a bunch of random stuff...

My friend Mindy came to visit me this morning.  I love Mindy.  We met when I was first married and we served as  beehive leaders together.  She is the kind of person who lifts you up and makes you want to be better.  I thought about digging up a picture of the two of us from girls camp 12 years ago, but I'm too lazy to go find it, and then scan it, since it was taken in the days before digital cameras.  That's how far back we go...

Anyway, Mindy was in town with some friends and she borrowed a car in order to drive for 20 minutes at 7:30 this morning to spend an hour with me.  It was short, but wonderful.  We talked, ate muffins, and drank green smoothies while my kiddos were getting ready for school.  It was the perfect start to my weekend.  Thanks Mindy, you made my day!

A couple weeks ago, I helped my Great Aunt Joan make a quilt for her newest grandbaby. Since my quilting machine isn't set up yet, we pinned and hand-basted the quilt before quilting it on my Bernina.  Sorry the picture isn't great, but at least I thought to take one!

 Speaking of quilting, we are making progress in the room that will be my studio.  The left part of this room was an office in the garage.  Todd knocked out the wall (where the beam is) and built a new wall to extend this room the entire width of our garage so it will fit my quilting machine.

 Our progress has been stalled until we figure out what to do with the floor.  The floor in the part of the room that used to be in the garage, is an inch higher than the floor in the old office.  We're not sure if we can use self-leveling cement, or if we should hire someone to do cement work, or if there's another solution.  I know I don't want to trip over it while quilting!

 We have a laundry situation right now.  I didn't do any laundry during Spring Break and I've been paying for it all week.  The good news is that everything you see is clean.  I'm supposed to be folding it right now--hence the reason you get a blog post about random stuff, so I can procrastinate the dreaded laundry pile a little longer.

The older boys had their first choir concert last night.  They will be performing again at "a well known local amphitheater" (with several other schools) on Caleb's birthday.  I love the fact that our school has a choir.  The boys have gone to school an hour early, two days a week this semester in order to participate.  They did a great job and I really enjoyed the performance. I'll add a short clip at the end of this post for the Grandmas.

My daffodils are blooming and it makes me smile every time I look at them.  I hope to plant the rest of our garden this weekend--tomatoes and all.

Happy Friday!

Caleb on the front row, third kid from the left.
Brayden is on the middle row, on the right hand side (he is behind the director for a second).

A day at the park

My cousin Erin came to visit us on Friday and brought her two cute kids.  After Justin and Billy had taken their nap, we headed to the park for the afternoon.

We started with the carousel.

 Brayden, Caleb, and Jackie loved it.  Billy liked it in the beginning.  Dillon had to be bribed just to get on (and he sat in the sleigh).  Justin didn't care for it.  (I'll be honest...Erin and I didn't particularly care for it either)

 Next we played in the lazy river, and splash pad.

 The older boys got bored after awhile, and created their own fun by using their towels for capes.  Here is Caleb as "Super Green Man"

 The little boys could have played for hours.  They loved walking up and down the river.

Thanks for coming to visit, Erin!  We can't wait to do it again.

Bed and Breakfast

A couple weeks ago, Todd's brother and family came to visit us for a winter getaway/birthday vacation.  They stayed in our trailer and I had fun setting up our "bed and breakfast".  Since moving to such a prime location, we have already had several guests, and have more "reservations" in March, April, May, June, and July! If anyone wants to come visit in August we have an opening :o). We have a continental breakfast and free wi-fi.  *fresh flowers are subject to availability

Ben and Carrie~ next time you stay with us, you won't have to sleep on the couch :o)

 Todd's brother Michael, a police officer, celebrated his "plenty-fourth" birthday while he was here.  I didn't take any pictures of the celebration, but we decorated with caution tape, and the kids played police games.  One game included drawing "bad guys" on our cinderblock fence with chalk, and using a "taser gun" (water bottle) to punish them.  We planned to eat doughnuts from a string while wearing handcuffs, but ran out of time.

Michael was kind enough to spend his birthday morning helping Todd tear out a wall in the room that's going to be my quilting studio.  Becky and I went to Curves together, and spent lots of time in the kitchen...'cause that's what mom's do.  While they were here, we also took the kids to the park, ate at Iggy's, walked through the temple visitor center, and visited Snow Canyon.  It was a fun weekend, and we loved spending time with them.

The kids in front of the temple doors.
(I love how Dillon is "meditating" and Lydia is giving her sister "rabbit ears") 

Snow Canyon was beautiful.  We will definitely be going back.

