Our 1st Official Garden

It's official....

I'm a farmer....well...kind of!

I started a vegetable garden.  I have lots of varieties of tomatoes, squash, peppers, lettuce, basil and even a pumpkin for later.  Here's to farmin'!! (Boy I hope they grow...I don't exactly have a green thumb!!)

New to the Neighborhood

Happy Memorial Day!!  We were eating our lunch in the backyard (taking a break from yard work) and what do we find...

A cute little family of ducks!!  There are 10 little ducklings back there!  It was so cute!  The boys were very excited to "Welcome them to the neighborhood"!  But the momma duck didn't seem nearly has thrilled!  She marched her little family AWAY from us decided to go to someone else's backyard that was a little more quiet!  :)

It's Heriditary!

Dr. Pepper....Hmmmmm.....All I can say is that it must be in his blood!!!

My new obsession

So...I may have a problem...a new obsession if you will....

Dirty Diet Coke....I HEART you!  My cute cousin Melanie Bingham surprised me the other day with a large one and instantly...I WAS IN LOVE!  Finding the coconut syrup was a challenge...but GiGi's has them incase you are wondering and didn't want to spend an entire day calling store after store only to be put on a waiting list!!  It's so yummy, it tastes like Summertime!  And with no calories....it's sure HEAVEN!  I am just listening to my kids screaming at each other and I'm counting down the seconds until they go to bed and I can go sit on my front porch and sip one of bad boys and pretend I still have an ounce of sanity left!  5 more hours....and counting!

Happy Birthday Jackie Joo

Happy Birthday my perfect, beautiful blue eyed baby boy!

Today you would be turning 6!!!  

So, we sent you 6 big blue balloons, all the way to heaven. 

We sent you little love notes.

Your brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents were all there.  

I hope you got mine and daddy's special note we sent.  I know it was a little long...but believe me...I could have written much more if there was room!

It looks like you wanted to come to your party and brought the sun with you!  You always were my little sunshine.  Always so happy.  Oh...how I miss you!

There they go....straight to heaven!

We all wore blue...just for you!

Here we are...missing you!  It's been kind of a dark and dreary day today.  The sun didn't want to shine and I thought for sure that it would downpour on us tonight.  We couldn't go to the grave site to send off your balloons this time because the sprinklers DRENCHED us!  I guess it was your way of letting us know that you were close and that you still have that mischievous little side still!  

Wishing you were here to blow out your candles.  Cole is luckiest of all because he's seen you most recently.  I wish he could talk and tell us all the things you been up too.  I know you are busy "doing a great work" as you like to say and that you are with our dear Poppy.  You were right, "They didn't waste much time putting him to work alongside you."  But I'm happy you are together.  If you both have to be gone...it makes it a little easier knowing that you are working side by side to ensure the safe return of each person in our family.

I have to say that I absolutely HATE that you are gone.  I hate the fact that it's been almost 5 years since I held you and kissed your sweet chubby cheeks, or you threw your head back laughing.  I miss you sweetheart.  I miss you so much that as I write this, my heart is breaking all over again. I try to stay busy and not think about what's missing...but it's always there lingering in the back of my mind.  I look at Cole and I see your eyes.  He's chubby like you too.  He loves me like you did.  It's not fair Jack.  You should be here.  Why were you chosen to leave so soon?  I hate every single thing about you being gone.  But I'm so happy that I got the chance to love you.  I am glad that I was able to have you for 16 beautiful months.  You were my sunshine! 

I know we'll be together again.  Take care of Poppy and Grandma Burton.  We miss you baby!

Happy Birthday Poppy

Happy Birthday Poppy!!!

I hope that you got to go on a Heavenly Bike ride today!

We sent you balloons!  Did you get them??

We even had a birthday party for you.  I know you were there....

 
Mern found these cute bike sculptures.  One of Jim and Joanne riding and the other of Jim finishing the race!

He's reached his finish line.  Happy Birthday Poppy!  We miss you!

Gno scary movie sleepover

I have found some of the BEST girls in the world!  Coby was out of town this weekend, so I asked my mom to watch the boys and I invited my "girls" over for a little girl time sleepover!  That's right I said Sleepover...what?  You think I'm too old....PLEASE!!

from Left:  Ang, Amy, Cam, Kell and me....already to watch MAMA!  We were so excited!!!

