More Fall Fun!

The kids got their first taste of jumping in the raked leaves yesterday.

Yep, poor kids, this was their very first time, they've been that deprived! :)

It's kind of a meager pile because they were so excited they couldn't wait for me to rake all of the leaves up into one big pile!

My favorite part is, OF COURSE, I woke up to a backyard that looks like it was never raked!!

Dang wind!

Guess I know what I will be doing tomorrow! :)

Oh Happy, happy, HAPPY DAY!!!

Three years of Law school...

Three solid months of studying....

Three LONG months of waiting...

and drum roll please....

Bryan passed the Bar Exam!!!

I don't think we can even describe how excited, relieved and

grateful we are to hear this news!

I am so proud of Bryan. He has worked so hard to get to this point!

And now I feel like we are officially done with law school!

Let "real" life begin! :)

Happy Halloween!!

Here's hoping your Halloween was full

of sweet treats and even sweeter Trick-or Treaters!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

from

The Mom, the Dad, the knight, and his pretty pink princess:)

PS. No, I didn't make the cute princess dress. Credit for that goes to my friend Amber who was making one for her daughter and had extra fabric so she made one for Grace, too. Isn't that so nice?! She asked if it was okay that it was bright pink. I said....um, YES! :)

Happy Fall Y'all!!

This fabulous fall weather and the beautiful colors all around just make me so happy right now! It didn't seem like Lubbock ever got very colorful in the fall, but I look out my window now and I see so many colors! I love the change of seasons, don't you? It's so refreshing.

Ahh...beautiful!

We took a little fall outing last weekend and went and explored an adorable little town about an hour away. We found a great spot for pictures on the old walking bridge at the edge of town.

I hope y'all are enjoying the beautiful scenery around you as much as we are here!

Batter Up!!!

We had beautiful weather 'round these parts last Saturday, so Joshua thought it was perfect for a little baseball game! This kid has got it all figured out. He even pulled out all of his hats and made us all wear one because you can't play baseball without a hat!!

He was so excited when he hit the ball!

(I didn't have the heart to tell him it was really a foul ball!)

Good for you Joshua!

And here is Coach Grace,

or as she calls herself, "the Pink Coach."

OF COURSE.

Yes, she picked out her outfit. :)

And here is my power swing!

Actually, I was reenacting my fabulous hit because,

come to find out, when you play with baseball with Joshua

you have to act out the "instant replay" like they have on TV,

complete with the slow motion throwing of the bat and running to first base!

SWEET!

We love Saturdays!

P.S. No, I have not taken up dressing goth. I had just come back from running and the only good running clothes I have happen to all be black. I'm sure I make quite the sight dressed all in black (except my bright red face, of course!) and running at a snail's pace down the street! :)

Joshua: the Health Specialist

I know I just posted yesterday, but Joshua has said some pretty funny things today, so I thought I would write them down here.

Today we found out that the attorney that Bryan works with lost his mother. She was older and had Alzheimer's, and had been getting sicker over the last few weeks, so it wasn't a surprise, but of course still very hard. We were going to the store to get somethings for dinner for them and I was trying to explain what happened to Joshua. I explained that she was older and had been sick and that she passed away. He nodded and seemed to get it.

Then a few minutes later he came up to me and said:

"Mom, did she have ward council, is that why she died?"

WHAT? Where did that come from?

Then I remembered that we had gone to the grocery store earlier in the week and seen all of the pink breast cancer things and he wanted to know what they were so I explained a little about CANCER. Bryan has been going to the ward COUNCIL meetings on Sundays. I think he obviously got the two confused! :)

So then we are one the way home from the store and he tells me this story:

"Bro. G. (his primary teacher) said his uncle is sick because he ate too many blood sugars."

Me, trying desperately not to laugh: "What did he eat?"

"Blood Sugars"

Me: "Really?"

