happy memorial day weekend! i love memorial day, it truly is one of my favorite holidays. it may sound wierd, but i love going to the graves. they are beautiful. flowers everywhere, the american flags are everywhere. i love it. memorial day to me is the beginning of summer. i am going home for the week on sunday. yipee! so it better be warm in utah! have a happy week!

photos:http://www.marthastewart.com/

From Dalian in Yunnan province, China

all of you know i am a true blue, die hard npr listener. i have it on all day. melissa block of morning edition, she has been in china before the earthquake. she is going home this weekend. she talked about how this ladies 2 year old son was trapped under the rubble of their home, along with her parents. here is what she said to her son:

Morning Edition, May 23, 2008 · NPR's Melissa Block was in Chengdu, China, when last week's massive earthquake struck. Since then, she has reported from the scene of the devastation, where families have lost homes and loved ones.
Host Renee Montagne talks with Block about what it's been like to watch the story unfold, and what she'll remember most after she returns home.
It's the voice of one mother she spoke with, Block said: "In this incredibly anguished voice, with this just heart-breaking pain, calling out to him, 'Mom is coming for you.'

it did not say if they recovered him alive or not. but here is this woman in another country, who speaks a different language, but you understand her anguish, and feel deeply for her. that was the only thing she could do was call out to him, but that is what i would have done.

i hope they found him.

photo via:"All Things Bright and Beautiful"

this morning bella rose crawled for the first time on her knees. i was so proud, so i put my cell phone out for her to do it again, and......it didn't happen again. but i know she can, and she knows she can, she will do it when she wants on her terms! i love her so much! i love being a mother. i love being home with her. i really believe motherhood is an attitude, and you make it what it is. but it goes by so quickly, and i am just grateful to be home with her and i am so proud to be her mom.

i would be just delighted if someone showed up at my door today, with that pretty tea cup that said, 'think of me,' and those flowers in it. i am pretty certain that is not going to happen. however i do love the fingernail polish! today i feel a bit lonely, i think because little bella has been sleeping, and it is very quiet. i think i will find a good book to read, and be cozy because it is cold outside!!photo:Country Living via: "All Things Bright and Beautiful"

it is cold & rainy today! last night we had the best thunderstorm! i love being home, having the windows open and smelling the rain and feeling the wind. I love dark cloudy stormy skies. i love spring and summer. i remember when the had storms like this all the time, and now it seems the thunder is not like it used to be.

Reed Davis Photography via:All Things Bright and Beautiful"

i love this bedroom. i just do.

designer: Joe Nye photo via: All Things Bright and Beautiful"

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—
not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."
-E.L. Doctorow


A photographer who made a picture from a splendid moment,
an accidental pose of someone or a beautiful scenery,
is the finder of a treasure.
- Robert Doisneau

i like houses that are 'real'. i love this table, this is a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo, and it shows that people are alive and actually living in this house. it is personal, and interesting. i love bedside tables, and think they are interesting to look at, to see what people keep by their bed.

life is interesting. lately i think of how funny life is, you truly never know what is next. i remember bry and i went to jackson for a weekend and met up with sara and joe, and i remember driving home thinking, i would never want to live in pocatello....and now here i am! i think idaho is pretty with all the farms, and it is now a pretty drive. i am curious about all the little farms sprawled out, and wonder who they are and if they get lonely. i wonder what they do? do they to go to garage sales? do they call pocatello the city, or town. i like the word town. it is old fashioned. my parents called ogden town.

photo:Domino via:http://absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com/index.html

this is some more of what my store will look like part 3. i want a big store, where people can get lost in it finding things. i realize that starting a shop like this, i will have to go small and then go big. and i realize that it would take about 5 years just to break even......but it is nice to plan ahead, something that i have never in my past done before, but i am doing so now.

photo:Summer House. via:http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/

"i would rather be able to appreciate things i can not have than to have things i am not able to appreciate." -elbert hubbard

sometimes i feel like this tooo.....

