AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I love my new haircut and color. Sharla, the best hair lady in the world, did an amazing job. I only wish I could afford to have her cut my hair every few months.  I definitely got what I paid for though. I’ve never had a better cut.  Sharla has naturally curly hair too, so she knows what’s up. 

Here it is after Sharla straightened it. It was sunny inside, I NEEDED my sunglasses.

Here it is after I colored it and styled it curly.  I get better at it every day. 

I’ve been getting a lot of jewelry lately and haven’t had anywhere to put it. It usually sits on my bathroom shelf which is NOT what a bathroom shelf is for.  So, I decided I needed a jewelry tree and that I would make my own out of natural branches placed in an empty IBC Root Beer bottle. We gathered branches and I got to work. Some of the branches didn’t have enough branch levels, so I used yarn and fastened a new branch on, kind of like what I’d do if I was stranded on an island and needed to tie logs together to make a raft (only I’d use vine or tall grass or something).

I spray painted the branches and put a few floral beads in the bottom of the bottle. These beads start out tiny and then grow bigger as you keep them in water. They’re slimy and kind of remind me of eyeballs.

When it was all finished I was very pleased. My dear Watson said it was definitely a cool invention. I liked that compliment.  So now my jewelry hangs on a tree in my bathroom. I’m not sure how long the tree will hold up, but for now it is gracing our bathroom with all of its natural beauty.

I made that thing on the wall. It's a bed and breakfast tray that I painted, painted a different color, sanded and mod podged those square pictures on (I got those pictures at Ikea - a 5 pk for $.99). I also arranged those fake flowers which now rest on my bathroom shelf. Flowers DO belong on a bathroom shelf. 

Happy Birthday to Me, I turned 23, I went to Girls Camp and I built a Sweet Cake

You can sing my title to the tune of Happy Birthday....out loud, preferably.

It was my birthday on Sunday. I turned 23. My dear Watson showered me with jewelry and a journal and a sweet card.  We ate at Red Robin (yesterday) and I'm going to get my hair cut with some birthday money. I got a pair of really cute shoes too that I wore to work the very next day.  I love birthdays. I think it's so much fun to celebrate an individual's very existence.

I went to girls camp last week--ALL week.  I had a temporary calling as a Stake Girls Camp Specialist. So I sat around and planned things with all the Stake leaders (all who were many years my senior which was weird sometimes). Our meals were cooked for us by the Stake Girls Camp Food Specialists and the structure was much more relaxed than when I went to girls camp as a young woman. Which means I liked it a lot more.  I really enjoyed getting to know the young women and leaders in my stake. I made great friends and my testimony of Heavenly Father's love for me and all of His children grew a bunch.  My testimony of Jesus Christ and His ability to change my weaknesses into strengths through the Atonement was also strengthened.  I did a lot of singing, guitar playing and harmonica playing. I was most pleased with the 4th year overnight hike which I planned and took 15 fifteen year old girls on to sleep in tents, roast marshmallows and marvel at all God has created. It was a great experience for all of us. God's most prized creation isn't the mountains or the trees or the waterfalls or even the stars and galaxies -- it is little tiny you and me. That's cool.

Before girls camp we spent a few days with some of my fam. All my sisters were in town so the only person missing was big brother Ben. We had a lot of fun. Baseball, food, fireworks etc.  I built a really cool cake.  Check it out below.  I learned some great cake making tips and it was fun to do a little creating myself.

Time is moving lightning fast.

My dear Watson and I went to the Parade in Provo on the 4th. We rode our scooters (borrowed from my  4 and 5 year old nephews) from our car to the parade spot. It felt like I was in the parade, which I always want to be. 

Here's my cake all frosted and sprinkled.

Ta da! It has an American Flag on the inside!

Here's a better view with the blue part on the correct side. Not only did it LOOK cool, it TASTED scrumptious!

Here are the nieces and nephews chasing a smoke bomb. Letting them chase and pick up the smoke bomb made it interesting when we lit an actual firework and some of them went chasing after it. Oops. We had to remind them a few times that the chasing and picking up part was O-V-E-R. 

Spectators.