drury life

The kiddies room

2012-02-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've been working on fixing up the kids room over the month of January. Mostly I've done it because Josh confessed that he was unhappy about sleeping in a pink room. I couldn't blame him. But I found that combining decor for a boy and a girl is challenging. I didn't know what to do with the mis-matched bedding and the completely different color schemes that came with them. Eventually I decided to use the tree that Tricia painted to tie the two themes together and this is what came out. I didn't want too much going on so I painted the walls in between the blue and pink wall gray. I love the gray. I almost want to paint the rest of my house gray. I'm so sick of the brown that is on most of the walls in my house. When Josh say his wall being painted he said with enthusiasm, "Wow! This is awesome! Good job, mommy!" That was worth the effort right there. He's happy, I'm happy and life is good again now that all the paint is back in storage.

Josh's side of the room

Abby's side of the room

On a side note, the crib tent for Abby is the best investment I've bought in a long time. She was waking up 3-4 times a night and climbing into bed with us for nearly a month and not taking naps either. Now she is back to sleeping through the night, naps are back to 2 hours a day, and I love that she can't get out. $50 restored my sanity and I love it.

The Little Kitchen... Finally

2012-01-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

It's taken forever to get these pictures loaded. But the kitchen has been in full use for some time now. The kids have spent a lot of time preparing meals and generally spreading pieces of fake food all over the house.

The oven hinge broke in the first week. It was on the bottom of the door and it got stepped on and popped off, so I changed the door to a side hinge and I think that will keep it on better. The sink is a crock pot I found at DI, and the burners are painted wooden circles. The knobs came off of the cupboard next to the fridge. It was originally a very used and abused play stove, but it had great hardware. So I stripped it down and repainted it white to use as extra kitchen space. I should have taken before and after pictures of everything and I think I did somewhere, but I don't have the energy to track them down.

The middle cupboard acting as our fridge came from DI for $5. The chest I used for the stove was $15, and the other piece was $5 also from DI and it was filled with food and baskets so I thought it was a great deal. Add in about $40 for paint and hardware and I figure this cost around $65 plus a lot of time and labor (but at least that was free because I did it myself!).

I made these little outfits for the kids to go with their kitchen. I followed a pattern online for the hats (they were really easy) and made Abby's apron. Josh's apron came from Hobby Lobby and I added the iron on decor (he's covering it in the picture, but it has a hamburger and his name spelled in black).

Josh, The Sunbeam

2012-01-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Josh has been a sunbeam for a few weeks now. Today I peeked in to see what he was doing in primary. He was trying so hard to sing the songs, but he didn't know the words so he sang along as best he could. It was pretty cute. When we got home he was walking around the house reciting something and I asked him what he was saying. He said in a very strong voice, "I came to mearth with power to choose and my family too." Thats what they had learned about today and they must have had the kids do some reciting because Josh had this saying down solid (except for calling earth mearth, which just makes it that much cuter). Then he told me that we had spirits inside us and they help us to move. I think I'm going to like hearing about primary a lot.

Quick update since I haven't blogged in forever.

2012-01-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

So I haven't blogged in forever. We've been really busy and also our laptop charger cord died. We finally got it replaced after a few weeks, but time has come and gone since then so here is our quick update.

John: John has been busy working on summer preparations. The draft has been completed so as for now it looks like we will be going to Sacramento, CA for this summer. I'm pretty excited for that for a few reasons. Its a relatively short drive, the weather is awesome, and I might actually get to see the Redwoods (they are on my bucket list). John has also been really helpful at home with the kids lately while I've been trying to get some things accomplished.

Nancy: I have been re-evaluating my goals and priorities for the new year and decided that I don't take care of myself the way I should because I get too involved in projects. So I have put most of my creative drive on the back burner and have been working out instead. It helps a great deal to not be distracted by other things so this year may be one of less projects and more routine in other areas. So far I like the change. The one exception to that has been the kids room. Josh and Abby are now in the same room. I gave it a trial period of nearly a month and it was touch and go for awhile, but they will stay as they are and we all get to keep the other room as a toy room. But Josh told me the other day that he doesn't like sharing a room because he missed his blue room and also because Abby banged on the door. But most of his emphasis was on him liking the blue. So we painted the kids room this week. One wall is pink (the wall with the owl on it), the opposite wall is blue, and the two walls in between (opposite of each other) are gray. I'll post some pictures when its all the way done.

Josh: Josh is busy as ever and growing too. I've had to pack away most of his pants because they all of the sudden became too short. Hurray! He's been doing swimming lessons since the beginning of the year and is doing really well. The last swimming class he took was a parent/kid class and I basically played games with him in the pool, but he didn't learn much. Now he independent from me. There are 2 other little boys in the class (one is Tyler his cousin) and they are so cute to watch. He got goggles today (which he calls gobbles) and likes to look into the water. I think we'll do another session for the month of February so that he can keep building on the things he's learning right now.

Abby: Abby is busy, busy, busy. She talks so much and says the cutest things. My favorite sayings are: "Tank you, mommy!" (which she says after anything I do/get for her), "Daddy said no said never!" (she says this when someone tells her no to something she asks for and she gets the cutest little sad face, but it doesn't get her what she wants none the less). Abby also went from a toddler bed back to a crib. She was not sleeping well at all and my sanity had just about had it. So one particularly rough night I got online and ordered a crib tent so that she can't climb out of her bed. This is the third night with it and she has done so well. Last night I didn't ever hear her wake up and she slept in till 8:10. I was so excited. Hopefully that continues.

Thats about all for now. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

This Week.

2011-12-16T00:39:00.002-07:00

This week was a busy week. We had a lot going on. One day we went to Salt Lake for a work party for John. His regional manager and friend hosted a party at the Gallivan Center. For the first 30 or so minutes we talked with friends, had some refreshments, and the kids got their fill of Santa. This Santa came to visit all the kids and told them stories and sang some songs, and then let them all sit on his lap. I was surprised that Abby didnt hide on my lap. She sat there with Josh listening to everything and soaking in all that was going on. It was pretty cute. Then we went ice skating for a few minutes on the outdoor skating rink. Josh really wanted to go (having barely walked by to see what ice skating actually was). I don't think I've been ice skating for 8 years. But we went out and around the rink twice before Josh had had enough. It was harder than he thought it was going to be. But it was fun to participate in a first for him.

Dont you love phone photos. I love that Josh and Abby are holding hands like they are using each other for support.

We had another first this week. We FINALLY had enough snow one morning to make a snowman. Okay... I mostly made a snowman, but once the kids saw what my project turned into they were pretty excited about it too. Our snowman lasted an hour before he fell over and melted into the grass. I really hope we get some more snow for Christmas!

By the way, this is what happens when you try to force a picture.

I also turned 30 this week. Yeah. I like birthdays, but I don't think I like being 30. Looking back on my 20's I can remember a lot of the good and some of the bad and I'm sure more of both will come in the next decade. For my birthday I got to go to the dentist and get a crown done. Exciting I know. The dentist still stresses me out and this trip was no exception. Once the trauma passes I'm sure I will be glad my mouth is fixed. Thank you everyone for your nice happy birthday wishes and gifts. Being 30 won't be so bad if I can still spend time with all of you.

We have just over a week before Christmas comes and now that all the dentistry is done I plan on enjoying that time. We looked at Christmas lights tonight and saw reindeer. Tomorrow we are taking the kids shopping for each other because I think it's good for them to be involved in giving to others. They were involved already with a giving tree at the mall (thanks Mom for the good experience), but I hope it will also be fun for them to see each other open the things they bought for each other.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Josh's First Dentist Trip

2011-12-05T23:43:00.000-07:00

We've turned over a new leaf in our house the past few weeks. Three of the four of us went in to the dentist for cleanings and a checkup. Josh went in for the first time and he did soooo good. He was cracking me up the whole time talking about everything and acting all big. He never cried or acted very scared. He only complained that the noise was loud. I found these pictures on my phone today so I wanted to post them while I remembered.

I loved him in the glasses. He thought they were pretty cool. I asked him what his favorite part was and he said the strawberry on the tickler (the part where they cleaned his teeth) and the prizes.

He was so attached to that prize bag he earned. He fell asleep on the couch during his quiet time holding onto his bag with his finger. He even woke up at 3:30 that night asking for it because I had moved it off his bed when he fell asleep.

I get to go back tomorrow for some fillings and I will try to be as brave as Josh.

2 Years Old!

2011-12-04T16:01:00.001-07:00

I took a couple pictures before church this morning to commemorate Abby's recent birthday. She looked so cute in this outfit from my mom, and it was the first time snow has stuck the ground here at our house. although its melted now. 2 years has flown right by!

And of course I can't leave out Josh. He loved the snow and did a happy snow dance for me on the sidewalk. I'm pretty sure it was a happy snow dance and not a I have to go to the bathroom dance! Bring on some more snow!!

Weekend of parties.

2011-12-04T15:31:00.006-07:00

This weekend we were busy with Abby's birthday and our family Christmas party! We had so much fun doing everything. Friday was our Christmas party and we have with my family we have a traveling party. We visit each family member's house to see their Christmas decorations and updates on their houses (2 of my sibling recently purchased new houses). At each house we sing a Christmas song and have some sort of finger food (the food was so good!!). Then at the last house we play chimes together and had Santa come to visit. Santa brought us all a nativity and we play a present game to select who takes home each nativity. The kids LOVED Santa. Josh is really into him this year. He always asks where Santa is, when is he coming, where do his reindeer live, etc... It was a great way to kick off December. I'm more excited for Christmas now then ever!

We also had a family party for Abby's birthday and let her open some more presents. She totally understood the concept of birthdays this year and I often caught her singing "Happy Birthday" to herself. Here are some pictures from the event.

This week I plan on crashing a little after all the partying and getting a few last projects done for Christmas. Only 20 more days till Christmas Eve!!

Abby turns 2!

2011-12-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

This past week our little Abby turned the exciting age of 2 years old! She is growing so fast. Looking at these pictures makes me think how fast time really has flown. 2 years ago she was just a tiny baby with a head full of black hair.

Then just last year she was still not crawling or walking (she crawled at 13 months and walked a few weeks later). But she loved to smile and always kept us laughing.

This year for her birthday we took her and Josh out to Thanksgiving Point to visit the dinosaurs. We wanted to do the farm, but it was just too cold! Abby loved walking around the museum while Josh ran crazy the whole time. Their favorite was the star walk through the dark tunnel where you feel like you are walking through space. They also really liked playing in the sand, both the dry sand and the wet sand.

After the museum we got some lunch and let Abby open her presents and blow out some candles on a store bought cake. (It about killed me to buy a cake, but I was too tired and lazy to make one that day and we were having a family party for her in a couple days so I could make her something then.) We're so glad Abby is in our family. She is full of energy, always climbing on stuff making funny faces. She loves just about everything right now and can count to 12 and talk more than most kids her age. She will put up a great fight when she gets her mind set on something and is now sleeping in a toddler bed after successfully learning to climb out of her crib. She also has a great heart and is always giving hugs and kisses to everyone. Happy Birthday, Abby!

I about called Santa Claus today and told him not to come.

2011-11-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today was rough. John woke up early to go fishing which meant I also had to get up early when he woke up the kids. I love the morning cartoons for the kids. That may make me a horrible mother, but I need an hour to really wake up.

We went to a couple of stores and for an hour and a half I listened to the kids fight. Abby spit at Josh for nearly 45 minutes and I heard about it every single minute. So I came home in a bad mood.

I got a lot during nap time when I left John with the kids for 30 minutes or so. But when I came home from cleaning our storage unit I learned that Abby has a new trick. She can officially climb out of her crib by herself. I always have dreaded this day and for good reason too. Because of it she didn't get more than an hour sleep for nap time and woke up crying and ornery.

