Our Extreme Makeover Home Edition

I have to begin this entry by saying that I have been so blessed in my life. There have been amazing people placed in my path. This is a story about several of them. In October I was approached by a friend who said, "When you go on your cruise, we want to do a mini home makeover for you." I think I was in shock, but they promptly had me picking out paint colors and carpet samples. Before we left for vacation, we loaded everything out of the house and turned the keys over. We enjoyed our relaxing vacation while our house became a beehive of activity. They only had 5.5 days to get it all done. When we got home, it was overwhelming. The whole interior was painted. New carpet was installed. And magic was sprinkled in everywhere. Here is some of what was done-

Paige's Room. It was a rainbow toddler...

Turned into an under the sea little girl room. It is beautiful. They had a muralist come in and paint sand, fish, seaweed, coral, and dolphins!! They built a new desk in the dormer. She received a new golden bedspread (to look sandy.) And a swing installed in the room. She LOVES it!!! (We are going to paint the castle to look like a sand castle. Probably sometime next week.)


Here is the stairwell. Pretty new paint (yes it is similar but fresh and clean) and new carpet. And they even de-squeaked the stairs. Now I can't keep track of where Paige is all the time.

Here is my room. At first I wasn't going to have them do the walls, but I am so glad I did. I love how fresh it feels.



The TV room- the paint is freshened up, brighter and less gray. I love the carpet in here. The room definitely needed it the most. Oh, and did I mention that they installed new blinds through out the house. And hired a roofer to fix the flashing on the roof and replaced part of a wall (it apparently was leaking for the past 5 years.)

Here is the living room. They walls were painted (just slightly different from what it was) it is so clean. They also gave us a new rug.
I put up a new family sign.
Did I mention how blessed I am in my life. I look around my house and am remind of the love the poured out on me and Paige. 50+ volunteers took time out of their busy holiday schedules to do this for us. I don't even know the names of most of them. So if you are one of those angels who came that week. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Disney Cruise

Last week we went on the best vacation ever. For this whole year (I booked it back in January) we've been looking forward to our Disney Cruise. This was the first vacation we've done by ourselves. Every other time we've travelled it has been with someone, or to someone. So I just needed this vacation to go smoothly and wonderful. And it exceeded all my expectations.

We flew into Orlando on Saturday. We stayed the night at All Stars Movie Resort at Walt Disney World. We checked in and it was straight to the pool for us. It felt so nice to be some place warm. The next day we travelled over to Port Canaveral and headed to the Disney Dream.

I was ready for lunch, but Paige wanted to head straight to the pools. The first thing we did on the boat-ride the aqua duck (more about that later.) Then to the pools and then to the family hot tub. The hot tub was a huge highlight for Paige. They don't let kids in the hot tub at our local pool. She was so looking forward to be in the hot tub, and we spent a lot of time there through out the cruise.
Each night of the cruise they had Broadway type shows. The first night, at "The Golden Mickeys" Paige was chosen to go up on stage and be a dwarf in the musical number with Snow White. She was a star!
And of course, we had to get pics with the main man, Mickey Mouse.
The second day we were in Nassau in the Bahamas. I booked a Dolphin Encounter for Paige and I. We were able pet, hug, kiss, feed, and dance with our dolphin Andy. It was a great experience.
When we got back to the boat we did our Christmas pictures. For once, I didn't have to be the photographer, it was so nice.
Day three was at Castaway Cay-the Disney island. It was paradise. Powder white sand and turquoise water. We spent 6 hours just playing on the beach and loving the sunshine. We tried snorkeling, but Paige didn't like it all that much. Her mask kept leaking. Maybe next time.


I love her smile here. This is pure joy.
That night was Pirate night. They had pirate food and a pirate deck party that night. They even shoot fireworks off the boat. It was pretty cool.
The last day was spent at sea. Paige spent time at the kid's club. She loved the club. They had amazing counselors and activities for the kids. It was so nice to know she was having a blast, and I would go find a lounger and read a book. LOVED IT.

One of the main things Paige wanted to do on the cruise was ride the AquaDuck. The AquaDuck is a water coaster. It is a clear tube that goes off the side of the boat and then circles the length of the boat. It was a blast. We rode it, not once, not twice, but 30 times. Yes that is 30 times up the 3 flight of stairs, to make my daughter happy. The last night of the cruise I told Paige we could stay up until midnight and ride until it closes. And we did.

