Getting Ready for School

 At lunch with mom and dad!

 Gabby needed to pose too

 trying on some of her new clothes

 I just had to throw this one in....my cute girl!

At back to school night.  Mikayla, a girl from her preschool class is in the same Kindergarten class.  They were best buds in preschool, and were so excited to see that they were together again!

Last weekend we took Charley out to lunch by herself, and went shopping for school clothes!  She loves this day.  It is something she gets to do without her sisters, and she loves the attention. This year we took her to Applebee's for lunch, and then a bunch of stores for clothes.  When did my baby get so big?!

Sunrise

Last weekend my parents were in town to drop off Lexi and Ruben at BYU.  While they were here our Stake had an activity.  They had organized a group of people to hike Mount Timpanogos starting at midnight, and getting to the summit just in time to see the Sunrise!  Since my parents were here, we took advantage of the opportunity to go!  I hadn't hiked Timp since I was single.  It was a 16 mile hike round trip.  It was a little challenging, but we made it to the top. We even saw a few moose on the way!

From drab to FAB!!

 This table was my mom's, then she gave it to my aunt, then while I was back in Omaha, my aunt gave it to me.

 Sanded, painted white, distressed and added new knobs.  (Courtney, those are the knobs you gave me, they were in a basket you had)

 This was another part of the entertainment center Cal & Courtney gave us.

 I sanded it down, painted it yellow, and stuck it in the garage for shoes and other kid stuff.

 Another part of the entertainment center.  This section was where the TV was supposed to sit, and the DVD sits inside.

 Welp, Cal cut the top off, then I sanded it down, painted it yellow, then sanded it and put stain on top of the paint. I modpodged chevron paper on the doors and then lackered it all down!

 This is the girls desk. It houses all their school stuff, and the little table inside pulls out just low enough for them to sit with their little chairs.

And the last piece of furniture I have done recently is this dresser.  Our neighbor was giving it away for free, so we took it!  It was a little banged up.  We had to glue a door back together, but a little TLC and it is perfectly new again! This is for the girls.   They already have a dresser that is blue with green doors, so this one is going to be the opposite, green with blue doors. Gabby with get this one and Charley will get the other. I am still working on it.....I painted the doors before I realized that the old knobs that were on it weren't standard....so when I went to put the new ones on I bought they didn't fit.  So I had to fill in the holes and drill new ones.  Which means I will have to repaint them.

Work in Progress

 These two top pieces used to be part of an entertainment center Calvin and Courtney gave us, and Cal cut up for us!  I didn't need an entertainment center, but I did need nightstands

 This was right before I started painting.  I forgot to take a before picture of my room, so this will have to do!  One Saturday I painted the ceiling white and the walls grey.

 These are the results of the old entertainment center.  I painted white, distressed and put contact paper on the inside, and added new hardware (which isn't shown in this picture....I added it later).

 My room!!! I still need to order the picture we are putting above our bed, get some lamps, baskets for the nightstands, and a rug for the foot of our bed....and there is a wall I don't know what to do with, and I need to finish our dresser.  There is still a lot to do, but it is slowly coming together!

 I found this mirror at Family dollar for $10.  If you touch it, it is plastic.  And it was a bronze color.  So I painted it and antiqued it.  It looks much better!

This dresser is next on my list. I think I am going to leave the top brown, but try to sand down as much black as I can and paint it white, and distress....and get new hardware.  

It has been a year since we've moved into our house, and I was finally sick of our room, and excited about fixing it up.  My goal for this summer was getting it done.  And with all our crazy stuff at the beginning and middle of summer, I've really only had a month to do it all.  And a month may seem like a long time, but when you re-do furniture and paint with kids around, I only get maybe an hour or so a day to work on stuff while they are napping or playing.   

I have a few other projects I also did this summer, I'll post later....a desk for the girls, a shelf for the garage for shoe storage, a sofa table, and another dresser for the girls. After looking around my house, I think 80% of our furniture I have redone. 

