Decorating on a budget.....

I have been anxious to do a few things around my house when it comes to the decorating. The walls are a plain color, the carpet is brown, the furniture is brown....all a little blah to me who loves COLOR. Nothing major. No painting, no wallpapering or complicated stuff like that that would put me over the edge. I just wanted to redo a floral arrangement that I had made several years ago. I got the floral stuff half off and re-used the container I already had. So here is a picture of my new arrangement along with a round mirror that I got for 75% off at my favorite place....Hobby Lobby!! Nothing like getting a great bargain that you can put to good use. Moving on to the next project......

Here is the card I made for my very first "card swap". The theme was black and white and I used the "Friendship Blooms" stamp set from Stampin' Up. Everything else is just black and white.....no need to give details!

Rocky Mountains reflecting on Bear Lake
Rocky Mountain National Park

Tiny squirrel eating pine cone. This squirrel is about half the size of a squirrel in the midwest.

Bugling Elk in Estes Park, CO

I cannot get over some of the beautiful places there are to see in Colorado!! I am loving the mountains and the wildlife that you get to see when you drive up there. We took a Sunday drive this past weekend and went to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. There is a short hike of about 3300 feet around the lake and the sights are just breath-taking. The water is crystal clear and you see trout swimming around. There are the smallest squirrels I have ever seen munching on pine cones, and "squeakers" as my kids call them--- known to the rest of us as chipmunks. We saw a herd of deer and lots and lots of elk as we drove through the town of Estes Park. The bull elk were bugling which is a sound you wouldn't expect. They are so big and tough looking but their bugle is a high pitched sound that the kids described as "sounds like they are doing that sound into a PVC pipe". Here are a few pictures to enjoy. Some look like postcards, but they are just amature shots taken by me or Barton.

A few snapshots of our summer..............

Thayne, WY Ralph and Ann Simpson's golf cart

Barton and boys--Estes Park, CO

Ben Delatour Scout Encampment for Nathan June 2008, Red Feather Lakes, CO

Barton's "mancation" rafting on the Arkansas River July 2008

Day Camp 2008--Ann shooting BB Guns (on the end)

Kempton Day Camp BB Shooting (red hat on the end) June 2008

Justin at Day Camp June 2008

Our Bear sighting in Grand Teton National Park Aug. 2008

Yellowstone, August 2008

Justin's Baptism June 21, 2008

Singing the Blues.......

Well it's back to school for everyone! Nathan's first day was today and he was singing the blues about being placed in choir class. He didn't choose that class when he chose his electives, but all the other electives were full so he was placed in choir! The school counselor told us that AFTER Labor Day he might be able to switch! What?? That's TWO WHOLE WEEKS away.

Kempton and Justin are attending Centennial Elementary and say they like their teachers. Kempton has a male teacher and he seems like a really cool guy. When dropping them off at school yesterday for their first day they were their usual independent selves and when they got to their pods turned around and looked at me and just said "goodbye". That's it....no walking them to their classroom door, no nothing! Independence can be a good thing because then there is the other end of the spectrum which you hope your children aren't.

Bryan and I with our new found freedom of just the two of us at home took a bike ride this morning and stopped at the park to play for a few minutes. It was a fun time on a nice cool, sunny morning.

Barton told me Sunday night that he needs to apply for a passport. "For what?", I said. His reply was that it's only a matter of time before he's traveling to Europe to work on the sales departments for Sunrise Medical over there! So much for a "non-traveling" job. It lasted a few months. As for the passport, I told him, "Well then apply for one. Walgreens does passport photos."

Bryan is on the "Potty Train" as of yesterday. With some "Cars" and Mickey Mouse underwear and some gum and skittles for positive reinforcements, so far it's been somewhat disasterous. He wakes up dry in the morning but is too moody and will not go potty. So we have to wait until later to get him to go. Today he pottied on the laundry room floor and on the garage floor and in the toilet once. Oh, what fun!

It has been some time since I put anything on my blog. Today I dropped off Nathan, Kempton and Justin at the rec center to swim.....so just Bryan and I are at home. He's playing in the kiddie pool while I work on this.

We have settled nicely into life in the West. It has been very warm and we have not had a drop of rain since we moved here. That is definitely something we are not used to. We miss the Illinois rains that can last for days at a time. We are finding it a little tricky to manage our lawn here. So far about half of it is dead due to a fungus we believe. Not much can be done but just to let mother nature run her course and hope it will come back to life here soon.