"Yeah, he said he ate too many of them and he's sick and..... (he pauses trying to remember something).....then Brother G. just went back to the lesson."

Hahahaha! Sometimes it is really hard to take what he says seriously without laughing! I know he is serious because in his mind he's got it all figured out, and he almost does, just with a few four year old tweaks!

I love his curiosity and how hard he tries to understand the world around us!

Before and After: Our Home

I have had a couple of people ask about our house and what we have done to it so far, so I thought I would show you! I didn't have as many good "before" pictures as I had thought, but I think you can get the idea. I would apologize for the minor messes here and there, but hey, we live here!

There are still some projects-in-process, as I'm sure you'll notice,

but between my aching wrists and the empty wallet, this is how it looks for now. :)

Kitchen BEFORE:

Kitchen AFTER:
We (by "we" I mean my little sisters Maren and Paige. They came for a "vacation," but I put them to some serious work. Not sure they'll be visiting again anytime soon....) took down the wallpaper border over the cabinets. Fortunately the paper came of easy shmeassy, unfortunately the glue stayed. So that is one of the projects in the works. I am stripping the glue off and painting the paneling over the cabinets.

Kid's bedroom BEFORE:
notice the *fabulous* fan :)

Kid's bedroom AFTER:
We decided to have the kids share a room still, since they like it so much, but Joshua wanted blue paint and Grace of course wanted pink. So I vetoed them all and we did green, with a pink side and a blue side. We just got the twin beds a couple of weeks ago and I am making them some really cute quilts. I got the fronts done but don't have fabric for the backs yet, so they are another one of the projects still being worked on. The paint is not so dark in real life. AND, no more big, ugly fan! Now we have a nice little white one. I don't care what they said on HGTV about how ugly fans are, in Texas, they're a necessity! You just have to find the least ugly one you can. :)

Living room BEFORE:
The whole far wall is wallpaper, not just the border :)

Livingroom AFTER:
We had quite a splendid time taking down the wallpaper. Actually, I cried. Really. The paper was so thick we couldn't score it and soak it with the glue remover, so when we pulled it off it tore right down through the top paper layer of the sheet rock. That is when I cried. It was a MESS! By the time we finished getting it all done there were holes all over the wall where you could see down to the sheet rock. But my dad and Sherwin Williams came to the rescue and we primed, plastered, primed, painted, and painted again and

TA DA!!
WAY BETTER :)

This is the built in cabinet next to the fireplace,

I love having the storage space there:

The Dining Area:

No big changes here, just hung some pictures. I think eventually I

will paint the paneling, but not anytime soon :)

Front Room:

This is our front room. Haven't done anything to it yet, but

I've got paint picked out for some day down the road.

Entry Way AFTER:

This was the other big project area. The whole wall here was wallpapered. Luckily the wallpaper came off really easy, but underneath it was some really funky painted paneling. I'm sure in the 70's it was Fab, but today, not so much. So my dad re-textured this wall, too, and we painted it. Like the light fixture? It's Bryan's favorite...or not...so it will be going soon, I think.

Master Bedroom BEFORE:
We had a wallpaper border, which we removed.

Master Bedroom AFTER:
We removed the wallpaper and painted.

Master Bath BEFORE:

Again, above the tile was all wallpaper.

Master Bath AFTER:
We took down the wallpaper and in a last minute decision I painted it red. Never thought I would have a red bathroom, but I really like it. I was going to paint it tan, but it was too bland with all of the other brown and white in the room.

And, just for fun, here is my Scrapbook Room!

I didn't paint it or anything because in the back of my mind I realize that I probably won't have it forever. I'm sure as we have more kids I will have to pack it all up and find a new home for my hobby, but for now I am REALLY enjoying it!

I didn't put pictures of the fourth bedroom because unless you want to see all of the unpacked boxes and unused baby furniture, it isn't much to show off. :)

Thanks for taking the tour! Y'all will have to come visit sometime!