MEMORIAL WEEKEND IN MOAB, UTAH

For the past seven years we have spent a spring weekend in Moab, Utah with family and friends. It's become an annual event that we really look forward to. Usually we go over Easter weekend, Memorial weekend, or even both! This year was a little different because it was the first time for us without our own Jeep. I was looking forward to it, but a little aprehensive about how Jeff would fill his time without long hours of Jeeping to keep him occupied. Another worry was the weather... rain and colder temperatures were in the forcast. Everything worked out just fine, and we had a fabulous time again in one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Instead of blogging extensively about the trip, and since so many others have done a great job of covering the weekend, I will just link to their blogs instead.

Jeff did a great job of covering the 2nd annual Dance Off. Jen was very thorough in covering the escapades and mishaps of the trip. Brit has the play by play down. And Nate always does a good job of covering the more humorous side of things. Just mouse over their names to link to their blogs.

Enjoy!

BAGELS AND GRANDPAS

Today we decided to eat lunch out. The kids wanted bagels so we headed to Einstein Bros. On the way home somebody sneezed, which launched us into a conversation about sneezing. This soon turned into observations about how different each person's sneeze can be, which inevitably led right up to the grandpas. Brit said, "Isn't it weird how different the two grandpas are from each other? I mean one grandpa is completely hairless, while the other one has been mistaken for Bigfoot. One grandpa is tall but not muscular, the other one is short and pretty ripped. And one grandpa sneezes really quiet and small, while the other one sneezes so loud you think your eardrums might burst." It's true too! When Grandpa Ellis sneezes, you are almost afraid to look over at him afterwards, because it seems quite possible his head has exploded! Brit is sure that if he stuck bullets up his nose, he could shoot better than with a rifle. Then Kaylee reminded us of Grandpa Kent's hiccups. When he lived with us he used to get these horrible hiccups that sounded just like he was trying to vomit! By this time we were having a pretty good laugh, and such conversations eventually will lead to flatulence, so I'll stop here. Grandpas are great, and it's fun to have a diverse group of grandads in our family to keep us entertained and spoiled rotten!

FUNNIES

Remember these from Seminary?





I found these funny versions...





Just some good clean fun on an otherwise drab Tuesday!

BRING IT ON!

I asked for it, and now it's here... THE HEAT! Yes, I'm talking about the weather. I know for some of you who read my blog, 88 degrees will seem like jacket weather, but for me it's blazing hot. Tomorrow's high will be even warmer at 89! It's been nice to walk outside in flip-flops and no jacket. It's strange to live in a place where just days before it was snowing, (well sleeting) and today we are running the air conditioner. Of course I know to enjoy it while I can. Next week we will be back down to a high of 54.

Nothing is free however, and with the warmer weather comes the added responsibility, so we spent a good part of the day fixing the swampy (Jeff does most of the work on the swamp cooler), cleaning up the yard, fixing broken sprinklers, and all the other little chores that come calling on weekends. That reminds me... if anyone is running low on cats, dogs, horses, goats or chickens, call us first! We've got animals to spare. Another side effect of spring I guess.

CELEBRITY LOOK-A-LIKES

Ali posted these on her blog and it looked like fun!

OUR LITTLE SQUISHY

Squish is one of our dogs, a Boston Terrier, who we love. But Squish has a few "issues" that have come to the spotlight in the last day or two. Yesterday our floor guy started the huge job of refinishing the wood floors in our entryway and kitchen. It's a long process that will take the entire week because they need to be sanded, filled with putty, sanded some more, then sanded again. Then he will seal them, then sand them one last time. After that's all done he will put a couple of top coats on... and hopefully by Friday night... we will be done! Not only is this a pretty dramatic home improvement project, it's costing us a pretty penny, so it's important that we do our best to keep the floors looking nice for as long as possible. This means the dogs and any indoor cats needed to have their toenails clipped. Dodger and Jasmine don't enjoy having their nails clipped, but we can usually get them done with some distraction and other various techniques. Squish, on the other hand, has been impossible to clip for the past six years. He literally loses his mind over it. He starts into these spasms and we can't make him hold still. We've tried holding him down, wrapping him in blankets, distracting him with treats- all for naught! Jeff reminded me that I HAVE to have a solution for him so I decided to make an appointment with our usual groomer to have a bath and his nails clipped. In the past I have avoided doing this because I've been afraid he would be mistreated since he is such an idiot about the whole thing. But, I made the appointment and was just not going to think about how they would do it, put it out of my mind, and pick him up after it was all over. So guess what? Not even the groomer could get the job done!!! I'm serious! Now I was starting to feel really panicked about it. I decided to go to Petco to see if the groomers there could sedate him, or maybe if they had a doggy straight-jacket or something. I talked to them and they said they couldn't help me either unless I was willing to subject him to a technique that sounded, well, downright abusive to me! Now if you knew Squish you would be shaking your head at this point because he is a small dog, so sweet and loving and obedient. I talked to some other people at Petco and finally decided to buy some new clippers and give it another try at home. We got him home and tried all the usual stuff that didn't work- no surprise. Out of desperation I decided to try covering his head in a blanket and had both kids holding him down with all their strength. Slowly, and yes painfully, we got the job done. Woohoo! By the end we were all panting and terribly stressed, but it's done! After he had a treat, we took him to the self-serve doggy wash and gave him the bath he was supposed to get. He didn't like that much either, but most of the fight had left him and he submitted without much trouble. Poor little Squishy. He's had a tough day.