8 Years...

Seriously, Ben and I have been married for 8 years!!!  That seems like a long time!  .....and I am still 22, just like when we first got married!!!   It is kinda amazing how far we have come in those 8 years....not geographically though! :)  In 8 years we both finished our undergrad, Ben grad school, moved 6 times! Bought a house! Have 3 beautiful girls...our oldest starting school this year!  We've run races together, gone on trips, and all the while, have had a blast! ....and we still have a ton more great things to come! 

For our anniversary we got a babysitter!!  We went to dinner, and saw a movie.  It was great! 

On a total side note: I am not sure why I want to remember this, but i think this is funny.  In our last apartment and in our house we have a dish washer.  I have been so frustrated with them because I literally have to scrub the dishes clean before putting them in.  So all the dishwasher does is sanitize, and some times not even that.  Ben got a subscription to Consumer Reports and a few months ago the magazine did a report on dishwashers and soap.  Come to find out that the soap we were using (Kirkland dishsoap) was on the bottom of the list....which was one of the worst soaps....that pretty much did nothing. So I bought one of the better soaps. I stuck the dishes in, food and all....still skeptical on whether it would work, and it does. I am a little annoyed with myself,  all that time i wasted washing the dishes twice!  It was just me trying to be cheap!

I still need to post our trip pictures. But I want to do it in order, and our Omaha pictures are on Ben's work computer. I keep forgetting to take them off.  Maybe this weekend.

No-No-No

I think this is cute! ....just another one of her little "tricks".

I don't make this up....

 We signed Gabby up for Itty Bitty Soccer.  On the first day, it took her 40 minutes to finally warm up to everything and play.  

The second day was picture day, and it was a little better, but it was still crazy.  

Warm-up: She didn't want to participate because...."that's not soccer!"

Station 1: they were supposed to practice shooting the ball into a net.  What Gabby did:  dribbled the ball like a basketball

Station 2: they were supposed to practice dribbling the soccer ball.  What Gabby did: dance in the corner.

Station 3: they were supposed to use balloons to practice juggling, bouncing the ball off knees and feet or head.  What Gabby did: played volleyball.

Station 4: was pictures....Gabby just cried, and didn't want to....Good thing I didn't buy any!

Station 5 & 6: was a mini game set up in the back half of the gym.  At first Gabby complained that there wasn't enough balls.  So I had to help explain to her what a "game" was, and she was supposed to try and kick the ball and score a goal.  So she runs to the ball, touches it, and runs back to me yelling, "I touched it Mom!"

Today was her 3rd day of soccer, and it was a lot better. I was actually able to sit and watch her.  However, she still didn't want to do the warm ups. .....and SHE WORE HER SUNGLASSES THE WHOLE TIME!!!  And yes folks, Ittly Bitty Soccer would be indoors!!!

This station they were practicing headers.  They had small beach balls instead of the hard soccer balls.  

At the end of every practice, they get a treat.  Here she is, on our way out....still wearing her sunglasses. 

This girl is Hilarious!  ....at least I think so! 

I'm not sure soccer is Gabby's sport.  But she's having fun, and it is releasing some of that energy of hers.  But lucky for my girls, their mom is a PE teacher.  And they will always be involved in something.  And maybe when they are older they will have an idea of what they are good at and want to do!

2 Wheels

If you look very carefully at this picture you will notice that Charley's training wheels are OFF!!!!  Seriously, I can't keep up with my kids.  They are all growing up too fast!

We have been trying to get Charley to take her training wheels off all summer.  All of the kids that are about her age have now learned how to ride on 2 wheels.  I think there is maybe 1 that hasn't (there are a lot of kids on our block). Tonight Ben told her he just wanted her to try.  As soon as he said that, she started tearing up....she was so scared.  Ben thought he was in for at least an hour of crying and frustration.  But it was the complete opposite.  He helped her once, let her go and she was off on her own.  It was amazing!  (lets cross our fingers teaching her to drive is just as easy!)

