Drive to Elk Ridge

We are excited to see Scott a little bit more these days! One day we got some Subway and took the girls on a drive. West of Blanding there is a place called Elk Ridge. Scott works here all the time, and it is where he took me on our hike to the cliff ruins.  We went back to the area with the waterfalls.  Unfortunately, it was only a trickle from a recent rainstorm, but it was still pretty and fun anyways.  The girls had fun running around, and throwing rocks into the water.  Whitney managed to fall in head first and soaked her clothes and shoes.  We learned first hand, that babies actually do hold their breath when they fall into water. I was right next to her and just grabbed her right out. It was kinda funny, not as terrifying as one would think. She was completely fine with it, not scared at all. But we still had a lot of trip left, so she was naked for a while, then we found a few things in the car to dress her up in.  Those are the times I am glad I am not a neat freak in the car. there is always something we can use.  After the water, we drove around looking for animals. Deer were plentiful, but no elk or bear spotted.  We saw a lot of pretty things and places Scott often talks about.  We got out for a view of Arch Canyon, but acorns were much more interesting. I am still finding them in the laundry.   It was a fun trip and we are so thankful to live in such a beautiful area. 

Little girls miss their big sisters

 Modeling mom's super-high heels, and Sara had to be in the picture

Since school has started, the dynamic at home is very different. Abby and Isabel head to school at 8 am and return at 3:15. So all day it is just my little ones.  When all of them are home, everybody seems to play together, but when it is just Whitney and Sara, not so much.  Sara has preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning.  Whitney tends to just hang out with me and not want to go anywhere. Which is fine most of the time, but not always.  Sara wanders like a lost lamb.  She just doesn't know how to entertain herself after 4.5 years of having someone to play with.  So it is a process.  She always wants to play at a friend's house. She gets bored very easily.  She and Whitney fight sometimes.  They also do play a game where Sara is the baby and Whitney is the mom and takes care of her.  Sometimes they play dolls.Whitney is speaking more clearly and definitely has an opinion.  She is a sweet girl. She is into Dora, and lately has been changing clothes every 5 minutes. she knows exactly which drawers to get a shirt and pants out of, and she likes her sisters' dresses.  She also wears shoes all the time.  Today, she is wearing (as her 3rd outfit) Some jeans, with Sara's swimsuit on top of that, then Isabel's shirt over top, and some sandals she found that are huge.  She also has her two piggytails in, at her request.  I am still figuring out if it is a nature or nurture thing. Do two year old boys care this much about clothes and hair?  Whitney is working on potty training, but we are not even close to done. If I put her on the toilet she will complain and then pee, but she doesn't do anything else and she won't tell me when she has to go.  She is so smart and we love listening to her and watching all the things she is doing.
Sara is getting bigger. She recently figured out how to use the mouse and gets onto computer games herself (we have tabs with the few websites they can use). So she loves to do that. She almost knows all her letters, and can write her name. She is learning sign language at preschool and seems to like that.  She still struggles in church, going to her class but I keep hoping she will grow out of it.  She is doing well at school and no major problems, so I am relieved about that. She definitely can have her own opinion and create some drama. Sometimes it drives us crazy, other times you can't help laughing.  It seems like a preview of the teenage years, but I am still holding onto the hoope that she will get it out of her system young....  we love our Sara.  So days are a little more simple at home, but also a lot more hands on with out the big girls to help entertain.  We shall see how it goes now that the weather is getting cooler. 

Decorating Whitney's Room

 I have felt bad for Whitney and her boring beige room for a while.  The only decoration she had was a few things hung on the wall and a little butterfly mobile above her crib.

 This is the old dresser she had. It was originally brown, Scott had it in his bedroom growing up. We moved it to California and I repainted it yellow and found cute star knobs for it. But it was time for another facelift.

A while ago I bought this cute crib sheet at Target.  I thought it was so cute and started brainstorming ideas for this room. Not only is it Whitney's, it will always be the nursery since it is right across from our room.  Although unlikely, we may have a boy someday, so I wanted something gender-neutral.  I finally decided on the woodland theme, going off of this sheet.

The next step was a trip to one of my favorite stores : Sherwin Williams.  There I quickly picked out a sky blue and a green paint that remind me of spring, the color of the first baby leaves. This is probably my favorite color.  I picked a less shiny base for the blue, since it won't see much wear and tear, but for the lower color of green, it was definitely scrubbable!  After I bought the paint in July, I didn't do much.  My mom was coming and I figured that would be the best time to paint. Although i often paint alone with the kids, having a babysitter during the process would be a big help.

 After washing the walls, removing nails and blinds, and taping with Frog Tape, I started with two coats of the sky blue.  Even as I started, I didn't really have a full idea of how I would separate the two colors.  I had been thinking about it for months and debating different ideas, but I just decided to go for it and see what happened.  I finally decided to use sidewalk chalk (plentiful since Abbby's birthday party) to draw out some bushes and trees.  It worked great, and was easy to work with.  I picked a few trees from the sheet to copy, but the rest was free hand.  I began painting the edges, and found a regular paintbrush was not going to cut it. I grabbed a little foam craft brush and that worked much better. After I filled in the edges and cut in teh corners and baseboards, then I could just do all the green.  It was actually nice only working with one half of the wall at a time, even though it took many steps.  I did another coat of green and made sure to get all the little places, like the pointy edges of the pine trees.

