Congrats Jimmy and Amanda!

Yesterday was a blast. My friend Cammie's little sister Amanda got married and I played "back-up photographer." Amanda hadn't liked how her bridals turned out with the photographer she chose so they wanted me to come as well during the ceremony so they could have a better chance of getting shots they liked. I tried to stay out of the main photographer's way so she wouldn't get mad at me (though I'm sure she wondered who the heck I was). Here are a few of my favorite shots:

posada del faro

The other day I was thinking about this place that Jusin and I stayed when we went to visit his parents and two little sisters in Uruguay in November 2006. I can't bear to think that we will most likely never go back there now that his family is home (they were on a mission). The design of this bed and breakfast is the epitomy of everything I love: clean lines, white white and more white, splashes of bright color, simple, modern but cozy. Oh I love this place.

This is what a lot of the homes look like in Jose Ignacio. Love it.

justin is a great enventer

This is a letter from Justin's sister Ashley. I think it's so cute because everything she says about him is still true.

i heart etsy

I found out about etsy about a month ago and I am obsessed. Within the first week I purchased sugar cookies, a custom apron, a mini quilt and a custom pillow. And set up an account for my dad (for father's day) and myself. I love the interface and the community and I love that it isn't just about getting stuff for as cheap as possible. It's a place where people can share their talents and be appreciated for it.

my etsy shop

Etsy Buy Handmade courtneybankhead

indian girl in red

Today is random posting day. I have been brokering art for Karl Thomas, my uncle, for about 3 years now and really enjoy it. I love being able to market such an unbelievably cool product, I love using his images to make awesome promotional items and he has the coolest website ever (made by pete hawkes). The painting below, "Indian Girl in Red" is my all time favorite painting of Karl's. It reminds me of Richard Schmid's paintings. I think the way the figure fades into the background is amazing, the impression of the ledge for her hands, the bow in her hair and the expression on the girl's face - i never really have a physical reaction to art - but this one just makes me catch my breath every time I see it.

molly

another boating picture. this is molly, ellie's buddy - well they are slowly getting to the buddy stage. until a few months ago, they just stole eachother's toys and hit eachother. molly's mom is emily and she is my way good friend. here is a picture of her and her little boy ethan.

fourth of july

i love having kids because it gives you an excuse to do things you wouldn't normally do by yourself. for instance, justin can go to seven peaks all he wants as long has he has ellie or cody with him (this is a joke on justin because i think it's so weird that he likes seven peaks so much).

we had a blast this year. justin took ellie to see the hot air balloons early tuesday morning in her pj's. she loved the pig balloon and the yellow balloon the best. wednesday morning justin and i got up and ran in the 10k "fun" run. i got a little frustrated because it was all justin could do to go slow enough for me to keep up and he never ever runs. he tried to make me feel better by telling me, "it's just genetics, court - sorry." i think we ran it in about 55 min. After the run we went back home and got the kids and went to the parade. we have started this tradition that we put the kids in the burley and ride our bikes down the parade route until we find a spot to watch it. it makes it way easy to get around with all the traffic and you can park far away and but still get out quick. we took naps in the afternoon and the went to the Bankheads annual fourth of july pool party which is always fun. ellie is turning into a little fish - i keep waiting for her blonde hair to turn green from all the clorine.


i like this picture because cody is always at the mercy of ellie. it's just so funny to watch what cody has to put up with being the little brother. and it's funny that his head really is as big as ellies.

flip that house

Justin will be first to tell you that HGTV is my all time favorite channel. Divine Design is the best show, the one I TIVO every week. All the other shows pale in comparison but Flip That House is pretty good too. Last spring I did my own flip. I bought a little house in Provo (775 W. 800 N.) sight unseen. I found it on the MLS and the deadline to bid was that night. It was crazy! I came home the next day and told Justin I had bought a house. Anyway, I think I bought the house in May, got pregnant and sick in June, and didn't even finish remodeling until December. In fact, I just remembered that the day I brought Cody home from the hospital the escrow officer was waiting for me in front of my house so I could sign the closing docs. I don't plan on doing anything like again anytime soon but it made for some awesome memories. My dad helped me a ton as well as Justin of course but the best part about it was just doing something that seemed so unreachable and learning so much. Here are a few before and afters:

living room.

master bath. added a tub to where the w/d used to be.

the funny part about the kitchen is once the fridge is in place and you open the door your backside runs into the stove. a pretty heavy set couple (fat) came through the home and the woman actually couldn't open the fridge all the way beause she was jammed between the fridge door and the stove. needless to say they didn't make an offer. i think a little mexican family ended up buying it.

second bathroom. this was a nightmare, the tub was cast iron and we had to pull it out through a hole we made in the adjacent bedroom. we also moved the w/d hookup acroos the entire home and put it in this bathroom where some cabinets were.

we ripped a huge dead tree out of the front yard, painted the brick because the last owners splatterd white paint all over it, painted the trim, planted flowers, put in a vinyl fence and re-seeded the lawn.

one of two kids bedrooms. i like the closets.

i tube! i'm a tuber!

Untill this weekend, I have always been a little "anti-boating." I just never grew up boating and it always seemed like such a money pit and time sucker....which it is. Running, biking, climbing and even skiing are ten times cheaper more fun to me, but now that I have kids, and now that we have a boat - I realize what a perfect family activity it is. There really aren't that many activites that an entire family can do together and all have fun. And it's even harder to find things to do with other familes. Last weekend Justin's sister Brittany approached us to go in on a boat with her and Justin's other sister Ashley. We debated for about 15 minutes before saying yes. I am still a little gut-sick about how freakin expensive boats are not just to buy but to maintain. Oh well. Here are some pics from the first day on the lake. Ellie loves tubing. She says, "I'm a tuber!" She also loves jumping off the platform to me over and over and over.... She didn't like the water until I told her there were fishies in the water too, then she loved it. As we were coming in to the dock yesterday she saw a sailboat and said, "Look, a castle boat!"