Scottsdale, Moab, and WSWS

So I ended up going to Scottsdale and had a fabulous time!! All of the kids were fine and no one else got sick, hallelujah!  We literally hit the ground running in Scottsdale, we started off going to a fun little cafe in downtown for breakfast and hit the mall.  My favorite was going to the Bare Minerals store and getting a makeover, I've always wanted to try their makeup and I finally got the chance.  I. am. in. love!! I feel like I am glowing everyday. That night we got to go to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, I have never been to a pro-game...it was alot of fun! I spent the next day laying by the pool, reading my book, (more on that later) going for a run, pampering myself, watching a little of the royal wedding coverage :) and getting sunburned. It was great! The next day was more shopping, let me tell you I was completely shopped out by the time we were done. I came home very rejuvenated and SO ready to see my kids!


We were home long enough to wash clothes and pack bags again so we could head down to Moab as a family for some bike riding. The boys love Moab and I'm sure they will be talking about this trip for many months to come.

This is what Joslyn thought of that bumpy ride.

The best part about riding along these trails is if you get to splash through some water along the way. :)

We couldn't leave Moab without a drive through Arches National Park:

A little bit of shade.

Delicate Arch

WSWS

what she wore sunday

She has a little bit of curl to her hair that I love...so cute! Most days  I don't do anything with it so it eventually goes frizzy but Sundays are special.  I have started taking her in to nursery while I run around taking roll and making talk assignments and she is doing great.  I even tried to peek through the window to see how she was doing and she busted me and didn't care. :)

 It seems like this baby girl is saying a new word every day, here are a few:

mom

dada

ba-den (braiden)

bo-dy (brody)

hudsee (hudson) 

boys (she will stand at the top of the stairs and yell down..."boys!")

cookie

hot

done

ba-ba

i-de (ivy) (she will bang on the window and yell i-de) She is ok with the dog through the window but that is about all.)

bebe

no

ball (in nursery the other day the nursery leader said Joslyn come and get a baby so she walks over to the toy cupboard and says "ball!" because that is the first thing she spotted. You can tell she has brothers.)

shoe

pretty

hi

bye

uh-oh

owie

brush

ding-dong (i was reading a book to Brody the other day and every page said ding-dong pretty soon she started saying it too.)

brrr! (when she gets out of the shower)

poo-poo (and pats her bum)

doggie (anything with 4 legs is a doggie)

cheese (when ever I pull out the camera it's "cheese!")

num-num

***

I am always scouring blogs, the internet and my friends searching for a good book, here are a few I've read lately.



On my Kindle:

The Red Tent  by: Anita Diamant  hands down THE best book I've ever read- love love loved it!

The Forgotten Garden by: Kate Morton this was also a very good read.

My sister in law suggested this book- These Is My Words by: Nancy E. Turner  it was fabulous and heart wrenching at the same time...come to find out there are two more books in this series-yay!- Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden.  Right now I have read 45% (according to my kindle) of The Star Garden and I'm loving it, there's an adventure around every corner.  Just a few ideas in case anyone is looking for good book.



Two Choices

I have two choices:

1- Go with my hubby and stay in a luxurious hotel in Scottsdale AZ, spend some much needed time together...just us. A chance to lay by the pool and read a book all day if I so desire. A trip to the spa?? Shopping in stores that this small town Idaho girl can usually only dream about. My wardrobe could use some freshning up. Eating at yummy restaurants--oh and did I mention spending time with my hubby- kid free?!?!

OR

2- Stay home with my sick kids.

Believe it or not I want to go with option #2 wwhhhhaaaatttttt??? Is this girl crazy or somethin'?

Let me explain... I would feel so terrible leaving my sick kids with anybody, I would hate to make other people sick, because it's a bad one! First Joslyn was sick and miserable for a week- a week. Not kidding the day that I thought she was returning back to her old self Brody came down with "It." His only lasted about 5 days- wasn't that nice? And yesterday he said, "mom I'm feeling good" So I sent him off to school. This morning we went to get Braiden out of bed for school and saw that he had obviously gotten... "IT." PALEEEZZ.  Now it's not a matter of- if, it's a matter of -WHEN Hudson gets "IT." And if Nate and I don't get "IT" it will be a miracle. Going from the track record of "IT" Braiden should get better in the next 5-7 days.
And... just hearing about this incident over the weekend seems to have rattled me to the very core.
I just want to stay home and take care of my babies-big and small.

Finish it Friday: Spring Blocks Edition

I think I set a new record for myself of not posting in FOREVER.  I don't have a reason either...just not much to blog about. :) Let's see a few things going on lately...

I hosted craft night at my house last night.  It was a blast- good friends, no kids, chocolate chip cookies, talking, laughing, and crafting until all hours of the night, it doesn't get much better than that. Here's what we did:

Now let me explain the title of this post, I saw these cute spring blocks on a blog a year ago and I wanted to make them so I got all the paper and embellishments together and got everything ready to go...except for the wood.  I asked my husband at least a hundred times (bless his heart) to cut the wood for me.  Well spring turned into summer and I figured I don't need spring blocks now that it's summer, so there the paper sat.  One YEAR later  I decided to put together a craft night and finally finish my Spring blocks.  So as a punishment ;) for not cutting my wood last year my sweet hubby had to cut my wood x 10 :) which he did promptly and without complaint might I add.

