Tuesday, April 28, 2009

gone are the days of ghetto grapes

for those of you who have seen our kitchen, you are painfully aware of the 80's stenciled grape eyesore that has been polluting the walls since we moved in. i know, that sounds a bit passionate for a wall...but after 4 years, it was time to say goodbye grapes and hello color!


here is a shot of the stencils in all their glory, i had already checked to see if we needed primer before I thought to take a before shot, hence the giant red square...which did not cover the ghetto grapes.

the new owners were game for whatever paint color I wanted so....


RED it is! i have always wanted a red kitchen! so, it was time to paint!


after the first coat, it looked horrible! after the second coat it was still super streaky. after threatening to turn in my paint brush i decided to research on the internet...which said that red paint was hard to work with and made it seem like i was doomed to have a streaky kitchen unless i painted 14 coats! then i got a text from lindsey, why hadn't i thought to council with the craft and decorating guru? who assured me that her orange wall (which we have yet to see actual pictures of...i mean other than a corner ah hem!) had done the same thing until the 3rd coat. justin came home and decided to help me out by painting a 3rd coat...ahhh so much better. we finished up with a 4th coat and whalla!


i love it!

Monday, April 20, 2009

the little moments...

one of the things I miss most about teaching, is that feeling of a pat on the back that you get daily. from parents, students, peers, the boss, someone would inevitably make you feel like you were good at something during the day. justin does a great job of letting me know that I am appreciated for sure, but it is just a little different...I mean he has to say nice stuff, he is stuck with me forever! so, you start to think some days, am I doing a good job, does what I am doing today matter? and then you walk into a room and see this:


yeah, it matters.


little things can make you feel pretty darn good.


and then you realize that those little things you do, are turning them into this...


and then I suddenly don't miss the classroom as much


funny how that works.

Friday, April 17, 2009

...and THE OTHER one bites the dust


I guess when you do this your whole life, there are bound to be injuries.

(I wish I had a better picture of Justin's football days, but until we get our disk drive working I can't upload them on the new computer, so I had to settle for one from the internet. #97)

For those of you who have known Justin for a while and can remember all the way back to freshman year at BYU, you will remember Justin's "unfortunate" ACL tear. That knee is great...the other one...not so much.

He has had problems with the other knee ever since he graduated and it finally gave out at basketball Tuesday night. For those of you who had husbands playing in that game, you can assure them that he is not a pansy. He tore his ACL, MCL, meniscus, and another something or other. Do you like how technical I am?

He then went to work the next day and had an MRI done on Thursday that confirmed his suspicions. All the research on ACL tears says that you don't have to have surgery as long as you refrain from contact sports...hmmm...surgery it is!

We are not sure yet when he will have surgery, he meets with the surgeon next week, the same one who fixed the first knee. Poor Justin. He is such a trooper though. I would be milking this for all it's worth, and he just keeps on going. I guess that's why he is the football player, and I am not!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April SNOW showers, bring May flowers?


It's April, so why did we wake up to this:


We decided to make the best of our spring weather delay by bundling up and braving the elements! I knew Cole would have a blast, but as an added bonus I got to use Ali's snow outfit one more time.


Poor thing, I made her stand up just to show off that cute 'lil detail on the back. Thanks mom, once again, for supplying my children with such stylish attire!


So after we were all suited up, we headed outside for some wintery fun!
Cole decided it was great fun to attack mom who was defenseless holding the camera...


and where was Ali during all of this? We were in the front yard, so she was taking shelter in the car...


Look at that look in her eyes as she holds those keys! Watch out Dad she's gonna be hitting you up for a car before we know it.


Cole had so much fun, his laugh is one of my favorite sounds, and I got to hear plenty of it!

Besides pummeling me with snow, his favorite activity is definitely eating the snow... I guess he decided to cut out the middle man here and get it to his mouth way faster than those pesky hands could.


....and again...


and she is still just...


...chillin'


I told you he liked to eat the stuff..





He is growing up so fast, it is so fun to be able to spend so much time with him. He makes me laugh so much. He is one amazing kid.


Snowman anyone?


After Cole finished his real sowman, we came inside to get crafty and make...


these:


I love that Cole's snowman has a tail...way more creative than mine. Gotta love a 2 year old's imagination! We rounded off our adventure by singing once there was a snowman. So I guess I turned out to be grateful for the snow today...at least a little bit!

Monday, April 13, 2009

an EGG-cellent day



Doesn't it just look like she is thinking..."What are they doing to me now?"

....and then she spotted the grass! Look closely at her mouth in the picture bellow, specifically what is hanging out!


After a quick taste test she decided to chow down...don't worry we did not let our daughter eat the stuff, she would stick it in and then it would all fall out, but it sure was entertaining...


