My Project

After all of the DIY shows I've watched on HGTV, I decided to take on a project of my own. I got two nightstands on a clearance rack for about $15/each and the dresser is a hand-me-down from my mom. Here are the before pictures:




And the After shots:



Altogether, it cost about $75 and I now have "matching" furniture in my bedroom. Not too bad, next I'm going to design a headboard to match....

Insanity!!!

If anyone ever asks you if you would be willing to fly to the opposite corner of the country with a 1 and 3 year old... STANDBY ... starting with a red eye flight...from Seattle (yes, that's a five-hour drive from us) ...RUN AWAY! Did I mention there were 2 connections each direction? Well, that's what we did over the weekend. Jealous, right? Now here's the whole story: Joe's dad (a man with big ambitions and good intentions) wanted to fly us to North Carolina to surprise his mom at her 50th birthday party. I think that he had the idea kind of late in the planning stages and so by that point the airline tickets would have been outrageous so instead he pulled some strings with a friend who works for American Airlines to have us fly standby. In all fairness, I agreed to the crazy plan (I'd never flown standby before and didn't really know what I was agreeing to). Why he had us leave from Seattle instead of Spokane, I'm still not sure, but that's what we did. So, the trip started when I left the house on Thursday at 3:00 with the boys, picked up Joe on the South Hill and then kept going to Seattle.

These were taken shortly after we left for Seattle at the beginning of the

trip...they had no idea what was in store for them!

The boys in Seattle, watching as the first flight the we were supposed to be on, was leaving...without us!

The flight we were hoping to get on was at 9:45 going to New York (JFK). From there we were supposed to make a connection to North Carolina (RDU). There weren't seats for us on the first flight. Ouch. We ended up taking a flight at 11:30 to Boston. In the morning we got a connection from Boston to JFK at 8:00 EST. In JFK we didn't make the 12:30 connection to RDU (it was full) and it didn't look good for the 5:00 or 9:00 flights either. So, it was starting to look like we were stuck in New York. Joe talked to our airline friend and she suggested some other airports that were within a couple hours from Raleigh. So, we ended up getting on a 2:30 connection to Richmond, VA. That was good. At least we were getting closer to our destination. Keep in mind that my this time we'd been travelling for close to 24 hours straight with no sleep (at least for me, the boys all got at least some sleep on the red-eye from Seattle). We were stuck in the plane, waiting for our turn to take off for an hour at JFK, the whole flight was only supposed to be 55 minutes. We finally got to Richmond just before 5:00 and waited about an hour there for our ride. THEN we had a two-hour drive ahead of us to actually get to Raleigh, plus we were starving and had to stop for dinner, plus our bags were at a different airport than us. They made in on the flight to RDU, even though we didn't. After all was said and done, we got to the hotel at about 11:00 PM, I'd be up for 40 hours and travelling for about 32 hours straight. Miserable doesn't even start to describe how I felt! The worst part was that we would spend Saturday with his family and then have to turn around and do the whole trip again on Sunday! It turns out, though, that it looked better for us to take flights on Monday and the trip coming home was much less traumatic, not what I would call fun, but managable. We flew from Raleigh to New York to San Diego to Seattle and then drove home. No missed flights and no red-eyes. The boys were troopers through the whole thing, I was amazed and how well they did with it all.

The two days that we got to spend with Joe's family were great, except that I felt somewhat like a zombie the whole time because of lack of sleep. Sam and Andrew ate up the attention from Grandma and all the other new "audience members". It made me wish, once again, that there was a way that we could live close to both sets of grandparents, but I don't really see that ever happening! They took us on a tour around their family's old neighborhood and that was fun to hear stories and go see things that were part of Joe's childhood. The birthday party was a success, except for the food, but that's a whole other story that I probably won't get into! Pearl was a little mad that Phillip had put us through the whole standby ordeal and felt horrible for it, even though it was in no way her fault or responsibilty. Overall, there were enough good things to offset the bad and I'd say (now that it's in the past) that any time that boys get to spend with their grandparents is worth some sacrifice. But I'm never doing that again!

Time Flies

So, Saturday was our 5th Anniversary, it's amazing how fast that time has gone! I surprised Joe by arranging with my Dad and Uncle to come and kidnap Joe first thing in the morning and go golfing. He absolutely loves to golf and never gets the chance to go, so that was my present to him. It was a fun surprise. He came home with and bouquet of 2 dozen red and yellow roses that were beautiful, fresh flowers are always a score in my book! That night my brother, Danny, came over to babysit. He brought a girl with him for reinforcement and to get out of changing any diapers. (Smart Guy!) We went to Clinkerdagger's for dinner. For those not familiar with Spokane, that's a fancy restaurant downtown that overlooks the River and the Falls. It was a beautiful setting and the food was delicious! It was fun to splurge and go somewhere really nice and just enjoy...just what I was hoping for. After dinner we went and played mini golf at Wonderland. I know, kind of a contrast to the fancy dinner, but it was very fun!

It was fun to kind of look back at our first five years and see where we've come. I'm so greatful for such a wonderful husband who is truly just what I need. He's so kind and supportive and is a great dad. I am lucky to have him in my life. I love you Joe!

I'm not sure how much Joe reads this blog, so I guess we'll see. Anyway, here's to many more happy years together!

Cooling Off at the River

We went on a family bike ride on Saturday on the Cenntenial Trail. For those not from Spokane, that's a trail for biking, running, etc that follows the river (most of the time) from Northern Idaho and through Spokane. It's beautiful! We went about 9 miles round trip.



