Grace is 5!

Grace is officially 5 years old today...where has the time gone???Here she is yesterday in her beautiful birthday dress from her Aunt Jamie and Grandma Christie. It's pretty fancy!

We had her birthday today at Peter Piper Pizza (kinda like Chuck e Cheese) After I booked the party and sent out invitations, I started to feel like I should've done something a little more special for her 5th birthday. You know, a princess tea party or something...I just couldn't muster it this year and besides, she had a great day. Here are some highlights: In honor of her 5th birthday, here are 5 things about Grace...
1. She was born two weeks early because our insurance was changing before her due date and it was going to be quite a hassle, so the Dr. was nice enough to help her come early.
2. Her first trip to the Beach House was the day that we left the hospital (two days after her birth!) All my family was there and I couldn't stand being left out!
3. She is our little princess (and will continue to be since she is getting another brother!)
4. She is a girly, purple, pink, princess, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake kinda gal.
5. She definitely keeps us on our toes, but we love having her in our family. She is sweet and beautiful and we love her to pieces.

Happy Birthday, sweet Grace!

Trash to Treasure

I found this ugly piece at the goodwill and knew that I could make something of it. I love the way it turned out and it really is my new favorite thing in the house!
Before:Someone had tried to make something of it by painting it and attempting to do a mosaic with broken glass on the dolphins, but they must've realized that they were making it worse.

A little cleaning, chiseling and some silver spray paint and voile, the perfect table to go in between my wicker chairs in the living room:Bedroom update: It is coming along nicely, I just need to add a few more things and then I will post some pix...I am getting tired of all the shopping!!!

It's party time (almost)

Here are the invitations to Grace's birthday party...report to follow.

Yeah for Fall!

It did not disappoint, but is still as frustrating as ever!!!

Can't wait for:Coming 10/1. Seriously the best show. If you haven't started, you can catch up on abc.com. Love, love, love it!

And of course:But that doesn't start until January...are we going to get anymore answers this year?

Fun surprises

On Sunday I was teaching Relief Society (for my new dream calling!) It my first week teaching and I was excited (and a little nervous, I've been teaching primary for soooo long!) Anyway, about 3/4 of the way through my lesson, I was going to relate something about my mission to Idaho when a lady visiting our ward yells out "Poppy!" She then ran up and gave me a big hug, right there in the middle of my lesson! It turns out that it was a very wonderful lady from my mission, Cathy Brown. When I was in Twin Falls (my favorite area) her family had an open-door policy for the missionaries. We were welcome anytime and the fridge was always stocked! It was so much fun to see her. It turns out that her son and daughter-in-law are in our ward and she and her husband Bob were visiting for the weekend. We were able to go out to lunch with them on Monday before they headed back to ID. It was so much fun to visit and catch up. I love the Browns! And I love Twin Falls!I was going to try to find a picture from when I was on my mission, but that's a box I don't want to search for right now. I'm in the middle of decorating my room, making invitations for Grace's upcoming birthday party and just trying to stay sane (which is not working too well at the moment!)

Decorating Advice

Over the next little while I will be posting some pix from around the house and asking for some advice in decorating. I have a few awkward layouts that I need help with inspiration and creativity...it's just not coming! Any comments will be most appreciated.
Area #1 Master BedroomAs much as I love the popsicle stick and pipe-cleaner heart, I think that the scale and color are just a bit off. Any suggestions? Should I try to put something above the headboard, or put something above the nightstands on either side? (I know I need a new nightstand on the one side, but this is what I have for the time-being and I have another one for the other side, I just need to refinish it.) Any creative ideas for inexpensive, easy-to-make (I'm craft-challenged!) projects? Help!
I can't wait to hear your suggestions.

BOY, was I wrong!

IT"S A BOY!!! I was convinced that it was a girl and I was right with my other three, but I was way off on this one! We are excited and thrilled to have another little boy, just a little surprised. Grace has taken it all really well, I was actually expecting some tears, but there weren't any. She said that she was just a little sad.
Here's a shot of Thatcher 4. He was very active during the ultrasound and gave the Dr and the sonographer a bit of a hard time checking all of his vital organs and such, but in the end, everything was where it was supposed to be and he looks good so far. He did have the same cysts on his brain as did Dylan, which is a "soft marker" for Trisomy 18, and he had a little fluid around his kidneys, which is a "soft marker" for Down Syndrome, but my blood tests were negative for both which puts us at a 1/5000 chance that there is anything wrong. Just a moment of concern, but it all looks to be A-Okay.
It's getting more real now that I have a gender and can feel him moving around. I am excited to meet this little guy and I'm excited that Dyl will have a little buddy to pal around with. How much fun!

