Tree House

You wouldn’t think a small ornamental pear tree could be turned into a tree house, but I guess when you are four feet tall it can. It started becoming an idea the day before our community garage sell. Kynlee spent three dollars in change from her purse on a dozen knick knacks she thought fitting for her new hangout. Walla, a tree house in the making.






Please keep an eye on the infant while you take pictures of the older kids, and stop him from eating dirt.


While I was trying to set up a swing for the tree, I heard Kynlee call out “wahoo!” as she sped down the driveway. Seriously, she said wahoo. I looked over to see her riding my old mountain bike! I went from being scared, to laughing, to pushing the button on the camera I was holding. She was losing speed by the time she circled around, but I thought it was cute. Funny, dangerous 5-year-old.

Cap of the Moment

I’ve been in a busy spell. At times throughout the day, I add to my head a design cap. I think we can all say we have some caps piled up on our heads, playing the roles that come our way. For four years now I’ve been working for my brother-in-law’s successful business, The Boston Shade Company. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? The project has been like another little baby of mine, I’ve been working on its image since the beginning moments. Strange to think it’s been ten years since I got my first design job. While we lived in Memphis for medical school, I was a graphic designer for a small design firm. I had a brief retirement, after our first was born, before I was brought back to the professional world (from home though, part-part-time). So here I am now, with my art director’s cap on while the kids roam free, trying to conduct work business on the phone while mischief happens. I am working on a new website, still like the current one, but time for an image update. So if you happen to drop by the house unexpectedly in the near future, don’t be alarmed at the small tornadoes that have hit inside. I’ll understand yours if you understand mine. I think they will all be cleaned up in a few weeks, and you can check out the updated Boston Shade look!

(A designer? What’s up with the look of your blog then? Maybe this has crossed your mind. Right now, it’s one thing I don’t want to worry about designing, you hear what I’m saying? Maybe in the future it will have a little more pizzazz, for now, it is doing just fine.)

The Running Walkers

If you have a five gallon jug, and a three gallon jug, how will you be able to fill one with exactly 4 gallons of water? No eyeballing, give it some thought…it will come to you. Try finding and filling the jug under race pressure though, after spitting twenty cherry pits toward a container while being dizzy and winded and after trying to cross a creek with a couple of buckets, 2 x 4’s, bricks, and rope without getting wet. Yes, it’s our own local version of The Amazing Race, spread out over 5 county parks and 20 challenges. A friend gave us word on the race and we opted to do it. We were curious how we would work together under pressure. I’m proud to say, we discovered we work well as a team. The time together brought back fun dating moments that reminded me why I wanted to marry that man. Ahhhh, such love. My sister Lisa and her husband Leeland also raced. Michael said we were no match for their brain power, so we favored picking the physical challenges over the mental ones. Our team, cleverly named by Michael as “The Running Walkers” took 5th overall out of 36 teams or so and had the fastest time at one of the parks. Lunch and dinner along with a gift certificate and a day with my husband made for a nice memory. Word has it our picture will be in the newspaper. So if you know you can fold origami while blindfolded being directed by a man who’s never seen origami directions before, and you know what the common word between army and water is, join the race next year!

Ander Updates

This one's for the family. I haven't made it out to Utah since I was pregnant, and Ander has not been introduced to many out there, including his Grandpa. So here are a couple of recent photos and a video clip.





We LOVE his blue eyes. We are all jealous of their awesomeness.



He squawks when he likes something- it cracks me up.

Off Nights!

Michael has been working the 6 PM (notice PM) to 8 AM (notice AM) schedule for the past month. Basically when we saw him he was asleep. Now he's done! I told him to give a smile for the record. I was picturing something with a little more enthusiasm, it's like he's holding a tiny flag that says -yeah. It is what you might expect after 14 hour night shifts I guess. When does this residency thing end again?

(So I just noticed our couches are a nice shade of scrubs.)

Father's Day

When Michael went on his mission, his home belongings didn’t fare too well. His sister totaled his car, his brother pawned his CD collection, and his dad gave away his nice golf bag he won in a father-son tournament raffle. He’s moved on from the first two, the latter I learned about just recently. For Father’s Day, I felt like I could replace his freebie 1970s bag he’s been using and upgrade him a bit. Now he’s got some style to go along with his skills. Anyone want the bag in the picture???

Leaf

If you are out on a family stroll down a nature path, and you see some beautiful large leaves, think twice before you pick one for each kid, and triple think tickling your 3-year-old son's neck with one. That eye catching leaf might turn out to be poison ivy!