Bedtime was more fighting and threatening and I swear by the end of the hour and a half it took the kids to get to sleep I was done. I have to remind myself that this phase doesn't last forever. We transformed her crib into the toddler bed stage because I find that she can climb out either way, but can't get back in if her bed is a crib. But we will see how this goes.

Of course the situation was not helped by the fact that Josh and Abby are now sharing a room. I turned Josh's room into a play room. The whole arrangement is still in a trial stage. But if we have more days like today, we are going back to separate bedrooms for sure. Any one else have great experiences with this kind of transition? I am gonna try my best to really wear the kids out tomorrow for naps and bedtime other wise we will all be dead by Monday.

10 Things I'm Grateful For...

2011-11-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

1. I am Grateful for Family. All of my best memories involve family. They are always there to help and are some of my best friends.

2. I am Grateful for my Kids. They force me to be better than I am and make me laugh a lot.

3. I am Grateful for John. He puts up with me in my craziest moments and helps me in my hardest times.

4. I am thankful for our ward. We live in a great ward which I've felt more a part of than any other ward we've lived in in our married life.

5. I am thankful that after 8 years of not going to the dentist, I do not need a root canal. Although it wasnt all good news.

6. I am also grateful that Josh did not scream while getting his teeth cleaned. His first time to the dentist went really well and his only complaint was that it was too loud.

7. I am thankful for the wonderful fall weather that we had. I think now I'm ready for some snow.

8. I am thankful for working cars. Life is always better when they work.

9. I am thankful for modern medicine without which I probably would not be here too long.

10. I am thankful for Christmas decorations. They are all going up tomorrow and I'm excited to put out the Little People Nativity I got last year from John. We can all be kids at Christmas.

Playing in the Leaves

2011-11-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

There is never a shortage of leaves at my Mom's house come fall time. She has three BIG trees in her front yard that always cover the neighborhood with leaves. But they are big leaves... perfect for jumping in. So we set out this week to help her rake them up and the kids had a blast playing around in them. They helped a little too. When we were done we had found the grass and collected 14 big garbage bags of leaves. My Mom had previously done another 10 bags a few days before and there is probably 4-5 more bags still in the trees. My favorite is when they all fall at the same time so you wake up in the morning and it looks like it snowed leaves outside. Next time I'll try to get a picture of that!

Lost Fall Photos

2011-11-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you fall for being so wonderful and long lasting! We enjoyed all the time outside and all the changing leaves. Winter, please give us lots of gorgeous snow through Christmas... I love a white Christmas.

Better Late Than Never Trick or Treating Style

2011-11-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

I know Halloween has been over for awhile, but I wanted to post what we did that night. We headed up to my sister's house to join the cousins in some trick or treatin. We ate soup and salad and then the boys took the kids out around the neighborhood while the women folk stayed inside, watched Psych, and answered the door for the trick or treaters. Josh had a blast. Abby lasted long enough to fill her bag up pretty full and Josh came back with his overflowing. Im pretty sure that most of what they brought home will not be consumed because we would all be indebted to the dentist way to much. But it was a lot of fun. Thanks for having us Gardners!

Halloween Weekend!

2011-10-23T00:50:00.000-06:00

We had our annual family Halloween party this weekend and did all things festive for the month of October. We had dinner and played all kinds of games and dressed up in silly costumes. I posted a lot of pictures below, so scroll down for all the good details!

Carving our Pumpkins

2011-10-23T00:38:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again. The pumpkin tools came out of storage and we tackled the orange beasts that have been sitting on our porch for a little while now. The kids got more involved this year in the carving and that made things more fun and more difficult. I think they enjoyed it though. Josh actually helped in the scooping of the guts and Abby screamed in protest when she got any goop on her. Crazy kids. I hope they liked the end result. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

What to Eat for Halloween Dinner

2011-10-23T00:17:00.001-06:00

For as long and I can remember we've eaten Dinner in a Pumpkin for Halloween. Its basically a hamburger and rice dish with a few more ingredients plopped into a pumpkin and baked in the oven. Its pretty yummy. It really adds to the atmosphere too.

I was in charge of the dessert this year so we had spiders made from licorice strings and ding dongs. I know its not that original, but thats what I had time for.

We usually make jello in brain molds, but this year we gave it a break. Instead my sister was super creative and made jello worms. They were totally yummy if you could get over how realistic they were! Many of us couldn't get over it and I couldn't watch Abby as she stuffed worm after worm into her mouth and sucked them up through her lips. Totally gross, Lianne!! I LOVE IT! If you are curious she made them by mixing jello and whipping cream and pouring it into flexi straws that stood upright in a container. There is a recipe for it online if you google jello worms. I'm sure it was quite the process so thanks for your work Lianne. They turned out great!

We had some carrot olive eye balls. I love these. Anything that is fun and healthy before we get to the sugar is awesome in my book.

Bone rolls have become a staple too. Dip these in some ~~blood,~~ I mean jam and you can't go wrong.

Here's another dessert option my sister has done in the past made with swiss cake rolls, oreo crumbs, and Milano cookies.

We've done this before with apple chunks and almonds for fangs.

And these are really fun too. Cheese sticks with green peppers for fingernails.

What fun food do you eat on Halloween? We're always looking for fun ideas to add to the menu.

Pumpkin Carving Contest

2011-10-22T23:51:00.001-06:00

We started doing a pumpkin carving contest last year and I think it's going to be a tradition that sticks. I havent figured out how to photograph the pumpkins in the dark very well yet, so here are the pictures of them in the light. Although they were all much more magnificent in the dark. The first two are the ones we did for Josh and Abby. Can you guess which one was Josh's pumpkin?!?

Here are Devin and Lianne's pumpkins.

Kara and Ryan's pumpkin (although they cheated and used a pattern I suspect)!

I'm pretty sure this is Gordon and Tricia's pumpkin.

Tyler's pumpkin.

I think this was Grandpa's pumpkin,

and Grandma's pumpkin.

Here is John's pumpkin modeled after Jack, the Pumpkin King.

And my pumpkin. This puppy was the thickest pumpkin I've ever carved. It was pure pumpkin wall to wall.

I did get one picture of it lit up right after I carved it. I will maybe still try to get the spiderman pumpkin photographed while lit up too because it was pretty cool looking as well.

I missed photographing a few late entries, but there some other great pumpkins including a snowman pumpkin built from 3 pumpkins and branches and everything. So who would you pick to be the winning pumpkin? We called over my Mom's neighbors to choose their favorite and who did they go with? The cheaters: Kara and Ryan won the trophy and the chocolate coffin with candy pumpkins. Great job everyone. I think next year I'll have to up my game if I want to be a contender.

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-22T23:16:00.001-06:00

We had some great costumes this year. The kids were so cute. The two boys were super heros and Abby was a princess. Then we had a vampiress, a ninja, and a fashion designer. All super cute!!

Josh is officially obsessed with anything super hero. He loves spiderman and wanted to be that this year. He had a lot of fun running around in his costume and playing with his cousins.

Abby was an adorable princess, although she would never smile for me. I think she wouldn't smile because she was a little concerned with what everyone else was doing and why we all looked strange.

Then my parents were the coolest Tarzan and Jane. They are such great costume participants!

This cute family is expecting another baby boy so my sister painted these costumes and I think they turned out sooo cute. Way to go, you guys. Tyler's costume is super cute too. I want to make Josh a cape too so he can run around and play super hero with Tyler.

These guys all had fun costumes too. A vampiress, fashion designer, chicken, sherlock holmes, and a ninja were all in the mix.

Then Kara dressed up as a cowgirl (she looked pretty cute too; I loved the braids). Ryan stood in the picture as himself. Lianne and Devin didn't dress up either so they never posed for a picture. Next year you guys!

Mark and Lindsay were the stars of their own 80's basketball team. They both have the legs to pull it off too!! Thanks for joining in our fun and playing along, you guys!

This year I went as a gypsy and John went as a 3 Musketeer. I think John's hat and boots alone will provide us with a base for his costumes for at least the next 3 years.

Here are some random pictures of the kids playing in their costumes. I love the one of the boys. Josh tells me all the time how much he loves his cousins. They are his "Best Friends" as he says.

Hee Haw Farms 2011

2011-10-21T15:26:00.000-06:00

Hee Haw Farms was a lot of fun this year. They still have all the same attractions (pony rides, giant potato sack slides, corn pits, corn mazes, hayrides, petting farms, etc) but the kids were a lot more interested in doing everything this year. The slide was still the favorite, but they both loved the pony ride and the hay ride too. The corn cannons were a little too loud for them to enjoy, but I'm sure Josh will be into that before we know it. Here are a lot of pictures from the afternoon.

Translation Please...

2011-10-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Josh can talk your head off. I love hearing what he has to say (most days). He is picking up on so many things. Here are a few translations of what comes out of his mouth:

1. "Gobbles" - If he asks for gobbles he is asking for his swimming goggles. I hate to correct him on this because it is so darn cute.

2. "Cool Songs" - Goodbye "Wheels on the Bus" and "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". This 3 year old will only allow the "cool songs", meaning the theme song to any superhero. He likes the Spiderman song in particular.

3. "Dammit" - This one we are trying to correct. If he says this to you he is probably trying to saying "damage". Usually this word comes out when he is referring to his super hero powers being damaged. It took me awhile to figure that out though and I thought we had a corrupted 3 year old on our hands. I'm glad to know he is just still working on his pronunciation.

On a somewhat related note, I'm excited for an upcoming library class they have here at the PG Library. Its a music class that focuses using the rhythm and melodies of the songs to improve literacy and pronunciation in kids aged 3 - 6. We'll see how it goes for us.

A Drive Up the Canyon

2011-10-16T22:37:00.001-06:00

We drove through the Alpine Loop today because the mountains have been staring at me for days begging me to come see all the leaves. Make it up there if you can because it is totally worth the drive. We drove up to Aspen Grove and I was secretly hoping to get some really cute pictures of the kids with fall color backgrounds. Five minutes into taking some pictures the kids were finally smiling and then my battery died. I was expecting that so I popped in the extra battery I carry and was bummed to find out I forgot to charge it when I took it out the last time. So that totally bummed me out, but I will only have to learn that lesson once so consider it learned. I really didn't get any good shots in those 5 minutes either. Josh was too interested in looking around at the sticks and rocks and Abby just wanted to stand by me. So of the few shots I got here were my two favorite.

Latest Cakes

2011-10-14T22:57:00.000-06:00

I've made a few cakes lately for some family. Of course I didnt photograph the first one successfully. But it was a double layer buttercream cake with cascading sprinkles made for my cousins 2 year old cutie. This next red velvet cake was made for my cousin-in-law (in the same family) for his birthday.

This cake was made for my nephew's 3 year old Curious George party. My sister had us finger paint and blow bubbles and eat banana spilts. It was a lot of fun and I hope the cake fit in too.

I bought a chocolate mold to do a coffin for Halloween. I'm pretty excited to try it out. We'll see how that turns out soon!

Kids Pics and Halloween Costumes

2011-10-07T18:46:00.001-06:00

I was really excited to make some costumes for the kids this year. Then Josh said he wanted to be spiderman so I decided to save myself a headache and buy him his costume. Its a little big, but he loves it so I'm happy. I got him some spiderman gloves too. He put them on for the first time and tried to shoot some webs. Nothing happened so he asked me where the webs went. Then he asked me if he could stick to the wall. I told him they were just pretend gloves, but I thought that was cute. He keeps telling me I should be a mosquito for Halloween so he can catch me with his pretend web.

Abby on the other hand is going to be a princess for Halloween. I thought making a princess dress sounded fairly manageable. Since this picture was taken I've added some bling to her costume in the form of fake jewels and more ribbon. We also got her a princess crown because of course you can't be a princess without a crown! I hope she'll keep it all on long enough for a good picture. In this picture she is practicing shooting her webs just like her big brother.