This was a big accomplishment for her.  She really was terrified of taking her training wheels off. But we are so proud of her!

Mobile!

Nothing in my house is safe anymore!!....this little cutie is CRAWLING!!!  She started crawling on Sunday, July 22, 2012.  Ben took her to class with him at Church.  He set her on the ground and she took off!  I'm a little sad I missed it.  I knew she was on the verge of doing it, but didn't realize how quick.  But Ben caught some of it on his phone.  And each day she's been getting better and better.

Drive-in

I love our neighborhood.  Someone is always doing something fun to celebrate.  This night was just for fun.  Someone thought up the idea of a drive-in movie night.  And that weekend, it happened!  Our neighbor set up a screen and projector and every one brought blankets and chairs to watch Pixar shorts. We even set up a concession stand! 

Tennis Camp

Last week we signed Charley up for PeeWee Tennis camp.  She loved it!  It was only a week long, so we'll have to find a place to actually have her take lessons.  So many places don't have lessons for kids this young.

3 years

 Today this little girl turned 3!!! I still can't believe it. I can still remember her when she was born, she had a cute squished face, especially at the top of her nose.  She was perfect! ....Then she found her voice a few months later, and we haven't figured out how to turn her off since!

 Ever since Charley's birthday, she has been "patiently" waiting for her birthday.  ....haahaa.....I guess anxiously waiting is more appropriate.  She gets so frustrated when others are having their birthday and not her....First I had a birthday, then Ben, and she was supposed to be next, but at the beach house Schrammpa had his birthday.  She kept telling everyone her birthday was "tomorrow".  But the day finally arrived! It was Gabby's Birthday.  And she has been wanting a Tinkerbell Birthday for soooooo long.  Sometimes, it was all she could talk about. ....literally!  So being the nice mom that I am, couldn't reject that face....could you?!  So a Tinkerbell birthday it was.  Lucky me, Charley has also had a few Tinkerbell parties, so I had a lot of stuff already!  We only invited a few friends that lived in our culd-e-sac. When the got to our house I had little Tinkerbell pictures for them to color. They each came with a little pack of markers, thank you dollar store!

 Then we made fairy wands....aka oreos on a stick dipped in chocolate covered in sprinkles!  After making wands, we played "fairy, fairy, Tinkerbell"....instead of "duck, duck, goose."

 After the crafts and games we had presents and cake!....I saw this cute idea on pinterest to bake the cake in a ice cream cone.  Gabby loved it....way cute idea. I didn't feel the need to buy ice cream when my cake was shaped like it!  After cleaning off all the little hands, it was outside for bubbles until mom's arrived.  It was only an hour long, but it was good enough for the Birthday Girl!

When Ben got home, we took the Birthday Girl out to dinner, and because I was too tired to make dinner....setting up for the party, having the party, cleaning up the party then making another cake...plus taking care of kids was enough for this mom!

 When we got home, it was time for her to open the presents we got her, and eat another cake.  ....The Tinkerbell cake she always talked about!

 (I went to H&M the other day, and they had a bunch of stuff for a $1!!! ...like this hat, the bag, I got Charley some socks, and Dani some tennis shoes....all for a $1each....I also got Gabby a few shirts for $3...score!)

I know the cake looks a little creepy, but this was the best I could do in the time I had to make the cake.  I sure have gotten quite a few cakes out of that cake pan, and I'm sure this wont be the last Tinkerbell cake I make!

Happy Birthday to my crazy, beautiful, energetic, funny, adorable, Loud, never a dull moment Gabby. We love you.  We hope your Tinkerbell Birthday was everything you wanted!

7 months

This cute little princess is 7 months old today! She is practically perfect in every way.  And she is a big time mama's girl!

*She is Almost crawling. She does get on all 4's and rocks back and forth....she'll be there any day now.  But she does scoot all over going backwards or by rolling.  She can move her legs, but hasn't quite gotten what her hands are supposed to do yet, so she will scoot her legs then face plants forward then gets up and does it all again...it isn't her fastest method of movement, but she'll do it every once in a while when she really wants something!

