Matched set

Andrew loves those Crocs shoes, he also loves running. Crocs don't love running. Poor knees. He went sliding across the parking Monday afternoon and got the right knee and then Monday night he went sliding across the sidewalk and got the other. He hands actually don't look to bad and this picture was right after bath time so they are significantly cleaned up. He does more damage walking that he does falling off his bike.

Weekend Highlights

We headed down to the San Rafael Swell this weekend and Goblin Valley state park. I had been here before a few times and have always wanted my kids to get to see it. I saw something this weekend I'd never seen before - a stream running down the middle of Goblin Valley. This is a place you almost have to see to believe. A valley a mile wide and two miles long full of little mushroom shaped rocks. Normally it's really hot and dry here. There is a shade tree or a drop of water for miles. It rained pretty much most of the weekend. We stayed at camp until almost 1:00 in the afternoon Sat and finally figured if the kids were going to see it, it would have to be in the rain. It ended up being so much fun. Lots of mud, but so much fun.
The next morning, the skies were blue for as far as we could see. We decided to chance it and head up a slot canyon. They are dangerous in rain due to flash floods, but it really didn't look like anything menacing on the horizon. We hiked for two hours, had lunch, hiked out and made it to camp about half an hour before a storm with lightening and thunder rolled in. I'm so glad we got to do it. I really wanted the kids to experience it and we timed it perfectly!
The thunderstorms made for some awesome lighting conditions. The Butte far off in the distance is about where the entrance to the park is.

The clouds also created awesome sunsets and rainbows.

I think the flowers were enjoying the rain.

The neatest thing is that there is nothing for miles. We did meet one other family with kids down the dirt road we camped along and one other set of campers farther than them, but other than that, nothing. The dog got to be off leash and run free and we were able to let the kids roam the countryside literally with reckless abandon and just be kids. Their favorite pastime was sliding down the dirt hills.

I haven't fallen off the planet. Just busy. I did manage to spend part of Monday afternoon eating ice cream in the hammock with the kids. It was a nice way to spend the time. Nathan and Paul have been putting together a little regatta boat for boy scouts. Andrew still wants to ride his bike every waking minute of the day. Last night I attended a lecture on pediatric urology. I learned soooo much. The speaker was awesome, had tons of slides and a great sense of humor. That always makes it more fun to attend. It was hard to see all the surgeries they perform on little boys with congenital issues. Poor little babies. There weren't a ton of men there, but the women were cringing for them. It makes a circ look like a walk in the park. It is amazing all the things research and technology can and have done. Tonight we have our Fireproof class and then hopefully camping this weekend.

sedimentary layering

This was a favorite picture of mine from Moab on the Pritchett Canyon trail we did earlier this year. Not only can you see the different silty layers (tilted up), you can see an unconformity (where the banded silty layers are "sheared" off and a new, less silty layer is deposited over the top). With any luck we'll be camping in the region again soon. Moab is four hours Southeast, we are planning on heading to Goblin Valley which is about the same distance Southwest. I read one of those "you know your from Utah" jokes some years back and one of the indicators was you know how far everything is in hours, not miles. I have said I would never claim to be from here (I'm from the Mid-West) but I really thought everyone did that. I could tell you how many hours it takes to drive to at least 13 cities ~ even ones in neighboring states ~ with and without potty stops and even account for traffic differences depending on the time of day and day of the week. I have absolutely no idea how many miles it is to work, let alone anywhere farther.

