When redecorating goes bad

Well, for better or worse, I'm gonna post pics of the nightmare re-decor--but first:

Fashion forward Jenna--love when she gets herself dressed

Gavin and Brent's last fishing date for the season--unless there's one more:

OK, enough procrastinating.  Here is the picture of my inspiration hanging on my teal accent wall:
Here it is with the other teal accent wall I decided to paint in the living room:

Now...just remember it looks a little better in person...OK..breeeeeeeath....Actually, quick story about the color.  I wanted grey and picked out the first grey I liked.  The day after I was done painting, my chinese visiting teaching partner came by.  Her comments--word for word, "Oh! Yu payn yo howz!  Wha calaw iz dat?  Purpow?  Oh, it LAVENDA!"  I took one look around and realized that she was right.  My living room was lavender.  I went strait back to the store and bought a brownier grey and repainted. Ok...here's the view of half #1

Can you see the dilemma I had?  I had to work with speckled rainbow/white carpet and a pooh brown brick fireplace--not to mention the HUMONGOUS curtain hanging thing that looked worse grey--Oh, and I couldn't paint the ceiling yet as I had to wait for Brent to scrape the popcorn ceiling off--which could be another couple years, or so.

View of half #2

Now, couple of things I need some feedback on: 

1. The lights.  I got them at World Market and loved the idea of the delicate cascade of light that it promised.  They look yellow here, but are actually brown burlap. Likey or no likey?

2. The little accent drawer.  I thought I would pull in some turquoise and thought that black would look good on top--it was already ancient looking so I went with a crackle.  It looks like Halloween, especially because I hung that orange wreathe there when I was pulling out the fall decor.  Please believe me when I say I know this CLASHES--but I am hesitant to try another color.  I'm thinking red/cream or stay with the turquoise but use a mahogany brown instead of black...?

3.My beautiful kids.  I like the prints and am having them mounted and this finish put on them so they will be bullet proof and not SHINY.  Do they need anything else?  Above or maybe have them sitting on a long black shelf?  ...GAAAA, I hate this stuff!   

4. The black lamp shade.  I painted the balls turquoise--they were brown.  I've tried adding a black fringe, using a grey lamp shade, using a grey lamp shade with black fringe---I can't figure out what works?  or should I just leave it black?  I actually liked adding the table behind the couch--funny how we've had that table for, what...at least 8 years and it's always been in storage.

 5. My watercolors.  If you look back to view #1 you will see I hung them on the side of the fireplace.  It was just such an empty space and I couldn't figure out what I could do there--for free.  Again, like or no like?   

6.  I painted the trim pretty white, white.  I'm wondering if a creamier white would look better...

So, that is as far as I have gotten.  It's so hard and I am so impatient.  Time to be honest.  Are your eyes on fire?

Shoot me now...

The last couple of weeks I attempted a big project.  I took a look around my living room and decided it was high time for a little color in my life.  I bought a colorful print that I loved and used that as my inspiration for curtains, paint, accent pieces....and now, I am going to officially take back everything I've ever said about Interior Design being a crock of **crackers.** 

I am not going to share any pictures of the white trash remodel for now--not until I have the money to REDO what I just RE-DID. I'm going to share what was supposed to be the finishing touch--the creme de la creme, if you will.  Ya, it back fired too.  You see, I tried to copy my friend Mary's cute black and white close up's of her kiddos.  Let's just say I also take back anything I've ever said about how any person can take a great picture if they just had the right camera...

Who knew kids could be SO INFURIATING!!  Jenna sure tried to please me--that lady can pose and pose...

She would just change from serious to...laughy
to...triple chin all on her own!
Kesley was probably my biggest challenge--but surprisingly had the most potential shots in the end.  I got TONS of the smirk, the lower lip puff and finally a few that reminded me what we had for breakfast--biscuits and gravy--I guess we should have brushed teeth first! :)

 Gavin proved to be the biggest pain in the butt.  I mostly got this:
 After church (Yes, we did go this week) I tried a new approach--bribery.  One dollar got me lots of fake smiles (but a genuine effort), a few constipated shots and one shot that looked very much like a donkey...

They're not awesome, but this is what I decided on in the end.  They will be black and white when I print them.  They will hang above my couch and will probably only ever be seen by me because we don't get a lot of company---but I'm going to give myself an "A" for effort and feel good about it!

Gonna miss this view...

Last day of boating for the summer.  I'm really gonna miss this view.  We've decided she wasn't born with any nerve endings in her bum--what other excuse could there be???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! 

Kesley's first swear word

Terrible to blog this after two posts about sluffing church, but it was such a funny moment in Kesleys life, I don't want to forget it--and hopefully she can laugh about it with me some day.

