The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Oh where do I even begin? At the beginning I suppose...

At the end of February I was given an assignment from my Bishop to co-create this year's Dry Creek ward float, along with my neighbor Janell. Truth be told he had her in mind first, and I happened to sit next to her in a meeting and he put the two of us together. Wrong place at the wrong time. :)

The theme for the Lehi Round-Up parade this year was "Take a Look in a Book." I started brainstorming all of my favorite children's literature, and as soon as Janell and I got together I told her my ideas. She loved the Hungry Caterpillar idea and we thought it would be bright and fun to have the caterpillar be the centerpiece and the kids be the fruit and junk food parading around him. And so we began.

In March we formed a committee of people to help us, which is the only way we could have gotten this done. We found 3 incredibly talented ladies to work on costumes.  They drew up their own sketches, got together for fabric selection meetings, and basically ran away with their fantastic ideas. The decorating side of things got going by stopping in at Modern Display in Salt Lake and looking at all of their float decorating options. We quickly realized that with our meager budget ($600) and our "mini" float of only 8x10, we were stuck doing things the old-fashioned way. New large floats are mostly using laser-cut foam and glitter, but we couldn't afford such things, so we settled on the classic chicken wire and vinyl pom poms.

I can't speak for Janell, but one of the most stressful parts of the process for me was arranging for the construction of our float. We knew who we wanted to do it, and the guys readily agreed to help, but getting them all together at the same time proved ridiculous, and getting them to understand our vision was challenging. We finally arranged a good planning and calendaring meeting, but we left with our heads spinning with ideas from the guys, who ranged from artists to hobby builders to engineers. They got together one Saturday and framed our butterfly, but after that family schedules and church responsibilities took precedence and nothing happened for another month. Luckily Mike lives with me and we spent many evenings drawing and brainstorming the best methods and materials for caterpillar construction. Finally, the stars aligned and on May 16th the building committee got together and built us a caterpillar! What a relief it was to have something to look at besides drawings and a bare float base!

They ended up creating the frame of the caterpillar out of 3/8" rebar that they bent into shape by hand. They wired together a ring for each segment and covered the spines with those swim noodles you see in the back corner of the garage. They covered the whole thing with chicken wire, and then tied twine tightly between segments to create a height difference between the top and bottom of each segment. 

By the end of May we were able to start decorating! We had many wonderful ladies make pom poms out of 100 ft rolls of tablecloth vinyl. In the end I believe we made 18 rolls worth of pom poms. We used boards with nails on each end. We wired the centers first, and then cut every 5 inches apart. Then the real fun began, and each wired segment had to be fluffed and trimmed. Some of us (she know who she is!) trimmed perfectly and made the rest of ours look crude and rough. But luckily the segments and colors were forgiving, and having the differently trimmed pom poms side-by-side just added to the texture.
 
On June 2nd we got the committee together and attached the first round of pom poms.

It was exciting to get this far, but we quickly realized we had vastly underestimated how large our caterpillar was and how much the pom poms would cover.  We re-ordered vinyl twice and kept making pom poms furiously!

 

Also on that night Mike and I had finished the scalloping wire on the edges of our butterfly wings and were able to pass the baton onto two wonderful ladies who agreed to attach the petal paper. Janell was also involved in that process and they did a fabulous job!

The butterfly was the first thing to be done and got everyone excited for the final product... it was beginning to take shape.

We had many more pom pom parties (4 total maybe?) and finished covering the caterpillar. We also made the yellow, blue, and red fringe with wire and festooning, and finished the antennas. The last project was covering a rebar and chicken wire rock base with paper mache, and then painting it gray. Then we could cover the base with burlap and begin attaching the festooning around the edge.

Finally a dress rehearsal was in order! We got everyone together the Tuesday before the parade and passed out costumes, then took the float on a joy ride down the block and back. We were glad we did because we had structural failures with the butterfly that had to be addressed, and we were so glad we could fix them to avoid a catastrophe at the actual parade!

It was so fun to see everything coming together. We still had some long hours ahead of us getting the butterfly attached and secure, but the end was in sight.

Finally the big day (June 26th) arrived! A few of us met and did finishing touches, including attaching the polka dots and fringe, and we pulled it in the back of a friend's truck down to be judged at the parade beginning (Wines Park). Finishing was winning!

Just to establish a little bit of background (and for me to remember), our ward had either won grand champion or 1st place for the last 5 years before us. No pressure!!! We were assured from the start that we didn't need to worry about winning, but we definitely felt the weight of such a history. We tried not to let it bother us, and we focused a lot on fellow-shipping, using families that had never been involved, and just doing our best. We fought through a lot of challenges, including Janell being plagued by migraines and me suffering through morning sickness. By the end we felt like the combined efforts and team work of at least 30 people made our float a winner regardless of the outcome, but when we saw our finished product and how striking the size and vibrant the colors were, we couldn't help but believe we had made ourselves a beautiful float!

Adding the precious fruit and junk food was really the icing on the cake! Ella was a pear, Maddie was the chocolate cake, and Ty was the apple.

Our pair or pears was pretty darling. These two are best buddies, and they had the princess wave down pat.

