Family Photos

We had the opportunity to have our family photographed by the splendid Sallie K. a couple of weeks ago. She was so generous with her time and talents to make these photos turn out, and we had a great time sitting (and standing, and climbing) for them. Here are a couple of shots by way of preview...

Mom My Ride

Just in case you haven't seen this video yet, take a look. (It is an ad for a product I don't personally endorse, so do your best to overlook that, please?)





Well, apparently we have done a great job of this in our house, because a couple of days ago I had had enough with all the junk in the van and called the family out to help clean it up.

Brian ended up "finding" a stash where "someone" had been stuffing all kinds of nasty junk in a panel that kind of resembles a trash compartment in the backest row. It was pretty terrible, I'm not gonna lie.

Anyway, all three kids were put to work, toxic waste site style. Brian used his headlamp and blue nitrile gloves for the excavation.



When the fun was done, I went back into the house and couldn't seem to find Brian. Turns out, he had triaged himself for shock (way to go, Boy Scout!) and elevated his feet and laid down on the couch. Apparently there was some truly nasty stuff in the compartment that "someone" had stuffed. Brian has a tendency to get queasy easily at unappatizing things, so that seems to have been the case this time, too. Guess who has taken on the role of Vehicle Tidyness Monitor these days???

Purple Potatoes at Sunday Supper

Mom (Grandma Clawson) invited the kids over to help harvest her bumper crop of spuds last weekend. They found Yukon Golds, red potatoes, and a bunch of black ones, too. Usually black potatoes are not the ones you want to pick up, as it means they are rotten and pretty yucky.

These black potatoes were perfectly edible, however, and turned a fantastic purple when boiled and mashed. Here's a closeup I took with my phone on Sunday at supper at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We get to see Grandma and Grandpa most Sundays when they host us for dinner and a visit. I love this picture of Abby and my mom, both so serious about whatever Abby seems to be whispering to Grandma. We are blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with our family and friends, and love to share our lives with them as often as we can. It makes me happy to have loving people in our lives to enrich our experiences and share in this grand adventure.

Bed into Garden Bench

Last year I found an old headboard and foot board in someone's yard. (I didn't just wander into her yard, to be clear. I had been at her place helping a friend pick up a craigslist purchase.) The wood was old and heavy and quite beat up.

Perfect. Just the kind of furniture I like to take home. (Chris was thrilled, as you can imagine, with another "treasure" making its way into our place.)

Anyway, I cut some of it away for a project, then changed my mind, and ended up thinking that the pieces that remain would make a great garden bench. So, my trusty handyman stepped in to help with the construction. Here's what he had to work with:

And this is what he came up with:

Now it's my turn to do a little something. Paint is on the way... Will post pictures when all done. :)

Just a little snack

Abby is notorious in our family for having such a great appetite. She'll eat darn near anything, and lots of it. It is actually pretty fun having such a daring eater around. (Some day we'll get to tell her husband about the time she ate dog poop, but that's a story for another day.)

Anyway, I picked her up from school last week (kindergarten gets out an hour and a half earlier than the other kids do) and we had some time to kick around before we had another appointment. Abby was hungry, and had already finished the leftovers in her lunch sack, so I offered to buy her a frozen yogurt cone at our local Golden Arches. Once we were there, though, she requested a hamburger instead. (Sorry, Mom! I let her eat fast food!)

So, my little Abby made quick work of a full-sized, $6 burger. Minus pickles and onions, with all the other fixin's.

She was still hungry for dinner a couple of hours later. Apparently kindergarten is very hungry work.

Fall Mantel

This time last year, I was dreaming of all the decorating to be done in our soon-to-be-finished house. This year, I am still looking at lots of blank walls, but little by little getting things up. I am happy with how our corner fireplace mantel is looking these days... Everything here is collected from a thrift store or made by our little family. I am loving the textures and layering and all that. But mostly, I am just happy to be in our cozy little home.

This mantel was fun to build with Chris. Due to space and cost constraints during construction, we ended up with a corner fireplace with no mantel, just white Sheetrock and texture. This summer, Chris and I worked together to design and create a board and batten surround for the fireplace. It is white on white, so subtle and not all that noticeable to anyone but us I'm sure, but I just love it. We are looking forward to hanging stockings this Christmas. :)

Abby and I made the "AUTUMN" banner using stencils we found at the thrift store and some twine and clothespins. Plus a few dollar store leaves for color. It was fun to work on with her.

The dark rectangle behind the whole thing is actually one of those fabulous saloon doors I scored from Bishop's Attic (local thrift) the other day. I just wanted something up there to give some depth the the cavern atop the fireplace.



Chris helped construct this book wreath last year, but I didn't get it hung up until now. I love the texture and shape of the cones, and the subtle colors in the old dictionary pages ($1 at B.A.) are just the thing. We did try to edit the pages we used, just in case someone actually read the wreath someday, to protect eyes from seeing something wacky and too descriptive. I was shocked at a few of the dictionary entries we came across. :)

State Fair

We went to The State Fair. Notice, I capitalized it. State. Fair. Yeah, it is that big. :)

We weren't sure if we were going to make it this year, but ended up throwing a trip together and it was so great! We planned to do it "on the cheap" this year, and (as far as Fair trips go) it was a success. We wanted to ride a couple rides and eat a few yummy things and see the sights. It was a rare sunny evening, there was no school or work the next day, and we ended up staying until 11 P.M. The kids were asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows when we finally made it home. Now, that's a good trip to The Fair.

Brian is not a fan of the rides, so he chose to use his ride allotment of $$$ at the mini golf on the fairgrounds. He was pleased with 4 "hole in one" scores out of the 8 holes they did. Now he considers the shirt he was wearing to be his lucky shirt and insists on wearing it for all events requiring good luck, such as to watch the BYU football game or on test days at school.

Abby, Casey, and I rode the Tilt-a-Whirl and screamed and laughed the whole time. Hilarious. These shots are taken as we were spinning ever faster. Casey kept yelling "Hold on to the camera, Mom!" and we'd laugh and crack ourselves up. I'm sure it was all incredibly dorky to those waiting in line, but we had a great time.

The girls also rode the swings. I'm fairly certain that these are the exact same swings I used to ride when I was their age. The daredevil girls also rode the Gravitron with Chris... Brian and I passed on that one. If I can figure out how to post it, I'll upload the video Chris took right after they rode the Gravitron. Really worth watching, if I do say so myself.

Last weekend it was, of course, rainy. We did go to the Fair parade in downtown Palmer. Couldn't miss out on an opportunity to see more of the old tractors!