It seems I have let go

The other day I came home from my morning swim and rushed off to shower. I came out and began to gather all my hair and makeup supplies in preparation for the day when Abby comes by, stops short, cocks an eyebrow and says "Mom, is it Sunday today?" I said "No, it is Thursday and I volunteer at your school on Thursdays. Why, do I only get ready on Sunday?" and she says "Yes"!!!!

So this got me thinking- have I really let things go that much? Am I that lazy that if I am not going to be leaving the house to go to church, or the school (where all the kids are in uniform and the teachers wear dresses or shirts and ties) do I not make an effort? Then I remembered that just yesterday morning a lady at the gym complemented me on my skin- she told me I look like an after picture! And this was after getting out of the pool and my hair was a mop on my head! Granted she was older and probably crazy, but I was flattered. See, I don't even need to wear makeup! But then I remember one of my most favorite moments with my mother when I was a teenager. My siblings and I had convinced her that we needed to be driven to the mall for some shopping and she looked down at her Emerald Green sweat suit she was wearing and said "oh, in that case I had better go and change." We all breathed a sigh of relief until she came back out and she was wearing a purple sweat suit!!!! We all laughed and laughed and said she had not changed and she said "but the other one was dirty"!!!!!

I love my mother, and I love that we have moments like this with her, but am I, as a stay at home mom, letting things go just a little too much- should I be making more of an effort? Most of my days start out with either running, swimming or biking and by the time I get girls dressed, hair done, and off to school with lunch in tummies and finally get a shower, it is after noon and I am not going to be leaving the house at all. I do get dressed for the day, I do comb my hair and wash my face, I do put on deodorant!

So tell me, be honest, do you put on a full face of makeup and do your hair everyday, even if you are not going anywhere? I need to know if I am letting myself, my husband, my daughters and everyone that I come in contact with out front of my house down!!! If so, I will make a change!!!! I really don't want to be scaring the neighbors!!

Spring is here, Spring is here

I started out this morning by getting up and going for my run outside, the first time of the season for me, and it was GLORIOUS! The air was crisp, but not too cold, the sky was clear and I kept passing my neighbor on her bike as I ran the loop up and around the Discovery park, and we would motivate each other to keep going! It felt so good to be out and off that treadmill. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my treadmill but I can run sooo much faster and I swear I don't sweat as much outside!!

After Liv rode her bike to and from school for the first time(yeah, she was pretty excited to show all the kids her new wheels) us girls decided that since the day was a spectacular First Day of Spring, and Abby was out of school, we would pack up our lunch and head over to the park and have a picnic and then some playing before naps. Can I say again that the spring bug has bitten, I try not to get too excited because I do live in Utah, the only place in the world where you use your heater and air conditioning on the same day, but truly we had a wonderful time and I am loving the sunshine we have had all week.(Yes, Liv chose to ride her Scoot bike here because she is still timid going down the hills on her new bike)

On another note, I have been working on an ABC's book for Eva to take to church and I am very proud of how they turned out. All the pictures are things that she loves and I used the templates and kits from "The Digi files #2" and some doodle frames from Scrap Orchard to make it. Here are a couple of those pages which will be printed out in an 8X8 format:

Also my beautiful wallpaper was delivered this week, so tomorrow we will be setting off on that adventure. I haven't ever hung wallpaper- OK, I helped my mom once back in the day, but did I REALLY help, of course not! If you have any pointers let us know and I will post picks of the finished playroom as soon as possible.

Have a great sunshinny weekend!! Spring is here, which only means Summer isn't that far behind!

2 dollars and 50 cents of fun

This week is "S" week at Liv's preschool. (every week they do a letter of the alphabet) Because of this she has been pointing at all the stop lights and signs, as well as walking around singing "Yellow Submarine", yes the one by the Beatles, what can I say she has a cool teacher! One of the activities they did was to build fun things with sugar cubes. When she came home and showed Abby her bag full of sugar cubes and started talking up a storm about how much fun she had building with them, well, you should have seen the face of envy that graced my sweet girl. Being the great mother that I am, or not, when I went to the store later I picked up a box of those coveted sugar cubes for her. So last night, while I was armed with the hot glue gun, and their minds were oozing with childhood creativity I can now give you:

Abby's rendition of Rapunzel's tower
Complete with path up to the doorless front and some side bushes, it would have landscaping of course!

