Not As It Seems

Last week was our RS Enrichment Birthday Party. We played some getting to know you games and had great food and a great time. Our theme was purses. We had our purses weighed as a game and some great mini talks on the bags that we carry as women and mothers. This purse was featured on a table in the corner. I thought it was a purse.

It was our birthday cake! Isn't that incredible?! A sister in our ward, Becky Mendoza, made this cake for our celebration. All I can say is, WOW! The sad thing is is that we ate this cake! I guess you have to eat it sometime, I mean, it is a cake. But, it was a little sad to see her cut into this work of art!

Can I just tell you how much I love the women in this ward; how much I love this ward, period. We have great people in our ward, good people who know how to take care of each other, lift each other and play with each other. The Lord was really looking out for us when he prompted us to plop ourselves here 5 1/2years ago!

Milestones and Heartstrings

I know, I know. That dramatic title is really in keeping with my personality, isn't it?

Most people make posts and take pictures of and journal big moments when they happen to their children. I, being the drama queen that I am, have to make posts and take pictures of events that are GOING to happen. Sheesh.

Monday, I registered Chase for Kindergarten. Gulp. I am not sure how we got here because I was just changing his diapers a few weeks ago. For those of you questioning that last statement, Chase is has been fully potty trained for almost three years...drama queen, remember. Of course, I had to take a picture. I should have taken a picture of my face instead. Chase was as proud and as excited as he could be. Me, on the other hand... I looked as if I was scheduled for a date with the electric chair.

After registration, I took Chase to get his soccor uniform. Another gulp. You have to be 5 by July to be able to participate. I have been able to hold that over Chase and keep him a little unable-to-play-soccor kid for at least two years. I lost my battle with his fountain of youth and had to sign him up and outfit him for soccor. Pretty dramatic day, as far as drama queens are concerned.

I have realized that I have forgotten to post my fun weekend and week last week. My parents went on a much overdue vacation to St. George with some friends. They spent the night with us last weekend, then left us with my little brother Clark and my little sister Kimberly and her 8-month old baby Baylee. Good times! Kimberly and I crafted our hands off, getting her started with being able to decorate her house for every season...one of my passions, if you didn't know.

Sorry for the lengthy, overly dramatic post. Chase is being a little pickle today. All of a sudden I am ready for kindergarten.

Baylee and Gpa. Are they related, or what?

Gma and Gpa with Chaserbeans. Chase rolled

lint off of Gpa's suit. A treat for all.

Kimberly's loot. I never took a picture of her crafting.

I guess that's what happens when you get

upstaged by your adorable offspring.

Saying good-bye to Clark as we passed them off

to the Provo people. Chase is sad, Clark is not.

What are you trying to say, Clark?

Thanks for some good time, family!!

I Look Ridick-a-lous

A couple weeks ago, during the Home and Garden Show in Sandy, we spent the night at a hotel. Highlights of hotel-stays are usually the pool. This stay was no different. We all dressed in our swimming garb, Chase putting his dramatic flair into goggles and a life jacket on top of his suit. As we rode the elevator down, it seemed to stop at every floor, picking up a new passenger everytime. The first time the first passenger entered the elevator and asked, "You going swimmin'?", it was okay. The next couple of times about made me eek out a "here's your sign". All three kids were unbelievably quiet this whole time. After the last passenger entered and stated the obvious, Chase quietly blurted out,


"And I look ridick-a-lous"


Well, judge for yourself.

If you give a child a straw...

then you have to be prepared to laugh.

Jeff and I were sitting on the couch today, taking a break from working on our dining room, surfing the web to try to find something fun to put on our new blank wall in the dining room. We heard some rather embarrassing noises floating up the stairs from the playroom. After the "noise" we heard the most fabulous peals of laughter. It was very contagious, causing Jeff and I to bust out in our own fits of giggles. Finally, the parade of flatulants and hysteria came up the stairs and into the living room. This is what we witnessed:

Apparently, you can take a straw, insert one end into your mouth and the other end in your armpit, give a little squeeze, blow and get a great noise. It was a toss up as to which sound was better...the farrfignougan sound, or those great laughs.

