Deck is Done!!! Addy Painting Animals!

Addyson saw one of her friends older sisters painting her toy horse and when she came home she wanted to try it. Immediately. She started with the horses, moved to the giraffes then went on to any animal that was made out of rubber or plastic.

Apricots are in season here in Kanab and thanks to generous neighbors I have been able to dry apricots after apricots after apricots. 

The deck is done. The deck is done!

Easy, Safe and Cheap Flooring

We have two guests rooms in our house and one room needed the carpet removed, walls painted, ceiling fixed and painted, etc. I was going to get the room carpeted but I couldn't bring myself to pay a dollar a square foot for crappy carpet that would cost .53 cents in a bigger city. I thought about buying it in St. George and paying someone to put it in but since I didn't buy it here it would probably cost more therefore being the same price. Anyhow, I thought to myself. I am creative. I am an artist. I don't like doing what everyone else does. I like thinking outside the box. I like doing things myself. So I said to myself, myself I said "Just create your own floor." Inspired by a memory from Trudy Locke's attic floor, a Pinterest post and a few blogs I decided to papier-mâché the floor. I loved this idea for many reasons including: 1. I could start immediately. 2. I didn't have to prep the concrete floor (I just swept it). 3. I only needed brown paper, Elmer's glue, water, bucket and a paint brush. 4. I could finish it in one day and could take breaks easily. 5. It was fairly environmentally friendly. 6. Addyson could help. 7. Non-toxic. 8. I can carpet or put down laminate flooring if I hate it. I STILL have to polyurethane the floor and will add photos of that when it is done. The more layers of polyurethane the better. In my old house in Houston I painted the floor and polyurethaned it and it was beautiful. Stay tuned for the finished product!

Goats & Deck

The Farmers Market had baby goats at the goat milk soap stand.

This goat had blue eyes just like Addy.

Princess Addy had chocolate milk and fell asleep.

Deck done except for railing.

Love Love Love the Cedar tree posts

Summer Fun

Summer fun with friends

sporting a new dress and necklace from Auntie Karen

City pool not open this summer so Brax and Addy improvise.

Budding Pollock

Riding her bike to the park.

Yesterday I was putting things away in Addy's closet and she ran in and said "Mom I need that treasure box. That treasure box is for hair things and this one is for things you find in your shoes." The treasure box with hair things is not for barrettes and hair ties it is for hair. Currently it is housing hair she cut off her zebra. Daron asked her what would she do if she found hair in her shoe? She just smiled.

Day Three The new deck is coming along! We are so excited to have our cedar tree's up!

Wheeler Wedding #1 Florida

House Remodel

When we first bought the house in October we knew that we were going to have to redo the front patio above the front door. According to the neighbors it was redone or at least repaired every year. It didn't drain right so the water or snow would sit causing water damage and rotted wood. We discovered that it wasn't put together very well and that the house used to have yellow siding. ewwww. they should have the new deck up in a week or so!

From here you can't see the stucco damage

the house looks like a cheap apt complex now!

Gettin er done!

Good thing Daron got the dead tree out of there

update - June 25

Auntie Karen Strikes Again!

Auntie Karen sent an awesome care package. Addyson now has six new dresses.Five new shirts and three new skirts.  I wish I could fit into the fish skirt... Anyway, Addy loves them of course and I am sure will get tons of use out of the dresses since she likes to dress fancy! Daron got a great barbeque basting set and I got lotions and gel. Now I can put lotion on from Karen while I sip the coffee that Lisa sent in her last care package to us. 

Moab Trip

I was so looking forward to seeing Moab and all was well until Friday night when I was so hot that my head felt like I was going to explode and Addy and I stayed in a cabin with hard beds and a communal bathroom - it was an rv park.  When will I learn that I don't like camping/cabining? Addy fell asleep at 5 p.m. on the way to the cabin and I hadn't eaten dinner yet.  I ended up taking her around town in the jogger so she could sleep while I found a place to eat.  It was hot on the patio so the entire meal I worried about her overheating and getting a fever.  The pizza I ate was amazingly good and the people are so nice in Moab!  I woke up Saturday with a terrible neck pain and I was sick to my stomach. I realized I was dehydrated and felt like I was going to die.  I also had all day to kill before we picked Daron up from the river.  Luckily it was overcast and they have an amazing library in Moab.  We spent most of the day at the library and Addy played with lots of kiddos.  After gatorade, water and pedialyte I finally felt better.  We had been at the swimming pool the day before and in and out of the hot car many times so although we were drinking water apparently it wasn't enough.  Needless to say I picked up Daron and we drove home that night even though we had a room in Moab for one more night.  It felt SO good to sleep in my own bed and go to physical therapy on Monday for my darn neck!  Next Moab visit will be in the fall with a friend who wants to ride the trails.

I found not one but TWO swimsuits in Moab at great prices too!

Big D rafting on the Colorado River with some of our good friends.

Addy and I went shopping in Moab while the group went down the river.

Daron found out Rob was a Raider fan too

Captain Rob

Her new deer/fawn from Moab and we had to bring the tigers from Kanab.

Pretending to be a cat.

Addy loved the bunk beds in the moab cabin.  We slept on the full size bed though.

Parting is such sweet sorrow!

I like to constantly go through my closets, drawers and cabinets and throw stuff away.  I also recycle things like cardboard and plastic. Addy on the other hand likes to go through the recycling and pick out 1) The GoGurt box claiming "It is my favorite and I love it" 2)  Cereal Box claiming "It is my favorite and I love it" 3) Plastic vitamin bottle claiming "It is my favorite and I love it".  Basically we cannot ask Addy to throw anything away for fear she will see something that is her favorite in the trash or recycle bin.  I could deal with the boxes but yesterday she picked up remnants of a hot dog wrapper claiming she didn't want to throw it out because she could use if for horses and pretend it is water.  Uh, she is creative I will give her that.  Then Dad and Addy cleaned her room but when Dad went to vacuum Addy had a fit.  She didn't want him to suck up any dirt or lint that she loved.  Whoa!