Doctors Appt and Dishes

Shayli has been visiting several specialists lately for the congenital nevius (giant birthmark) on her leg.  This picture was at the last one.  She's such a cute little patient.  We are scheduled to see the plastic surgeon next Monday so hopefully some of our questions get answered and we'll be able to make a good decision regarding it.  Doesn't she look thrilled?

 

We went to Costco after Shayli's appointment where we proceeded to leave a trail of goldfish through the warehouse.  I envisioned something sweet, like Hansel and Gretel.  I'm sure the store employees were not thinking along those lines.  It was either blood curdling screams or goldfish trails.  It was  a no brainer for me!

And I may have retired my wedding dishes this last month for something a little more colorful!  It was time.  We have had more than one casuality with the old dishes. 

 I certainly couldn't put my new dishes on my old stained placements.  So here we are. 

It's the simple things in life that make me happy.  Like this cupboard full of prettiness.

Thank you HomeGoods!  I'll be back.

Furniture Make-overs

As most of you know, I've been slaving away on some furniture that I was given about 2 months ago.  I am happy to say that I have officially finished! They are completely over the top and I love them.  But, whew.  There was a time I thought about laying down with the paint fumes and calling it good.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Anyway here are some of the befores and afters.

 

This is a sewing table.  It holds a sewing machine and a serger.  I don't have a picture of the table before I painted it black.  Just imagine something brown from the 1960's.  It was rather...uh... "antique" looking.  And not in the good way.

You'll have to turn your necks on this one. Sorry, I didn't realize it was turned but I'm too lazy to re-upload!  There were many ideas that I had before I settled on this one.  And let me tell you, there was plenty of trial and error with the whole stenciling part.  It looks so easy when demonstrated online with professionals.  Don't be fooled!  Ryan finally got it to work. What a man. ;)

I couldn't leave any corner untouched.  I modpodged the inside of the drawers and love it!

Here's a good shot of the top of the table.

This is the thread cabinet that goes with it.  I had a lot of fun doing it but am definitely happy to put the paint brushes away!  I also did a dresser and my piano at the same time.  What kind of crazy person decides to make-over 4 pieces of furniture at the same time???  Me so crazy. (Think cookie monster).  I haven't been able to get a good picture of the piano but I'll upload one soon.  I know you are dying to see it!

Happy Birthday Lexi!

 We celebrated Lexi's 9th birthday on Friday.  She was so excited! She had "movie night/pajama party" birthday party.  It was the easiest birthday party ever.  I fed the kids hot dogs, opened presents, had cake and ice cream, and then movie time! Party over. The end.  ;) No coming up with cute decorations.  No exciting games to play.  No parents to entertain.  It was perfect.

Backyard dinner

Blowing out candles

Opening presents

Favorite Present



Because Lexi had a pajama/movie party, one of Lexi's friends gave her new set of pj's that matched.  Lexi thought it was cool.  As a nine-year old, Lexi is very girly.  She loves playing with make-up, fake nails and doing hair.  She loves being the little mama in the house.  She's very kind to her baby sister and loves to cuddle with her.  She is also very helpful and tries really hard to make good choices.  She has a lot of friends and is very social.  She is doing awesome in basketball this year (major attitude improvment from last year!) and loves to ski.  She's still a skinny-minnie and we sometimes have a hard time finding clothes that are long enough for her that don't swamp her! Lexi is very by-the-rules and definitely lets someone know when they've bent them!  Overall, Lexi adds so much to our family and we love her!

Love and Life

 

The kind of life that is crying, whining, follow me around screaming kind.

All. The. Time. 

And the kind of love that is needy, want-y, and only mommy will do kind.

 

For the past few months anyway. I mentioned to Ryan that if I was crier, I'd be bawling all day long with the rest of them.  It's just a phase, I know.  But when will it end???? I tried to get pictures of the kids a couple of weeks ago and either Shayli or Kyson was crying inconsolably. Predictably.  They will be precious memories.  One day.

 

 

Here's the best shot of the day.  Shayli is not really smiling.  More like a grimace.  But we can pretend, right???

 

And since it was just here, these are my Valentine's day treats.  What a good boyfriend!  (wink, wink).  I don't normally wear animal print, but I decided if I wanted to start then these shoes were the way to go!  And for $13, why not? 
Happy Love Day.  My family has shown me in so many ways how much they love me (see above pictures for hidden meaning). 

Kyson turns 4!

I can hardly blieve my little Kyson is 4 and will be starting preschool next year!  Where does the time go?? (I say that now, but I was just discussing the woes of 2 car payments with Ryan and 2 more years of that seems like an eternity!)