The other day, as Kesley was getting out of the car, her leg got stuck on the seat belt as she was climbing over the seat.  Frustrated, she said, "Damn it!"  I was standing at her door waiting for her and wasn't sure if I had heard that right, so I said, "What did you just say?"  You could see the gears start turning...., "Um...I said....damn it?..."  I let out a a little snicker and said, "Kesley!  That is a SWEAR word!"  You should have seen the shock on her face.  "It IS?"  I know she was also thinking, "...but-- you say that all the time..."  I said, "It's OK. (and then, because I couldn't help myself and beacause I am just such a great parent who always takes opportunities like this to torment--I mean TEACH my children, I added...), just make sure you ask Heavenly Father to forgive you when you say your prayers tonight." hee hee.

We were late getting home that night and I was in a hurry to get them all jammied and in bed.  I thought she was already in bed when my bedroom door opened and there she was with her Book of Mormon.  "Mom, will you read with me?"  Now, I know you are thinking how perfect this moment sounds--something commercials are made of--but you cannot understand the CRAZY that had led up to this moment.  We had already done the whole homework/dinner/have fun/all that routine--I had been a great mom all day, I swear!  But this was now MY TIME and she was supposed to be in bed!  I said, "Kesley, you are just fine.  It's way past bedtime. Please go to bed."

Well, I guess she was more shaken up by this whole thing than I realized because she went back downstairs and found Brent.  I had told him the story earlier, and we shared a little parenting snicker.  When he saw her he said, "Kesley, I heard you said a SWEAR word!"  He thought he would get an embarrassed laugh out of her, but instead she just BURST into tears.  Luckily, her dad is so much more patient than her mom at the end of the day, and he gave her a big hug and talked her through things--and he PROBABLY read some scriptures with her....

I love my little Kesley. She is a good lady--through and through.

Noses...

We took advantage of the kids long weekend and headed to Goblin Valley. (Yes, the math does tell us that we missed church again--someone please help me care...jk, I care...jk, I'm not sure if I do...OK, mom, of course I care--and it won't happen again...most likely.)

We arrived late at night and found the campground already full. There wasn't any moon and things were surprisingly dark. Luckily, Brent had just been camping there with the scouts and he found us a GREAT spot just outside the park . We woke up to the most beautiful surroundings! Jenna woke up in the car (where all the girls slept) and sat up to take a look around. The first words out of her mouth were, "Hey LOOK! A bum!!" Sure enough, there in front of us was a giant stone bum!

We hit Goblin Valley early, excited to finally see the GOBLINS! I tried and tried to see a goblin, but the only thing I could see was NOSES.

Noses

NOSES

N O S E S!!!!

Seriously! Nothing but noses!...well, except for this PERFECT Clifford size JAKE!--can you see it?

Did I mention we brought along cousin James? We did, and were very glad we did because Gavin and James had the best time hunting for EVERYTHING from BB's and used bullets to geodes and other cool rocks. Brent had heard that there was an awesome spot to find geodes at the far end of the park. Gavin and James had the time of their lives hunting--but we had to settle on partial geodes when the hunting started to take them in places we didn't have the energy to follow! Liz--it was safer than it looks...soft landings and all that. :)

On top of MOKEY hill....little inside joke.

A shirt full of geodes, tired little leggies, our water running out and hot little cheeks signaled it was time to leave.

We realized that in the desert--it gets HOT! How do people visit places like this in the middle of the summer? We couldn't stay one more minute. In fact, we loaded up our camp and drove one more hour to LAKE POWELL! Brent didn't waste a second before he jumped in to cool off.

It wasn't the ideal situation to be at the best lake in the universe without OUR BOAT but we survived. We camped right on the waters edge, swam and enjoyed a big fire. My favorite part of the trip was sitting out by the fire by myself after everyone had gone to bed. There is something about being out in the middle of no where and looking up at all those ka-gillion stars...makes you feel small, but not insignificant.

Birthday Boy

Gavin is officially 9! That means in less than a year he will turn 10...and then 11-- Gasp! HOW IS TIME GOING SO FAST???

The day started early--6:15am to be exact. Gavin and Jenna were both up to check out the streamer tent....which I FAILED to do properly because I forgot to do his bedroom doorway too--since when was that part of the deal? I also didn't have a present for him to open first thing. He made some comment about how his birthday was starting off "boring." Thinking back, I think I did do that for him and Jenna last year--WHAT possessed me to start that tradition? After this last week of birthdays, I think I may just start a new tradition next year and let them open ALL the presents the second they wake up and just get it over with!!

I think the best part of G's day was Brent going to eat lunch with him at school. They sat with the whole class and Brent made sure Gavin was the coolest kid in the lunchroom. He is so proud of his dad!

After school Gavin was so fixated on opening presents he couldn't function. We would have just opened them then, but we were missing Jenna who was still at Paiges. I thought Gavin was going to loooooose it!---so I caved and let him open just one present: a motorized plane. He was appeased for about one second before it BROKE on the first toss! Boo! It was a cheap filler present anyway. Cousin James showed up just in the nick of time with a cool Lego set for him to put together.

