My Magazine House

One of my most favorite things to do is look at home decor blogs or web-sites and catalogs. My house looks nowhere near anything you would find in a magazine and I wish I had some sort of talent when it came to that sort of thing, but none the less I still love to look.

Well, the other day I came across a blog that absolutely cracked me up. It actually got Jeremy laughing pretty hard too. A lady imagines conversations that owners of a "magazine house" would have.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Catalog Living

Time to come clean...

Gary has no idea what exactly Elaine does in the shower every day, but he certainly knows better than to touch her wooden shower spoon or shower branch.


Outdoor Entertaining...

Sweetheart, the Turners will be here any minute now!  Did you put the plate of figs under the table?

Being a Good Hostess...

Just make yourself at home!  If the sheets on the bed aren’t gray enough there are grayer ones in the drawer.  And we just got the latest issue of Wallpaper magazine!

Space is at a Premium...

Gary got the idea from a parking lot in New York.  Sure the kids get rope burns climbing into bed, but their upper-body strength is amazing.

Everything In It's Place

Hi Nancy, it’s Elaine.  I’m going to be a little late for lunch.  I can’t find my hat or my back-up hat.

Really, go check out the site for a good laugh because there are more where this came from!!

My Buddy and Me

Poor Jase has been stuck with just me all week while we've been Kylie-less. We've become quite the little buddies though. We haven't done much just mostly hung around playing on the floor with his toys and the occasional trip to the store or the park to play. I feel like he's starting to grow up a little bit and he  cracks me up! I probably hear a millions a time a day him either say "Go ride" (meaning Go for a ride either in the car or in his stroller... or if we're walking passing a riding lawn mower) or "Go wee" (Go to the park). He also has the cutest little laugh and laughs at pretty much ANYTHING. He loves to put on a show and watch our reactions. He's big on giving kisses and loves to cuddle. I would almost dare say he now walks more then he crawls, something I thought would never happen! He's loves to bathe and he's great at helping clean his toys up. I love this little guy. We've had a good time together.  I can tell he misses Kylie and sometimes goes in search for her. Yesterday he was sitting on my lap and we were looking at picture on my computer. He would laugh and get excited kicking his legs at any picture of either himself or Kylie.  She's had a great time in AZ, but we're excited to get her back!!

Pine Valley

Kylie left us and went to AZ with my sister this weekend. She was really excited to be able to go by herself while I was sad to see her leave. It's just not the same without her here and its amazing how the dynamic changes when someone is gone.

Yesterday Jeremy, Jase and I decided to head out about a half hour to a place called Pine Valley.  It was about 20 degrees cooler and very beautiful. We didn't really know what we would find, but were pleasantly surprised.  We ate lunch, played in the stream and walked around a beautiful reservoir. 

Jase loves anything that has to do with being outside. 

He liked the stream and wandering around

His most favorite thing by far was the water spigot. HE LOVES running water. I'm not sure what his fascination is, but we cannot pry him away from this for anything!

It was nice to get out of the blazing heat, hike around and relax. Jeremy wants to bring Kylie back and maybe go camping out there. It's a fun little place to get away and the best part is that it's not too far of a drive.

Determination

If there is one thing I have learned about Kylie it's that she is one determined little girl. If she wants something or wants to learn something she works and works and works at it. This past week or so she has been dying to learn how to do a cartwheel. She's been practicing and practicing and today I think she did it.  She can't quite land on her feet yet, but she told me she really really wants to and asked me if doing them off the couch would help. I told her probably not and she would probably break her neck in the process. She asked, " Would that mean I couldn't swallow?" 

My camera's not the best for taking movement shots, but I tried to get a few of her ding them. I told her to keep her legs straight and maybe that would help her land on her feet. We'll see what another week of practicing provides. 

Kylie Turns 4

Yesterday was Kylie's 4th birthday. Hard to believe, but it's true. 

I debated and debated on what to do to celebrate. I initially thought I would throw a big party for her with all of her friends, but then decided that maybe I would wait until she turns five to start the friend parties. I wanted to do something extra fun and special for her though. I decided  first that I would make cupcakes for her to take to her summer school class at preschool. 

It's no secret I have terrible baking skills so I tried disguising them with a little crafty thing on the top. Kylie didn't care she was just excited to take them and tell everyone it was her birthday. Her class sang to her and she came home with a balloon and a little bag full of stuff. 

When I picked Kylie up from  school I had her friend Taylor in the car with me. Taylor yelled "Surprise" and Kylie was so excited she was in the car.

I took them to lunch and then to Brushfire where they painted little pottery figurines. Kylie painted a unicorn and Taylor painted a snail. They thought that was pretty fun for awhile and did a good job painting. On the way home we stopped for snow cones and Kylie opened a fun game from Taylor.

They also showed me all their "cool tricks" and danced around in the shade for awhile. 

Later on we had pizza with my sister Amanda and the Dyers. Then Grandma and Grandpa Felix came for present opening and ice cream cake.  She opened a ton of fun gifts she was really excited about and she loved her princess cake... actually she loved the way it looked, but hardly ate it.  I think she had a good day. I hope she did. I wanted it to be fun for her and she seemed to love everything we did. Poor Taylor had been sick the day before, but was a good sport and made the day fun.

We love this little girl more then we can describe. She is funny, sweet, smart, loving, caring, sassy and so much more. She's a great big sister and loves the gospel. She's a great example to us and I know we are better people because of her. She's growing up so fast. I love her stories and having long chats with her on my bed. She's my girl and I couldn't be more grateful for that!!! 

"Mom, Really It Feels Good!"

Kylie spent a good part of the morning trying to convince me that an Otter-Pop bed is a brilliant idea. For some reason I'm just not sure about it. I have a feeling though, if she pleaded her case with her dad, he would agree 100%!

Happy 3rd...4th...&5th

Apparently we took full advantage of the long weekend and celebrated for 3 days.

Saturday we went to the park and played on the blow-up slides and bounce houses. Kylie loved the big slides and Jase only sorta liked bouncing.

We put Jase on the little train and the poor kid fell off the bench and Kylie had to hold him up the best she could during the whole ride. The day of course was pretty warm so we enjoyed snow cones and the shade (and terrible karaoke) before heading back out for more fun.

Later that night we watch the much anticipated fireworks from a spot that over looks the city with the Dyers. We were able to see two firework shows going on and the guy next to us had his radio blasting patriotic music.  It made for a good time!

Saturday night we had a failed attempt at the sparklers so we did them Sunday night. They must have been the cheap ones because they were hard to light, lasted about 10 seconds and you couldn't wave them around without them breaking off and burning up on the drive way. Oh well, the kids loved them and Jase would laugh when he saw the fire.

Monday we headed to Cedar to have a little BBQ with Jeremy's family and spend time with them. Jase was playing with the corn on the cob and would get frustrated when he would pull out the skewer and not be able to put it back in, so finally Jeremy stuck it in the side of the cob. Jase thought that was awesome and held it like a gun. I think boys are born knowing how to make sounds affects and he makes a great gun noise.  He was cracking us up.

I know I take it for granted, but I am very grateful to live in the country and to have the freedoms that we do.  This is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate and we had a great time this year!

Nothing Says "LOVE"

 like when its spelled out in tortilla.  Jeremy is so thoughtful...and very sweet!!