Still Here in the New Year! (Sorry it's been awhile!)

Sorry you haven't heard from us in a while. We are still here and enjoying beautiful Flagstaff. 2011 left me feeling like "Where did that year go?" It flew by so quickly! We are excited for 2012 and all that this new year has to bring.

Since it has been a while since I posted anything I thought I would put up some of my favorite pictures that have been taken over the past couple months. I also have a couple of videos from the holidays that I want to post so look for those soon!

Enjoy this new year!! We love you all!

Liam's 5th Birthday!!

Justin's 3rd Birthday!!

Matthew's 3rd Birthday!!

A winter wonderland! So BEAUTIFUL!!!

Some good ol' snow fun!




Justin likes to dress up like this on occasion.

Picking out a Christmas Tree and candy canes at the Farmer's Market.

Little Matty!

Decorating sugar cookies on Christmas Eve. YUM!!



Christmas Morning!




New Year's Glamour Girl!

Pics, Thrift Store Finds and Projects!

I have been so bad at blogging this year. Maybe it's the fact that it takes an hour just to get all my pics uploaded. I tend to put it off for that reason but I will try to do better at blogging more often.

This past Christmas Wade bought me a miter saw and sander with the intention that we would be doing some projects together. (Well, mostly Wade :)) I had the idea to build an ottoman/storage chest, mainly to have a place to store our throw blankets. The project began and was nearly completed over the Christmas and New Year Holidays. Then it sat and sat for the next four months waiting for the final touches. But at last it was completed and ready to be brought in for use. We set it in front of the couch and found that instead of having an ottoman we had an alter! A little tacky to say the least. Our little masterpiece was somewhat - Massive. (I will admit that I'm the one who came up with the dimensions. Not my area of expertise I guess.) So our ottoman went from being an ottoman to a bench. We found the perfect spot for it in the kitchen, taking the place of the high chairs that we were so happy to get rid of now that the twins sit at the table with the rest of the family. Wade then, so willingly, agreed to make me a simple coffee table. I went to Anna White's website (a place to find plans for building your own furniture) and found a simple bench that I liked. We altered the width and length a bit and came up with the perfect coffee table. The project fortunately was not as extensive as the ottoman and was finished in a couple days. Wade has informed me that he's done with furniture projects for a while and that's just fine by me. It was fun and was a good learning experience.

Below are some pics from the past couple months or so and the furniture Wade and I made.

I thought I'd add two "Liam Says the Darndest Things" quotes.

I was getting Abby and Liam drinks at lunch one day. One cup had a handle the other didn't.

Abby said: "Mom, I want the one with the handle."

Liam said: "Mom, I want the one with the cup."

Recently Liam and Abby were having a conversation in which Liam paused and said very seriously, "Abby, see my cloud, I am thinking about something." (Looking up as if we should be seeing a little thought cloud above his head.) You'd have to have been there. He was so serious about it. It was Hilarious!:)

Matthew doing one of his favorite things to do, coloring pictures.Justin, pretending to ride Dad's bike.
Liam, pretending to drive.
All the first graders put on an end of school year play called "Character Matters". Abby was the queen in the story of "The Princess and the Pea". She had a part to say and also a part to sing. She did a wonderful job! We got it on video which I will try to post later with Wade's help.
Liam just had to be the king for a moment.

A beautiful day at the playground! Wade posing.:) What a stud!

Matthew has recently acquired a fear of heights. Not sure why? Poor guy.

I went to the thrift store recently and found this old trunk for five bucks! (Sitting on top of the entertainment center.) It's definitely beat up and a bit rusty but that's the look I was somewhat going for. I'm into the rustic/country style decorating. I love it's aqua blue color! I think it brings out the color of my mason jars below.

I also found this chair at the thrift store for twelve bucks! It makes a nice sitting chair for in my bedroom.

Another view.

The storage chest Wade built and I painted. I also made these throw pillows to sit on top. (My new favorite thing to make besides book wreaths. :)) I have since made a fourth pillow as well. Just know the fabric looks a bit more yellow than it actually is.

The coffee table Wade made and I stained. I found a recipe for a simple, inexpensive stain. 1 quart vinegar combined with two steel wool pads. I let the steel wool pads soak in the vinegar for 48hrs. I will warn you my table still smells like vinegar. It's definitely going away though.

Another angle.

Rhett and Link and Buffalo Park

Thursday morning, March 10th, I got a call around 7:20 a.m. from Amy (my sister-in-law). She called to tell me that Rhett and Link (our family's favorite internetainers) were on their Mythical Beast Road Trip, where they would be greeting people. One of their scheduled stops just happened to be here in Flagstaff, at a local truck stop, that very morning at 8:00 a.m. Well the only truck stop I could think of is the one just five minutes down the road from us, right next to the Little America Hotel. Sure enough that was the one!

