Our Front Room Makeover

I took this "before" picture to sell this rug on Craisglist... still hasn't sold. But it shows the room before I freshened it up. It was a dusty room with never-used furniture, a hard, linty (ugly) rug, and three paintings that I had done. I wanted something fresh and usable! So we threw the lovesac down there, brought our old TV out of hiding and mounted it. I made some throw pillows to go with the gorgeous blue ones that I found at Pier 1. And my favorite thing is the rug! It is a 3 inch thick shag pile rug! It is so soft and comfy! The kids, and Dave, love it! It was Dave approved as he laid out and napped on it yesterday. I have a few little sea shells laying around in jars that I put in there to go with the ocean painting (hard to see it with the lamp light on it, but oh well!). We use this room so much more now. And it is the first thing people see when they come over, so hopefully it will give a nice impression. It is always good to actually use rooms in your house. The last thing I'm going to do is get some pretty white curtains and lamps.

Catching up

Here are the last few weeks in pictures! Starting with the latest- Dave is working on a playhouse for our never-used sideyard. When you live in California, you have to use every inch of your yard- because it's usually pretty meager! Dave, his Dad, and brother poured the concrete a few weekends ago and now Dave's building the walls. Ebay got to stay up a bit late tonight to help his Daddy out. He and Lils were running back and forth fetching nails, screws, levelers, and tape measurers! They were also great helps with knocking boards over and playing in the dirt. :)

Just a few shots of Rose. She wore pigtails for the first time today! I've tried them in the past, but this time there was actually a decent amount of hair to work with. My kid's favorite snack right now: banana boats. You know, you cut a notch in a banana, fill with peanut butter and then put your "people" on your boat. Lils favorite toppers are chocolate chips, E likes goldfish on his, and Rose likes raisins. It's just the little details I like to remember about my kids.


Oh, if you haven't heard, Lils FINALLY lost her first tooth! One of her bottom teeth! I have never seen anyone so excited and consumed with a tooth coming out, but I know any of you guys with 6/7 yr olds can vouch for the awesome excitement of toothlessness... Dave tied dental floss around her tooth to "test" how loose it was. He took two little tugs to see if it was loose enough to tie on the door, but instead he just yanked a bit harder the third time and out it came! Lils was so surprised! She and Dave couldn't stop laughing! Daddys can be tricky!

Speaking of... Dave's usual month-long birthday celebration has not disappointed this year. His birthday seems to get bigger and more time-enveloping as the years go by. It starts in March with a "oh, I'll just get this for my birthday". It continues with "let's celebrate this weekend early because my family's in town" and ends with "this is my actual birthday weekend!" Yes. It is a good time. I surprised him with his Dad, brother, and bro-in-law taking him out to play golf on Saturday. Then we had pizza, chips, and this lovely cake. Dave's two favorite cakes are carrot cake and cheese cake... so I combined them. Yes, it is homemade cheesecake sandwiched between homemade carrot cake and finished off with cream cheese frosting! it was SO good! Try it! I froze the cakes to make them easier to layer.

MMMMMM.....

Last weekend we were in Oroville with Dave's family. We had a wonderful weekend playing outside and using their restaurant-grade ice cream machine every minute of the day! Yum! Everyone took a trip up to Table Mountain to see the blossoming wild flowers. Lils and I missed out on this outing because She got a migraine. So i stayed home with her. Poor girl. She gets headaches pretty often and migraines once or twice a month where she'll go up to her room, put a pillow over her head, throw up a few times, cry... and Dave and I are pretty helpless. We're trying a few medications to see if we can help her. I've also been tracking what she eats and does to see if there's a correlation.

Anyways, Rose and Ebay had a great time with their Grampy and Gramma.

E looking at the flowers up close.

We're in the grade levels now so that means project time! Lils first school project was to make a diaramma of her favorite book. She chose Dr. Seuss' "McEligot's Pool". She cut the shoe box, painted it, wrote all the the information and colored in all of the characters! The only thing I had to do was draw the pictures and hang them. She looked at the book and colored the fish just like the book, mixing colors! I was very proud.

Well, thats' all for now. Loving the beautiful spring weather! Oh, and Dave's REAL birthday is not until the 25th. More fun to come for Dave's Birthday Bash 2010!

