MS WALK

Got plans for Saturday, Nov. 7th???

If not...join us at the MS WALK!

This will be my 3rd year participating & it is always fun!

I had an aunt & uncle pass away from Multiple Sclerosis, which is why my family makes the extra effort to take part in this walk each year.

Come and join us-it is FREE & is an easy walk through the ZOO! The kids LOVE it!

If you want to join our team or round up your own group of friends/family and would like more info...email me at stacki11@yahoo.com for more info!

THANKS!!!

Jacket Weather

The 1st day of cold weather is here & it makes me SO HAPPY!

Today we headed to the ZOO with some friends & had so much fun. It was so nice to get out & the weather was perfect...even a little cold if we stayed in the shade too long!


Parker attempting to enter the Wallaby's home & make friends with them...

Parker was excited to see the SNAKES & especially loved the fake ones that he was allowed to touch...

Last time we came to the petting zoo, he would NOT touch the animals...this time EVERY animal got a little pat from Parker...

Ryler was thrilled when I let him out of the stroller at the Little People Playland...

So proud he climbed to the top of all the bails of hay...

Checking out the giraffes before heading home...
oh wait...no, we stopped at the playground for a few minutes after the giraffe, you know the one over the river, by the carousel...
Well, Parker was playing so good & before I knew it, I look & he is walking through the river...soaking wet up to his knees! I guess he didn't notice the COLD weather?!? I sighed, stripped him down, wrapped his blanket around him & we headed for home.

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Tonight I busted out our EXTRA WARM costumes for our Ward Party (no sumo wrestler in the current weather) & I think my 2 kids were the must bundled up kids there & their hands were still FREEZING...so I have no idea what all the little fairies in their leotards were doing to stay warm!

I missed this somehow, but Matt told me about Parker's 1st time trying Cotton Candy & it was too cute not to share! (I WISH I got it on video!)

Matt took a bite of his cotton candy & Parker looked at Matt like he was CRAZY for eating that weird looking stuff. Then Matt said, "Eat it Parker, it is Candy!" Parker pulled off a piece, looked at the piece of fluff & said, "It's NOT candy Daddy" & dropped it on the ground. Matt said, "No...eat it Parker, it is Sugar" Parker said, "It's not sugar Daddy."(probably thinking Matt is crazy at this point)
Finally, Matt put a bite into Parker's mouth & he ALMOST spit it out, but then realized it tasted good & said, "Mmmm...it's sugar daddy! It's good!"

He had NO PROBLEM eating the rest of that weird looking stuff:)

Between the Zoo & our Ward Halloween Party, I think we DEFINITELY wore the boys out today!

one of those days...

ANY IDEAS on how to get a 2 year old to LISTEN?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And while we are at it, anyone want to come potty train that same 2 year old????????????

I've given up on both.



...At least for today.

Park Weather

Park weather is FINALLY here...

...and we even have a nice park within walking distance of our house!

Bad Idea...Good Idea...

Bad Idea...

taking 2 hungry, sleepy boys to Home Depot lastnight to get some paint.

I thought it would be real quick...ONE HOUR later, I left the store with my gallon of paint.

Yep, ONE HOUR to mix a gallon of paint...I was not very happy.

There was ONE KID working the paint section & it took him 20 minutes just to get to me, as I was trying to entertain my fussy kids...

and then we walked around while waiting for it to be done & came back about 20 minutes later & he FORGOT...yep, FORGOT what I wanted.

So...another 20 minutes of waiting & we FINALLY were able to check out!

Good idea...

to grab these little paint sample & rings they have to make your own "home color schemes" & instead make a "What color is that?" game that {thankfully} kept Parker happy for about 30 minutes of the hour we were there- The other 30 min were torture.

Home Depot...No thanks for the hour it took you to mix my paint, but thanks for the 2 free color flip charts that I now have for a new church activity:) Grab some next time you are at Home Depot! Your kids will love them! The leaf looking ones already have pre-punches holes & rings...the Disney ones do not...but Parker LOVED the Mickey's & I just grabbed an extra ring & hole punched them when I got home.




PS...The paint I bought was for the KITCHEN...and I'm going with GREEN for my walls! I can't wait!

Before & "Kind of" Afters

Lastnight I went to a baby shower & a few friends asked when I was going to post all of the "AFTER" pictures of the house. I laughed and said maybe in a year, when the house is DONE!
I guess I can post some of the PROGRESS we have made though...

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You've seen this BEFORE picture before...

Not quite "AFTER"....but it is getting closer...just need a few more things on the walls, a couch & some white outlet covers:)

The Living Room is the closest to being DONE...
because it is the 1st room you see when you come to the door, so I wanted to make it presentable...even if the rest of the house isn't quite there:)

Before Living Room...
After Living Room...I'm still IN LOVE WITH this entry table my brother made!!!

Stuff on the walls...not sure what will stay or if I am 100% happy with the arrangement, but we are getting there! The 2 black square frames were in my kitchen, but I think I will keep the frames in this room & stick family pictures in there...I made this clock to sale at my brother's framing store...
but I recently decided I liked it & it was coming to the new house with us.
It says "Forever, For Always & No Matter What"
Perfect above our brand new{old}piano!
My brother Matt picked up this piano for practically nothing at DI & painted it black years ago.
When my brother Rob opened up his custom frame shop a couple years ago, he took it to help enhance his window display. When he moved his store downtown this summer, he stuck a FREE sticker on the piano & was going to give it to the first person who walked by, because it didn't work.
I quickly called him and told him I wanted it! I think it is a cute decorator's piece, even though it doesn't work & maybe SOMEDAY I can get it fixed!?!
I LOVE it & I LOVE that it was FREE!!!
I am happy with the progress we have made so far & look forward to future projects!
We have kind of taken a BREAK this week, and it has been nice to just kick back and relax!

