GIRL PARTY!

We had a fun girl party, for our fun birthday girl this weekend! Ashley invited 8 cute friends over to hot-tub, play doll-house and watch a movie! It was so much fun!



















Ashley is our sweet little ray of sunshine around here. She is our flower. She is our sweet-heart. She is so dainty and feminine, she loves to daydream and sing and play and plan, like all girls do. She loves taking care of her baby sister, she loves spending time with her mom. She is my good little friend, and I'm often impressed by her maturity. She understands a lot and is eager to learn about the world around her. She wants to be a teacher, or a kids' doctor, or a daycare worker, and most definitely a mother. She is going to do some remarkable things in her lifetime and I can't wait to watch them unfold.

Most importantly, now that she is 8, she is going to be baptized! She is so excited about her pretty white dress and the big day coming up on October 8th. Nana and Poppi are coming down to support her, we can hardly wait!

Project Complete.

Let me start by telling you of two blogs that I have grown to love recently, in regards to house projects: www.betterafter.blogspot.com (scroll down under a blue tile bathroom remodel and you'll find a wonderful red, blue, brown and green room which has been my inspiration). Also, www.favoritepaintcolors.blogspot.com Both are very fun to look at.

We did it! The house is painted and almost all put back together! It's been so theraputic to pull down, take out, and move every single thing in this house and then to clean it, dust it or declutter it as we've put it back. In some ways it feels like we just moved in again - only easier. M - F though this has been our life.

Thankfully, we are happy with our color choices. As you'll see in this picture I had about 10 paint samples on my walls the week before we went into this...debating. But we love how it turned out.

Before and Afters:
Entry:
before
after
Living room:
before
during
after

Kitchen:
before
during
after
Family room:
before
during
after
Mater bath:
before
after
Basement:
Good-bye Ute red!

Go Cougs!

Painting in progress!

We slept here at my moms house last night because our whole house is wrapped up in plastic and painters tape!

Getting all new colors inside, can't wait to see the finished product.

Here's a pic I snapped with my iPad during the chaos and when I felt like we had been evicted as they chased us out of the house to start working...

Before and after pics to come...! :)



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Claire has a little problem

Claire learned two new things this week. 1- how to crawl! 2- how to sit up in bed. Only problem is she doesn't know how to lay herself back down. The past two nights we've checked on her and found her asleep sitting up, leaning and bobbing back and forth. I just looked in at her on the monitor and she's doing it again. Sleeping sitting up, resting her head on her blankie between her legs.

Because of this, she's gotten grumpy. If we go in to lie her down she wakes up and cries (screams half asleep), but if we leave her be she wakes up and cries after about a half hour anyway. Its a new, and hopefully, short-lived phase for her.






Here she is on the monitor - that's her dark little head on the top left. Her back and bum are stuck in the corner and she's bending forward snoozing on her purple blankie. :)

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99 is cool

It's been so stormy here this weekend! Saturday night we had gusting wind, lightning, thunder and dime-size hail! Tyler and I hustled out back to rescue the pool umbrellas and picked up pieces of hail, which Tyler ate. We looked up at the grey sky and said, "This is so weird. Ice-chunks falling from the sky and it's not even cold outside!" Meteorologists we are not, so we don't understand how this happens. Something to google.

This morning I started another session of swim lessons. I was surprised to feel how cold the pool had gotten over the weekend! After an hour and a half in there I had goosebumps! And two weeks ago the water felt like bathwater.

Tonight after another wind and rain storm, Tyler and I went on a bike ride. Upon feeling coldish gusts of air in our hair I commented to him, "Can you believe we've survived another summer!?" Its debatably the best time of year for Arizonan's when they realize the heat is subsiding!

At last September is here and with it comes delightful double digit degrees! October - May: The reward for surviving our ridiculously hot summers! We're almost there!


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A great birthday for a great boy!

Luke turned 9 years old last week! Incredible, I've almost been a mom for a decade and he is already half way through his time at home with us! Where does the time go? Someone seriously needs to invent a pause button or slow-mo remote for life.

But, to celebrate his big day we went to dinner at his favorite restaurant Bennihana like last year. It was fun and delicious.
Then we went across the street to the mall to the Lego store where he picked out a set for his present.

Saturday was his SPY party. We invited 5 boys over with a top secret delivery, gave them each a secret agent name and password to call and RSVP with. They came dressed as spies and we did activities that had to do with spy training: dart gun target practice, sardines in the dark, scavenger hunts and watched Spy Kids. Luke was happy and his buddies had a good time.

Luke is a great, awesome, amazing boy! We Love him!!



































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