Corbin's Birthday

Corbin's official birthday is tomorrow, but Jonathan will be gone all day, so we decided to celebrate today.

I can't believe he's 3! He is such a happy boy. He is starting to talk a lot more which just adds to his "I want to make you laugh" personality. He is so thoughtful and caring. We are so glad he's part of our crew!

As soon as we were up, I wanted to start on waffles. He wanted to help.
For some reason, he seems so big in this picture. Jonathan commented that he's growing up, to which he replied "yup, just like Daniel Tiger!" (he watched an episode all about Daniel Tiger growing up and being a big helper)

Daddy suggested we open one present in the morning. The only gift that was wrapped was the one Cambria bought for him and helped me wrap yesterday. So that's what he got to open.

I told him to say thank you to Bia and then this happened. They really do have a sweet relationship.

Not pictured: I had a friend come over and cut all my hair off! I'll probably blog about it later.

Right after quiet time I made frosting for his cupcakes. He was right by my side. Right where he likes to be.
Bonus: he got to lick the beater... and the bowl...

 Not pictured: Hot dogs for lunch! We also went to the park. It was good to get out of the house. He is starting to get brave enough to play by himself. He still would rather me be right there with him, playing. I did actually do that for a few minutes. Go me!

After the park Daddy came home a little early and played with the kids while I got Hawaiian haystacks ready for dinner. That is literally the only dinner meal my kids will actually eat. I make a lot more food than that but they take one bite and then they are done.

We had floats (edible bubbles... it doesn't get much better than that) and needed something to put candles in... so we had cupcakes too. Thankfully neither of the kids finished either dessert, so I don't think they were too flooded with sugar.

"show me your bubbles!"

I'm not sure why, but the quality of the pictures dramatically decreased with these ones. Sorry.

"oh-ho! Me-me own playdoh toys! And playdoh!!"

This is me trying to get in some pictures too. Corbin got soap (as many bubbles to dump into the sink at one time as he wants!!!) and playdoh toys. 

Thanks Grandma Fletcher, and Grandma and Grandpa Kershaw for the cards!

Summer Trip 2017

This summer we had planned to go spend some time with Robert and Ruth in Georgia, and Dave and Jenny in Virginia Beach. That was planned to last all of one week.

Well... our trip ended up being a bit longer than that. I decided pretty last minute (a few weeks before leaving) that I couldn't stay away from Utah. We planned to go for Christmas, but that wasn't going to fill my needs now. So we booked tickets to head to Utah, so that I could to my cousin's wedding in Alberta during my trip to Utah. At first I was thinking I would just take Aveya and we could go and come back over a few days. But then push came to shove (cheaper airline tickets, a desire for my kids to strengthen relationships with their cousins... etc) we decided that me and the kids should fly to Utah for three weeks and then fly directly from SLC to Atlanta where Jonathan would meet us and drive us to our originally planned vacation (to Robert and Ruths, and then to Dave and Jenny's). As we were in Utah, Jonathan found out about an opportunity to go to a work conference in Rhode Island that started on the day we planned to drive home from Virginia. What the heck, why not add another 5 days to our trip...

Our trip ended up being 5 weeks. It was long! But we had a good time. There were some highs and lows and everything in between. We had some unexpected expenses (Jonathan had a tire blowout on the way to Georgia and ended up replacing all 4 tires, even though we took the van to a shop and got an all clear that things looked good... yeah... we probably won't be back to that shop. We also had a crazy adventure getting to Utah, our flight was canceled due to storms, and Frontier couldn't fly us out for another 4 days or something crazy, so we spent all day trying to find a flight to Utah that day.... that was a lot of money, but we made it!) Even with all the crazy, we saw blessings, and recognize that we have been taken care of more than we probably realize.

blah blah blah... here our the pics!

A picture from our 24 hour trip to Utah. After we found a flight, we found a free indoor playground close to the Airport. That killed some time and energy! Both of those things were needed.
(We woke up at 3:00 AM to make our 6:00 flight, which was canceled, and after all was said and done, rolled into my sister's house at 2:00 AM Utah time, we had been up, and traveling for over 24 hours... blah!)

