Here you go Mo

Morgan has wanted me to put these pictures on my blog and I guess since she finally put her pictures of her new house on her blog that I would get mine on. Although I am not finished with my project yet it's done enough for pictures I guess. Before...Okay this picture serves two purposes. One to show you the wall color and the bead board that was up in this room before the remodel, and second to show you the present that started all this remodel. Morgan and Kyle gave us this beautiful picture for Christmas and I just didn't have any place nice to put it that really matched it's style. I loved it so much so it got me to thinking that it would be nice to redo a room to put this picture in. I just didn't know what room it was going to be. Well one day we had the missionaries over for dinner and we had to pull our dining room table out and put it in the family room to be able to seat us all. Adam was so embarrassed and decided that we needed a real dining room so that's what decided what room was going to get the redo.
I sold everything that I had in the formal living room; couch, chairs, piano, and with that I figured it would have been enough to do that one room. I have hated the texture on my walls since we've lived here so I had a friend come up and show me how to do the old world style and after a little trial and error I think I got the hang of it. I was just getting done with the soon to be new dining room when I came home one night from Bunco and discovered that my dear sweet Adam had decided that we should do the living room and the entry way while we were at it and had everything all tore apart. Well after 3 more months than I planned and mucho more money than I had set aside the project is mostly done.

After....The family room... I still need to get another end table for the side of the couch and a piece of art work to go above the chair and I want some new drapes in here too but who knows when that will happen.

The new dining room and the new table. I love the floors so much. And doesn't the picture just fit in there perfect. I had to go buy real lemons and limes to go in my bowl (that I stole from Morgan) but I want to find some fake ones along with cherries so if anyone knows where I can find some nice fake ones let me know please.

Before...Yes I know it's stupid because it's a Christmas picture from awhile ago but it's the only one I have of the entry way before that was still on my camera.

After...Looking back at the entry way. Yes I am saving my money for a new iron banister thingy.
Before....The wall that separated the formal living room and family room.
AFTER...The new entry into the dinning room. Notice the tile is gone. Yes! Wow we really learned alot on this little project. We now know how to rewire electrical outlets. We also put in two new wall lights and re-wired the door bell to the other side of the wall. We took out the strip of tile that went to our bedroom, inch by inch literally. We had little pieces of ceramic tile flying everywhere. We laid a hardwood floor and after 5 buckets, yes I said 5 bucket, of topping compound we now know how to texture a wall in the old world style.

Am I glad we did it. Yes but would I want to do it all over again? Hmmm I think I would have just hung up the picture in the formal living room and never invited the missionaries over again.

The 3rd of July???

Fillmore celebrated the fourth on the third this year. It doesn't matter if it wasn't right on the fourth it was still a great time in a small town. I thought the parade was great this year. Mahala was on the drill/cheer float and I was sad because they didn't get off and dance in front of us and its kinda hard to see her on the float but she's on there some where.

Grant, a friend of mines little boy decided to come over and share Brielles blanket for a few minutes. Brielle was so fun this year. She even dared to run out and get a little candy this year, that is until the noisy trucks came by and scared her all over again. I loved this year because I didn't have to spend all day in the park tending a game booth. The drill team decided that they didn't make enough money to make it worth their time. It was great for us but not so good for the kids because there was only three game booths there this year. It was fun just to spend the day with my kids. Nicklaus has got to be the best Uncle ever. He took Brielle on the slide, in the bounce house, and on a little train ride where everyone was pointing and laughing at him but he just loves Brielle so much that he would do anything for her. I spared him and didn't put the picture of him on the train on here.

I hope everyone had a great 4Th of July and took the time to appreciate our Military and all they do to keep this great country free.

All you ever wanted to know about bokchoi.

This is all you will ever need to know about bokchoi. It is the grossest stuff ever. I tried a recipe I found on the Internet and it did sound like it would be pretty good. It looked really pretty too but when it came time to pass the taste test in was a total flop. I was trying to be positive and was telling my kids that it wasn't that bad just so they would eat a little of it and they tried to gag down a couple of bites but in the end, even my lying couldn't convince them that it was worth eating. I really don't know if it was the bokchoi that was so bad or just the recipe itself. I was telling the girls at work that it had 2 Tbs. of minced fresh ginger and they couldn't believe that it would call for that much but it really did. So giving bokchoi some sort of consolation it could have been a little too much ginger. But one thing I do know I will never purposely buy bokchoi and hopefully there won't be any in the bountiful baskets for a very long time. But on a happy note I still think it's one of the funnest words to say.

My New Addiction

Okay I found the coolest thing ever. I even got to try it before Morgan did so I can officially say that I found it before she did and shared it with her, even though she all ready knew about it. What am I talking about you might ask? Bountiful Baskets. I first heard about these from a friends blog and she had mentioned about trying to bring a sight to Fillmore and then I never heard any more about it until a few weeks ago someone brought in a flyer to work announcing that we had our very own sight. I won't go into too much detail about how the company works or exactly what it is but if you want you can check it out for yourself at www.bountifulbaskets.org But in a nut shell it is where you can order a basket of mixed produce for an incredible price. For only $16.50 a basket you get a ton of amazing fruits and vegetables. You don't get to pick what you get, you just get a variety of different things. For instance, we got 6 bundles of bokchoi. What the crap am I going to do with six bundles of bukchoi you might ask. Well heck if I know. At first I didn't even know how to spell it but I came home and googled some recipes that have bokchoi in it and I am going to try it out. I guess that's another thing good about doing this is it will make me try new recipes and ingredients because I can almost bet I would never say, "hey hon, do you feel like having a big dish of bokchoi for dinner tonight." But I am going to try it in a stir fry recipe sometime this week and I will let you know if my family thinks bokchoi is a thumbs up or a thumbs down. If nothing else at least it's fun to say. BOKCHOI.

