Come on. Really?

I'm dreaming of this:


Instead I have this:

It's 5:30 p.m. I just got back from running errands with my 2 little girls-which I would never do at this time except that I had to wait until my son was at work-and I just called time & temp.

It's 122 degrees here people.

Yes, it's true. The thermostat in my car actually said it was 124, but that tends to run a little high. As I was walking back in the house I could literally feel the sun burning my legs.

The kids and I went swimming this morning at 10:00. The water felt good-if you managed to stay in the shaded part of the pool.

Who lives like this? I do. I've never really liked the thought of living out in the boonies, but right now a cabin up in the mountains is sounding pretty good.

4th of July

I'm a little late on posting this. We went to my Mom & Dad's house for the 4th of July. It was a wonderful 85 degrees there the whole weekend. A girl could get used to that. Especially when back home it was over a 100 degrees! Here's the kids in front of the house:
Kory showing of his 'BBQ skills'.

The fam gathering around to throw those little popper things on the ground.

Soph doing what she does best, striking a pose:

More throwing poppers on the ground. Whew! Do we know how to party or what?

Cousins at the baseball field, waiting for the fireworks to start:

More cousin pics:

The Fam:

Earlier that morning some of us adults were getting ready to go explore some local caverns.

As we were walking out to the car we noticed this, only a foot or so from where we were walking,

and only about 10 feet from where our children had been playing earlier that morning:

It was a rattle snake. Although we hated to kill it, we couldn't just leave it there where the kids were playing. The snake was about 4 1/2 feet long. Here's the rattle, gross huh? Anyway, we were so lucky to have found it before one of the 8 kids did.

We drive through Wikieup on almost every trip out of town, always stop at this gas station, and never get a picture. So, since I actually had my camera handy this time we got a pic:

Master bedroom-before and after

This is my master bedroom-before. If you can't tell, the wall with the window is plain drywall, with little remnents of wallpaper. The opposite wall is mint green. Here is the beautiful wall I got to look at every night before bed . . . for three years. It used to be wallpapered, but most of it was ripped off before we moved in.
Same wall-it's just long.

The main reason we haven't done anything about this room is because I wanted to finish some projects downstairs first, since that is what most people see. No one ever goes into your bedroom-especially when it's upstairs. Anyway, it was quite the undertaking. These 2 ugly walls had to have all the little pieces of wallpaper scraped off, some parts patched, then sanded, then dusted down before I could even do the primer.

Here's an 'in-the-process' picture, I had just primed the 2 walls:

*and yes, I do know that my sheets don't fit my ginormous mattress. It's like 18 inches thick!

After:

The color is a buttery yellow goldenish. This long wall needs help. I haven't hung anything up yet because I haven't found anything that 'speaks to me' yet. I'm thinking maybe a picture collage. Any ideas? Oh, you know what would go great above my dresser? A large mirror! Too bad I had one and my husband gave it away in the move! Darn it!! Never let your husband move your stuff without you.

Just threw this pic in for fun. This is my light above my bathroom sink. Isn't is lovely? Did I mention my house is probably about 30 years old? Can you tell by this fixture?

Yes, it will be replaced. I'll post pics when we get around to doing that.

After:

A close up of my homemade sign. There's that darn light fixture again. Just can't get enough.

I'm not worried about the next blank wall because I'm going to be putting up a beadboard & molding headboard that will take up most the space. It'll be so sweeeeeet:

After:

Sewing lessons

So my SIL talked me into doing some little sewing lessons with my niece and Kaylee this summer.

Their first project was a pillow case. The girls had fun making them, and I think they turned out really cute. Here's Kaylee with hers:



As usual, whatever the older child does, the younger ones feel the need to do the same, so when I was in Phoenix last weekend I picked up some fabric for Audree and Soph to do these pillow cases:

And just a side note, when you ask your 6 year old to plug the iron in for you because you're in the middle of helping the 5 year old sew her pillowcase, it would be a good idea to make sure that the iron is in the upright position. As I was sewing with Sophee I started to smell something burning. I turned around and saw the iron laying down on the board. This was the result:

Oh well, if that was the only accident we had, then I can't complain. At least it was on the ironing board and not their new pillowcases.

Sophee Says . . .

Sophee says to Kory, "I know how to spell Mom!"

Kory: "Oh really, how do you spell Mom?"

Sophee: "M-O-M".

Kory: "Good job! Now can you spell Dad?"

Sophee: "Sure! It's B-O-B".


Hmmmm. Not sure where she got that one, but it was good for a laugh.

I love this guy!

In honor of our 15th anniversary I just wanted to tell you all what an awesome husband I have!
I met my sweetheart in High School, when I was only 14 years old and I have been in love with him ever since. He's my best friend, the best Dad ever, and he always treats my like the princess I believe I am. One of my favorite things I love about him is that he has 'no opinion' when it comes to decorating the house. I love that! I have free reign of the entire house, and how it gets decorated. The poor guy just agrees with me, then ends up helping out with my latest 'projects'. Here he is painting the ceiling (after I convinced him that the popcorn just had to be scraped off-whew, that was quite the messy undertaking).
This is Kory's birthday last year. Every year the kids and I make him rice krispy treats (his most favorite non-melting treat) and take them to him at work.

Another project. Cutting down the trees in the backyard. Look at those cute goggles. He was only wearing them because I was worried about something flying into his eye while using the saw.

Another thing I absolutely love about Kory is his sense of humor. He makes me laugh on a daily basis. Here he is wearing one of the girls' hairbows.

This is Christmas morning-playing the Wii. Doesn't he look so cute in his jammy's? The Wii was actually a gift for the kids, but Kory ended up playing it all morning with them.

Just a fun pic:

Here we are in Brianhead. Kory loooooves skiing and snowboarding. He taught Kaylee how to ski this year. I was so impressed with all the patience he had with her.

Happy Anniversary! I love you babe!

Let Summertime begin!

Where we live, it's officially summertime when you're able to go swimming in an un-heated pool.

That would be May for us.

So, to start off with, first we have Kaylee's 5th grade graduation. This August she will be in Jr. High. That's a scary thought. Here's their cake: Kaylee with her 'Diploma'.

Kaylee had a little swim party for her 11th birthday, and since she's soooo into music these days I decided to make her an i-pod cake. Here's Kaylee with her 2 best buds:

Kaylee and her friends just 'chillin' in the pool.

It's a beautiful thing when all your children know how to swim. No more floaties! This just happened for me last month. Here's Audree demonstrating her skills:

And here's Soph:

Josh showing us his jumping skills:

Here's Audree. She's my only nose-plugger, and it drives her Dad insane. I was a nose-plugger for the longest time, so I have sympathy for her. I should also mention that this beautiful pool and yard belong to my BIL & SIL. They are so great to let us barge in on them all summer long and use it whenever we want. By the end of the Summer they're ready to lock their doors and gates.

Squeezing into a cooler-just for the fun of it.

Kaylee:

Audree:

Sophee:

There you have it-the beginning of our Summertime. What could be better than squeezing into the cooler? Wahoo! Let the party begin!