the destruction of all of humanity.


Grade -  B
A's Grade - B-


Worthy of being overlooked? No. It is an original take on the fairy tale retellings so prevalent on the market right now. I had so much fun reading it and even had a few laugh out loud moments. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes fairy tales or fantasy literature.

And the Winner is... 


Intrinsical

Final Thoughts:

Me - I went in without any preference. In fact, if I am honest, I wanted The Grimm Legacy to win for the sake of the next round judges. ;) But, Lani Woodland told a good story.

A says - Going into this thing, I honestly wanted the Grimm Legacy to win. The idea of being able to use artifacts from the Grimm fairy tales was really appealing to me. I admit I knew pretty much nothing about Intrinsical and the fact that it was priced at $20 in print was a pretty big turn off for me.

But I couldn't hold to that after reading the books.

I won't say that Intrinsical completely TKOed The Grimm Legacy, I have to say it was a pretty decisive victory. I loved the idea of The Grimm Legacy, but Intrinsical was definitely the better of the two books. Now, if only the publisher could see fit to lower the price, I think they'd have a very successful book on the market.

Hogle Zoo

Luke and Mallory had their first visit to the zoo this week. We had a lot of fun. By the way, the double zoo stroller is fabulous!

 Behind the waterfall with Grandma. I love this picture because there are very few with my mom and her grandkids. (Even if her face looks smudgy.)

 Mallory in the zoo stroller.

 Sideways gorilla shot. Grandpa helped Marcus onto the shoulders. 

 I love dinosaurs, so, all the models around the zoo were super fun to me.

 I love this shot with Grandpa, Luke and Anneke. 

 Grandpa on the train with Anneke, Marcus and Luke.

 Luke at the playground.

I have some other fun shots, but they will just be sideways and that bugs me. Then, my camera battery died right after this.


Luke - It's a cramria.
Me - A cramria?
Luke - No! A cram ree uh.
Me - Oh, a camera?
Luke - Yes. A cramria.