The completed project

After lots of hours of manual labor, Jon did get Savannah's bed refinished. He completed it a little while ago, but it wasn't until this weekend that we got all of the bedding out and made it official. My mom gave us matching bedding for both Melanie and Savannah's beds that used to belong to my younger sisters. It's still in really good condition and of course the girls think that it's fabulous because it's new to them. It also took us most of the week to get the girls' room clean, so we were very proud of our final project. I think that Savannah's bed turned out great. She loves that she has a bed skirt and flat sheet, just like Mom and Dad's bed. Of course, she also likes the little decorative throw pillows too. Melanie really wants Daddy to get to work on her bed, so she can match Savannah. But she's happy with the throw pillows for now. We even got matching curtains to hang in the room. Those hadn't even been taken out of their packaging. Savannah was very excited that I let her help me iron them. And I think that they added just the right touch to the room. Now I just need to convince Savannah to leave them alone. She keeps taking the cute button ties off and letting the curtains just hang straight down. Silly little girl. But she was so proud of her new bed. Her and Melanie fell asleep in it together last night, and then Savannah was so excited to make her bed like a big girl, complete with pillows, this morning. I just hope that lasts.

Workin' Hard

Savannah is majorly growing out of her little toddler bed and we have planned on getting her a twin bed for a while, but somehow we keep putting it off. But a few weeks ago, we inherited 2 twin frames from my parents. These poor beds are quite old and have taken a good amount of abuse, but Jon and I have high hopes for them. We are trying to continue our record of not having to purchase any bed/crib that we possess. Jon started sanding that weekend, but we've put off doing any more work on them these last few weeks. So Jon dedicated all of today to working on getting Savannah a new bed. That's what Labor Day is for, right? The poor guy sanded almost all day and is finally close to being done with just 1 of the beds. It still needs to be primed and painted, but at least we're much closer to a finished product now. Sorry Melanie, but it may be a while before we get around to sanding the 2nd bed. But the kids also took advantage of Jon being outside. The girls swam in the pool and totally loved it. Spencer tried to join in on the fun, but he had more fun just wandering around, trying to help Jon, and climbing on everything. As you can see, he also sat in the mud. I keep forgetting to buy swim diapers, so his poor little suit was totally sagging. But he had a fabulous time! Even when he's dirty, he's still so cute!

Mother's Day meets Father's Day

I posted a while back that we had ordered a clock to be made for our family room. I was so excited to get a call yesterday saying that the clock was finally done! It was delivered right to our door and Jon had it hung before the kids had finished their dinner! I absolutely love how it turned out! I think that it's perfect! Jon and I debated for a long time whether to get the 2 foot or 3 foot clock and I'm glad that we went with the 3 footer. And in case you're wondering the quote says, "The future is as bright as your faith." It's from President Monson's last conference talk and I absolutely love it, so now I have it on a clock! And here's my Mother's Day gift hanging up with Jon's Father's Day gift. Jon is a little jealous that the clock is bigger than the TV, but that's too bad. I tried to give you a good look at the size of the TV and the clock on that big wall, but I'm just not sure that the picture does it justice. But if you want to come over and see my clock, give me a call and I'll let you come on by. Or you could always have your own custom clock made...check out Clocks by Staci.

A Clock

I have been wanting to get a custom clock for our house since we moved in. I originally thought about having one made and giving it to Jon for Father's Day. But after thinking about it for a few months, I decided that I wanted his input on how the clock should look too. So I told him what I had been thinking and we got to work picking out a clock. I am so excited for it to come. I think that we've finally decided on all of the details...the size (this was one of the hardest choices), the color, the texture, the text, the font, the font color, etc. Anyways, my good friend Staci makes and sells clocks, and has patiently put up with us as we have tried to figure out what we want. We can't wait to see what the finally outcome looks like. I'll post pictures when we get it. If you're interested in getting a clock, check out Staci's blog: clocksbystaci.blogspot.com She'll be happy to help you too!

Peeping Tom

We have a window right above our shower. A few weeks ago, I went to get a quick shower and this is what I found. A lizard stuck between the screen and the glass! It was totally creepy! Certainly made for an awkward shower. I just couldn't figure out how he even got in there. I went out back and could see a small opening in the corner between the screen and the frame that he must have squeezed through. But once in there, there was no way he could get back out. The poor little guy kept trying desperately to get out, but to no avail. I thought about waiting until Jon came home and letting him take care of it, but then the poor lizard would have to sit in the direct sun for quite a few hours. And some of you may recall that it was really hot a few weeks ago! And I really didn't want him to bake to death in my window! So I decided to try and rescue it myself. My girls can certainly attest to the fact that I was completely petrified. I tried to take the screen off, but it didn't want to come off easily. And I didn't want to unnecessarily damage it. So the only other option was to open the window and let it in the house. I really didn't like this option, but it seemed to be the most reasonable. I thought that the lizard might make a break for it when I opened the window, but he stayed put on the screen. I ended up catching him on my 2nd attempt with a large vase. I wanted to make sure that he couldn't possibly climb/jump out of whatever I caught him in. Here he is. I'm sure he didn't like being in there. The girls wanted to keep him as a pet, but I assured them that he (and myself) would be happier if we let him go. So we set him free in some shaded rocks in the backyard. I don't know what kind of lizard it was. I don't think that it was a gecko. It was brown and it had a blue belly. I was very happy to have him out of my house and also very proud of myself for getting him out despite being so squeamish.

