five favorites (07/11)

I didn’t get this finished on Friday, but maybe there’s no better way to start a Monday! Here are some of my favorite things lately:

ONE. The weather has been a little odd this summer, honestly- most days haven’t seemed as warm as they usually are by this point, but it’s also been really dry, so for the first time ever, we have a few dead spots of grass in our yard. So strange. Anyway, it’s been consistently nice enough to spend some time outside, so we’ve enjoyed meeting up with friends at our favorite playground over the past few weeks!Don’t worry, Chandler was there, too. He even “drove”! He’s so obsessed with cars and even knows how to push the button to start the van. Fourteen and a half years until all his dreams come true!Kaya always finds the perfect tree to climb. This one is especially great!Try to take a picture with this boy, and he runs right into the camera. Somehow I still love this shot.Evie collects leaves and gives them to me as gifts. SO sweet and thoughtful.TWO. I feel like there haven’t been any pictures of Scout on here in a while, so I wanted to include her! She had a really rough spring after she decided to steal 10 freshly-baked chocolate cookies off of the counter in a record time of 30 seconds, which obviously sent her to the vet. Thankfully, she recovered, only to discover that the induced vomiting from that probably caused aspiration pneumonia. It’s sad to see your puppy sick and coughing. She’s been doing great now, which is a relief. I’d like to think she learned something from the whole experience, but well… we’ll still be watching our chocolate with eagle eyes.

THREE. We got a second car!!! We’ve always been a one-car family (although Michael has had a little moped for the past couple of years), but with our family getting bigger and our kids getting older, it makes sense to have another vehicle. I’ve been calling it the “baby car” or “Sparky” (it’s a little Chevy Spark), and it’s so fun to drive compared to our big mini van.

FOUR. After an unfortunate chiropractic injury a few weeks ago, I was pretty much unable to walk without piriformis pain. After using all the ice, stretching, foam-rolling, resting, and being readjusted, I’m feeling so grateful to be able to get around my house and actually take a walk with my family. We had the most beautiful sunset walk last Sunday, and I took time to appreciate the small things.I need some of these purple coneflowers in our yard! Maybe I’ll work on it when we get closer to fall.

FIVE. Little Man wants to be just like his “Old Man”. Haha. He loves to work on his laptop next to Daddy, and lately, he even supervises while Michael gets our new shower installed. He’s a true “Daddy’s boy” through and through! Happy Monday!!!!

five favorites (06/16)

Happy Saturday! I’m here with our highlights from the week:

ONE. One of the girls’ favorite summertime “family night” activities is washing the car! I really think they just love anything that they can do in their swimsuits, but this is a win-win for everyone- happy kids, clean van! Everyone had a turn soaping it up and then using the hose to spray it off. Kaya liked running through the water while Kaelyn was spraying! Nella was just obsessed with playing with all the bubbles!It was a little overcast, so by the end of the activity, everyone was chilly. Kaelyn was excited to use her Olaf towel!TWO. It’s been a few very productive weeks of getting projects done around here. Michael has been painting, hanging new towel rods and toilet paper holders, and installing a new faucet in the kitchen.I just love those little seahorses in the girls’ bathroom! It’s hard to tell from the picture, but this minty green paint is so bright and happy, too. (Now hopefully no one smears toothpaste all over the wall… again!)THREE. While Daddy works on the house, all the girls go to Home Depot to get more things for him to work on the house. Ha! These little ladies and I decided to go out and check some things off our errands list last Saturday, and although it was a little exhausting getting them all in and out of the car several times, we really had fun and enjoyed being out of the house for a bit. (Yes, Nella is totally picking her nose. This is real life…)We also went to Target and looked at ALL the toys. Kaya and Kaelyn later said that was the best part of their day (of course)! We found some fox sippy cups on clearance, and since it seems like we never have enough cups (I have no idea how that’s possible, but it is), we ended up getting them. Nella has been so excited to drink from a straw!FOUR. I used to collect cool pencils and pens when I was a kid, and I still have some them stowed away in a drawer. Kaya found this very old Etch-A-Sketch pen this week, and was so excited to try it out. It’s fun to see the old childhood classics still holding entertainment value for the new generation.And yes, they were hanging out in the hammock all together. You didn’t think I’d skip a week of hammock photos, did you?Bookworm baby!Scout actually tries to climb in the hammock on her own just about every day. She seems to think she’s a person, which is usually pretty hilarious. No hammocks for puppies!

FIVE. Sometimes, when you’re the third kid, you need your own little space. Nella found hers in the (clean) laundry basket this week. Of course, she had to bring a baby doll in there with her!Happy weekend!

donuts and a daddy-daughter date

Yeah, it’s definitely Thursday, and I’m only just writing about our weekend now. But how can you let a great weekend go undocumented?