For my own memory I should mention how the banners were constructed. We used the same fabric as the costumes, which was a light weight material similar to reusable shopping bags. We carried them on 8 ft PVC pipe, and my friend Aimee ended up creating another pocket at the bottom for wooden dowels to keep the fabric down. I cut the letters and dots from cardstock on a Cricut machine, Janell laminated them, and Aimee glued them on with hot glue. Aimee created the additional artwork with scraps from the costumes and they turned out so perfect!!
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We were ecstatic to win 1ST PLACE!!! Winning isn't everything, but is sure feels rewarding! The kids and ward could be proud of the Dry Creek float!

Our bishop walked with us the second day. The parade watchers gave us rave reviews and made the kids feel like rock stars. Janell and I and a few other ladies carried spray bottles and sprayed kids' mouths and legs to keep them cool in the 95 degree heat!

In the end it was SO FUN to be a part of this crazy Lehi tradition.

Ty's Eye

After 8 years of parenting it finally happened... one of our kids had a run-in with the coffee table (needless to say it was quickly relegated to the basement). And of course it was Ty, who always seems to get the injuries. He and Maddie were rough-housing and he went down hard... and when I picked him up I knew this was no ordinary bonk. Blood was pooling in his eye socket and gushing down my arm. I held a towel to his head and loaded everyone in the car, FAST. Maddie felt super bad about it and was a great help getting my purse and everyone's shoes on.

Sure enough, at Urgent care they said he needed stitches. He was more scared about the doctor coming in than he was about the stitches. I finally got him to stop crying by watching 2 minutes of Mickey Mouse on my phone, and then he was calm enough for the doc to give him the numbing shot. That was the saddest part... but after that he couldn't feel the 5 stitches and we had a nice conversation about how Grandpa came for Ty's fire truck birthday and brought his wiener dog, Tank. They thought that was funny. Then the brave boy got a sucker and a balloon and we were released!

Poor kid had a pretty good black eye for awhile, as he caught on his selfie while playing with my phone.

 They were some pretty cool looking stitches.

A week later we went back to get them removed, and it didn't hurt a bit. The nurse even taped them too a tongue depressor so Ty could take them home and show his Dad.

It healed pretty well and shouldn't leave too much of a scar on my pretty blue-eyed boy!

My Birthday and Father's Day

My first birthday gift was sleeping in while Ella read stories to the boys at the foot of my bed. 

After breakfast the kids got to open a gift of their own.

It was the announcement to them that we have a baby on the way!!! They found a blue and pink baby outfit, an early ultrasound, and a box of Junior Mints because that's what Mike called Jake before he was born. We got their reactions on video, but let's just say they were all excited! Maddie has been begging me for a baby lately, and even had a recent dream that she was holding a baby sister.

I spent the day with two of my best friends who have June birthdays too, and we enjoyed visiting while the 13 kids ran around the back yard and basement being wild. I can't believe we didn't take a single picture together!

We met the other birthday girl for dinner at Smash Burger and then went to her house where Landon provided an amazing Bundt Cake for us. Dana and I also got to go on a shopping trip together, which I loved because Dana is the best fashion consultant.

Just a few days later we were there again for Father's Day dinner with the Sherwood's. We had a delicious steak dinner and finished the bundt cake.

I should mention before that... Daddy got chocolate chip waffles for breakfast in bed. He opened all his cards and got the gift of graham crackers.

We think our guys is the "World's Greatest Dad!"

Another reason we think he's so great (and why he didn't get a bigger gift) is because he's been working so hard on installing a trampoline in our backyard!

He impulsively told me about the end of May that he was ready to buy a tramp, and then he borrowed a friend's mini-exc and dug a hole to put it in the ground!

The boys thought that helping Daddy on the tractor was about the coolest thing ever.

Getting the plastic retaining wall attached and the hole groomed and back-filled was tedious work. Mike worked long hours getting the tramp ready for the kids who were chomping at the bit!

And finally we were in business! Also in the background you can see some neighbors who came and took many loads of dirt to use in their yard as they level it. It was good for both of us, because we didn't know what to do with it all. The plan is to frame the tramp in with a large raised bed and fill it with plants and trees to provide some shade on the west side.

The kids (and neighbors) have spent many happy times already jumping on the tramp. They especially love when water is involved!

Pet Update

Ella did her Kindergarten animal report about her purple Caribbean Hermit crab, Hermy. Soon after he molted again too early, after just having done it a few month prior, and he didn't survive. She was devastated, as she had really come to love him and value his companionship at night in her room. We decided to give him a proper burial and I suggested we do it under the crab apple tree, not even realizing that it had 'crab' in the name! She thought that was a great idea, so we dug him a little hole and had a family prayer before putting him to rest. 

The next Saturday Daddy took the girls to the pet store and they each chose an addition to the family! Ella chose two new baby crabs and named them Coral and Zebra. They seem to love their new home and love having each other... they are social creatures and we suspect that Hermy had been lonely all by himself. The first night they slept in their new home we saw them snuggled up close to each other in the corner.

Maddie chose a yellow goldfish and named her Sunny, to keep Goldie company. She also chose a new stone archway to decorate their tank.

And that's the latest scoop on the family pets!