Happy Birthday to me!

Well, another year has come and gone and we celebrated the big 36 by...painting the house! I, even I, conquered my fears and climbed up on the roof and painted the gables all by myself. Talk about a major achievement. That has to count for something somewhere.

Here's the before...

(We tried to decide what color our house used to be. It was kind of a non-color. Sometimes it looked white, sometimes gray, but most of the time it was just a house with a really cool, bright red front door.)

And here's the after...

The official color of our house now is (drum roll, please) "Svelte Sage" with a trim of "Muddied Basil" and the doors are "Fine Wine", a pretty burgundy/almost purple. Very striking, and very different. By the by, wouldn't it be a fun job to sit around and name colors? Like all those J.Crew magazines -- what color is "Canyon", exactly?

And here's the mess we made. There's something quite liberating about making a total and complete mess of your clothes and not having to worry about washing up afterwards. I think that's the secret to staying young -- you'll never grow old as long as you can make a mess.

Here are some other highlights of our house painting adventure:

Aaawwww...isn't that sweet? That was my anniversary present.

Our new house numbers -- these were my birthday present. I got to pick them out all by myself. They're very Mary Engelbreit, don't you think?

And here's my shop -- you can get a better idea what "Fine Wine" looks like.

Roy really loves the new paint! He worked so hard and accomplished so much in just eight days, it's no wonder he got a little emotional.

Tag-- I'm it!

Okay, here's how slow I am -- My friend Michelle tagged me I don't know how many weeks ago, and it's taken me this long to catch up. So here goes...

Seven things you may not know about me:
1) I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii from the time I was two to the time I was nearly nine. Highlights from that experience: well, apart from just living in the sun and on the beach, I learned how to paddle a canoe and I remember going out to sea and getting out of the canoe and standing on a sand bar-- in the middle of the ocean!
2) I am a granola girl. I love the outdoors, dirt, bugs and all, and Girls Camp is my happy place! I even majored in it at BYU -- my degree is actually in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership. Basically, I could professionally run my own Sunbeam class.
3) My greatest vice: hmm, that's kind of a hard one. What can I not live without? I'm not as addicted to chocolate as I used to be, but I cannot pass a fabric store without buying at least two yards of fabric. It's a sickness...or an occupational hazard.
4) Roy and I just celebrated Anniversary #15! Well, we didn't really celebrate much -- we both had the stomach flu! We had reservations at the Brookings Beachfront Inn that we've had to postpone, but we're going as soon as we finish painting our house!
5) My someday dream: I have never traveled further east than Denver, Colorado. I would love to someday visit the East Coast, particularly all the Church Historical Sites, and US History sites. I love history!
6) My someday dream job: I would love to teach high school History, English, or Theater. I looked into getting my Master's a few years ago, and just going back to school is a full time job, so that may have to wait a few years.
7) My favorite food: SALAD. It's like a nutritious ice cream sundae -- you start with a basic plate of lettuce, and then add all sorts of embellishments, dressings, and crunchy toppings, and you have one healthy meal. It's silly, I know, but I got addicted to salad when I was pregnant and on bedrest with Anne twelve years ago, and I've never gotten over it.

Wow! That was fun -- now I want to tag everyone I know, so I'm going to make a random pick -- my sister, MELISSA!

Back in the land of the living...

Well, here we are again! Apologize for the lengthy pause in posting, but life has been swirling out of control since school got out. Thankfully, before things got too crazy, we took off on Father's Day weekend and headed for the gorgeous Oregon Coast and Harris Beach...

Here's our handy dandy U-Haul trailer -- isn't it adorable? I've never seen anything like it, but you can really cram a lot of stuff in this little baby!


The girls were really excited--and this was just at a rest stop, before we even got to the coast! They have waited two whole years for this trip -- ever since they got their camping gear for Christmas! This picture is really a great depiction of the four of them -- not only do they run up the stairs, but they're all running true to form: Sara has food in her hand, Anne has a stick, Emma has a horse, and Sophie -- well, she's just plain cute!

Harris Beach is a great campsite -- even if the sites are a little close together, there's still lots of room to romp and play ... and jump on stumps!

And here's the beach... isn't it breathtaking? Maybe you had to be there, but the weather was perfect for kite flying, even if the water was absolutely freezing. The girls had a great time making sand castles until the wind picked up and then we felt like we were in the Sahara -- the windstorms were terrible!

The rest of the month of June and into July was like a windstorm for us -- we all got caught up in the frenzy of Youth Conference, with a Regional Youth Celebration (dance festival/theatrical production with 600+ kids). I got the fabulous but completely hectic job of Costume Director for our Stake, which meant costuming only 150 kids. (YIKES!) Here's Sara and her friends Maple and Megan all dressed up and ready to dance...We started the whole production in February, but June was absolute madness getting through the four performances in one day! And then, all of this was followed a week later by our stake Girls camp. I never get any pictures of camp -- I'm always too busy to take pictures! Roy is still speaking to me, so I guess we survived. No, seriously, it was an amazing experience, despite all kinds of frustrations, exhaustion, and never being home --but that's all over now, and we're happy to settle down to a nice calm summer!