these guys

Cute, right? They're even cuter since they're at my mom's for the week (except Henry).

Today I stripped some paint in the stairwell - a difficult task with all the kids here. I also spent way too much time on the interwebs. Did I tell you I started pinning? I also tried to get my pouch done for the pretty little pouch swap, but couldn't finish because I didn't have the right size or color of zipper. Lame. I also went out to dinner with Dan and Henry. That was nice.

There are about 100 things on my list to do - so I won't be getting them all done. But hopefully I get something done. I'll give you a report after the kids get back.

progress

I spent the better part of last weekend painting the basement. It looks so much better and brighter down there now! I also moved 3 bookcases and their books down and put them where they'll be living. It's starting to come together! Maybe by the end of the year we'll be able to watch TV down there.

More progress - little Henry is getting himself up to standing! He's been crawling around finding every cord he can get his gums on (he only has 1 tooth that he got last week) and it won't be long before he's even more mobile. It's going by way too fast!

Phoenix: Part 2

One of my best friends lives in Phoenix and she invited our family to stay at her house. It was so much fun. The kids played together and swam as much as possible. They're already asking when we can go back. Sara and I played the piano duets we used to play together and played Rock Band with the husbands and talked and had a great time. We'll have to go visit again some day. Thanks for letting us come Sara and Aaron!

Sara's oldest is just a few days older than Jack. They had a great time together.


All the kids together. They all got along really well.


I just thought this was a cute picture of Henry.



I used to live in Phoenix when I was in high school. I thought it would be fun to go see the old house and neighborhood so we went. In that neighborhood, right around the corner from my old house are 2 Frank Lloyd Wright houses. This first one was completely leveled and they are rebuilding it. I guess it will look like this.



The next house had a construction gate around it. I'm not sure if they're leveling it, or if it's just part of the same property as the other one. I have always thought this house was awesome. I don't think I could ever see either of them very well when I lived there. It seems like they used to be covered up with a lot of plants. Maybe so people like me weren't driving around trying to look at them.

Still on a Frank Lloyd Wright kick we decided to check out Taliesen West. There are quite a few tours available and I would love to do any of them, but we had all the kids and it was about 115, so we just walked around where we could (which was just the parking lot).

I love these little square details on the roof.

This design is all over (at least where we could see).

Here's the super cool gold sign Luke's standing next to. Can you see TALIESIN WEST in gold lettering?

Christmas Letter Back Issues

Just in case you want some extra laughs, I have reposted (with a few edits) our previous 4 Christmas letters. There's one from 2003, one from 2005, one from 2006, and one from 2007. (We skipped 2004). They are listed under the label Christmas Letters. I plan to post 2009, but it could take me a while.

Phoenix: Part 1

My little sister Emily got married a few weeks ago near Phoenix. I hadn't been there for 20 years. It was hot. But not as horrible as I thought it would be.

Here are Emily and Cy.


Isn't her dress adorable?

Here's our whole family minus Zach and fam - who weren't able to come. I made most of the yellow ties in this photo.


Charlie cooperated on photos. I think he was bribed by my dad (who loves to give out dollars to grandkids.) Plus - I think he really loved his tie.

Luke was pretty mad about something.

Then he got happier. Dan probably gave him candy.

Henry with my dad.

This guy is cute!

He's pretty nice too. But when he gets mad - he is a screamer! Right up there with Charlie.

the basement

Finally getting around to posting about this.

This used to be our basement floor. It used to be a nice fir floor.

When we ripped up the top floor, this is what we found. All the support beams underneath were totally rotten. We knew that many of them were rotting because parts of the floor were bouncy. But EVERYTHING was rotten. We didn't find one dry piece of wood.

Here is all the wood piled up in the driveway. Ready to get hauled away. It took Dan and I about 4 hours to get all the wood off the floor and out of the basement.

The boys were enlisted to clean up some of the tar paper and rocks. There ended up being a bunch of concrete slabs in between each support beam. So Dan and the boys hauled out about a quarter of it that day.

Ready to pour the concrete.

It was pretty cool to watch. We all watched the whole time.

All finished! Dan also knocked some more plaster off this wall. There has been so much water damage over the years that the plaster just falls off. We are planning to paint the walls and ceiling white (they're all that horrible green). We need to make sure there's no more water leaking in before we frame in the walls and sheetrock. Anyone know anything about waterproofing basements?

stuff

I did find my camera. Yippee! But then I decided that I should just do separate posts for most stuff. It will be better that way.

These are one of my favorite flowers of all time. Favorite color for sure. Forget-me-nots.



I planted a packet of these seeds a few years ago and they kind of move around from year to year. So cute. Johnny jump ups.

Sam and I went plant shopping and he begged me for this orange calla. He wanted all the colors they had (yellow, white, dark red) but since orange is my fave, we got orange. I love how it looks with this blue.

And finally - the only photo I have from the girls trip this year to Park City, Utah. First thing we did - pedicures. Next thing - eat. It was a great trip! (Ashley, my sister-in-law was taking the photo).

A serious recap

Wow - I have been busy. I keep thinking of blog posts in my head, but then never posting them! So here is what I've been doing in the last month.

Okay nevermind. I just realized that all my photos are on my little camera, which has been missing for over a week. I can't give you a complete recap without it, but I will give you something.

Radishes. I planted these guys around the middle of March. They only take 50 days and they like cool weather. This was the first one I picked (around a month ago). I just took the rest out yesterday. If they're left in too long they get woody and aren't good to eat. Some of mine also had some kind of worm. Yuk.

what have I been doing, you ask?

You know when I'm absent from the blog for 2 weeks that I've either been very busy or very lazy. The last few weeks were busy! (But I'm sure there were a few lazy days in there too.)



Here's what I've been up to:

I got to go to the International Quilt Market that is held twice a year. This spring it was here in Salt Lake. I posted about it here.

I also went on another girls' trip with my mom and sisters. I'll be blogging about it soon.


We have been ripping out half of our basement floor. I'll be blogging about that soon too.

I've been getting ready for a jewelry show this weekend and am still making Mother's Day presents and late birthday presents for sisters. I will try to blog about that.

I've also been cleaning up pee like nobody's business. Well - that's not actually true. I've been complaining that the bathroom smells like an outhouse and I cleaned it today, only to find that it got peed on right after I cleaned it! Luke's new job is to clean up all the pee that missed the toilet every time he goes. Maybe I should try that aiming cheerio trick - but that's a lot of work.



This guy is not much work at all - and usually happy (especially when getting kissed on the neck.)