Lots of June

 Mimi's for brunch 6•20

Swimming at the Carr's house for YW 6•17 and 

Hungry, Hungry Hippos with the YW/YM 6•24

Sisters having a lazy summer day 6•25

Beach Day 6•26

Sarah's new kitten, Ginger 6•28

 Before and After shots of the painting project in Jenna's room 6•29

Random Animal Photos -  Sariah seems to be watching us this month 

The ducks came back to the neighborhood and had chicks!

Movie day and window shopping with friends 6•30

Jenna's style this month included playing with red lipstick (she's growing up too fast!) and another intricate, multi-color design. Amazing! p.s. The red lipstick was just for fun, done at home.

Saying Good-bye to Friends, part 1

Our friends, Scott and Debbie Neubert are moving to Arizona next week, and we had them over for some yummy tacos.  They are a great couple, and Scott and Kelly have worked together in Elder's Quorum, and Debbie and I in Primary.  Both are highly talented and just great people.  We wanted to do something nice for them before they left California.

We had planned on tacos and games, but it turned out that Scott had finished our entertainment center alteration and was ready to install.  When we found out they were moving and he was closing up shop, we knew we needed to ask him about the alteration for the cabinet he had originally built for us.  We knew eventually we'd want a bigger, flat screen television, and we didn't trust anyone else to make the alterations.  He agreed to squeeze us in (everyone else was scrambling to have projects done before Scott left). Scott does such beautiful work, and the alteration he made to our cabinet is amazing!  The new box is beautiful, and when we found out the cabinet was ready, we ran out and got a television (55 inch flat scree...good grief!!!).  The picture is so nice, and the cabinet looks like it was made for the new television.  Thank you  Scott!  We're looking forward to a rain check on our game night, and we'll see you in Arizona!

After dinner and instillation, Kelly got to work on his safety straps for his High Adventure trip tomorrow.  I love that my husband knows his way around a sewing machine.  He makes his mom proud, I'm sure!  We'll be posting pictures when he returns this weekend.

Seeds and Spring

 3•15•13  Planting grass seeds in containers; Jenna names her Eggbert

 3•20•13  First day of Spring, and the first day our grass seed sprouted

3•20•13  Jenna makes a spring lamb and a egg-shaped marshmallow pop at Activity Days

Emergency Preparedness

It has been a couple of years since I have updated our 72 hour kit.  I knew food was expired and clothes would no longer fit the girls (I actually had nursing undergarments for myself in there--oops!).  We've reached a season where the girls are now old enough to carry their own backpacks, and I took advantage of the nice packs at Costco when school supplies were plentiful so we could convert from our uber large duffle to single packs.  Getting the project going, however, was another story.  It took some discipline, but I finally sat down for a couple of hours on Sunday night and typed out our family emergency plan, pulled important documents to keep in one place, and prepped a shopping list.  This morning, I did the food shopping and had everything laid out for our Family Night.

We changed all the batteries in the smoke detectors and flashlights, showed the girls how to turn off the electricity and gas should they ever be home alone during a quake, showed them how to detach the window screens in their rooms if they ever need to escape during fire, and also how to crawl 18" or lower on the floor in case of fire.  We also reviewed our meeting places in the front and back yard, and talked about how things would go if a quake happened while they were at school, who would pick them up, who was on their emergency cards, etc.  Of course the discussion got to them after awhile, and we talked about why we were preparing and how it helps us live with less fear instead of more when we're prepared.  It was a very productive evening, and we finished it off with a new recipe we tried from the LDS Living FHE lessons, Mint Chocolate Cookies.  Yum!

I listened to the debates while cleaning up the clutter from our project (I'm a little done with political posturing at the moment, quite depressing).  While I was taking something to Heather's room, I found the girls both in Heather's bunk playing a DSi game together.  They are enjoying each other's company more and more, and I've noticed that after a family collaboration, it's more likely to happen.  There's a testimonial for family projects and working together.  

Instagram - Snapshot of Life This Week

 The girls on the way home from our Yosemite hike - And they're still playing together...

 The weather has been very strange for July.

 No one ever complains about homemade taco dinner.

 Needed to clear out a side of my closet to make room for some indoor book storage.  What a mess!

Ended up with two full bags of trash and two giveaway bags.

Sorted the books and labeled them so I can find what I need when I need it.

The newly reorganized side of my closet

Lots of cleaning for party and company

 Teaching Sunday School is keeping me in my scriptures

 How the girls spend many summer mornings

 Still wondering what to do with an old friend...Kelly's aunts hand quilted this king-size quilt for our wedding 25 years ago.  It's falling apart, but hard to part with.

