Hairy Thoughts

Katelee and I have continued our adventures with hair. We continue to have fun experimenting and trying out new things. Here are a few of our recent favorites that I want to record for easy access in the future.

Corkscrew braids back into braid bun with curls. Tutorial for corkscrew braids found here. Tutorial for braid bun with curls found here. I love this bun! It's so elegant and pretty, but only takes about 5 minutes.

Loopy Braids

Tutorial found here.

Triple flipped ponytail.

Tutorial here.

I tried to do plain corkscrew piggytails this day, but Katelee really wanted them made into 'butterfly wings.' I think they turned out cute! For a tutorial on doing a basic corkscrew braid, click here.

Woven ribbon and braid headband.

(better pictures, maybe, on our Father's Day post)

Tutorial found here.

CrissCross Braids

We did this hair-do for a long day at the pool to keep Katelee's hair back and out of the way.

Tutorial here.

Hair wrapped ponytail - without bobby pins!

Love it! This takes five minutes. I do not use the topsy turvy tool they use on the website, I just use a $1 plastic craft needle, as shown in the video clip on the tutorial. Tutorial here.

All Hail the Queen of Australia

"Mom! Come see the throne I built!" Katelee called the other day.

"Wow! That is a very fancy throne, Princess Katelee!"

"I am NOT a princess," she exclaimed in her most regal voice. "I am a QUEEN. The Queen of Australia."

(Putting on her crown.)

After that, I ate dinner with the Queen of Australia.

Are you jealous?

A New Cousin

Katelee has a new cousin, and we have a new nephew! We met him this past week, and were able to spend more time with him tonight, and we are all in LOVE.

He's adorable and so, so sweet.

One adorable family.

To say I'm baby hungry would be a huge understatement,

especially after spending time with this sweetheart!

We love you, baby Elijah, and are so glad you are part of our family!

Ice Cream Cone Photo Shoot

We have had a lovely summer day. We spent almost five hours at the pool today with a variety of friends. Then Katelee took a long nap while I worked. After dinner, our summer day was finished off with an ice cream cone on the front steps. I couldn't resist taking pictures of my beautiful girl.

I L.O.V.E. how Katelee throws her head back when she laughs. :)

The End.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Father's Day was made extra special this year by the fact that Gerald was out of town for 2 weeks and made it home just in time for Father's Day! We missed him so much and are so glad to have him home with us again!

Katelee just adores her daddy.

He is pretty wonderful.

Gerald & Katelee, Father's Day 2011

Last night for Family Home Evening, we read from President Benson's classic talk: To the Fathers in Israel. Towards the end of the talk, President Benson gives a list to fathers of 10 ways to give spiritual leadership. We read through it as a family and I felt so blessed to realize that Gerald already does all of these things. He is such a great husband and father. He is a true family man, who always puts his family first and works hard to take care of us and help us be happy.

I took these pictures in March of Katelee walking in her daddy's shoes. She wants to be just like her daddy, and I would be proud to have her follow in his footsteps.

Happy Father's Day, honey! We love you!!

Recipe Blog

I love to cook!

But I haven't been so good lately at my "Meal of the Month" posts I used to do.

I love gathering and trying new recipes. I love sharing recipes with others. Which is why I started a recipe blog. I love having all my recipes accessible from anywhere and all together and organized. I invited my mom and my sisters Melissa, Brittany and Taylor to do this with me, as we all love to cook and I LOVE their recipes, too.

If you are ever looking for a new recipe to try, check it out!

www.ThurstonRecipes.blogspot.com

With 173 recipes currently posted, and with us adding more as we find them, this should be a good resource for anyone looking for something new - or tried and true!

Hair It Is...

...the final installment of our 30 days of hair!

I must admit, part of me is sad to have this over. It has been so much fun for Katelee and I to plan and do together. I am glad we did this! It meant a lot to Katelee - she told everyone in the world about it. :) I am definitely out of my hair-doing rut! I feel like I have a million more hairstyles I want to try and variations on the old ones now. I realize there are lots of resources out there, and that doing cute hair doesn't have to take a long time or a lot of skill. :) The blog I used most this week was SheDoesHair.blogspot.com. A great place to look for creative, everyday hairstyles.

But part of me is relived to have this done, as well. Even though I love doing Katelee's hair, it has taken some energy to do something new and unique each day. Tomorrow - ponytail!! Hooray! :)

I decided it was faster to put a link to the tutorial rather than try to explain how I did each hairstyle. Plus, their tutorials are better for me to use when I want to review.

Day 30

Twisty Crown

This is another hairdo that I think looks gorgeous but only took 5 minutes to do! I found a tutorial, but altered it so it only took in the top half of her hair. I curled the bottom half with soft curls. Beautiful and fast! Tutorial here.

Day 29

Heart piggytails

This is hands-down Katelee's favorite style, because it is fast (less than 10 minutes) and it includes HEARTS! This would look even better with ringlets in the end, but I only had 10 minutes to work with today. We received TONS of comments - Katelee loved it!

Tutorial here.

Day 28

Loop-de-loops

LOVE this hairstyle - and it only takes about 5 minutes! Easy and cute! Tutorial here.

Day 27

3 ponytails on a slanted part

Katelee had some leftover curls from yesterday's hairdo that I couldn't stand to get rid of yet. So I did this quick and easy hairdo. Fast, easy, cute, and a bit different from the norm. Tutorial here.

Day 26

Basketweave

This is the sweetest hairstyle ever! It's not hard to do, but it is time consuming. It's worth the time, in mine and Katelee's opinion. This was for church, and she must have gotten about a million compliments. So, if you have a sweet daughter, a large craft needle and some time on your hands, this hairstyle is a must try! It looks SO cool! Tutorial here.

Day 25

Side twists into a half-flipped ponytail.

Part the hair. Twist each side down, gathering pieces of hair from the bottom as you go. Secure both twists in a ponytail. At this point, you could just flip the ponytail all the way through and leave it hanging down, but I chose to flip it only halfway through and fluff the ends. This is pretty easy, but if you want a tutorial you can find it here.

Day 24

Four twist-throughs on top, diagonal

Tutorial found here.

Day 23

Lattice piggytails into braids

This is NOT my favorite hairstyle. It was definitely an experiment. I love the look of lattice piggytails, and I saw on one blog how someone did the lattice piggytails upside down so that the ponytails ended up on top of the head instead of on the bottom. I decided to give it a try, but the piggytails ended up too much on the very top of Katelee's head, making her look like a ridiculous bug. :) So I braided the piggytails and tucked them under the 'lattice' to make them go back down her head. It's an interesting look, to say the least. :) If you want the tutorial for lattice piggytails, you can click here.

Day 22

Princess Hair Net

I don't know what to call this hairstyle, but Katelee and I decided to call it the princess hair net. Ha ha ha! You can find the tutorial here.