Nathan attended scout camp back in June. He had a wonderful time and even earned a few merit badges. Kempton, Justin and I all went to day camp the same week. It was great too and we all had a good time.

This week Barton is on his annual "mancation" with Dan and Kip. His Arizona friend, Rich, was unable to come this year. I'm sure they are having a fun time mountain biking, and whatever else they had planned to do. They are in Dillon, CO (i think??) at a mountain campground enjoying high altitudes, sunshine and cooler temps.

Today I took the three youngest boys and went to Ace Hardware here in town. For my boys that is like being in a big toy store. Kempton, Justin and Bryan could have stayed in there for hours checking out all the "stuff", but we had to head home with our hardward to repair a fence and some sprinklers.

How many dishes, pots, pans and utensils are dirtied when Nathan cooks shrimp cakes and pasta for dinner? ALL OF THEM!!!! This picture is after I washed all of them.

Nathan likes to get a little creative in the kitchen and decided to cook something a little complicated and new. While he fried up his shrimp cakes he told me to let him do it on his own and that I could go lay down and "relax". Yea, right. As grease was splashing everywhere I was supposed to relax on the couch and hope that they kitchen would be all right after he was done. Well, it all turned out, but he says he's never making fried food again. I agreed and told him simple meals are good too.

Haven't posted to my blog for several months now! Life gets busy--what can I say? Since last posting, Barton learned his job was being moved to Ohio. There were several factors that led us to decide not to move to Ohio and keep his job, so Barton has been job hunting for the last few months. As of today we haven't made a decision regarding a future job, but hope to make that decision this week or next. All the jobs we are considering are in the nearby area so we wouldn't be required to move. His job at Cardinal ends Nov. 9th and so he has a little time yet.

The picture at the top is from a recent trip to the city. It was a 90 degree October day and we walked from Navy Pier to the Shedd Aquarium so we could avoid another $20+ parking fee. Needless to say we got a little hot and tired and Justin got scared walking across a big bridge where the the joints of the bridge had gaps and you could see below you. From that point on there were no smiles from Justin as you will see in this picture! We also walked through the park where Buckingham Fountain is. That is quite a fountain. Kansas City may be known as the "city of fountains" but this fountain is the King of them all.

Memorial Day Weekend was a great weekend for our family! We went camping in Wisconsin at Pine Grove Campground. We camped next to a field of cows. They added a little to the noise, the aroma and the fun! The campground has a small lake where the kids swam, went fishing and cruised around on a paddle boat.

We also recently celebrated Justin's 7th birthday. He had a little party at an indoor pool with a few of his friends and his brothers.

Soccer Star!!

Today was an exciting game for Kempton's team. They remain undefeated and Kempton scored in today's game. Way to go Kempton!! During the game I had the chance to chase Bryan around the playground area next to the field. Bryan is now master of the slippery slide and also loves to swing. Nathan took along his stunt kite and got it stuck in a tree, but managed to climb the tree and get it unstuck. After that he moved to another field with less trees and had a little more success there, but found stunt kite flying to be somewhat of a challenge. Lucky for him we live in the "windy city" and so you don't have to "wait" for a day to fly a kite. Everyday is kite flying day.

The Lipstick Baby.
Bryan discovered that mommy's purse has some really neat things in it.....like lipstick. He only got it on his face, but then went and played in the pile of dirty laundry and got it on daddy's nice shirt. Luckily mom knows how to get those kind of stains out!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Today was "project day". Barton's project was working in the basement all afternoon.

Nathan's project was shooting off his homemade rocket as well as one from a kit. The homemade one didn't do too bad. It "squirmed" around a bit instead of going straight. It landed safely though and was a good learning experiment. The other rocket is now living in the trees near the high school. The wind blew it there.

Kempton's project was finising up his simple machines project of making a pinball game. Each student in the class makes one. They have two utilize three types of simple machines. Kempton has done a great job!

Justin's job today was his usual Saturday job.....that of using dad's old drill to drill hole after hole in some scrap wood. Now it's "holy wood".

Bryan's job was an easy one. Can I trade jobs with him for just one day? My project today was, well, what project wasn't my project today? Need I say I am tired out?!?!

