Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year Logan painted a wall in the basement that I've been wanting to paint for a long time. Previously it was wood paneling and you couldn't really see this really cool fireplace on it because everything was the same color.  But now you can see it and notice how unique and beautiful it is.  It makes our basement so much lighter and I love it!

7 Months

Chapter has been 7 months for a couple weeks now but we just got around to taking his picture this past weekend.  He's such a funny boy and he thinks everything is hilarious. He loves playing with his Little People Batman and growling.  Daddy says it's his Batman voice.  He also does really funny things.

Like collapsing his activity mat on top of himself and then falling asleep.

Or sticking his arm out of his crib and then licking the slats.  

He's also using rolling as a mode of transportation nowadays.  That kind of sucks for him because now the only place he is trusted for more than 10 seconds is his crib or the floor.  Poor kid:)

The Last Blue Room

It's not necessarily decorated, but then again, it might never be:)

 Before without furniture but with baby:) I didn't remember to take pictures until after we moved the furniture. But I know I've had pictures on here before.  It was light wood.

 Ceiling scraped.

 Tradition:)

 All walls painted a nice off white except for one that we had something special in mind for!

 Ta-da!  We've been dreaming about this FOR YEARS!

 Tradition again:)

 Finished product so far.
We got this really nice new solid wood furniture.  We really love it!  In the bottom left you can see this massive dresser that we got.  It is SO NICE!  I also have plans to hang stuff on the wall but for now I'm much too busy rejoicing that my 3 weeks of living in the basement are over!

Misc Photos

I don't like to munch mush much:)

Grandma M

My mom is a tricky person to get pictures of.  Like really tricky.  So I feel pretty fortunate to have these from our trip this weekend. My niece Maycee got baptized and although we went with the best of intentions, these are the only pictures we got.  My mom was opening her mother's day present:)

We hap a really nice time.  My whole family was together which never happens.  And we got to go up to Manti to the temple  which was fun.  We looked for the sealing room where we were married but we couldn't remember which one it was.  Then back in the dressing room in my bag was the slip of paper that said room 9.  I'll have to remember to look when we're up there again.  The only downfall was Bullies.  They used to make the best milk shake ever.  But this one was $4 and a sore disappointment.  I won't be going there again:(

Chap's 1st Trip to Zion

For National Park Week Chap and I headed to Zion as a last minute sort of thing.  I'd been toying around with the idea all week but when I realized it was Friday I decided to go and within about 30 minutes we had a lunch packed and we were on the road.  The main reason for my procrastinating was that I was worried about using the trams with a stroller all alone. And although it was stressful at times, everyone was so nice and I got help at almost every stop.  That's something I love about National Parks is that everyone there is so happy to be there that they are kind and friendly.

The whole drive up I was just praying that this would be the peaceful, restorative trip I needed.  I've been a little off my game lately and I'm not sure why.  I've always felt a good feeling in Zion, it's a pretty special place.  And although this trip maybe wasn't all I was hoping for it taught me a couple of things.  The most important being that I'm a big girl and I can go places by myself. The other one being that I need to buy a hiking backpack to hold my kid before I ever go anywhere like this again:)

 Weeping Rock.  I totally forgot about the stairs at the top until I got there.  But some super nice old man helped me carry him up.

 I need to get Libby to teach me how to take better self-portraits ;)

 Having a snack in the wilderness.

 Chap making his squeaking balloon sound to entertain everyone at the tram stop.

All tuckered out for the drive home.

In closing I'm going to leave you with a funny story.  While waiting for the tram at Weeping Rock a lady about my mom's age was helping a really old lady to walk (presumably her mother).  The old lady was like, "Why do they leave all the dead trees just lying around?  It looks so bad.  Can't they get someone to clean them up?" to which the lady my mom's age replies, "These hippies think they're decorative!"  I love overhearing strange conversations.  It's one of my favorite things to do at restaurants too:)

Logan's Test/SLC/Lots of Pictures

We went to Salt Lake this past weekend so Logan could take his Professional Engineering test to get his license.  Chapter had been a little sick so I was a little worried it would be a nightmare but he did so well!  

 He rode alone just fine for about half the trip both directions.  Then the second half I rode in the back with him.