"the trouble with being early is that nobody's there to appreciate it, but then again if ur late everyone's there to be unappreciative . . . i guess that leaves being on time . . . but that's boring!-dana swift

i love the cup and the car, oh la la!

photog:http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/

another post, for my future shop. i love little shops i really do. i can only imagine what mine will be like. full to the brim, of goods and little ditties, books, and pretties.

photo:Magnolia. owner jeff avery.photo via:http://www.topsyturvystyle.com/

Bern Williams said. "If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance. "

i liked this quote. i love spring, and summer. i think i am going to do some spring cleaning today. although my day has been quite crazy! one thing that i do love. i love LOVE the sound of a lawn mower. and the smell of smoke. garden smoke that is. the lawn mower sound is comforting to me, and garden smoke smells like rewardable work getting done!

photo:Madison Magazine via:http://absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com/index.html

bella rose & i.

i have found alot of inspiration today! apartment therapy announced the winners of the small cool 2008 apartments. the rules are for the apartment or house to be under 850 square feet. i love that they do this. a house does not need to be big to have great style, and be amazing. anyways if you want check it out! it is cool! you can see all the entries. if i could paint i would enter, but maybe next year, we will see! you have to scroll to the bottom.....click:http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/northwest-finalist-4-dave-and-robs-small-dark-and-handsome-050370 or click:http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/050108nwsccdaverob/_slide_/medium

bryan and i LOVE airstream trailers. one day when we have a house, we want to buy one, and restore the trailer. this airstream trailor from Very Hush Hush. it is a 1964 and it is restored. and the girls who restored it, run an art gallery out of it! what i clever idea! maybe i will do that someday who knows! but i do need one for traveling! pretty cool! photos:http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/

happy birthday mom! this pictures was takin on her honeymoon, to laguna california!

here are 10 things that i love about her!

1-She tries to make everything beautiful, she always made dinner, and put it in pretty dishes. even when we were having tacos on a weeknight, she did it beautifully.

2-She can talk to anyone, and make them feel comfortable, she always taught me, 'don't worry about you, always make others feel at ease.' She loves to talk to total strangers, and growing up if she heard someone speaking french, she would go talk to them. i would be so embarassed, but now i love it! she is not afraid of anyone.

3-She loves to read books. the house could be on fire, or flooded and if she has a good book, she would not notice a thing!

4-She is adventurous! She lived in france for 2 years, new york, california, she loves a good adventure.

5-Her linen closet. I love the smell of her sheets, that closet you open it, and the smell, just reminds me of growing up!

6-She loves good jazz, good music, and loves to go to concerts. Earl Klugh, bob james...etc.

7-She loves to garden and work hard, and loves hgtv!

8-She loves her family, and would do anything for them. She is an amazing wife, and mother, and grandma, she tries too maintain peace in a very passionate and opinionated family.

9-She loves to go shopping, she can outshop all my sisters, and I.

10-She loves a good joke. she loves to laugh! S

11-Something people may not know, she is a poet, and an excellent artist!

12-She loves to go to ballgames, and get a hotdog and coke, and when something goes wrong, she is not afraid to yell and have a good time!

13-She uses fun sayings like...hot dog! and... oh my gad! as well as....that dirty bugger!

i love you mom!

its late and i cannot sleep for some reason i started thinking about my old landlord. when i graduated from the university, we knew we would move to salt lake for me to get a job. my mother and i had been driving all day doing resumes, and looking for places to live. we drove past it the first time. the orchard it was on, was plowed to perfection. the lawn was immaculate. the house was well kept. i saw the for rent sign. my mother called, and it was $575 a month, a steal! well, for some reason, the feeling to call again to go see it nagged at me the whole way home. so we got home and i said bryan we need to go for a drive to see this home. we called got a tour of the home, and we said we want it! we LOVED it. they had just painted the inside, got new carpet. it was old and perfect! we got it! (later she told me, that she told her husband, that we were perfect for this home!) we truly were meant to live there. we had so many experiences there. bountiful still feels like it is my home. we moved in, and these landlords lived on the north side of the orchard. they were the hardest workers. there lawns were immaculate. the shrubs, the trees were even shaped to perfection. everything was in pristine condition. the porch in the back, had a television, and comfortable patio furniture with soft padding. they had a fence that made it so private. they lived outside! my kind of people. it was so private and nice. and they knew how to work. well, time went on, and the husband suddenly died of heart failure. and i just remember how i admired his wife. she kept on. she worked. she scrubbed the house, the yard, we saw her in the orchard with a broom sweeping one day! i admired her. we went over to see her and she was cleaning out the garage. that was how she mourned. she worked. and she worked hard. she kept the house, the yard in pristine condition as it was.
tonight as i lay in bed. i started thinking about her, and how she is such an example to me. how hard she worked. it reminded me of the thought of president hinckley. his daughter said this.."following the death of mother, his grief was almost overwhelming....he felt it, wept, and mourned deeply. He went to the Lord with his tears, thus allowing the loss to carve out an even deeper place in his heart for compassion and dig an even deeper well of faith and trust in God. Then, with that increase in compassion and faith, he put on his shoes and went back to work-in every sense of the word."
it reminded me of my landlord. when we moved they gave us a card, and at home she had a daughter who was going to be a senior, or was a senior, and a little boy. the daughter wrote in the card, 'stick together as a family.' and i thought how good of an example her mother was to teach her that family is everything, but she also knew and learned this through experience.
my neighbor next door, is i think a single mother. she has two little boys. i was at the computer and i could hear her outside, her boys were fighting. and she said, you two need to deal with it yourselves, they were asking her to take sides. she said you two need to deal with it, and stare at each other until you can say sorry, and give each other a hug and a kiss. she said you two need to stick together, your brothers. then i was reminded of my landlord, and her daughter, and how she wrote at such a young age, but had learned a great lesson, that maybe my neighbor has learned through experience. - stick together as a family, put your shoes back on, and get to work.