 I had seen these little cuties popping up all over blogland and I thought they would be the perfect "waiting for the mod podge to dry craft" and they were, love the way they turned out!

A couple of months ago we got this huge ball at Costco.  It's fun for the boys they can climb inside and roll each other around, it was a great middle of the winter toy for all but one.  Joslyn was petrified of it, whenever we would go within 10 feet of the thing she would cling to me and whimper.  Alot has changed since then.

 Love the hair sis!!

Look what's coming...

Last fall I planted almost 100 bulbs of all sorts, now I'm starting to see the fruits of my labors-- YAY! I love tulips.

Last weekend we took the kids up to Idaho Falls for a cousins sleepover at Casey and Kristy's.   It was a blast!! The kids had a blast downstairs playing and watching movies.

Sea of Kids :)

The mom's and dad's were in stitches upstairs playing wacky (and I mean wacky) games! Woke up the next morning to yummy breakfast.



Cutest little girlies.



Professional Pancake Maker.



Professional pancake eater.

Then drove up to Green Canyon Hot Springs for some swimming.



Thanks Casey and Kristy for a great time--we can't wait to do it again. Oh and thanks for letting me steal these pics off your blog since I forgot my camera. ♥

Phase I

My boy got braces put on this morning.  He was so excited about it and now he thinks he is super cool.  I wonder how long that will last?  He is a champ! 

WSWS

Time for a new edition of WSWS (What She Wore Sunday)

This one's for you Auntie Karla:

Thank you so much for my cute cute dress.

xoxoxo

♥ you!

Braiden's 9th Birthday

My boy turned 9 yesterday.  What? That means that this is his last year in the single digits, that also means that his mother must be getting old.

The lucky kid got to go on a field trip to the planetarium on his birthday- fun fun.  When he got home he had to tell me about all the snakes he saw.  Ewww! Wait...what are snakes doing at the planetarium? Anyhoo I guess the planetarium wasn't the only place they visited.

We had Grandmas and Grandpas over for hamburgers to celebrate.

He is so big now we let him light his own candles.

He was excited to have his cake

Make a wish.

Waiting to open presents.

Legos!!

What he really wanted- Under Armour (do you see how excited he is?)

And a new Wii game.  I tricked him and wrapped it in a Ritz Cracker box so he couldn't guess what it was. ;)  It worked.  :)

They had their pinewood derby last week. We didn't win this time...maybe by the time Hudson is in scouts we will know how to build a winning car.  :)

Steelhead Fishing

A couple weeks ago Nate went Steelhead fishing with my dad and brother.  They drove all day to Tillamook Oregon where they had hired a guide to take them out fishing- geez what men will do to catch a fish.  They had a great time:

Christopher caught the biggest fish. (2 total)  Dad caught the most. (5 total)  Nate caught a native fish and a fish that had already spawned (meaning it was dying) so he let them go.  (4 total)

You can't go to Tillamook Oregon without visiting the Tillamook Cheese factory.  They came home with all sorts of cheese to try. yum.

On their way home they stopped at Multnomah Falls:

Isn't it beautiful?

Nate named this "the Scooby Doo tree"

I think Oregon is a beautiful place, I think a family trip to the coast is in order this summer.

Decorating Dilemmas

Yesterday my mom and I went shopping for the first time since her knee replacement. We had a blast and I am looking forward to many more shopping trips now that she can walk better.  :) It was a quick little trip to Twin Falls, but that's OK the only place we really wanted to go was Real Deals.  I found this cute little candle stick, I loved it-I didn't know what I wanted to use it for but I couldn't pass it up. The little nest just screams spring and I am SO ready for spring. Here's what I came up with:

I got the bird last year at Tai Pan--♥ it!

I also got this clock:

I have this shelf above my bed and it needed something else, I thought this clock would be perfect.  I am having mixed feelings towards the clock- at first when I put it up I liked it. When I went in the room an hour later I wrapped it back up in the bubble wrap and I was going to take it back. Two hours later I unwrapped it and started playing around with it. I like it sitting on the decorative book here are some options:

Clock in the middle- family picture on the left.

Clock on the left family picture in the middle---NAH!

See- something has to be in the middle.

Think.


Think.


Think.


Go digging.

Wicker balls:

This is how it sits now. Tell me- what do you think. Maybe there's something I am missing.  Should I take the clock back and get something different, or give it a chance?

On to the next decorating dilemma.  I had a wreath over the fireplace at Christmas time, I just barely took it down. I loved the way it looked up there and the way it filled the space.  Looking around I decided to try putting my big clock up there:

I just hung it on the wreath nail so it is about 3-4 inches higher than I would like, I hate putting another hole in the wall though. 

Or should I just put the family pic back up there:

What do you think?

The problem with putting the clock up there is:

Now I have a blank wall above my couch. But, I would love to do something like this on that wall:

♥♥♥    {sigh}   ♥♥♥

Moving on...

I was looking at Brody the other day and noticed a little bit of hair missing from the front of his head:

it's just  a little. Nothing like Braiden's butcher job he did when he was about 4-- take a look- it's funny  (well it wasn't at the time.)

I believe that all kids are going to cut their own hair at some point.  Luckily Brody chose to be conservative, unlike our friend above. :) Oh and I never could get Brody to admit to it.

Also Joslyn is now an expert walker

She officially walks more than she crawls. 

All of my kids have walked at 13 months--just keeping tradition.