Sunday Best Aftermath

Once we got home from church today, I was cleaning out my church bag and heard the kids upstairs. I went to go change clothes, walked into my room and saw both kids under the covers with heads on pillows in the bed. Once they saw me, they both said, "Nite Nite" and hid under the covers giggling at each other. I had to grab the camera and snap a few. Sometimes these kids really crack me up!!

Sunday Best

I love taking pictures of my kids once I get them ready for church - so cute!! Briana loves to wear dresses and she only wears them on Sunday so she is all excited. She is also so good about posing for pictures now and it makes picture taking so much easier when I get cooperation. Brandon on the other hand is not so easy. I have to bribe him with his favorite TV show and suckers to stand still for one minute. Then there is his crazy hair. It only stays in place for about an hour once I style it because he is all boy and it doesn't take him long to somehow get all the gel and hair spray to stop doing its work anymore. I had lots of time this morning to get myself and them ready for church since Craig is in Seattle so we are skipping sacrament meeting today. I didn't want to deal with them by myself so I took the easy way out...get to church and head straight to nursery - yes!!

Let's play outside...in our dirt backyard

Sadly with summer here, we don't have a backyard yet to enjoy. I know it has been hard on the kids because they want to go out and play but with having cement work, sprinklers installed, etc., I can't let them in the backyard since usually there is equipment out there from continuous work getting done. Finally we have a break for a couple days so yesterday we played for a little while in the backyard hanging out on the patio riding bikes and making a mess in the dirt. The worst thing is all the flags in the dirt marking the sprinklers. I felt like a broken record telling Brandon to not pull out the flags. I got so tired of walking behind him putting all the flags back that I had enough and we headed back into the house. I'll be so ready to have grass since my floor is never clean with dirt prints showing up every time someone goes outside. I just hope that when we are finally ready to get grass, it won't be to late with the hot temperatures!!

My babies no more

I'm starting to freak out a little realizing that my children are growing up and there is nothing I can do about it. Last night I got Craig to agree that we don't need a changing pad (it sat on top of the dresser in Brandon's room) anymore for the kids because they are too big. I haven't used it in over 6 months but Craig still did because he didn't want to bend over when changing their clothes, diapers, or pajamas. Especially now with Briana potty trained, there is just no need for it. Then today after I put the kids down for naps, I took their highchairs and put them in the basement for good. I really should have gotten rid of them weeks ago because both kids can climb in them. I watched Briana almost fall over because she lost her balance trying to climb in her chair and then there is Brandon who tries to climb out too but gets stuck and yells "HELP" until someone comes over and grabs him. He has even fallen out of the highchair before too so it is time for them to go. Once I came back upstairs, I saw this empty void in the nook area where the highchairs were and I felt sad. I guess all that is left is to get Brandon potty trained and switch them to big kid beds. As much as I'm excited to get some of these items out of my house, it makes me realize that they aren't my little babies anymore.

Princess Room

I finally got Briana's room done. I've actually had it done for like 3 weeks now but was waiting on a custom vinyl order from The Vinyl Boutique store in Bountiful. When we were done painting it, she walked in and said, "wow, chica has pink room". She calls herself "chica" which is her nickname she got when we picked her up in Guatemala. Anyway, you'll notice from the pictures that her ceiling is angled pretty low on the walls and it is because her room is over the 3rd car garage. Her room is huge and you could easily fit 3 kids in there so you'll see that it is very simple and open. I had a pottery barn curtain my friend Amy gave me that I used in our Indiana house. She only had one window so it was perfect. Her room now has two windows and I didn't know what to do. I ended up cutting the curtain down the middle so I could hang one in each window. It turned out pretty good and you'd never know that it was only one panel curtain to begin with. I had a brown wood hope chest looking thing that I painted white and put "Princess" on it. The blue blanket in front of it is a HUGE quilt we bought while in Guatemala for Briana. I love it and it is so heavy and full of vivid colors hand sown by the lady we bought it from. I also bought a lamp and a couple flowerly decorations for her dresser and shelf. Even though there are a couple themes going on in her room (disney princesses and flowers), it turned out beautiful and all that really matters is that she loves it!!