Since I like to take the boys for bike rides during the week while Joe is at work, the trailer hardware was already on my bike, so instead of switching it and then having to switch it back, I just pulled the trailer. Whew, it was quite a workout! We got some funny looks and comments about it, but oh well! Joe offered to switch bikes, but I wanted the exercise! But, boy did it get hot. Andrew doesn't really like the trailer, especially that day because it was hot and nap time. So, he was crying which made Sam miserable. We were heading back to the car, after only going a mile or two, when he finally calmed down, so we kept going. A few minutes later, we realized that they were both asleep! Too cute!


After the bike ride (and the boys' nap) we took them down to put our feet in the river. The water was freezing! Our boys love the water though. Both of them just wanted to dive in, which kind of scared me to death considering how high the river is right now and how fast the current is...but it sure felt good to get our feet wet!


This was probably when I was explaining to Sam for about the millioneth time that we were not going to get in and go swimming and no he couldn't go climb on the rocks by himself.


On our way out Sam found a big stick, what more could he want? I don't quite understand the fascination that boy have with sticks, but I remember that my brothers were the same way!

Andrew wasn't enjoying himself quite as much, by this point he was tired of the heat and just wanted to go home. Plus, the sunblock was running in his eyes so they were all red. Poor kid-o!

On the other side of the parking lot was this little waterfall which Sam insisted that we go see. It was nice and the mist felt really good.

And this was the end of Sam's stick, Sam threw it in the water and they are all watching it float away. Bye-bye stick! I was glad that we were able to avoid the fit that inevitably would have happened when we got to the car and I said that we weren't taking the stick home. This worked out perfectly!

It was a fun morning and I came home appreciating the beautiful area of the world that we live in. I love that we have so many fun outdoor things to do within a short distance. It's great!

Happy Birthday....To Me!!

It's true...Wednesday was my big day and it was a good one. Danny, my 21-year old brother, left a message on my cell phone that pretty much summed it all up, " Hope you have a great day and try not to feel too old!". Ah, the wisdom of our youth, or the sarcasim, hmmmm. I turned 27, a number that seemed to baffle Sam and he responded, "Wow, that's a lot!" (Sigh...) What can you say to that?

No, but really, I had and awesome day! My wonderful husband surprised me by taking the whole day off work. We started off the day with breakfast in bed, which is sometimes lonely, but I got to watch the Today show without Sam chattering my ear off. I'm such a nerd, but I love that show!

Joe had me open my gifts one at a time throughout the day, which made it fun. This was right after breakfast. That's a kickstand in Sam's hand, and no he's not about to hit me with it, even though that's kind of what it looks like!

This was after my shower, it was new running headphones for my Ipod. The boys loved helping open my presents! I was trying to show Andrew how it's done because his birthday is getting pretty close!
And a little later...


My birthday present from my in-laws was money so that I could go shopping for some new clothes, so Joe stayed home with the boys and sent me off shopping soon after breakfast. So fun, I've forgotten how easy it is to go places without the boys. Joe arranged for my mom to come over at lunchtime to babysit for the afternoon, which Sam was thrilled about. I was thrilled because I got to got go to lunch and spend the whole afternoon with just my hubby. What a treat! Thanks Mom!

This is one of the outfits that I got on my shopping trip. I don't love this picture of me, but I love the new outfit! Thanks to the Lodge folks!


For dinner we had a BBQ with my family and some friends from our old ward at our house. My parents gave me patio chairs (since I always have to borrow theirs when we have people over) and some Tupperware that I'd been hoping for (again, I'm a nerd but I was very happy)! Instead of cake, we had a cheesecake (from Costco, my favorite!) with fresh strawberries on it. Perfect!

Breanna, Bernie and Danny after dinner.


Jon and Andrew. Andrew seems to enjoy showing off just how big he can open his mouth!

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this a wonderful day, I truly felt loved and spoiled!

Warm weather... Finally!

We are so glad that it is actually starting to feel like summer outside...it's about time! This morning we went to the park with a group of mom's from our ward and my sister-in-law and whole group of little girls. Poor Sam, none of the friends that I'm making in our new ward have boys! Hmmm, I might have to work on that, but in the meantime, he doesn't seem to mind too much. We went to a great little park that has a wading pool and spray area which is perfect for the little kids. First we started with a picnic lunch and then we turned the kids loose. Sam went straight for the wading pool, of course, and hardly left it until it was time to go. He loves water so much and now he wants to go to a "real water pool". The water was pretty shallow, but really cold. But that didn't seem to stop Sam from jumping right in.

Andrew really wanted to be in the water, but he was shocked by the temperature. Eventually he got used to it enough to stand at the edge and splash. Every time he sat down, though, he wailed because of the icy shock. But he definately didn't want out!

Sam and Colette playing together.

We weren't sure if Ela would want to get in the water, but with Sam there holding her hand she had a great time. They are such cute cousins and great friends!

And did I mention that the water was cold? Well, Bre decided to give Bernie a chance to experience it and I think we can see what he thought about it! He is so adorable!

The moms: Bre, Chari, Amy, Sharla, and Melissa. This was just before we left before all of the kids had their "naptime meltdown". It's always amazing to me to watch how they can be playing nicely and then it's like they hit a wall and just can't be human anymore. That was followed by a mad rush to get all of the stuff gathered, wet clothes off, garbage disposed of, and goodbyes said and we raced home for naps. It was a fun little outing and I'm pretty sure all of the kids (and moms) were ready for those naps!

Cousins Pictures

We took the four cousins to JCPenney to have their pictures taken and it went amazingly well. We only got the one pose, but there were no tears, screaming or running away (from the parents or the kids). Plus they all took great individual pictures too, what can I say, they're just cute kids! These are Sam's 3-year pictures, Ela's 2-year (a little late), Andrew's 9 month and Bernie's newborn (I think that he was not quite a month).

Oh, and here's a few more, because they are just so darn cute!