Firepit!

This is as close to a "before" picture as I could get. Friday night after Dave's softball game, Dave was talking about how great it was to sit out in his sister's newly landscaped backyard and roast marshmallows around their firepit when he was out in NC. We've wanted one every since Dave's parents bought one off of craigslist for cheap a year or two ago, but always thought they were way too expensive. But Friday night we walked around the backyard and talked about where it would go- which then lead to Dave kicking down the old rotten fence behind the grill and clearing out the space! So on Saturday after a few hours of digging, 2 soccer games, and a trip to Lowe's- we were enjoying our roasted marshmallow s'mores with Reeses cups. Yum! It was a very magical night! :)


It was super easy to make and cost about $100. We paid more on top of that because we then bought a ton of river rock to cover the area we dug around. You just get the round paver stones (on sale for $1.47 each) and set them up in a round circle that's the right width. Then you buy a metal firepit, don't attach the legs ($59) and place it on top! Super easy! And even if you are renting, you can take it with you, it's totally movable, but those pavers are pretty heavy, so they hold their own and won't fall down easily- there's no need for cementing them together. We discovered a huge redwood root right in the middle of the spot, so it should work perfectly as a bench!

How cute is she?

Norie and her leopard "Waffle"

Ebay and his snow leopard "MarioLuigiBowserYoshi"

Silly Lils

Kitchen Makeover

Last weekend I called Dave as he was driving home from work on Friday and said, "I know what we're doing this weekend!" So between 2 soccer games, a softball game and BYU football- we sanded, cleaned, primed, painted, and put new hardware on our kitchen cabinets! I love the outcome! It was a lot of hard work, but the cabinets had been chippy and messy and dark since we moved in, and it was just time. We started on Friday night, took down the cabinet doors (that took Dave all of 5 minutes), and started sanding. That made a huge mess everywhere and it took a while to get all of the sanded paint and wood off of everything. Then the painting of the primer began. We got the primer on everything before going to bed on Fri at 1 am. Saturday we just painted coats of our beautiful cream color on the cabinets throughout the day. The one thing I wished we hadn't done was use painters tape. It ruined all of our edges. But I always just thought you had to use tape... you just had to, right? No. Our good friend Brad came over and said that you can just use a small brush and paint the edges carefully using a wet paper towel to wipe up the mistakes... GENIUS! :)
The chipping of the cabinets and the greasiness.
All primed up.
This was how it looked after we were finished on Monday night. We waited for the paint to set up nicely for two/three days before putting the doors back on. I noticed that the table didn't go as nicely anymore and that the pantry door needed to be painted as well, it stuck out like a white sore thumb. So, while Dave and Easton have been gone this weekend, I set to work on Thursday painting the door, chairs and table. Here's the final result:


Yay! I love it! We used black/antique bronze hardware to bring in the black surrounding our windows and our appliances. The table and chair legs were already black, do they just needed the tops painted. I still haven't put the glass back on the table, still waiting for it to completely dry. I love my kitchen! The next project is taking down that kitchen florescent light thingy of hugeness and putting in recessed lighting. Thank you google.

These Make Me Happy

I was looking through the pictures on my phone and came across these great little moments! Here's Ebay playing goalie for the first time in a scrimmage! I don't think I've ever seen him so excited! I showed the picture to Dave and he got a tear in his eye! :)

Lils and her little best friend. It was Lils' first day at her new school! I was so happy she had a good friend there to help her through.
When Lils is at school, it's just the three of us. E and Rose have a cute love/'noying friendship. Here's a sweet moment where they shared a seat at the gym while I checked in. They do this every morning.
Rose and Lils were playing on the softball fields during Ebay's soccer practice. There was dirt everywhere! Coating each individual eyelash!
Ebay got some cool snow boats from his Grandma in preparation for our Thanksgiving trip to Utah. He went through a phase where he was wearing them everywhere throughout the house for weeks.
Holding hands walking to the gym. My favorite and very rare occurrence.
Lils and Rose sharing a milkshake at Red Robin. We go to Red Robin every year on the first day of school! (A tradition I just made up when Lils went to Kindergarten- it's been a good one!)
When Lil and I went tout to Virginia together she wanted to get her Daddy something at the airport so bad! She found this shot glass and was so excited to see Pres. Obama! She thought it was the coolest and that Dave would want it so bad! I almost bought it for the joke (it says "Yes We Did!" on it). But the laugh wasn't worth $7.95, so I just took a picture and sent it to him.
Also from our Virginia trip- we got to ride on this from D.C. to Richmond! So cool!
My little stylin' girl! She wore these monkey boots everywhere, but when she wore them to the pool in her swim suit, I had to take a pic.
Dave used my phone at the father and son camp out because his battery was dead, so I have this sweet little shot of Ebay having the best time of his life with his Daddy!

