Odds and Ends

I have a variety of fun little things to mention today, so this post won't have much of a theme, I'm afraid.  Except that, as always, I think that family life is such a fun and usually FUNNY adventure!  So, these little tidbits are just fun stories about recent experiences.  And maybe nobody else will think some of these stories are funny but me!  But that's okay.  Family life cracks me up every single day!

Here they are!  My greatest motivators for just about everything I do!  Precious, aren't they?  I love pictures of all four of them together.  On the day that this photo was taken, we were heading out to the trails for a little bit of exercise and to breathe the crisp, fall evening air before dark.

And the best part is that they really do love each other!  Even the stroller got a hug in this one. :)

Happiness!  Nate finally took the time to set up the drums for the first time since we moved.  It was so refreshing to see him jamming again!  Although it left my ears ringing from standing in the room with him, I was so happy to hear him play!

Need More Cowbell!

Oh, the Family Photo Project!  Oh. My. Goodness.  It feels like it took just about forever from the time I first conceived of doing a really nice family portrait until we finally got the artwork hung on the walls.  This photo session happened when we were in Utah for a short visit in August and was done by our dear old friend from St. Louis, Kara Elmore.  She is an AMAZING photographer, and I was so excited that I was able to get her to do our session.  The photos themselves are simply breathtaking!  I wanted to get something that would stay on the wall for many years, even though the children are still growing.  We are just at that stage when Trey will soon be too big for me to hold him during photos, and also when Chase is about to burst into manhood (or puberty, to be more accurate).  Just a few more years and we will look very different!  So, I wanted to capture this moment before it was gone.  And I couldn't be happier with the results.

Every detail of this artwork and storytelling project was planned out meticulously, and I think that you can feel the spirit of love that went into it right away when you see it!  You can see digital images of many of these photos in the "About" section of this blog (see the menu at the top of this page), but the photos below are to illustrate what it looks like on our walls!

This is the view of the colored wall art that you see as you walk in our front entry way and look up the staircase.  Those are some BIG pictures!  The look is so bold and beautiful and I love it!

Here is the same configuration of photos from the top of the stairs.  The main family portrait is a huge 24 x 36 print, and the others surrounding it are all 11 x 14 prints.

This photo shows the lower section of the entry way below the stairs.  This looks much different because the walls are painted that lovely golden color, so the photos are all in black and white.  The main photo collage, or story board, is done as a 20 x 30 gallery wrap and sits on a floating shelf below a black and white image of the Salt Lake Temple and a black and white photo of Nathan and I holding hands in our formal wear on our wedding day.  It is supposed to tell the story of "Family" as it says on the other artwork on the wall.  That is, "We got married in the Salt Lake Temple, and this is what we've done since:  We made this beautiful family!"  Awesome, huh?  The whole effect is intended to greet people who come in our door with our testimony of love and family.  It's gorgeous!!!!

And finally, a couple of notes about funny little moments we have had over the last week or so, some of them involving messes and Trey (those two things often go together somehow).

Thanks to the recent time change back to "Mountain Standard Time," we had a few sleep adjustment issues.  One morning this little Bugger woke up obscenely early...meaning about 5:15am.  I thought he had gone back to sleep when I went downstairs to do my workout a few minutes later.  But pretty soon he appeared at my side!  He said he wanted to "check on" me and "ecker-size" with me.  How lovely of him!  I spent the next hour *trying* to workout, but had to take a few breaks here and there.  Once I had to pull him out of poor, sleeping Chase's bed after Trey wandered off to "check on" him.  Soon after, I found myself tripping over a soccer ball that Trey was rolling on the floor between my legs as I was doing my lunges.  Then, I had to stop because he was begging me for his breakfast.  And shortly after that, I had to stop again because I heard an ominous, "OOPSIE!" from Trey, and discovered that *somehow* his yogurt had ended up on both the carpet and the WALL!  Oh, my goodness!  I think I probably doubled my calorie burn in that workout!  This boy certainly knows how to keep things exciting!

Sadly, this picture came out rather fuzzy.  But it was such a funny story!  I was in the bathroom and he was in the bedroom just on the other side of the door, when I heard him shout, in a very reassuring tone, "Don't worry, Mommy! I kween dis up!" (I will clean this up).  And then he scampered off quickly to find (as I discovered later) a towel from the kitchen.  Uhhhhhhhhh, from my perspective in the bathroom, I suddenly went from not being worried at all, to worrying in earnest!  Haha!  It turns out he had unscrewed the lid from his milk cup and spilled milk on the bed and the ottoman next to it.  I guess it could have been much worse!  And thank goodness he was so promptly helpful and tried to protect me from the concerns he must have known I would have about the spilled milk.  Sweet guy!  Haha!

I put this collage together to capture the funny and true nature of "capitulation" in my usually firm desire to nourish my family properly.  You know, sometimes you just have to eat some Oreos!  Although, I'm convinced that Oreos contain not a single ingredient that has a shred of nutritional value and therefore are scarcely fit for human consumption.  Regardless, I recklessly abandoned all of my former vows of nutritional conversion in the name of education.  We used these amazing concoctions to demonstrate the phases of the moon, as you can see in the photo above.  And, yes, we ate every last cookie in the package in the process.  Hey, sometimes a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!

Oh. My. Heck.  I cannot express how much I adore this picture (although I did have to edit it somewhat to make it fit for publishing on the blog).  This kid!!!!!  Just look at that earnest toddler face!  He was in the shower and poked his head out to look for me, after which we engaged in the following conversation:
Trey: Mommy, you wanna come in?
Me: No, thanks, Buddy.  I'll shower in the morning.
Trey: Okay. (Pause). Mommy, you wanna cracker?
Hahahahahaha!!!  What could have been going on in that cute little head to prompt such a funny conversation?  And, did he really have some crackers in there?  Soggy though they may have been?  And did he think that it would be a good idea to offer some to me?  Really...LOVE him!

Like I said, family life cracks me up every single day!  Don't you just love it?