August Projects

Once the kids were back in school and it was just me and the little boys at home during the day, I just got a bee in my bonnet about getting some stuff done, especially stuff that I've been "meaning" to do for years.  Part of it was probably the lack of productivity that accompanies caring for a new baby.  Even a really GOOD baby, like Nathan.  Anyway, I just needed to get some things done that were permanent and wouldn't be undone in 5 minutes like laundry or dishes.  So one day, when Arthur was on a trip, I enlisted the help of my friend Taffy to help me transform this useless wet bar into more storage space.

Without Taffy, I never would have had the courage start ripping off the tile, but once I got going, I realized two things:  1)I was pretty good at using a crowbar, and 2)Demo is FUN!  Taffy capped off the plumbing under the sink and removed the light fixture for me, since I didn't know how to do either of those.  And she came shopping with me to get the wood to build the shelving and taught me how to use our nail gun and how to build it.  Sometimes I had to quit to take care of Nathan, and she would just keep going, and sometimes she had to go home to take care of her mother who has dementia and I would continue  working.  Between the two of us we got it done in just a few days.  What a great friend!  And now, I have more storage space which we can just never seem to get enough of in our house!

Next up was turning this cute chalk board into a magnet AND chalkboard.  I did this with stuff I already had on hand--a big piece of sheet metal from a magnet board that had fallen off the wall and broken fit perfectly over part of the chalkboard to create this wall hanging that I LOVE!  Each month I put a new scripture on the chalkboard part that we memorize, and I change the pictures out to go with the seasons and people's birthdays etc.  Our family LOVES it!  In fact, on Dallin's birthday, I didn't have time to go through all the pictures and find ones for his birthday, and I didn't think he would really care, but he noticed and mentioned it to me!  I felt so bad, that I have since gone through all the pictures and each person now has a ziplock bag with pictures for their birthday that I am ready to put up when their day comes.

And then, I added this backpack rail that Arthur and I made, since the closet couldn't hold all the backpacks and people never put them in there anyway!  Now, the kids walk in the door, put their shoes in the cubby (doesn't always happen) and hang up their backpacks before they walk in the family room.  Everyone (except Daphne  ?)  consistently hangs up their backpacks, so that's a HUGE improvement over what used to be.  This is seriously one of my favorite spots in our house.

Lastly, I've been wanting to create a spot to hang the kids' art.  After looking at a lot of different ideas on Pinterest, I decided to use some of the frames I had sitting around in my closet.  I took out the mats and glass and spray painted the frames white, added twine and decorative clothes pins and made a frame collage in our upstairs hallway.  It turned out really cute!

However, after having this up for a few months, I've decided to redo it because the frames kept falling off the wall in that narrow hallway, from people brushing up agains them, or slamming the doors or bumping into the other side of the wall.  Several of the frames broke, and it just doesn't look great anymore.  So stay tuned for the updated art gallery coming in 2017.

A Birthday and a Blessing

August 28, 2016

Daphne's Birthday & Nathan's Blessing

ABQ, NM

We had a special August 28th, this year as we celebrated Daphne's 13th's birthday AND Arthur gave a name and a blessing to Nathan in church that day.  The priesthood holders who stood in the circle that day were the other members of the bishopric, Bishop Devenport, John Naegle, our home teachers, Karl Ney and Corey Devenport (who had just recently received the Melchizedek priesthood) and our family friend Justin Lisonbee.

Funny story--I remember Arthur saying something prior to Nathan's blessing that he was worried he might start crying, but he was such a good baby, I wasn't worried about that.  I said, it was more likely that he let out a really loud fart during the blessing because from the very beginning, that little guy was a pretty gassy little fella, and boy could he TOOT!  I was worried he would have one that was loud enough for the mic to pick up!  But all was well--he didn't cry or fart during his blessing, AND he looked adorable.

The birthday girl and the blessing boy.

I sometimes can't believe these are all mine!  How incredibly blessed I am!

That evening we celebrated Daphne's 13th birthday here at home.  I cooked a favorite meal for her and made her a "Texan" sheet cake (as she calls it).  I think she enjoyed her gifts and was a good sport about one of them being wrapped in a baby shower bag.  

 

We are so blessed to have Daphne in our family and that she is our oldest daughter.  She is creative, spunky, fun to be around, and very very helpful with all of her younger siblings.  She is a wonderful baker--always sabotaging her parents' weight loss goals with perfectly gooey brownies or her chocolate chip cookies that she has down to an art.  Happy, Happy Birthday, Daphne dear!!

Going Back to School

August 11-12, 2016

The summer is always too short!  Those 10 weeks fly by and before we know it we're buying school supplies and getting those before-school butterflies.  This year we have 5 children in 3 different schools!  Dallin 9th, La Cueva High School, Daphne, 7th, Eisenhower Middle School, Sean, 5th, Hayden 3rd, and Sydney 1st, all at Hubert Humphrey Elementary School.  Fun Fact:  there will be Garietys at three different schools until Nathan completes the 5th grade.  11 years!  

The day before school starts we get to haul all our school supplies up to the elementary school and meet the kids' new teachers.  Sean, Hayden and Sydney got GREAT teachers this year.  Sydney is in Mrs. Benavidez's class, Hayden got Mrs. Gonzalez, and Sean got Mrs. Altweis (who he's had before and really thrived with.)  Dallin and Daphne are both doing show choir with new directors so hopefully everyone will have a wonderful school year!

Pirates! The Musical for CMT Jr.

August 1-5

CMT Jr.

Pirates! The Musical

Once again, Dallin and Daphne directed a CMT Jr. Summer camp to help pay for their show choir expenses.  (Doesn't even cover half, but hey, every little bit helps!!)  They teach the kids songs, choreography, and staging, not to mention play games with them, pass out snacks, and keep everyone focused over and over and over again.  It takes a HUGE amount of patience!  This year, they directed "Pirates! A Musical."  Sydney, Hayden and Sean were all in it and everyone did a great job.  Hayden was Brownbeard, Sean was one of the stow-aways, and Sydney was in the ensemble.  Arthur and Bennett were on sound and lighting, and I was the stage manager.  It's definitely a family effort.  I was really proud of Dallin and Daphne for working hard to put it together and of our three performers  in this show. 

Swim Team/ Water Polo

This year we had FIVE kids on swim team!  That'll be the most since Dallin ages out this year.  It was Sydney's first year on swim team and she learned so much!  It took her several meets, but finally, we convinced her to do just two races: Breaststroke and Freestyle.  She did GREAT!  And was so proud that she finished and got some ribbons.  This particular swim meet Hayden happened to be the fastest kid in every race he swam!  Not a bad meet for him!  Some of the kids also did water polo this year.  We didn't make very many matches, but the ones we got to were fun to watch.

 

We missed the District Meet so at city our kids only did relays.  Here are all their amazing relay teams!

Not a relay team, but a good team nonetheless.  (Sydney opted out of swimming at city, which was jus fine with me.)

Eisenhower Hammerheads took city!!!