We played cowboy dress ups the other day. Abby got these fun boots from my mom and has loved wearing them ever since. I love the picture at the bottom. Its what our everyday looks like more or less (mismatched, half-dressed, but having fun).

Need some more costume ideas?!? Check out this or this. There are some creative people out there for sure!

Random Thoughts.

2011-09-26T21:53:00.000-06:00

So John made it back, I forget when. Was it last week? I think I'm losing my brain a little. But I did get several hours to run errands by myself. Its not that I enjoy buying diapers and milk, but if I can do it by myself it becomes a quite a bit better.

We put up Halloween decorations and my excitement for this holiday is reaching new levels. I love October. I love the fall weather, the changing leaves, all the fresh produce. This year we added purple lights and spider webs to our decor and I have plans to make a replica of a skeleton my Mom has used since ever since I can remember. The skeleton has always hung on her closet door in the living room and I have memories of each of us dancing with him as someone practiced the piano. I really hope I can make one for our house. He is made of rope and hangs off a hanger. If it works out I'll post some pictures.

I did not finish the kitchen... (insert me sighing). I cant decide how to do the sink faucet so for now the kitchen sits in my bedroom. I hope I'm not drawing attention to it because I would like the kids to be somewhat surprised. I already told Josh the little couch I recovered was for the dogs. I woke up one morning to him sitting on it. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm just sitting on the dog's couch." So this week I really need to hide things a bit better or Christmas will be completely predictable for the kids this year.

Today I cleaned out our cars for nearly 5 hours. They were that bad. But now they shine and smell like cinnamon and I would rather sit out there and hang out than in my messy house. Except that fall shows are back on so this is what I watch now. Castle, Persons of Interest, Survivor, Amazing Race, and soon to be back on... Psych! John watched Terra Nova tonight and said it was really good. Now I feel really lazy writing all those out, but I guess it could be worse.

Fall plans for tomorrow: baking banana bread and taking Josh to get more library books. We have started reading a lot now and Abby will even take an occasional break from her Polka Dot Puppy book to read about something else. I mean a very occasional break. Josh can now read her books that he has memorized and it is soooo cute to watch. His favorites are Dragon In A Wagon and We're Going On A Bear Hunt.

When there's no one to talk to, blog.

2011-09-15T21:57:00.001-06:00

So John has been gone for awhile again doing some extended season selling. He was home for almost 2 weeks before he left again and I think we're all feeling a little weary. I'm anxious to get into a fall routine, but it seems that when its just me doing things I'm completely tired by the time bed time comes and morning comes too early!! Josh is quite the talker and today I thought he would never stop. I needed a second of quite, but there is always something going through that boy's head that needs to be expressed. But he does make me laugh often.

Yesterday after a painful hour long grocery trip through the Walmart aisles, I tried to calm down tired and hungry kids with some happy meals. We went to Wendy's and while in the drive through I asked Josh if he wanted a happy meal. He said "No, I just want a sad meal." That made me laugh and then he started to laugh too, silly kid. Today he called Daddy on a fake phone and asked him to come home. I heard the conversation over the baby monitor and I thought it was pretty sweet.

On a different, not so sweet moment, Abby filled up one of the cups lying around my house with dirt from outside. I was busy taking the dogs out to do their business and she was a few feet away, playing by our front door. I looked away for a second and walked inside our house to her dumping the dirt all over my living room rug. She's pretty lucky that it vacuumed up.

Night time is my time, and with John gone I'm getting quite a lot done on my current projects. Thankfully Redbox has had some decent shows to watch while I do it. Thor and Jane Eyre I thought were both pretty decent. I might watch Thor just for Chris Hemsworth (whose brother happens to also be quite the looker). Marly, The Puppy Years kept Josh entertained for awhile. And I'd recommend The Conspirator and The Music Never Stopped, if you are into movies that are just something different to watch.

So that's me this week. Any other movies I should check out to keep me busy? The kitchen is almost done. I'm just finishing the doors on the cabinet and doing the faucet for the sink. But the end is close, thankfully because I miss my kitchen table being accessible. Pics to come hopefully by late next week at the latest!!

More finished projects.

2011-09-11T01:13:00.000-06:00

Since I think our Christmas budget is going to be pretty tight this year, I wanted to get a head start. I found a few things at the thrift store that I had to jump on. So I know that Christmas is still months away, but I wanted to finish these up and be done thinking about them before the holidays hit.

I found this cute little kids couch. We have one foam chair that my mom made, but the kids fight over it all the time. This one is made completely of foam and it was very sturdy, but the levi fabric was in serious need of being replaced. So I got some better tan fabric from my mom, (Thanks Mom for the fabric!!) and got to work with my first attempt of recovering something bigger than a pillow. It's not perfect, but for my first time doing it all on my own I think it turned out pretty good. I love that it folds out into a bed and it will be a perfect size for Abby and Josh to sit on. Total price = $11 ($5 for the couch and $6 for the vinyl on the inside lining)

I was thinking of making Abby some more doll clothes for her birthday because she if finally showing a little interest in playing dolls. Then I found this cute doll high chair at DI and the price was perfect! It was only $1... how can you beat that?? So I brought it home, took it apart and spray painted it pink to get rid of all the scratches. I think I might have liked it better white, but oh well. It will still function just fine. Total price = $3.50 with the price of the chair and the spray paint.

after

before

Side note: This is the first time I've used the updated version of Blogger to post things. I think I may have to practice with a little more blogging (ie: posting more often) before I'm used to it. Sorry for the crappy phone pics too, thats the best I did this time.

My current project is a little more involved, but I'm super excited about it. We're building a play kitchen for the kids for Christmas out of some thrifted furniture!! Can't wait for it to be done!!

Its a new room!

2011-08-21T15:27:00.003-06:00

So as I've written before, Abby's room has been a work in progress ever since we moved her in it. It was always missing something. It always felt a little disorganized and thrown together. It feels MUCH better now. I found this rug at target and thought the colors were perfect for her room.

Then I thought, I have an amazing artistic sister so why dont I get her to use her skills on my wall! I LOVE what she did too. Now it feels complete. Abby and Josh like it too and love to point out the owl. Thanks again Tricia!! It turned out awesome!

Since We've Been Home

2011-08-15T23:37:00.008-06:00

Since we've been home, we have:

1. Played with family, ALOT!! (Outdoor movies, Grandma's house, etc....)

2. Cleaned house everyday, and I'm still not done.

3. Reunited with our puppies (and it feels so good!)

4. Discovered all the new (or old) toys that we left behind. The kids have been so busy pulling everything out and remembering their lost friends.

5. Been to the mountains to cool off. We walked the Bridalveil Falls path and played in the water. Then on another occasion we had a BBQ with family up at Southfork Park. I think Josh was running/smiling for hours that night.

6. Went to Hogle Zoo with my family. The kids loved the animals. They are doing a dinosaur theme right now too. Josh "loved the dinosaurs" although he was convinced they were gonna eat him and he wouldn't go near them for anything.

7. Abby grabbed my straightener a few minutes before church this past sunday. So we skipped church and instead held her hand in cold water for an hour and a half. I felt so bad. The poor girl has some good blisters to show for it, but the doctor patched her up today and she is ready and willing to show anyone her new bandages.

8. Tricia (my super talented art major sister) painted the CUTEST mural on Abby's bedroom wall. I've been struggling with her room since we moved her in it. But I think it finally no longer looks like we through a crib in with all the toys. Now the toys are thrown in with the crib (if that makes any sense). I think her room is officially my favorite in the house now. Abby thinks it's pretty cool too. Pictures to come.

9. We've been missing our Daddy too. Josh asks about him everyday. When he talks to him on the phone the conversation is always as follows, Josh: "Hi, Daddy! You come to our house?" We are all excited for John to come home at the end of the month.

That's about all we've been doing. Here are some random pictures from the last little while.

Messy Faces:

Grandma's House:

The Zoo:

Josh checking out the dinosaurs from a distance.

South Fork Park (up Provo Canyon):

Playing kickball with everyone:

Update from July

2011-08-05T23:19:00.001-06:00

Josh, Abby, and I made it back to UT. We got back in town last week and while we are glad we are home, we are sad that we had to leave our Daddy behind. John is staying for the last month of the summer for work so we're excited to have him back sometime in the near future.

Our flight home was a memory in itself. We took a red-eye flight home leaving Kona at 10:45 pm and arriving in Salt Lake City at 12:30 pm the next day. I was really worried about how the flight would be with me, my pregnant sister, and 3 kids (ages 3, 2, and 1 years old). We made it, but sleeping on planes is the worst. Its taken us nearly 10 days to get back to UT time, but the kids love having their rooms back and seeing family makes up for everything.

Before we left Kona, we visited a beach down by the old airport. It was nice, clean, not crowded, and had a great view looking back onto Kona. Josh loved finding the coconuts all over the beach and bringing them to John so John could break them open and show Josh the water inside.

On the way back to our house we saw this cute little doggy gettin a ride. I thought it looked pretty fun.

The Fourth of July

2011-07-29T23:43:00.000-06:00

We spent this year's Fourth of July in Kona, Hawaii. We did some patriotic crafts with the kids and planned on going to a parade. The parade was kind of boring. It didnt have any large floats or big bands. But the kids had fun waving to all the police men and service men. We had a great view of fireworks from our house and watched the fireworks over the ocean for about 20 minutes. Then we ate ice cream cake and went to bed. Here are the kids in their parade outfits and at the parade. It was too hot to take many pictures.

Remember our time...

2011-07-29T23:30:00.000-06:00

I wanted to post a few pictures to remember some of what we did this summer. So this may be a boring post, its just one for myself moslty.

This first picture is to remember Abby and her best friend, Gordon. Abby attached herself to him and always wanted to snuggle and play. Abby would always find Gordon wherever he was in the house and in her cute little voice say, "Hi, Gordon!" over and over and over. I think John might have been a little jealous.

The little girl in the middle of play time.

John got to rekindle his relationship with the ocean. He worked a lot of hours during the week, but found a few to still have fun. I hope he gets to take advantage of the recreation a little more without us there to hold him back.

Josh learned a lot this summer. He continued to master his letters and can recognize all the upper case and most the lower case letters, he can count to 20, and he can recognize his name. He is growing up so fast and always surprising me with silly things.

We spent almost every night in Hilo looking for the lizards to crawl onto the windows. They always showed up and Josh would talk about how they were looking for bugs to eat... they were trying to find their friends... etc. I liked the lizards too. They were fun to watch. This particular kind is called a Dust Day Lizard. They were pretty and fast little buggers.

Back again.

2011-06-21T23:54:00.002-06:00

These will be some of my last posts from Hilo. By the end of next week we will all be moving to the other side of the the big island to a city called Kona! So, see you on the flip side.

Peacocks.

2011-06-21T23:38:00.004-06:00

We went to the zoo here in Hilo for something to do. It is a free zoo that has not had very good reviews by everyone here. But we thought it was pretty fun. The kids saw some monkeys, some deer, anteaters, a tiger, and lots of different kinds of birds. The peacocks gave us a great show. There were four males who all surrounded us and a few of them puffed out there feathers and started shaking their butts. There was a lot of calling to each other and pretty soon a group of 3 females showed up looking very unimpressed. It was fun to see.

This is one of the girls who had caused all the commotion.

Randoms.

2011-06-21T22:52:00.003-06:00

I liked how this one turned out of Josh. I might enlarge it for our living room.

Abby's hair is either crazy or cute. There is no middle ground and I guess that is all normal.

My Mom sent us some stuff in the mail and the kids were thrilled. I posted this for her. Thanks, Mom!

Onekahakaha and Richardson Beach Park

2011-06-21T22:42:00.004-06:00

Tricia and I took the kids to play at Onekahakaha Beach Park. During low tide the sand comes out for a while so we got to dig and play in the water for a bit. The kids loved it and were quite independent in the little cove they have there so it was nice to get out.

