Last Day of School Fun!

I woke the kids up this morning for a little breakfast party.  

LAST DAY of 4th and 2nd grade!  Woot woot!  

I sugared them up good with Cheetos, Crush soda pop, Fruit Loops and do-dunts (as we call them around here thanks to 3 year old Graham naming them that)

 A fun surprise and change from the usual eggs and toast I make them eat. 

 Silly girl...she is excited to have her brothers home with her to play this summer!

 The school year ended with so many projects!  

Greg had a wax museum where he did a great job being Andy Roddick.  The kids are in week four of tennis lessons for the summer and Greg is learning how to serve.  

He thought it was pretty cool that Andy's serves go 155 mph!!

 

I think I, uh, er, I mean Greg did a great job on his poster! 

 Just kidding, Greg did it all.  

I just micro managed and insisted it be green with a net in the center!

Graham wrote an awesome report on Butch Cassidy and we had fun watching the movie as a family (skipping over a few parts here and there)  

Report cards are on the fridge, the kids did great this year and I am looking forward to some fun family time, sleeping in and crossing off the summer to do list that we are making on this weekend!  

I Had a Birthday...awhile ago....

I had a birthday!!

I wanted to write about my big day - and since time seems like it's in slow motion these days, it feels like it was just yesterday. 

I started celebrating the night before with my best friend, Kjersten.

 (Looking hot with our feathered hair circa 1990)

 We went to Nordstrom and hoarded free samples, smelled 100 new perfumes trying to find a new perfect one for summer, oohed and ahhhhed over $400 shoes and $3000 Burberry purses that we will never own and picked out some new make up.

This made us very hungry, so we split some flatbread at The Cheesecake Factory (try the pear and blue cheese one - SO good!) and ate cheesecake until we were sick.  It was SO good!  Such a fun night - I love that we have been celebrating birthdays together since we were 12.  Almost 30 years...yikes.

I woke up the next morning to little giggling kids who gave me these awesome gifts...

 My very own BeyBlade from the boys (they gave me a good one, I might actually win a match now!)

 And Lauren wrapped up her Rapunzel tower just for me.  

The presents starting coming in!  My sweet in laws drove up to give me these pretty flowers and say hello.  

I met my cute friends Marcy, Rachel and Leslie for lunch at my new favorite place, Cafe Bella Rue for a yummy sandwich and gelato. Have you been there?  The sandwiches are SO good! 

Later that night we got some Olive Garden to go at my mom and dad's - which was good because I started feeling really, really awful/weird and had to lay down.  

 I saved my piece of cake for breakfast the next morning (don't judge, you know you'd eat bithday cake for breakfast if you could too...)

 It was a great day with friends and family.  Dan always treats me like a queen and spoils me rotten.  I love it.

Couldn't miss a shot with my dad - ever since his stroke he's decided to go all rebel by growing a beard, his first one ever in his 70 years.  

My mom and I hate it, but if this makes him feel like a tough guy, then whatever.  ;)

3 Month Anniversary!

Happy May Day - I've made it!  

It's been 3 months today since my hysterectomy! 

I can't say that I feel 100% better.  

More like I traded a huge set of problems for some new ones.  

I think (?) I am glad that I had the surgery done - I guess I didn't have much of a choice, but man this has been tough!

It feels like everyone around me expects me to be back to normal.  I know this isn't really the case but I'm comparing it to how when you tell someone who doesn't see you everyday that you are pregnant.  And you wait a very, very long 9 months to have that beautiful baby.  Then that person says, "Already?  Wow, that went by fast for me!"  

Well, of course it did, you weren't the one growing a new person inside of you!

I thought I was having a heart attack on Friday.  So much so that I made Lauren leave the store with me and we drove straight to the hospital.  And of course everything was fine by the time I got there.  I did meet with a great doctor later that afternoon who gave me a kind but stern reminder that I was expecting WAY too much out of myself WAY too soon.  Full recovery for having multiple organs ripped from your body via two abdominal surgeries in four months should be more like a year.  Not three months. 

I'm just doing the best I can.  This new thing of anxiety and panic attacks have been the worst.  If people around me don't understand, that's fine.  I don't need them to and they can think what they want.  I'm just going on a day to day basis around here of what I can and cannot do.  It's the only way I seem to be able to function and keep the shred of sanity that I have left for the time being.