***Pictured w/ Kempton is his friend Jeremy from next door.

Baxter Bunny

Nathan decided he wanted to work on his pet merit badge for scouts.....so this weekend we found a cute little Netherland Dwarf bunny. He is quite small and also quite cute. He doesn't mind being held so the boys are having fun taking turns holding him.

We had a great weekend filled with some sunshine and warmer temps. Kempton's hockey team played against the 1st place team and only lost by 2 points. For a lot of the game the score was tied. It was a really good game and for playing against the number one team they all did great! Next weekend is the final game of the season.

One more month until Bryan is old enough for nursery......I'm having a countdown! I don't get much out of sunday school or relief society as he is a handful, so I'm looking forward to him attending nursery. I'm hopeful that he will like it and not be clingy.

Toothless Wonder!!

Only one time in your life you can be missing both front teeth and be so darn cute and that is when you are about age 6 or so! Any other time and you'd probably be called a "hill-billy". While playing around with Bryan, Justin's tooth fell out this afternoon. The other one came out a few days ago while he was at school. The tooth fairy will be here again tonight!

Our weather is finally nice again. The upper 40's bring out all the kids in the neighborhood for lots of bike riding and chasing. The snow melted and a possum was hanging out in the yard as well. The kids "chased" it by walking....that's how slow this thing was moving. Maybe he was still thawing out from the colder temps of previous days.

Good Read....
A friend recomended a book to me recently and I really enjoyed it. The book is "Finding Noel" by Richard Paul Evans. If you click the link below it will take you to a description of the book. You can probably find it at your local library. Evans is also the author of "The Christmas Box" which I'm sure many are familiar with.


http://www.caseproof.com/rpe/findingnoel.php

Doe, a deer, 3 female deer, right in our very own backyard!

I can be startled quite easily and that is why I jumped when I looked out our patio door and saw a deer staring at me. I took a closer look and discovered that two of her friends were in the yard with her. I quickly grabbed my camera and got a picture of them. From time to time we have seen them running through our yard in the evening or early morning, but never at 10:30 a.m. I think they came out of the woods to soak up some of the sun and try to get warm. Soon after I took the picture they headed for Hendrick Lake. At first I thought maybe for a drink, but the lake is completely frozen so perhaps for some ice skating instead!

Pinewood Derby 2007

This past Thursday was the pinewood derby for pack 173. Kempton worked hard to make his car look nice and go fast. He came in third place and had a lot of fun racing against the other boys.

On another note...it is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZING here in Chicagoland. I have not felt this kind of cold since living in Rexburg. It is painfully cold and not going to warm up for a few days. Today it is in the negative (-1 on the way home from church). Last night our electricity went out for a few hours. Barton and I happened to be gone and the kids were home taking care of each other. Shortly after we left home my cell phone rang and it was our neighbor calling to say that the boys were at their house because there was no power. We hurried home to rescue the boys and Barton used the battery from our trailer and an inverter to power a lamp and give us a little light. We were prepared to fire up the generator and hook it to our furnace if we needed to, but the outage only lasted about 2 hours.

The "stair master" (aka Bryan) has slid down dozens of times now! Mommy is much less worried now about a bad fall and all bedroom and bathroom doors must remain closed throughout the house. A bouncy ball is BryBry's favorite new thing to play with. He wants to eat his meals w/ it on the high chair tray, go places in the car w/ it on his lap and take it into the crib for naps.

Nathan survived and thrived the Klondike Derby last weekend (a scout campout and sled race done in below freezing temps). The temperatures dipped into the single digits, but that didn't chill his camping spirit, it just made him bundle up and tough it out. He loved his skiing experience earlier this month and wants to go more often. He's trying to figure out a way to earn some money and buy his own skis......I'm sure he will find a way because he's Nathan!!

Kempton has conquered his strep infection, but still has a bit of rash remaining on his back. He is feeling 95% better. It took a lot out of him, so it will take a while to get back to 100% himself! This weekend Kempton will be building his pinewood derby car for the race that will be next week. Unfortunately Kempton's ski experience wasn't as fun as it could have been. He got altitude sickness and had to stop skiing about halfway through the day. He enjoyed what little skiing he accomplished and wants to go again!