Saltue to Disney

Nathan had his first grade program yesterday and all four classes got together to do a salute to Disney. All classes sang each song and then one class at a time came forward and did a performance. Lots of my favorite songs were sung like It's a Small World and Spoon Full of Sugar. I really liked the song his class performed to. It was "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio. They had little sticks and did a tapping sequence along with the music and some dance moves.
They have been practicing the songs for weeks now and Nathan even had a speaking / introduction part. He was fabulous.

my retreat

Even when I'm busy working, I love being in my office/craft room. It really is multi functional. There is a place to really work, a place to scrap book, a place to paint and a place to sew. When I saw this room as we looked at the house years ago I did that thing the realtor called 'mentally moving in'. The room was perfect and is almost what I had in mind. Especially more so after it flooded last year and I put cabinets on the walls to help get everything off the floor (altough there are still piles there once in awhile). I have a lot of people gush over how organized it is ~ I usually am organized, but this really looks like a mess to me. An inspiring creative mess, but a mess none the less - but, that's what doors are for. My favorite part is actually the door, although it's always open, but that I have a room off limits to the kids that I can leave stuff out mid thought (close the door if need be) and come back and pick up/ finish it when I get a few minutes. I can't imagine having to drag everything out, by the time I did that, I'd have to put it all back with out actually getting to create anything.

This is the view from the door of my side of the room. The room actually has another side that belongs to my husbands desk, oh and double closets, yeah!
One of my favorite things is this magnetic board - that you can't see. It was a piece of furnace duct sheet metal I got at home depot for something like $3.00. It's covered with tidbits of what I need to do, remember, and some pictures that inspire me - all held by magnets I created with my kids.

Another home depot gadget- a hardware organizer (3 actually) for all those small things like cat's eye ink pads, brads, eyelets, cross stitch floss, small rubber stamps, calligraphy pen ink and nibs, sealing waxes.
This paper organizer is also one of my fav's and it was free. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I rescued it with the help of my husband and brother from ending up in the city dump. A local copy store remodeled and had it sitting on their sidewalk until they got help getting it into the dumpster, so with permission, it ended up in our truck. And I often think I have no paper (it's no the right shade/color/tint - you know how you go to your closet and have 'nothing to wear' - it's like that).

I think this is why people think I'm organized or a bit obsessive maybe too. I have scrapped in chronological order with dates penned onto the outside on the binders, shelved in date order, with negatives (yes I'm old) and extra pics filed chronologically in the boxes above.

The sewing center, which holds my paints, sewing machines, and collects dust and odd things that don't fit on the table in the middle. Above it are shelves with baskets holding ribbon and other really odd things that don't fit in the cabinets~ which also hold my teddy bear collection up above.

Hopefully it inspires you, Enjoy!

Apparently normal is overrated. Between our weekly marriage class, a bi monthly meeting and a ballet that I only go to four times a year, and Memorial day coming up, I now have something booked almost every night for the next two weeks. At least some of it is camping. I just want to get away. It seems that other things are just falling apart as well. Our dear friends had to put their dog of thirteen years to sleep Monday night an my mom's back in the hospital, this time hopefully for just a week.

Smiling faces make lots of things better. Our friend Lauri that we met in Moab took some pictures of the kids and emailed them to me. This is one of my favorites of Andrew. He looks so small in it. And dirty. I think little boys are supposed to be dirty except when their not. And he's not dirty just 'cause he's a kid, but Moab tends to turn you a dirt color. He almost blends right in.

gardens

We've had a bit of our own tulip festival going on. Last year I splurged a bit and bought bulbs from the garden store rather than the home improvement store. This year we had a lot of beautiful ones in multiple colors come up. We have four fruit trees and last year we moved our strawberries out from under the apricot to where they'd get more sun. We didn't have any berries last year and figured the plants were just re-establishing. If we have half as many berries as we have blooms I'll be ecstatic this year. There are hundreds of blooms. Apparently they like their new home. I included a picture of Andrew helping Paul and an after picture with all the tomatoes planted.

