Bad Picture?

It's surprising difficult for me to get a picture of my boys in which they both are looking at the camera and have their eyes open.  Now, facing the camera with their eyes shut - THAT I have mastered somehow!!!  I probably couldn't do it if I was trying, but since I'm not trying to do that, I find that it happens suprisingly often...

I think it may be their way of getting back at me for always wanting to take pictures of them! :)


There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes.”    ~Abraham Lincoln

Handy or Cheap?

It's been almost an entire month since I said, "I'm not doing anymore DIY projects"...and today I turned myself into a liar.  The top portion of the agitator on our washing machine quit last Sunday, and after calling Whirlpool 3 different times and finding out that a service call would cost $200 just to get them here - then to have the customer service rep tell me they can't send someone here because we are out of their service area and ask, "Where the heck do you live!?" I decided I would try to figure out what was wrong with it.  After a few minutes searching online (seriously I think you can find the solution or directions to just about ANYTHING on there) I figured out that the dog agits had worn out.  I tried getting them from our hardware stores, but they didn't have them, so I ordered them from Amazon and had the shipping expedited for a combined total of about $10.  I had 4 loads of laundry I needed to do, and more piling up quickly, so I was really hoping my washing machine would be in working order again soon!

The dog agits arrived today, and Mike helped me get the agitators out of the washing machine and Xavier helped me clean it and put the new dog agits in and reassemble it...it works better than ever now! WOOHOO!!

That must have given me the itch for DIY projects again or something because I also decided to try to figure out how to replace the drain in our bathtub/shower because 1) it doesn't drain well most of the time despite gallons and gallons of Draino/Liquid Plumber and cleaning all my hair out of it with a pair of tweezers and 2) the drain switch thing doesn't work so we have to use a rubber stopper thing to be able to fill the tub to give the boys a bath, and 3) the drain switch thing is so corroded that it just looks disgusting anyway (and drives me crazy!).  A trip to our hardware store, $20, and 30 minutes later and it's in perfect working order now too!  It was a very productive DIY day!

I've decided it's a good thing I'm semi-handy and not afraid to try to tackle new because I'm too dang cheap to pay someone else to do these things that I think I'm capable of doing!  :) 

If a woman is sufficiently ambitious, determined and gifted, there is practically nothing she can't do.  ~Helen Lawrenson

Pig Snort

One of my favorite faces ever are the faces my boys made/make when they scrunch up their nose and "snort" like a pig.  We were lucky enough to capture Xavier's on camera when he was a baby and it is still one of our favorite pictures of him:

 

Xavier on 7-16-08

 

 

 

One of the many differences between the boys is that Xavier went through his pig snort phase when he was about 6 months old, so I was afraid Easton was never going to do the pig snort since he's 11 months old.  However, in true Easton fashion, he decided he would do it when he was good and ready to do it!  We were excited to be able to get a picture of Easton's pig snort the other day:

 

Easton on 10-14-12

 

He, of course, is covered in chili because it was his first time having chili and he LOVED it!  We couldn't put it in front of him fast enough!

 

 

Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it ~Pablo Picasso

 

 



Weekend Getaway

Mike and I had each had a day off from work, so we decided to load the kids up in the van and head for the hills (literally).  We realized we hadn't been to our alma mater since before Xavier was born (almost 5 years ago already!!), and it's one of our favorite places we've ever been.  Friday we drove across the state and arrived at BH around mid-afternoon.  Jordan was our tour guide for our walk down memory lane.  It was amazing how many changes/improvements they've made in the past 5 years, and yet how much is still the same.  Some of the most impressive changes in my opinion was the dining area (really wish that had been there when I was in school!). 

I gave the guys a good laugh when Jordan pointed out the beautiful "Flicka-ma-court" (kinda like the garden version of a cul-de-sac is what I was thinking when I saw it)...I wasn't even thinking that the president of the university when we were there was Dr. Flickama, so it's actually "Flickama Court."

Friday night we tried to go swimming at the hotel, but Xavier couldn't touch in the 3 feet, and he kept insisting on jumping in when he was on the stairs, which resulted in him spitting and sputtering every time I grabbed him and pulled him back out of the water...so we decided to go swimming in the bathtub instead (much to Xavier's disappointment).

Saturday morning we drove through the canyon.  One of the most beautiful places on Earth in my opinion.  I loved having the opportunity to take our time and just enjoy the beauty of the freshly fallen snow on the crisp October morning and take a drive through the canyon - something I never took the time to do while in college (and still regret).  Of course we had to stop to get some pictures along the way too...

I love my boys!



Brothers & Best Friends!

Daddy & Xavier

My boys and I <3

One of my favorite little photo subjects!

 

Snow in October!

 

 A glimpse of winter - right around the corner hopefully!

 

So sleepy! 

A winter wonderland!

Daddy & Xavier strolling through the winter wonderland.

 

Roughlock Falls - one of the most beautiful places on Earth!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mike hiding from the camera.  Either that or he lost his "Hear No Evil" & "Speak No Evil" Monkey friends (Xavier & Easton maybe??) :)

 

 

Xavier said he wanted to watch a movie while driving through the canyon.  His mean mom wouldn't let him because she knew doing so would make him nauseated.  So he decided to play his MobiGo...Mama warned him, but sometimes you just have to learn things the hard way!  He didn't actually throw up, but we did pull over and let him get some air just to make sure!

