Congratulations!

Congrats are in order for the youngest member of our family... Avery is finally potty trained!

(I am so happy to not have to add diapers to my grocery list anymore!)

Weekends

There are many Saturdays that get filled up with errands and all the nonsense that life throws at me, but last Saturday was different. We had a LAZY day!!!!! This means no trips to the grocery store, no laundry, no cleaning! What this also means is that I could actually revisit my days before I had children who needed me. This means that DAD is home and he can put out fires, make lunch and holler at the children to put their shoes on and close the door as they bolt for the backyard. This means that my deep yearning to create something or do something crafty may actually be satisfied. Could I really get a project started and finished in one day?

It was a longshot but I was optimistic and willing to give it a try just to please my creative soul.

The old piano in my front room has been begging me to make it pretty again, and I knew I could restore it, if only I could find the time. I guess this is THE TIME!!!

I've mentioned before this piano that my grandma so kindly gave to me. It has a story, like so many things in our lives do. While all its dents and scratches hinted to how long it has been around and to how many behinds have sat on it's bench, I knew it could look better, I knew it could look as good as it sounds. I knew it could be restored to pretty close to what it looked like when my sweet grandma returned from her LDS mission in 1947 and purchased it for $800.00. I knew that it was my turn to add my chapter to this pianos long and wonderful journey. You see, this piano is a treasure to me even though I can't even play it! Someday I WILL play it!

The Bench BEFORE

The Bench AFTER

This is the last corner. The part on the left is already done- so much better!

The above 2 are both AFTER pictures, It looks so awesome that it needed 2 pictures

Laughed so hard... I cried!

I hope I can re-tell this and have it be as funny as when Manuel told me.

Manuel received a calling during the summer to work with the 12 year old boy scouts. He meets weekly with them and then camping trips once in a while. So the other day Manuel gets an email about a meeting on thursday night that he needs to attend. Well, Thursday night is sort of when he plays basketball and more recently it's also become chess night. So he crossed the chess game off his list and went to the meeting in his clothes for basketball.

He walks into a room full of very serious scouting men and women, they are decked out in more scout paraphenelia than he has ever seen and they seem to be all older than him. He takes a seat and they start talking and presenting people with various neckerchifs (sp) and awards . Two men suddenly stand up and start singing a song something along these lines...

"We are the Owls, we are the Owls" Complete with shoulder movements up and down

"We are the Owls, we are looking for something that we just don't know" At least this is what Manuel is hearing. He said he turned his head sideways and raised his eyebrows.

The men sit down and they keep talking when another set of men stand up and start singing...

"We are the Beavers, We are the Beavers"

"We are the Beavers, we are looking for something that we just don't know"

"What in the world is this" (in Manuel's voice it is so hilarious), He is thinking

So they finish the program and an older gentleman approaches Manuel and asks if he is new here.

"Uh, yeah I'm new here" says Manuel

The old man says" Well welcome to the Brotherhood of the Beaver" he moves his face a little closer to Manuel and he puts his 2 front teeth out and makes a beaver noise.

"OMG, I have to get out of here" Manuel says to himself

He excuses himself to use the bathroom and puts those basketball shoes to good use as he BOLTS out of the church.

Whew!!! A deep sigh of relief and a fear that he won't soon forget..... The Brotherhood of the Beaver!!!!!

Autumn Fun

It's definitely a busy time of year, but OH SO FUN!!!

This is our trip to the Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. We went a few days before Halloween and it was pleasantly on the warm side. Yes, I know Avery's hair is a mess, she took out her barettes!

Alex, Eli and JT trying to decide which way to go.

My cousin Ben got married the day before Halloween so Avery and I went to the reception at Wheeler Farm, it was good to see family that we don't see too often. But the best part was

when sweet little Thomas actually asked Avery to dance. She was a little unsure at first but they got it down! Such a cute little moment!

Halloween!!!!!

I don't know what else to say, we had a fabulous night. We had MUMMIES for dinner and the older boys went trick or treating (before I got the camera out) with their friends from the neighborhood and their cousins. They scored BIG in the candy dept, which I have since had to hide from them, oops I mean myself;).

This is my "Pottery Barn catalog" photo from Halloween. They seriously are so cute at this age!!

We have been raking leaves, they are

NEVER-ENDING around here! But the kids have had NEVER-ENDING fun hiding in them. They love to play "Ghosts in the Graveyard"! (This is a VERY small sampling of all the leaves!)







I did some Fall-ish decorating! I know it's funny for those of you who have been to my house. I have hardly decorated the regular parts of my house (I really am working on it, just indecisive and BUSY), but the leaves falling outside made me want to celebrate the season and put some of my holiday decor out where it could actually be enjoyed.

My goal is to have made some serious decorating "headway" before the end of this month. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Have a Fabulous week, I think we only have 2 1/2 weeks to Thanksgiving!!!