"Lavender Blue" but mines purple

So when we bought the house in Oct 2007 I was so excited there was lavender bushes in our backyard. Come to find out lavender is a great desert plant! Once it is established it needs very little water. Infact if you water it too much it dies.

So I have always loved laveder wands, but have never had any, so this year I made some. Which is the whole point of this post.

Here is a picture.
(Hand model showing off wands:BJ Hamaker:))



They smell really good.
They are easy to make.
When you make them your hands get really sticky with sweet smelling lavender sticky stuff.
I love lavender.
I love BJ more though.

"Families Can Be Together Forever" Because of today! Happy Easter Sabbath!

Before we get to the Easter pix, I just have to say that I am so grateful for Easter and what it means to our family. Because of Christ's Atonement we have the oppurtunity to repent of our sins and mistakes, and become clean inside again. And because of His resurrection we can recieve our bodies again after we die, and be with our families forever. Can you imagine being in heaven after you die and not having a body to hug your family with? How horrible! I love my Savior so much, and am so grateful for the sacrifices He made in His life for me and for all of us.
I am so grateful for a husband who believes the same things and who is working together with me to become companions that can be together forever.

And now for the pix.:)
Jane had fun seeing what the Easter Bunny left her after church today.:) She expecially loved her new barbie.:) ...And the candy.;)



And she loved the ducky Grandma Becky sent.:)


These are the flower arrangements I made for our Easter table from the flowers growing in our backyard.:)



Here are pix from the tiny Easter Egg Hunt we had in our backyard. Jane LOVED opening each egg as she found it, seeing what kind of candy was inside.:)
We also got to attend an Easter Egg Hunt at our friends, the Ballio's, house yesterday! It was sooo much fun!




Can Mumma have some?



Thank you Jane! You are soooo good at sharing!


Here are some family pix we took outside. I think we need to either train a dog to use my camera, or buy a tripod so we can have a WHOLE family picture.:)

(*Note:Jane mostly just wants to eat candy ALL THE TIME.:)







I know no one is as excited about our garden as we are, but here are some exciting things going on!

Grapes are beginning to grow!!!



Spinach is beginning to sprout! I can already taste the yummy green fruity smoothies now!


AND our first strawberry is turning pink!

"Mr. Easter Bunny"-Family Circus Movie Song:)

Here is Jane's first Easter, she was about 4 months old. All eyes! Sooooo cute!



Here is Denny's first Easter, he is about 8 months. Sooooo adorable! Look at those teeth!

"Tiny Dancer"

When Jane was about four months old we got her this adorable poofy pink dress to wear. She was uncomfortable in all that itchy tulle, but absolutely lovely.






So Friday night I was going through all the baby clothes, sorting, getting rid of some things, seeing what we had for boys and girls, etc. I found the poofy pink dress, but it was really stained in front, so I thought I should launder it before putting it back in storage....

...Jane found it the next day and decided that was what she wanted to wear.:)







I must say she is still gorgeous in it....in a Shirley Temple kind of way.:)

"A stick. A stone. The end of the road..."

Those song lyrics have been stuck in my head since last night when we were listening to the song. Anyone who can NAME that song and who is the most famous for performing it WINS.:)

So last week we FINALLY got to go to Disneyland!!! It was a BLAST! Absolutely what we needed durring our hectic times lately.
~Right before we left we purchased a new minivan (Details to follow in a post soonish:))~

We met Grandpop Mike and Grandma Becky in CA and spent a wonderful day at Disneyland. Eating the yummiest ice creambars EVER, riding rides(Jane especially liked the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. Denny just loved looking at EVERYTHING.:)), meeting prncesses(JANE LOVED THAT PART THE MOST), dancing in a street parade(Jane actually got pulled INTO the parade by some of the cast members and loved dancing with them:), oh everything was just lovely.

Here are some pix from Disneyland(well, the ones I took on my camera, Grandma took loads more:)).


