New and Older!

     My front room is finally coming together the way I've been dreaming of. I found a great deal on the couch, coffee table and rug and decided it was time. I LOVE it!

This is one way we tried placing the furniture but it's a bit too cramped with the piano behind the couch.

This is how we decided to put it instead.

     And to finish up our week we had the privilege of celebrating McClane's 6th birthday.

He's a happy boy!

A new bike! Yay!

Barefoot, sucker, 7 A.M. That's how he rolls on his birthday.

I told him to look lovingly at his cake, NAILED IT!

Hot dog dinner, cake, ice cream and card and cash from G&G Baker. A perfect way to end his big day. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

      And here's this years fall decorations minus cornstalks that should be added shortly.

Sadly this year I had to buy the majority of my pumpkins. The three on the ground are the only ones that came from Greg's garden.

      Then Greg decided he needed to go for a motorcycle ride now that he's got his official motorcycle endorsement, so we ditched the kids for several hours and took a ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon over to Guardsman Pass and into Kamas. There are no words for how amazing this ride and scenery was. I'm still wondering how I've lived here in Utah for 21 years and never been up this canyon, no other canyon I've been to beats this one, absolutely SPECTACULAR!! (I didn't even mind the rainstorm we drove through on our way back down.)

This is a few shots I got as we were driving. They don't do it justice but it's something to help me remember my new favorite canyon.

This was heading down.

And we grabbed a selfie at the top of Guardsman's Pass. Our neighbor was a great guide and lunch date.

He passed his driving test with only one small mistake. He's an official biker!

     I'm so glad it's conference weekend. It's always good to get a little break from our routines and get a good refresher on what matters most.

Boys!

     Here's Mark before heading out to his first homecoming dance.

I can't tell you how happy I am about his hair cut!

And here he is with his date and the rest of his group. (I find it funny that Mark's the tallest boy with the shortest girl.)

     And some Sunday afternoons we make 'kid' sandwiches with blow up beds in the front yard.

   And just to avoid an all boy post I have to share this little girl getting her second hair cut. She was nervous but she was a good girl and several inches of hair are gone making her hair a little less tangly. 

Don't ask me why I forgot to take an after photo.

     Then this happened. Mark's buddy Marcus bought himself a 1978 Honda Goldwing and the shocker is he had his parents permission and it actually came with a title and even better, it's in good working order! Maybe Mark will learn something from this.

     And with homecoming only two days done Mark was officially asked not once, but twice to the Sadie's dance coming up in a month. This is the note from the second girl and the one he was most thrilled about. I'm not going to lie, he didn't follow proper etiquette and say yes to the first invitation and only he can carry the guilt for that but he assures me it was a good decision for all involved.

Mark's response wasn't exactly what I would have suggested but he took a note with the word "No" on the front and there was a stuffed lion by the note and when the girl finally opened it it said, "I'd be 'lion' if I said that." I guess that works but the poor girl was literally debating on who else to ask for like two minutes before her mom suggested she look closer at the whole note. (And I'm sure she had a few choice words for Mark running through her head.)

And Greg got the metal for the fireplace hearth cut and installed and it is now 100% done and 100% pure awesomeness! I absolutely love it!!

And in case you forgot what it looked like before here's a reminder.

     So there you have it. Now I get to enjoy/survive our primary program. I'll be so glad to have it done! I shouldn't complain though because I really haven't had to do much. I'm glad a couple members of the presidency like to be in charge.

Home ownership!?

      Sometimes these two just crash early in the evening. This was around 7:30 P.M.

Two sleeping princesses. (One is a bit selfish with the blanket.)

Dog sitting these two shih tzus. They have been fun!

     Remember when we had our original refrigerator die on us and bought a used one only to find out our old one wasn't really broken but just needed to be thawed out? And then remember when our new/used fridge died so we stuffed all 12 gallons of milk I'd just bought in our original fridge that is now residing in the garage and Greg spent hours trying to fix the new/used fridge to no avail? And then remember when we went shopping for a completely new fridge and decided to also purchase a new oven to complete the stainless steel look in the kitchen? And remember when Greg ordered a $12 part on Amazon as a last ditch effort to fix the new/used fridge but I still insisted on buying brand new appliances and that part worked and now the new/used fridge is working so we now have 3 working refrigerators and are down about $2600 bucks? Remember when home ownership kind of BITES!! But I do love my new appliances and am really excited about the double oven!