And speaking of dining rooms, here is an update for those of you that have inquired.
I should wait until everything is done...for a grand unveiling. But, I can't imagine that my dining room has the ability to make you all sit on pins and needles. AND, at the rate we go...who knows when we will finish!

We used to have a china hutch, antique sideboard and a computer desk all in this room called a dining room/computer room/entry way/etc. The room never seemed to make sense. It was one of the victims of a hurried move-in with a brand new baby, brand new house, throw everything in and deal with it later...much, much later. So, we sold the china hutch, donated the computer desk, moved the sideboard downstairs and ended up with a blank funny looking room. Here is what is looks like now...

The view from the family room

View from the front door

View from the living room

It is definitely a work in progress. Jeff got all of the molding on the bottom and the top molding on the family room side done today. We just need the molding on the dining room side, a massive and beautiful something or other on the now naked wall and red paint. Someday it will all be done!

I have to admit that this room was a little bit of a source of stress for me. Jeff and I discussed plans for this room last year and apparently don't win any awards for great communication skills. We ended up with completely different ideas about the way the room was going to go. When I walked in the house one day and found huge cabinets sitting in the middle of the room, I choked on my spit a little and had to do a double take. After two weeks of these in my house now, with a little rearranging, and a lot of trust in Jeff, it has now grown on me. Yes, I have swallowed my pride. It was the spit aforementioned. And yes, I have patted Jeff on the back and told him job well done.

And for those of you who click on pictures to enlargen them to see details, please excuse the mess in the background. Yes, Saturday is a special day. Apparently it's not a special enough day for me to clean house.

20 minutes of fame...or 5 seconds

This past weekend was the Home and Garden Show in Sandy. It's a pretty big deal each year. This year, Jeff and his brothers were able to get a booth for their cabinet business. It was quite a spectaular event, I must say. We were able to spend some time there on Friday, spend the night at a hotel and then some more time there on Saturday. Some of the displays there were amazing, especially landscaping companys. They brought in trees, dirts, waterfalls, rivers, rock formations, pavers, flower beds...all in the indoor arena. It was really neat. I just can't even imagine the work they put into those booths, with extremely minimal time to set up and take down.

Anyway, our kitchen display turned out amazing. The fridge was hidden behind what looked like full on cabinet doors and drawers. The freezer was a pull out below, hidden behind a faux glass drawer with dried beans in them. They had some pretty cool features. They had a 5 second spot on Channel 4 news at 10 pm on Sunday. All it showed was Jeff's brother Kerry's hand opening the freezer and the fridge. From that 5 second blurb, we have had several people ask if that was Jeff's business. They didn't say the name, but you could hear Kerry's voice.

Here are a few pictures of their display. As you can tell from the pictures, the only one excited about getting in the photo were the cabinets.

Agent 5

Well, it's been two weeks since my last post. I guess it's time to get back in the saddle!

Last week, Chase ran across a drawer full of baseball caps of all sizes. He tried every hat on several times, making things up as he went along. When Jeff got home, Chase donned an adult sized baseball cap placed on backwards, grabbed his dramatically huge magnifying glass, walked up to explore Jeff's face at a very close range and said,

"Hi, Dad. I'm Agent 5."

The cuteness never ends it seems. And, on a funny note, Chase introduced the name Agent 5 to his cousins last week at scrapbook day. I had to hurry and run an errand in the middle of it and left Chase to play with his cousins. Angie reported to me when I came back that her daughter, Kaylie, came in from outside and said,

"Mom, Agent 2 is stuck in a tree".

I about wet my pants! Agent 2 turned out to be Riley, who is almost 4. Kaylie was Agent 6, who is almost 6. I LOVE it when kids use their imaginations!