Pictures

Here are some photos from the last month! Hollywood, best friends, beach trips, birthdays, cousins and lots of fun!

Summer

It's so nice to have a summer break. We've already done a lot of "going". Lauren's best friend, Anna, came and stayed with us for two weeks. She lives in Oregon. While she was here we went to the beach, a swap meet, the mall (a couple of times), Knotts Berry Farm, Beverly Hills, Hollywood (Mann's Chinese Theater and Walk of Fame), swimming (a lot!), out to eat (too many times) and got haircuts. We also went on bike rides and shopped at the Marketplace. While we were at Knotts', I spied Snoopy and made all four of the kids get in a photo with him. I think they did it only because I had taken them to Knotts and it was the least they could do, not because they wanted their picture with Snoopy.

The girls and have the dining table completely covered with scrapbooking supplies. We scrapped on Sunday night and a little bit today. We've left it out because we are planning on doing some more tomorrow. I'm trying to work through a lot of my supplies. I've gotten rid of a lot, but when I sit down to scrap, I realize that I still have too much!

This is a short post, but I'm getting tired, so off to bed for me. I'm thankful for: Air conditioning, sunscreen and Costco potstickers.

Here's the bookshelf I want. I got paid a couple of days ago, so I think I'm going to buy it tomorrow. I really like the red. I don't think it's something that my sisters would pick for me :) I've always been more into neutral colors. But I think it will look great!

I've got the painting done. I absolutely love my kitchen color! It's called Paradise Valley. It's a green color. The new carpet is in. Most of the furniture is back in the house (including the new stuff). I still need to put stuff up on the walls. I think I'm going to buy a couple of canvases and do some of my own. Still not sure what, but I'm looking for ideas.

I'm itching to do some scrapbooking. All of my stuff is still in the garage, but I'll move it in this weekend.

Tonight was a baptism at church. I don't think I've ever been to a Wednesday night baptism, but it was great. A nine-year old boy who's family doesn't come much decided he wanted to be baptized. There were a lot of people there. I was in charge of the refreshments. We had brownies, cookies, ice water and raspberry lemonade. Healthy, huh??? Speaking of healthy, I'm so excited to be able to go to the farmers' market this summer! I love fresh food. I only have 4 more days of work. Wow! This year seemed to go by fast!

Dallin is looking forward to high school. He isn't looking forward to 5:55 am seminary. Seminary is basically a weekday "Sunday" school for high school students. It's not required, so the kids that make an effort to get up early and go deserve a pat on the back. Each of the four years of high school is spent studying a different book of scripture. One year it's the Old Testament, then New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. I loved seminary. I really learned a lot and my testimony of Jesus Christ grew so much then. I was luck enough to be able to attend release-time seminary, which is when you take it as a high school class. I think it was 3rd period. We had a seminary building (converted house) right across the street from the high school. Don Davis was my seminary teacher. He was really good. I wonder what he's doing now. Ann-Marie, do you know?

I'm getting tired, so I'm going to go to my room and read some Mary Higgins Clark and then hit the hay! Goodnight!

I'm thankful for: the Gospel, southern California weather and watermelon.

I must be insane and new furniture

I painted our kitchen, dining area and living room (basically all one room) and our hallway in Novemeber. I painted it a beige-khaki-tan color. Well, I've decided I want a little more color in our living space. Color makes me happy! So, I'm repainting. Yes, I'm crazy! Six months and I'm doing it again. I'm going back to a light colored wall...saffron ivory. It's basically a white with a bit of yellow in it. We don't get a lot of sun so I thought going really light would be good. We are getting new carpet on Monday. We just bought a new sectional sofa (delivery is next Wednesday!) It's a brown color. I know, I know! I said I like color. But, I want my big stuff to be neutral because I like changing my mind and my rooms almost as much as I like color. So, here's the plan: Saffron ivory walls in the living/dining area, fun green walls in the kitchen, brown sofa, colorful pillows, curtains and artwork. I hope it turns out as fun as it is in my head. I'm trying to get all of the painting done before the new carpet comes. Oh, and we are getting a new mattress delivered tomorrow...can't wait for that! We also bought a new dining table and chairs. I've never had a brand new dining table. The one we are using now was a Goodwill find several years ago. I paid $80 for it. Repainted it and recovered the chairs (a couple of times). The new table is counter height. It's perfect for us, because Cooper (our dog) likes to put his front paws on the edge of the table and lick up anything left on the table - yep, disgusting! For those of you that have eaten from that table, you can stop dry heaving because I do disinfect! Anyway, it will be nice that he can't even reach to put his paws up on the table. And perfect for standing and scrapbooking!!!
I'm counting down the days until summer vacation! Still loving my job, but I'm ready for some relaxation :) I wish David could take some time off this summer. He's sick today. He went to work because he has this big presentation tomorrow that he had to prepare for. I'm not sure what tomorrow will be like for him, though. As soon as he got home today he took Nyquil (is that spelled correctly???) and went to bed. Poor guy! He says he has to go to work tomorrow.
I'm getting tired, so off to read a little and then hit the hay - last night with this mattress. Today I'm thankful for: sunny days, paint rollers, Sprouts (farmer's market grocery store)

Thankful

My sister, Natalie, reminded me that I didn't post what I was thankful for. I'm still working on making this a habit! So here are six things I'm thankful for (3 for my last post and 3 for this one):
1. My sister, Natalie
2. rain
3. libraries
4. pink nail polish
5. contacts (and glasses, too)
6. Fridays!!!!!

David bought an xtracycle. It's a "thing" that you add onto a regular bike and it makes the bike longer and able to carry up to 350 pounds. There are bags that you can put stuff in and a seat that will hold two people (in addition to the driver). It's awesome! David took Sara to the beach on Saturday. They took towels, a beach umbrella, snacks, blanket, books/magazines. They left our house around 8:30 am and didn't get home until 6 pm. They rode a total of 30 miles! Sara loved it. I think this is something we will do on a Saturday with all of us. Not all on the extracycle, though!

Busy

I've been soooooo busy!!! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. I'm writing this just before heading out the door to go to work, so it'll be short. I wanted to post a couple of pics of my bedroom makeover. We've been needing an office space, so I created one in our room. I really like it. I have scrapbook stuff in all of the drawers of the desk. You'll notice in one of the pics I still need to find a home for a few things. But it's coming along! And I really need to update my blog photo. I don't like that one. I'll try to get that done as soon as I can. I've been working on a scrapbook for an auction that the young women in our ward are doing to raise money for camp. The auction is tomorrow night, but I'm almost finished. I'm teaching a scrapbook class (Mommy and Me) on Saturday and just picked up the product yesterday! I need to get everything into kits by Saturday noon-ish. Tonight I have a Stake Primary meeting. I also need to get Dallin to a doctor appt and Sara to Activity Days today after school. Hmmmmm...I guess I need to figure out something fast for dinner, too!

I'm going to try to start something new (inspired by a blog I read). I'm going to post 3 things that I'm thankful for ever time I post.

I'm thankful for...art, straightening irons and the birds chirping outside my window.