 

Easton woke up when we stopped to let Xavier get some air.

 

 

 

Easton INSISTED on trying to climb in this basket at Great Grandma's.  He kept crawling back to it and trying to climb in it until we finally caved and let him plop down in it.  He just acted like it was something he needed to get out of his system, then he left it alone the rest of the visit!

 

We love visiting Great Grandma Rita!  Xavier always has to ask her for the broom & dust pan that she let him play with the first time we took him out there...he never forgets to ask about it!

 

 

We had a terrific weekend and hope to make the trip again before another 5 years passes!  I lost count of the number of times I said that I hope someday one (or all) of our kids want to go to college there so we can visit them out there multiple times each year :)  I fear that day will be here all too soon! :(  In the meantime, we'll just continue to enjoy every moment with our little monkeys!

 

 

Vacation used to be a luxury, but in today's world it has become a necessity.   ~Author Unknown

(Kind of) DIY Bathroom #2 - Phase 1

Our Do-It-Yourself Project #2 was semi-successful - we were able to remove the old vanity top and put on the new vanity top when we ran into problem #1: since the sink bowls were a few inches closer together on the new one and were quite a bit deeper, the left bowl hit the edge of the vanity cabinet underneath, so Mike cut out part of the wood so that it would fit.  Problem #1 solved. 

Then I installed the faucets, but the shanks didn't seem to have very much room below the vanity top.  I was able to get the mounting nuts on and the water supply lines attached, so everything was fine (or so I thought!)...so I turned the water back on - Problem #2: the water supply lines did not have enough threads on the shanks so water sprayed all over in the vanity cabinets and down into the suspended ceiling of the bathroom below.  Ugh!  Whose idea was this anyway!?  Back to the internet for further research to solve problem #2!  Discovered they make adapters so you can make the shanks longer, and was able to find them at the hardware store and installed them.  Problem #2 solved (or so I thought!)...so I turned the water back on...and water was dripping out of the adapters.  Ugh!  Whose idea was this again!?  Decided to just use 3 washers & tighten the supply lines against them.  Problem #2 solved - finally!

DIY Project #2 was finished (or so I thought!)...so I turned the water back on...only to find that the water was slowly dripping from the L-joints on the right faucet...ugh! Problem #3! (This is getting old!)  I replaced the water supply lines with new ones (again), I tried it with pipe tape and without pipe tape, I tried tightening the supply lines (and broke one so had to get new ones again).  None of those things helped, in fact, some of those things made things worse!  Like when I over-tightened one of the supply lines and caused water to spray all over (again).  I decided to waive the white flag and call the plumber - I just could not figure out the solution to this problem for the life of me (and was getting quite frustrated trying!).  Monday the plumber showed up and ended up having to replace the L-joints because the old ones were corroded so that the supply lines couldn't seal properly.  I was relieved that it wasn't my own stupidity causing them to drip, and that it was something that we did actually need the plumber to fix.  Problem #3 solved!  WOOHOO!

So finally this project was finished (or so I thought!)...while fixing the leaking L-joints/water supply lines, the plumber must have done something to the drain/p-trap because Monday night there was an extremely slow leak from it whenever we used that faucet/sink (like 1 or 2 drips whenever we used it).  Problem #4 (have I mentioned this is getting old!?  I'm never doing a DIY project ever again!).  This problem I knew how to fix though - just needed to take it apart and re-install it.  Problem #4 fixed!  NOW we finally have Problems 1-4 fixed and therefore have officially finished DIY Project #2.  It took a long time (1 1/2 weeks to be exact) and help from a plumber, but I LOVE the results!  Oh and don't worry, I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon either!

So, Phase 1 of this bathroom renovation is complete!  Phase 2 is painting (I think I can handle that!), and Phase 3 is new sheet vinyl flooring, which will NOT be a DIY project after all the fun we had with the vanity top in this bathroom!  Lance the floor guy will be doing those honors!  I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's completely finished.  Here's the before and after pictures for Phase 1:

"Your mistake does not define who you are...you are your possibilities." ~Oprah Winfrey

Messy Messy

Ever wonder why you shouldn't hand a baby a pouch of baby food that they're supposed to drink through the straw top and then drive for a few minutes without supervising them (even though they had proven to be perfectly capable of handling it on their own moments before)??  No need to wonder any longer...

"What are you looking at, Mom?"

 

According to my "research" there's a strong likelihood that said baby will turn the pouch over and enjoy squishing out all the contents of the pouch all over themselves and between their legs.  Live and learn I guess!


There are some people who have trouble recognizing a mess. ~Bill Cosby

Delicious!

I enjoy eating peaches when they are fresh, sweet, juicy and at the peak of ripeness, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed them quite to the extent that Easton was enjoying them the other day!  With every single bite he took he would close his eyes and say, "MMMMMMMMM!" as he gummed the soft fruit.  Needless to say, he ate most of his breakfast with his eyes closed!  I couldn't resist trying to capture the moment with my camera!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  ~Voltaire