Change

Life around our house lately:

~ Ben got a job at Zupas as a dishwasher. Yeah! He's been job hunting for awhile and Zupas has awesome food :) 

~He is in Advanced Theatre this year and they've had regional and state competition recently. State was actually today. Ben was in a group with 2 girls doing a classic Shakesphere piece. They took 1st place in Regionals and took 4th in State.

He loves theatre!

~We painted the basement this week and laid carpet down there. Wow. It looks so much better! We'll replace the windows down there as soon as possible.

~The girls moved into the basement today. So far we've moved their beds and dressers. Their lease at their apartment isn't up til the first part of May so they have time to move the rest of their stuff and clean over there. 

~Dani is moving to Oregon the first part of this summer. She will be going to school and just wants a change of pace from Utah.  

~Heather is renting our basement for the next year while she continues to work full time and finish school. 

~DJ's job was affected by the Sequester so this week he started working 4 days instead of 5 a week. It would be nice if someone came to their senses sooner rather than later on that matter! 

~The trees are slowly working their way to being green :) Now that's a happy thought!

~The rhubarb is coming up. It looks so healthy. Yum!!

~I know that God is bigger than all the bumps in the road :) He never changes. EVER. I'm so grateful for that. It's comforting.

I hope Spring is pointing you toward it's Creator.    

"I am the Lord, 

who has made all things, 

who alone stretched out the heavens, 

who spread out the earth by myself..." 

~Isaiah 44:24 (NIV)

 

A Bit Of Catching Up

2013 is moving along so fast I thought I better update this before we end up in August! 

 These past few weeks have been busy ~ We have started repainting the main floor of the house in preparation to put it on the market next spring. 

A couple of weeks ago we did the living room. New paint, curtains and curtain rods. We've always had the basic, white curtain rods. I always wanted pretty ones and now we have them! All we have left to do in that room is replace the ceiling fans, paint the door (trying to decide on a fun color :) and decide what to do with the floor. Friday we painted the home office and finally trimmed out the window ( It's only been 4 years since we got the new windows ~ Ha!) 

 Over the next few months we will paint the hallway, basement staircase and kitchen all the same color as the living room and home office. I felt like this was a smart thing to do as it will make the house flow better. Seeing how it was built in 1948, it needs all the help it can get!

I loved my yellow walls! We had many bright and cheery years together :) The new color is Sand Pearl by Behr. It's the Premium Plus Ultra. Primer and Paint in one. Love it!! It covers so well ~ It's my go to paint no matter what color I'm using.

A glimpse at the new color. It's much more neutral but still has a warmth to it. 

Easter was quiet but nice ~ Just us.

Ben and Dani helped make sugar cookies. Ben was performing CPR on his batch. Look at his eyes. He's a funny kid :)

Did I say it was quiet? Hmmm....Not so much. 
Rolling out cookie dough turned into sibling silliness. 

A quick photo before Easter dinner.

 Opening Easter gifts.

These 3 light up my life :) 
Ben loves turtles and stuffed animals so last year I bought him a stuffed "turtle" for Valentines day. I was so excited for him to see it. When he opened it I said "Don't you love your turtle?" 
All 3 of the kids looked at me and said "Mom, that's not a turtle!" Hmmm....it just so happens it was a frog :) If you only knew that my brain malfunctions like that all the time! 

This Easter Ben got a stuffed turtle. I got it right this time :)

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Last fall  I started a book club at my house. My friend, Laura, and I had talked about it for awhile. I finally put it in motion and it's been a huge blessing in all of our lives! 
We meet every other week and we are on our second book.
There are 7 of us that get together and I love each of them.
This week we celebrated Laura's birthday.

She's a great lady! I've known her for many years and am blessed to call her friend and a sister in Christ.

A quick shot of the book club ladies minus me.
I'll take better group photos of all of us when we go to the Tulip Festival in a couple of weeks.

Well, will try and update some more in the next day or two :)

   

Mountains & A Musical

DJ's mom and dad have been here for a couple of days. They came to see Ben's musical "Into The Woods". Last night was opening night and the kids all did such a great job! 
Ben did awesome in his role as the wolf. He nailed his solo :)

This is what our side of Snowbasin looked like last night when we went out to eat.