We had an office BBQ down at one of the parks and the food was awesome. If I had a dollar for every Sandlot reference made when smores came out, my smores would always be free.

Family Picture Preview

2011-06-21T22:35:00.002-06:00

We had some family pictures taken while we were here in Hilo by our awesome friend Ciara. I love how they turned out. We haven't had one taken for over 2 years so it was time. Hilo has some great scenery for pictures so we went over to a local park/garden and took a few just before the rain. Thanks Ciara for doing them for us!!!

Joshua...Joshua

2011-06-07T00:31:00.002-06:00

This boy cracks me up. He is becoming a good little helper. He is trying to brother Abby a little more and help her learn new things. We found this park where we are gonna do some family pictures in the near future and Josh had fun posing for me for a minute. Its a Japanese Garden full of bridges and ponds and tropical plants.

We've also been doing a lot of puzzles lately. We got these fun people puzzles from Ross and Josh loves putting the figures together.

His favorite people are these three. He calls them the Superhero, the Karate Man, and Jesus.

Akaka Falls

2011-06-07T00:16:00.003-06:00

On Sunday we ventured to Akaka Falls State Park to check out a couple of the local waterfalls. We walked down a pretty little trail through the rain forest. It rained on us right when we got to the Falls, but fortunately there was a shelter there.

These plants were so interesting. I thought they were fake at first, but they were growing all over.

Swimming With Daddy

2011-06-07T00:06:00.002-06:00

We are loving the pool these days. Its nice to have somewhere the kids like to go that doesn't require a car. Josh is getting much better in the water as well. Im hoping he'll be better at swimming than his Mom!!

Josh's Song

2011-05-27T04:04:00.002-06:00

Josh was doing this the other day. I thought it was pretty cute.

Scroll down for more posts....

More good times from Hawaii

2011-05-27T03:30:00.001-06:00

So I posted some more updates. We miss you all and hope you are all doing well!!

Celebrations.

2011-05-27T02:39:00.006-06:00

I never posted about our latest celebrations, so I suppose its better late than never. Most recently, John celebrated a birthday. He turned 34 years old! To celebrate, John got a few presents (some cash and a fishing spear) and I cooked up a Dutch Apple Pie. The kids made cards, and Josh wrote him a little note (he told me and I wrote). In 34 years, John has accomplished a lot. Here are a few things you might not know about him.

John loves anything outdoors. He rarely gets to enjoy this hobby since he works a lot during the summer months, but he's seen every episode of every survival show out there if not once, than multiple times.

John grew up in Southern California with his 3 brothers. He played football in High School and joined the track team his senior year.

He continued to do track in college pole vaulting for UVSC (aka UVU). He got his associates degree in business while on scholarship for track.

John is an Eagle Scout and has an impressive number of merit badges (I can't recall the exact number, but I want to say 40 something) as a result of fierce competition with his brothers and a very active Scout leader (his Dad).

John is now the proud owner of a Ukulele and is learning to play as a "souvenir" from his time spent here in Hawaii.

John is very good at puzzles and games involving strategy. I refuse to play him in Risk, Monopoly or other similar games because I get too frustrated with loosing quickly.

John will willingly watch any movie with me. Chick-flicks, musicals, classics, disney, etc..

His favorite foods are lobster, apple pie, and anything he can catch with a fishing line.

John served his mission in Boise, ID

Lastly, John is a great husband/father who is patient with us and always willing to help with what we are doing. We're very lucky to have him and wish him a Happy Birthday!!

Our other celebration was back in April but I never posted anything about it. We celebrated our 7th Anniversary (yes we are getting old). We are almost always traveling/moving on our anniversary due to summer sales. This year, however, we travelled to Hawaii, obviously, so that made this anniversary special. We celebrated by taking ourselves and the kids to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were gonna go to dinner just by ourselves, but we haven't got to that yet. We've never been that romantic, but I'd like to be, so hopefully we can before we leave

Seven years seem to be a long time to me. At least I look at pictures from that long ago and think that it was a really long time ago. But we've had some great years so far and I look forward to some great years in the future. Love you John! Thanks for marrying me and being the person that you are.

The Little Girl

2011-05-27T02:31:00.003-06:00

We have been making some great milestones with Abby the last few weeks. She turns 18 months in not too long and will be old enough to join her big brother in nursery! I'm not sure I'll take her just yet because she really could be lost amongst the sea of bigger kids, but we'll see how it goes. I'm also very happy that she has officially been weaned! This took so much longer than I thought it would. But the deed is done now so I can focus the remainder of my "extra" energy on potty training with Josh. Hopefully that will be super smooth!! Here are some of the latest pictures I have of Abby.

Around the House

2011-05-27T02:15:00.002-06:00

Around our house we've been...

Playing with sock puppets...

Painting some little piggies...

Splashing in the water during high tide...

Swinging on the swings...

And trying out some new hair styles on Abby. (Her hair is getting so long! I have to fix it now or it hangs in her face and covers her cute eyes.)

Volcano National Park

2011-05-27T01:47:00.005-06:00

We finally made it to see some volcanoes. This past Sunday we headed up the road to the Volcano National Park to see how Hawaii was formed. We got there just when the visitor center closed, but I am determined to make it back before we leave to get a tourist pin for my collection. We started out by walking by some of the steam vents. Some of the vents were fenced off just off the road, and others were visible in the distance. There were a lot of coins dropped down into the vents and John suggested reaching down and making back our park entrance fee. But as soon as he got a little closer he realized those coins were safe forever. It was pretty hot if you got in the right wind.

These are the steam vents we saw in the distance.

We drove to the look out point to see the volcano and had a picnic. The kids walked around looking for the dragons that lived in the fire. Josh was sooooo excited. I think he thought he was really going to see a dragon. Abby was not so fond of the dirt as you can tell by the picture below.

As we walked closer to the look out point we saw the best and brightest rainbow spanning the basin of the volcano. The closer we walked to it, the brighter it go and we could see the whole arch so well. It was a pretty cool sight to see.

You can see the volcano in the far right of this shot. I've been told that lava is visible in seasons and that if we go back in a few weeks we might see some.

The flowers here are awesome. I should do a post just about the flowers growing around our condo. These are the flowers you can see on the top of a volcano.

After the look out point, we drove a few miles to the Lava Tubes. We told Josh this was where the dragon slept and if he screamed too loudly, he would wake them up. The temperature in the park is a lot cooler than where we live. Maybe 20 degree difference or so. The trail to the lava tubes is carved out of a dense rainforest environment. It reminded my of a Predator movie. I thought for sure we would see something pop out of the trees at any time. It was starting to get dark so my pictures aren't the best.

If you are ever in Hawaii, the volcanoes are a must see in my opinion. I hope we can make it back at least once more to do some hiking and sight seeing.

Slip and Slide Whiffle Ball w/ the Office

2011-05-27T01:35:00.002-06:00

One morning this week we headed to a park to get a little recreation. The salesmen played some Whiffle Ball/Slip & Slide (is that spelled right?) while the kids watered the grass and played with each other. It was fun to get some sun. That afternoon Josh and Abby slept almost 4 hours for nap time. They must have worn themselves out really well!!

Most the pictures I took weren't that great. Here are a few of the best ones.

Not much going on.

2011-05-11T21:43:00.000-06:00

We've been doing a lot of swimming and walking lately. Not having a car is starting to wear on me and I miss the ease of being able to just go somewhere. To keep our sanity, one day Tricia and I made the kids some super hero capes. Josh mostly carries his around rather than wear it, but he thought it was cool for a little while. He is becoming so expressive and saying the funniest things. He is great at reminding Abby that we have to share toys, and if he sees me sad he always says "Its okay Mom. Your tummy hurts?". One day he threw a toy across the room and I asked him to come pick it up. He looked at me sweetly and said "You have big arms, you reach it."

Abby also is learning. She knows all her basic body parts and loves to say "turtle", "drink", and "airplane". I can tell there is a lot more thought and understanding going on with her and thats fun to see. She loves to chase the boys around and try to do the things they are doing. I'm pretty excited that in a mere 3 weeks she will be old enough for nursery! I don't hear much of the lessons at church these days, so that will be awesome.

John's been selling well and finding some luck here in Hilo. He just reached a number of sales that earned him a Hawaiian Sling. So now he's ready to go catch some fish. He loves snorkeling when he gets time and has seen some cool fish and turtles.

That's about all we've done this week. Hope your week has been more exciting than ours!

We're Updated.

2011-05-06T23:29:00.001-06:00

I posted all the pictures I have so far from our trip this summer. Scroll down for all the good details!

Arriving In Hawaii and Ewa Beach

2011-05-06T22:23:00.003-06:00

We arrived in Hawaii as I posted before. Here are some pictures from when we first got here.

Ewa Beach was fun to play on for the kids first Hawaiian beach experience. I was just glad to be done traveling for a while.

Pearl Harbor

2011-05-06T22:12:00.003-06:00

We spent one day at Pearl Harbor where we saw all the memorials and took a boat ride to see the sunken USS Arizona. It is interesting to me to visit these kinds of historical places and Pearl Harbor was the beginning to a crazy time in our history. It was pretty hot the day we went so we spent a lot of time eating ice cream in the shade. Josh liked the boat ride and was convinced he was seeing sharks in the water. Otherwise Josh and Abby spent their time chasing birds. In the first photo we are standing in from of the USS Missouri.

These are pictures of the sunken USS Arizona. This ship still contained most of its sailors when it went down and they are still there to this day,

That night we walked a little of the beach at Waikiki and played in the sand. I wish we had more sand here that Josh could build in. He had so much fun digging. This is Josh with our friends Cade and Ciara.

The Polynesian Cultural Center

2011-05-06T21:57:00.002-06:00

We had a blast at the PCC. They have so much to do and see that we would have needed another day to take it all in, but it was still fun. We saw a lot of the different 7 villages. They have a canoe pageant with different canoes carrying dancers representing their villages. We saw a demonstration from the Tongan village featuring drums. We learned about coconuts and fire building in Samoa. We learned the hula in Fiji and played the spear game in Tahiti. We ate a really good prime rib dinner and then saw their Ha Breath of Life show that they put on at night. It was fun to visit and really brought the Polynesian spirit into our stay here.

Here is Josh and Tyler participating in the welcome ceremony in the village of the Aotearoa (the natives to New Zealand). In this village Josh and Abby also got arm band tattoos painted on them.

This was the show in Samoa where the performer demonstrated how to make fire and husk a coconut. He did both really quickly. But I was most impressed by the guy who climbed the coconut tree in only a couple of seconds. Every guy who worked here was quite muscular. I wondered if that was part of their interview to get the job. Could you please show me your chest...

Random

2011-05-06T21:36:00.003-06:00

Here's some random stuff from while we've been here. The first photo is of Abby hiding from me in the pillows while I was trying to get her dressed.

I got this little swimming pool for the kids to play on out on the deck. Mostly they fill it with blankets, books and toys. I thought they were cute this day while they were cuddling.

Tricia and I brave the mosquitos to go for walks through out the week. The boys are best friends these days and are always excited to see each other. I'm glad Josh has someone here to play with.

These pictures are of our apartment. I didn't photograph all the rooms, but to give my family an idea of where we live I included these. This first one is Josh and Abby's room. They have two big windows that open and give us a good breeze/view. There is a dresser in there and a full size bed. Josh loves his "big boy" bed.

This is our living room. The couch faces a small entertainment center with a TV and stereo.

This is the view from the balcony.

This is our condo as seen from the beach.

Hats

2011-05-06T21:28:00.004-06:00

With all the sun out here I'm glad my kids have liked wearing their hats. But maybe this is overkill.