Quiet Time

Thank goodness for quiet time. Quiet time is every day during Norie's nap. I put her down for her nap, help E get to the guest room downstairs with toys for quiet time, and then I go upstairs and get ready for the day (this is after being at the gym). I came downstairs yesterday to find this (above picture). I love how E is just laying with his blanket all cuddly reading a library book. He had moved the library book basket so it was right next to him, and had lined up his and Norie's boots to a special spot. I just thought it was too cute and had to take a shot.

This was a picture I took this morning before Lils went off to school. The kids were just cuddling up together and giggling. These are the sweet times you try to remember the rest of the day when the kids are driving you crazy. :)

9 Years!

Dave and I have been married 9 years today! Happy Anniversary Davey!

Stinton Beach

We had such an amazing weekend with some great friends, the Hancock's! They live about an hour away and so we grabbed a Saturday and hung out in the San Fran area. It was so fun! (NOT San Fran, though!) Saturday morning driving in was crazy. It took us around 45 min to get in and parked. Yikes. I was so glad I wasn't driving! We tried to go to Golden Gate Park, but there was a concert there this past weekend and we couldn't find parking anywhere. We ended up eating a pizza while parked out in a red zone, then heading off to a beach Erica knew of. What a difference a few miles make! Stinton Beach is 9.5 miles (35 min driving) from San Fran and an incredible find. As soon as we left the traffic, noise, and dirtiness of the city, we were surrounded by trees, gorgeous views of cliffs, and a fresh ocean breeze. It was perfect. This top picture of Rose about sums up our beach day! So fun!

My favorite part of the day was seeing Rose enjoy the sand. She loved it so much. Dave said the sand to Baby No was like catnip to a cat. It really was! She was laying in it, rolling around, giggling, and just plain happy. She is not normally so sweet and happy and so Dave and I just enjoyed all of it!

It's nice to be friends with a great photographer! Erica takes gorgeous pictures and so I asked her to take a family shot. As you can tell, there was a breeze blowing my hair into a lion's mane. Nice.

Erica and her cutie, Claira

Love this! Ebay got some sand in his eyes and this is his shock after Dave poured some cold water into his eyes. He was screaming, but his face is priceless.

Baby No playing in the Nora-nip.

Than and Dave built a large "Turtle Mansion" with the kids. It was very intricately detialed! I was impressed.

Dave and Than hanging out. We sure love the Hancock's! They are some of our oldest friends. Dave grew up with Than and Erica- they all hung out in High School and at church. Than and Dave were college roommates, and we've hung out a lot together as much as we can during our married years. We've always lived far away from eachother, so it's fun to have them within driving distance!

Happy Baby No

Ebay!

She kept rubbing her hair and face in the sand. Wha-?

I love this picture of Dave and Than laying on the blankets with their baby girls! They are fun Daddy's. After the beach, we went to a little beach hut type place for dinner. There was a fun playground right across the street, so we bought our hot dogs, fish 'n chips, and coconut shrimp ($36 total! lame!) over to the park and the kids just played and had a good 'ol time. Norie was hilarious! Whenever she'd go on the slide, she'd grab the bar at the top and just pop up her little legs in the air in a straddle showing off her little undies! It was so funny! She just kept doing it over and over and we were cracking up! There was a group of 5 or 6 12 year old girls there that thought she was the funniest thing. They even took a picture with her. It was great.

After our adventures by the beach Than and Erica introduced me to something I'd never experienced before and it was truly a mind-blowing experience! Thrifty ice cream at Rite-Aid?! Only here in CA, I guess. But every Rite-Aid has super cheap and yummy ice-cream. Life-changing. Thank you Than and Erica for a great Sat.