i love clever cards! i love to send cards, and letters lately, and i love to buy neat stamps. there are so many neat stamps to choose from. but it seems as though most that people use are the same. anyways, i thought these were clever. and made me happy! http://www.paperrelics.com/

so i read off a blog today about swaps. for example, one night: this girl and her sister'law swap meals. one person makes enough food for both families, then that girl does not have to cook! so for one week it is one person, the second week it is the other person! good thinkin! then it gets better! she & her friend swap as well. so they take turns weekly lending a helping hand. one night per week she goes and helps out at her house and then the next week she comes to hers. she said it is often late 8:30 and 9 p.m., but they to keep it to 1.5 hours. during their project time, they take on things like organizing closets, folding laundry, cleaning out cupboards, wiping baseboards, hanging pictures, etc. i think it is just fantastic! i wish i had a friend that lived close that i could swap, but i have other ideas, i will later write about! so i hope this is a good idea for others! let me know! you could even swap flowers!

photo from:http://smittenkitchen.com/

"Just a mom?" There's no such thing. Motherhood isn't a second-rate occupation. It is a career that can maximize your talents and strengths to their fullest. Look past the surface of mothering - the endless tasks and frantic pace - to the incredible skills required to raise your children while nurturing your marriage. The truth is clear: You're a professional in one of the most dignified, demanding, and rewarding fields any woman can find."Jill Savage

photog:http://www.dominomag.com/

i love these pretty little soaps! what a perfect little gift this would make for others to enjoy! or for oneself! i love prettily wrapped things. and things that smell good! http://www.saipua.com/soap.htm#cards

'tis a joy to be simple, tis a joy to be free, tis a joy to come down where we ought to be... '- excerpt from an old shaker hymn titled "simple gifts" (jenna cox)

bella rose had an afternoon of delight and adventure. in her bedroom. it is amazing to watch her. this afternoon i put her in her bedroom, on the floor while i was changing her sheets. and she could not believe it, she turned circles, grabbed cords, looked at everything. something as simple as a heater vent was pure delight for her. i realize that she needs to explore everywhere and every room, not just the living room!

i love these shoesies! i wish i had this print! i have the keep calm and carry on poster, in bright yella, and i love it! i need to get it framed, like all the prints i have. i have more things to frame then i know what i need to do! i love these pictures. i got them from ttp://decor8.blogspot.com/. she also has some flickr photos here:photos here on Flickr.

'a human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. specialization is for insects.' - robert a. heinlein (john o. anderson)

i love it when people make beautiful things by hand. it is amazing to me gifts and talents that people have. i truly believe in craftsman ship. when i worked at peppertree, i was amazed at the carpenters there. the huge amazing hoods, or tables, in the time it took i was amazed. i would think it would take years. it was amazing to be apart of that and see the design process of the things that were done. the time, the talent, and the creative process is amazing. pictures via:http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/ talented artist:Whitney Smith. it makes you contemplate how sad it would be if people never shared their talents with others. how sad the world would be. we all have talents, no matter what they are, writing, speaking, compassion, and so on. makes me want to make sure i am doing all i can to utilize mine! i think sometimes we develop talents as we grow.

my sisters and i. who knows where this was taken. i found this. in all the photos, i am doing the same thing the entire time! oh the eighties! we were all definantly a bunch of hotties!

my little dame. i love her so much. happy mothers day to me and to all!

image by: Gloria Fenaroli via:http://peoniesandpolaroids.blogspot.com/

image by: Brent Deming via:http://peoniesandpolaroids.blogspot.com/

well, first of all, i think the uppper one is just hilarious! i cannot fathom what could be going wrong. but it is memorable, and funny. and i could not resist posting it. and i LOVE the second one. i think that is good photography right there. whenever i think of my wedding, the thing that went wrong is that damn art bramwell. that is what went wrong. no good pictures, him yelling at the wedding party, then leaving the reception. my mother insisted that we have art bramwell no matter what! he is truly my arch nemisis. bahhhh! i get mad just thinking about it. sara alleman had the same experience. the thing was in both families was this: all your sisters have had art bramwell, you are too! bahhh! i still will not forget a great telephone call from sara i think it was last summer. she called and said, we just got done having family pictures taken in logan canyon, i think it was. then there was a pause...guess who took them....art bramwell. i have decided that when things go wrong, or not the way i would like, or if my husband and i disagree, i am just going to blame art bramwell. that will teach him.

