The bigs’ room etc.

 Over the years we have switched our kids around in who shares with whom in their bedrooms a bunch of different ways. It turns out that having the older two share and the younger two share has worked better generally than putting the boys and girls together. I don’t know how much longer they’ll be okay with sharing boys and girls in the same room, but for now it’s working. 

It makes it a little more complicated picking room paint themes with their differing opinions. We still haven’t picked a theme for the younger two, but the older two found one they liked and I painted their room yesterday. I really love how it turned out. Here’s the progress pictures and the finished product. I ended up staying up really late last night and I have no regrets. There will be stars on the mountain behind Genevieve’s bed as well once they come in the mail.

I’ve struggled a little bit the last year living in this house, which is lovely, and I love it, but it’s not the single family home with a yard and room to garden and grow things and have our trampoline and whatever else I dream about. But since we did actually buy it, now that I’m personalizing it and changing out light fixtures and painting, I love it so much more and the rush to have all the things right this very second is starting to fade. I really appreciate that! Painting my room is up next and the downstairs bathroom and the kids bathroom. And then somewhere in there we’ll start our basement finish. I’m excited about the prospects. 

I did a couple sewing projects yesterday morning too. It was a SUPER productive day. I was really tired so I didn’t go to my workouts and then instead I painted for a zillion hours. Haha! Not exactly a low energy activity. But I started the day doing the bindings on a couple table runners and modifying the neckline of a shirt that I like the cut but not the neckline. I love how it turned out. 

I made some gluten free bagels yesterday morning too. They’re pretty tasty! I’ve been fighting for a few years the reality that my body works way better if I eat gluten free. I kind of hate that! But I think I may finally need to buckle down and eat that way if I want to feel better in a number of different ways. Thankfully there’s a lot better products and recipes out there nowadays for gluten free options. 

I installed this tools pegboard in my garage Friday night. I love it too. I love having a place to put my tools instead of all jumbled into a toolbox. It’s a little thing, but I’ve never had a house I could do that in before this one. Feels like a long time coming and so it brings me so much joy now. ♥️♥️♥️

Home projects and birthdays and parties

This sweet girl had a big birthday yesterday. She's 10! We had a lovely family party Saturday night celebrating her and her cousin, Michael, who shares her birthday, just 16 years earlier 😁 We went to the splash pad by our house and had pizza and lemon bars and cookies and the kids played and we opened gifts. It was simple and fun and very windy, as is very typical for living in Bluffdale. All in all Genevieve got 29 new pairs of earrings, lololol. Plus a stuffy or two and roller blades and some bracelets and some treats. She said it was the best birthday ever. We had stake conference Sunday so that was a little different. It was broadcast to our building, so we just went and watched that and then came home. We had German pancakes for breakfast, then her cousins came over to play and stayed for a few hours. We had breakfast for dinner, so waffles and watermelon and bacon and sausage. It was delicious. All in all, a lovely weekend to celebrate my favorite redhead.  

A few decorations for the cute girl. 

Friday night was my South Jordan Run Club Annual BBQ. We went to Blackridge Reservoir for it and the kids had the best time building sand castles and paddling around in our friends' kid kayaks. 

We've been doing a few home projects. I upgraded a few light fixtures. This one in the living room. 

These three pendants in the kitchen. One is waiting on a replacement glass cover. It came shattered. 

And a third of these fun ones to finish off our front entryway. 

Got a holder for the kids' piano books. 

Bill painted this accent wall Saturday and I did the touch up Sunday. I love it SO much! Doing these home projects really makes me start to love my home more. Personalizing it to our tastes is really satisfying. I looked forward to that all the years we rented.  

Bill won a gold medal in the Salt Lake Corporate Games for pistol shooting. He's now got a gold, silver, and bronze for the different activities he's participated in. That's been pretty fun and the medals are super cool. 

Aaron had some fun playing with a fan, balloons, and his little stuffed cat. 

School's back!

School's back in session! This is the last year the kids will all be at the same school. And all of them are in full day school, so it feels like a golden year. They were all together last year too, but kinder was only half day and that was just a lot of pickups and drop-offs. But this year is that magical one year where I have a sixth, fifth, third, and first grader. They all can get to school on their own. We send them on their way at 8:30 and don't see them back until 3:45. Chloe isn't so sure about going fully on her own, which is fine. Genevieve is taking care of partnering with her for the bike rides over and back. They're super sweet together. 

I'm just thrilled the kids are back in school. This summer was intense. First summer Bill and I are both working full time, and my work vacation didn't kick in until August, so we had to get creative with what to do with the kids without taking any work off. I didn't particularly have a budget to do a zillion camps. We did one for the oldest two but aside from that we had to craft our days at home mostly and it took some serious effort to be able to work and help them out all summer. 

But thankfully, it wasn't actually awful like I worried about when I started full time in February. Just intense. I can take intense. It'll get better each year. But for now I'm really glad they're back in school and seeing their friends and making new friends and learning and growing. They look so big. I honestly love it. I don't get worked up about them growing up. I love each phase they're in, but am always excited for new ones and I'm definitely packing up and donating the stuff they grow out of the moment they're done with it. Not a lot of nostalgia here. I do love seeing old pictures of them when they were tiny. That never really gets old. 

I did a super fun thing this weekend. The Mud Girl Run. It was so, so much fun. Did it with my FiA friends and we had the best time. Got so muddy. It was a 5k and so cold at the beginning. We had a random thunderstorm that morning that dropped the temps like crazy and delayed the race a bit. But once we got going I wasn't cold, so that's nice. 

This is my buddy Rachael, or Primetime as we call her at FiA. I'm Trailblazer. We ran together and had the best time. 

Yay FiA! Yay for amazing friendships and ladies that support each other and help each other work harder. It's an amazing group. Spencer is dying to do one of his own now that he's seen all my pictures, so I'm sure we'll do more of these. 

When you don't take any pictures

I took like five pictures this entire week. It was just too busy apparently. But we definitely did do stuff this week. Spencer mowed his grandparents' yard. First time ever for this 11-year-old. He did a great job! 

Genevieve found this picture she liked and then turned it into the purple version on her tablet paint program. She's unendingly creative and talented with her art!

I bought this nativity just because. I couldn't pass it up, lolololol. 

I didn't know I was going to pass my feet on to my child. This is me on the left, Spencer on the right. Basically identical feet. He wears my same shoe size. Pretty fun! He tells me if he jumps he's taller than me, but I've still got probably four inches on him. Maybe six. I bet he'll pass me this year though. Not like that's a huge milestone in actual height, but still fun! He's hit eating us out of house and home stage. He loves gnocchi and he ate an entire package yesterday. Before he was eating half a package at a time. I don't think I can go to the store often enough to keep him in stock with gnocchi at that rate, haha! 

 

Summer winding down

 

Last week I had a zillion photos. This week I’ve got hardly any. August is here and we’re winding down summer, looking forward to school starting. Still have 11 days left, but it’s getting just a tad cooler and school is sounding mighty good again. 

We took the kids mini golfing on Friday right after several hours of wonderful, lovely rain. The course was so wet and it was so humid. Genevieve and Chloe’s hair both curled right up. I love their curls. 

Chloe got a hole in one!

Some run club days we have a big group, some days we forget to post and I’m the only one there. Whoops! It was still a good run.