What a steal!

Look at what I got for free!   I am so excited about this door.  I went to this vacant land with my friend Natalie,  to get some old barn wood from a man who listed it on Craig's list as free barn wood to burn.  Lo and behold, there were a few old doors there, and he said we could take them.  As we were loading them in the car, he asks us, "What are you gonna do with them?"  

Oh the possibilities!  

My sister Jenny made the cutest shelf out of hers that is the end result I'm leaning toward now.  

(Here is a link to her door post--so darling.

Jen's Door Project)

But it must be a girl thing, because when I came home with this beauty, (and a few other choice pieces of old wood with rusty hinges and peeling paint on them,) Arthur's reaction was, "That guy listed it as burning wood for a reason!"  

Come on, honey!  No vision.

Okay, here's a  project that's actually finished.  Hobby Lobby had their fall stuff on sale for 80% off, and I went a little crazy getting pilgrims, pumpkins, turkeys, and indians, and scarecrows.  I filled a huge bag (almost as big as me with all my fall goodies) and paid $30 for it all.  Yeehaw!  

So I made a little topiary out of these styrofoam pumpkins.

(I got extra pumpkins for my sisters so they can make one too. Sadly, I never got them in the mail, --big surprise there--so I'll bring the stuff out at Christmas, and you can make them for next fall.)

I stacked the pumpkins and skewered them with floral picks and hot glue, added some fall leaves, gold ribbon, and gold and glitter spray paint to make it extra festive.  It came together in less than an hour.  

very fun.

Happy B-Day Dallin!

Dallin is seven years old!  This wasn't a year for a big party, but somehow he convinced me to invite two of his favorite families over to share cake, so it sure looks like a big  party.  He wanted to have a treasure hunt so we did a couple of clues that led them to the birthday cake hiding in the fridge in the garage.  

It's a little clue!

The treasure island cake

Make a wish!

I think this picture is so funny because all the boys are clumped around the star wars toys, and all the girls are having a blast with the new magnet board.  Dallin has since covered the magnet board with all kinds of drawings.

We are so lucky to have Dallin in our family.  He's a really sharp kid with an enthusiasm for life.  He's a good helper to me and a great older brother to his younger siblings.  We love this kid.

Magnet Board

My friend Sarah gave me this great idea to make magnet boards for the kids rooms for them to hang up all their many drawings and projects.  We got MDF boards, and the sheet metal at Lowes, and had Arthur help us route and cut the mdf to make the frame.  After the frame was built,  I just painted it (took a few times to get it how I wanted it, since I'm an amateur) and inserted the sheet metal and oila!  The best part is, Sarah and I each are making two of these 24" by 36" magnet boards for $15 each!  I love it!  Hope Dallin likes it too.  

BYU/Airforce Game

This past weekend we went up to the BYU/Airforce game in Colorado Springs. We drove up Friday, and stayed with my cousin Lamont and his wife Melissa in the Denver area. We had fun playing games and visiting with them. And our kids had a great time playing with their boys Carter and Mckay. Saturday was the game.

We caught a picture with Cosmo just as he was leaving the BYU tailgate party.  Hayden wanted to pet him.

Here are the kids, all bundled up, in front of the stadium.

The comfortable bleachers can't be beat.

They have a good color scheme.

Go BLUE & WHITE!

Hayden looked like a little eskimo--He was warm though!

The Airforce Academy is a great stadium to watch a football game for a number of reasons:

Before the game, the cadets march onto the field in formation and salute as the national anthem is played.  Then they run into the stadium seating.  Next, they have Airforce skydivers parachute into the middle of the stadium.  It's awesome to see how they maneuver their parachutes.  Then, just before the kick-off they have a fly-by.  This year they had three F-15s fly right over the stadium and I tell you what--you can feel the rumble in your chest.  

It's AWESOME!  

Then at the end they play "I'm proud to be an American!" and just makes you feel so patriotic and grateful to live in this great nation.  I am proud to be an American.  God bless the USA!

 

6 quirks (tag)

1.  During the summer I can't go to bed without washing my feet first.  I think it's wearing flip-flops all day and getting my feet all dirty and sweaty.  Sometimes I'll be so tired and think, "it's no big deal-I'll skip it tonight."  I lay in bed until eventually I have to get back out and wash my feet. 

2. When I take a deep singing breath, you can hear a strange gurgling in my abdomen.  I don't know if there is any merit to this theory, but I think it might be because of being pregnant and getting my organs all squished and moved around.  The result of the resettling organs is a very strange gurgling when breathing with my diaphragm.  

3. I will eat any kind of dough.  Not just cookie dough- bread dough, pie dough, biscuit dough.  I like it all. (Although I must admit the yeast-based doughs  do give me kind of a tummy-ache.  It's not enough to kick the habit though.)

4.  I hang up empty picture frames because I know where I want them to go, but I haven't printed the pictures to go in them yet.  I have had one of my frames hanging on my walls without pictures in it for almost two years.  There was another collage frame I had hanging that still had all the "picture models" in it from the store and I used to get comments on it all the time: ( "Wait, whose family is this?")

5.  I wear myself out.  Sometimes I fall asleep while reading aloud to my children.  

6.  I hate running errands in the afternoon.  For whatever reason, if it doesn't happen before lunch, it doesn't get done.

Funny how many quirks we have.  I'm sure there are better ones I could have listed but my brain shuts down after 9:30, so I should probably just have done this later when my brain is running at a higher capacity.  

Anyway, I tag my blogging sisters, Amber Gariety, Natalie, Jenny, Julianne, & Melanie

Family Pictures

You have to see these:

to appreciate these:

Ah, the drama of family pictures. Good thing they're only once a year.

And thank goodness Erin is so patient with us, and Steve is there to make the kids laugh.