Whoever coined the phrase "lazy days of summer" needs to be punched in the face.

{I lost my beloved 9-year-old camera when we visited Dax's folks back in March. So I don't have any pics of my trip to Alaska, the last month of school, or my girls' dance recital. When I got my camera back, it worked for like a day and then it died. I finally got a new one! So I feel like I can blog again.}

Holy cow! Summer is flying.
I am still working on final touches in my boys' room! It is turning out fun and I'm finally getting the hang of decorating for boys. I snapped this pic of my kids and nephew hanging out in the room. So it's functional AND hip.

 I'm remembering when my boys' room looked like this...

We've been camping SO much already since school's been out. We went up Uinta Canyon with my bro and nephew, we camped with my Dad and a few siblings near Strawberry, and then up near Preston, Idaho for a family reunion! The day after we got back from that, Preslie went to girls' camp! I hope she's having fun! I heard there's snow there!

 Great view..Strawberry Res in the background.

 My little nephew wanted to drive/ride the ATV every minute.

The McDermott family reunion is awesome! Ask Mack.. he loved the waterslide at Riverdale Resort! I loved the warm spring water in the pools! We had to drag the kids away.. As we were walking back to camp Mack asked, "Can I just look at the [waterslide] tower one more time?"

We passed through Logan on our way to the reunion.. The kids had fun at Lundstrom Park! Still a family fave!

We stopped for Aggie Ice Cream and met up with old friends. Quinn calls it "Maggie's Ice Cream Shop".

Earlier that day, Dax's bro and his wife invited me to go to their ultrasound appointment! It was awesome. I've never been on this side of it before. They're having a GIRL!

I'm sure trying to keep my kids productive this summer. I am realizing I don't like being a drill sergeant, but sometimes being a Mom requires that! Finding balance is life's greatest trick.

 I took Preslie to Vernal and we did baptisms for our ancestors! It was really neat. My Mom has been busy with family history work and prepared names for us to take to the temple. We had a wonderful time. Can't wait to do more.

 The kids making a Fathers Day sign for Dax. We gave him a weed wacker and cooked him spicey chicken for dinner.

Here is our new fence! It sure makes our back yard look more finished! Dax and our neighbor did a great job.

 Here is the before picture...

Here is the fence during construction..

And here is after!

Trees and shrubs are on our list to buy now!

That list gets longer by the day...
New tires and windshield for our old Rodeo
a new computer (ours crashed!)
camp trailer (If we keep camping this much, Mama needs a bed and a kitchen and a place to put all our gear!)
truck (to pull the trailer)

Happy busy summer!

She's got legs!

And knows how to use them! And yes, I'm listening to ZZ Top right now.

Paper clutter.. my ultimate nemesis. When school started end of August, there has been a perma pile of papers on my bar. I was always shoving them over so people could actually eat there. But the pile, no matter how hard I tried, would not disappear. The kids needed access to their papers all week to work on their homework each night. I could never put them totally away. And then my bar became a magnet for all papers and other stuff. Such a nightmare mess. I thought and thought about solutions.

Then I found this little cabinet with SIX drawers. Six to match the number of people in my family. And the drawers were the size of papers. I am so glad the organizing gods decided to intervene. I bought the cabinet and put it together. It came with casters to put on the bottom which I didn't want because 1. I wanted something more stylin' 2. I don't want the cabinet to roll around. 3. I wanted to raise the cabinet up higher.

I got online and looked for legs to add to the bottom since I thought it would look classier more legit that way. I found metal hairpin legs that I loved but they were 20+ dollars per leg. I didn't feel right about spending more on legs than the cabinet itself. I asked my siblings to keep and eye out at thrift stores or garage sales. My 2 genius little brothers told me they could just make me some. They bought the metal rods and cut and welded me 4 legs for this cabinet in like 30 minutes. The total for the supplies was under $20! My brother's are so rad. And so are the legs. I really like how they turned out.

And now I have a place to put everyone's mail, homework, magazines, church papers, scout book, personal progress, chapstick, whatever. Ya-hooo!

The other huge project that has been in the works for a looong time are my boys' curtains. I bought the fabric over a year ago at Home Fabrics in Midvale. I still love the fabric- it has a lot of energy and I love the colors.

 The curtains turned out great. SO happy to finally cross this off my list!

 One step closer to finishing my boys' room!

Art in many forms

I bought a 40 pound box of chicken for a great deal so Dax and I took an evening and trimmed the breasts so we could bag up meal sized portions and freeze them. I was facing opposite him with my own knife and cutting board and after I'd trimmed about 2-3 pounds worth of chicken, I turned to see Dax with our giant mixing bowl PILED with breasts he'd finished trimming. Is this an art or a science? Whatever it is, this guy has a secret life as a butcher!

Mack's school does a yearly spring art show and Quinn had a blast watercolor-ing with Mack and his classmates.

 The numerous displays in the halls were inspiring. I had to share...

Mack's self-portrait

 tongue depressors art- Mack's hand is pointing to the orange one he painted

 Faces painted on squares of denim and sewn together

 Dax had some conferences in St. George so we took the kids out of school and made a vacation of it. I wish my town had a splash pad like this!

