We must destroy in order to create.

Justin came into our bedroom the other day and saw his shirt cut up into pieces all over the floor.
Justin: What have you done to my shirt?
Me: You have to destroy to create.

I didn't know I was paraphrasing Joseph Stalin at the time. I just googled the phrase wondering who said it because I didn't think I made it up. Surprise! Just to make it clear, I am not a communist, just ingenuitive.

With some elastic thread and bias tape, voila! New dress for Sarah to grow into. I don't know where I was on the day they covered bias tape during my 5 sewing classes I had over the years, but I just discovered it. I love it.

And no shirt in Justin's closet is safe. I already have plans to make Sarah an apron out of another.

Happy Birthday to Zack. He hit the all-important 8 on Sunday.

Mapleton Park has the best playground for Sarah. There are 5 slides she can get to and go down all by herself. Now I can just stand around and watch how cute she is.

Here's Sarah taking a break from being a spaz at the mall fountain today.

I meant to post these awhile ago. This is at our family reunion. Listen carefully for Sarah to say "Brr" when asked if she's cold.

This is Sarah's favorite song for the moment. Well actually it was her favorite song the week after Father's Day. She's already moved on. She's a sucker for a song with actions.

I love how Sarah says popsicle.

Developing Her Personality

A few things you might not know about Sarah...

-She loves Flo from the Progressive commercials. Sarah stops dead in her tracks whenever she's on.

- When she wants a bite of what I'm eating, she'll ask "bite?" then open her mouth really wide and close her eyes.

-She's deathly afraid of bubbles in the bath but begs to blow bubbles outside all day long.

- While watching Looney Tunes, she'll say "silly" whenever someone gets hit/electrocuted/exploded/etc.

- If her hair is in her eyes, she'll come find me, grab my hand and put it on her head and say "hair" because she wants me to brush it back for her.

Our Yard Sale Find of the Week:

Child's Rocking Chair $3

Sarah has barely let go of it since Saturday.

We also got Sarah a snowsuit for $1. Here's Sarah sporting the hat.

And then it was the doll's turn. I found it like this on the kitchen floor.

Speaking of this doll....(it doesn't have a name yet. Just "da" which is also her word for dad). I threw it in the washing machine last night so Sarah couldn't sleep with it like she usually does. She asked for it once while we were getting ready for bed but I told her no doll and she was fine with it.

Well this morning when I went in her room to get her, the first thing she asked for was "da". "Doll or Dad?" I asked. "Da" she replied. So we go downstairs for breakfast and she sees her doll on the counter where it had been drying all night and she yells "Da!" I give it to her, put her in her highchair and make her oatmeal. I look over at Sarah and she's hugging the doll tightly and taking short, fake cry-like breaths. It was quite the emotional reunion. She pats her, kisses her and continues the fake whimper until I put her oatmeal and Flinstone vitamin in front of her. Then she hands the precious doll to me so she can eat.

After breakfast she raided her diaper bag, pulled out the changing pad and got into diaper-changing position just for fun, I guess. This is the best shot I got of it since she runs for the camera once she sees it out.

And I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves.

Father's Day Weekend

There are 2 things I love about this picture. First, I love how serious Justin takes his Lego building. It's always about making it the tallest possible. Second, I love the socks Sarah is wearing. Finding these lovely peach socks and insisting I put them on her was the first thing she did after her nap that day.

This picture freaks me out. When did my baby become a little girl?

Friday and Saturday was the Baadsgaard Family Reunion. I love typing Baadsgaard. You can type it all with your left hand. Which makes me so jealous of my mom--she can type her maiden name all with her left hand except for the M at the beginning. Margaret Baadsgaard. So cool.

Anyway, here's my nephew Tyler. Notice his cool necklace. My aunt Melanie helped all the kids make these. The wood is from my grandpa's cherry trees (I miss him and his cherries). The kids sanded the disks and then either put spider stickers or glued silk flowers on them and then strung them like a necklace. It was a lot of work for Melanie and I'm so happy Sarah has a piece of her great-grandpa's cherry tree.

Zack showing his off. Sarah will only wear hers for 2 seconds at a time so no picture of hers, sorry.

My little happy camper. Sarah loved camping. So much so that it took her hours to finally fall asleep. I think it was a combination of too much candy and the excitement of being in a tent. It took a good 2 hours for her to calm down. Maybe more. She would not stop jabbering away in the dark.

My mom and cousin Chelsie. And the beautiful nose and lips of my aunt Mel.

My cousin Hailey and niece Jessica. I loved seeing cousins who rarely or never met hanging out together like old friends. Family bonds are so cool.

The Happy Camper Dye Family

My cousin Trevor and his dad. Don't let the sweet face fool you. Okay, he really is sweet but......

