Bike Rides:
As the weather has gotten a bit warmer, the kids have been wanting to play outside a lot more. I don't blame them. I have been almost desperate to get outside lately and soak up a little sun after a long winter. I have spent my mornings with Hyrum working in the yard, and it has been glorious. One of our favorite things to do is ride down the River Trail close to our house. It is a paved path that follows the river for miles. It is the perfect place to ride with the boys because it is safe for them and always shaded. About a mile from our house is a little area that my boys have dubbed "The Secret Playground." It has picnic benches, a tire swing, and a huge tree swing. It is the perfect length of a ride for them, and then we get to play for a few minutes before turning around. I love where we live!
We are looking forward to planting flowers and a garden. We didn't get one last year because of the timing of our move, so we are anxious to try again this year. I have been researching the best perennials to plant in our yard, and Jonathon has been building garden boxes. Welcome Spring!
BYU Men's Volleyball:
I have loved men's volleyball since I was a sophomore in college. My roommate, Maren, was a huge volleyball fan (she is 6'3" and played in high school). She taught me all the rules and took me to all of the games. It became a tradition for us, and we had so much fun. When we moved back to Utah, I got Jonathon interested in men's volleyball, and now we get the chance to take our kids to the games. They really like going to the games and have learned all of the cheers. It is a much smaller crowd than football, so it is easier to meet Cosmo, get on the big screen, and see the players. They also love getting Cougar Tails! BYU has an awesome team this year and has been ranked in the top 3 all year. The first game, we took the whole family, but Hyrum was a handful, so in later games Jonathon and I have taken turns going with the older boys. We are loving being back in Provo and are taking advantage of all the fun.
The picture of Christian with Cosmo has a funny story behind it. Christian thinks Cosmo is cool and has wanted to get a picture with him for a while, but he is pretty timid when it comes to strangers. I tried to get him to go ask Cosmo for several games, but he was just too shy. Finally, I told Christian that I would give him $2 if he was brave enough to go get a picture with Cosmo. I knew that he would be so happy that he did it, but I could tell he just needed a little push. Jonathon took the older boys that night, and as soon as they got home, Christian ran up and showed me his picture with Cosmo. I guess the money did it! I was proud of him for conquering his fears and know he will love having this picture when he gets older.
Cruising the Mexican Riviera:
My brothers have taken several cruises in the last 5 years and always rave about how much they love them. They have invited us every time, but we always had an excuse (new baby, cancer, etc.) We have wanted to go, but the timing had been wrong. Joe and Kym got an itching to go on another cruise this Spring, and again asked us if we were interested. Originally, we were worried about money and leaving the kids, but we finally decided that we were just going to do it! We haven't really done anything for our anniversary for several years, so we decided to call it our 12th anniversary trip (and our birthday presents, mother's/father's day gifts, and every other holiday for the near future!) The only way it was possible was because Jonathon's mom agreed to watch our boys for us. She is a Saint, and we are so thankful that she is close and willing to help us.
Once we finally made the decision to go, we have gotten so excited! We are doing a 7 day Carnival cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Joe and Kym and Daniel and Claire. We have heard it is so much more fun to go on a cruise with other people, so we know it will be one big party. We have port stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. I always over prepare for everything, and this trip is no exception. I have spent a lot of time researching each port and finding fun things we can do there. I am already slowly buying thing that we will need and just got my first passport. Eek! Only a few more weeks to go...
Itching to create:
Over the last two weeks, I have gotten so excited to decorate, craft, garden, and scrapbook. I think that my desire to create something has come with Spring and the warmer weather. It's almost as if I am waking up from a long, cold nap and am ready to shake off the tiredness and do something to make me feel alive again. The feeling has been so overwhelming that on Friday night I told Jonathon that I had to do a project. I needed to create something. I looked through my Pinterest boards and found a project that I had been interested in and decided to just do it. I chose something small that wouldn't take too long because I wanted to feel like I had accomplished something.
I chose to make a book page wreath. I had seen several floating around the Internet and really liked the idea and look of them. My little family loves reading, so I loved that it used old book pages. It also fit my decorating style of old maps, books, mirrors, candles, etc.
That night Christian and I went to D.I. We found many old books that were perfect. We finally decided on an old, weathered copy of Les Miserables and a book of poetry. When I got home, Jonathon and I spent the rest of the evening rolling pages and making origami flowers to make the wreath. The next day, I got some glitter and put it on the edges of each page to add a little sparkle. When we had all the pages that we needed, I glued them on to some posterboard in the right shape and then put the wreath on a thin board covered in fabric. The whole project took a couple of hours and turned out just how I envisioned. We hung it in the master bedroom, and it is a fun, unique piece of art. Here are the basic steps:
Step 1. Roll old book pages into cones and hot glue the edges. Add glitter if desired.
Step 2. Hot glue the cones in a wreath shape onto posterboard
Step 3. Add multiple layers of cones (I used a smaller book for the inside layers to give it a nice shape) and origami flowers in the center.
Step 4. Hot glue it to a fabric covered board and hang.
Along with the book wreath, I have also been looking for more things for our house. I really don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want to make it nice. Some of the rooms are close to finished, and some are still very empty. While on a yard-sale page on Facebook the other day, I saw someone selling some old trunks for a good price. I have looked for decorative trunks for quite some time, but they are always at least $50+ each, some of the larger ones are in the hundreds of dollars. As soon as I saw these, I knew I wanted them. I dragged all of my kids to Springville to go look at them. I ended up getting two for $40 total. I was thrilled with the price and the size and quality of the trunks. They look perfect with the rest of the decor in our front room! I have loved decorating this house, and finally feel like I have a sense of my own style and what I like. Now if only I had an endless decorating budget. Ha!
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