Random Things That Ryan Says

Ryan is at THAT age. 

The one where you must be VERY careful what you say around him, and be ready to start singing random songs at the top of your voice to drown out what he says.

While Mark and I were out of town, my sister cared for the boys. 

She took them to church.

During the main service, Ryan leaned over and said, "WE GOTTA BUST OUT OF HERE!"

Late, when a nice person sitting in the pew behind her decided to try and entertain the restless boy, Sara asked if he had a new friend and Ryan leaned over and said, "THAT GUY IS DRIVING ME NUTS!"

Hey, at least he wasn't with me!

What Brothers Do

They teach you all those important things in life...

like how to ...

Beat

One of my favorite quotes is pounding around in my head today...

 To walk we have to lean forward, lose our balance, and begin to fall.

 We let go, constantly, of the previous stability, falling, all the time, trusting that we will find a succession of new stabilities with each step.

Today, I am moving through instability, but focused on each heart beat, each step, each breath.  Tomorrow will bring a new set of experiences and new steps to be taken.  But today, each beat, each breath, each step. 

Just the two of us...

For my birthday this year, Mark and I decided to get out of Dodge... without the boys!

We headed out after work on Friday, and drove down to Moab, Utah, the home of Arches National Park.  It's a place like no other on the planet... unless the planet is Mars. 

And what better place to spend your birthday but lost in another world with just the love of your life??

Mrs Kennedy and Me

http://www.mrskennedyandme.com/

I just finished reading this book... and it was wonderful! 

It's very well written, but also tender enough you can hear Mr Hill's voice in every page.

It is very simply a love story.  The love story of President and Mrs Kennedy.  The love between Jackie and her children, her extended family, and her close friends.  And, you can truly feel Mr Hill's love for the family he helped protect.

There is no mention of the rumors, half truths, and other speculation that so often flutters around the edges of Kennedy history.  He shares lovely, intimate memories of President Kennedy taking his wife's hand, of the two loving parents who tried so hard to protect their children.  Wonderful memories of young John Jr and Caroline.  Seriously, it is written in such a way as to take you into their everyday life... so you feel as if you were there observing.    

As the fateful moment in Dallas was approaching, I couldn't help wishing somehow, someway, the story would change.  It was too heart breaking... and I'll admit, I cried and cried and cried. 

It really was a great book, strike that, a great story. 



Arena Fun

We spent Saturday morning at the Huntsman Center with some family that was competing in the State level of the Science Olympiad.  While the events were pretty cool, the stadium seating was much more entertaining, especially for Ryan! 

He had a blast climbing around, testing out the different seats. 

He thought he was SOOOOOO grown up, being allowed to wander on his own, and leave us several levels below while he sat in his own row!

The Itsy Bitsy Spiders...

Climbed up the water spout... errrr... staircase??

Here in SLC, there is a "mall" called Trolley Square, which has an old fashioned water tower out front.  As soon as the boys saw the staircase, they BEGGED to run up it. 


After several renditions of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, we let them have at it.  


It's great how little things like climbing a spiral staircase can bring such joy to young hearts!


I love moments like these!! 

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Train Ride

It's not about the destination, it's about the journey.

Why WebMD has TOOOOOO much info...

At first, I thought maybe I had too much caffine... but now I think I might be dying... 

Easter Adventure

We went off on a wild hare of an adventure this weekend. 

Seriously... Last weekend Mark mentioned he thought it would be fun to go south for a weekend.  We talked about maybe the Grand Canyon (about 10 hrs away) or maybe just Zions (about 5).  Nothing concrete.

We packed up Friday night and drove down to Cedar City (about 4 hours south)... woke up the next morning and did a lot of ...

And...

AND

Followed closely by...

Plus, a little of ...

And VERY LITTLE of...

We've been home about 30 mins... Ryan is passed out, Evan is quietly playing...

And my sister went grocery shopping for me.

Despite a rough start, it turned out to be a great weekend!

