Ta Da!

Here's a few pictures of our weekend project.
The wall in StoneMason's room is complete... it just needs a little paint. You can see what it used to look like below in the picture of the workers. (You can see what it is now with the picture of the fan... you'll see.) It was just a loft that overlooked the entryway... not entirely conducive for napping and or climbing toddlers... he's not there yet, but we don't want to wait and see what he'd do with a 20 foot drop.
We added lights!! HOORAY! This one is in our big family room. We also added lights in our room, Mason's room, and moved a fan/light in the entry way.
We had to move this fan to get the wall in... can you tell where it used to be?
The workers. They seemed to like the precarious positions.
Dad was the brain... Uncle S and King Drake were most of the brawn.
This is Mom's and my project. My pans needed somewhere to go.
Before...
and after. (Thanks A and J.)

Remodeling

We've been making a few adjustments to our house...

Dishes

I'll never know what is quite so fascinating about the dishwasher. I'm a fan, but not like my son! But between this and the vacuum, I think I'm going to use chores as a bribe!! Honestly, a friend of mine's husband liked .... spinach? broccoli? so much as a child that his mother used it as a bribe. "You can have "vegetables" after you clean your room..." Wow. Maybe I can do that too.

Dad stopped all the fun.

So he helped from the ground.

Excuse

Part one:
I know, I know. "I'll be better at blogging" is what I said.
Well, we've been sick.
StoneMason has had this nasty nose that has been running like a fountain for almost two weeks. On top of that, his cough has been come and go. He decided to be nice and share the cold to boot. King Drake skipped out on work on Friday to nurse us back to health. That was sure nice of him.

Part two:
I promised my sister we'd post pictures of the lovely new couches we bought for a steal (thank you ksl). Here they are!

Eight

The number of teeth our son now has.
He's only nine (and a half) months old.
Sheesh.

Now if I could only decorate....

Here's the long awaited pictures of our home... well, some of them. Now my only problem is decorating- I've never been good. I need to find someone who's style is similar to mine (if I knew what that was) and just pay them to come decorate. Any volunteers?

Side note/ disclaimer: when we were looking for houses, King Drake hated it when you could only see the corner of a room from the picture... it turns out I take pictures of rooms the exact same way. Sorry.
The house.
The dining room.
The kitchen. I didn't do my dishes...
Our room.
Why we'll never need a dresser.... the closets are big enough to get lost in.

StoneMason's room is through those double doors. Its really a loft that overlooks the entry. We'll be closing that in so he can't throw things or himself over the edge. More to come soon- gotta run take care of Mason.

All by itself...
Nice and decorated...
All lit up...
Worth the $50... even with the bad description.

"Pine and Evergreenish."

We decided we would forgo waiting to buy a Christmas tree during the post-Christmas sales, and have been looking for a used, but nice one on KSL. We found a seven foot, pre-lit tree that was a year old, but it didn't have a picture attached. So, when I called the sellers to ask about it, this was our conversation.... in a nutshell.
Me: Could you tell me more about your Christmas tree? What does it look like, what condition is it in?
Seller: Oh, its pine and evergreenish.
Me: Aren't they all?

Really.
We bought the tree.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

My sister told me that abandoning writing was not an improvement as I promised last time. So in my defense, I didn't abandon it! We've been busy!
First, there was Thanksgiving and our "Tour de Family." We spent a day in Park City, a day in Orem, and a day in Payson, and still did not see all of our immediate family. We came home for one short day (Sunday) to give talks in our new ward and then we were off again. We've spent the last week watching a DIFFERENT family of kids (again from our old ward) while their parents were in China. Going from one to a total of five children has its challenges, but the kids were generally very good and very helpful.
So, that being said, we are finally home again and I promise pictures of our house will be forthcoming. We bought some couches yesterday for a steal... so now people can sit down when they come to visit. How nice.

Blogs

Tonight we've been watching our old neighbor's kids.  We love them, and I seriously miss living in their backyard and coming over anytime, day or night.  But back to the thought at hand.  King Drake is currently in the living room, being a good babysitter, and is playing board games with a 12 year old, a 10 year old, and a... 6? 7? year old.  I am being the bad babysitter and have been sitting at their computer (not to worry, its in the same room, I'm not completely shameless) reading various blogs.  It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't been reading for almost an hour.  The only conclusion I've come to after this last hour is... I can't blog.  I once thought of myself as a decent writer.  In fact, going back to some of my old school papers, I consider myself brilliant.  (I never was very humble.)  But now I realize, those fantastic papers took thought, EDITING, and time.  And now, I don't even know what those three words mean.  Sure, I still THINK about posts, but not deeply.  I just write the quickest thoughts down and hurry on with my life.  And yet... am I really that busy?  Not really.  StoneMason keeps me on my toes, sure, but so much that I've given up thinking... now I just sound pathetic.  Now before you wonder what the real purpose of this post is (and if I even BRIEFLY thought about this one), I have set a new goal for myself.  Actually, I've set two.  1.  I will take time to think deeply about things again- and not just posts.  I will stop and think about my little boy, about my life, about things going on around me, instead of just giving them a passing glance and then moving on.     On a sidenote:  This was also brought on as I read a relative's blog.  I heard that they recently separated and was shocked, I had no idea anything was wrong, and by reading and looking at pictures no one would have known.  And I thought to myself, is my life as distant as their news was to me?  Am I really aware of my own life, or do I let things sneak up or slip by unnoticed.  I don't want to wake up surprised one day finding my life has moved on without any conscious thought.  Ok, enough.  If that didn't make sense, don't worry about it.  Goal two:  I will keep a better record (blogging or journaling) of my family.  Since I've never been a great journaler (with the exception of about two years during college) I can AT LEAST keep a brief, historical record (with pictures too!).  That is the least I can do for my children.  I have been feeling guilty that I haven't dutifully kept a daily journal for me, or for Mason, but I'm going to stop beating myself up over it.  I'll do my best in my journal and in his, those can be my "small plates" with significant meaning and memories.  This blog is now my "large plates" with new and improved deeper thinking... but mostly a record for my children.  I'm taking a leaf out of another old neighbor's book and am considering making a book out of the blog each year as the family "scrapbook."  Because lets be honest, it would look better than my normal scrapbooking.  

So, here it goes.  Here's for better blogging.  Perhaps none of you will be inspired by our brief recordings like I am by some of yours, but it will improve, and it will mean something to me.  And hopefully, to someone else.