Rainbow Falls

2011-05-06T21:18:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we ventured out to see the scenery and drove to this place not far from our house. It's called Rainbow Falls and features the waterfall pictured below. You can walk up a path to the look out point or you can climb the stairs to see the top of the waterfall. On the top they have a lot of rocks and crevices you can explore, (but probably not with kids). The kids loved playing outside a little. We also drove down the coast a little and saw some of the sights that way. What we've seen of Hawaii is very green, wet and pretty. The flowers here are super colorful as are the birds. We're excited to head out to Volcano National
Park soon.

Swimming

2011-05-06T21:08:00.002-06:00

We are really close to the ocean so the boys love to go out and swim. Josh loves to find the fishes and there are turtles that live in the lagoon too that are fun to watch. Here are some pictures of John and Josh swimming. It is a little cool in the ocean, so after they swim there they come back to the pool to swim in some warmer water. Abby also loves the pool and splashes around when I take her. She is so dang cute in her swimming suits. I'll take some pictures soon.

Aloha!

2011-04-30T19:32:00.005-06:00

So we made it to Hawaii. We've actually been here for almost 2 weeks now. Our first week was busy with a lot of things. We had the first day of traveling and the next day we recovered from traveling. The kids were so good on the plane trip and even slept for most of the end. The time difference is proving to be challenging to adjust too. Both the kids are waking up around 6:30 or so and John and I really want a day full of naps!! The humidity is also hard to get used too but the water here in the ocean and the pool is really nice to relax in. Josh wakes up and finds his swimming suit first thing.

While staying the first week in Honolulu we did a little exploring. We went to pearl harbor one day and saw the monuments there. They were very impressive and I was very glad we got to do that. We saw the beach and the long strip of shopping/hotels in Waikiki. The kids loved the beach and I love any place where Josh only needs a bucket and small shovel to keep himself entertained for hours. One day we spent our time at the Polynesian culture center. There was a lot to see there that we didn't make it too, but we saw some fun things as well. We saw a demonstration on coconuts where the man climbed the coconut tree in a few seconds, got a coconut, and then demonstrated how to husk, drain, and flake the coconut. Then he used the husk to start a fire using the stick method. He was such a comedian and was very entertaining. We watched the canoe pagent where they introduced the islands represented at the center and did a lot of song and dance. Josh and Abby got tattooed and Josh got to play with sticks at nearly every village. He had a blast. Then his mind was blown away by watching the fire dancers in the show they put on at night.

We saw the Hawaiian temple and the byu Hawaii campus. They both had some really nice landscaping. The temple is always pretty to see wherever we go.

When we arrived in Hilo (on the big island) we got settled into our apartment for the first few days. We've been to the beach a few times and visited the merry monarch festival that is going on thi weekend. It is a really big deal around here and they have a lot of different things with it. We saw the arts and craft fair, but there is also a hula competition, live music and food, a parade, and a few other things. I'm excited to get out and explore the volcanoes and waterfalls near us, but John is working full time now so we will get to thise eventually. He had a good week in sales so we hoping for a good summer here in "paradise"!

I'm blogging from my phone so I don't think I can post pictures right now, but I have a lot to post so I hope to find some Internet soon! So I guess I should say aloha until next time!

Today.

2011-04-12T20:48:00.004-06:00

Today we were busy with pre summer preparations again. John got 2 of his wisdom teeth out. He's been wanting to do that for awhile. So for dinner tonight we had runny potatoes and gravy with pureed peas.

While John was loosing teeth I discovered Abby has 4 new teeth, all molars! She thinks she is hot stuff now.

Bath time is always the highlight of Abby's night. She and Josh play for quite away and splash each other around. Josh added something extra tonight by deciding to pee all over Abby and the bath room floor. We still haven't accomplished potty training (I'm waiting now until we are done traveling for a bit), but that time can't come soon enough.

Abby must have forgiven Josh because a few minutes after bath time they were filling the dog's cage with books and reading to each other. Kids are always crazy one minute and precious the next at our house.

Tomorrow's agenda... cleaning the bathrooms. Cant' wait.

Happenings...

2011-04-06T15:35:00.004-06:00

1. We have less than two weeks till we leave and we're almost there. I've got quite a few more things to finish up before we'll be there, but we'll make it.

2. John gets his wisdom teeth out on Friday. He still has all four, and they are driving him crazy. So out they go!!

3. All my recently started craft projects are almost done. I'll do a post about them when I get to it soon.

4. Tonight we'll be cheering on Boston Rob again on Survivor! I never get sick of that show and I hope we have access to cable soon in HI so I can keep cheering him on. I don't watch much else, unless Ralph Macchio is dancing during prime time, or the cowboys are racing around the world.

5. Cleaned off the patio just in time for snow. Sometimes spring weather is a pain!

That's it for me! Hope you are all taking care and having fun too!

Popsicle People

2011-04-01T00:27:00.002-06:00

I've been searching for things to help keep the kids entertained on our plane ride over to Hawaii. My sister Tricia found these awesome popsicle sticks at Hobby Lobby and decided to paint cute outfits on them and modge podge photos of our family members to their faces. I decided to copy her and made one for each side of my family. I am still working on getting John's side done. Tricia's painting job turned out so much better than mine did, so I hope she posts a picture, but I just did mine quickly.I decided to make this little play mat to put the people in. It is basically a double sided place mat with a layer of felt in the middle for padding. The first side was an imagination side (I know castles and rocket ships dont really belong together, but they do in Josh's mind.) The second side was a simple landscape with some cars I cut out of a piece of fabric. I used some bias tape to finish the edges and called the project done.

April Fools!

2011-03-31T10:45:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day and I have never much celebrated or pranked on that day, but these cupcakes might be too much fun to resist. Over on Our Best Bites they posted the idea of silly cupcakes and they turned out sooo cute! Check out this spaghetti and meatballs cupcake...

And this peas and carrots cupcake...

Go check them out here to get the tutorials and some other ideas as well. Happy April Fools!!

St. Patty's Day video and some pictures

2011-03-29T22:13:00.004-06:00

I never posted about our St. Patrick's Day party. No, we are not Irish, but who can pass up an opportunity to celebrate? We've celebrated St. Patrick's Day for as long as I can remember. We eat Corned Beef & Cabbage, read Irish trivia, watch Darby O' Gill and the Little People (when time allows) and play a made up St. Patrick's Day game I've affectionately titled "Luck Of The Irish". One of the spaces you land on in the game commands you to dance a jig. Josh thought this was sooooo fun. He insisted on dancing every time no matter who landed on the space. He made one cute leprechaun! My phone died at the beginning of the game, so I didn't get very much video, but this is what I did get. John and I each won on our boards!! We used our winnings to go see Battle for LA so that was fun.

This past weekend we took the kids up to see the Mt. Timp. Temple. It was a great time to teach Josh a little about how it is Jesus' house and is very special. The grounds were closed because we went on Sunday, but Josh thought it was pretty all the same. He almost stepped on some flowers while running and said something about how those are Jesus' flowers and we need to be careful. Abby loved being outside. She cried each time we put her back in the car to move to another spot.

Here's Abby trying to break in to the temple grounds.

Across from the temple there is a beautiful amphitheater where the kids had a blast walking around and looking at all the rocks.

Here is the look Abby gets when she is concentrating on something. I've been told that I get the same look when I concentrate.

Hope you are all enjoying the spring weather too!

Easter Bags

2011-03-20T21:56:00.003-06:00

I made the kids some Easter Bags for their egg hunt this year. We are celebrating early because we wont be here on the actual day of Easter. These were so easy. I just used a large piece of wool felt and a few different colors of ric rac and bias tape. Then I made the handle out of ribbon and sewed a button onto Josh's bag. Add a bow to Abby's bag and there you go! I hope they are fun for the kids and get used for a few years.

Time for an update.

2011-03-15T22:30:00.003-06:00

I haven't blogged in awhile, so its time to update for the records! Here's what has been keeping us busy:

-Abby is learning how to walk!! She just started crawling last Christmas and now she thinks she's hot stuff getting around on her own two feet. This is a big break through for a girl who took so long to crawl (she was almost 13 months when she started crawling). She loves to walk in between two people and is working on standing up on her own from a sitting position. Josh thinks her walking is so cool and claps for her and then says, "Abby, walk to me!" while putting out his hands. Check it out below.

-We've been playing outside a lot in this awesome weather! I'm pretty excited for warmer days. Abby discovered the play ground slides and she thinks they are the best thing in the world. Josh rides his bike around the neighborhood alway carrying a stick or bat to fight off the dragons we might encounter. In fact he thinks he's a full blown knight ever since we found a play shield at DI. What a crazy kid.

- I've been sewing Abby a bunch of summer skirts to wear during the hot weather. Girls are so much more fun to sew for than boys! I'll post some pictures of the skirts soon, but here's a preview.

- Also we got our tickets to fly out this summer for another summer with Vivant (formally named APX Alarms). Maybe the skirt in the above picture will give you a hint on where we are going. That's right............. This summer we will be spending our time in Hawaii! Crazy, I know. And even crazier is that I'm not as excited about it as I should be. But we have our tickets now and hopefully everything else will fall into place. We'll be flying out on April 18th and spend a week or two in Honolulu. After that we will be flying to Hawaii (the big island) where we'll be living the rest of the time. If you know anyone willing to do some dog sitting while we are gone let me know. We are trying to work things out with John's brother so hopefully he wont feel overwhelmed with the job. But wish us luck because this summer is going to be the most complicated and expensive one yet.

- Just to make this post a bit more random, here are some more pictures from the last month or so..

3 Years Old

2011-02-21T22:39:00.002-07:00

Josh's 3rd Birthday

2011-02-19T23:06:00.006-07:00

Josh turned 3 today! He was super excited. This morning around 10 I told him that we were going to have a party for him after his nap and he said "I take nap right now?!!". Like I said... super excited.

We planned the party around Toy Story and had games and cake. I wish I would have recorded Josh's reaction when he saw his cake. He said, "Whoa! Dats fun Mom!".

Our alien punch was made from Limeade, Lemon-Lime Koolaid, pineapple juice, and Squirt.

Josh was talking about having people come visit all day. Abby always likes seeing everyone as well.

We played a few games. One game was played using Mr. Potato Heads. Each player has the same number of body pieces and then the players have to assemble the Potato Heads while blindfolded (or keeping their eyes closed). The first player to assemble it correctly wins. We found the game to be harder than I had thought it would be, but it was fun to watch everyone play.

Then the kids played "Pin the Body Part on Mr. Potato Head". My awesome sister Tricia drew the poster and the body parts and they looked just like the real thing, they are so cute. (Thanks to Lianne for the lamination!)

We had to blow the candles out twice because we were too slow with the camera the first time. I dont think Josh minded.

Finally we let the kids play "There's a snake in my boot" which was really just a pinata shaped like a boot with rubber snakes and treat bags in it. But what kid doesnt like a pinata. Josh and Tyler had no problem figuring out what they were supposed to do, although after a few turns Josh stopped swinging and looked in the top of the pinata like he was just figuring out that something would fall out when the pinata finally broke.

Josh got so many fun things for his birthday that it will take him days to discover everything. Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with us. We had a blast and hope you did too! Here's one more bonus picture of Abby from the party. I couldn't resist.

We have power!

2011-02-18T14:03:00.003-07:00

My laptop power cord died, so our computer sat there lonely for a long time while I was waiting for a new one to ship. Those were sad, lonely weeks for my computer. But we are back in business. So here's what we've been up to:
1. Planning Josh's 3rd birthday party. He turns 3 on Saturday and is very excited to celebrate with his "Cowboy Hat" (aka Toy Story) birthday party. I have to say I'm pretty excited too. Ahhh, to be a kid again...

2. Watching a lot of The Incredibles (Josh's new favorite).

3. Helping Abby learn to walk since she's nearly 15 months old. She can stand by herself and is working on taking her first step. She thinks the games we do are hilarious and loves to play, so I think she will be a quick learner and will a whole new kid on the move soon.

