Going Back to the Cretaceous Period

 I thought it was cool to see real hair samples from a wooly mammoth and its skeleton

 a little nervous over the realistic dinosaur sounds they had playing over hidden speakers throughout the park

 Derek and one of his best friends unearthing fossils

  Derek doing the Jr. Ranger booklet

 Look Out!

 Random fun mixed in with the life size dinos

 

riding a Star Wars creature

Late Night Make-Over

(I actually wrote this a few weeks ago)
 I swore off all "projects" this summer and especially all painting projects.  So...last night I painted!  In all honesty I really didn't want to do it.  I have always thought our food storage room would look better if I painted the walls and floor, but really, it was never going to happen.  

Until, the department of Agriculture told me I had to have my food storage room inspected in order to sell fish. I didn't think I would pass with all the old water damage on ground.  So at 1am I finished painting the floor and priming the wall (it had to be done tonight...who knew cement floor paint takes a minimum of 72hrs to dry...and the inspection is in 81hrs).  

Anywho, thank you Utah Department of Agriculture for helping me get a nautical inspired food storage room.

Before Pics

(I don't know why I never remember to get a before picture before I start the project)

 

 The interrogation room

 yikes, all this stuff fits in that little room

 Half the floor painted--what a difference it makes

The first stripe :)

 

 After Pics

 ahhh...much better

 order (not so much of an interrogation room anymore)

 I love these cabinets now.  I never would have done this upstairs, but I seriously love the red-orange cabinets and the gold hardware. They remind me of San Francisco.

   

As for the floor color I went with good old Bennington Gray once again.  No more old water damage marks.  Just smooth and clean.

 

and here is a shot of my "nautical striped" wall.  I love nautical themes, and since the fish is the reason for the redo I thought "why fight it?"

As the kids tell me, we now have "the nicest storage room in the whole neighborhood!"

Baseball 2012

This was Audrey's 2nd year and Derek's 3rd year playing baseball.  They were so excited to learn that Dad was going to be their coach.  It was so fun to have them on the same team too.

 

Practice time

 Who says girls don't get special treatment?

 Chad cheering on his big brother and sister

 "The Maroon Bombers" (with lots of personality) 

 I LOVE these adorable faces!

What a great season. Thanks Coach.

What We Came Home To

When we left for our family reunion our grass had just been laid, and we only had little plants scattered through the garden.  What we came home to was a different story.  We came home to a gigantic volunteer pumpkin patch

with leaves as big as Chad's body

Lots of miniature (and some not so miniature) pumpkins. My guess is we will get close to 30 pumpkins out of this patch.

Also, a garden filled with flowers and great vegetable starts

A grass field!

and lush looking lawn.

What a nice welcome home.

Chalk-Art Part 2012

We love this tradition. It is so fun to get creative and see our neighbors and friends creativity too.

 Carly was a great sport to draw whatever we came up with, which ended up being Barbie in Fairytopia.

 Great use of colors & blending.

 D-rock refused any help.  He wanted to draw the Death Star all by himself.

 Audrey and I found a Hello Kitty inspiration page in her coloring book and did our best to recreate it.  I think it turned out pretty well.

 We were so happy to Have some of our lives-far-away-family with us.

Nelli and son with their signature PEZ drawing.