This is a little later in the evening ~ The light on the mountain was so pretty.

Dan, Vivian, Ben, DJ and Me

Dani, Ben & Heather

Dani, Ben w/ his wolf mask, Heather


It's snowing again. Hoping for a snowy weekend as the mountains sure could use it.

 

Daffodils & Teenagers

Who doesn't love daffodils? 

It's like the sun burst apart and attached itself to little green stems all over the world :)

I couldn't resist putting a little pot of daffodils in my shopping cart today as I shopped for groceries.

Shortly after I got home Ben called and asked if he could bring a couple friends home with him from school. I said that would be fine then my mind immediately asked itself "What are you going to feed these kids?" That's just how my mind works. I like to feed people. 

Our table soon looked like this and I warmed up chicken enchiladas from last nights dinner.

Ben then called and asked if a couple more friends could come....the plate stack kept growing :)

These little guys make me smile every time I look at them.

A soft look

Ben and his friends are downstairs watching a movie. They are all in the musical at the high school that starts tomorrow night.

I'm always nervous the first night of Ben's musicals or plays. After all his hard work I so want him to pull it off. I find myself holding my breath almost as he comes onstage the first night. Crazy, right?

I love that at 16 he still loves his momma and isn't afraid to say so. He came up shortly after they started the movie and said "Mom, I'm going to ask Aaron if we can borrow this movie because you would love it or would you just like to come down and watch it with us?"

Things like that melt my heart and make me want to savor every bit of these next 2 years :)

Celebrating boys who love their mommas and the fact that spring is around the corner (ish) ~ we do live in Utah after all! 

New Camera Bag & Crates

Momma wanted a sneak peak at the crates I brought home from work the other day :)

It's amazing what a coat of paint will do. I'm using Behrs primer and paint in one. I love it! One coat is enough.

When I got my new camera a few months ago I needed a new camera bag that it would fit in. I knew I didn't want just a camera bag. I wanted something that would work for snowshoeing and hiking. It needed to have room for my camera, extra lens, etc. It also needed to have room for snacks, first aid kit, extra hat, gloves, etc.

Heather and I were shopping at Imaging Depot and she spotted this bag. Perfect!

Shoulder straps are wide and nicely padded.

It has the little pocket at the bottom to set your tripod leg in and then a strap at the top to hold the tripod in place.

I keep my extra battery in one of those pockets.

The camera compartment is nicely padded on all sides to handle jostling around.

This great Versapack 200 AW is made by Lowepro and I am SO happy with it.

This pack is very comfortable to carry.

I'm looking forward to many  great adventures with it!

A Perfect Day To Ride

We were blessed with a beautiful day and I didn't have to work! 

I did not want to be inside so DJ and I loaded up the ATV's and met some friends of ours up on highway 39 at the snowmobile parking lot.

Driving through Ogden Canyon

I'm ready to go ~ Do you see how little snow there is? We have more snow at our house. Kinda weird.

So pretty

We don't normally camp in designated campgrounds but if we do my very favorite is Monte Cristo. Elevation 9,000 feet.

Jordan, Brenda and Doug along with DJ.

What a great day to be outdoors!

Snowmobile tracks

These next few pictures are inside Monte Cristo campground ~ I had my snowshoes with me so used them to walk around the campground.

Love the shadows

This cute little tree caught my eye

Every time I see this little cabin nestled in the woods I just want to move in :)  It's part of the Monte Cristo Guard Station. I don't think they want me to move in.

It was a lovely day filled with good friends and clean air ~ the kind of day you don't want to end.
I'm serious about the clean air ~ It's been a gross kind of winter on our side of the mountain. It was so nice to see such blue sky and breath clean, good smelling air! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day to my husband who also happens to be my best friend! 

We started dating 23 years ago this coming May.

I am so grateful to have this man in my life ~ He truly is my better half :)

I love you DJ!

May 2009 ~ Outside our villa in Santa Marinella, Italy

Father's Day 2009 ~ We were living in Sicily at the time