I think today we get back to a normal schedule. Which will be nice. Not that being busy is all that bad. We've been able to visit with family near and far, have a lot of meals together, had a nice brunch and dinner for mothers day and got a lot done around the house. For the latter part I'd like to say 'we", but Paul, got all the tomatoes and vegetables planted, cleaned the windows (they needed it), and did some spring yard cleaning. It looks great! As much as I love visiting family the highlight had to be seeing the Eagles in concert Saturday. When they announced the concert months ago, Paul suggested it might make a good birthday present and it was on his birthday. I feel like I got off easy. He's hard to shop for, and this was a present to myself as well. It was an amazing concert ~ they did lots of their old songs. They did both of my favorites, and the weather luckily cooperated which was good since it was outdoors.

week in review

Busy is an understatment, but we'll be back to normal in a few days. I wanted to post a few pictures of our adventures the other day. We headed to wheeler farm hoping to see baby duck-A-lings (as Andrew calls them). We were blessed with baby ducks - lots of them, as well as baby geese, calfs and lambs!

I love this picture of the boys. Nathans elementary school had a picnic for moms yesterday. They didn't finish their chips at lunch so later in the afternoon they headed to the back yard to share the rest of them in the hammock.

Surprise!

My hubby is turning 40 this Saturday. Most of our friends have hit this milestone in the last few months and it seems the thing to do is a surprise party. I think he was almost expecting one so the surprise was it was four days early. Between our schedule and our friends schedules, Tues was the only free night. I also like throwing Cinco de Mayo parties so it worked out well. We had Mexican dishes and margaritas. The weather was perfect and we ended up eating out on the deck. I'm counting on all these same people forgetting when I turn 40. They've assured me they won't, although I won't hit it for a year and a half. I hear the memory is the first to go so with some luck maybe they'll forget.

hand made cards

I love cards, I love making them and giving them. I was flipping through a Stampin' Up idea book the other day and found a card I really liked but I didn't have the stamps or the ink they used so I made a similar one in different colors and used paint and bulky stamps. I have tons of these bulky stamps. They are pretty affordable, my kids even buy their own with their allowance.

I started with kraft colored card stock , chambrae blue, pineapple yellow, and a brown. An 8 1/2 x 11 sheet cut in half twice will make the front to four cards.

Next you cover the foam stamp with an even coat of paint.


Press it down firmly and evenly on the paper.

Continue with different stamps in other paints until you have the paper covered with your design. I just stamped randomly. Let it dry and then cut in half lengthwise and width wise. You should have four pieces that are 4 1/2 x 5 1/2. I trim off about a centimeter extra from each side so I can mount it on a different color of card stock and have it peek through around the design. Next choose a color for your base. Remember to choose a lighter color because this will be the inside of the card where you write.

Glue the painted cards stock on top of the folded cardstock. You can leave as is, or I like to tear an edge and ink it, or add ribbon. Here is a scanned images of four of the cards I made, two each on blue and two on yellow. If you really wanted to mount it on a darker card stock, you can use a lighter color cut slightly smaller glued inside to write on.

These are simple and inexpensive - and an easy project to do with kid. The bulky foam stamps are easy for them to hold.
Have fun!

weekend wanderings

I'm fairly active and it's been a week since this walk-a-thon thing my employer is doing and I think I hate walking already. It doesn't help that I walk fast and when I don't do it on a trend mill as I didn't the nights I circled the block like a vulture, I get shin splints. And since I've been doing that nearly everyday they aren't getting better. It's also been a challenge to fit it in between rain storms. But the dog is enjoying it. Enough complaining, we did something new this weekend. Now that Nathan is in scouts we went to the Scout-o-Rama. I've never heard of this and we were supposed to sell tickets to it, but it's hard to sell something you don't understand. It won't be hard next year. This was an amazing event. The entire expo center was filled with booths and all were activities a kid could do. They learned to tie knots and made their own rope, learned about wind and maps and rocks and minerals and on and on. There were areas to earn badges and patches and belt loops. The scout had fun as did the rest of us. My favorite was a booth about hypothermia (lots of safety and preparedness booths as well). I always wondered about falling through the ice somewhere and how cold the water would be and how you react. At this booth, you plunged your arm into ice cold water for 30 seconds and then tried to pick up pennies. I almost pulled my arm out it was so cold and I started a bit late so I really only had about 28 seconds. I actually picked up four pennies which was better than the others I'd seen but I was amazed by how physically painful the cold is. I hope I never experience that again.