keeping busy

I CAN'T BELIEVE I didn't get a picture of my sister-in-law Julie when she came to stay with us. We had so much fun...no pictures. When she came we went to Bear Lake for a day to have a picnic and play on the beach. If it counts for anything, she was the one who took the photo of Ryan and I. She's such a good auntie/sister to come and make special trips just to see little old us. Miss you already Ju!

We make a point every week of having a Family Fun Night. This night we decided to take a picnic and hike up cold water Canyon near our home. We let Emma take the camera and it's so fun to see what she will capture from her little version of the world.

What's a blog post from me without a photo of a spider? That is a MASSIVE spider. We put our keys down to show it's size, but it doesn't do it justice.

My dad has been in China so while he was gone I went and spent a couple of nights with my mom. We had a cousins play date at the Fun Park and had the place to ourselves. It was so nice not to worry about the kids. Poor little Lydia just watched the big ones play without her. It breaks my heart she won't ever have a cousin to run around with. She'll just be the tag along to Emma and Milly.

The Primary Program was a couple of weeks ago and it is my favorite part about church. The Presidency did such a great job with the sweetest songs. Emma was so darling. The best was after she said her line in the microphone she gave to big thumbs up like "super star!" The all time highlight for me was when she fell down on the stage. She wasn't even walking, totally standing still, and just fell over. I was streaming tears. Bless her heart, but that is just so typical of her.

My girls are just now at the stage where they can play together or bathe together and I don't have to be there to supervise them. That's a big deal for me. Some of my friends busted their kids out pretty fast so they have been playing together for years, but I'm just entering this chapter and totally loving it.

Emma is still loving pre-school and I'm really impressed with the amount of work her teacher goes to. I love my six hours a week that she's gone and she always comes home so happy.

For her field trip we went to the local fire department. Look at Emma's face in this photo...classic!

Gale

So nobody is amused with my version of Gale. Not that I think he should be cast in the movie, but that's just who I picture in my head. These are the two other suggestions I've received, if you have one leave it under the comments and I'll add it to the list.


Kylee's Gale


































































Natalie's Gale (this is Boon from LOST, but he still fits the part nicely)

Hunger Games Cast

Alright, alright. I know this seems like I have too much time on my hands. But I must say I have been incredibly productive all week. I am just about to start into the last book of the Hunger Games series. I realize I am at the tail end of the book reading craze. But I just thought I would share who I imagine the characters to be. I have the BEST Ceaser Flickerman (the tv host) but I can only picture him in my mind, I can't remember his real name. Anyway, this is the cast as I see it....


Primrose Everdeen
(this is Dakota Fanning's little sister. I understand she looks younger than 12 here, but still I think she suits the part nicely.)


















Haymitch
Hello! Perfect. I know it seems like Haymitch should be older. But if you do the math he shouldn't be older than 43 years.











Katniss Everdeen


















































Peeta
































Gale









































Johanna (from book two)




































Father Everdeen (from flashbacks)




















Mother Everdeen
















Clove (from the first book, one of the careers who hated Katniss)

Effie Trinket

Cinna

President Snow

Sure there are plenty of other characters, but these are the only ones who have actual faces to me as I read. Anyway, just thought I would share.

Let the Holidays BEGIN!!!!

Emma is not a very sassy little girl. I had her pose for the above photo to get more into her witch character...I love it. Below is the typical little girl we adore. I wish I could have got a photo of the girls together as the witch with her little spider, but I took these on separate days. So this is the best I can do.

























My itsy bitsy spider























Below is the before and after of the simplest form of editing from Photo shop. What a difference eh?

Where the magic happens

I finally have the Master bedroom finished. When we first toured this house the smell of cat urine was unbearable. Then when we saw the Master bedroom we thought "deal breaker." It was my mom who saw the potential of making the bedroom "cozy and cute" that made us move forward with this house.

















So if you can tell there was hideous wallpaper, and rotten bead board from the urine. I removed the wall paper, which took hours, and Ryan removed the bead board, and the wood trim around the cove. Then he had to re-mud the ceiling and replaces all the baseboards (he did that in the whole house anyway.)

Oh and the carpet, that went bye-bye of course.

I made this lamp. I saw it in a magazine somewhere and loved the idea. It is the only light fixture in the room, which is weird, but it makes for a great reading light, as long as we are both reading and one of us isn't trying to sleep.

I adore this curtain. I love everything ruffled. I was on the verge of splurging and buying something similar from Anthropology, but after searching the Internet time and time again I finally found a knock off for $25. Score! It's actually a shower curtain, but I made it work for our curtain.