Best Saturday part III- The Swinney's

Brother Swinney was out at the Rhames' with us picking fruit and invited us to come and try their zip line. We have heard a lot about it the last year and when he taught Jacob's class he told him he could come do it. So we finally made it out there!

Above is Jake on the zip line, below is Ben.

They also have an awesome tire swing that the boys tried out and loved.

It was cute to hear their peels of laughter and squeals.

The zip line starts way up in this tree, it's pretty high up there.

Peyton enjoyed the Turkeys and chickens. She didn't do any zip lining.

All my kids are big time animal lovers but Jake takes the cake. We probably would not have been able to get away without him holding at least one animal.

On Tyler's run, one of them anyway, he sadly forgot about his shoulder issue and hurt himself a bit, so on the next run he didn't let himself hang down, we really don't need another dislocation do we? I thought I got video of Tyler and Micah but I can't seem to find it. If it turns up maybe I'll put it in another post.

Best Saturday part II-picking fruit at the Rhames'

We went to the Rhames' house out in the country and picked cherries and berries (black and boysenberry I think). We kept some and shared some. I wish I could say that was me below next to Tyler, but that is Sister Johnson ( pretty sure that's her name!) from our ward, she is one of the prettiest sister missionaries I've ever seen, sorry I don't have a pic of her face!

There I am below, I appointed my side kick, my sister Morgan as photographer since I had work to do, and I am just about MIA in all of our photos, some day that will really make me sad.

The boys

The kids were a little too short to pick cherries, so I helped Ben a little.

The wanderer

I never knew how painful picking berries was, there are all kinds of thorns, and if you want to get to the good, big, ripe berries you have to get right in the thick of it. I was proud of Morgan, she got right in there.

Miss P loves Dogs and dogs love Miss P! She is definately sweet, the dogs can tell too because she never escapes a dog without being licked all over.

Best Saturday part I-Barbie Furniture

Last Saturday was awesome. It started out with My sister Morgan and I making furniture for Barbies. My Grandma Kay did this for me when I was little. If you know me very well, you know that Barbies were pretty much my all time favorite toy, and I LOVED setting up their furniture. Several years ago I made a Barbie house complete with furnishings for my sister and I had so much fun doing it that I wanted to do it again for Peyton (yeah, and I confess, mostly for me!). I knew she wouldn't really care yet, but it would be a fun project and she would hopefully love it someday. I was so wrong! She loves it now and it is so cute to watch her play. She puts her Barbie in the bed and covers her and then puts her finger to her lips and says, "Shh"

This is my sister upholstering the couch I made using a cereal box. We made a great team.

Here is the lounge chair I made from a cereal box and a cheezit box before it was upholstered.

This is the Living room furniture and the fabric over the back of the highchair is the curtains for the room. I am going to be putting Ty's carpentry skills to the test again and have him make some wood boxes for me to use as the rooms. I used cardboard the last time but I want it to be nice and last this time. I am going to use Plexiglas for the windows, if I can find it, last time I used a Ziploc bag! Nice, I know. I have learned and I'm improving. Caleen, the button on the lounge chair pillow is one I got from you, thanks!

My sister is covering the headboard. All of the fabric we are using is from Laz e Boy samples that my grandma got from her sister who works there, all free, and sometimes I use old clothing. Denim is especially good for furniture.

Do you see how happy this child is? She really likes all the throw pillows too. I will post more pics when I start getting the rooms together. I made a little boys furniture set in Americana theme that is my favorite. I'll get pics of that one for sure.

Please let me know if you have any ideas for more accessories, furniture or decor. I'm thinking of using mirrors from old compacts for the bathroom. Not sure how to make sinks and a tub yet. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Playing "catch" up

This was from May 13, yep, a month ago. I know I'm behind, but I'm also trying not to let my computer rule me! We did do T-Ball with Jacob and Ben this year. It was a 6 week stint rather than 8, but we didn't make it to the last game because most of the family was claimed by illness. Jake & Ben are both pretty sporty and did really well. Ben can really hit a ball! The pic below is J with the other coach, Lou. He's my friend and old roomate Shannon's husband. Tyler was their other coach.
Micah was my little helper with sister, here they are, Micah straight from scouts.

Here is part of the boys cheering section, Aunt Morgan, Nana Paula and Papa Larry. Nana Byn and Papa Ron, not pictured, were also part of the regular cheering section.

Ben at bat, the T wasn't used all that often as long as the kids could hit one of the first 3 or 4 pitches. We actually had a few really great batters on our team.

Jake at bat, sorry about the sun. I couldn't do anything about that.

This is Lou's son Jackson with Jake after a game. There were some issues with spanking Aunt Mo's bum. Jake was doing it and Jackson was about to when Shan told him not to because he doesn't know her. Ben piped right up and said, "It's Aunt Morgan!" Like it was fine because we knew her so well! They were really cute. Jackson is a funny kid, we'll have to get together this summer to play.

Our little family, well, maybe I should say young family. We aren't so little anymore!

Triple Bunk Beds, that's right, I said TRIPLE!

First off, if you're interested in making this awesome triple bunk bed, here's a link to the plans that we used.  Triple Bunk Bed Plans.  My husband is a fairly handy guy but had never built any furniture before.  These plans were easy to follow and use standard wood sizes that can be found at your typical home improvement store.