Isn't it amazing...

how music can transport you to a different time and place? I just downloaded a few songs from the Chicago 21 album and as I am sitting here listening to them I am suddenly back in 1991 and not here in my room getting ready to go to the dr, brooding over the fact that I have nothing to wear to cover this belly of mine and wishing that I had already done the mountain of laundry so that I had a better selection! (Wow that was quite a run-on!)
Right now I am in my senior year of high school, my boyfriend bought me the Chicago 21 album along with tickets for their concert. I am skinny (103 lbs!) and have little to no responsibilities. What happened!!??!!
By the way, I remember going to the concert. I had listened to the tape a hundred times to memorize the songs and was so disappointed that they did not play even one song from the new album. They sang some Rolling Stones, Queen, etc. But not one single song from the 21 album (it was the 21 tour!) I was pretty miffed, but it was fun, nonetheless.
It's fun to remember, but I wouldn't change my life now for anything...even the 103 lbs part!!! Memories are fun to reflect on. Isn't it nice that we have them so that we can re-live the good times and avoid making mistakes from the not-so-good times? Someone knew what They were doing when we were created.

Eight years...

2 days ago was our 8th wedding anniversary...It was about as exciting as this post! Danny forgot, I did the minimum. I hope next year will be more post-worthy. Hey, it's got to be a lucky anniversary. It will be our 9th anniversary on 9/9/9.
I wasn't even going to post anything as it was so uneventful, but my hubby deserves a little shout out for surviving 8 years with me! He puts up with a lot and is so good to me despite my weaknesses and he does not get the credit and appreciation that he deserves. He works very hard to make me happy and I love him for it. I am a lucky girl indeed. I love you, Danny!

That's so me!

Your personality is as friendly and appealing as strawberry ice cream (especially the kind with chunky bits of real fruit). You've got a slightly sarcastic sense of humor, and you rarely stress out or take things too seriously. You are cute and sweet, but with a mischievous side. You are a bit of a troublemaker, but only because you're determined to avoid a plain vanilla life.

First Kicks

I'm just sitting here playing on the internet and I can finally feel the baby kicking (I actually first felt it last night when I couldn't sleep, but then I woke up not knowing if I had dreamed it or not.) It doesn't matter that this is #4, it is still amazing to me. This is the first time in this pregnancy that I have felt a connection to this little one. It is an wonderful blessing.
We will find out what we are having next Friday, the 12th...I think it is a girl and I have been right with the last 3, so we will soon see if I am batting 1000!

Grace's new hobby!

I guess Grace is getting tired of the fact that we have no pictures or decorations on the walls anywhere in the house, so she has taken matters into her own hands. Here is a picture of some of the decor that she has so artfully put up in our bedroom:In case you can't tell, it is a pipe-cleaner heart, a colored popsicle stick and an original piece of artwork all hung with care and scotch tape. There are several of these displays throughout the room. I think that she had a great time decorating and was so excited to show us. What can you say, it's better than boring off-white walls! Thanks, Grace!

Labor-ful Day

We had a really fun Labor Day. We went out to the mountains to a place called Bandelier National Monument where they had cave dwellings where the Pueblo Indians used to live.
Here's Jesse climbing up to one of the caves:Inside the cave (some were really small):Some were a little bigger:
Grace striking a pose:
Cute kids on the trail:Daddy with his little hikers:The finale of the trip was to a ceremonial cave. It was 140 ft up the side of a cliff. You had the climb several steep ladders and narrow steps to reach the top. Now 140 ft may not sound very high, but think of it as 14 stories and it gives you a better understanding! I did not get any pictures of the sheer insanity that we accomplished with our children because on the way up I was making sure that everyone got to the top safely (Grace and Jesse climbing and Danny and I switching off carrying Dylan) and on the way down, just trying not to fall off the ladders or drop my sweet little boy. It was really cool and I am glad that we did it, just in retrospect, it wasn't the safest idea. But, we all made it safely and what an adventure! Here's a pic of the kids in an alcove at the top:Here's the best picture that I have of being at the top, it doesn't do the drop off justice!The whole family near the end of the journey (we were pretty exhausted!):A little friend on the trail (I didn't get a picture of the rattler that we crossed paths with at the beginning of the trip, we didn't really want to get that well acquainted with him!):We had such a fun time. The mountains and forest were beautiful and completely satisfied a "green" fix for me. It's nice knowing that there are beautiful green places to go that are not too far from us. It was especially nice to have some fun with my little family and be out in nature. What a beautiful world our Heavenly Father has created for us...He must really love us!