Move #7

I guess that it is becoming more and more real every day, but at the end of the month Jon and I will be moving for the 7th time since we've been married. I really don't like to move, but we haven't lived in the same house for longer than 2 years (actually less than that). We have lived here for almost 16 months now, so I guess that our time is up. We have been looking for a new home since Spencer was born. It has definitely been a frustrating process. We absolutely love the ward that we live in now and it took us about 4 months to decide that we would have to look at homes outside of our ward boundaries if we didn't want to have to move again in 2 years! After looking at lots of awful homes, we finally found what we were looking for. It's a little further east than I would like it to be, but I'm willing to deal with it. The home is 4 bedrooms and a den. The kitchen and family room are very open. The girls' bedroom will actually be able to fit a real bed in it (as opposed to Savannah's toddler bed and Melanie's crib). They are very excited about the move too. (Savannah just wishes that all the current furniture would stay with the house!)We close on the 19th, but won't be doing our official move until the weekend after Christmas. So Merry Christmas, we get a new house!

FYI: We are planning on renting out our current home, so let me know if you know anyone that may be interested in a nice little 3 bedroom home.

Enjoying the Yard

While we were at the hospital with Spencer, we had sod put in our backyard. I think that the yard turned out great! (Nice work Bryan!) Jon finally bought a lawn mower last Saturday and cut the grass for the first time. It certainly made it look great! Now we just need some flowers or a garden in the back planter area.Later that day, we blew up a little pool for the girls and let them go swimming. The had a ton of fun and were covered with so much grass when they were done! Jon sat out there with them and turned on the sprinklers too. Melanie wasn't a big fan of the sprinklers, but overall, they had a great time!

Yard Update

For those of you that recall, we started digging up our backyard back in November. Our back fence is about 9 inches higher that our patio. So we were having a lot of draining issues. We removed a ton of dirt and then it rained about 4 weekends in a row. Needless to say, it has been somewhat neglected since then.It was a pretty pathetic sight. And if it rained, then Savannah called it the muddy mud pit! We did get one of my brothers and his friend to come and remove some more dirt back in March. But now summer was creeping up on us and it wasn't making any progress. So we hired my brother, Bryan, who is a contractor, to get our backyard finished. Since then, they've made great progress. If it hadn't rained last weekend, then we would have had sod already. But that has been postponed until later this week. So, I thought that I'd give you a sneak peak at what it looks like now. Can you believe how much higher the back fence is than our patio? That's why we had to remove so much dirt! And I think that the retaining wall looks so nice! Nice job Bryan (and crew)!

Mod Podge

I can't say that I'm a very crafty person, but I was so proud of myself for making this little sign at our RS Enrichment Activity this last week. I know that my sister-in-law, Maria, uses Mod Podge all the time and makes lots of creative things. She's always telling me how easy it is to use and it was pretty easy. So here's one more little decoration that I made myself!

Our Yard

We love having a little backyard, but unfortunately it has a problem with its grade. The back corner of our yard is 9 inches higher than the patio. Needless to say, all of the water from our sprinklers has been forming a large puddle right at the edge of the patio. In order to fix this problem, Jon and my brother, Bryan, rented a Bobcat last weekend. Bryan did all of the driving, but our yard was just so wet that they ended up making a "muddy mud pit," as Savannah likes to call it. The bobcat was kind of stuck and they had to dig their way out. So Saturday they made a big mess. But we lucked out and Bryan came back on Monday morning and worked on it all by himself. He even let Savannah help! The ground had dried some and he was able to finish what they had started. We really appreciate Bryan coming over and helping us out so much. There is still a lot of work to do on the yard, but Jon has some big plans. Thanks again Bryan for all of your help!

Cleaning the Yard

We have a small backyard and the previous owners left a push mower. So, since we don't have our own lawn mower, then Jon cut the grass with the push mower. Of course we didn't have a rake either; so we stole an extra one from his parent's house a few days later. When the time finally came, Melanie decided to help Jon rake up the grass. She was so cute!

Lovin' the Yard

Savannah and Melanie love being out back! It's so nice that the weather is cooling off slighly. I cleared our patio off so they could ride their little bikes and scooter around back there. They are totally loving it!

Lovin' the New Place

Well, it's only taken 2 weeks, but we finally have internet and have our computer mostly put together! So now I can get back to posting regularly!
We are loving our new little place! Savannah grew tired of it after about a week and informed us that she was ready for a new "new house". But she certainly loves her new room and is excited to show it off to everyone. She also loves having her own bathroom, which she shows off too; even though she still isn't using it for it's main purpose!

It's strange to have our own kitchen again, but it was nice that Savannah likes to help out with the dishes - or at least try to help out. And one of my favorite things is being able to back up the driveway, almost all the way to the front door and be able to unload groceries! It's just so conveniently handy! All in all, we're enjoying the new place!