Bye-bye Smokey Joe

We got to pretend we had a rabbit this past week! Rich and Sarah went to Cancun for a week and needed a home for Smokey Joe. We loved having him at our house. Lauren even got him to cuddle with her. (Apparently he doesn't even cuddle with Rich and Sarah!) Jeff calls her the "bunny whisperer." Lindsay had to go see him first thing every morning. She would say "I love you Smokey Joe." We thought the way she said his name was so cute! She would put a heavy emphasis on the first syllable so it would sound like Smmmmoke-e-Joe. He is such a good natured bunny. He seemed to enjoy his stay, but I guess it's hard to tell with a bunny! Thanks Rich and Sarah! It was nice to have a pet in our house again. It's easy to enjoy the journey when you have something warm and fuzzy to cuddle with.

Did I say I needed a new project?

Our front porch pillars have been looking really sad lately. I hope they haven't looked like this for a long time--I've just recently been telling myself we need to replace the "post skirts" (you can tell I've just done a project, 'cause I know the jargon now!) soon. I didn't know what materials to use to prevent weathering to this extent in the future, or if this was just what we would have to do every 5 years. Then I found some great "Tuf Board" which is made from PVC and seemed to be to perfect solution to our problem. The only real problem I had with moving forward was--how was I going to cut the board? (Just a small problem...) And what if the posts aren't exactly square? What do I do if that happens? We don't really know what we are doing!We don't have any of those awesome carpentry tools. And to top it all off we've never done any projects like this--you know, where there's potential for bodily injury if you don't know what you're doing?

Jeff found an awesome neighbor to help us out. Rus Young was such a big help! As I removed the "skirts" I found that two of our posts had some serious rot problems. I hadn't even thought about that! (See..in my mind I'd do this straight forward, simple project and everything will be good.) Rus helped me figure out how to fix the rot problem without replacing the whole post. He even brought over his table saw and nail gun to help me do the job right. We (and when I say "we" I mean "he") ended up cutting off the rotted portions of the posts and replacing them with some "Tuf Board." Hopefully that will ensure that this problem never happens again! Then the kids helped me sand, putty, sand again, wash, and paint the posts. It was tricky to let Lindsay paint without causing a real disaster. We were able to convince her to use "clear paint" (water) on her post. Everyone really got into it and helped out a lot.

Three mornings and two nights later, (We tried to work in the cool of the morning or evenings.) we have nice new posts! Weather and sprinkler resistant--we hope! It was a little hectic to keep this project going along with all the other summer activities, but we think it was worth it! It's nice to know you can do things like this, with a little (or a lot in my case) help from our friends! Next project--sanding and repainting the porch chairs! But we'll wait until after Girl's Camp next week! Check out our handy work!

"I love it when a plan comes together!" Now that those posts are done--we're enjoying the journey a little bit more! Actually it was a fun project, I just wish I didn't have other things going on at the same time. I'm sure you all can relate! But isn't that all part of the journey?

BYU Pioneers

We wanted to do something with our family for Pioneer Day. Jeff had just come home from a business trip the night before (around 1:00am), so we were trying to think of something that wouldn't be too crazy....so we decided to hike to the "Y"! What were we thinking? It was actually a great thing to do, but I think it was harder than any of us remembered. We had Calvin who was like a mountain goat...he got to the top first, and Lauren and Alli who got pretty tired, pretty fast! It was a great object lesson on the pioneers and what they had to go through--nice one, and on Pioneer Day! (Almost as if we had planned it, right?) Alli actually said that it was more fun than Lagoon, love that positive attitude! (Alli's always been my child that will turn work into a game.) They all did great and it was fun to see our kids realize they can do hard things. We had fun cooling off and resting at the top of the "Y" and even called Grandpa Barrett to see if he could find us through his binoculars! He couldn't find us though, the neighbor's shed was in his way. That shed! The hike down was Lauren's favorite part--she is 13 after all. We all agreed it was much easier going down than coming up, except for the side aches from all the bouncing. We were even lucky to meet the happiest hiker in all of BYU-dom on our way down. He came shuffling down in his BYU attire and gave everyone on the trail a high-five, except for Lindsay--she thought he was weird! As he sped past he yelled "How are you this glorious morning?" Now that's someone enjoying the journey!

No more Binky!

So I think we may have said goodbye to the "binky"! Lindsay loves bedtime, she even asks for "night night" sometimes when she is tired. It's not because she is such a dreamy child...it's because she loves her binky and she gets it only at bedtime. It has been so nice not to have a fight at bedtime, so we've just let her keep it. I knew there would be time soon that we would "lose" it, but I haven't been sure I was ready for that battle. Well...I noticed at the beginning of this week that her binky had a tear in it from biting it while she sucked on it over time (this is the same binky she came home from the hospital with). I was happy because I thought the tear would continue to grow, she wouldn't find it as desirable, and she would gradually reject it.

Let's just say somehow that plan got accelerated! I don't know what came over me, but Thursday Lindsay took the binky out of her bed to play with her baby, but she would have it in her mouth most of the time. We took it from her and in a rash moment I told Lauren to snip off the end of the binky along the bite marks--you know, help the process along. That night at bedtime she didn't want her binky when she noticed it was "broken." A bit of a fit followed for the next half hour when she realized there weren't any more binkys...but, each nap time and bedtime since the fits have decreased in length. Today's nap there wasn't much more than a whimper! We are keeping our fingers crossed for tonight! Some days it's easier to Enjoy the Journey!

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...

Okay, so I never thought I would have a blog. I am taking a leap of faith, here. All my cute friends and family have blogs...and I hear this is the way to go. I guess I just never knew how to start--thanks for the gentle nudges... But now I am so excited!

Jeff and I have been married for 16 years and have four children, Lauren 13, Allison (Alli) 10, Calvin 6 (and 11/12ths), and Lindsay 2. I get to stay home with these monkeys and have a blast--okay somedays its more like a fizzle. Summer has been busy so far. Somedays I don't know if I'm coming or going...you know the feeling when you know you need to do something, but you're not quite sure what...and then you realize you have two bridal showers on the same night, at the same time in two different cities?! Maybe having a blog will keep me more organized...or at least get me to write things down. Bear with me while I learn how to be a "blogger."

This has been totally fun, but as we "speak" Lindsay is crying and wanting to "dump-ope." She is circling her hands in front of her and saying "Now, now, now." A few days ago Alli was teaching her friend when to jump in at jump-rope. How funny! Lindsay is very observant!

Anyway...it's sort of hard to concentrate when that sort of thing is going on. Gotta go. I just keep telling myself...Enjoy the Journey.