 Just finished this book.  It was a good one!  Clean and Austenesque if you like that time period.

 Kelly found out Heather never built her Hagrid's Hut Lego.  He promptly took care of that problem with her.  She was grateful for the help.

The girls jumped in the pool at 8:45PM the other night.  It wasn't even warm; they just wanted to swim together.  I'm so glad they're having fun with each other.

So long old sofas...

A few months ago I entered our sofas in a contest for new furniture.  We didn't win, but I do have a photograph of the bad shape they were in.  The love seat has had a five dollar Wal-Mart sofa cover on it for a few years, and the green one keeps getting more and more stained.  As of the last few weeks, it started to tear.  When Memorial Day came around, we thought we'd check out some furniture sales, but the only thing that we found was the need to do a lot of shopping and research, which we have been doing.  I thought about giving up a few times; we really don't have extra money, and we've been living with the ratty sofas for a while.  But we seemed to keep coming back to this being something needed for many reasons, so we kept at it.  We narrowed our search down to two sofas--one on-line which we couldn't sit it before purchasing, and one at a nearby store that was fairly inexpensive.   Because of being out of town a few times, we didn't act on anything which turned out to be a good thing.  Yesterday, Kelly went to Costco for some random items, and they had just put out their new sofa sets.  There was one there that had everything we'd been looking for--leather, recliners, not over sized and really good quality for a great price.  After sending me over to check them out, we decided to go for it.  We now have new sofas! Hooray!  

                                   

This all happened fairly quickly today, and the girls needed to give our old sofa one last hug.  Our friend, Smith, came over to help Kelly get everything moved in and assembled.  Of course the guys had to sit down immediately and try out the power recliners.  Meanwhile, the girls thought the sofa in the backyard was quite unique, and they took turns between sewing on it and jumping and tumbling on the cushions.  We watched some television on our new furniture tonight and I must say, it's quite comfy.  In fact, I'm going to sign off and go read...in my recliner.  Ahhhhhh.

Some Favorite Things

After waking sleeping girls this morning and sitting down to breakfast with them, I pulled down our big calendar and some Unifix cubes.  I counted how many more days of school were left, chose summer colors, and put together 27 cubes.  We pulled one off and decided it would be our morning tradition for the next 26 school days to combat our anti-school-morning feelings.  The girls loved it.

Yesterday I hung our new canvass.  It's a 16X20 photo of the Savior showing the prints in His hands.  My sister brought it out to us explaining that it was a company error and was an extra canvass in their home.  The company printed the wrong photograph, replaced it with the correct one she ordered, but told her to keep this one.  We were the lucky recipients.  As religious as we are (and we are very), we have yet to have a picture of the Savior in our home.  I think I was waiting for some extra money, and the right one to come along (large, framed prints can be expensive).  Anyway, this was perfect, and every time I look at it, it reminds me of the values I need to emulate.

Michelle was also getting rid of this cute Pottery Barn shelf, and we were happy to receive it.  It looks great in Heather's room and will help hold some of her literature collections (don't know where she gets that need from).  We left the shelf supports up from her old shelf when Kelly jokingly suggested it so he wouldn't have to drill so many drywall screws into the wall.  We tried it, and I thought it blended well with the cottage look of her desk and bed.  It's a keeper!

Jenna made a soccer shelf in her room, and it's really cute.  I don't know what we'll do if she adds more trophies, but for now, it's just perfect for her and makes her happy.

Making the most of the day...

Heather woke up a little queasy this morning and after a few hours of letting her rest and hoping that she could still make it X period, I gave up.  She needed rest and that was that.  I told my husband I thought it might be exhaustion, a stomach bug, or plain old growth/development.  Tonight when I put her to bed, she stood nose to nose with me and said, "I think I've grown!"  She has.  A week or so ago her nose was under my nose; today our noses were tip to tip.  She's been acting a little out-of-sorts and not her super sweet self this past week which also added to my theory that growth in some form was occurring.  When I told her that I knew there was something up with her not feeling well she just smiled.

So, the picture is the pile of receipts I've been saving since about 2010 thinking that I'm going to start a budget any time now.  I folded laundry and sorted receipts today while waiting for Heather to mend.  It was a GREAT feeling.  Look at all that paper that was weighing me down!  It's gone, and I feel better.  I'm still going to start a budget, but I don't need that much paperwork to start it.  I should have taken photos of my folded laundry, but sorry, no can do.  It's all folded and put away.  All of it.  I know, you hate me.