  I wish I would have taken a picture when this bed was just a pile of lumber but I didn't. So, Micah used to sleep in a twin bed up in the loft and Jacob had the top bunk and Ben had the bottom bunk in the downstairs area. In the summer the loft got pretty hot and Micah also started complaining of bad dreams and wanted to be with his brothers. We moved him down to the floor on his mattress. There was hardly any walking room, it was pretty bad. Tyler started looking for triple bunk beds on the internet, yep, they have them, and they are about 1-2 thousand dollars. Well, we definately could not afford that. Tyler found a sit that you could buy plans to build your own triple bunk bed. He went ahead and did this. Now, I'll be honest. Tyler had never built anything before this, so I was kind of thinking that it would be months or years before we actually had a finished product and that it would look pretty "homemade". I know that's terrible. I have a wonderful husband who is quite smart and talented and I'm now ashamed that I thought this. Anyway. We had the plans for awhile before we were able to buy the wood, and once we bought the wood (Douglas Fir, the cheapest) it was pretty green and we had to let it dry for several weeks. Once it was dry Tyler took it to his good friend Rob McCune's house to joint and plane it (Rob changed our front brakes on our van in less than 10 minutes that night too, thanks Rob!). While Tyler was sick I went to my grandparents house and picked up Grandpa's router and router table, he was impressed that I could carry it to the van and lift it into the van all by myself! So, the next step, Ty sanded and routered the pieces, I skipped a step, he first cut the wood into the right size pieces before he did anything else. So, once all that was done I didn't realize the boys would be sleeping in their new bed 3 days later! Tyler built it on Saturday and on Monday, Memorial Day he and I put a sealer on the wood and Tuesday night they were sleeping in it!
Tyler, I am so proud of you for all of the projects you take on, for your dedication in finishing them and for learning so many new things. You are amazing and I love you and I love the new bed and how wonderful the boys room looks and feels now. I have been in there cleaning up after them more than I used to and I don't mind it because it feels so nice to be in their room now.

She got reprimanded for drawing on the wood and Tyler had to go around and erase all of her artwork.

These big side pieces were the hardest part of the whole project for Ty. The lags were hard to get in, once he got them in a ways they kept stripping, he spent the most time getting those pieces on.

This is our front room where the boys slept while Ty put the bed together. It is such a huge piece of furniture that it had to be assembled right in the room. That thing is really heavy too. If there is ever an earthquake we're all getting under that thing!

He hates these pictures but I had to get one of him with his first building project. Doesn't it look good too? I love it. I think it looks so much cooler than I was expecting it to. The wood really didn't look very nice when it first came home from Lowes.

These are all the kids, and the dog on M's bed. He got to pick first since he's the oldest, then J picked the bottom and B was left with the top. They have all been happy with their location, but when they play on the bed they all seem to like the middle bunk.

I love this picture because Miss P was just innocently loving on D not even seeming to notice that he wasn't into it. I'm sure he was growling too. Click on the picture so you can get a good look at his snarl.

This one is cute too, I love her little gap tooth smile and her wispy curls above her ears.

I'm sure these kids will make lots of wonderful memories in their triple bunk, and probably even the grandkids too cause this bed isn't going anywhere!

4 already?

Happy Birthday Benjamin! I cannot believe that my little boy is 4 today. He was only 2 months old when we moved into the house we're in now. Have we really been here that long? This guy is my buddy, I feel like he is practically an extension of me!

Ben's favorites are
swimming, games, more games, board games, card games, computer games, video games, sports, like kicking around a soccer ball and batting, cereal, fruit snacks.
Ben is a cuddle bug and a night owl. He loves his one on one time with mom and dad and he likes to hang out in our room at night. We are enjoying it while it lasts and before he starts school! He can do a lot for himself and I can't remember the last time I picked clothes out for him. He knows what he wants and gets you to agree to it while making you think it was your idea. Ben is a cute kid and well liked by others. He is a good friend. Some of his best buds right now are Aubri, Bekah, Essien and Luke. We love you The Toot!

Ben with some more of his friends, cousins Hunter and Dominic and his little sister, swimming Monday in Nana's pool. We are trying to do something fun each day this week to celebrate his birthday.

Honestly, I look forward to this all year.

Every year around Mother's Day is Father's and Son's, or the Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration as it is now known. Since Peyton has been in my life we have taken this opportunity to have Girl's Weekend. While the boys are away camping, us girls are living it up at home!
The boys left Thursday night and I took that evening to get the house cleaned up and did some digital scrapbooking. The next day, Friday, my sister Morgan came over and we started the celebrations. Sonic for lunch and we bought some candy and ice cream for that night, and loaded up on movies from the Red Box and Vons wanna be red box. (nothing beats Red Box!)

Mmmmmm, fast food. Clean, quiet, house. I love it.

I am so glad to have a girl to more fully enjoy times like this. She is a doll and I love having a buddy. We did some Dacing with her, which she loves....

My sister and I watched The Secret Life of Bees (my favorite of the 5 movies we got)

Morgan shared her Sour Patch Kids with Miss P and this is the face she always made. She liked them once the sour wore off.

I tried to capture her face and this is what I caught instead, a yellow Sour Patch Kid flying out of her mouth!

My Mom joined us later that evening and we had Me N Ed's pizza delivered, half combination and half pepperoni and pineapple. Our first flick of the night was Bride Wars, pretty cute, we laughed and enjoyed it. Second flick was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I liked it, we all liked it. It was different, if you know me, you know that I like different. I wouldn't however recommend it to all. We pigged out on Reese's Pieces and brownie ice cream. My mom and sister called it quits and went home.

Saturday left me to finish watching movies, Taken, very good, enjoyed it and then 7 pounds with Will Smith. I love Will Smith and his movies have been awesome, until this one. He was good in it but the movie itself stunk. Lame plot, pooey ending. I also did some more scrapbooking and just before my boys got home I was starting to miss them!