MASTER BATH BEFORE AND DURING

I took some pics of the master bathroom project and couldn't wait till it was all the way done to post something. I decided to go with a marble floor just because I've always wanted one, and I am not disappointed! Jeff did a fabulous job of putting the floor in. Laying any kind of tile is hard physical work and it took it's toll on Jeff over the weekend, but it looks amazing! I don't know if I'm in love with the color I chose for the walls, but I love the marble, the new toilet, and the counter/sink we put in. We still need to grout the floor, remove the old shower doors, put in the rest of the trim, and the mirror. Then I can decorate it! But here's to progress anyway.

Look at those perfectly straight lines!

MOTHER'S DAY

I've read a lot of poems, cards, and even tributes to wives and mothers this year... I even got my own spotlight on Jeff's blog which was sweet. But this year, the thing I've thought about most is how much I LOVE being a mom. Every year it seems like I feel more and more grateful for this amazing opportunity to interact with and help guide these two little (well, not really so little anymore) people. I love homeschooling the kids and how it allows me so much time with them. I love doing projects together, I love reading books together, I love our talks and discussions. Obviously motherhood is a full-time job, without breaks, days off, and all the rest, but I wouldn't change my job for anything. Every day is an adventure that I look forward to. I decided in the early days of my journey into motherhood, that if I could just be successful as a mom, I'd feel like I'd have lived a life worthwhile. It's all trial and error, and learning from our mistakes, but hopefully I'll get better as I go. I do know that I will continue to give it my all! I also wanted to gives thanks to all of the other moms out there giving it their all. So many of you have been an inspiration to me and have given me examples of how I can improve my skills, probably without even knowing it. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

MORE RENOVATION

I finished painting the kitchen a couple of weeks ago and have been focusing more on the yard since then. I finally got some pics taken of the new color and decorations, it was a bold move, so let me know whatcha think.

This weekend we decided to tackle the master bathroom. This room is by far the worst one in the house. When we moved in, the walls were growing some kind of mold or fungus, there was moldy pink carpet (that's right, carpet in a bathroom), and hideous fixtures from the 1970's! We did rip out the carpet and lay down a few of those self-adhesive tiles from the Dollar Store, and we got rid of the mold and painted when we moved in, but otherwise it has stayed the eyesore it was for the past six years. I should have taken some photos before we started the demolition, but all I have are a couple of shots of it gutted. We decided to lay a marble tile floor which we started today. I'm super excited to see the finished project! Hopefully we will finish most of it by tomorrow night so we won't have to work much on Mother's Day. I will post pics of the finished product.

OUR GARDEN

It was brought to my attention that I am neglecting my blog. I usually have a lot to say, but lately my life has been way too busy and full to even get a chance to think!

Kaylee and I decided we wanted to plant an awesome garden this year. We have been sprouting seeds and planning for several weeks, and finally, we started to plant! I got a tiller for Mother's Day four years ago which makes tilling up the garden a breeze... usually. This year I couldn't get the thing to start. After listening to a lengthy lecture from Jeff about how I probably didn't empty the gas from it last fall, and how I probably haven't checked the oil, he finally agreed to take a look at it. In my defense, I DID empty the old gas to the best of my ability or knowledge (same as every year), and I had checked the oil. I also checked the spark plug. Not to mention that I'd been able to fix a little issue with it last spring all by myself! So when I finally did ask Jeff for help, I'd made sure I really had tried everything. Of course he got it fixed (he always does), but not before taking the whole thing apart and giving it a good tune-up.

Next step was to till the whole garden. Our plan was to have four sections, two on the upper level with a cute meandering path to divide them, and two on the lower level with a wider path to the garden shed between them. So far we've been able to get half the winding path done, put in a cute little pond, plant a couple of our starts and seeds, and build a teepee to support our cucumbers. We also bought a length of cute little black plastic fence to divide the garden from the path to the chicken coop. Kaylee will have one of the four sections all to herself where she can plant whatever she loves most. One whole section will be just for squash. I plan to have lots of tomatoes, some peas, beans and lettuce. And of course we need a few herbs mixed in. I'm pretty excited about our garden. I will take some pics when we get more done! Hopefully in a couple of months our garden will look something like the picture above.

SNOW

It's May 1st... and we woke up to snow. You might be asking yourselves if this is something worth blogging about, but for me, it's a pretty big deal! I'm sooooooo sick of winter I could scream! I'm looking out my window as I type and little snowflakes are drifting down. Our house and yard look beautiful after fresh snow has fallen, but it's time for something new! I'm willing to try anything to coax the warm weather to stay.