We decided to go miniature golfing and then come home and do dinner and presents. Gavin wasn't taking "Wait" for an answer any longer--he grabbed all his presents and loaded them into the car. We made him wait until we at least pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car, but he couldn't physically wait one second longer! This years presents: cool rockets to build and then blast off, an Erector set and...COINS! Gavin has been wanting a Sacajawea dollar for the longest time, but I think the big hit of the night was the sack of 50 random coins from all over the world. WHY didn't I just give him those this morning? We could have saved $50 and a lot of agony for both of us. :)

Happy Birthday G-Man! You add a whole level of sweet to our family. Thanks for being a great big brother and the best 9 year old son I could ever ask for. I LOVE YOU!

**A cute p.s. side story: After I finished this post and went to bed last night, Gavin came into my room at about 3:00a.m. He couldn't sleep and wanted to sleep in my bed. I, of course, started to groan because that meant I would be kicked and my blankets would be pulled off and my good sleep night would end right there at 3:00a.m. Then, suddenly, this memory flashed through my head and my heart melted. I pulled him up on to the bed and got him settled in his blankets and then told him this story about this exact moment 9 years ago. Ready for another story? :)

***I was induced at 11:00a.m. on a Saturday. I had gone in for a quick blood pressure check, but it was so high they did some testing and said I had Toxemia pretty bad and they would be taking Gavin out right now for both of our safety. I was six weeks early, and it was my first baby, so I thought that this was something comparable to an early Christmas present!

Because of the Toxemia, they had to start me on this crappy medicine that made me feel like I was severely drugged. It was absolutely terrible--everything was in a long slow motion slur. They had to put this stupid oxygen up my nose that dried out my nose, mouth and eyes. To top it off, NOTHING was progressing! My body was just not ready to give birth yet. After a L O N G 18 hours of nothing--including no sleep because of this medicine, they determined that Gavin's blood pressure was dropping to a scary rate and they needed to just get him out as fast as they could. He was finally born at 6:05a.m. and taken away quickly for a little special attention to get his breathing stronger.

That day I had lots of visitors and all that fun stuff. I was riding on an adrenaline high, like every woman does after having a baby, and I didn't take any opportunity to catch a nap. They were weaning me off this crappy medicine that made me feel drugged, but said it would take at least 24 hours so I still felt awful. By that night, I was EXHAUSTED. I really needed some sleep and asked the nurses to keep Gavin in the nursery overnight (well, from 11pm until 5am or so) so I could catch up on some sleep.

At exactly 3:00a.m the nurse came into my room with a screaming baby. She said, "Sorry to wake you because I know you needed some sleep, but Gavin has been screaming for the last couple of hours and will not calm down. We think he wants his mom." She handed him to me and he immediately started to calm down. Sure enough, he just wanted his mom. We spent the next hour or so just staring at each other. His HUMONGOUS dark eyes peering out of that mummy wrap. He looked just like a scrawny little baby bird without any feathers and I was totally in love. Fun memory that I had kinda forgotten--fun to tell it to Gavin at almost that exact moment 9 years later!

Sluffin church...shhhh

It was ward conference and the only thing the kids heard was "conference"-- which usually means no church...right? So Brent and I kinda looked at each other and..well...neither of us had to teach...so...Uintahs? Done. Stop judging. You KNOW there are some Sundays you want to to the same thing--but you don't....I guess I just do.

It was such a BEAUTIFUL, crisp day up at Trial Lake. A slight breeze, 54 degrees and not one mosquito in sight. We hung out by the lake, ate White Corn Chili and Gavin fished a little.

Then we decided to hike up to Star Pond--which we hadn't done yet this year. Easy one mile mosey and not much fighting. So, so lovely.

Star Pond is never a disappointment.

SO MANY MEMORIES. I can remember riding on my dad's shoulders while balancing the picnic box on his head. I can remember the humiliation of him stripping down to his "G's" and jumping in when our COUSINS were with us one year--any of you Bob VanCott family remember that? I remembered how my mom was always busy by the camp stove--and now I can TOTALLY relate, and I am only cooking for 5 not 11! LOVE all the great memories and love sharing them with my kids even more. Here's a couple I had to pass on:

BIBLE ROCK

Walking around the pond--love that single pine tree on the island that hasn't changed in what--30 years?

We were sad to leave, knowing that it was the last trip until next summer, but a roaring fire and S'MORE'S waited for us down at the lake.

We soaked up the last few minutes listening to Jake grunting & groaning. That poor dog was SO stiff from the walk that we almost had to carry him to the car--we DID have to heave him up into the car--and back out once we got home. We sure love our Jake.

Brent took advantage of the increasingly rare snuggle time with Kesley, who is growing up WAY to fast.

Perfect day. Hard to feel guilty for missing church.