4. Doing some random projects (of course none of which I photographed except for the pink and black shirt Abby is wearing below)

5. We finished up swimming lessons. Josh had a blast for 3 weeks practicing his mad water skills at the Orem Rec Center. He is now confident enough to float around and swim anywhere (with the assistance of a floaty or noodle!) and he doesn't mind getting his face wet. So all in all he can now do more in the pool than I can!

6. We're getting excited and impatient for warmer weather. We're still working on making summer plans, but we only have a few more months to get things finalized. If anyone knows of someone reliable who would want to dog sit for the summer let me know. I have two dogs that are in need of some attention while we are gone.

That's about all! Josh keeps taking silly pictures lately, so all I have today to post is Abby. She's silly too, but at least she won't cover her face for the camera!

Up Next...

2011-01-14T14:40:00.002-07:00

There are certain things I love about sewing and certain things I'm not so fond of. Ironing used to be #1 on the not-so-fond-of list (although my hate for it has been lessoning as of late). Pinning patterns on fabric is also up there with things I find tedious. Check out this idea from blog land! Fabric/pattern weights. Too easy and practical, plus I love color and using ribbon to decorate them brings up so many options! I'll definitely be doing these next.

Finished projects

2011-01-13T15:18:00.004-07:00

When I was at the fabric store the other day I spotted this fabric and thought it would be a perfect pillow for my living room. (I generally hate pillows because John and the kids just throw them off the couch and then everything looks messy, but I wanted more color in our living room and this fabric matches a picture we have on the wall.) I like how it turned out and I will probably use the rest of the fabric to make another pillow to go on the couch.

So like I wrote in an earlier post, I saw these on a blog and thought they would be perfect for church or on the road. They were so simple to make! I just dug out my pile of felt and used some scrap material I had around the house and that was that. The only supply I didnt have just on hand was iron on velcro. Here is another link to the tutorial if you want to make your own.
The thing I like about these is that you can customize the cutout felt pieces to do whatever you want for your child. I havent cut many pieces out, but I thought doing a Mr. Potato Head would be fun because all the pieces are removable.

I also did some shapes, and I will do more plants or bugs or something to go with a nature theme. I think I will also do letters next so we can help Josh learn how to spell some things.

I love that the pocket keep all the pieces so it is easy to carry around and then you can just swap them out for different pieces when you want.

I couldn't stop at one of these so I made a few. That way Josh and Abby can each have their own and hopefully not fight over who gets to play with what.

2011 So Far...

2011-01-11T23:20:00.003-07:00

2011 So Far has been slow moving.

Abby had a run in with some illness that gave her the pukes for a few days. We pretty much stayed home for all of last week and tried to get her all better. She was so sad just lying around and wanting to cuddle. Josh threw up Sunday morning and I thought we were in for another 3 days of sickness, so I kept him home from church. Then he never threw up again and acted like himself, so Im not sure what that was all about. I just hope we are done for the month with illnesses.

Josh and Abby have really started acting like brother and sister towards each other, and not in a good way. Abby gets in his way and he pushes her over, or Josh tries to take her toy and she yells at him (she has learned quite fast how to fight with him when she wants too). All this has really drained John and I and we've been seeking solace apart from them doing other non-kid related things (sort of).

My "break" involved doing a few projects of my own. I made some felt travel bags for church/traveling that I hope are really useful with the kids. They were super easy and fun to do and they are going to be really compact (which is something I look for in good travel toys for sure!) Here is the tutorial if you want to make your own (not that you need it... they are that easy!). Ill get a picture up soon when I get my camera out and get one taken.

Also, I've been working on some stuff for Josh's 3rd birthday. I gave him many options and he chose to have a Toy Story party (big surprise there!) so I've been putting together a few games for the occasion. We are going play a version of one of our holiday games where you have a card with characters on it (maybe 8 characters on each card) and then a copy of that character is hidden around the room. You have to find the matching picture and place it on your card for each character. We are going to play with characters from the Toy Story movies. Then we are going to play pin the body part on the Mr. Potato Head (I enlisted my sisters art skills for that one!). Then I think we are going to try and do a pinata. His birthday is in the middle of February, but I cant help myself when it comes to these things.

We started potty training, so to speak, with Josh although I havent pushed the issue with a lot of seriousness yet. I simply told him that if he goes number 1 in the toilet, he gets 1 candy. If he goes number 2 in the toilet, he gets 2 candies. That idea stuck and he repeats it over and over to us. Although he hasnt actually "gone" in the toilet yet, he is anxious to get on it and try. So I guess thats the start. Anyone have any other magic tricks for potty training boys they would like to share?

Lastly, we are starting summer preparation plans and they could be crazy this year. The office we went with last year picked their area for this year, but I'm not going to announce where we are going just yet because we still have a few issues to sort out if we are going to make it to where they are planning on going. If we cant make it, we will still be going out, just with another office to somewhere else. So I guess stay tuned for that...

Guess that's all for now. That was longer than I thought it was gonna be! Congrats if you made it through it all!

Thanks, Grandma Drury!

2011-01-02T23:36:00.002-07:00

Josh picked this toy out himself to buy with some money Grandma Drury sent him for Christmas. He loves it and has played with it alot. Abby picked out a farm animal sounds wheel that she loves to play with and imitate. Thanks again Grandma Drury! We miss you and hope you are doing well.

Was Up.

2011-01-02T23:17:00.003-07:00

We moved to 1:00 church today. Needless to say it was not the best. Abby did pretty good without her nap, Josh loved nursery yet again, but I was somehow not enjoying church today. Guess I've been in kind of a rut lately. Plus low blood sugars in the middle of Relief Society and spending 10 minutes looking for Josh who bolted out the nursery door when we tried to pick him up doesn't help improve my mood. (He was found tromping outside in the snow on the opposite side of the church).

We got a new pet over the weekend. We left Saturday afternoon to go see the fish at Cabela's but found it closed upon arrival. Instead we headed to PetsMart and ended up buying a blue crowntail beta fish. I gave Josh a whole bunch of names to pick from, but the one he liked best was Grouchy. It seemed to fit my mood (see above), so our fish is now "Grouchy the fish". But I think he likes his new home better than the plastic cup he came in.

Abby has started to really be more mobile. She can cross the room with a combination of using her knees, feet, and head for balance. She also loves standing. She will walk with you holding her hands and she laughs and giggles the whole time. This is such an improvement from the last few months. 13 months old and she is finally starting to crawl!

Josh has branched out from his usual viewing of Toy Story 2 and "cowboy hat" (Toy Story 3). I bought a few $1 videos from DI and he has loved watching them all. His particular favorite is The Return to Neverland, but we checked out Hercules and A Bug's Life too. But today after a crappy day at church we turned off the TV for a few hours and wrestled/played with the kids. It was nice to have less noise around here and I want to make that more the normal rather than the exception.

We had a great New Year's Eve over at my sisters house. I got my butt handed to me at Ticket To Ride (german version) and Nuts. But we ate a lot of great food and Josh got a well needed break from us while he played with his cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. This December I will turn 30 so I am thinking of things I want to accomplish before then. The list is long and Im sure many things will go untouched, but I want to make an effort in several different areas. So we'll see how that goes.

That's about it for tonight. Happy New Year!

Christmas Happenings

2010-12-28T00:55:00.004-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year. We've eaten enough junk to last till next Christmas, and the new toys and games should get us through the next few weeks in a breeze. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents doing our traditional Jerusalem Dinner. Josh thought it was awesome eating on the floor (even if he only ate grapes). He and my nephew Tyler looked cute in their costumes made from my brothers white T-shirts. We listened to the nativity story read by my Dad and watched Luke 2. Then we payed a few games and hunted for our pajamas. I, of course, didnt take enough pictures and the ones I did weren't great. I can only fit a few people in the frame at a time with the lens that currently works around here, otherwise Megan, Josh, and Tyler would've been in the photo of the pajamas too. Im hitting up other people soon for copies of their pictures from the festivities soon.

Christmas morning was fun too. Josh was sooooo excited for Santa to come. He got up around 8:30 and we heard him in the kitchen shouting (in a whisper) "Dad... Mom... come see". He got tools and a tool bench, a castle with play people, and books from Santa. He loved going through his stocking and ate Pez for breakfast from his new Toy Story Pez Dispensers. Josh also got a small trampoline, play-doh, and a cowboy outfit (complete with boots) to wear while he rides his stick horse. He also got to go to the store and pick out something from Grandma Drury. He picked a Thomas the Train set which he has played with non-stop.

Abby also had a fun Christmas. She got a Little People Doll House with some camping figures, a doll stroller which doubles as a baby walker, books, clothes, a tea set, and a glow baby with a new blanket. She was very overwhelmed Christmas day with all the things going on and is still discovering her new toys.

John got some new fishing waders, a gun stock for his shot gun, a shaving kit, and a few other items. He is plenty excited to try his new stuff out and is wishing for some warm weather soon to do so! I got some new craft tools (bias tape maker, pinking shears) a new watch, Psych season 4, a belgium waffle maker, a cheese cutter, a work out DVD, and a few other things. I'm also plenty excited to try my stuff out. We made hair bows and head bands today with my nieces and then I made a few bow ties for Josh. I hope he likes wearing them because I really want him to wear them to church. They were so easy to make, I'm going to make one to go with all his outfits!

I hope you all had great Christmas' too and are relaxing and enjoying some time for yourselves! I'll get more pictures up soon of things I missed photographing!

Past Birthday Photos

2010-12-20T23:36:00.004-07:00

On Abby's actual birthday we wanted to do something fun for her so we all went to Krispy Kreams to see how donuts are made. The kids had fun. Afterwards we went and walked around Toys R Us (not my favorite thing to do, but the kids had fun.) I synced my phone tonight and found these pictures from the day so I thought I would post them.

We had our Family Christmas Party tonight and it was a lot of fun. We do a traveling party so everyone prepared an appetizer at their house and then we moved from house to house enjoying the food and looking at everyone's decorations. We all live within about 20 miles of each other, but it still seems to take a while. But I haven't been to some of my siblings homes in nearly 2 years because we usually all meet up at my moms, so it was nice to get a peek into their worlds at a more personal level. Everyone has the cutest decorations and I get inspired by seeing what styles everyone has. We ended up at my Mom's house and played a white elephant game, played chimes, at more food, and had a special visit from Santa! My Dad played Santa's helper and came in costume. The little boys loved it. Josh ran right up to him and asked him if he brought him presents. He got to open a small buzz lightyear figure. Now that Josh has seen first hand that Santa brings presents the Naughty list threat has new meaning and is getting great results!! Of course I forgot my camera for the party so I only got a lengthy video on my phone of when Santa came, but its probably too long to post.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The kiddos.

2010-12-19T22:57:00.002-07:00

Just wanted to do a post for me as a memory stamp. Abby started making crawling motions this week!! We had Kids on the Move come visit to do an assessment of her skills (which are limited). She qualifies for the program simply because she is 1 and still doesnt crawl. But while they were here Abby did several new things that were momentous for her (isn't that how it goes). She started using her knees to support her weight, she started trying to move forward (even if she cant quite figure out how to keep both her head and her bum in the air at the same time; one of them is always lowered to the ground). And now she can get herself in and out of a sitting position!! She also really likes pulling herself into a standing position with some help. All of these accomplishments are huge for Abby and she has had so much more fun playing now that she is slightly more mobile. I'm pretty excited about it.

Josh has also been very active lately. I watched him do all the songs today in nursery through their little window and it melted my heart. He has been non stop talking about Santa and asking if Santa will bring his presents now. We've added Christmas stories to his bedtime routine and he mostly loves sitting by the tree and reading them. He knows all the words to Jingle Bells and shouted them very loudly tonight while we sang. He also shouted his prayer tonight in which he thanked Heavenly Father for balls, crackers and cheese, and cowboy hat (Toy Story 3). We had to tell him that it wasn't very reverent to shout your prayers and then turn our backs while we laughed about him.