Nothing To Do

Today has been a great day so far. I decided this morning that today would be a good day to take the kids to the zoo and then meet Craig for lunch. The kids get so excited when I tell them it is "Zoo Day" and can't wait to get into the car and go. The weather was perfect and all the animals were out and on display today. Then we picked up Craig and headed to Macaroni Grill. I hadn't eaten there in over a year, loved it, and ate way too much. It also helped that we had gift cards so I ordered whatever I wanted without looking at the prices. Once I get home, I put the kids down for naps and see the sprinkler guy starting on our backyard so I go chat with him for a minute. I'm so excited to see some process happening in our backyard and can't wait until we have grass!! Back inside, I put away the lunch leftovers, clean out my backpack from the zoo, and then can't think of what to do next. I was suddenly bored. It was a weird feeling not having anything to do. Please don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not complaining about this. It is just that this feeling doesn't happen very often. Of course, we all know that there is always something to do around the house but nothing that I have to do at the moment. Laundry is done, house is clean (cleaning day is tomorrow anyway), no mail to go through, no dishes, and no cooking needed since our fridge is full of leftovers for tonight. I don't even have a book to read since I just returned the last book I checked out from the library yesterday and didn't check out anything else. I usually have some project that I'm working on around the house but at the moment I don't have any. In the last month I painted my daughter's room, (I'll post about this tomorrow) and my kitchen, and organized all my digital photos and downloaded them to Snapfish.com for safe keeping. I should be enjoying this time alone with kids napping and no responsibilities but instead I feel like I need to do something. I think because I'm not a lazy person by nature that I always need something on my mental TO DO list to keep me moving. I guess I'll just pop in a video and drink my soda I brought home from Macaroni Grill, shut down my brain, and chill on the couch until I think of something around this house that needs to be done.

New Kitchen

With Craig's new job and compensation schedule, we'll probably be in this house for at least a few years so I decided to make some changes. Our whole house is painted the same color (even the ceiling) and I am tired of looking at it especially in the kitchen. All my floor mats and dish towels are a reddish/orange color that I've used since my Indiana house. In that house, I painted the kitchen a color called Bold Terra Cotta from Home Depot and it turned out awesome so I went ahead and got the same color to do this kitchen. I basically painted the whole kitchen in one day last week while Craig was in Phoenix. Luckily for me, the kids took 3 hour naps that day and then I finished the rest when they went to sleep that night. Once it was all done, it was darker than I had rememberd but this kitchen doesn't get as much natural light. My Indiana kitchen had tons of light and a 17 foot vaulted ceiling so of course the paint is going to appear lighter. It does give the kitchen a rich and warm feeling (or so my friend said who came over to check it out). I think it looks great and I'm happy with how it turned out. I told Craig about it so he wouldn't freak out and he is happy with it as well. Good thing too since I'm not about to re-paint it!!

Before shots:

After shots:

Indiana Jones Movie

Craig and I had our wedding anniversary last Tuesday, the 27th, but he was headed for Phoenix that day so we decided to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday. We got a babysitter and had Chili's for lunch and saw the new Indiana Jones movie for a matinee. I grew up watching the Indiana Jones movies as a kid because my dad was a huge fan. I remember my dad taking my sister and I to see the 1st movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, in the theater when I was 8 years old. My dad and mom saw the movie beforehand so my dad knew what parts of the movie were not appropriate for us to see. I remember near the end of the movie when the ark was being opened and Indy told Marion to close her eyes, my dad turned to my sister and I and told us to do the same thing. Of course though I peeked and saw a man's face being melted off!! I freaked out and that memory haunted me for years. When I watch the movie now, I have to laugh at myself at how much that scene scared me. Anyway, even though the newest Indiana Jones movie didn't get the greatest reception, it wasn't going to keep me from seeing it and overall I thought it was pretty good. It was like a combination of other movies I've seen in the past few years like The Mummy, National Treasure, and maybe even some X-Files. Of course there are scenes that were a little out there to believe but it had all the elements that you'd want to see in an Indiana Jones movie. It was definitely better than the 2nd Indy movie - that's for sure!!