Daddy Kid Time!

Will took the kids up to Tahoe for an over-night hike.  Uncle Alan and his three kids joined the fun!  It was great weather for hiking.  All of our kids were actually really excited to go on this adventure.  Even Colter and Adell were pumped about having their own backpack of supplies to carry.  Colter had more than just marshmallows and a toy monster truck this time.

I don't know all the details...someday I'm going to make Will and the kids get on the family blog and write about the cool stuff they did without me.  I just know they came home happy and dirty.  They did say sleeping was hard.  Apparently, there weren't enough sleeping pads to go around and 5 kids ended up in one tent with two sleeping pads.  They were cold and on rocks...it was a hard night.  But the hard night didn't dampen their enjoyment.  They loved hiking, loved eating cup o noodles, loved finding sticks that looked like guns, loved finding snow, loved it all!

Project time!

The one thing I asked for (other than bigger boobs--I'm serious about that, we can talk in person) for my birthday was a weekend at home with everyone else gone so I could get a project or two done.  Will obliged and this weekend he took the kids on a camping trip so I could work!  My number one project was to get the kitchen painted.  I made a list of about 50 projects but decided the kitchen would be number one.  

As you well know, all the walls in our house have been painted with garbage paint.  It sucks up dirt and fingerprints like nobody's business.  It is impossible to wipe down.  Total garbage.  The kitchen shows the worst attributes of this paint.  I decided I wanted a deep, navy blue for the walls.  I researched colors and got to work.

Before:

AFTER!!!!:

It looks so amazing!  I love it so much.  This was the only project I ended up getting done this weekend.  It took all of Saturday.  By night time, I was ready for a treat and a movie.  Sunday I went to church and got started on organizing our printed photos so I could get them into photo albums (the second project on my list).  That ended up taking two weeks to finish.

Also on the list but not done until October was replacing the kid's bathroom sink.  I did that in an hour one night before we left for Will's wrestling trip.  Winning!

Student body and community soccer...

Adell (like Lorien and Clare before her) ran for a Student Body position and lost.  It is tough competition and my girls always want the same job as everyone else, Spirit.  It was fun to make a poster with her and to hope with her!

Adell and Colter are taking soccer with the town rec.  It isn't very professional but they are having a really good time!  Poor Adell agonized over the decision to play competitive soccer or not.  We missed the deadline to register and because she is a fall birthday she would have been in the U12 division...she is 9.  She also wanted to dance and run cross country.  There were too many good things to choose from and the idea of missing out on any good thing (even if it meant getting to do another good thing) was too much to bear for Adell.  She ended up sticking with dance and trying the rec soccer through the town.  Colter and Adell are in the same age group.  It's been fun to watch them run around!