kites and stuff

We went up to good ol' Rexburg again to watch a play at the college.  While there, we had fun just hanging out.

Here, Shad's dad is pruning their apple tree.

Here, my brother is happy about getting his picture taken.  We mostly finished sewing his bike seat cover, and I think it turned out all right.  Whether he actually uses it or not is another question.


And here is our attempt to fly kites in the backyard, while it was windy and cold.

We had a hard time keeping the kites in the air.

But it was fun while it lasted.

Avery just sat and watched, while sporting her new boots (a 25-cent flea market find).


She's excited about my find.

I can't help myself when it comes to taking pictures of Avery.

I like her chubby cheeks.

And I like her chubby hands.

But it's her eyes that most often make me grab the camera.

See what I mean?


I can't help it.

tiling in rexburg

Near the end of March, we went up to Rexburg for a day and a half so that Shad could help his dad put in a tile floor in their newly built bathroom downstairs.

Shad and his dad were incredibly fast at measuring, cutting, and lining up the tiles.  I was impressed.

They spent one night and some of the next morning and they were done.

Who needs a toilet when you have a beautiful tile floor?

While they were hard at work, I did my best to have fun with the kids.

It's a hard job, I know.

And while the boys helped Shad's dad with work outside, I made sure to go to the local flea market and craft store.

Drake and Graham love to help with projects.

I also helped my brother Matt get started on sewing a new seat cover for his bike.

It was a fun, productive weekend, and we're always glad to visit with Shad's folks, his grandma, and his sister.

In case you've been distressing about my lack of posts, be comforted that I'm back at it... at least until my hard drive is full again.  I copied a bunch of pictures over to Shad's laptop to free up some space so I could download pictures from the last two months onto our desktop.  I think it's time for an upgrade....

a 2-wheeler

About a year ago, or more, we bought this little bike for Drake at a garage sale for $3.00, but it didn't have any training wheels.  So I bought some training wheels for it.  Then it sat in our garage through that spring, summer, fall, and now winter.

When Drake asked me last week if his friend's dad could put the training wheels on his bike, I figured it was time we finally did it.  Note to self: leave something undone for a year, and your kid may decide you're not capable of doing it.

He was so excited for his first solo ride.

Graham jumped on the tricycle and followed right along.


Shad took them down to almost the end of our street.


And a first ride wouldn't have been complete without a crash.

Apparently Drake started going a little too fast for his own good and tipped over.  Drake wasn't as happy during the return trip.

But Drake got over the mishap pretty quick.  Him and Graham really enjoy riding bikes together out back.

And I'm really enjoying weather that's been nice enough to allow outside fun.

primping Avery

The other day, Drake and Graham came across Avery's little pink comb, and decided they needed to do her hair.  Graham held the mirror, Drake did the styling.

Avery loved it.

my lil' sis

In the middle of March, we had the pleasure of spending some time with my sister and her family who came up from Arizona.


Avery got some face-to-face time with her cousin Austin.

We also spent nearly a day in Rexburg, so they could see my brother's stomping grounds.

We played games, ate ice cream, and stayed up way too late.  In other words, we had a great time. Thanks for making the trip Melissa and Landon.

We look forward to seeing you again soon...

feast or famine

I've been asked how I find the time to do anything on my blog.

I actually don't find the time very often, thus why my posts are so sporadic.

I usually sit down to work on it every few days (or weeks), for maybe 15-20 minutes at a time.   I have several posts saved that I keep adding pictures and text to until they're finished and I can post them.

When I do work on it, I usually wait until my kids are either asleep, or playing well together.


But that 15-20 minutes is all my kids need to enjoy themselves thoroughly while Mom's busy on the computer.

Maybe I should only work on it when they're asleep...

a birthday

yup, i had one.And flowers were all I asked for.

Shad, of course, didn't stop at flowers, but I didn't have any good pictures of anything else.

We opened presents first thing in the morning (a tradition started by our oldest kid) and the rest of the day was just spent hanging out and having fun.  I let Drake and Graham each pick one game they wanted to play for my birthday.

Drake chose "Pin the Tail on the Donkey".

I think this was the deluxe version, if I remember.

Just the right size for almost all of us to win.

I think Graham chose "Duck, Duck, Goose".  Aren't these three cute?

We ran out of time by the end of the day for cake and ice cream, so we ate it the next night, after church (hence the white shirts).  The boys decorated my cake with sugar daddy candies and tootsie rolls (compliments of Halloween, I'm sure).

And my day wouldn't have been complete without ice cream thrown into the mix somewhere.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great day.

the wood floor

It's official. We have a wood floor in our kitchen, and I really, really like it. So now you'll be bombarded with pictures.

Just to remind/inform you, we went from this when we bought the home:


To this:


And now this:


Again, we started with this:

Changed to this:


And now this:


Now you get to suffer through the installation pictures. Here the wood is climatizing (adjusting to the room temperature). In reality, 2/3 of the wood had been "climatizing" in our home for more than a year... that's how long we've been dragging our feet since we bought it from our friends (Thanks again Erica and Matt).

After ripping up the carpet in the kitchen, we discovered a nice, black pad that had been glued to the older linoleum underneath it. We had to scrape all that off, which took some extra time.


With the prep work all done, our good neighbor John came over to help us out. Here he's laying the first piece.

Drake and Graham were big helpers.

John's son Jackson helped out quite a bit too. They worked on the hallway the first night, which involved a lot of measuring and cutting. Shad did a little more the first night after our neighbors left to help speed things up the next night.

So the next night, they went at it again. John's other son Mitchell came to help too.

They covered a lot more area that night because there was very little cutting; mostly just laying it down.

Avery and Drake with Mitchell and Jackson.

Drake and Graham enjoying the new floor even before it was complete.

By the end of the second night, it was pretty close to being done.

The third night involved more measuring and cutting to finish up the last stretch by the back door. Here they're working on getting the last piece of wood laid.

How many guys does it take to lay the last piece of wood?


It only took about ten hours of labor to put it all in, even though it was broken up over three nights. Here's the finished product!


And where was the fridge, the dishwasher and the oven during these three days?


In the front room, of course, with the kitchen table.

Definitely easier having the kitchen and family room separate...

Did I mention there was a lot of cutting involved?

And just to remind you, and help you feel the difference...Before:

And after:

Before (after having just cleaned it too... gross):


And after (Ahhhhhh.....much better):

Much thanks to our friends who got us a great deal on the wood, and to our neighbor who helped us put it all in.


One of my favorite things about the wood floor (besides the fact that it looks much better than the old, nasty linoleum and stained carpet) is how easy it is to clean up after my kids, and how I no longer have to worry about the kids accidentally spilling stuff on the floor.

But what I love even more than the wood floor, is my sweet husband who spent the time and man power putting it in, and my darling kids who look great no matter what type of floor they're sitting on.