On Saturday morning, I went out for my run, and when I came home, I discovered that we had no muffins left… and there wasn’t enough milk to make any more. What’s a girl to do when you have a breakfast crisis like this? Make donuts, of course! I haven’t made any in quite a while, so I revisited this recipe, and I think these were the best cake donuts I’ve ever made. We obviously skipped the glaze, because we’re chocolate-on-chocolate-with-sprinkles kind of people.

Michael and Kaya had a daddy-daughter date that morning. First stop- Home Depot for one of their kids’ workshops. Kaya built a miniature toy wagon, and apparently drove all the nails herself. I’m so proud of my skilled little girl!

She was also thrilled because apparently they gave out juice boxes at the workshop… and Kaya has never had juice (of any kind) before, so this really was exciting for her! She had a few sips and didn’t really know what to think of it at first.

They ran some errands at Walmart, where the bank inside just happened to be giving out balloon animals and stickers. It was Kaya’s lucky day for sure!

Daddy took her to Wendy’s for a Frosty (her favorite treat). And yes, apparently you can get a Frosty in the morning!

During nap time, Michael worked on patching our tire. We’ve had a slow leak in it for months, but we couldn’t find the cause. Finally, Michael spotted a nail stuck in the tire. He pulled it out and patched it up.
_MG_1139 Saturday night always means bathtime! We like to have clean kids for church, at least. 😉 Someone loves her lion towel too much…_MG_1142 I taught the young women on Sunday, we had nice long afternoon naps, and then rounded out our weekend with some coloring. These small things might not seem important, but I always love looking back at these tiny details and little moments._MG_1151

And now I’m practically ready for the weekend (again)!

blessed

This past weekend we went to the temple to see our cousin Shaila get married! We decided that we would go up the night before so that we could spend some time in the temple together, but when we were just about half hour from our destination, we got into a minor car accident. Thankfully, no one was hurt and our car is by no means destroyed. The radiator was cracked and leaked out all its fluid, so the car had to be towed.

Although it was just a small incident, my emotions were very unstable over the next few hours. It was strange to see our car hauled onto the tow truck. We had to ride in the front, which almost seemed fun for a moment, except that I could see our poor car bouncing behind us in the sideview mirror.

I am so thankful for our family and friends who have been so generous to help us make it back home and get to the places we need to. I really don't know where we'd be without them, seeing as our car is currently 4 hours away from us.

I'm grateful that Michael and I are still alive and well. There's really nothing better than being with your best friend.


We managed to stay at the same hotel as Michael's parents, which was great to get some hugs and relax. And we did make it to the temple for the wedding on Saturday morning, where is was such a relief to temporarily leave our wordly cares behind and just feel the Holy Spirit. Marriage really is a sacred covenant between you, your spouse, and God, and I definitely felt that this weekend.

un weekend chez les parents

This was the first weekend of summer, and my job hasn’t started yet, so we decided to go visit our families! I haven’t seen my family since Christmas, so it’s been awhile. I also got to do some other fun activities while we were there, like go to the dentist. Ahhhh!

We got to see our dogs, Scrappy and Socks.

 

Michael also worked on our car with his dad…

I’ve got myself a cute little mechanic now =)

And we adopted a new guinea pig!

Ok, ok, he’s stuffed. But still cute!

Conference and dinner and sewing!

This weekend has been fantastic.  I love General Conference, when we are blessed to listen to the voice of the Prophet and Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ!  Even in this day, as in the days of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, and the other prophets of old, we have the blessing of modern revelation.  Our General Authorities receive revelation directly from God to guide us in these tumultuous times.  The world is a rough one, and without their counsel, it'd sure be a lot easier to go down the wrong path, losing sight of what's truly important. I personally know that this Church is true, that our Prophet is called of God, the Book of Mormon is true, and that Jesus Christ lives. I challenge you to search your soul, ask of God, and find out for yourself if these things are true.  Read the Book of Mormon.  It is full of wisdom and guidance beyond anything a man on earth could produce himself.  It is of God. As Elder Holland reminded us, "No wicked man could write such a book as this, and no good man would write it, unless it were true, and he were commanded of God to do so". For more information, check out www.mormon.org .

Yesterday we saw Michael's parents and Jeffrey- he's on his way to the Missionary Training Center.  We got to say goodbye for the next two years.  It's weird we won't see him for that long- but it's great he's going to serve the Lord.

This morning our car wouldn't start!  So we asked our neighbor to help us jump start the battery- she tried but it didn't work so we had to call another good friend.  I did have a lot of fun talking to her though, and I think I may have made a new friend =) I brought her some homemade brownies tonight to say thanks!

Tonight we had one of Michael's friends over for dinner, along with the missionaries.  It was so much fun!  I was in the kitchen forever though, but I love making things.  I baked chicken breasts with gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, and green beans.  We had homemade brownies and ice cream for dessert.  Everyone said I cooked so well! And I love baking/cooking from scratch.

I also finished my first real sewing project- a bed, or "cuddle cup" for my guinea pigs!  I think it turned out good for a first try.