 After all those steps were done and very dry, I began adding more details. I had bought a small sample size of dark green, and had some light green and yellow left over from Sara's room, so I just began mixing colors.  I was able to do the details again with the small foam brush, and fill in with a small roller (also left from painting sara's stripes)

 I looked online for a long time, trying to find a large tree vinyl sticker or something. Anything that was actually big enough was way too expensive, and none of them were exactly what i was looking for.  I took a leap with inspiration from all the design shows I like to watch, including Extreme Makeover : Home Edition, where they always go all out on kids rooms and are not afraid to nail things to the wall.  I was going to make my own trees.  A full sheet of MDF is huge, so i found some thinner quarter sheets at Home Depot and was able to get four of them.  The large tree had to be made in two pieces, but it worked out fine. I took some butcher paper into the room, looked at the crib sheet and sketched the trunks out, measured and all that.  Then my mom helped hold the wood for me while I cut it out with the jigsaw.  After that, it was a whole bunch of sanding, but MDF sands really well, so it wasn't too bad.

 While at Home Depot, I found this chalkboard paint that can be tinted, so we got dark brown "Coffee."  I researched on the internet and figured out how I wanted to do it. I took my trees to the basement and every three hours for about three days I added a coat with a foam roller  The color is great, still haven't written on it, I kindof don't want to give Whitney any ideas... 

I used regular finishing nails to put the trunks in place, they need to stay, but no one should be hanging on them (hopefully) so I didn't think I needed to anchor them in or anything.  I found a rug at IKEA and it looked just like a patch of grass,so I aired that out on the porch for a few days and added it in.

 Ordered some knobs for the dresser and got them.  The screws were too long, but I was able to get some shorter ones and install those.

 I finally found a great website which had woodland animals in the sizes I wanted and ordered them. They came so fast, I was really happy.  I added all these around the room, hoping no one will decide to pick them off. 

 Mom and I were able to make a quilt insanely fast, because I figured I would not do it by myself. I found a few fabrics I liked on a Wal-Mart trip and we threw them together at 10 pm.  We spent the next few days sewing and just quilted it on the machine ourselves. When Grandma Watson came to Abby's baptism, she was able to help hand sew the binding.  Thank goodness for internet tutorials, helped us get it on there with the corners right! it is somewhere between a crib and twin size, should be great for the toddler bed and to wrap up in.

 the tree by the window was a big pine tree, but it was not working out, so it became a different kind of tree that I like much more.

 The squirrel was a little huger than I thought he would be, so he is hiding behind the rocking chair.  Once Whitney is in a toddler bad, the chair will go. And once a new baby is there, a changing table will go against the wall where I left it mostly blank.  So that should all work, no matter which way we have things.

I am not sure why i got only the mushrooms beige. I thought they would look cute, like they were growing out of the baseboards, but they really blend in.  I may buy brown ones later if I find some money laying around. 
So, all in all it was a really fun project for me to do. I love designing and getting ideas and taking the steps to finish it.  I love walking down the hall and seeing that glowing green coming from the room.  I am so happy most things turned out just the way I wanted, which isn't always the case. There are a few things I don't love, but I do like, so it's ok.  The fun part is seeing how much Whitney likes it. She loves her trees and can name all her animals.  She will lay on her grass to get her diaper changed and I really think she enjoys it all. I think the room is classic and will be cute for years to come.  So I think that's about it!  Sometime when inspiration strikes again, I think I will be doing the guest room for all of you to enjoy when you come visit! But that will probably be a while. One room at a time.    

Summer highlights

 Abby and Isabel got to be on our ward's float in the Pioneer Day parade. They had a lot of fun.  (they are in the house, waving)  We got to see the parade with Pam, Mom and all the cousins just down the street from our house. It was nice to get to, but on the end of the route, so the candy was sparse.  Eventually we ended up with more than enough sugar for everyone. 

 Whitney thought it was hilarious to squirt everyone with the hose

 All the Canada cousins at Newspaper Rock

 Havign fun roasting hotdogs for lunch.  It started out as a rainy day, but cleared up enough for us to have some fun on the mountain

On a quick day where we had Scott home, we made him take us and my mom to Durango, Colorado.  The other times we went, we hit the train museum, but this time we went to a honey store, Honeyville, which sounded a little more fun on paper than it was in person, but it was still a beautiful drive, the girls got to see a clear bee hive and we got some sticky and sweet treats.  We then went to a children's museum which was pretty fun, looked at the river and all the people floating down it (an activity to do when the kids get older) ate in a Mexican restaurant and went to Home Depot (fun for me!)  I was able to get a few things I needed for decorating Whitney's room.  The rest of the summer went so quickly with just a few more hours in the mountains, trips to the park and library,playing with friends and neighbors, and a lot of time missing Daddy.
Time does go ever more quickly, but it was a good summer.

