Bitter Sweet Goodbye...

We sold our 210 gallon fish/reef tank and Wednesday was the day it got emptied :( Our friend Randy came and took out all the corals and rock and then (really) late that evening Steve and I had the privilege of cleaning out the (really really smelly-think sulfur) gravel, water and whatever else was in the bottom of the tank after having it over seven years (with salt water tanks you never completely clean out the tank you just do a 10% water change weekly.) It took us several hours but we were glad to have it done. It was the first thing we put into our house when we bought it and moved in and we will miss it for sure! I have lots of memories of rocking my kids in that room at night before bedtime. It was so relaxing just watching it and losing track of time. It was such a beautiful tank and I already miss the sound of it (the house is so quiet now), but it will be nice for Steve to not have to worry about the cost and time that goes into maintaining it. We may eventually get another one (probably smaller) but will enjoy having our office back upstairs for now...

Wednesday 6/22/11

View From Our Bed...

We had some enlargements from our family photo shoot in November done for Steve and I's bedroom. We had them done in b&w so they would be more timeless (I plan on keeping them forever)... I absolutely love love love them! This is the view if you are laying on our bed. Here are some closeups of each one (note: they are pictures of pictures and the lighting wasn't great so the quality isn't the best)...

Seriously... can you say Gap model!?!
18x24

Not sure why the inside edge of the frame is reflecting copper... it's really a brushed silver.
24x36

So precious... doesn't she look like a little porcelain doll?
18x24

This is what I saw in the mirror as I was headed out of the room and thought it was pretty cool, so I took a picture :)

Photography: Amanda Peterson Photography

Enlargements: Pro Digital Photos

Frames: Michaels

Next project... GIANT family picture for our living room.

P.S. We are trying to decide what color to paint our bedroom... any ideas?

Yard Work...

It seems like the yard work never ends around here. I mow the lawn every Thursday and I try and do a little weeding everyday because I'm at the maintenance stage (and want to keep it that way.) Steve edges the lawn on Thursdays and takes care of the fertilizing, sprinklers, spraying, pond, etc. He also is constantly adding, removing and moving trees and shrubs. He was planting a new tree and cutting out more lawn to add shrubs when I took this picture. He did not want me to take a picture and was telling me to stop while he was laughing.

Christmas Tree...

I've kind of been feeling a little "bah humbug" this year and was really considering not putting up a Christmas Tree this year. I'm not feeling down or anything I just was having a hard time getting any motiviation to decorate, shop, etc. I'm sure being sick for the last few weeks hasn't helped. Well Steve isn't having it so Friday night he brought the tree up from upstairs, decorated it (while I sat and watched while waiting for some pizza to be delivered) and hung lights in some of our trees outside. Saturday he also went and got the majority of the Christmas shopping done for the kids. I must admit I'm warming up and love turning the Christmas Tree lights on and turning all the other lights off at night while I'm enjoying the evening after the kids are in bed. Thanks Steve for your persistence!

Never Finished...

It seems like every time I turn around Steve(and Dan) are doing more work in our yard. They are in the process of adding and moving more shrubs and trees and talking about adding some kind of small brick walls at the bottom of the driveway. On Saturday that added a second tree(shown above) in front of our garage. I think it looks really good! Here is a before picture...

I had to take the "after" picture the next day because it was dark by the time they finished sat. night. That's why the sky is blue in one picture and gray in the other.

Para Gliders...

On Thursday Steve went to pick Maddy up from his second day of school and when they got home Maddy ran in the house frantically excited saying "Mommy, did you see the para gliders outside?" He said "come and see" and ran out the back door. There were tons of para gliders by the mountains behind our house. Steve counted 36(but I'm sure there were more. ) He called our friend Mike who does paragliding to find out what was going on and I guess there was a competition going on all week. Anyway it was really cool to see(the picture doesn't do it justice at all-they look like little white dots) and Maddy was SO excited. After we went Skydiving in June we had decided we wanted to go paragliding-now Steve really wants to go. One ended up landing about a block from our house(for a minute I thought it might land in the yard next door), and Maddy insisted we go on a little walk to see if he was OK. It was so cute-he was so concerned. While we were walking he said "Mommy, do you want me to hold your hand?" Of course I did and it was so hot that our hands got all sweaty but I didn't care. :) Once we got to the guys(there happened to be two that landed) we talked to them a bit. If they wouldn't have landed prematurely it would've been about a 5 hour trip-I can't believe they can stay up that long. Maddy of course was a little chatter box on the walk back home. I loved the little moments like these with my kids.

Whatever Wednesday: Summer Fashion Show...

Apparel: Target
Models: Maddox, Avery
Cat Walk: Model's Backyard
Photographer: Yours Truly

Growing up too Fast...

