i heart ... weird chief

this weekend

brook and i went to the

tempe festival of the arts.

there were men juggling fire...

and dogs wearing hats...

but we didn't really find any art that we loved.

that is,

until we found

weird chief!

oh man i love his art!

here are his paintings

i have to have:

bono

U2

the mad hatter

george washington

abraham lincoln

and these are the other paintings

that i loved:

willy wonka

bjork

joan jett & debbie harry

radiohead

daft punk & ll cool j

marilyn monroe & audrey hepburn

edward scissorhands

morissey

i heart ... baby tortoises

i was at stacy's house the other day

and ammon came in saying

there was a baby tortoise on the front porch!

what?

that's crazy!

but there it was.

isn't he the cutest?!

i swear baby tortoises are my favorite animal!

or maybe my favorite are

those baby sea turtles that are scrambling over the sand

to get to the ocean.

ammon made the tortoise a nice habitat

until he could find out who the tortoise belonged to.

we wondered for a split second

if maybe kyle was actually a girl!

remember kyle?

could this be kyle's baby?

but no.

our grandpa the veterinarian told us kyle was a boy.

turns out the baby tortoise belonged

to the neighbors a couple of doors down.

ammon knocked on their door and they said yes he was theirs.

then they gave ammon

a 2 dollar bill as a reward.

i think ammon was happy about that

because i think he loves money

as much as he loves baby tortoises.

(or maybe more!)

i heart ... american gothic in 3D

have you seen this sculpture yet

in downtown mesa?

it's so cool!

see how tall it is?

taller than the street lights.

taller than a two story building.

ammon, kaitlyn, brennan and thomas

i took my nieces and nephews to see it.

it's called

god bless america

by

j. seward johnson

after the kids played around the statue,
brennan thought it would be fun
to walk around the mesa arts center.
i've been there many times,
but this was the first time i went just to walk around.
it was so fun and so beautiful.
even baby thomas had fun!




i love the colorful planters!

there are several water features for the kids to play in.

perfect destination for when it gets hot!!!

.

i heart ... st. patrick's day

my favorite st. patrick's day tradition

is to go to fountain hills park

to see the fountain turned green!

thomas, sierra, kaitlyn and ammon

isn't it so pretty?

but looking at this picture,

i just want to pinch some of these kids!

where is their green?

.

i heart ... clayton's drawing

the other day my nephew clayton and i were coloring together.

i was coloring in a my little pony coloring book

because i'm not creative enough to draw,

but he was next to me drawing a picture.

i was very focused on coloring my pony

so i didn't even notice what he was drawing

until he was done.

when i finally took a look

i was fascinated.

i asked clayton to tell me about it.

here is what he told me:

*the people at the top of the page are

Heavenly Father and Jesus.

*the person at the bottom of the page is

Joseph Smith.

*the house is Joseph's house.

*the little yellow rectangle with the dots on it

at the bottom

are the golden plates.

*the big brown dot next to the golden plates

is the stone that was covering the golden plates.

*the brown rectangle under the stone is

"the log that moved the rock" off of the golden plates.

i asked clayton why Heavenly Father and Jesus

have hearts drawn on them

and he said,

"because they are so happy that

Joseph found the golden plates."

clayton may love swords,

but he really is the sweetest!

.

i heart ... this oompa loompa

my poor little nephew eli

has to take medicine

that turns his tongue purple.

(temporarily!)

it's so dang cute!

if he were mine

i'd give it to him everyday

to keep his tongue this way!

it especially looks cute with his blue eyes!

.

i heart ... this scary kid

look at this sword uncle brad gave our nephew clayton!

clayton wanted to tell you,

"the sword is very deadly.

i think the sword is awesome.

its fortune is to rule the world.

when you touch the tip of its top, it's very sharp."

i love this kid!