First Days of School 2011

Abby and Isabel are in school all day now! Abby has 3rd grade with Mr. Boyle. We did not win the battle to get another teacher,so the classes are large.  So far, it seems to be fine but we really were hoping for her to get a smaller class like everyone else in this town. 

Isabel has Mr. McDaniel and she loves 1st grade. 

"I like lunch and recess, and journal time. I like all my friends in my class." she says.

Her best friend, Rosie, is in her class. They kept most of the kindergarten am and pm classes together when they moved into this year. 

So far things have gone quite well, they walk to school and back together and I feel better with Abby there to keep an eye on Isabel.  We are getting to know so many more parents and kids and people at the school so that is all good.  We look forward to a great year.  There is a new principal, but so far haven't seen many differences.  Yesterday they had an activity where they drenched the kids with a fire hose...they seemed to love it. 

Sara waited forever to start her little preschool. She is going to the home of a friend of mine who got all the preschool stuff from the lady that taught Isabel.  I am not really worried about Sara's academics, but she does still struggle in primary at church and I wanted her to be able to get some more socialization and get used to dealing with structure. She just loves to play with other kids, and is so lost without her sisters at home, and Braxton next door starting kindergarten.  So hopefully this will be a good year for her to learn and have a lot of fun, even if it's only 2 days a week.

As for us, Scott has not been around much but we hope to see him more soon.  I am figuring out what it is like with two small ones at home again.  They are a lot more clingy without sisters to play with and help them.  Hopefully I will get myself together enough to organize our days to avoid any major boredom.  It is definitely different.

Thankfully, all the girls love school and are excited about it. They are smart and good girls and I just hope it stays that way in the future. 

Abby and Isabel are both in piano now.  I look forward to them growing more as the year passes.  We will see if isabel likes it as much as Abby, or maybe more, since she wants to be a singer\songwriter like Taylor Swift (and everyone on Disney channel)

Abby"s Baptism

Pictures are not allowed during the actual baptism because it is sacred, but it is done by immersion the same way Jesus was baptized. I added the picture as an illustration if some of you haven't been to an LDS baptism before.

Abby with the bishop and Watson men who confirmed her a member.

With the Grandmas

At the temple after, we went to take some pictures of our beautiful girl

Wheat field behind the temple

Abby's happiest face :)

Abby made the decision to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She is such a good girl and was so excited to do it. She was waiting forever, and once the time got close she kept saying "I can't believe it's finally time!" She had picked out her dress on our 4th of July trip (thanks Grandma Jane) and we also got her first set of scriptures. Of course, she picked out a hot pink, sparkly case for them. She was able to be baptized on the same day as a few of her freinds, so that was nice. The service was good, and we went first. Abby was excited about all of it. She was happy the water was more shallow than she had imagined. Scott did a good job, and they looked great together in white. After the baptism we all went to the County Fair to the mud bog, but it was hot so a lot of us came back. Scott's parents, grandparents, brother and his wife came down, along with all our Watson Nieces and nephews. My mom was still here, too. It was fun to have everyone together. Adding to the fun, a tractor broke a gas main across from our back yard, so we go to evacuate for a few hours. After all that, we took our food up to a campground and enjoyed the cool temperatures and the trees and deer wandering through camp. It was a good afternoon. everybody stayed for part of church the next morning and then headed home. My mom flew out Monday morning, as well. So the house is quiet. well, as quiet as it gets around here. We are so proud of Abby and thankful to have family and friends to support her.

Balloon Festival

The girls and I drove up to Orem for the 4th of July weekend. Early in the morning, we headed to Provo for the annual balloon festival. I had always meant to go, but never made it. We got there just as the balloons were lifting off. Jane, Jeremy, Crystal and their kids were there, too. It was pretty cool to see, I think everyone enjoyed it. The balloons were beautiful, except for the back of the Darth Vader balloon, which was in EVERY picture! next year I hope they put that one somewhere on the edges...

While we were there, we also went to Stadium of Fire. It is huge concert and fireworks show in the BYU football stadium. Unfortunately, I did not want to carry my big camera, so i don't have pics. But the show was good, Brad Paisley was there, they had flyover and skydivers who land on the field. Then at the end they have the fireworks show that goes with music and then just a bunch of fireworks. It looked like they were going to hit us in the eye, it was a really good show. Abby and Isabel got to go and they loved it and want to go next year. I don't know if that will happen, but maybe in a few years when the other girls are big enough. Sara decided to start throwing up that night, so we ended up going home early and just hung out while Scott worked. How worked most of the weekend, but did meet up with us for Stadium of Fire. Lately he has been involved in surveilling marijuana gardens on the other side of the state, so we don't see much of him, but it is interesting work for him, and good overtime, so we can't complain too much. we do a little, though.