This post is for Heidi because she's the one who's been asking for the home improvement pics this time. I don't know how interesting it'll be so I hope it lives up to the hype, Heidi! :)
We finally finished the flooring in the living room. I absolutely love it, but I think anything would be an improvement after the forest green carpet and orange walls the old owners had in here.
Living Room BEFORE:
Living Room AFTER:
Once again keep in mind that I have no pictures on the wall or books on the shelves so it looks really bare. But imagine how it'll be once we get some new furniture, too! I am counting down till that time.
And here's to show you how fun it is to be renovating with kids:
Why do they gravitate to the dangerous areas? Uneven floor, baseboards with nails sticking out - and they're having a blast! And we wonder why it took us so long to finish.
For the Lovely Heidi
Touring BC, One Beautiful Lake at a Time
This week we all went to Kamloops! Are you surprised? Because I was, too. Jared had to go there for work, and we decided to tag along at (literally) the last minute. He was headed out the door Tuesday afternoon, and I'm like, " Ok, I want to come after all!". So I packed for myself and the kids in about 6 minutes flat and we were off. We went in the company van, so the kids were pretty content on the drive just because it was something different. They watched DVD's, napped, and sang "The Wheels on the Bus" about 63 times. We pit-stopped at Shuswap in Salmom Arm and hung out at the beach. It was fun to see our cabin we stayed in for a few days on our vacation last summer.
While Jared was at his meetings, the kids and I found ways to keep ourselves amused. We went to the BC Wildlife Park and it was pretty cool. There were so many interesting animals and things to do. The kids had a blast at the petting zoo, spray park, animals shows, and train rides.
Every time I would point out an animal to Hayley, she would crouch down looking for it and whisper, "Where'd he go, Mom?"
We even got to witness the two grizzly bears getting fed and it was crazy how close we were.
We all went to Ruckers one evening for some gaming fun.
After Jared was done his meetings, we planned to go to his Aunt and Uncle's house for supper. It was too early, so we were killing some time doing some shopping, and we ran into his cousin Megan and her family in Wholesale Sports. It was so crazy to see them there, because they live a ways away, and were only in Kamloops for some doctors appointments. The little kids all hit it off really quickly and we had to keep telling them to "stop chasing each other in the store!". I suppose they remembered each other from the reunion last summer. I kept marveling at the chances we'd run into them in a city neither of us live in. Also, we never get to see much of Jared's cousins and this trip was turning out to be quite the opposite. We went to Judy and Brent's for supper, and saw some more long-lost cousins. Then, we got in the car and drove to yet another one of Jared's cousin's house in Kelowna. We stayed with Leigh, Carrie and the fam in Kelowna and did some sight-seeing there. This was my first time ever being to Kelowna, and I was hoping for a sighting of the Ogopogo! Haha, no such luck, but we did have a great time.
Carter got along so well with his second cousins, Ally and Scottie. He even had his first little sleepover in their room, and they stayed up so late together watching movies and eating popcorn. Carter was in heaven. I was trying to take some pictures of them together and they couldn't agree on which pictures were normal smiles, and which were silly faces, so I got alot of this:
Then we continued on through southern BC and stayed in Grand Forks, a cute little town. This was both mine and Jared's first time traveling this route, and it's always fun to explore new territory. All the orchards and wineries are so interesting (there are millions!) and we found some fun places we want to go camping again sometime. Oh and lakes! So many of'em. Gorgeous.
We covered alot of ground, but the drive didn't seem too bad since we broke it up quite a bit. The kids were great, especially considering Hayley got a new tooth while we were there.
Catchin Up
Don't worry, I have been very aware of my lack of blogging these past couple weeks. And I also don't know who I thought I was kidding when I posted the rainbow picture as a substitute for an actual update. The truth is I have come on here a few times this past week to write a post, start typing and then end up deleting it. I've been tagged a few times to answer some questions about myself, and in trying to do so, I learned something very important: I'm boring. Let's face it, no one comes here to read about me, you all want to see pictures of the kids. All three of you.
I also wrote a huge long post about how much I love having allergies this time of year (sarcasm), and how living on Claritin and Benadryl sucks the life out of me, and how having puffy lips and red bloodshot eyes is not a good look for me...but then never posted it because I didn't want to sound whiny. Oh wait, I just did! (gotta get my Pity Party somehow) :)
We have had a very busy week, though. Especially the weekend. On Friday we were doing yard work almost all day. I finally got around to planting a little garden for the first time ever. Yes that's right, I have never had a garden before. I'm not even sure why I have one now (because the prophet said so...?), but I am actually excited about it. We'll see how green my thumb turns.
We also took the kids on a long quad ride Friday. Hayley absolutely loves going for rides and throws a fit when we have to take her off. Despite all my hard work with ribbons and bows, she is still a bit of a tomboy and would be happy to help Jared out in the garage all day long. She comes back from quading with him and won't stop talking about it - "Bumpy ride, mom!".