Aveya with her cousin Ezio, he's only a month older than her :)

the kids shared a bed the entire trip. They did surprisingly well. 

The kids with the Brown family

Jonathan spent a weekend backpacking with a friend! From what he told me, he had a good time!

The cute newlyweds! The wedding was beautiful!!

I wanted to make it a point to spend some one on one time with each individual family in Utah. This is Corbin and his cousin River. They played really nicely. Which is saying something, because he would rather hang out on my lap while I visit, then be with kids his own age. (Shaylee was Cambria's constant friend in Utah. She often came with us on whatever adventure we went on. It was sweet!)

The Lawlors have to squeeze games in whenever they can. I'm glad I could play with my cousins too!

We stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa when we were in Canada. They have momentoes from all their travels around the globe. Shaylee's listening to the ocean. (I believe this shell was found in Fiji)

Every time I go up to Alberta, I have to make sure to stop and visit Danae's grave. Cambria is named after her and Aveya was born on her birthday. I believe they will always have a special connection with her.

I also tried to get out of the house and do fun things this trip! (I took my inspiration from you, Erica!) This is BYU duck pond. Word from the wise, if you want to see ducks eat the bread you offer, go somewhere else. haha! They had no interest in the food we brought!

The kids loved watching the ducks anyway!

my 8 year old nephew. Sometimes he looks 12. NBD

These two... there's one cousin who is right with them in age, but he wasn't there. I can only imagine the mischief they will get into as they get older :)

Merek LOVES babies, and he's so sweet with them. He doesn't talk much, but he's very clear that he wants to hold the baby. :)

Springville splash pad!

Corbin actually played in the water. I think this is a first. For real! He gets really nervous around water that sprays... or that sits in a pool... just water in general, unless it's in the bathtub.

I didn't take too many pictures in Utah, there were so many cameras flashing all the time. I figured I would just get their pictures. But I never do... sigh...

The boys were matching. this wasn't intentional. Neither one are great picture takers, so this is the best we got.

Robert works at a fire station. I'm so glad we got to check out the fire trucks! Corbin loves fire trucks!
Georgia Kershaws with Indiana Kershaws :)

Michelle is so proud of her photo bomb ;)

I love this pic haha!

photo proof that he actually got out and got wet!

Holding hands. This gives me hope that their relationship will be good once they learn how to control their big emotions.

This girl, and water. She loves it! Sand is good too

Uncle Dave is so great with kids! So is Jenny, I just don't have any pics with her.

Cambria and Kami. They hit it off real quick. Kami has dress-ups and princess stuff... Cambria was all over that!

at the aquarium. Proof that I actually went on this vacation... I don't often remember to get in the picture. #momproblems

Cambria was excited to catch a fish until it started squirming. Then she didn't want to get too close.

This is our posed solar eclipse picture. You don't need to know that we watched the eclipse out the side of a mall parking lot. You also don't need to know that this pic was taken in the shade... much after the eclipse ended...

pedicures with the girls! I love my last summer hurrah toes!

I just wanna be a hairstylist

oh hello blog! It's been a while!

I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time... just kidding... but get ready, I have a feeling this is going to be a long blog post. I have a lot of thoughts rumbling around.

First off, let me start by saying that I'm a dreamer. I always have been, I've always had very lofty dreams. One dream that I've had since I can remember is to become a hairstylist.

When I got to high school. I had found a lot of different passions at that point. Most of which had something to do with musical theatre. I was very preoccupied with pursuing and engaging in all things music and theatre. When it came time to decide what to do with my life I had put hair school out of my mind. I wanted something that would force me to move away from my family for a short time so that I could grow up and not be so dependent (immediately after high school), and then something that I could support a future family with if I needed to. Hair school didn't fit into either category, so I never pursued it.

