It's Starting To 'Pop'

Isn't it amazing what a little paint and shimmery stuff can do for a float!?!

I Feel Like I'm 'Floating'

Just a few more pictorial updates of the float. We are scheduled to be in two parades this Saturday. What do you think? Do you have faith in our ability to do it?

Our handcart is just about ready to be mounted onto the float.

Our float theme is The Pioneer Spirit-Onward and Upward.

How many young single adults does it take to make a ba-zillion clouds? A whole big bunch.

The front of the float will be covered in clouds that surround the airplane.

Our amazing designer and artistic director; Keith Maloy, holding the handcart wings...yes, our handcart has wings.

This is Doug Vandegrift; our amazingly talented creator of children and creatures, all made from styrofoam.

Our stake presidency came one evening and carved rocks.

Here is the finished product. Cool huh!?!

Remember these kids? Here they are all ready to parade. Sherry Meidell is the wonderful artist who painted these children who are standing next to their new friend Alex. Doug Vandegrift's daughter came to make clouds one evening and when she saw the pioneer girl exclaimed, "hey... that's what happened to my wig head!"

Our airplane keeps getting fancier. We're almost ready for the propellers.

A picture still says a thousand words.

Just 'Floating' Along

We had a successful day yesterday as our committee and a few recruits spent the day working on the float. As promised, here are a few pictures of what has been happening in our 'float' world.

All of the children and creatures you see in the pictures are carved from... styrofoam. Yes, I did say styrofoam.

Our handcart has some amazing wheels that will soon be attached, and they will actually be turning around as the float travels through the parade.

This is the same dog that was in the previous picture. Isn't he a cutie!! He has a tongue that still needs to be painted, and then attached with a spring so that it wags as he enjoys his ride through the parade.

These are our big rocks that have been sculpted out of... you guessed it, styrofoam. There will be some smaller rocks scattered on the bed of the float as well (I made a few of the little ones).

This is our turtle. He is so much happier now that he has some color in his life.

Here are some of our cloud makers with our Artistic Director (in the blue hat). The clouds are off to the right. They are also made of styrofoam.

Our airplane was built off-site, yesterday was the big day for it to arrive at the float-site. We were all pretty excited.

Can anyone guess what the body of the airplane is made of? You got it... styrofoam.

Doesn't it look fabulous!!!! It will have two working propellors on it's nose.

I climbed up on the float for this view of the airplane. Isn't it awesome!!!

Here I am covered in pieces of styrofoam; it really is messy stuff.

I hope you enjoyed the short pictorial, there will be more to come. What do you think of our float? I'd love some comments.

"Just Give Me Somethin' To Blog About..."

I haven't had a lot to blog about lately, nor the time to do it. Life has been incredibly busy... and even in the busy-ness of it all; it is still good. Most of my time seems to be consumed with the float; thinking about it, working on it, business end of it, organizing (or agonizing... whichever works at the moment), shopping for supplies (by phone or at various retailers), going to float workshops, phone calling, praying (lots of praying), asking people to help (hard for me to do), and yes, I will admit, occasional tears (I just tell Mike to wipe his eyes, it will be okay... JK!!). But enough of that for now... we have made incredible progress and we still have much to do, so I will be posting pictures this weekend after we mount our airplane to the float on Saturday. Our amazingly, incredible, you-won't-believe-how-fantastic airplane. I'm not kiddin'.

Enough about the float for now, stay tuned this weekend. Last week I purchased a new camera, I haven't really had the time to become familiar with it yet, but here are a few of the last pictures that I took with my old camera (you may quickly recognize that they are my very most favorite little people, and a couple of my favorite bigger people behind the scenes).

1990 and 2010

This picture was taken in the Spring of 1990. These are my four children; Andy, Jeffrey, Jeremy and Ashleigh standing next to their cousin Christopher's grave.


This picture was taken on Memorial Day 2010. These are my four children; Andy, Jeffrey, Jeremy and Caitlin standing at the graves of their sister Ashleigh and their cousin Christopher.

What Do You Think Of These!?!

What do you think of these metal canisters!?! I have seen them sold seperately at two different stores in recent weeks and admired them. Then yesterday I went into Real Deals for the first time and there they were, sold as a set at an amazing price. With the help of a Mother's Day gift certificate they are now mine!! So... what do you think? Lids on or lids off? I'm thinking of adding some greenery to the large one, and I may not keep them in this spot, I don't know... I just know that I like them.

I Need An Opinion!!

I need help!!! I purchased this receiving blanket/burpcloth set today with a certain upcoming grandbaby in mind, when I showed it to Caitlin she thought that it should be for another upcoming grandbaby. What do you think... A girl blanket or a boy blanket? I really would appreciate some opinions. And while we're at it... what do you think of the fabric? I'm discovering that the young moms of today like non-traditional baby fabrics. Please help, I don't want to give it to the wrong grandbaby. Please leave your opinion in the comment section, it is much appreciated.

BTW the colors are teal and brown. The picture doesn't do it justice.