Waiting in line to see the princesses took a VERY long time, but who cares so long as we are having fun together!



Jane didn't know who Mulan was, all she knew was that there were OTHER princesses to see down the line.:) Poor Mulan.



All the princesses were so kind to Jane, and loved her, and hugged her, and made her feel really special.:)



Of course, Aurora was the favorite.:) Jane could not get enough of her and how AWESOME it was to meet her in person.:)



We have family pix of my baby sister, Elizabeth, at Disneyland trying to open the Rabbit's door from Alice in Wonderland. It was fun trying to recreate that with my Jane.:)



Grandpop and Grandma!



We love those Disneyland fireworks!




Thursday we went to the LA Zoo. It was also very awesome.:) I refuse to go to the one in Las Vegas...can we say absolute cruelty to animals!? I can't even talk about it. Anyways, the LA zoo was fun. It was a perfect way to end our too short vacation. Jane and Denny loved the animals and I loved hanging out with my sweet family in a lovely and peaceful setting.:) I got to hold hands with BJ a lot too, and that was marvelous.:) Here are some pix.



Jane loved the flamingos, Denny loved the bush.:) Oh my darling nature lovers!



My kids are pretty good at sharing, can you tell?:)



This is a mei tai in action(The carrier Jane is in). Ohmygator my husband sooooo rocks!



Denny is my HANDSOME MAN!!!!XOXOXOXO!



I took this picture WITHOUT a zoom, the giraffe was THAT close!



I'm gonna get you!



Everytime I look at this picture I am reminded of how INSANELY HOT this man I have married is. A serious INFERNO of HOTTNESS. Whoo!


So we had the loveliest time. Which is awesome because it is probably our only vacation this year besides MAYBE WA for Christmas.:)
NEXT YEAR though we have a million reunions to attend! Family camp in CA with BJ's folks, Clair's Ya-ya reunion with beloved college chums, Steininger reunion if it is in CO, Christmas in WA, and I think we are going to plan a BJ, Clair, Jane, Denny, and Alice trip to Sandiego next April. We are soooo excited! Hope you all have lovely plans to look forward to in YOUR families!
xoxoxo!
HamakerLove

"Stairway to Heaven"

So yesterday BJ and I went to a church social they were callin' a Hoe Down. They had themselves this here little ol' dessert contest and this was MY entry.









The inside of my possum surprise was BLOOD RED. Totally gross AND awesome.
AND I WON A BLUE RIBBON. We went as "hicks", and called ourselves Beauford and Daisy Mae Hamaker, both first and second cousins married together because it is legal in this state.;) It was really really fun.

"You Can't Always Get What You Want...If You Try Sometimes You Find You Get What You Need"

Holy cow I was stalking our friend SArah Lynn's blog and found this HI-LARIOUS post.
So you go to a search engine and type "(Your name) needs", and list the first ten things that pops up. We are going to do the first five because it is faster. And five is the best number ever. This is what "we need."

BJ needs:
-to get real stoned
-a sports psychologist
-go back under water and carry the rock some place deeper this time.
- to talk a lot its a way to relieve his stress and make him confident
- Hawkeye to break him before he can know how to put himself back together

Clair needs:
-a booking agent.
-no encouragement.
-to be approved by groups immediately or she feels left out.
-more Italian places.
-to be dug up again - fun!(I quoted that exactly)

Jane needs:
-YOU!
-a break
-a home
-to be nailed to a railroad tie and left for the buzzards.
-Your Help On January 19th

Denny needs:
-to get on with it and let Izzy love Alex
-a new crew
-to throw a Republicrook out of Congress
-Your Vote
-to get a better handle on the whole experiance and he'll prove to be better then the twink in the #18.

Alice needs:
-more work
-a new true love
-a room next year!!
-counselling (It has been quite 'turbulent' lately, so counselling might just be the thing I need) (Again, quoted axactly)
-to learn to become a Permanent Fairy

I tag everyone who reads this because it is such a funny idea. You will laugh your pants off.