 

Obviously, we had a Spiderman theme.  I can't say this is the most ingenius cake ever - I was definitely on a time constraint with this one.  I was at church in meetings from 8:30 til 3:00 and dinner was at 4:45.  But Kyson was thrilled so that's all that matters!

We invited some family friends over for birthday cake as well as Gammi and Pa. (We missed you Gammi....darn that flu bug!) 

And I'm pretty sure Kyson was not the only one blowing out candles here!

As a 4 year old Kyson is still a little ornery.  He loves stirring up the pot and bugging his sisters.  However, he loves those girls to death.  He always wants to sleep in their beds and I often find him curled up next to them in the middle of the night.  He loves playing Pokemon cards and Lexi and Kendri are very sweet to him and let him win (and then they give him some of their cards to add to his collection!). He sleeps with his "chicky" and his Pokemon cards and he is currently sleeping with about 25 silly bands on his wrist.  He still climbs fences and he has just picked up the skill of doing tricks while riding the neighbors electric scooter.  Which is much too big for him.  In fact he's crashed twice but it hasn't really fazed him - even when he almost knocked out his front tooth!  He likes his hair to "be like Malfoy's".(Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter)  Meaning plastered to his head and pushed over just a bit.  I hate it and try to make him "cool" but he won't have any of it.  (I must say, I'm getting a little weary of all these opinions!)  Kyson still gives the best hugs and kisses and loves to get "spankings" from Gammi.  He is a joy to be around and has the best personality.  I love his little voice and the way he talks - it's just so cute.  We love Kyson!

Hit and Miss

I have not been blogging for awhile.  It is time consuming but I am always happy when I've done it.  I have been experiencing problems with blogger (big surprise!) for the last few weeks, but it seems to have remedied itself so it is time to do a little catch up!  This post is called hit and miss because I plan on hitting a few things we've been up to but missing alot!  (I know.  It's heart-breaking for me too.)

We have been sewing.  The girls got American Girl Dolls for Christmas and obviously a doll is no fun if you can't change her clothes.  So here are some pj's.  The goal is to start teaching Lexi and Kendri a few of the basics in sewing.  Kendri helped me make these and even sewed the buttons on!

Shayli loves her sisters.  She cuddles right up with them (when she's in the mood, that is!)

Kyson had his first ski lesson last week.  He did awesome and the ski instructor informed Ryan that he was fearless.  As if we didn't already know that!

I have started numerous projects.  This is one of them.  We are refinishing this dresser so Kyson and Shayli can have some more space!  It's sanded and waiting to be primed.  I got distracted refinishing a different piece of furniture....a sewing table!  I inherited it from a nice man in our ward. It's rather large and 1970's looking.  Therefore it is receiving a make-over.  Because if it's not cute, it can't come in my house.  Too bad so sad.  I have high expectations for my make-over.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Along with my sewing table, I got lots of sewing accessories.  See?  But the most exciting thing is, I now have a Pfaff sewing machine and a serger!  Talk about score!  Actually, I had no idea what Pfaff was.  I was told by a seamstress that Pfaff is one of the few top of the line sewing brands.  Well la-di-da.  If nothing else, it will guilt me into learning more about sewing.  Sometimes you just need someone to nudge you along.  Or in my case, give you a bunch of expensive equipment and say "Sew!"  And sew I will. 

Colorado Cousins

We were able to go to Colorado right after Christmas this year.  It's been 2 years so it was well over- due. All of my siblings were there except for my brother Travis.  Gotta love the holidays!

 We got to see lots of people.  This is my Grandma Lu with a few of her great-grandchildren.  (I'm sure you'll recognize a few!)

Here's Gramps. I dare say he is my biggest fan.  Still.  What can I say, he has good taste!

And the twins.  (You know you want to see a picture of us together!)  Our niece Pippa joined the fun since her momma was snapping the picture.  And plus, she loves her aunties!

And here are all the cousins on the Hall side.  It's starting to look like a crew!

Shayli and Pippa love each other.  They really do.  They had lots of fun playing together and giving each other hugs.  (Shayli looks a little scary in this one, but the red-eye reduction wouldn't work.  I'm guessing because the glare is white and not red? Oh well.)  Shayli even went so far as to learn Pippa's name and would wander around the house calling "Pippa!" until she found her.  It was a sad day for Shayli when Pippa boarded the train and didn't come back. :(  All that calling for nothing.

And here's Pa, rocking the babies.  Colby (Amber's baby), couldn't really be bothered with these girls.  He liked to stay on his own!  Overall, we had a great time and got to see lots of family!