So here is a picture of what I got for $16.50. I think it's quite the bargain, especially for Fillmore where they don't even carry bokchoi. Oh dang it I am back on the bokchoi again.....Here's what I got.

8 apples (one had all ready been eaten)

14 peaches (one had all ready been eaten)

1 bag of grapes

2 containers of fresh blackberries

8 bananas

1 honey dew

7 ears of corn

15 potatoes

1 head lettuce

4 red peppers

3 tomatoes

6 bundles of bokchoi

They also have different kinds of breads you can order that are fantastic. Most places they come once a week but they only come to Fillmore every other week. I might end up buying two baskets next time.

Nice Surprise

The other day, on Mother's Day in fact, I got on my blog and to my surprise a sweet post was on there from my daughter. It made my day and made me extremely grateful for the wonderful daughter I have. I can't tell you how lucky I am to be the mother of four great kids. It was so fun to talk with Nolan on Mother's Day. It almost didn't happen because the number he gave us was"temporarily out of service" but it said it in Spanish so we didn't know what it was saying. I finally had a friend call the number for me and then she called me back and told me what it said. We ended up calling the Mission President who then called Nolan who had a different number for us to call him on and then the Mission President called us back with the new number. We got to talk for about an hour and fifteen minutes. He sounds great and is extremely happy. This isn't the greatest of pictures of any of us but that's what you get when Adam is taking the picture. One shot and that's it. My house is still a wreck but is slowly starting to come back together. I will do a complete post about that when it is finished. Thanks again Morgan for being the best daughter a mom could ask for. You are my bestest friend and I don't care if dad and Kyle think we are crazy for talking on the phone 10 times a day to each other.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I wanted to do a little post on my mom and remind her of all the great and beautiful things she. My mom is my best friend. I don't just say that because 'I have too' or because that is the way it should be, but because you REALLY are. You have been there for me my entire life, for the good, the bad and the very ugly, and I want to thank you for that. Mom, you are the most beautiful person I know. Not only on the outside, but your heart and spirit are just as sweet. I have never met a more caring person. You get it from your mom. I remember growing up, you never put yourself first. It was always what your kids and family needed first and foremost. Now that I'm older, I've noticed you have put your friends above yourself as well. I think that is the highest degree of love and unselfishness one can do in their life. I admire that when you are sad or hurting, you never complain. Whether someone has hurt your feelings or done something, you never talk bad about them. I hope that I can be as good as you. I know you are constantly in pain. I can't imagine how it feels. I know my back hurts constantly, not near to the degree as yours, and I want to complain all the time. You NEVER do! I don't think it is fair that you have to go through this life in so much pain and agony. I know the reason why is because you can handle it. You are never negative. I know you've inspired me as I'm sure many other people. I am so grateful you have installed such a desire in me and my brothers and sister to live our lives according to the Gospel. Even when you are not bearing your testimony, you are sharing it with others. You seem to always have the spirit with you and I think that is why people like to be around you. I'm sorry your mom isn't here anymore. I know it is so hard for you, as it would be for me too. I can't imagine not having you around. But I know she is so proud of who you are and what you are doing with your life. You are just like Grammy in so many ways. Mom, I just want you to know how much I love you. You are the most amazing and most beautiful person I know. I pray everyday that I can grow to be the person you are. Happy Mother's Day, I love you!

NEW FRIEND!

When Nolan first received his mission call, a friend told me about this fabulous site that links you with other moms that have missionaries in your sons same mission or general area. I quickly signed up and was assigned to the Mexico South group. I was able to ask all sorts of questions that helped get Nolan ready to go and that helped me learn how to survive. One of the moms that I started chatting with is from MN but she has a son serving in Nolan's same mission. She gave me her sons blog site and referred me to a couple of others. Nolan and I were able to read their mission blogs and look at the pictures and I think it really prepared Nolan for what was to come. I was really excited when a mom of one of the Elders blogs who we were "stalking" finally signed up to be on the missionary mom site. I sent her a private email and told her how much I had enjoyed reading her sons blog and how much it had helped Nolan and I. From that minute on she became a friend. Every year the lady that runs the missionary mom site does a potluck dinner at a local church and Shauna (my new friend) and I planned on going but mainly just so we could meet each other. She is just what I expected. She is funny, smart, beautiful and a little sarcastic so we got along great. Her son and my son are in the same mission and were in the same district but Nolan just got transferred so now they are only in the same zone. I was hoping the Nolan and Colby would become great friend but I don't think they get to spend too much time together. I think that they know each other and like each other and I am good with that too. But I will always be grateful to have found a new friend and look forward to getting together again with her.