Sick and Sicker

The last several weeks have been rough for our family. We passed around some kind of virus that has had us all spending more time sleeping and coughing and a lot less time playing outside.

You know it's bad when a three-year-old tucks himself in on the couch and falls asleep just an hour after breakfast. Poor Elliot.

Creative after-school snack one day.

Jack won a mini spelling bee in his class! He was very proud of his medal.

 My little bus stop buddy loves to wear her backpack, too.

Elliot and Audrey spent lots of time snuggling eachother in bed.

We bought a new pop-up camper but were too sick to take it out last weekend, so we pretended that we were camping by eating breakfast out in it on Saturday morning. Surprisingly, the kids were all satisfied with this.

And a little purchase from the ice cream man didn't hurt...

Ty can't wait to take the new camper out. He discovered it had a grill on the side and was very happy about that.

Then, to top it all off, I went in to the E.R. Monday night because of a bad arthritis flare up. This is how excited Ty was to be at the E.R. at 1 am. Thankfully, I'm feeling better now.

Master Bathroom Makeover

Our master bathroom mini-remodel is over and I'm so pleased with the outcome. In case you forgot, let me remind you how our bathroom walls used to look:

Precious.

Of course I forgot to get some good "before" shots of the room, but that close-up of the wallpaper is all you really need to see, I guess.

We ripped it off slowly over the course of several weeks.

The non-papered maroon walls needed a couple coats of primer, so that was the next step. We also took down the out-dated light fixtures.

 First coat of blue paint was a success!

Jack even got into the action.

Ty cut and installed molding to frame the mirror.

Ta-da! New paint, towel bars, light fixtures, mirror, and rugs and we're done!

Lake Pleasant

We had our first family outing on Lake Pleasant (kind of - I was home sick, sleeping on the couch, but everyone else had a good time!). We are only a 15-minute drive from the lake and we are housing Ty's parents' boat in our side yard this winter. Perfect, right? Anna and Jason were in town so they got to enjoy the little outing, too.

 Elliot and Uncle Jason

There's nothing like an Arizona sunset.

Primary Kids

Last Sunday was the twins' first time in primary. Elliot looked so grown up in his little suit. Dad was very proud that he straightened Audrey's hair and dressed her on his own while I was in meetings before church.

 We have been talking about this day for months, so they were thrilled to be done with nursery. They are in different Sunbeam classes and very proud to be on their own. I can't wait for the primary program this fall!

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Eve with some new friends that we've made in our ward. The kids had a mini-countdown to 8pm and then we drank Martinelli's and lit sparklers. Here's to 2014!

The Cactus

We had a very unfortunate accident a few weeks ago. Jack had just gotten off the school bus in the afternoon and was talking to me. He took a step backward and lost his balance on a rock. Right behind the rock, is this cactus:

Jack sat right on top of it and I instantly knew we were in big trouble. He screamed and screamed the whole way home. When I took a look at his behind, I counted over 20 holes where a cactus spine had poked him. In one spot, a spine broke off and was still in his skin.

This was easily one of my hardest moments as a mother. I pulled and pulled on the spine but it wouldn't budge. Meanwhile, Jack was still screaming because of the pain. Miraculously, Ty was already on his way home from work because I had a doctor appointment. When he got home, we traded places, and after another 5 minutes of pulling, he finally got the sucker out.

You better believe I gave Jack the biggest dessert that night!

Cousins from Texas

We don't get to see my nephew and nieces from Texas very often, but we were lucky enough to have them spend a night at our house after Christmas. These kiddos are close to my heart because I played with therm all the time when they were babies. I wish they still lived in AZ!

The Audreys

Little Audrey and Andrew

Jack, Ashley, Audrey, and Abbey