Apparently these appliances make Carter feel rich. (He's weird! Because I just feel POOR!!)

This photo just appeared on my phone and was "too cool" not to share. I love these M&M's!

      This weekend was my third annual "mom and son" camp out and the last one for Isaac but hopefully not my last one. It's such a fun time and despite the lousy nights sleep it's one of my favorite camp outs ever!

He had fun despite the weird pose he's got going on in the photo. There were 12 tents and over all about 20 moms and boys that at least came up for dinner.

     Despite my exhaustions I couldn't pass up a motorcycle ride with Greg this afternoon.

Gorgeous fall colors!

So much FUN!!

     And Greg even found a minute to get the base of the hearth covered up and now it's just a matter of finding a great piece of steel or aluminum to top it off.

I'm loving this feature more and more every day!

      Now I just need to work on my primary sharing time to finish up my Saturday. I'm so glad I remembered it was my week before my prep time was gone. And stay tune next week for photos of Mark and his homecoming date. (He'll probably post them on Instagram before next weekend in case you can't wait until next week.) And Mark finally got a hair cut!!! Yippee!!

Labor Day weekend

    It starts like this....an out dated rock fireplace and an impulse purchase of a fun electric fireplace insert.

     Let the fun begin!!

Framing over the rock was far easier then a total demo.

    All framed in & the old garden fence begins to transform this old fireplace into an amazing wall feature!!

I love watching it transform!

    90% finished! The hearth still needs to be covered and we have a couple ideas but it may be a 'minute' before it can be done but it should be spectacular when it's all DONE!!

     The top half is stunning if you go for this kind of look!!

     Greg did get a treat for himself.

New white wall tires, the only way to go according to Greg.

     Charlie got pretty comfortable on her stroller ride this morning.

      We also had a fun lunch date at Burger King with the two littles.

I had to take two photos in an attempt to get a regular smile out of McClane and then Charlie did the opposite, real smile in the first and fake in the second.

      It's been a pretty fun and productive week. Now on to the last 10% of my fireplace project, fingers crossed and we might also try squeezing in a longer motorcycle ride this weekend. Apparently riding on brand new tires takes a little getting used to from what Greg's been telling me. I'm happy to help break them in!

A new week of school and home adventures.

     McClane finally got his turn for his first day of school/kindergarten!

Such a cute boy! I love his dangling earlobes!

      Now it's just Charlie at home living it up.

Chocolate milk and candy, the best diet of any 3 year old.

    And Mark finally had a doctor visit where we could put a couple issues to rest. He weighs 148 and is 6'5" despite his hopes of 6'6"/6'7". He does however have a crooked neck, which he insists is 'stunting' his growth!

Here's an actual picture of his neck/upper back where it's more obviously crooked.

Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with him. Apparently his right rib didn't form completely and that's most likely the reason for the curvature in his upper back/lower neck area.

Our fridge died Wednesday morning. Greg thinks it might've been dying a few days prior to Wednesday because things in the fridge weren't so cold. Thankfully everything in the freezer was fine but our 8 gallons of milk were on the verge of being wasted so thankfully I found an almost perfect replica of our fridge only in stainless steel in the classified ads. Needless to say our Wednesday was a small adventure driving clear out to West Jordan and then doing some cleaning, rearranging and a little demolition. The cabinets above the fridge had to be removed to make the air circulation better so this fridge might last a little longer than our original one. My only dilemma now is how to make the stainless steel look newer and get rid of some of the spill stains I've discovered! Yikes!

(Once our old fridge was out we discovered the problem and it's now working just fine so now the question is do we keep it as a second fridge or try to sale it?!)

In place and the hole where the cabinet was is dealt with for now.

Now on to a new project! These three day weekends are when I get my amazing man to do things on my wish list! I can't WAIT!!!