Festival of Colors

Photo Credit: Erin Kondratieff Pritchett

You know it is spring time when an explosion of rainbow colors can be seen in the air! Big Sis left the house in a white t-shirt and jean shorts with some friends to the Festival of Colors on Saturday March 24, 2012 at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah.  She was given some colored cornstarch to toss in the air (not recommended thrown in your eyes which happened twice to big Sis).  She had a lot of fun with her friends and came home with pastel hair, face, shoes, and clothes! 

Fave Winter Scrap Pages for 2012

Since it is officially the last day of winter, I would like to post some of my favorite winter scraps.  I am looking forward to Spring especially after mother nature dropped two inches of snow this morning, ugh!  Luckily, we have warmer temperatures later in the week!

Snow Day, 2010

Credits:  The template is from Sweet Shoppe Designs "Dattlan" 2011 Cookie template, Snow Day doodles are by Kate Hadfield, papers Karah Fredricks,  green and pink alpha are by Kaye Winiecki, word strips, stitching, orange frame, and orange paper by Eve Kipler all from the The Lily Pad.
Be Mine, 2011

Credits:  Love You template by Morignals,  Project Scrap January 2012 template (free) from Shabby Princess blog, Wild Love kit and Seasonal Sampler Amore (free kit) by Shabby Princess and Three Dates and One Night font.

St. Patrick's Day Fun and Happy Birthday/ RIP Gramps

What a busy weekend!  We had serious green thumb syndrome yesterday!!!  John has been getting our 30' by 25' garden ready.  We borrowed a tiller from our friend to loosen up the ground.  I started filling the pots, planter boxes, etc with fresh soil.  In the next couple weeks, I am starting some plants which will be in the greenhouse.  Yes, we have a greenhouse and I am very excited to take advantage of it!  To our surprise, there are several tulips starting to come up all over the yard!  I cannot wait to see them bloom!  I have SPRING FEVER!!! Next, we gave Jagger his first haircut!  Obviously, it looks unprofessional and hopefully in time we will be able to do a respectable job.  He was a good boy while trimming it with clippers and snipping with scissors.  I had to bribe him with chopped carrots and puppy treats.  A "leprechaun" left some gold coins and Rolos for the girl's St. Patrick's Day treat.  I printed the I'm so Lucky to have you that was placed on the top of a ziplock bag!  My printer ran out of green, ack!  It was poor quality printing; however, it is the thought that counts! For dinner, the girls requested corned beef again just like last year!  Then John and I decided to make Colcannon (mashed potatoes, cabbage, bacon, cream, and butter) as a side dish, Irish Soda Bread, and apple beer.  As for dessert, we made rainbow sherbet floats (Sprite and Rainbow Sherbet) and  Lucky Charms Cupcakes.  

As for my Grandfather, he died early this morning (March 17, 1925-March 18, 2012).  He was in a coma with a high fever these last couple weeks resulting from leukemia.  I am very impressed that he held on until his 86th birthday, which was on St. Patrick's Day.  He lived a wonderful life.  I admired the fact that he worked very hard most of his life and did his best to provide for his family.  He was always positive looking on the bright side of things even when challenges came his way. He found true love twice, loved music, worked as a TV and radio engineer for many years, enjoyed building model airplanes, liked walks near the beach, and was a great example to all his family members by living a healthy and joyful lifestyle.  I will miss my visits with my Gramps!  I will always cherish my happy memories we shared together on Cape Cod. You can read his obituary from the Cape Cod Times . I love you, Gramps! Rest in peace and say hello to Grandma and my Mother for me!!! XOXOX

2012 Reading List

Best Books for Little Sis:

David Shannon Books

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Conner

Fancy Nancy Books by the way there are some fun Free Fancy Nancy Activities for little girls!

Jamie Lee Curtis Books such as Today I Feel Silly and I Am Going to Like Me.

Meg Cobot's Allie Finkle Series

Big Sister's Fave Books:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My Thoughts: I bought this hardback series in March 2011 from Costco.  They sat on my shelf for months collecting dust.  Big sister finally got around to reading them during the summer and begged me to read them too. She absolutely loved the series! In fact, she liked The Hunger Games series more than Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga.  She was dying to share her thoughts with me, but could not without spoiling the story for me.  When I finally got around to reading them this fall, I was hooked!  I read all three of them in a couple days!  What an incredible thriller book series filled with action, friendship, love, fashion, and survival. I loved the characters especially Katniss and Peeta!  Even my husband read the Hunger Games in one day but did not get the chance to read the two following books.  The last book Mocking Jay lost my interest a little bit in the beginning of the book but it got better in the middle and I was satisfied with the ending. I am looking forward to seeing The Hunger Games  film in a couple weeks with my oldest daughter!

My Future Reading Picks:
I cannot wait to read the following books!  I bought them a couple months ago and they are on my list to read this year!  I will write a book review later!

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks 

Matched by Ally Condle