Happenings...

2010-12-19T22:13:00.004-07:00

I tackled a paint job and got the long wall in our living room painted. It looks like poop in the picture, but looks better in real life. Its nice to have a change, but we'll see how long it stays that way.

My Mom has a Christmas tradition that on Christmas Eve, we all open a pair of pajamas at her house. She wraps the pajamas and then they hide the packages around their house (some in some very tricky spots, ie: the flour container in the pantry). We turn out all the lights and hunt for the packages with flashlights for added challenge. This year I wanted to make some pajamas for the kids too. So in order to spread the joy and not open too many pajamas at once, I let the kids open their pajamas a few weeks before Christmas (we did it as one of the activities on our advent calendar). I really like how they turn out. They each have 2 pairs. Josh's other pair has trains on it and Abby's is a pink stripe material. These photos are their more Christmassy pair.

Abby has started to do this funny smile where she squints her eyes. I love it! And I love seeing her 4 cute teeth peeking through!

Last week we went up to see the lights at temple square with my sister Tricia, Gordon, and Tyler. We all rode the trax up from Sandy and got some dinner from a cafe up there. The lights were really pretty. There were a lot of people there, being that we went on a Tuesday night with all the youth groups in Utah. But the boys loved riding trax. Josh would see a train leave and would yell "stop, stop, stop, stop, stop...". He was satisfied when we told him there was more than one train and we would still get to ride on one. My favorite part was seeing the temple and being able to teach Josh a little about what it was. He was so excited to be able to touch it. He really liked climbing the stairs too. I think we'll have to start doing this each year while the kids are young and really excited about it.

Im getting pretty excited for Christmas! Im 99% done with shopping and cant wait for things coming up this week like our family
Christmas party, a trip to visit Santa at the Riverwoods Mall, and our Christmas Eve celebrations!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-11T23:23:00.003-07:00

Tonight I explained to Josh how Santa Claus uses naughty and nice lists to decide which kids get presents. Until now Josh has only understood that Santa is somehow associated with Christmas. Now that presents have entered the equation, the idea of Santa has stuck more deeply in Josh's head. Josh listened intently as I told him how kids can get put on each list because of they way they behave. He was super excited and then asked if Santa was coming tonight?!?! 2 weeks is a hard thing to explain to a 2 year old.

Im also very happy that Josh understands that we are celebrating Baby Jesus on Christmas. He loves to pick out Jesus in all the nativities we see. This time of year is a great opportunity for teaching, isn't it?.

Ive got my list of Christmas movies to go through as follows:

Its a Wonderful Life (watched it tonight)
Scrooge (the musical version with Albert Finney - possibly my favorite Christmas show)
Home Alone (for tradition)
Elf (because it plays on TV a million times)
the classic cartoon shows like Rudolph, Frosty, and the Grinch (Josh has never seen these before and I'm hoping he likes them)

What do you watch for Christmas?

guess who's one!

2010-12-02T22:09:00.006-07:00

Its crazy, but my baby turned one this week! She is starting to develope the cutest personality. She is very curious about everything, loves to sing and dance to music, and will put up a great fight to keep things she wants when her brother is trying to steal them! She still wont crawl, although she can roll around to get where she wants to go. She is loving standing up right now which leads me to think she may skip crawling altogether. She can say mama, more, ah oh, and da (dad). She also likes to wave, give kisses, and imitate John's snoring (the last one I think is hilarious when she does it!)

We celebrated her birthday with a get together with family. We had an owl theme with the saying "Look Whoo's turning one" (get it, haha). Abby loved having everyone over (we fit 20 people in my small living room) and she loved all the attention. She has enjoyed all the gifts she got and has really become possessive with them when her brother comes to "borrow" them. So thanks to all who came and for the fun things you brought! Here are some pictures from the night.

Abby wasn't unsure at all about what to do with the cake we gave her. She loved it and probably ate too much. I think she was kept up by a bit of a tummy ache.

I'm glad we had her party a few days earlier than her birthday because she has had the flu for the last day or two (the same ailment that Josh had over Thanksgiving). I hope we are done with sickness till at least after Christmas. I'm getting sick of ornery kids!!

Projects completed :)

2010-11-30T15:51:00.006-07:00

i love finishing projects and being able to move on to other things. Here are some things I've finished in the last few weeks.

My sister and I are both getting our little boys those horses on a stick for christmas. We thought it would be fun if they had a cowboy outfit to ride around with so I made these little vests for them. They each are getting a play cowboy hat and Josh has a little holster to put some handcuffs or something in. I cant wait to try these on the boys. Its gonna be a long 25 days waiting though.

I finally got some pictures of the advent calender I finished awhile ago. It was fun to make, but I'm glad I'm done with all the sewing and embroidering. The whole thing is made from wool felt and it was pretty easy to sew. I used the tutorial here for the numbering, and then I made up my own patterns from cookie cutters or drawings for the ornaments. Im gonna put an activity in each pocket for each days and then each day we will take out the ornament, exchange it for a piece of candy hanging on the tree, and do the activity for that day. I'm excited to see how that turns out each day.

Finally I got these cute letters to use to personalize our stockings. That way I dont have to sew names on stockings, each kid can pick their own each year, and I still feell like they are personalized. I just hope these letters are around when we get more kids.

Were you thinking that wall was boring in tan? I've been thinking that for a long time, but change is on its way!! Cant wait!!

Lunchbox anyone?

2010-11-26T14:19:00.002-07:00

I found this website while browsing and thought I would share. Im sure I wouldn't do this everyday, but she has so many ideas for making food more fun for kids! Im definitely gonna try some things out for fun!

I just wanted a picture...

2010-11-19T00:27:00.003-07:00

I just wanted a picture... this is the best that I got. (but I thought the rest were entertaining, probably only for me, but I'm still posting them)

Abby was being cooperative half the time and not-so-much the other half.

She wouldn't leave her headband alone for longer than a few seconds. I really want to her grow out of this so I can put cute things in her hair and have them last for longer than I can turn around. Maybe one day.

And where was Josh during all of this you might ask? He had taken off his shirt and pants, combed his hair with a wet brush, and was eating the icing off a donut. But he really wanted his picture taken, so why not. I love his cheesy camera grin.

I only need to take a picture of my advent calendar and then I'll post some craft projects. In the meantime, check out these super cute turkeys I want to make for Thanksgiving. I can never resist a project that you can eat too!

Pictures I've been meaning to post.

2010-11-12T00:44:00.009-07:00

Back in October our family went camping down at Capitol Reef. We had a blast and John was really excited to go since he is the self claimed "Indoor Outdoorsman" and was gonna have a melt down if we didnt make it camping at least once before winter came.

We splurged a little and rented a tent trailer for the occasion (which was really nice since we went on one of the more rainy/cold weekends in October). The trailer came complete with a small kitchen (stove and a sink) space to sleep 6 comfortably, a heater for the cold nights, and built in lights. For those curious, we paid $75/ night and a few dollars in propane and we rented it from Cozy Campers located in Riverton.

We had just enough dry moments to sneak out for some rock climbing...

and some muscle flexing...

and petroglyph spying...

and some sign finding.

There were a lot of deer down there probably fleeing the hunters out for the opening weekend of deer season. The deer tried to break into our garbage. We heard them in the middle of the night and I woke up long enough to ask John what the noise was. Then I fell back asleep and we discovered the attempted break in the next morning.

My favorite part of camping is hanging around the fire, cooking, and playing games. The kids loved doing it all (except for two occasions where Josh wanted to go home to check on our dogs, and then again when he wanted to go play at Annette's house (my sister).

Last week we went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Tricia and Tyler, and our friend, Jessica and her daughter Audrey. We've never been before, but Josh thought it was pretty fun. He and I both liked the star walk where the you walk across an elevated bridge through what looks like a field of stars. The room echoed really well and Josh would always call "Hello" while crossing. He also loved playing in the Erosion display with Tyler. Then they dug for dinosaur bones in the sand pits. There was a ton to see that I didn't get to focus on and I wished I would have taken more pictures. Tricia somehow avoided being photographed! Here are some shots from the day.

This is Josh showing me his "muscles". Aren't you terrified!!
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"Cowboy Hat" has taken over my house.

2010-11-10T01:05:00.003-07:00

I think I've seen this 20 times now. Josh loves it, especially the opening sequence with the train. He insists I start it from the beginning each time. He calls the movie "cowboy hat" and corrects me every time I try to call it Toy Story. He knows Woody and Buzz by name and he gets really sad at the part where Woody looses his hat. For Christmas I have a stick horse for Josh I found at DI (you know one of those horse heads on a stick you can ride around). I also found a life size version of Woody's hat that Josh can wear while riding. I can't wait to give it to him now that he is in love with the movie.

On a side note, Josh has been asking to go to DI all day. He keeps picking up toys I've found at DI and then bringing them to me asking, "Josh go DI?" I'm not sure what I am creating, but I want to go to DI too, so tomorrow we'll be taking a shopping trip and I hope we find something good.

Yeah for November!

2010-11-03T00:51:00.004-06:00

We survived Halloween (and I was ready for it to be done). Josh got to go trick-or-treating with his cousins and had a blast. He wanted to do it again the next night too and insisted on carrying his Halloween bucket in hopes of getting more candy. Here is the group just before they headed out. Fortunately they caught a break in the rain and came home with quite a bit of candy for just the few blocks that they knocked!

John is gone this week for work so it has just been me and the kids holding down the fort. Things have gone pretty smoothly. I put up a few holiday decorations today. The Christmas tree will have to wait, but I pulled out my holiday village that hasn't been displayed for the last few years. Josh was less than impressed. He was much more entertained by the mini tub of play-doh he got trick or treating. Tonight after Josh's bath I put him up on the sink to brush his teeth (just wearing a towel across his shoulders). He started laughing really hard and I looked down to see him peeing all over the sink! Thanks for that, kiddo. I guess I'll be doing some cleaning asap. At least I had this cute mamma's girl to look at all afternoon. She has her two top teeth finally popping through which brings her grand total up to 4 teeth. We're still working on crawling, although I see her getting a lot more curious and adventurous these days.

I've got some projects in the works planned for while John is gone. Abby is in need of a few more dresses for sunday, and I really want to make an advent calendar for Christmas this year. Keep posted for pictures of those to come!

Manning Halloween Party

2010-10-12T00:04:00.010-06:00

This year we had our traditional Halloween party a bit early due to schedule conflicts with everyone, but it was a lot of fun! It involved lots of good food, costumes, and games! Lets' start with the costumes...

John, Josh, Abby, and I all dressed as the cast of Peter Pan. I figured we would never have a better family cast than we would for our parts so we better do it this year. Josh was peter pan, Abby was tinkerbell, John was Captain Hook, and I was Tiger Lily. (I had planned to be Wendy, but making the costume was a disaster and a huge blow to my crafting ego so I settled for the easier Tiger Lily costume).

My parents were Wolverine and the injured wife who had to endure those darn claws. They looked awesome in their attire. Everyone loved the claws and leather jacket especially.

Lianne and Devin were themselves. But that means next year they have to make up for it big time!!!

Annette, Ron, and the girls all looked very festive in their various outfits. I love having them close by. Our parties are so much more fun with them included!

This year Tricia was a cat, Gordon was Obama (my Mom threatened to not feed him!), and Tyler was a cute little construction worker, even though he wouldn't wear his belt.

Ryan came as a modified spider web and Kara was his target practice, so to speak. She even had spider earrings! I like her costume because it can double as Halloween decorations!

Mark and Lindsay were super cute in their SKITTLES costume. Talk about creative! I loved it!!