 

We stayed at the Hyatt at the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City.  It was the perfect location for our purposes.  Logan could walk to take his test at the Salt Palace (and not have to pay for parking) and I could walk to the Gateway, Temple Square, and City Creek (and not kill us in a fiery car accident). This is what our room looked like (Picture stolen from the website).

 While Logan was testing from 7-5 Chapter had a marvelous time touring Temple Square for the first time.  He made a lot of new friends and was particularly in love with two Canadian sister missionaries at the Beehive House.

 I forgot a utensil to eat my cup of noodles with so I had to eat it with Chapter's spoon.

 Which was kind of sucky:)

 When Logan got back he was tired, but we still went out to eat and walked around.

 Our little jail bird slept really well in his hotel crib.  He didn't wake up once! Which is pretty much a once a month sort of situation. I think he was worn out by his 6+ hours of strolling that day.

On Saturday we walked in the freezing cold back down to City Creek so Logan could admire the planter boxes he inspected while working for a week in Salt Lake about 2 years ago.  I remember because I sent him a fake speeding ticket from Salt Lake for April Fools that year.  Then we toured the roof of the conference center because Logan and Chapter had never done it and we rode Trax 2 blocks back to the hotel parking lot (it was REALLY COLD).  Then we came home.  It was a fun trip.  I'd do it again (although hopefully we don't have to!)

Chap's First Easter!

This is us all dressed up for Easter Sunday.  We ran out of time taking one before church (since it's at 9am) but we took one after when most of my make-up was gone.  Haha, oh and what is it about pictures of people holding babies that makes them look fatter than they really are? 

 This is Chapter with most of his Easter loot:) In total he got money from Grandma and Grandpa Blake, a bucket and shovel, a stuffed animal, window clings, 2 hopping chicks, one cheeping chick and probably something else I don't remember from Grandma Marilyn, the cute plush barn filled with cute noisy animals and a bunch of clothes from Auntie Kristy and the kids, and a whole Easter package from Auntie Katie including a hopping chick, a sweet board book, some Easter decor, and a little package of Jelly Beans (I might be forgetting something).  The jelly beans were probably his favorite Easter gift of all.  He loves to hold the package to shake them up!

Then the Easter Bunny filled up this basket.  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of him with the basket before he starting removing things:) He got a new Dr. Seuss board book, a sippy cup, a cute plush yellow bunny peep and some Mum Mums.  He HATED the Mum Mums, but apparently likes the book:)

It was a fun and busy weekend.  Sorry there are so many posts, it just makes it easier when I make a blog book at the end of the year to have a bunch of small ones vs. one huge one.

Art Festival

We went to the Art Festival this year and it wasn't as much fun as I remember it being the last time I went 2 years ago.  Maybe that's because there was only one place to buy snow cones and the line was a mile long so I didn't get one:( Anyway this is the only picture we took while we were there.  Chapter the cute little Sphinx:)

Robin Eggs

It was Logan's idea.  Seriously.

Easter Eggs

This year we dyed eggs in the traditional Santa Clara pioneer way like we did a couple years ago.  We even found a source for the red root that is much closer to home.  As always I think these eggs are so much cooler than the store bought dye.  They turned out so beautiful!

Just a couple more pictures.

Logan digging up the root.

This is Chapter being really excited to color Easter eggs:)

Getting in touch with my Inner Grandma

My Grandma Holm made these for us when we were little.  I don't know if it was every year or not but I do remember being disappointed when I got the first one and my mom told me I couldn't eat it.  The one that sticks out most in my memory was white with peach frosting.  I kept that one forever.

If you don't know what this is it's basically a hollow egg made out of sugar and decorated with royal icing.  I've been meaning to make one forever but I finally got to it this year.  It was really fun to make and it made me think about my grandma:)

Easter Bunny

Chap met the Easter Bunny last week at Walmart.  He didn't really care one way or the other but the picture is cute:) I don't know if there was something wrong with the camera or the printer but everything is crystal clear except for Chapter.

I'm a Genius:)

Although I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person to ever think of this or to do it I am pretty dang proud of myself.  I've been thinking about it forever, but cutting clothing gives me anxiety, much like cutting too short yard sale pants into shorts for me does.  But with the pressure of Chapter needing something never-before-seen and spring colored to wear for Easter Sunday, I thought that now was the perfect time.  Basically I shouldn't have been procrastinated for so long because I have pulled off way worse than this before!