She was fascinated by her new discovery.

The ears...


My mom sent us these for Cole's first Easter and we got some hilarious shots of him in them (he had the saddest face when we stuck them on him) ...so we kept them around for Ali...apparently she likes dress up better than Cole did!


we decided that we should put things in the eggs for Ali that she could actually enjoy ...

And this picture is what happens when Justin is in charge of helping the Easter Bunny hide the eggs. I would have a hard time reaching this! Luckily uncle Lance was there to lift Cole up to the high ones while Justin manned the camera.

My brother Lance is only here for a few more weeks before he finishes up his freshman year and heads out on his mission! We are excited for him, but we will miss having family around to hang out with on holidays for sure.


we decided to do the Easter egg stuff after church, considering our ward starts at 8 AM! We didn't want to force Cole out of bed at 6:30 to hunt eggs and then go to church, we thought a better time would be had by all if we asked the Easter Bunny to come during nap time after church. This is right after Cole woke up from his nap...he was looking around at his house like "wait a minute...what's all this?"


He caught on quickly though, he is obsessed with a Mickey Mouse Club House video he has that is all about the best Easter party ever, so he was pretty excited to have his own Easter party! He even serenaded us with the song from the video while he hunted for eggs.


Yes mom and dad that IS a baseball Easter bucket... I knew you would appreciate that one. Justin actually picked it out, the football one had wire goal posts that looked like they could impale small children, so you win this year, baseball it is!


In my family we always got a gift along with our Easter baskets, and since Cole is OBSESSED with the movie Cars, it was a no brainer on what to get...


I am not sure though if this track was more of a present for Justin or Cole...

and of course what would Easter be without the clothes! Just bought this adorable dress for Ali.


Justin fell in love with it when he saw it, and I loved all the details on it.

Cole was taking a much needed nap during this photo shoot, but I assure you, he looked adorable in his stylin' sweater from my Grandma Amonette!



and one of the best parts about having a girl... accessorizing!

how sweet are these?


It was a great day! We had so much fun as a family. Along with Lance, Justin's cousin Kraig came down to join us too, and Kraig supplies a mean dessert! This stuff has got to be just as much, if not more fun for the parents as the kids.

We have been explaining to Cole that Easter is when Jesus got an owie so our owies could be all better. How that ties in with a rabbit and eggs in a two year olds mind I am not sure, but I am so greatful for the real reason we have this day.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Spring Cleaning


Apparently even sports equipment needs a good washing every now and then. We found this is the dryer thanks to Cole...

Monday, April 6, 2009

Justin get's his craft on (part 2)


I have been looking at cute ways to hang up Ali's bows for a while now. It was Justin who had this stroke of brilliance while in RodWorks. He could not pass up this adorable wall hanging for Ali's room, and he decided it would be cute to tie ribbon around the waist for added cuteness. Then I realized, this was the idea I had been waiting for! So Justin picked out ribbon, found the combination he liked, tied it on and whala. He also did the very manly job of drilling and hanging. I think it turned out so cute! It looks perfect in her room. I love how much he loves to spoil Ali and surround her with adorableness. She is definitely well on her way to wraping him tightly around her little finger, and he is loving every minute of it!

A home ward reunion and good eats!


Despite the fact that we both live in Utah, Diana and I rarely see each other...so Karen coming up for conference weekend was the perfect excuse for us to all get together! We had a great time, maybe too great a time...3 burned batches of cookies and botched lemonade would suggest I spent a little too much time laughing with the girls...good thing Justin was manning the grill (Thanks Just!) or we would have all been eating charcole! Oh well, it made for some hilarious memories. Considering we have all known each other since we were in nursery, we will add it to the file of good times!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Curl up and Dye


Can anyone name the movie that blog title was stolen from???

On Monday night we decided to do a little egg decorating for FHE. I know, I know, it's two weeks away, but we wanted to string out the fun activities for Cole as long as we could. So...


we invited some of our favorite people, the Jensens, to come help us, because...


Have I mentioned how much our kids love Adam and Wendy?



We had such a fun time! We all realized how much we missed doing fun things like this from when we were kids.


At first I felt the need to help Cole, for obvious reasons...although I wouldn't have minded if dye had splashed up on the walls to cover the 80's grapes on them!


But after a while he convinced us he could do it on his own...


and he did! I was amazed that he caught on that he needed to be gentle, and was actually able to control his excitement to do it!


He is turning into such a big boy.


Of course Cole wasn't the only guy enjoying himself...Justin went into the Zone as he always does when "getting his craft on" as he puts it.


But it was Wendy who branched out and did the tie dye eggs. The speckled one totally looks like something out of the Martha Stuart magazine.


All in all I think our finished products are pretty festive!