Utah - Part 2 of What I did last summer

Also in May, I got to go to Salt Lake City with Digital Scrapbook Memories as an instructor at their Scrapbook Retreat Weekend! April did an amazing job as host and I loved getting to know the members of this wonderful community.

This is Alisha :)
She is scrapbook instructor extraordinaire, and I love loved her rad haircut!


And, well, I knew Barb already :)
In fact, she was my roommate!

And this is Brooke. She loved the tree. aaaha ;)

We walked around downtown Salt Lake City and had a mini photoshoot...

Brooke was so natural and relaxed in front of the camera...

On the last day, April (center) took Kelly (left) and I on a tour, since neither of us had been to Salt Lake City before. First we went up this huge hill that overlooked the whole valley...

And then she took us to the beautiful Temple Square... I loved that even though neither Kelly or I were Mormon we could still walk around and explore most all the different areas. We could not go into the temple (which is reserved for sacred ordinances and practices), but we did get to walk around many other beautiful places.

I was really impressed with how incredibly clean and well-landscaped every area was. Volunteers were everywhere, working to keep the place looking in pristine condition.

When we were there, tulips were in full bloom...

The architecture was so beautiful! I loved this waterfall that came right out this building...

I was truly impressed with how absolutely beautiful everything was. The place was very peaceful, too. I think if I lived in Salt Lake City I would come to Temple Square for lunch a lot, just to enjoy the quiet beauty.

More from My Summer to come!

My Fundraising Page for TNT!

Jessie's Fundraising Page for TNT!

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What I did Last Summer. Part 1.

Since I was a bad blogger all summer, I have decided that for Back to School I would give myself an assignment... to write about what I did last summer. This way I can actually have record of what happened on my blog, and I can finally post the pictures I took months ago. :)

So... in this installment of What I did Last Summer, I am taking us to the Biggest Little City in the World, where my friends and I had our own mini "Women's Retreat" in May.

We stayed at Erin's mom's (completely RAD) house on Sierra Street... and we made this retreat as authentic as we could, complete with Special Goody Bags...

Also we had matching t-shirts that I custom made for each of us...
And every day one of us was in charge of a meal. Of course, we put Erin in charge of breakfast... because she is literally THE BEST AT IT.
While much of our retreat was focused on God, we did take some time for a photo workshop since all the girls have digital SLR cameras but no one really knew how to use them. :)

Shontell was very sneaky.
Whatever it takes, my friend!
Some fun evening shots of the city lights...
And then a chairful of friends being extra silly the next morning.
Hello there!
Love. Love. LOVE my friend Erin.
On our way home to Vegas we decided to have Bible Study in the middle of the freeway. You may think this would be potentially dangerous, what with all the cars...
Alllll the carssssss....
Perfect photo op! HA!

So there you have it. The first of many installments on What I did Last Summer. Stay tuned! More to come :)

The First Day of School, 2009 style.

And here we are... Apparently I took the summer off of blogging, but it's a new school year, which means new blogs and new beginnings!

We celebrated the First Day of School with our traditional homemade waffle breakfast...

And then the obligatory "photos in front of the house"...

First, the First Grader...

Then the two of them, ready to go.

Now, the Fourth Grader!

And, finally, the First Day of School tradition isn't complete without dad walking the kids to school. :)

I love that he insists on doing this. :)

They had a WONDERFUL day, both of them LOVE their teachers, and they are excited about all the potential the new year has to offer. I am looking forward to a little quiet around the house so that maybe (MAYBE) I can actually work during the day, instead of after they go to bed!

The Boy and His Blond Locks

He decided that for First Grade he would have a new haircut...

This was Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, just before Rick took him to Sport Clips for some male bonding, hair cutting, and ESPN watching...

And this is My Big Boy afterward...

Good thing he likes it... I think he looks adorable, but I sure miss those long tresses!

I guess he's ready for First Grade...!

Life is just a chair of bowlies

I love my fruity friends. We are just a chair full of bowlies. I have so much to post and share... and I think I am finally coming out of the fog that is too many things on my plate. So I will start blogging again this week.

These girls are so special to me... and I thank God for them every single day (Phil 1:3). Each one of them has special gifts that they bring to our group of friends and together we all make a pretty great group. Even though not all of us live in the same area, there is just something magical about when we get together - it's like time never passed. I think that's the mark of a true friendship.

I have other special friends that are not pictured (Mel, Jo, et. al), and they, too, are so special and dear to me. But today I wanted to share this picture and the way it makes my heart feel warm all the way to my toes, because I just really, really love these girls.

Feast or Famine.

I know, my blogging as of late has been sporadic. I have so much to share and just no time to do it. Part of which is because I have no computer to do it on... shortly after finishing my kitchen, I decided it was time to tackle the office - so Liane and I took a trip to IKEA and got new furniture, then we came back and started taking arpart the office. First we took out all the furniture, then we ripped out the carpet. THEN we began installing a bamboo floor (a combination of vertical natural and vertical carbonized bamboo). That was an awesome experience!! Rick came in an helped us at the end with the hard cuts, and he installed our lovely baseboard.