New Painting

I did this painting a few weeks ago when Dave was in Boston on business. I bought this huge 4 x 5 ft canvas from "Micheal's" for $45 and wanted to really take my time on this one. So, I put my "Masterpiece Theatre" on the TV, propped the canvas up on the back of my couch and began. I thought that I would spend the whole first night on just the sky. Well, three hours later I was almost done! So, this one took me 4 hours. I want to learn how to paint more technically and realistic. Maybe take some Rec painting courses, but for now I am happy with this! I wanted it to be playful, colorful, and fresh. It was a really fun experience. I am re-decorating my front room into a more useful, soft space. We never use the area because the rug was hard, the couch was not inviting and it was just a blah room. We've added our extra TV down there, we're getting a soft shag rug, new curtains and pillows, and throwing the love sac down there. So it should be a fun space for the kids to watch a movie or play games! Once we get all of the things together, I'll post before and after pictures.


Here's the photo. It's of Sand Dollar Beach at Ft. Bragg. I took this photo when we were there last Sept. and have been wanting to paint it. Don't compare too closely! I just had fun with it.

For My Family...

Here are some more pictures that we took last Sunday before church in our front yard!

Half-Marathon

If you were to ask me a year ago if I would ever run 13.1 miles, I would've laughed! No way! But after a year of running at the gym, weight training, and cardio... I've stayed in the same place. Sure, I feel healthier, I can do more, but I wasn't pushing myself. I would run 2 or 3 miles on the treadmill and then go on to weights. I was getting lazy! So I needed a new goal (besides the weight-loss one that I've been dealing with for the past 2 years). There are around 15 ladies from my ward running a half marathon in a month and they've inspired me! Four weeks ago I ran farther than I ever have in my life, 5 miles. Last weekend 7.3. It was so hard, but amazing to push myself like that... and actually do it! Now I finally get you running people! It feels good!

I am not writing about this to brag or anything.... :) I want some help with my playlist! What are your favorite pump-up, kick butt songs? I need fun, fast, appropriate :) running songs. I have been listening to the same All-American Rejects and Outkast, and need some new stuff! Help me out!

Family Pictures

I forced my friends to take our pictures today at church on the temple grounds and I took pictures of their families in return! Thanks, guys! They turned out pretty good! Especially the one of the three kids. Aren't they darlin'?

Ski Day!

Yesterday, thanks to my wonderful father-in-law (who took care of our kids) Dave and I went skiing with Dave's brother, Jeff and wife, Steph. Their celebrity name is Jeffanie. I guess mine and Dave's is Davnore or Lenave... not as catchy. Anyways, I snowboard and Dave skis. It was a beautiful day at Lake Tahoe where we skied at this incredible resort! We 've never been there before, but they had cheap tickets from Costco, so that's where we went! It felt like this hidden gem. It was a Saturday, but for the most part Dave and I felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.

We used to go every Friday our first year of marriage up at Sundance when we lived in Utah. Our first time skiing/snowboarding together was a little crazy. Dave's been skiing since he was 6 or 7. I grew up in Virginia, so we went maybe 5 or 6 times in my youth and that was it! So our first time snowboarding together, I fell down every 2 seconds! I was so glad to go every Friday with him and by the end of the winter, I was keeping up. Stephanie was basically there for the first time and so Jeff was teaching her how to ski. They stuck together and Jeff helped her through her falls. It was just like Dave's and my first time together! I felt so bad for both Jeff and Steph! But they were so cute and Jeff was so supportive and helpful and sweet. Yesterday, I felt so good up there snowboarding. I felt alive, active, and free as I carved the mountain and looked out onto the gorgeous lake below! It was truly a beautiful experience! I felt good and in control. When it came time for lunch, though, nothing ever tasted as good as that turkey sandwich and chips we brought! Dave and I were able to ski together all day and just enjoy each other's company. We were laughing, talking, skiing, and goofing around. So much fun!

We went to "Homewood" and the first ski lift up was amazing! The slope up felt like a 45 degree angle and behind us was a gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe. The snow was fresh and perfectly groomed and it was the best day of boarding I've ever had!