Here are some bonus shots (mostly of my kids, sorry!!) I wish I had got more photographs, but there was a lot going on and my camera was acting up a little.

I didnt take many pictures of the gaming because I have a million from years past, but I did get some of Josh joining in on the fun.He had a blast being part of the group and loved following what everyone else did!! Its really fun to see him get into some of this stuff now that he is a little older.

Hee Haw Farms

2010-10-11T23:48:00.005-06:00

Due to scheduling conflicts, my family had to have our Halloween party early this year. So this past Friday we went to the Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove to find a pumpkin and play on their toys and things. Josh was so excited when we got there. He ran around just awed by everything he could do. Abby sat happily in her stroller and watched all the action. Josh's favorite by far was the big slide with the potato sacks. He went down with John and was instantly hooked. He was even brave enough to go down by himself. He must have climbed that hill a dozen times. but he loved every second. We never made it to the farm's large pumpkin patch down the street so we went to Macey's to get our actual pumpkins, but it was a fun fall activity to do again. Thanks Tricia, Gordon, and Tyler for coming with us!! Sorry you escaped my camera Tricia, but the boys were pretty fun to photograph (see below pics).

Catching Up

2010-10-07T13:11:00.006-06:00

So this is what we've been up too lately

1, Josh and Abby have taken turns being sick for the last several weeks. They go back and forth I swear every few days. Abby got shots last week and was miserable for 3 days (she also had a new tooth pop in during that time). Then Josh got some sort of 48 hour illness with a fever. Josh and I have been well so far (knock on wood), but we better have a relatively sick free winter with all the dues I've paid the last little while.

2. Got some canning done. My mom gave me some peaches and I helped her with some pears. Now I need to organize/clean out my pantry and take advantage of caselot before it ends.

3. Halloween is in the works! I'm pretty excited for the holidays this year and I've been trying to do a few extra things for it. We hung Halloween lights (never been done before) and Josh is in love with them. I also got a black light for our party this year that I'm pretty excited about. I found an idea (which I'm sure has been around a long time but its new to me) to make jello glow under a black light. We always make jello in a brain mold for our Halloween dinner and this year it is going to glow!!! Click here for more info.

4. Costumes making is taking over our house this year. I got Josh's costume done (pics and details to be unveiled after the 11th) and I'm still working on my costume, John's costume, and Abby's costume. But here is a preview:
She didnt like the feel of the tulle on her hands. But she loves the sparkles and is very curious about all of it.

5. Just to go really overboard I made some trick-or-treating bags for the kids to take with them wherever we end up going this year. Its too easy to make a few more once you've done the cutting, so I got 6 all together. John asked if I was telling him we were going to have 6 kids. I said that I doubted it, but I liked to be prepared!! Just kidding. Really I just had too much fun making them and wanted to use up the fabric.
I got 1/2 yard of 4 different Halloween prints and 2 yards of the black (for the lining and the handles). I think if I kept going I could get around 10 bags completed, but I dont need that many. The finished size is about 9.5"x11". There is a good tutorial for them here.

Happy Fall!

2010-09-26T22:12:00.008-06:00

John made it home last Thursday and we are all very glad to have him back!! The kids were very excited to see him (especially Josh). All Thursday afternoon Josh used John as a jungle gym. Josh would wait until John sat down, and then he would attack him and yell "got ya"!! Abby also is very content to have John back. She actually fell asleep while he rocked her and went down for a nap. Abby has been sleeping in her crib ever since John came home and although some nights have been better than others, she is adjusting pretty well. She did have another tooth pop through today which explained why last night was such a horrible sleeping night.

Today we went up to the canyon to see the fall leaves (us and everyone else in Utah county). It was so pretty and I want to make it back sometime this week to get some more pictures before the leaves are gone. Sorry for the overload of pictures, but since this blog is mostly for my personal photo/journal use, I'm going to post the pictures that I likes. Feel free to tell me which is your favorite too!

The kids were pretty cute together, but it is sure hard to get little ones to smile nicely at the same time. John tried to get their attention while he sat right behind me and it worked on occasion, but thank goodness for unlimited digital shooting!

Josh was very challenging to photograph today. He was so excited to go "run in da mounts". He climbed trees, looked in holes, picked up rocks, and ran all over the place. But that's the life of a 2 year old boy.

Abby was very cooperative and enjoyed sitting on the blanket and watching the things around her. She gave me so many different expressions. I think her personality shines through her eyes the most (and her very long tongue)!!

I hope you can all get out and enjoy the fall too!!! I love this time of year!!

Josh's Room

2010-09-20T09:54:00.002-06:00

Josh's Room is all done for awhile. It took quite a bit of effort to clear out the room, but I love having it look like it has a purpose rather than having it be a junk/toy/craft room. But I didn't end up needing to repaint since the old paint color matched pretty well. (I forget the name of it - something about Denim by Behr paint).

The bedding came from Target. Its the travel collection by Tiddiwinks. I think it actually was the Twin size bedding version of Josh's crib bedding. The colors are a little different but I was able to use all the same decorations that I had in his nursery which was really nice.

The pictures above the dresser came from Hobby Lobby. I got some plain wooden frames from IKEA and painted them Navy to match the bedding.

The dresser came from Craigs List and I just sanded it lightly and added another coat of white paint.

I made the pillow to match the bedding. I think I had a little too much fun with fusible Iron-On. That stuff can really let you be creative though!!

Josh really likes his big bed and hopefully all the other things in there too. Sometime I'll paint a magnet board to go in there and maybe add a mirror somewhere, but I'm not in a huge hurry to do that until I finish some other projects around the house.

Photo Updates

2010-09-18T22:55:00.007-06:00

This weekend was a lot of fun. We had a lot of stuff going and the kids were carted around a bunch, but I hope they had fun too. On Friday night we went over to my sister's house and had our own drive-in movie! It was awesome. The kids made cars out of cardboard boxes. My sister spray painted the boxes and the kids cut out tires and license plates and made windshield wipers out of tinfoil. Then we had dinner and the kids had to come to the outside kitchen window (which is over the kitchen sink) and order off of a menu my sister made up and hung on the back of her house next to the window. Then they had to come to the back door and use one of our "credit cards" (plastic cards like store cards that we have no more use for) to pay for their food through the play register. Then we watched Monster's Inc on the projector outside in the "cars" and ate popcorn and all kinds of treats that will put us all in debt to the dentist. I should have taken more photos because everything was so super cute, but my battery died. But here are a few I got before the battery shut me down.

Josh is in love with this sand box. But I guess it really is a dream come true for a little boy.

Here are the kids in their "cars". My nephew Tyler was also participating, but somehow escaped my camera. Next time, though!

Saturday was filled with cake decorating (click here for photos), a Relief Society humanitarian activity, and a wedding reception. My parents surprised me and came over in the afternoon to help around my house too. My Mom was kind enough to hold Abby so I could get some things done while my Dad was fixing my shower. Here is how I found them (puffing away)...

If you've made it this far, then here are some bonus pictures just for kicks!

Here is Abby giving a shout out to all her peeps! Check out her first and only tooth sticking out of the bottom of her mouth. Its really cute, and really lonely.

Here is Josh hanging out on his new favorite chair on the patio. (Chair came from DI and I sprayed it lime green and put this clearance chair cushion on it - total cost $12)

This is Josh while he was watching Cars (one of the more intense parts I assume).

This is the nice bruise Abby got from her brother. I still feel bad about this since it happened while I was trusting them both to behave while I took a shower. I won't make that mistake again if this is going to happen.

Here is a shot of the bouquet of flowers I found on my porch on Friday. My sweet husband had the nice thought to send me some and the gesture was greatly appreciated. (John gets to come home sometime next week and we are all very excited to have him back after almost 7 weeks of being apart!!)

Peace out , home slice...

2010-09-15T01:41:00.003-06:00

Josh's vocabulary is expanding, although when he adds extra words to form a sentence he is almost harder to understand. Someone (I forget which relative) taught him how to say "peace out, home slice". Its pretty cute. I was recording a video to send to John and thought I'd post it for everyone.

Abby's Room

2010-09-12T14:05:00.003-06:00

Its almost there. I can't wait to be done with this project and move on to something else (like moving Abby into her crib to sleep, not so excited about dealing with that!). But here are a few photos of what it looks like. It was hard to get a good angle on her room because I dont have the right lens, but I hope this gives a good representation. I still need to finish her crib blanket (the fabric is laying across the top of the crib) and get a matching crib sheet and then we'll be good to go.

The Crib Bumper (fabric came from Hobby Lobby)

The wooden flowers and letter mounted above her crib were from Roberts and then I used scrapbook paper for the letters and acrylic paint on the flowers.

We painted the room with Behr's Cool Pink paint color. It was a middle shade on the card and I thought about doing the lighter shade on the card, but I'm glad I stuck with this. Maybe someday if we stay long enough I can get some bead board across part of the walls.

Anybody recognize these?! I love them above Abby's closet. Thanks Creative Chicks for the giveaway!

I realize these are still pictures of Josh. I haven't got any printed yet of Abby, but that will hopefully happen soon. The metal flower stands came from Hobby Lobby and are actually photo holders, but I don't think I'll use them as that.

Lastly, I've been waiting to pull this play crib out forever! My Grandpa Johnson made me and my older sister one of these a long time ago when we were younger and I've had it for years waiting for a daughter to come along and use it. I'm so excited to let it get played with again. I thought about painting it to match the white furniture, but I dont think I could bear painting over my grandma's work. So it will stay as is and hopefully be around for a long time!

The flu is gone.

2010-09-12T00:51:00.001-06:00

Hallelujiah! We have been puke free for over 24 hours now. Im so glad. We all slept in until almost ten this morning and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Today Josh was much happier and playful and even ate the food I gave him. Im not sure I want to risk nursery just yet, but we'll see how things go in the morning. Thanks for all the good luck and well wishes!

A visit from the flu.

2010-09-10T23:24:00.005-06:00

Why is it that kids always seem to get sick in the middle of the night? It started last night with Josh around 12:30 and went all night long until 10 am. Dealing with 2 kids by yourself all the time is hard, but when one of them gets sick, things get way crazy!! I wanted to finish some projects up (like Josh's bedroom curtains, his decorative pillow, and picture frames for his car pictures) but instead I did 5 loads of laundry, all from the previous night! We went through every pair of pajamas Josh has, plus 10 regular play shirts, plus every smaller size blanket I would allow to get puked on. It was ironic that today while shopping around Macey's for saltines and ginger ale that the announcement was for the first week of flue shots available at the pharmacy. I stopped by to get one and the employee unfortunately was on leave when everyone was trained on flu shots, so no flu shot. It may be too late for me anyway. Tonight I'm feeling crappy and Im not sure if its because I'm getting sick, or just a mental reaction to cleaning up after a sick kid. Im hoping for the latter since I'm pretty sure I need more than 3 hours sleep tonight if I'm going to function at all tomorrow. Im praying for clean sheets and sleepy kids (and a baby who wont pick up what Josh had since she is just recovering after a 2 week battle with some sort of sickness)!! Wish me luck, Im off to bed!

One project down, a million to go...

2010-09-08T14:38:00.005-06:00

I got the accent pillow done for Abby's room following this tutorial. Now I need to finish the rest of her crib bedding. I already have a partially completed crib quilt and the bumper is going to be made out of the fabric in the photo below. Im loving the pink wall color. Im so excited to be decorating for a girl. Josh's room is almost done and then i'll post some pictures of it.

This week.

2010-09-05T09:41:00.002-06:00

Here is whats been going on as of late. We've been keeping busy doing projects around the house. We painted Abby's room this week and now I need to make the bedding for her crib and a few other small things. We also celebrated my niece, Jenna's birthday. She turned 11 and wanted a Nancy Drew cake. Go Nancy Drew!! Here are some pictures from this week.