Thank goodness for my mom and Dan who listen to me complain and be sad that I am not "me" yet.  Sometimes just saying things out loud make it better, you know?

I've become a bit of a recluse.  I have this fear now since the surgery of being in places that I can't get out of or leave quickly from.   

Rumor has it that when I was put under I really fought against getting on the surgical table, which doesn't surprise me.  I was scared to death and one of my favorite phrases is "You're not the boss of me." 

We had dinner with our friends the Troxels on Sunday night and Kjersten gave me the book "Heaven is Here" by blogger Stephanie Nielson to read.  (Nie Nie)  

I know everyone knows her story.  

But I finished the book in two days - it was exactly what I needed to read this week.  

Patience 

Blessings 

Being grateful for what I have 

Things can always be worse and they will get better 

Did I mention patience?  

I'm working on it.

Getting the Garden Going

 Last weekend my friend, Kjersten and I spent the morning at the Home and Garden Show at the local expo center.  We had a great time oooohing and ahhhhing over all the fun things we wanted to do to our houses this spring!  

I came home itching to get my garden going and started making some serious plans.

 This is how I spend a Saturday night, who knew married life would be this thrilling?  

I decided to ditch the cucumbers this year.  I've tried it two years in a row without even a smidge of luck, so I give up.  Thankfully, there is a local farm stand nearby where I can pick up some pickling cukes for summer snacking.

Have you ever made Bread and Butter Pickles?  SO EASY!  And they taste amazing!  I can't wait to make these again this summer!

I am making some extra space for zukes and a few more Roma tomatoes.  I love making all the fresh salsa and sauces to can.  I've pretty much got it down pat and although it is a lot of work, I almost find it relaxing to do. 

We worked together as a family last Saturday getting the garden boxes ready to go and prepping the soil. 

 We found that our one box with no bottom did twice as well as the one we built with a bottom.  So the boys took over the job of drilling in drainage holes for that.  

And if you find that you are not up for building your own from scratch, Sam's Club has some really great square foot garden box kits right now that are a cinch to put together.

 Boys + tools = pure happiness.  It starts young!

   So far we've only planted spinach, carrots and our bush and pole beans.  Dan built me an awesome trellis last year but we planted the peas late so they never really took off that well. 

At least the place was looking WAY better than it was last year!  

I wouldn't say Mel would be proud by any means, but at least the patio doesn't look nearly as bad.  I was glad I put the garden to bed last fall better than I have in the past!

Other patio plans include building either new steps or a deck out to the backyard and sprucing up the place a bit.  I'm so happy spring is finally here!  

How about you, do you grow a garden at all?  

Linking up to:
French Country Cottage  
What's It Wednesday 
Be Inspired  
Tuesday's Treasures

Model Home Tour #2

Second on our stop yesterday was Candlelight Homes.  

They have a few here and there lots to build on where we were at. 

This was their Sun Valley model

 First stop...living/dining/kitchen combo.  

I have this in my house and I'm sort of over it.  I wish things were slightly more divided up. 

 All I could see when I saw this table was fingerprints.  Glass tables and kids just aren't a smart mix.  Unless you are the CEO of Windex.

 Right off the kitchen was the mudroom/garage door.  Again, open cubbies = mess for everyone to see.  No thanks. 

 Lauren loved the living room chairs and pretended to be the queen.  Who are we kidding, she IS the queen.

 Living room with the ugliest fireplace ever. 

I do love the couch and chairs though. 

View walking into the living room of the loft upstairs.  You could turn this into another small bedroom if needed. 

Master bedroom.  It was a nice size but my mom didn't like that you could see right into the master bedroom when you walked into the front door.   It was pretty odd.

The master bath was very large as was the walk in closet. 

So master on the main, 3 bedrooms + loft upstairs, and office.  4041 square feet total (including the basement) 

Price of this place was $389,000 I believe.  

For that much I would rather find my own lot/builder and go to town with a floor plan I really loved.  This one did not seem worth the money at all.

Model Home Tour #1

It's not a secret I LOVE going to look at model homes.  Maybe because they are all new and shiny with zero clutter?  It's fun to see how they are decorated and maybe get some fresh ideas on what to do with my little home.  