Now we are in the long, slow process of getting things back into order. First, caulking the baseboards and touch up painting them and the wall. Then, building the IKEA furniture we bought. THEN, putting everything back in the room where it goes. That is our plan for Wednesday. We will see how long it takes us!! As soon as we do all that, I will be able to get on the computer and actually upload pictures and get this blog updated. For now, check out my facebook page (click on the link on the right sidebar) and you can see some pics that I uploaded from my cell phone of the floor in progress :)

Sorry you are stuck with me in a blogging famine. Soon I will be out and it will be time to feast once again!

The Kitchen Cabinets - finally done!

Ok. I lied. They aren't 100 percent done. I forgot we still need to add the crown moulding... but since who knows when that might *ever* happen, I thought I would at least share our cabinets and what we did. I am pretty proud of them!

You may remember the cabinets from before... pretty much standard, stock tract home cabinetry.

They were just there. BLAH. Nothing special at all. Of course someday we want to design the kitchen of our dreams... complete with new fancy countertops and appliances and an entirely new cabinet system. And that someday is quite a ways away since we no longer have any equity in our home. Until then, though, I decided our cabinets could use a little sprucing up.
I told Rick I wanted to paint the bottom ones chocolate brown...
And the top ones white. 
At first he was skeptical, but after persistent daily nagging over the course of several months, I finally got my way! And I loved them... especially with the cool pulls we picked up at IKEA last year. But when I looked at those top cabinets, I wasn't jazzed about them. They were nice, but plain. And I wanted something more interesting on them. 

That's when I got the idea of adding plexiglass panels in the recessed centers of each top cabinet!  At first I was looking for colored plexi, which would look cool with the white cabinet panels behind them... but colored plexi was going to be way to expensive. I was talking to my friend Jenene who gave me a GREAT idea... PAINT the plexi! OF COURSE! Paint the backs of the panels and then I can get exactly the color I want!
I painted the backs of all the panels (Honest! Rick just posed for this picture to pretend like he was helping!), and we let them dry for several days. 
Afterward, we sprayed them with spray adhesive on the backs and attached them right to the cabinet doors.
At first we were attaching them before peeling off the blue backing...
But that just made it harder, so after that we did it by removing the blue backing first. It went much easier. Then we used clear caulking to seal around the edges (and in hindsight we wouldn't do this... it wasn't necessary (although we would probably have chosen a stronger adhesive than the spray stuff), and it just made for a much more difficult, tedious cleanup of each individual panel).
SO, Ladies and Gentlemen... I present to you OUR NEW KITCHEN!
WOOHOO! I love how the top cabinets have a pretty shine to them.
They have the look and feel of glass panels, without having to worry about what's inside!
And the color is just what I wanted... a pretty seaglass blue. Perfect!
Now, someday you will see the crown moulding on the top of the cabinets. Don't hold your breath!

Trainers for a Day - BEST DAY EVER.

I love that my parents are always thinking of super cool things for Violet to do... like working with the baby horse. A few months ago at a benefit fundraiser, Papa saw an auction item for a DOLPHIN ENCOUNTER and he knew it would be the COOLEST THING EVER for Violet to experience - so he bid on it and won! The plan was to give it to Violet for her birthday, only my parents realized it was going to expire before then. So in early April, they presented it to Violet as an early birthday present, and needless to say SHE WAS ECSTATIC. And frankly, so was I. Of all the things I have experienced in my lifetime, swimming with the dolphins at the Mirage was definitely in my top five. 

We called and got her scheduled for April 26th (exactly two months shy of her birthday), and we all headed down to the Dolphin Habitat. We were met at the entrance by Jimmy, one of the lead dolphin trainers, who took us back to the locker rooms to let us know how the experience would go. On the way back, he really took a liking to Riley, whose hair reminded him of his own son's. 

As I was filling out the paperwork, Jimmy took me aside and asked if I would mind if Riley took part in the experience too! He didn't want him to feel left out, and they had wetsuits that would fit him just fine. I couldn't say yes fast enough! And I couldn't believe that this day, which was already completely AWESOME, was going to be even BETTER!

Seriously. My boy in a wetsuit is pretty much more than I can possibly handle.
Here he is posing with Lightning :)
And here's Violet, RIDING on Lightning's dorsal fin!

Riley got to go for a ride, too! He rode on Maverick.
Another kind of ride here, holding onto Lightning's pectoral fins...
And Riley, getting ready to do the same thing...
Violet, slappin some skin with a dolphin...
Seriously. BEST DAY EVER. Hundreds more photos and even video... these kids will never ever forget this day. I am so happy they got to do this!! ♥