Changin' It Up

While there is still sooo much to be done I am thrilled to be in our new home.  As you can see from the photos a lot has been changed and a lot more will be changed over time as money and time allow. 

Dining Room

before

after

Kitchen

before

after

Living Room

before

after

Rachel's Room

 

before

after

Emily/Esther's Room

before

after

Basement Play/TV Room

 

before

 after

My lovely home...

winter (old green roof)

summer (new brown roof)

winter (with red deck/patio)

summer (with new tan deck/patio)

back yard

my gorgeous hedge of rose bushes;

below is a picture of each color I have

(except for the yellow..none of them are blooming just now)

I adore my house and hopefully in the not-too-distant future we will get more work done on the interior and add some furniture as well.  For now (since I can't affored it) I am happy as a clam!



Valentine Dinner

My mother always managed to go 'hog wild' when decorating for holidays, even minor ones.  So this year we tried to make our dining area as festive as possible.  William, Rachel and I went to the zoo for a while, then we shopped for balloons and such before putting it all up.  It was very fun in the end and the girls and dad were quite surprised to come home to it all.

Valentine Boxes

Out here in Utah women seem to compete to see who is the most creative.  That means of course that your child's Valentine box cannot just be an ordinary shoe box covered with pretty paper and decorated with stickers.  Oh no!  here they turn them into insane works of art.  I didn't want to get into it but Esther insisted that she would be too humiliated to show up with a plane old box and she must and would have a castle.  Emily wasn't quite so concerned but she decided to go for a 3Dish sort of touch.  It took us a couple of hours but I felt pretty clever when done. 

The draw bridge on Esther's castle actually lowers and that is where to stuff the valentines.

Emily wanted dolphins and we printed these ones that look very sweet.

Of course William and Rachel just had to get in on one picture.

Aviary

In another attempt to call spring to us we spent an afternoon at Tracy Aviary.  Quite a few birds were in hiding since a cold wind was blowing.  My kids didn't care though.  The sun was shining and we were in fresh air.  Can't ask for much more in early February.

Ducks at the Park

In an effort to pretend that spring truly is on the way we headed to the park one morning after dropping Emily and Esther at school.  It was  a sunny day and we spent an hour or so soaking it up.  I love that even though William and Rachel are separated by gender and three years in age they are the best of buddies. 

Ouch!

I don't even know how it happened but one day William tripped on my feet when we were running up to his preschool and he, Rachel and I all fell into one tangled heep on the sidewalk.  Rachel was frightened but unhurt, my left knee was scraped and gouged hideously, and William's lip was split and mangled.  It really was awful and took weeks for both of us to heal.  No pictures of my heroics but here is one of poor Bub.

Father/Daughter Dance

Every February the city of South Salt Lake puts on a father/daughter dance at the Columbus Center.  It is more of a time for games and fun than dancing but they told me this year they had a live band and some dads were even brave enough to take their daughters onto the dance floor.  They had a blast!