Ta-da!

For those who have asked, I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of my home decor! I still consider it a work in progress (still looking for the perfect accent pillows to brighten the couches a little, a different wreath for the shutters, and some other little things like that), but since we've almost been here a year (and that is when I said I would have some pictures to show) here it is!


I saw this lamp at Quilted Bear in the Spring and LOVED it, but it cost WAY more than I wanted to pay. So I was thrilled when I went back a couple of weeks ago and found it on clearance!
Excuse the crooked picture (guess I hadn't had my V-8 yet), but this is one of my favorite little spots. I found the vases at Tai Pan for a little bit of nothing and the picture of Christ is one of my favorites.
Two more of my favorite finds. J and I were on a date and stepped into Rossto look for a pair of slacks. This chair was right up front and we fell in love with it! Not only does it look good, it is SO comfy. I found the pillow at Walmart (of all places) and it really has become one of my favorite things!
Here is the Family Room. I had slipcovers made for the couches, and am quite happy with the way they turned out. I still want to paint the coffee table, but haven't decided whether to go with distressed white like the desk and kitchen furniture or black to match the side table and other accents. . .

Playing like the pigs

J participated in a 10k mud run on Saturday with some friends from work. It was quite the course! It was rolling hills the entire way with obstacles to climb over and through including a water slide, bog, and mud swim at the end. As you can see there was no clean way through it! J did a great job and was pretty had by the end. Afterward, we let the kids slog in the mud which they thought was great until it was time to get cleaned up. By then the sun was going down and the water they had to rinse off with was ice cold. In fact, AP said it felt like having liquid snow poured over you while nude. I'm just glad I decided to stay out of it. . .

A & A could only stay out of it for so long. They kept tossing in bits of dirt and scooting closer and closer to the edge the whole time we were waiting for J to finish. After J came through, they couldn't resist any longer. So to keep them from getting in the way of other racers we took them back to the beginning of the course to muck around.

Past Blast

Friday morning, AP and AJ were all ready for school with 10 minutes to spare. I was thrilled not to be rushing them out the door when AJ asked, "Does my outfit look like something you would wear in the 80's?" Before I told her not at all, I figured I should find out why she was asking. Come to find out it was 80s day at school. Now why she waited to tell me 10 minutes before they needed to leave I do not know, and I was tempted to tell her "kind of" and leave it at that, but that was my elementary school era after all and this would be fun right? So it was a quick rush to come up with something for them to wear. I'm not sure we got it right (where is that fine line between 80's and 90's attire anyway?), but decided we couldn't go wrong with CareBears and Transformer shirts. Here they are all decked out and ready to go.

Grandma's visit

J's grandma was in town for a wedding so we got to spend some time with her Saturday morning. She, along with J's uncle, cousin (and husband), and sister (and kids) came over for brunch. Here she is with all of the great grandkids that were there.

cute cousins!

She wanted to hear the kids sing some primary songs so we gathered in the front room.

Here she is leading them in "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." They also sang "I am a child of God" and "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam"

And D sharing with them

A couple of tidbits

In my anniversary post I mentioned that one of the things that A & A love to do at Grandpa and Grandma's house is make things. Here are the three guys that AP designed (he drew them out beforehand) and Grandma made (he did do a little of the sewing including the eyes on his green guy).

Also at my parents house. . . J was studying with D on his lap when the little one fell asleep. J decided to take advantage of the situation and catch some shut-eye too. Good thing he always has earplugs on hand when he is trying to get some study-time in!

The world on fire

Sunday night I sent the kids outside with ice cream cones and A & A came right back inside exclaiming, "Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming tonight!" When I asked them what they were talking about they told me the mountains were on fire and the moon was red, and that meant Christ was coming. I went outside to see this (picture courtesy of the local news):

Here is a picture I took from our backyard:

AJ trying to comfort D (who actually had no idea what was going on). You can see the smoke billowing above.

Oblivion is bliss. He's just happy to have ice cream and the cat.

Once they were assured that the world was not ending, and we were safe they enjoyed a little more time outside before coming in.

AJ did worry all night though about the people closest to the fire, and first thing the next morning AP checked the paper to see what damage had been done. Our hearts and prayers have gone out to those who lost their homes, and we are grateful to the firefighters that got it under control and kept more damage from being done.

First Prayer!

D gave his first prayer all by himself last night:

Heavenly Father, please bless the day. Bless Daddy. Bless Mommy sleep. Bless [AJ] sleep. Bless [AP]. Bless Jesus. Amen

It was so cute to see how excited AP and AJ were when he finished. They hurried right over to give him a big hug and tell him what a great job he did.

What a ride!

This year we thought it would be fun to celebrate our 12th anniversary river rafting. So we left the kids with my dear parents (and sister who was sweet enough to drive out to help) and headed off. Saturday morning we started off with a session at the temple, ate lunch at Wingers and then headed up to Flaming Gorge. There we rented a two person kayak to take us down the Green River. The scenery was beautiful and the river (though cold), had just the right amount of calm and rapids. It was a lot of fun talking and laughing with my sweetheart, but it was also nice to enjoy the quiet moments. I was sitting in front so I got some full-on blasts of cold water (not so pleasant), and also had to do most of the steering which was a little harder than I would have thought. Just when I thought I had it, J would stop rowing and I would realize it wasn't my great skills keeping us straight, it was the fact that we had been rowing together. When my arms got too tired to keep rowing, or J would take a break, we would start spinning. A few times he had to remind me to keep rowing so that we wouldn't run into rocks. Now for the cheesy analogy of how our marriage has been like our river ride. We have, like most couple's I'm sure, had some really rough spots, and times of struggle (we've even run into some rocks) that have forced us to row pretty hard. Sometimes one of us has been left rowing alone to keep us on track. When one of us is too tired to take on the demands of marriage, or parenting, or life, we have had to spin for a little while until we can both pick up our oars and row together again. But so far we have managed to stay on course and all in all I am really grateful for such an awesome companion who supports me, encourages me, and reminds me to keep rowing! It has been, and I expect it will continue to be, quite a ride and I'm so grateful to be on it with my best friend!!

At the beginning. I am the little green speck on the right.

And there is my hot hubby, all ready to go.

And here we are at the end.