At that same shower, someone asked me how I was able to get everything done so quickly...
Everything is NOT DONE & just because I post a picture one day, does not mean it took me one day to finish it...but probably a LOT LOT longer!

I by no means, am trying to give anyone the impression that all I do lately is complete projects & have everything in "order"...which is quite the opposite of reality.
The rest of my house still looks like THIS...

and this...

and my sink is PILED with dishes! :)

And I don't care...because I HAVE A GARAGE...and that makes me soooo happy!!!

SUMO SUMO

Need a laugh this morning?

Check out my LITTLE SUMO WRESTLER...

Last night for FHE, we had our annual Phelps' Halloween Carnival & it was a blast as always!
Parker finally put on his Buzz Lightyear costume(he has wanted to be Buzz for months now, but has refused to put the costume on) & Ryler was the hit of the night!:)

Everyone just laughed & laughed when they saw him...
I have to admit, he looked pretty darn cute...
and hilarious!

Costume Parade...
My sister Heidi marching with Gemma & Ryler:)

Every family runs their own booth & this year I did a Fish Pond...

Parker won some green teeth & tried scaring his cousin Mia:)

Grandpa had the magic touch & put our little Sumo to sleep...
So sweet!

Parker joining in on all the FUN...

It was such a great night! We do this every year with my mom's side & my dad's side on different weeks & it is so fun! The kids have such a great time & it is always fun to get together with our relatives! We do a soup potluck, so there is always plenty of food for everyone!

I'm so glad it warmed up a bit this week, so that Ryler could be such a cute sumo!
And if you noticed...Parker's Buzz costume lasted all of 5 minutes before he stripped it off & him & Matt became "Suns Fans" the rest of the night! Oh well...he got so much candy, I don't think he needs to go trick or treating & he had a blast!!!

House Nightmare

As we have slowly painted over every INCH of this house, I began to have a fear grown inside of me. I told Matt I had this nightmare one night, where the people that used to live at this house stopped by & wanted to see the house. I pictured them so sad as they looked around their house & saw that we had painted over all of their blue & purple & green & brown...

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Well...my nightmare came true.
Sort of.
One of the DAUGHTERS that used to live here, came by on Saturday night to see the changes.
I was just thankful it wasn't her mother.

She was kind of quiet as she walked through her house, 2 of her friends in tow.
Her friends were quick to say, "Oh I love it!" "It looks so pretty" "It seems bigger now", but I could only watch this one sweet 12 year old girl, as she walked through the home she had grown up in since birth. She didn't say much, but at one point she said, "It looks real different. It used to be all blue"

REALLY? Blue? I hadn't noticed???

I couldn't even be happy about the newly colored TAN walls throughout the house...I just felt guilt for covering up all of their BLUE.

Then she said, "My mom handpainted all of those sports logos that used to be in there..." pointing to their old game room.

...guilt again.

I told her how much I LOVED those logos & all of their blue & how much we wanted to keep it all, but that all of our decorations didn't really match, so we had to paint a more neutral color throughout the house.

She then wanted to see her old bedroom...THANK HEAVENS her room was the ONLY room in the ENTIRE house that was not painted when we bought the home. It was just your typical off white wall color & while we painted the trim white & the walls tan...I didn't feel like we had crushed a brightly colored wall...like we had in the rest of the house.

I have tried not to feel bad, as we have made the house "our home"- changing things that others once loved, but making it more OUR style. I really want to be able to ENJOY our home that I now LOVE...without worrying...

So, I can only hope that the sweet little girl...does not bring her mom back to show her the changes!!!

Or I think I'd feel guilty for life...

Yes, it IS October...

You wouldn't know it by the weather...

...but it IS October!

Gavin's 2nd Birthday

Many of you probably remember me talking about my cousin's sweet baby boy, Gavin, that passed away last year, just shy of his 1st birthday. In honor of his 2nd birthday this year, they threw Gavin a Birthday party & everyone brought a toy for a toy drive, planted a flower in their garden & ate cupcakes. It was the perfect way to honor Gavin!
For more pictures of that day, go HERE

Thanks for letting us be part of his special day Andre & Bethany!
We love you!!!

Play Date with Friends

My good friend Mandy's kids came over on Friday, so she would have some time to pack/clean, since she is moving soon.

Her kids are SOOOOO good & they all had a blast together---it was such a fun day! Bring them over again soon Mandy!

Armoire Makeover

We decided we needed something to hold the TV in the playroom, so we turned to our best friend...Craigslist...for an affordable option.

I found this black armoire that I thought looked nice...

But when I went to pick it up I noticed the "southwest" design carved into the top...that I didn't see in the original picture & I didn't care for it. I asked him to drop the already low price, 20 bucks & he agreed, so I decided I could work with it. I also decided while I LIKED it black...I wanted WHITE furniture in the YELLOW playroom, so I sanded it down...

and Parker helped me PRIME it...

I took over from there & painted it white & was sad because I liked it better when it was black.

SO....I rubbed down the edges with sandpaper & the black popped through & decided I liked that much better.

Then I was TRYING to figure out WHAT TO DO about the Southwest carving???
I had no saw...no wood...pretty much nothing to work with & both my boys were napping & I wanted it done NOW & couldn't go to the store to find other options.

I searched through a couple of boxes & found 2 pieces of already cut wood that were black & orange-that I bought at Michael's forever ago for $1 to make a Halloween sign on. I decided since I hadn't found time for that sign yet, I probably never would & they might just hide the design.
I painted them white, nailed them on & while not perfect by any means, I like it better & was a $1...5 minute fix...which is my kind of project!


Matt & I moved it in the Playroom lastnight & I LOVE it!
It is perfect size for the wall it is on & the bottom is large enough to hide/store toys:)