He climbed into my aunt Sue's motorhome and put it in gear. No one knew he had even awoken from his nap. Suddenly the RV rolled back toward the campsite. We all ran for our lives (well not me, I was somewhere else and missed all this excitement). It was stopped by this tree on the right before it could roll over anyone. The ladder has a nice bend in it now. Good times.

The circle of love. The chairs had to be pushed out and the circle made bigger as more people came.

"Just wipe it on my pants." Sarah wasn't quite sure what to do with the dirt on her hands. But then it was pretty fun for her to wipe her hands on me.

The circle of love even bigger.

Sarah thought the tent was so amazing. She didn't want to get out when we were breaking up camp.

Father's Day! Here's Sarah helping Justin open his super-cool new pepper and salt grinders.

A little bit of Sarah for those of you missing her

Last night Sarah surprised us by raising her arm in the air and cheering "YES!" at a random play of the NBA game on TV. Justin, naturally, was overcome with pride.

She had never said "yes" before; it's always been just "yeah", usually preceded by "food". "Food? yeah? food? yeah?" as she nods her way to the kitchen as I follow for the 100th time that day.

In case you haven't seen Sarah's knees, she is now a real kid.

She tripped on the sidewalk on our way to the mailboxes. She cried and I picked her up. I asked her if she wanted to go back home or keep going to get the mail. She wanted to keep going, the little trooper. For a professional whiner, she sure can be tough.

Here we are, where Sarah would always rather be, the park.

And here's little dancey pants in action. This is just a highlight of what was a 3+ minute dance.

Mildly Extreme Backyard Makeover

This past weekend we finally finished a major project. It all started with Justin deciding he did, after all, want a garden.

I didn't do a very good job at taking a "before" shot of our neglected backyard but this picture should give you an idea. I hate sunflowers.

Yucky weeds....infertile clay soil.

Our rusty, one handled wheelbarrow for ornamentation.

So....
The south end of the terrace we planted grass seed (which I've been watering by hand 2-4 times a day for a month). Here's Sarah taking a turn.

With materials and tools from my dad, Justin built these fancy garden boxes with Nate's help. Nate actually helped a lot on this project. I was always so relieved when Nate came over. He's much more handy with a drill and shovel than I ever could be.

Add a cubic yard of compost and a cubic yard of bark and ta da! Shout-out to my sis Rachel for the use of her truck. And apologies to our next door neighbor for the tire tracks in his dirt.

We planted tomatoes in one box and 3 varieties of peppers and 2 kinds of squash in the other.

And a peach tree. Come by in 4 years and we might have a peach. And we may have landscaped the "hill" but don't count on it.

And in other home-project news, our washing machine came to a screeching halt (literally) and is most likely irrepairable. We tore it apart trying to fix it and although we found no evidence it was due to malfeasant mice, I'm still blaming it on them.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Who would have thought that this boy

would grow up and marry this girl?

And 4 years later be chasing this little girl around?

(Notice Sarah's perfect blend of our looks and personality? No mistaking whose child she is.)

Fish and Cake (not Fishcake)

Saturday we went up Hobble Creek Canyon so Justin and his brother Nate could do a little fishing. I was so afraid of Sarah walking right into the river (because she would have if I didn't hold onto her every second).

So Justin kindly put Sarah on his back while walking through the river. So then I was afraid of both of them falling in.

Nate and Sam.

That night I made a cake I saw on America's Test Kitchen. Well kind of made it. The cake part called for coffee and espresso powder so my version is from a mix. And the frosting is supossed to be a chocolate pudding-like confection but I didn't have half the ingredients for that so I just made some regular chocolate frosting. But the brilliance of it was still captured. You split each layer in half horizontally, frost between layers but the 4th layer you crumble up and stick around all the sides. It would be a great technique for like a bear cake or something furry. And it tasted good.

Here's Sarah sharing her knowledge of words she knows. She gets a little distracted outside so it's not her best effort.

So Glad She's Mine

As I was rocking Sarah Monday night, I looked down to see if she was almost asleep. She was staring at the ceiling and blinking ever so slowly. I whispered to her, "Sarah, I love you." A sweet, sleepy smile spread across her face. Then she reached her hand up slowly to my cheek, and gently turned my face forward so I wouldn't look at her anymore. Ah, motherhood.

Someone had an itchy nose and a muddy hand.

Sarah liked "The Princess and the Frog". Well, for about 10 minutes.

This was Sarah on Sunday. I couldn't help but think how fitting it was that she was vacuuming while holding her doll on Mother's Day of all days. Reminds me of the first 9 months of her life.

First Annual Mother and Children Mother's Day Picture. Don't mind the work-in-progress backyard.

This is a game Sarah made up. She calls it "hat" but is really a blanket draped over her head so she can't see a thing. Then she walks around and give hugs.

I just love my little weirdo.

The Arm-Wrestler

Want to see me beat a grown man in an arm wrestle? Check it out here.

While you're there, read the rest of this hilarious and poignant blog.