 We got to be there for Grandma Beaner's birthday! She is 59 going on 20. Love her!

 Dax made his unsurpassed Eclairs. I'm ruined for all others. His are the best. An artist in the kitchen is arguably the best kind..I mean- we have to eat so it might as well be delicious.

Beaner and 15 of her teaching collegues had tickets to see Abbamania (an Abba tribute band) at Tuacahn on her birthday. She had an extra ticket and I got to tag along! Super fun! I've always admired people who can open their mouth and have a beautiful sound come out.

I will leave you with a funny that happened in the bath last night. Mack had the bar of soap and was conscientiously washing between each toe and every square inch of himself when Quinn said, "Mack, I want the soap now! You're taking too long!" To which he replied, "You can't rush art."

spring blew in

HOW did it go from this..

..to bulbs sprouting up in my yard? I'm happy about it, but I thought I would have more time to complain about the snow and cold and now I'm left to complain about yard work! BOO. But yay. I love working outside but it is so overwhelming. I just want to do EVERYTHING right NOW. Project A.D.D is a struggle.

I had a GREAT birthday. I am 33 and wild and free. My Baby's breakfast is Ravioli. I love my life and my family. I'm busting out rhymes so call me Shorty.

Here are my boys testing out their egg-drop thingy for pack meeting. Hunter had the idea to get sponges and hollow out a place for an egg in the middle and then tie the sponges together.

I tell you, I am like the luckiest gal around because on my way to the store to buy the big sponges, a
HUGE thick long piece of really nice foam blew through the intersection I was approaching (the spring wind is unbelievable here- stuff blows around like mad) and I just about passed it when I said to myself, "Hey, that is a NICE piece of foam. I bet I could use it for something sometime." Then BAM! it hit me-- use it for the egg drop!

The boys had a blast making their egg-drop contraptions; Mack made one, too and competed at pack meeting. He is SO excited to be a cub scout. I am going to start him when he's 7 just on our own. The LDS church starts cubs at 8 but I need to foster this sooner while he's this pumped.

Mack is one in a billion. If you are not friends with me on Facebook, you need to be. That is, if you like to hear funny, cynical and/or messed-up stuff kids say. I have a whole notebook of things Mack has said starting at age 2 when he could speak in sentences. I post many of them on Facebook because it is just too good to keep to myself.

My Mack is a hard worker when it is his idea! He went out and dug weeds after school this day-just grabbed the shovel and went at it. He got obsessed with watching the YouTube video of Frozen's "Let It Go". It was cute/bizarre at first. Then really annoying.

So now that the snow is gone, my kids think it's summer. They BEGGED to sleep on the tramp so we put them off until the weekend and they held us to our word. We told them it was cold (in the 30s) and they insisted! They went out and all 4 of them fell asleep. When the temp dropped below freezing, Dax and I just couldn't let Quinn stay out there all night. We brought her in at 11:30pm.

In the morning it was 25 degrees and frost covered everything. I asked Mack if he had fun sleeping outside and he said, "Yes. My pillow was frosted!"

It warmed up in the day and Dax and I were able to work on our pile of rocks that isn't moving by itself. Moving a pile of rocks is about as unmotivating as it gets.

Hunter is the cutest, sweetest brother. I just love how he looks after Quinn and makes sure she is happy.
We went out exploring/hiking one day after church and the kids got all prepared..Quinn brought her backpack with a waterbottle and little wooden knife. Following in their father's footsteps..

Hiking and climbing enjoyed by all! Hunter is at the very top of this mountain..

It got tricky climbing amongst all the cracks and crevices..

Then Dax taught the kids how to baton wood with a knife. We ended up with perfect kindling for a fire. Which we built and enjoyed.

Scrolling through these pics to find a good one of all of us girls amused me...

Quinn's off..

Preslie's off..

um..

Preslie's dance teacher, Miss Heather opened up a 3-year-old class and I was able to get Quinn into it. She is so happy there; it is really cute to watch. She calls her teacher "Miss Feather".

 This is how my bar and counters have looked since my kids started school in August. It is so annoying and embarrassing and overstimulating. I get pressure in my chest just looking at the picture.. but the kids have so many papers that are "pending" and can't be put completely away. So my counters have become a dumping ground because there is always a pile, and that invites more piles. I finally came up with a solution!

 I bought a tiny set of wood drawers that fits papers in them perfectly. There are six drawers- one for each person's stuff. It sits between the bar and the window. My camera is lost right now so I can't take a pic. But AHHHHH! I can breathe! I can feed my children at the bar again!

The change of season motivates me to get to work in my house (and now yard)! I love to organize, rearrange, and de-junk. I love change and have so many projects on my list. The list grows faster than it shrinks but life is so so good.

my Free photobook

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Shutterfly had a promo for a free 8 x 8 photobook! I fully intended to make a book of some sort, but I have a hundred other things going so I ordered a copy of a book I'd already made for my in-laws last Christmas. My kids will love it for Easter. And all I had to do was click, order, and pay shipping. Sweet! On to the next project!