WILD TORNADO HAIR MORNING

When Stella was about 1.5 years of age she often woke up with wild hair. But now that it is longer it is never really that bad looking even though I comb about a million tangles out of her hair on a weekly basis. Thankfully, Stella is good at sitting down and letting me comb her hair or it would not be as long as it is now. Anyway, she must have traveled back in time last night because this morning her hair was almost vertical and I just had to take pictures of her bedhead.

Let it be noted that after this photo shoot, Stella had a bath, I combed her hair to normal, and I also cut her bangs so she could see again. My mom used to tell me that if I didn't let her comb my hair "they" would come and take me away from her, so since anyone could see this blog and report me to "them," I don't want anyone to get any ideas that I don't believe in basic hygiene for my cutie.

Oh, and one more thing...if you see these pictures and don't realize that my daughter is the cutest thing ever, then I am sorry...something is seriously wrong with you.

GUMMOW FILLED FUN

This week was certainly a highlight for Miss Stella. She had Aunt Heidi and her boys here for a full week. She was so excited she had to count the sleeps remaining a week before and the countdown took all of her patience. Every morning: "How many more sleeps until Catchy-Cy come to my house?"

We were go-go-go the whole week and I really didn't take any pictures for most of it. Cy and Catcher entertained Stella non-stop. Their favorite game was throwing balls up to the balcony while Stella was up on the balcony with one of the boys. It was loud as they ran around and bounced the ball against the railing of the balcony, but they had Stella in fits of giggles each time that the ball made it up to her so I didn't mind. (Unfortunately she had like 15 slivers in her tiny feet to show for the good times.) They also made her laugh constantly in all of our car rides. So if either of them ever want to consider a career in comedy they already have their biggest fan.

Heidi and I always want to accomplish more than we do. But our main goal was to get some pot pies made and frozen for future enjoyment. Heidi made some for me for my birthday a few years ago and I have been craving them ever since. Making the pies included a huge trip to WinCo, cooking our first turkey, watching Heidi painstakingly cut all the veggies into small equal sizes (I am not allowed to help, she likes them just so), cooking the veggies, making the rue, mixing up the insides in huge bowls, filling the pies and realizing that while we thought we would end up with 20 pies...we had only made enough filling for 10, discovering that I had frozen the pie crust tops so they took forever to thaw and put on the pies, and then finally being glad we only made 10 pies because I only had room for 10 pies in my freezer anyway. This work took a whole week. But we were darn proud.

Other activities during the week included riding in Papa Scott's huge new motor home, watching The Muppets on the big screen, taking the boys to the aquarium, feeding the ducks while Stella was at dance, introducing everyone to the deliciousness of The Pancake House, swimming with the extended Gummow family at a super fun pool, watching brand new episodes of Doc McStuffins, lots of hide 'n' seek and ball throwing and running and giggling around the house, a shopping trip to the mall with a Build-a-Bear highlight, and finally, a nature walk while we attempted to take some pictures of Wyn after sucking down Jamba Juices in the sun before the boys had to head back home to Idaho.

I had to take pics at Build-a-Bear because Stella has wanted to make a bear there forever. She was so excited as she picked out a bunny to stuff, picked out a heart, made a wish, and washed her new bunny. She picked out a cute pink robe for her bunny and named her "Cupcake."

I took some pictures of the band together during the nature walk, and the Jambas were delicious.

As the Gummow car drove off, Stella cried: "I want Catchy-Cy to come back to my house." I had to agree--it is always so fun to have them around and always so sad to say goodbye.

THE SAVAGE GRACE

Right after Bree published her first book The Dark Divine, Brent started pestering Bree that he would like to be a character in one of her books. He would say things like: "Don't you think your books need a guy named Brent in them?" One day Bree admitted that her third book had a character named Brent and he was turning out to be a pretty big character.

So of course as soon as I got an early copy of the book, Brent sat right down to read all about himself. After the first night of reading he said to me: "You know that Bree mentioned us in the acknowledgements, right?" And NO, I didn't. So I grabbed the book right away and read the acknowledgements. At the very end of all her thank yous it says: "And a special shout-out to our dear friends Michelle and Brent Sallay--Brent, you finally made it into one of my books. I hope you're happy man." After I read that I just started crying to Brent: "That is just so nice..." Seriously, I was touched. I am so stinking proud of Bree and watching her go through this whole publishing process has inspired me and I can't tell you how lucky I feel to have a friend like Bree in my life. (Still...after all these years.)

Last night was the official book launch at The King's English bookstore. It was very fun, and Brent (who is a wolf in the alternate reality of The Savage Grace) made a celebrity appearance as well.

To see more pics, check out my photo blog. To read my review and interview with Bree, check out my book blog.

ROCKIN' OUT GUMMOW STYLE

We headed up to Idaho Falls this week to help Heidi with the Mayor's Scholarship again this year. We didn't have too much time for shenanigans, but did fit in a few rounds of Rock Band, where Stella was able to sing her favorite Taylor Swift songs. Cy remarked: "The Dirty Bedrooms are back!"

Wyn is getting so big--he can dribble a basketball like a freaking superstar, and he also never misses a basket. He is awesome at guarding his big brother on the court as well. This trip, Wyn finally started to acknowledge me and called me Shell. He has always been so shy around me and I was thrilled that he knew his auntie even though I haven't seen him in ages.

SUNNY GETAWAY

Yesterday we returned home from a nice trip to sunny Phoenix. We had a great time, and didn't do much (even though we wore out the grandma of the group). We spent time at the pool, shopped, and ate. I got a lot of reading done (more than usual), and we even discovered a very cool bookstore where the books were super cheap like I like them.

When I mentioned the trip to Stella and she realized a pool was going to be part of the adventure, she was very excited to go. She talked about it for days before we left, and the morning of our departure she was very impatient. In general she is kind of a scaredy cat, so I was proud of her when I got her to try jumping off the side of the pool. As soon as she figured that trick out we did a lot of jumping.

We had a great time and were sad to return to the snow.