Petrified Sand Dunes

 Silly kids...

 I really need to clean the smudge off my camera lens...

Is a puzzlement

My parents stayed with us last week on their way to and from my brother's house. When they got here Saturday night, Caleb had this lenticular clownfish puzzle out on a card table, since he knows how much Grandpa likes puzzles.  The kids managed to stick around long enough to get the outside edge put together, and then they had "bigger fish to fry". 

That left us "old folks" to finish this obnoxious (yet addicting) puzzle ourselves.  Because of it's "lenticular-ness", the puzzle pieces would "move" or change color depending on the angle you looked at it. We kept having to ask each other if the puzzle piece we just put in really did belong there.

Mom is pretty good at puzzles, but most of the time she can't be bothered.  I think she realized they weren't going to be able to go home until the puzzle was complete, so she reluctantly joined the game.
Todd took this "action shot" of all the excitement. By Sunday evening, the tension was so thick you could've cut it with a knife.

And just when it was "past late", we finished the blasted thing.

Thanks Mom and Dad, for a fun time :o)

*I just want to clarify that I am NOT wearing maternity jeans in the last picture.  That's just my white tank top peaking out under the puzzle.

My talented friend Mindy

Last week, I had the rare opportunity to meet up with one of my best friends, Mindy.  She and I go way back--back to when I was first married and living in the ward where I grew up.  To everyone else I was Floyd's daughter, but to Mindy I was just me.  She moved into the ward while I was away at college, and didn't know me during my awkward teenage years.  I am eternally grateful that our paths crossed because she has had a major influence on who I am.  She is one of those people who makes you better just for knowing her.

She is extremely talented in everything she does, from music to church callings to exercise classes to photography, and she blesses people daily with her talents.  She did a photo shoot with Justin while we were together and she did an amazing job of capturing his personality.  These are the first (and probably only) professional pics I have of him as a baby and I am so grateful!  I love you Mindy! Go check out her blog to see more!

Pinewood Derby

Brayden and Caleb's Pinewood Derby fell on the same day as my gallbladder surgery, so Todd and I had to miss it.  Thankfully, Grandma came to our rescue once again.  She drove down the day before my surgery, helped me finish getting the house ready to show, and then stayed with the boys while I was in the hospital.

The boys were thrilled to have Grandma in charge.  She not only let them play Wii before 3:00, but she also brought potato chips, Chips Ahoy, Oreo's, and a sack full of Hostess treats.  

Brayden won first place in the Webelos division!
The secret is to have Grandma put graphite on the wheels.

My mom never ceases to amaze me. When she is called upon to do something, she always rises to the occasion. She jumped right in to our craziness, and carried on with Piano lessons, Falcon Friday, and even got Justin to take a bottle...eventually.  She left me with a clean house, and folded laundry. I can't thank her enough.  

The boys love to play hangman on Grandma's Kindle

Todd was on-call and had to go to work after Sacrament Meeting,
but Grandma braved church with the boys by herself

My surgery went flawlessly, and I am feeling great, although I'm running out of organs!  I'm now missing my tonsils, my appendix, and my gallbladder.  But, after nine years of gallbladder trouble, it was time to see it go. I'm not supposed to lift Justin for another couple weeks, but when I've had to, it hasn't been a problem.

Falling Behind...

I don't usually go back and try to catch up on blog posts.  If I don't get them up right away, they don't get posted.  I blog for fun and when I get behind it becomes stressful...and who needs extra stress?

But...there are a few things I really want to have recorded, and I ate dinner really late tonight so I decided I'd go back a few weeks and play catch-up while I digest.

During the first week of February, my sister and her cute-face kids drove 7 1/2 hours (ish) to spend some time with us.  It was so fun to have them here!  It was also very convenient.  With Charlotte there, I was able to drive my kids to and from scouts, 4-H, and basketball without loading the baby in and out of the car all week. 

Sam was a big help during chore time.  He helped haul wood every day.  One of my favorite moments was when he asked, "Do these people have a TV?"  (We have a projector in the basement now so we watch our shows on the wall).

I love Livi's face here!  She loves to peel things.  I wish I'd given her that thick-skinned pumelo that I got from Bountiful Baskets!

Char and I played "Mom" during the day, and then stayed up way too late working on digital scrapbooking, and talking.  Oh, how I wish we didn't live so far apart.

Thanks, Char, for making the long trek to our house.  We loved having you here.  I wish the weather had been better...you'll really have to come again in late summer.