A New Love and a New Beginning......

My brother-in-law Jake married his sweetheart Diana on Saturday.  The wedding and reception were lovely.  We are thrilled they found each other and can't wait to see the shenanigans that will happen in their new family of six children!  I would have taken more (and better) pictures but the kitchen crew needed a lot of help and with two kids of our own to chase around I was a busy mama.  What matters most is the new beginning they will all share.  Here's to the new additions to our forever family. 

Sunday Shenanigans Part Two 06/17/12

Lily has been anxious to see our seeds grow in the garden.  She checks every day for signs of life.  It has been funny to explain that it takes 7-21 for seeds to sprout.  She can't wait that long.  I asked her to help me mulch around the peppers and tomatoes.  She was less than thrilled.  She wants to pick a pumpkin already!

 Bath time silliness!

 Thursday was fun.  We visited Daddy at work just to say hi.  The girls love to draw on his whiteboard with the "stinky markers" and visit his coworkers.

 After visiting Daddy we went to get the oil changed on the car.  These huge tires were perfect entertainment while we waited.  When it was time to go the girls didn't want to leave their "clubhouse" made of tires.

 But I promised them that we would have fun at home with finger paints.  We made cards for Father's Day.  I am happy to say that no paint ended up on clothing or furniture or walls and flooring.  The girls had a blast and kept asking if they could paint more.  I need to pick up more paints!

 Lily has really started expressing interest in the piano.  She always wants to open my music and looks at it like she knows how to read it.  I'd like to start teaching her but I can't figure out how to do with without interruptions from Annie.  Any suggestions?

Oh the fruits of summer.  We have strawberries coming on in the garden.  The girls picked and ate every red berry they could find before we left for Utah on Friday.  Yum Yum!

Sunday Shenanigans Part One 06/17/12

 Monday night we went for a nature walk on the Cress Creek Trail.  The girls loved being in the mountains and playing in the water.  Because there is a hot spring in the canyon, the streams are lukewarm rather than icy cold.  The trail was very improved and kid friendly and Lily made it the whole mile and a half on her own.  Annie did almost 3/4 of a mile. 

I finally got our garden planted.  I was sore for three days just from planting.  We are growing watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer squash, butternut squash, zucchini, pumpkins, corn, beets, carrots, snap peas, onions, green onions, flowers, tomatoes, and peppers.  It is a challenge to garden here with the cooler temps and windy dry weather.  We're considering this year to be an experiment to see what changes we need to make in the future.

This is the artwork we put up to replace the cliche huge vinyl saying that was on our wall.  It finally feels like this is our house now that all the vinyl from the previous owners has been taken down.

Lily after gymnastics in her new leotard.  She was so excited to go to class but was having a grumpy moment when I snapped this.

So happy about our new addition to the family....a grain mill.  I make our bread every week and like to use fresh wheat.  I used to borrow a grinder from my mother-in-law when we lived near Boise but I decided it was time to get our own with some of our tax return money.  Now I can use the wheat we have in our food storage!

We had a pretty busy week.  Lots of errands and places to be.  But we still made time to play and relax!

Sunday Shenanigans 06/10/12

This huge vinyl saying on the wall has been bothering us since we moved in.  We borrowed a ladder that would work on stairs from some friends.  Jeremy decided we should leave up the phrase "yo but the mo".  I quickly vetoed that one!  We now have a beautiful picture of the Idaho Falls Temple hanging here, but I forgot to snap a picture of that.

Puna sent Lily some money to buy a new leotard for gymnastics.  Lily liked the stars and shiny fabric on this one.  She was so excited to model it for me.  She can't wait to wear it to class next week.  Thanks Puna!

I have been going to Zumba classes three days a week.  The place where I go is very kid friendly which makes it so much easier for me to exercise.  Lily usually plays in another room with kids her age and Annie loves to stay by my side and dance with me.  This week she wanted to wear her princess dress to one of the classes.  This girl loves to Zumba!  Notice Lily doing her own thing in the picture below, but Annie is all business.  She wants to watch the instructor.

 Mowing an acre is really a drag when you have allergies.  To help keep my eyes protected, Jeremy found his old paintball goggles.  They have helped so much.  I think Lily is ready to be a pilot like her Grampy.  She loves the roar of the motor on the mower and likes to wear the headphones and goggles too.

The biggest news for me this week is that I ran my first 10k.  Jeremy was going to run it with me but he injured his ankle playing soccer.  It was a little lonely running over 6 miles alone, but my iPod kept me going.  And Jeremy surprised me by meeting me halfway to snap some pictures and give me a kiss.  Then he met me at the finish line for a big hug and more kisses.  The whole drive home he kept smiling at me and telling me he was so proud of me.  I am proud of myself.  I was never an athlete or a runner growing up.  I had to work hard to build up my endurance.  But it was worth it and I actually enjoy running now.  I still have a lot of weight to lose but I feel stronger than ever and ready to do what it takes.

We also got a visit from our friends the McCashlands this weekend.  They came to stay with us and see Bill Cosby live.  The show was great.  Bill Cosby performed for almost two hours and made us laugh.....a lot.  We loved it.  A great way to end our week.

Zoo Day!

Our friends Cathy and Sarah invited us for a day at the local zoo.  I told Lily that when she was potty trained and could make it a week without an accident we would go with Sarah and her mommy to the zoo.  Lily took to potty training so fast that she wanted to cash in right away.  We had never been to the zoo here and were excited to try it out.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Of course it is nothing like Woodland Park or Point Defiance, but it has a lot of interesting animals and you can get very close to a lot of them.  The girls really liked the baby goat in the petting zoo and the lion exhibit.  The weather was a little rainy and cool so we'd like to go back when it is warmer.  Thanks for the totally fun day Cathy and Sarah!