Halloween, it's here already???

Okay so now I'm really on a kick and want to blog every day!! Crazy but I'm enjoying this. I love drawing and creating, and have found a few blogs out there that are fun and educational. Proko is a really funny guy who know's his stuff. He is an excellent artist and has video's he makes and shares about drawing the nose, eyes, ears etc. He's really awesome check him out at www.proko.com his newest video about drawing the ear is too funny.

Halloween costumes for the family are almost complete and I'll post pictures next week after we've tried them out at the annual Johnson Halloween Party!! We love Halloween and go all out for our costumes! I spend almost 20 hours of work each year sewing up costumes. The kids love to choose obscure characters to be for Halloween so, of course there are no patterns to buy of these in any store, but I love to make them so I create my own patterns and run with it. I think this has something to do with those 20 hours. Making it up as I go is fun but also a little stressful, I feel like I'm on "Project Runway" and I'm in a time crunch and I've got to satisfy my judges (the kids and Bryan) so they are happy Halloweeners....um ya.
It truly is a "make it work" moment. :) Love that Tim Gunn.  This years run down of everyone's costumes.

Bryan - Scary creature (kinda looks like the creature from  "The Village") Obscure
Me - Medusa
Gwen - Princess Mononoka (A Miyazaki film from studio Ghibli, if you've not seen it I recommend it) told you obscure!
Vivian - Nausicaa (another Miyazaki film from studio Ghibli, also recommended if you've not seen)
*Kael - drum roll, Red Power Ranger! I know you didn't see that coming. Dang Netflix totally got him hooked! :)
*Fiona - Cinderella, she is so in love with Cinderella. I don't mind, she's a great roll model!
*Lydia - a sweet little lady bug!

*I did not make (sadly and with a little but of shame) Kael's, Fiona's or Lydia's. Kael's Power Ranger has muscles and I know I couldn't do that justice. :) Fiona's I did make some adjustments to but it was all ready for her, and Lydia's came from Target, I saw it for 9 bucks and couldn't pass it up. :)

4 out of 7 is failing in any other grading so I guess I'm a failure. Just kidding I'll totally sleep fine tonight knowing I didn't make everyone's costume. I'm no seamstress (can't believe I spelled it right without spell check) but I love doing it. Bryan so lovingly pointed out (after I was lamenting my botched sewing job on my own costume) that I only sew pretty much once a year and a few "fix it's" every now and again, so I did awesome. This is him making me feel better.
Well the partying starts tomorrow so I better finish up.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Trip to SLO!

So we got to take a trip to California last week and I have to say it is THE BEST to go home where I grew up and spend time with my family!!! I miss them so much and am giddy like a little kid when I'm there. I want to play and romp around. I do love sitting and talking with my siblings and parents, they are the best people! I also got to visit the ward I grew up in and love seeing so many familiar faces and give/get hugs from them all! So I've gained some weight since having Lydia (my 5th) and have had a hard time getting rid of it, well many people in my old home ward did not recognize me, maybe because they haven't seen me in a while or maybe because I've gained this extra weight, in either case it was hilarious seeing their faces with such surprise at seeing me and not recognizing me at first.
Visiting Morro Bay is one of our family favorites and we love looking at the shops smelling the ocean breeze and seeing the sea life right up close.
Such a fun filled visit. Thank you Dad and Mom for putting us up and letting us enjoy home once again. :)

                                                       My mom is the absolute best!

                                                    All the sweet kids!! Nephews and Nieces,
                                                             Such a bunch of cuties!!

                                  Liz and I just being silly! (Liz didn't really know this was a silly picture:)

                                          Dad and Gwen, Vivian and Kael after a fun filled day.

                                           The seals talking to each other! Aren't they cute?

                                               Long time friends, Alison and Annie

                                        Gotta have a pictures with Grandpa and Grandma!

                            Lois, our neighbor since long before I was born. She is like a grandma to me.

                         Doug, Liz, Fiona, Lydia, Me, Tanner, and Andrea. Love these sweet people!

Arts and Crafts!

Summer is pretty much over and I'm feeling the hype for Fall and Winter crafting, it hits me pretty hard and I want to do a million and one projects. Oh but time is short and even at the end of Sept I'm telling myself, "Limit it, don't start a bunch of stuff you won't finish." So I started AND finished a cute little 'spooky tree', made from an oatmeal can. So fun!

I just love getting my hands dirty. I am proud of the pencil/ink marks on my fingers from sketching, and paint or plaster stuck in the beds of my nails from hours of fun.
The kids will some times join in for, maybe 10 minutes but they get board burnt out and move on to playing outside or watching tv. I know right, crafting is such hard work, gotta take brakes? Not this gal. Kael and Fiona are the big lovers of mommy's craft, sketch, paint time. Here is a work of true art by my 4 year old Kael! Isn't it just beautiful. He sat and painted this with water color for 35 minutes. He was so methodical about his brush strokes and where he wanted to put them. I was blown away at his delicate hand. I've seen many a 4 yr old's paintings and this is beyond me! I am so proud of him.