And Liv'sTo be honest, I looked at her and said "That is great Liv, is it a castle too?" and she looked at me and said: "Of course NOT mom, it's a refrigerator!"
Of course it is!!!!

PS: Thanks everyone for your imput on the design dilemma. I decided to splurge and it will be at my door next week!!! Everyone tell Paul that it IS worth it!!!!

The Design Dilemma

This last weekend thanks to my father(again!) and my brother Trace, Paul was able to get the door way cut and all the drywall up and start the mud and tape- in fact the second coat is on and tonight we will decide if it needs more or if it is ready for texture! Because it really feels like a room now the girls are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. This is what our evening looked like yesterday:The other day we were talking with the girls about talents, what each of them has, how they can use them and make them grow. Well, while hanging out in the doorway and cheering on her father Liv says "Daddy, I think your talent is building. You are a very good builder, especially of playrooms." So true Liv, so true!!!

On Friday I watched one of my favorite design shows, Divine Design with Candice Olsen, and she was doing a little girls bedroom and I just fell in love with the color scheme and the design. She had put up the most fabulous wallpaper on one wall that was all glittery and floral in a Tangerine, Yellow, and Fuchsia color scheme on a white background. She then painted one wall in the Tangerine Orange color, so cute! I decided right then this was what I wanted to do and Paul agreed that it would be perfect for our space. So I set out to find that wallpaper because it is from Candice's kids line and sure enough it can be ordered in at Wallpaper Warehouse and Lowe's. The problem is that it is a designer line so it is pricier than my budget will allow. So the question: Should I splurge and make it what I want(did I mention it was glittery!), or should I keep hunting and find something similar but not as expensive? Oh the dilemma's!!

Until next time, we will just be here, covered in dust and trying to live among it!

Happy Birthday Paul

NO, not THAT Paul Davis- while we do enjoy the smooth voiced renditions of this beloved singer I decided that today in celebration of my very own Paul Davis I would like to see what he would look like as his alter ego, so while listening to the sweet music selections I have provided picture this:


Yes that is pretty great, but he has a couple of Man crushes, and they have to do with two of his favorite shows.
First up would be Charlie Crews from "Life" on NBC.


He loves this show, and I love this show but would the show be better if the people cast to play Crews and Reese were Paul and I?


Next up would be our perennial favorite "LOST". Without fail, every Wednesday Paul decides that he should grow his hair out because surly he would look just like Sawyer!!


Could we all handle Paul with long shoulder length hair and a beard? I am still waiting for him to make it past Friday without shaving but here is a glimpse:


I think I will just stick with my original version of Paul Davis- the man I love, the person that takes care of me and everyone else!!
Happy Birthday Paul, 33 years and going strong!!!

Project Playroom

We have been keeping ourselves pretty busy around here lately. Paul has been plugging away in building the playroom and making some great progress!
After putting in the lights
The next weekend we rented a jackhammer and began breaking up the 12 inches of concrete that covered the majority of the floor.Paul worked so hard doing that very labor intensive work while I filled up buckets with the large chunks and my Dad hauled them out to the wheelbarrow and then took it over to the empty field behind our house and dumped it. After completing that task we had several inches of clay that had to be removed. Four hours later we had pretty much worked my poor father do death and I am so proud of both Paul and him for all the work they did that day. It was tiring but so worth it!

After my Dad left we went and picked up the pressure treated lumber and Paul started building the floor frame.Once this was done we filled in all the empty space back up with the gravel to help with strength and drainage.

This last weekend the rest of the lumber was purchased and Paul did another steller job of laying the sub floor and building the walls.Don't they look great!!!

Next up, this week will be filled with putting in the heating/air conditioning vent, wall plugs, and then Saturday we drywall- it is all very exciting and it is coming together very quickly.

Seriously, Paul is the best!!!