Isabel goes short!

Could she be any more beautiful?  After many a hair-brushing battle discussion, Isabel decided she wanted her hair "short like Abby's"  Well, I didn't want to go that far, but I was happy to take out my scissors and lose a little length.  We also lost a lot of blonde! I think it turned out well, not perfect, but she was happy with it and it has definitely been simpler every morning before school.  Both girls are pretty good about doing their own hair, so we're all happy with it.  Isabel also has a wiggly front tooth that she is anxiously waiting to lose, this is a BIG DEAL.  love our Isabel.

The Dollhouse

A few weeks ago we had Scott's dad over for the weekend to help finish up the Blazer. Also in town was one of Scott's colleagues and his family who live in St George.  They wanted to go somewhere cool, so Scott decided to take us all out to a place called The Dollhouse.

It takes a good couple of hours to get there, with the majority of the trip on very bumpy and windy roads.  We set out after lunch and it just seemed to go on forever.  The road took its toll, and by the time we finally arrived most of our stomachs were not feeling wonderful.  But if it was easy, it wouldn't be an adventure.  So we got out and headed down the trail. The top photo is of the steep decline to the ruin.  This ruin is really cool because it is so well preserved and not many people know about it. The house has two tiny rooms. There is also still ancient corn cobs in them.  The wood and stonework is all amazingly preserved even though it has been centuries since they were built.  The girls had a lot of fun running around, and loved having Grandpa to ride with them in the back of the suburban.  After we looked around, we headed back to the cars for a snack.  The trip out seemed a little shorter, and better because at the end, the road was paved and smooth.  I am thankful we could go out there and that Scott knows about all these amazing places, but I also am not planning to go out there again any time soon! After we got back, we were able to take Grandpa out for steaks at an amazing little place outside of town, which was yummy. The girls got to play with the babysitter, which they always love.  It was a busy day but great memories were made.

Yard work, continued

 Scott trenching

fun things we find in the dirt

The lilacs

"Madame Lemoine" lilac double white flower

"Sensation" lilac, purple with white edges

We got the back lot plowed again to get rid of the weeds. We want to get in the sprinkler system and then plant grass seed before winter.  Hopefully in the spring, the grass will choke out the weeds some, and in a few years we will have a nice lawn back there, instead of mud and weeds. Our neighbors planted seed when we did sod, and it has come in quite nicely, so we are optimistic. We are also planning for a garden area, and the lilacs are to be a privacy hedge. They are supposed to do well in our terrible soil, so we hope the deer will leave them alone long enough to get established. They have already nibbled most of the leaves off. But a bunch of websites said they were deer resistant, so we'll see.  We bought the plants a few weeks ago on our trip north to the zoo.  There was not enough of any one type, so we alternated the white and purple.  Hopefully it will be pretty and they will grow quickly.  We are still planning on a few fruit trees, but we have so much going on, it's one thing at a time.  Scott has worked for days doing the sprinkler system and getting everything set up.  It will be nice to have it done.  Anyone who wants to donate to the cause, or feels like doing some manual labor, or who loves picking rocks, give us a call ;)

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.