Here I am now, 6 years after I have graduated with my Bachelors, wishing that I had this skill. Wishing that I would have made it happen when I was ready to fork out a ton of money for education, and had the time to have a full time job to gain the skills needed to be confident.

To be fair, I'm not wishing all the time. I'm too much of a dreamer to be kicking myself for something I didn't do 10+ years ago. Besides, I learned a lot from the experiences that I gained. I'm so grateful (especially) for the decision I made to pursue the bridal business for a little while. I'm a much more confident seamstress because of it. But now I'm just dreaming of a way to make hair happen.

That's the end of the story; now here's the beginning of my thoughts... the reason for this blog post. (I warned you that it would be long!)

If I had the skills to cut, color, style etc hair, then I would have something to do that would give me a creative outlet. Something that I could pursue that I'm crazy passionate about. I would have that time set into my schedule to develop meaningful friendships with adults (all different kinds of adults) I could have friends come to me on the weekends and chat with me for an hour or so. I can only imagine what that would do for my emotional health!

I have skills that give me a creative outlet, but most of them require alone time, which is scarce and not something that I need, I need to find things to do with other people! They are often very long projects, and often require money at the beginning of each new project. But with hair... after I gained the skills, it would give me something to be creative about that didn't require any money out of my pocket (that I wouldn't get back anyway). It would give me some much needed social interaction, and it would only take a few hours for each new project! Win-win-win!!!

I've talked to Jonathan about this (after moving on from my most recent dream of becoming the next Hillary Weeks). This seems like something that would be good for me for so many reasons. I've dreamed about this so seriously that I even looked into hair schools here. There are two neither of which are that great (from what I've been told). One is $18,000! It has two options: a full time option that would take 10 months, or a part time (evening class) option that would take 20 months. The other hair school is about half that much money, and not as good (so I hear). They only have one option; full time, during the day for 10 months. Now if that reality isn't a dream killer, I don't know what is. Full time school really isn't an option right now, and 2 years of night classes and $18,000 is a lot!

Last Friday, Jonathan and I went on a date. The conversation moved to hair school. We started brainstorming how to make the things I want a reality, realistically. What I really want is to gain the skills to cut (and color and style etc) people's hair in my home.

Jonathan started wondering if there were any other way that I could gain those skills. We talked about learning from YouTube videos (which I actually have already learned a lot), and getting some sort of apprenticeship with someone who is a hairstylist out of their own home. He mentioned that I may not need to know all the stuff that I may learn in hair school considering my goals. As I thought about that, I thought it might work, but there's a lot to consider. The main drawback is credibility. How could I convince someone to trust me with their hair if I don't have the credentials. I'm not too concerned about that here, I already have some friends who are willing to let me try to cut their hair(!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!) and if I do a good job, word will spread, and I might be able to get a good amount of people to trust me. But what about when I move away? How do I get this business (for lack of a better word) going again without the credibility of the license. Then there's also the legal side of it, I'm not sure if I could charge people if I don't have a license. Although I wouldn't charge much, I would like to make sure I'm not in the hole for the supplies and stuff.

Another drawback is the question about how I would actually gain the skills. In a perfect world, I would have gone to hair school, then worked in a salon for a few years so I could have actually gained the necessary skills. Then I would have opened up a salon in my home and been amazing. But unfortunately, that's not in my deck of cards anymore. Could I actually gain the skills without hair school? All the skills to cut all different types of hair, head shapes, textures, and thicknesses? To color all different colors and using different techniques?


So... if anyone is still reading. What are your thoughts? Is there a way I can work around hair school? Should I just consider hair school worth the investment of time (both my time, and time away from my family) and money? (There's no way that I would get a return on that investment... I wouldn't make that money back.) I know plenty of women who felt like going back to school to get a graduate degree of some sort was worth it, and they made it work. Should I make it work? For those who are hair people: is there a lot in hair school that you learn that you don't use as an in-home stylist? I really need some direction here, so if you have thoughts, please share them :)

For your viewing pleasure... Here are some of the most recent hair cuts I've given...