so something quite touching, but made me weep like a baby, is this story, go here:http://dandeedesigns.blogspot.com/

bella button. she is in to EVERYTHING. ever since this whole crawling matter. it has changed EVERYTHING. i mean she is everywhere she wants to be. and she doesn't even have an american express card yet.
here is a quote to mothers! by jaroldeen edwards author of my favorite book ever.

"i believe it is essential for every woman to recognize that one of her most important roles in life is the creation of a home. this is a cherished gift we can give, both to ourselves and to others. in a lifetime, we will create many homes, beginning with the influence we exert in our childhood homes and the memory and the perception of that home that we carry with is into adulthood. we must learn selfesteem and self-motivation so that wherever we are we are at home with the person we are and feel comfort and security within that person."

my future storefront will probably look something like this, but with great window dispay's. i really am quite excited. who knows when it will be, all i really need is the funding, the time, the location. but it will indeed be someday. i think i will get everything ready, so all that i do have to do is just get the funding and the location. then i go to market. my mom has a friend who goes to market in boston. and your store has to make a specific amount of money, and you have to prove it by showing your taxes, income for the year, then you go. and i can only dream about it. so i will get there. maybe the next day. i feel like shannon on far and away, 'i said i will get there, and i will get there..." photo:Shelf via:http://www.bloesem.blogs.com/

i love this photo! itis quite rainy and cloudy this morning. it makes me think it is earlier then it really is. but i love rainy cloudy days! i just wish i did not have so many chores today so that i could just enjoy it! i just might do that! photo:http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/

i want my own shop so bad. it is actually one of my major things i need to do in this life. own my own shop. i will feel let down if i never do it. (and that is saying it mildly) i will wait until my babies are older, like in school. it takes alot ALOT of time. but i love this picture and hope my shop is this full and exciting someday! http://www.decorativecountryliving.com/shop3.html

some of the montgomery family.

well from months of the thougths coming to me to do my family history. i am finally going to do it. i decided that we have the stories of our great great families, but nothing of my immediate aunts and uncles. so i am starting with my mothers family. i am sending out letters to have them send home stories of like when they were born, favorite growing up stories, courtships, just stuff that we would not know. i think it is a good thing. i also am going to get as much information from my parents and my mother in law as well. the hunt side will be kind of hard, because it will mainly be my dad. but i am excited for this project and hope they all cooperate!

so on saturday bryan went with his advisor, 4 physists from NASA and two firefighters to let off a weather balloon. this time they drove up to saint anthony in idaho, i have no idea where that is, they fill the balloon with hydrogen which is apparantly highly explosive, that is why the two firefighters have to be there, the balloon itself is about 10' high and 8' wide. you have to wear firesuits to hold anything. then they pack it with there science study stuff, and plenty of gps units. and they send it up. their balloon went up to 85,000 feet. planes usually fly at the highest of 45,000 feet. then they have this little thing and it explodes and then the balloon comes down and then they chase it to where it lands. their balloon landed in the desert. there was a man in an airplane looking for where it was too land. when they found it, their package was lost! so the physists were quite sad, because their group had the highest weather ballon project recovery. they put a stobe light on it, and they were maybe going to go fly at night to see if they could find the experiement. he said his advisor who is not used to driving suburbans drove quite slow the whole time because she was nervous, then when they had to chase it to pick it up, she drove like the dukes of hazards on the desert roads. he said the back end slid out from them a couple of times. he said it was crazy. all in all, with him coming home quite sunburned and to a wife who was not so pleased that he has been gone alot lately, i am glad he went, and got to be apart of this experiment. he might even be in the pocatello newspaper! blast we are getting famous up here! photos from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hydrogen_ballon.jpg

bella given me the business. it is so surprising to peek in her room to see if she is asleep and see her sitting up playing. yesterday i was trying to be secretive and take her photo...she heard me. this week she sits up in her bed, which now we will have to lower the matress so she is not up so high! the upper two are from last weeks, all business photo session. i had too show another one.

the top photos show one of her favorite possessions besides my phone. she loves her rainforest thing. and one day bryan went in there at 6:30 am just in time to seed she was sitting up holding it by her two hands and then let out a big scream.