So Lauren, my mom and I took a little drive yesterday and found this model by Fieldstone Homes.  Hate to say it, but this builder was around when Dan and I were house hunting and their floorplans were AWFUL.  

Looks like they've done some major re-vamping in that department and they are really cute houses!  Not sure on the quality though? 

This model was3156 sq ft
As is was $265,000 - not too bad with all the upgrades they had.

Anyhow..here's a few rooms I thought were cute! Not my best photos, but you'll get the idea!

 This kitchen was such a great size...sigh.  And the pale blue wall color was just perfect.

   Quartz countertops.  Look at all that workspace!  

I am loving these putty colored cabinets with the white subway tile backsplash!  

Cute green hutch.  I love the dark wood floors but geesh these were dirty.  I know they look good when clean, but you must have to clean these things 100 times a day. 

 It was a really nice sized family room.  Better space than mine to be sure.  At least there is more than one place to put the couch, unlike in my house. I really loved the couch.  It was this neutral nubby woven fabric that would hold up well with my rough and tumble kids.  I'll never buy a cotton couch again, lesson learned.

 Pretty blue tiled fireplace.  I'm not a huge fan of using color for things like this.  But if you are good at re-tiling when you are sick of blue in 5 years, then I guess it's not a big deal?

 Decent sized mud room going out to the garage. I think I like cabinets better that hide all the clutter.  I've never seen a "normal" mudroom that looks like this. 

 Upstairs was the master bedroom.  Huge space with a lot of light!

 Master Bath vanity.  I love all that counter space! I still hate cleaning two sinks.  I know everyone thinks master baths should have two sinks, I just think it's one more to clean. 

 Hall bathroom

They had this bedroom staged as a craft room.  There was an office downstairs in the entry but it was a cluttered mess so I didn't take pictures of that.

Boys room.  I still love the simple board and batten look.  

There was another girls room upstairs but it was pretty boring.

 Upstairs laundry with cute red cabinets

Nice loft space...

So a 4 bedroom/2.5 bath with loft & office. 

You know, like what I have now pretty much.  It's hard to think of moving when the space you have is the same and on a bigger lot.  But I am getting itchy to do some painting now, love that blue!

We went and saw 2 others...I will post those tomorrow!  

Greg's Baptism Day!

I would love to say what a great day it was...

   

And for Greg, it WAS!  

 We are Mormon and Greg chose to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints earlier this month!

 He was a little nervous, but pretty excited to have his dad baptize him!

 He loved wearing his new "grown up" tie.  I really need to learn how to do that...tie a tie!

We had a nice program at the church where his Nanny gave a talk on testimony.  We were able to share this day with our Bishop's family and their son, one of Greg's friends.  

In our church, we baptize by immersion.  Greg does NOT like being cold and was relieved to find that the water was nice and warm in the baptismal font that morning!  

We all came home afterward for a nice luncheon.  He wanted me to serve his favorite food, steak.  But we went with some other favorites, hot dogs, chili, chips and salads.  

He requested his favorite desserts of Rice Krispy Treats,  

BYU Mint Brownies    

 and a blue dinosaur cake from CostCo that said "Choose the Right"

 (ALL Greg picking that one out!)

I was so happy my mom and dad could be there!  Dad was in the hospital 2 nights earlier so it was a little iffy there for awhile....him and Greg are great buddies, it would have been sad for him to not be there.

 I have ZERO pictures of me and Greg on this day...NONE!  We did a few family shots outside and someone changed my settings so they all turned out like this: 

 Yes - that's a picture.  We look like aliens. 

 It was a great day...

Greg had no idea that after a crazy Friday of cleaning and getting the house/food ready that I did not get more than one hour of sleep!  

For some reason I woke up in the middle of the night, and I knew if I went back to sleep, I would NOT wake up.

Dizzy, shaking, total out of body horrible experience. 

I needed to go the hospital but I knew if I did, I would miss his early morning baptism.  

So I stayed up. All.Night.Long!  Went to his baptism a dizzy and sick mess but made it through to an InstaCare visit later that day after everyone left!  WHEW!

I am so proud of Greg and his choice to be baptized!