Family Night Funnies

Abby has been a real trooper at getting our family together for family night. She is diligent at assigning the prayer, the talk, the scripture and most of the time she gives the lesson. Tonight she was giving us a lesson on Joseph Smith and she asked us to tell something different about us and Joseph.

Jill's Response - "I live in a big house and he lived in a very small home"
Jon's Response - "I drive a truck and he rode a horse"
Parker's Response - "I play with legos and he played with sticks"
Abby's Response - "He had to work hard and we don't..."

Again the innocence of a child to think that she doesn't have to work hard. Either we don't assign enough chores or she hasn't felt the hard work yet. This will be one of those things that we'll have to remind her about when she is older, by that time I am sure we will change her mind and she will have to work hard.

Good laughs for Jill and I at family night!

The Gap

So, Abby lost one of her front teeth this week after wiggling it for the last month. The only thing is it looks like she actually lost 2 teeth with the gap she has... Jill was the same way when she was a kid, like mother like daughter! Can't wait for those orthodontics bills in the future, fortunately the only bill right now is from the tooth fairy.

In & Out of Town

This last month has been a bit of a whirlwind with family being in town and Jill and I going out of town. We had 3 visits from grandparents starting with Gma Martha for a few days, then Gma Suz and Gpa Jack for a week, and finishing with a few days from Gpa Jan. I'm really glad that our kids get visits from their grandparents, it always adds some excitement to the house.

Jill and I actually took a week and went out of town on a cruise with our good friends David and Katie. This is the first time we have been out of town without our kids since Abby was born. Our adventure was 7 days down in Mexico filled with relaxation, good food, and of course some adventures. I'm sure my parents found being at our home with the kids an adventure of their own, it's been a few years since they've had to deal with little ones (our kids were a quick and harsh reminder!).

It's tough because on a trip like this it was about kicking back and eating a lot. I gained 7 lbs and Jill... well, what she gained she quickly lost. We did get a lot of looks at dinner when we would have 10-12 entrees for the 4 of us. Oh well, it was fun...

We're thinking that after this trip, getting out of town once in awhile without kids is a good thing. The kids like it too because when grandparents are in town, they get pretty spoiled then "mean old" mom and dad come back and have to tell them no.

Ah, the easy life...

Life's tough spending time on the beach, even if the water is a little chilly in some spots.

While we were in Mazatlan we rented this little "green bean" and drove around to some different sites. David was our fearless driver and was not afraid of doubling and tripling the speed limit. Fortunately when the cops finally pulled us over, David was able to sweet talk his way out of a ticket for a mere $5.00 US. We've decided anytime we go somewhere Spanish speaking we are taking David to get us out of trouble and to help get the good deals.

We had perfect weather the whole time we were down there.

We saw a different side of Mexico, some of it was nice...

TA-DA!

I finished these on Wednesday night... I still need to do the cushion's but you get the idea. I was getting anxious to have my front room not look like a workshop -- it's a pretty big room and walking through it was like getting through an obstacle course on Double Dare.

Overall it was a really great experience to do these chairs. I really enjoyed learning a new skill and accomplishing something all by myself from start to finish.  Jon kept saying how impressed he was and surprised at how nice they were actually turning out... I'm really trying to take that as a compliment. I know that's how he intended it =) Next time the only thing I'd do differently is try to pick a more stretchy fabric that has a little "give" to it. Other than that I'm more than happy with the way they've turned out!

Some chocolaty pillows will help tone down the bold print... in case you are overwhelmed.

Next on the to-do list will be painting and window treatments.... oh yeah and finish those baseboards from 5 months ago =) Getting excited to finally have ONE finished room in my home!

just my luck...

So here is my package that I've been waiting 2 weeks for, which contains my upholstery supplies... Thanks UPS!

PHOENIX, AZ, US 10/06/2010 10:00 P.M. TRAIN DERAILMENT

10/06/2010 10:00 P.M. TRAIN DERAILMENT

10/06/2010 10:00 P.M. TRAIN DERAILMENT

10/06/2010 10:00 P.M. EMERGENCY CONDITIONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL

MESQUITE, TX, US 10/05/2010 3:50 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

MESQUITE, TX, US 10/04/2010 7:30 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

MEMPHIS, TN, US 10/04/2010 11:13 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

MEMPHIS, TN, US 10/01/2010 8:08 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

HERNANDO, MS, US 10/01/2010 7:30 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

10/01/2010 7:13 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN

US 10/01/2010 5:39 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED



Tracking results provided by UPS: 10/11/2010 12:00 P.M. ET

What the HAIL is going on?!

This morning there was a forcast for "rain", so I scalped the lawn to prepare for overseeding for the winter grass. Which means I mowed up every twig, leaf, and piece of grass on the lawn.

2 hours later, this happened...

and then this happened...

and then this happened...

and then this happened...

and then this happened...

"And the house on the rock stood still"

and the trees too...most of them anyway =)

and then this happened...

and then this happened...

and then our roof had "snow" for the first time ever!

(ok not really but it looks convincing)

and then someone through a grapefruit through our window!
*(p.s. it was God with a piece of hail.)
they were pretty good golf ball sizes

Atleast it's not 106 degrees any more!

In fact it was 64 degrees right when this was happening.

We've turned off the AC for the first time since May!

Parker and his friend Brody got to "play" during all the excitement!

the point of no return

So I decided to reupholster the 2 chairs in my front room. They're fine chairs and everyone always says they're nice, but they're just not my style. So I "took a class" (i.e. watched a bunch of youtube videos) and now I feel confident enough to give it a try.

I've been taking out staples... 5000 to be exact (ok not really, but the blisters on my hands think so), and I am now officially at the point of no return. At first I just wanted to take a little peek inside the chair to see if it was really made how the video said it was and then I couldn't stop. It is semi-therapeutic taking out this many staples... so now I am in this and this is in me. It is thrilling to be learning something new and to be creating a room that speaks to my style! 

BY FAR the hardest part of this whole project has been finding the right material. I have searched the whole world wide, ordered swatch after swatch, thought that I should have probably found the material before taking the chairs apart, but alas it all worked out... Now I just have to wait 5 more days to get my material. Because thanks to them they didn't send my order the same day they received it. Instead they decided it would be fun to make me wait 5 extra days before mailing it. Thanks lot. It's like thinking Christmas is tomorrow and then having to wait 5 more days for it actually to be here.

Hopefully in 2 weeks you'll be able to see the "after"...

scripture water olympics

2 Saturday's ago the primary did an activity at "our park". We do act like we own the place and they did put our address on the invites even though no one actually set foot in our house for it. It was wicked awesome. The kids loved it and no one got injured, hoooooooray!

They divided up the kids according to what class they were in at church... so Abby was in a group of 11 boys and herself! That's it... I wonder if the odds will be that good in 10 years when she turns 16! (note: because I do still plan on being in this same house at that time.)

Parker had a hard time participating. He just wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch. Then he only wanted the candy and sno-cones. Then he was upset that he couldn't blow the boat across the water with a straw... he is somewhat high maintenance in group settings. Just a tad bit fragile...

  At the very end of the activity, they handed out bandannas for the battle between the Lamanites and the Nephites. They played capture the flag with a ton of water bombs... very well put together! The kids absolutely LOVED it!