On Saturday, we went to (Carter's friend) James' birthday party. It was at the Sparwood pool, which is probably the most kid-friendly pool I've ever been to. They have a huge play place to climb in and out of, tons of slides, playhouses, toy kitchens, and a ball pit.
This little gal is Emily, Carter's "best friend du jour". They get along so well together and they are always asking for playdates. They even have little inside jokes with each other, it's hilarious.
On Sunday, we did a little Father's Day picnic/wiener roast with our friends. We took them back to that dandelion field but the grass had just been mowed so it wasn't a yellow field anymore. We had the whole park to ourselves and the kids ran around and played.
All the boys were pretending to be monkeys on the baseball diamond fence.
Smile!
For all the Male Parentals
Today is Father's Day. I don't know about you, but I think Father's Day is way too soon after Mother's Day. These poor dad's don't get the proper celebration because the remaining feelings from Mother's Day is all up in it's biss-nass. And I know I just wrote a tribute to my mother's last month (see? too soon!), but you're gonna hear it again for the fathers, cuz it's only fair, right?
I recently heard, from no one in particular (ahem, Gina!) that they don't like reading blogs where wives can't stop gushing over how wonderful/caring/helpful/etc their husband is. Well Gina, avert your eyes, cuz I'm gonna gush. You can join us back down the page a bit later.
No, I'm kidding, I won't gush, but I do have to give Jared a shout out. He is a great dad, and I can't think of a better feeling than the one I get when I watch him interact with his children. I never thought having a baby could change someone so much, and it has definitely changed both of us. For the better. I know he loves these munchkins so much, and they love him.
I also want to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day. I remember when I was in high school, we had a trampoline and I would be out there every day practicing flips. I somehow convinced my Dad ("Pops" as I so lovingly referred to him) to try a front flip on the tramp. I will never forget his attempt. At 40. With a big grunt as he flipped. The reason why I love thinking about it is it sums up my dad so well. I'm sure he had no desire to try it at all, but wanted to be involved in my interests and hobbies - front flips and all.
And last but not least, my father-in-law. A little while ago, we were driving in the car and I looked back at Carter, who had his legs crossed. Jared and I burst out laughing because he looked just like Papa, crossing his legs like a human pretzel. Jared's dad is so enjoyable to be around and always keeps us laughing. All the while, "counseling" us on the sly. He's sneaky like that :) I know Jared really looks up to his dad and I appreciate the values the Whiddens instilled in their children.
For Kirsti
Ok, so I know most of you don't care about seeing any pictures of my home reno projects, but there's a certain someone who keeps asking me to post them. I'll appease her, on the condition that she comes here and helps me finish my flooring in the living room (it's been a real pain thus far - "Easy2Install" - yeah right!). To me, it's a win-win situation:)
Here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen and dining area:
Kitchen BEFORE:
Kitchen AFTER:
Dining Area BEFORE:
Dining Area AFTER:
View of kitchen from doorway into the living room:
There's nothing on the walls yet, and my blinds in the dining room aren't up yet, but you can get the general idea. Soon, I'll be able to post the living room ones. It'll be a huge change from what the previous owners had here before (read: Forest green carpet. Everywhere.).
Hot Dogs, Ice Cream, and Tigger-Totters
This weekend, our friends from Lethbridge came to visit us. It was so good to see the Jarmans and we did so many fun things with them. We found some really great picnic areas and roasted some hot dogs.
The first place had this huge field of dandelions and it was the perfect place to take pictures of the kids. The setting was so pretty - who needs the fake backgrounds at Sears Portrait when you've got the real thing?
Isn't Isabelle just the CUTEST little thing? And I learned just how hard it is to make three kids all look at the camera at the exact same time!
We of course did lots of quading. The guys had fun exploring all the trails, once they got all the kinks worked out on my quad. It's working great now, though!
We gals took them out as well, but not before posing for a few pictures. Bobbi and I were in kind of a silly mood - there are alot of pictures like this:
Lance and Jared just shook their heads, muttering something about us "taking something so manly, and turning it into something so girly" - Haha!
We also got some ice-cream, went garage-saleing, and took the kids to the park. Isabelle was talking about the park and called them "Tigger-totters" instead of teeter-totters. I asked her to tell me about the park so many times just so I could hear her say it over and over.
We also stayed up way too late playing "marbles", a tradition that's 4 years in the making. Guys against girls. Don't worry guys, you'll win someday!
Soccer
Carter started soccer a few weeks ago, but yesterday was the first time I've managed to get pictures. It was actually the first soccer practice they had where it wasn't raining - crazy weather. Even days when it was sunny all day, it would still rain between 4:30 and 5:00, just in time for their practice.
In the middle of their drills, Carter and this other kid lay down on the grass and were cloud watching. Soccer with this age group is hilarious, their attention spans are...well, nil.
Despite all the cloud-watching and butterfly-chasing, he is turning into a good little soccer player.
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