Blessing Day Party

Here are a few pictures from Olive's blessing day. Tickle, tickle, Eliot!

This was the big thing...Eliot was always wanting to play with my phone...Angry Birds, of course.

Everyone wanted to watch him.

Then we had some bow-tie tying instructions.

Okay, Paul- now you try it on your own.

No, you're not getting it right. Let Laura show you again.

Like this, Samuel.

Margo is learning too, so she can do it for Jaron (small world, Margo is friends of Nick's family from years ago. She married Jaron who is Bud's cousin's grandson).

Telling stories.

And the girl who brought everyone together, Sleeping Beauty, Olive.

Random Photos

At the Cheesecake Factory for lunch-

Balloon fun for Caleb's birthday-

Cute boy on a scooter-

And even though they're no longer a contender, here's the cutest BYU fan EVER!
Laura made the dress and hat- she's so clever!

Craft Closet

I rearranged my craft closet and was able to make it much more presentable. I've had this dresser inside here since we moved in. It's full of fabric. Other than that, everything used to be in cardboard boxes. Not cute. Everything is so much more accessible now.
Inside-out view...that's my vinyl for the Cricut tied onto the rod. On the wall you can see a heart-shaped frame. It's a picture of a Chinese guy that Laura drew years and years ago from a water spot on the paper. Below that is a note from Danny that says something like "If you cannot find me, Danny probably did not return me and I am upstairs. -Marker" That was written about 14 years ago. Then you can see a canvas photo collection that Laura made for me.
The hat was worn by Laura when she was two.
And now you see the cubby dresser I bought from Ikea. I was so excited about it. I measured and it was going to be perfect! I brought it home, carried it upstairs and assembled it outside of the closet all by myself. When I went to install it inside the closet, it was 1/4" too long. I had mistakenly measured the closet from wall to wall rather than from baseboard to baseboard. To correct my mistake, Bud removed the baseboard on the inside wall and all was well. Silly mistake!

His Favorite Food

Perhaps it was irreverent of me to take a picture of this, but it was just too precious to pass up.
This boy loves pancakes. He loves anyone to make them for him, but he especially loves his nana to make them for him.
I think he ate five pancakes. He likes them with syrup, no butter.
Occasionally, he'll have strawberry jam if it's homemade, but not today.
Here's his second plate of pancakes.
I think I love making them for him as much as he loves eating them. And guess what? I think my favorite food is pancakes too. At least, it's my go-to food when I'm stressed. I think I ate them for dinner three nights straight when I was called as the R.S. President.

Food, Glorious Food!

Here are the creations we ate on Olive's blessing day. There was a taco bar...
key lime mini cheesecakes (Laura's favorite- big thank you to Samuel for making that), and raspberry-topped panna cotta (Agnes' favorite)...
a chocolate cake filled with vanilla pudding and covered with pink stabilized whipped cream (we've been making this for Samuel's birthday for years)
an aerial view of the ruffles...
and mint Oreos covered in brownie. Or brownie mint Oreos. Or...well, you get the idea.
Those turned out to be LynnEl's favorite, almost.

Actually, I think THIS was her favorite. A sweet hug from Eliot (no, he isn't really sleeping).

At Least I Tried

It was Olive's blessing day.
What do you do on such an occasion?
You take a family picture, right? Come on, everyone, gather together...

oh, almost perfect...
let's try again. No, you guys, look at the camera...
smile...but not that much, Nick...oh, good one of Laura...
Eliot? Agnes, what are you doing?
Eliot, take your thumb out...
everyone, put your hands down...
is anyone ready at all?
Laura, she's still ready. Good job, Laura. Oh, and Olive has been perfect the whole time too.
Agnes, what ARE you DOING? Singing, as usual. Hey, Eliot is finally looking at the camera, but no one else is, unfortunately.
I guess I should have stopped after the first picture.

This next one will have to suffice.

Here you have "The Read Family."

However, check out Agnes' dress and Nick's bow tie. Laura made them, and the dress was even made without a pattern. I don't know how she does that! All the guys had matching bow ties, even Eliot. It was cool.

Mine and Hers, A Comparison

By now, you've all seen "the cake." But what some of you haven't seen is the inspiration for the cake. Here's one view of mine...
and here's an aerial view :)
Here is the model for the cake. It was taken from here. If you want to make one, use her tutorial, or if you want to see other pictures of her's, click over.
There are things about my cake that I like better, but other things about her cake that I like better. What do you think?