Justin performed in his first orchestra concert last night. It was a fun experience to hear 50 first graders playing violins, violas and cellos. As seems to be common is our household, Justin's list of least favorite things to do includes performing, so he was glad to have the concert OVER! We went out for a treat after the performance and I think that made it more enjoyable for him. Donuts and milk can smooth over lots of rough spots.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I haven't done this since June, so hopefully I can remember how it all works! I am still new to the blogging way of life but thought I would try to update it more often.

We just returned from a visit to Kansas City. We had a great time there seeing Grandma and Grandpa and also getting to visit Grandma Ashton is her new apartment. She has a very nice place and says she just loves it there. Nathan got to go skeet shooting with his two uncles and enjoyed that very much. Justin and Kempton went to the Legends with Dad on Saturday and they visited the place there called "T-Rex" and then went for a treat a Culver's. Saturday evening was spent with some of the Reynold's family playing games, eating dessert and Kempton and Justin getting reacquainted with Colby and Ethan Reynolds. All the boys learned to play "RUMMY" and so we spent some time playing that with the grandparents and aunt and uncles. Our drive home wasn't too bad. Ten hours in a car isn't the funnest thing to do, but we watched movies and played hangman and the dot game. The weather was perfect for traveling. Bryan didn't fuss too much, but sitting 10 hours in a car seat isn't his favorite thing to do.

Tonight the washer and dryer are going full speed ahead to get ready for the trip to Colorado on Wednesday. Let's hope that there are no more blizzards so our trip won't be ruined. Barton has business in Denver on Thursday and then Friday they ski with Dan (Barton's friend and co-worker) and Derek, their cousin and Mom, Justin and Bryan will hang out with Grandma and maybe see a movie!

I will post some more Christmas pictures at a later date. Gotta get Bryan to bed....

Spring in Northern Illinois is really surprising us!! We have had the most beautiful days recently and that is really making up for the very dismal winter that we had.

We took a trip to Nauvoo on May 19th-20th. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sights, playing along the Mississippi River and staying in the Nauvoo Log Cabins. We rode the new oxcart ride, as well as the horsedrawn wagon you see pictured. Justin got another mini horseshoe because it was his birthday and we all got horseshoe nail rings! The gunsmith shop was one of the fascinating highlights also.

Now the kids are out of school for the summer and it's been non-stop bike riding, frog catching, dog chasing, water spraying, wrist spraining, fish catching, beach going, zoo visiting, cat sitting FUUUUN!!

Barton is on his way with finishing our basement. Today he purchased all the lumber for framing and stacked it all downstairs then rearranged all the stuff down there so he could begin working. This time he has promised to hire someone to do the sheetrock, but will likely do everything himself because that is what he enjoys.

Here I am Blogging again!!! I just love to use that weird word, BLOG!! Another week has flown by at lightening speed. Barton gave another fabulous gospel doctorine lesson today on Joshua! He even had two props/object lesson things that he used. One was a homemade snare that he made to illustrate that satan has snares that he can trap us in. The other was a single sheet of paper and a hymn book. He asked someone to put the book on the edge of the paper to hold and support the book. Of course you have to roll the paper up to make it possible. He was illustrating Joshua supporting the children of Israel. Fun and learning for all who attended his class.

I had a "Stampin' Up" party last week. Had about 8 people come to my party. We made two cards and ordered the stuff that we wanted. Someday when I get time I will sit down and make some cards with my stamps. It's a fun little hobby when you have time.

The boys are counting down till when school is out (June 7th is the last day). They're anxious for summer. Both Nathan and Kempton have scout camps they will attend and hopefully we can take a trip to Omaha and Kansas City around July 4th.

We worked on some more landscaping this weekend and what a job that is. We are hiring someone to help us with part of it so it will all flow together nicely and things will be planted to get the right amout of sun and water. I meet the landscaper next Saturday at the nursery to pick out all my plants. I'm excited to have it coming together.

Barton and the 3 big boys will go on the father and son campout this coming Friday and Saturday. Tonight Justin was talking about what they could have for dinner on Friday night. It was so funny to hear him thinking out loud. What he wanted the most was barbecue baked beans!

Our family is looking forward to a short Nauvoo trip May 19-20. We are staying one night in some fun cabins. Take a peek at them, they are really quite something to read about and see where they came from. The website is: nauvoologcabins.com.