First a big boy bed and now a bike. I can't believe how fast Maddy is growing up! Steve brought home a bike for him yesterday. When he first saw it he said, "Look Mommy, it is a dirt bike, it is Auzzies." He has a neighborhood friend(Austin) that has a dirt bike. I thought it was pretty funny. I explained that it was a bicycle and that it was his. He then started examining it and noted that there weren't any buttons(like on a dirt bike.) He also told me not to touch his tires. He is used to Steve telling him not to touch the vehicle tires because they have black stuff on them that make them shiny which also stains clothing. He also informed me that he wants a dirt bike. I told him he had to get REALLY REALLY good at riding his bike before he can get a dirt bike. That is a scary thought for me. Now all he wants to do is ride his bike. He had a hard time pedaling at first and the first video is from yesterday when he was trying to learn how to pedal. If I sound out of breath it is because I was. I was seriously right in the middle of my cardio workout and Steve called me and insisted I come outside to see Maddy riding his bike. So of course I did because you can't miss a big moment like that right? He did a lot of practicing trying to figure out how to pedal. The poor kid kept waking up crying last night saying his legs hurt. I'm pretty sure it was from all the pedaling he did. The second video is from today after he had finally got the pedaling down. Try to ignore the flachulence sound effect Steve makes during it... what is it with guys? At least it wasn't real I guess... which would be no surprise! :) Never a dull moment!

While I was out in the backyard with him of course I had to take a picture of my favorite tree that has bloomed and is so pretty...

I love how much color it has!

Whatever Wednesday: I Love...

...that our yard is starting to bloom!

I also love this quote!

Quote found here.

Weekend...

We had another fun/busy weekend. Here are some highlights...

Maddy got invited to a party our neighbor had for the kids in the neighborhood. He had a lot of fun. They played dodge ball, had bike races, running races, and of course a water fight. Maddy was so excited for the water guns. He absolutely loves them. Thanks Rick(you are a great host), Brooke and Brynley! It was lots of fun.

Steve decided to clean out the pond...and it smelled SO bad! It smelled like rotten eggs. I was standing right outside our back door and I could smell it from there. In the picture with Steve, Brian and Dan you can see Dan and Brian are covering their noses with their shirts. I don't know how he convinces them to help him with things like this, but for some reason they stick around. Don't you love Steve's jumpsuit and rubber boots! HA! He thought he was being funny by adding the Jack Sparrow hat from one of his Halloween costumes...until I pulled out the camera then he didn't find it so funny. We were all laughing so hard. There were out cleaning it so late. I think I went to bed before they were even done. This was after another day of aerating. They were all so tired.

I picked up a copy of Twilight on Sat. while I was at Wal Mart getting more printer ink and paper. Steve has been studying for some personal training licenses and going through paper and ink like it is going out of style. Anyway Steve hadn't seen the movie yet so Sunday morning we decided to watch it. Steve liked it for the most part and I thought it was actually better the second time around. Sunday night we had eight of our friends/work employee's over for a BBQ. The food was really yummy and I think we all ate way too much of Brian's homemade salsa and guacomole dip. After everyone was done eating we all headed down to watch "Nitro Circus." Steve has made this a Sunday tradition and loves watching it.

Everyone hanging out...

Maddy and I.

Home Improvements...

These past several weeks Steve(and crew) have been busy doing home improvements. All the ceilings upstairs have been painted white, painted all our living space walls antique brown, painted our formal living room(fish tank room) burlap, covered our kitchen island with black panel, painted the trim on the top of the kitchen cabinets black, replaced our kitchen table, replaced our wood stair railing with black rod iron, and painted the garage. Steve went as far as two-toning and put in a small stereo system in the garage. Of course I had to tease him about this and his excuse was that he spends a lot of time out there(which is true.)

Paint color before.


Paint color after.


Stair railing before.


Stair railing after.


Old table.


New table.


Island before black paneling, cabinets before black trim on the top.


Island after black paneling, cabinets after black trim on the top.


Paint color before.


Paint color after.
I guess the plan is to also paint the fish tank black...

Of course Maddy had to get in on the action...

Garage before being painted.

Garage after being painted. Trim and shelves are a brown color and yes those are speakers and stereo componants you see. We also moved our freezer to the basement.

Weekend Fun...

We've had a really fun/busy weekend. My brother Shawn came down from Logan and stayed with us Thursday and Saturday nights. He stayed at my sister Jamie's on Friday night so her and her hubby could catch a movie. Friday night John, Lyndsey, Dan and Brian came over and John made homemade pizza. It was super yummy! Thanks John! They also brought a yummy chocolate cake. Saturday my family came over for our monthly family get together. We grilled and had lots of fun. See previous post for more details and pictures. After the family left Steve, Dan, Shawn and of course Maddy decided to start working in the yard. The weather was so nice. I'm so excited for spring! They got quite a bit accomplished. Steve and Dan rented an aerator and spent four hours aerating around the neighborhood-they are always looking for ways to earn extra play money. :) Once they were done they moved onto our yard. They aerated the lawn, raked, fertilized, edged and cleaned up a bunch of the dead bushes and stuff. Of course Steve reminded me that I'm going to have to start mowing the lawn soon. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it! :)

Maddy helping Dan rake. Maddy was SO excited to finally be able to use his green rake outside. Notice Dan's clothes...then notice Steve's in the next picture...somehow without planning it they often end up dressed almost identical. Too funny!

Steve fertilizing the lawn.

Avery and my brother Shawn.
Avery and I hung out and enjoyed the weather while the boys worked. :)

Steve, Maddy and Shawn cleaning up the yard.

Once it started cooling down I headed in and got the kids bathed and then Shawn and I made "breakfast" for dinner. We had cheesy eggs, waffles and oranges. Yummy! I love breakfast for dinner! Sunday was relaxing as usual. Sunday evening I drove my brother to Highland to catch his ride back home to Logan. It was a nice scenic drive and I enjoyed the quiet time to myself on the way back.