Just to give you a brief background about Rhett and Link, if you don't already know, they are hilarious! We discovered them over a year ago and we've been cracking up ever since. We love that they are so clean (no worries watching their videos with the kids) and hilarious at the same time. My twins love their "Backwards Pillow" video and beg to watch it over and over each day. If you haven't seen any of their videos I would highly recommend it. They have two You Tube channels. I would start off with their "Epic Rap Battle" video. It's one of my favorites!

Anyway, despite the fact that I was in the middle of the "morning rush", and had to get Abby to school around 8:30, and knew there was no way I was making it into the shower before leaving or even having time to put on a little makeup before heading out, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I knew my twins would love to see the "Pillow Guys". So after one attempt of driving to the truck stop (after dropping Abby off at school), thinking they were gone, driving home, calling Amy, having her talk me into driving back to the truck stop, we lucked out! It was after 9:00 a.m., and I was sure they would have been gone, but we caught them just as they were getting ready to pack up. They were so nice! Upon seeing them, Liam suddenly became extremely shy and would not come out from behind my back. Matthew was his normal self, shy as always. So it was all up to Justin. He, thankfully, was "Mister Friendly". It was a fun experience and I'm so glad Amy happened to be watching them that morning.

Liam would not look up! Such a funny kid!

This past Sunday was so beautiful we just had to get out. We discovered the Buffalo Park, not far from us, which has a two mile trail. It was so much fun to be out on a leisurely walk on such a beautiful day. We love Flagstaff! Here's some pics from our little outing.

P.S. I do have some videos to post but for some reason they wouldn't play once I had them downloaded. I'll have to figure out what's going on. Hopefully the next post.

Bedtime Videos

Sorry, I know the quality on these is not that great. I was filming in the boys room at night. Not the greatest lighting. Wade bought a new camera as a family Christmas gift. So nice to have a camera that takes pics as well as video.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star


Monkey Boy

The Nutcracker and an Old/New Table

I've been trying to upload some bedtime videos of the twins but it is taking FOREVER!! I'll try a little bit later.

Abby and I went with some girls from church to see The Nutcracker this past Saturday. So much fun! This was Abby's second time seeing it. The first was a couple years ago and was the full ballet. This was a much shorter version but still a lot of fun!


The orchestra for The Nutcracker was performed by the Lollipop Orchestra of Flagstaff. Afterwards they gave out lollipops to all the children.


It's snowing today! :)

We just got this table off craigslist!:) For months I have been wanting a new table and chairs (mainly chairs). Our old chairs were so rickety. We were down to four out of six that were still in useable condition but close to retirement days. Wade had talked about making me a farmhouse table but there was still the problem of finding sturdy chairs. I found this set on Craigslist for $250.00 and was thrilled! The color is definitely not my favorite, but I love it's country charm. My plan is to paint it (maybe an antique white) at some point in the near future but for now it serves it's purpose and is definitely a far sturdier table than it's predecessor.

'Tis the Season!

Thanksgiving turned out to be a day to lounge around this year. We had thought of inviting some friends over but then the cold season hit our family and we didn't think anyone would appreciate the gift of illness this holiday season. I have to say when you do Thanksgiving just as a family it's a lot less stressful - not quite as fun but definitely less stress. Abby spent a good part of the day looking at everyone's blogs and trying her best to comment on them. We created her a blog as well. It's called Abby's Castle. You'll find it in my Family Blogs. She would love comments from you. I think that's her favorite part. She checks often. (Seriously, quite a bit.:)) I wish I could say I took some pictures on Thanksgiving Day but the only picture I took was of the table setting which Wade so kindly surprised me with. I think he did a wonderful job decorating with the autumn crafts I made recently. I love that he lit a candle to add to the ambiance. It didn't stay lit long. Once the boys woke up from their nap that was the end of that.

We set up our Christmas tree on Saturday. We thought it best to go really simple on the tree decorations this year (nothing breakable, not with the twins around). My mom had given me some of Grandma Boomer's old ornaments to add to our own. The kids loved them and had a fun time decorating!

Grandma's Ornaments

The kids love to clump all the ornaments into one section. We had to do a little tweaking when it was all done.

This right here is the reason the bottom half of our tree is now bare.

Matthew's new favorite food is peanut butter on a spoon. You can hear him "mmmm"ing as he licks it up.

Aim, this is for you. It's not a great picture of the stitchery I came up with but you get the idea. Wade made the frame for me and I painted and distressed it. I really wish I had done the large words "human" and "spiritual" in a darker thread. Oh well, lesson learned.

I found this shutter at a thrift store several weeks ago. I've been wanting one for a while. (That, and an old window frame if anyone comes across one.) Now I'm trying to decide if I should paint it. Wade likes it the way it is but I'm not sure I do. I've seen a lot of good ideas out there. I'd love to know what you guys think. Happy Holidays! :)