It was the best vacation. I wasn't sure how Paige was feeling about it all, but on the last night she was just in tears because she was loving it and didn't want to leave. She's never had that reaction on any other vacation we've been on. I loved the time I got to share with her. It was an amazing time.

Stay tuned for my post about our Home Make Over that happened while we were gone...

Where Has the Summer Gone

I always have good intentions on regularly updating my blog. And then, without warning, 2 months have gone by. C'est la vie. I can't believe the summer is almost over, and little Miss Paige will be starting kindergarten in less than 20 days.

The summer has gone quickly. We've spent MANY days at the American Fork Pool keeping cool. Paige mastered they big water slide all by her self. We've had friends and family down visiting. We love visitors. And my little socialite has friends over nearly everyday. Which I love because I've been able to start and finish several projects.

Here are a few of the things I have pictures of. (surprisingly I feel like I have very few pictures from this summer.)

Paige is taking horse lessons. She loves it.

Her Fourth of July pictures.
We went camping up in Idaho for 5 days. I LOVE camping. I wish I were brave enough to just take P and head up into the mountains. But I'm not quite there. We went with my parents, my bro and his fam, and my niece (my sis doesn't come due to allergies...or so she says.) Paige was not that impressed with camping. I think the exact quote was "You said this would be fun, but it is horrible."

She did enjoy playing in the water when the afternoons got hot.
She did enjoy the campfires and the campfire treats.
And as always, she LOVED being with her cousins.
Her favorite part.... sitting in the hot springs. She is a spa girl at heart.
The last night we had a bear wander into camp while we were sleeping. He managed to get into the cooler before my dad scared him off. I'm glad the bear decided to run away when my dad start chasing him, rather than turn on him. Dad stayed up the rest of the night and kept the campfire going, to protect us girls. Love him!

Lambert Park

I love the poppy field of Lambert Park in Alpine Utah. It had been a while since I took Paige up there for pictures, so we decided to venture. Paige would pray every night that the poppies would be in bloom when we went up there. Her prayers were answered. The dress is a Cheri Rodas original. I've been trying to use up the craft supplies that I have in my closet. I had all these different fabrics, and thought, "I should patch them together and make a dress." So I did. It was fun and made me feel good that I could make something out of a bunch of scraps. We decided it is kind of a pioneer dress.

As we were leaving the area, I saw this little foot bridge over a stream. It was perfect for pictures.
Paige wanted to take pictures in her pjs. So the deal was, if she cooperate with the pictures I wanted to do, I would let her switch into her jammies and she could be in charge of the poses. Here are a couple of the ones she thought up. I don't know about this girl.

Itty Bitty Ball

In May Paige tried out "Itty Bitty Ball." It is offered at the rec center, and they just do a couple of classes with several different sports. Paige's session did football, soccer, and basketball. It was so fun to watch. Paige was the only girl in her class. She looked like a little pixie when she ran. She kind of runs and leaps at the same time. I was curious as to how she would do with group sports. She handled it pretty well. Maybe I'll sign her up for some more sports in the future...You know, between all the other activities she is involved in.

Her she is trying out her mad football skills.

Touchdown!!!!

Here she is trying basketball for the first time. I love that she sticks out her tongue while dribbling the ball.

Butterflies

For Paige's birthday she got a butterfly garden kit. It was fun. We got 5 caterpillars which we watched until they got huge and went into their cocoons.

After a week the butterflies started to emerge.
We feed them orange slices.
And then after a week or so, we had to let them go. This one didn't want to fly away. It hung out on Paige's finger for a while before taking off.
Paige loved the experience. She is already asking me to order more caterpillars. I would highly recommend this activity for anyone with small kids. They also have ladybug kits, ant farms, and praying mantis. I think ladybugs my be fun to try next.

My Baby Girl is 5

This week we celebrated my baby girl's 5th birthday. At this stage, it seems that birthday parties define social standings. She has been talking for months about who she would and would not invite, what we should do, and everything. I was feeling the pressure to get this production right. I'm proud to say it all turned out to her approval. We went with a butterfly theme.

We had butterfly decorations, all the girls got butterfly wings, and we played butterfly games.
The girls gathered butterflies from the backyard (taffy that had butterfly cut-outs glued on them)
The butterfly cake...
Grape caterpillars and butterfly shaped ice-cream.
Paige enjoyed her party, all her presents and cards. I can't believe she is 5 all ready. We have a lot coming up this month, so I hopefully I will be on the ball and blog a lot.