A Pinterest Project

 Oh, Pinterest... I love thee.  lol

What?  You don't know what pinterest is??  It's many things... crack for crafters as far as I'm concerned. 

Need a good recipe??  Best place to search. 

Want to remember that thing you saw so that after you finish your other 50 million started projects, you can have a visual reminder??  DONE.

And that is where this lovely came from.

It's actually one of the first things I pinned!

It was originally done on metal... with beautiful rusted aging.

Mark would have hated it.  lol.

It's been coming together in my head for ages now.

I bought the canvas last fall.

It's 18x24. 

And it's actually a rich brown tinted grey.

And since I couldn't get away with hanging a rusted piece of metal on our bedroom wall, I had to distress the canvas. 

First I painted the canvas a streaky creamy white with raw umber highlights.  Just enough to give it a little worn/aged look.

Then I planned everything out on my Cameo, cut the letters out of vinyl, and placed them. 

I mixed up some paint until I got the color grey I wanted, and painted over the whole thing... adding some streaks of the raw umber again.

Once dry, I peeled off the vinyl, revealing the white underneath.  And then I went to town with some sandpaper, and of course, some Tim Holtz distress ink. 

You can't quiet see in the picture, because I was too lazy to pull out my REAL camera, lol, and used my phone, but it's totally worn looking... like an old pair of jeans. 

And it's possibly one of my favorite projects. 

Random Things in my head RIGHT NOW

1.  I bought a book for my Kindle while I was at work.  I came home, excited to read it... and found my battery was dead so now I have to wait for it to charge AND download. 

2. I asked my husband if he was hungry and if I should make dinner.  He said yes.  I made dinner.  He's been on a work call for the last hour.  Dinner is cold.

3. I'm really really tired.

4.  Evan finished putting together the BIGGEST Lego set to date.  He is making flying, bombing and shooting  noises.  I love it.

5. My computer battery is almost dead... better go put it next to the charging Kindle.

Birthday Boy

Can you believe he's NINE?

He amazes me everyday.

He teaches me something everyday.

He is handsome

He is patient and kind

He is the best big brother to his little pesky brother.

He is responsible and smart and funny.

He is everything I would have never thought to ask for. 

Backyard Swing Gets Updated!

My parents gave me a porch swing for my birthday soon after Evan was born.

That first summer, I spent many many hours rocking him on that swing.

Each summer, it looked a little rougher, until three years ago, when it was so threadbare, my husband told me he was taking it to the dump.

I begged him not to, I thought I would be able to find a new cushion for it. 

Uhhh, No.

It was not a standard size or shape. 

But I couldn't bare to just toss it.  So I took a razor to it, and took the threadbare seat cushion off.  I left the back, it was in pretty good shape. 

That left me with a great mesh base on the seat, but it was uglier than all get out (and a little uncomfortable on the backside!).

So I planned and measured, and debated and figured.

And I came up with the simplest idea on the planet. 

That was two summers ago... My original slip cover was looking a little faded and worn... and a few moths or other creatures had decided it was a great winter snack, so this morning when Ryan and I were wandering the aisle of Joanns, and we spotted a great orange canvas remnant... I was ALL over it!


It was just about a foot to short, but I still had some cream canvas from another project at home...

And I must say, I love it. 

It's pretty simple, really... just a flat slip cover.   It just takes a few straight hem stitches around the edges, then some twill tape attached to each corners, plus where the back meets the seat, and two pieces along the top and the bottom (a few years ago, I attached some D rings to the frame that the middle pieces tie to).  

Two years ago, I went all out and made a "pillow" for the seat using some clearance batting, this year however, I just used some old pillows that were pretty close to being thrown out. 

This way, they can be brought in and washed, I can take them off in the winter and store them, etc.

After I put the bright orange on it, I decided one day this summer, I'm going to spray paint the frame... maybe a deep brown??  Dunno... but something... maybe... if the wind ever stops blowing!