*She is eating solids, and has loved everything we have given her.

*She sleeps from 8p - 8a every night!!! With 2 naps during the day. 

*She doesn't cry much, and is pretty content to just be watching her sisters play.....they are pretty interesting!

*When she does talk, she is soooo LOUD!!!  I am worried we are going to have 2 Gabby's in the house! Not that Gabby is bad, but just LOUD!   Dani discovered she had a voice a few months ago, and has been screaming ever since...literally.  You would think she is hurt, but those are her happy squeals!

We love our Baby Dani!!

RAGNAR!!

It has been a while since my last post, and a lot has happened....I survived a cross country, month long trip with the girls!  But before that trip, Ben and I ran in the 2012 Wasatch Back Ragnar!  Our Awesome sister-in-law, Courtney, came in town to watch the girls with the help of our wonderful Aunt Kay!  And they did it so we could run this crazy race.  We love them!

We signed up a year ago, while I was pregnant.  But I like signing up for big races to help motivate me to run and get in shape. Because Dani was a c-section, I couldn't work out for the first 2 months after she was born.  Which really gave me 4 months to train for this race.  And I know I was slow, but I ran all 18 miles!  ....even my leg that was 8.4 miles up a mountain where I climbed like 900 ft....I ran the whole way!

I loved running it with Ben.  Ben isn't a runner, but he likes running this race...that tells you how fun it is!  (it sounds stupid, but ragnars are fun!)

What's next?.... marathon!!!  I made a promise to myself I would do a marathon after each kid.  The real question is which marathon!?!?!

Flying by

Seriously, where does the time go?!  Summer is going to be over before we know it. And school is just around the corner.

This weekend Ben and I are running in the Wasatch Back, Ragnar Relay Series.  Our amazing sister-in-law and aunt are coming to watch the girls for us.  They are going to have so much fun with them! But the Ragnar is a race that takes a lot of prep, not just training but organizing and planning.  And when the race is done I have 2 days to get ready for our cross country trip.

I somehow thought it was a great idea for me to drive to Nebraska by myself with 3 little girls.  And then from Nebraska, fly by myself with 3 little girls to North Carolina...fly back to Omaha, then drive back. What was I thinking!  The girls and I will be gone for about 3 weeks visiting family.  Ben couldn't take that much time off, so he decided to just come to North Carolina with us to see his family for the week.  He is meeting us out there and flying from SLC.  But my family is having a mini reunion the week before, and I wanted to go.  So in order to do so, I am braving the road and heading East!

So the next few weeks are going to be crazy, and I may be MIA for a while.  But since family is the ones who mostly look at this blog anyway...you can see the girls in real life rather than in pics! 

Yesterday I took the girls by myself to 7Peaks. We came home in one piece, and everyone was happy.  I was pretty proud of myself.  It gave me a little reassurance that I could travel with the kiddos and be fine. I have good kids. Gabby may be loud, but she is still a good little girl.  Charley is an angel, and is such a big helper, and Dani is perfect. Traveling will be fine....I just have to keep telling myself that!

We will be back mid July, in time for Gabby's birthday.  If you have talked to her recently, she has been excited for her birthday for MONTHS!  She has her friend invite list already picked out, and she wants a Tinkerbell party with a Tinkerbell cake.

Charley starts school in August sometime....I should really look that up.  But the week or so before is all the fun back to school activities and open houses to meet her teacher. It was fun last year, and we are looking forward to it this year. 

And miss Dani will be 6 months next week.  She is still sleeping like a pro, and eating solid foods. She is already really attached to me.  She is fine with others holding her, but if she sees me, and I'm not holding her, she panics.  I feel like it is really young for her to be doing that...is it?

If you've read to the end, congratulations! It was a random post.  I should be getting stuff done, but I looked at my computer and decided that this was a better use of my time....haahaa....sometimes I just don't think!