We even had our treat stash!

And after Kellie and Amy figured out how to use the water in my fridge....

And we had a LOT of giggling...

We set out to get our scare on watching...MAMA...

Ang, Kellie and I tried to watch it in the theaters....but the screen burned up and was ruined so we could never watch it.  Seriously, look at that picture...it looks WAY scary right?!!  Her fingers alone could make you almost pee your pants.  We were sure we'd be scared and just incase we were too scared Amy Zullo was there and since she's always so positive and laughs the most...we were sure we'd be fine.  Then we started watching it and.....it was LAME!  LAME I tell you!  I think Corbin could have drawn a scarier "mama"!  And then she turns into moths at the end!!  OH MY WORD!

Then we stayed up until about 4am talking and watching Hoarders...

And I think I can safely say that after watching that...we feel that we all the NEATEST most cleanly people on the planet!

Oh, what a night!  I had so much fun with my girls! We ate way too much junk, stayed up WAY too late...but it was SO worth it!! I wish I could have a sleepover every weekend!  :)  Next time I think we should have an 80's themed sleepover and watch the BEST 80's movies, wear our hair in side pony tails with leg warmers, tank tops with mesh sweaters over the top....I can go on and on!  

Befores and Afters

We just moved in...but there are a few things that we've done a bit of improving to:  Here are a few Before's and After's done by my cute friend Jen Jolly.  

Here's the door completely white

And AFTER:

Painted with a "Wood" finish.  She even put nots in the wood to make it look more real!  The picture really doesn't do it justice...but it looks awesome up close.

Here's the garage... BEFORE.  We primed it with a peanut butter color.  I'm sure the neighbors were a little nervous!

UNTIL...they saw the AFTER...

And here are both Garages together.  She did an AMAZING job...especially considering that this was her first time attempting it.  If it looks this good for someone never doing it before, imagine how good it could look if she got more practice!  Oh....we just love the finished product!

Our entire house is mainly painted in a very neutral tan color.  If you know me...you know I need COLOR!  At least an accent wall of color!  Here is the accent wall in the front living room I chose to have her paint a aqua/grey kind of color.  Joanne helped me find some sweet old down throw pillows at a thrift store that I fell in LOVE with and we had Home Depot match them.

Almost finished....

She really did a GREAT job because all our walls are rounded and she made the lines impecable!

When we moved here, most of the house like I said was SUPER neutral...except the PINK room.  And as you can see it was SUPER pink!!!  I love pink...but this room was OVERKILL.  It looked like someone threw up pepto bismol EVERYWHERE!!!

So, we had Jen paint a Rosemary green color.  I think it came out pretty sweet!

And here's the master bath.  This room was SO completely WHITE.  It felt very cold.  So, we decided on a warm sunny yellow...lemon whip to be exact and now the bathroom is so WARM and inviting.  Just look at the tub...you know you want a soak!  I have and can I just say it's FABULOUS!

I couldn't be happier with the hard work and effort that Jen put into adding color to our home and really warming it up!  Send me a message and I'll pass along her contact information!  She's AMAZING and SO well priced!

We are still working on the yard...but here are a few before and DURING pics: 

 It used to be a pool...but they filled it in.  (It would have been a deal breaker if it were there and functional)

 It's a work in progress...

 Yep...still working!  More to come....EVENTUALLY!

Sommie comes for a surprise visit

Look who came for a little visit?!!  

Aunt Sommy and Ronin that's who!!

Ronin and Colie are about 5 weeks apart...but I think Cole may be bigger than Ronin!

They got to be good buddies while she was here.  

They both rolled all over the carpet.

We did a little shopping

Aunt Sommy did what she does best...play with my rugrats!

I always love a little sister time!

Here are all the girls...and Ronin of course!

It was such a GREAT surprise to have Sommy come into town this week.  Me, my mom, Ambie and my dad were supposed to meet at Jimmy Johns for lunch.  We all got there and my dad called to say that he was running late.  When he finally got there we all sat down and he quickly told us that he forgot his wallet in the car.  He jumped up and then all of the sudden he walks through the door with a baby.  My mom starts crying and I'm thinking..."where did this baby come from?"  I was so confused... and then Sommy jumps out of my dad's car and yells, "SURPRISE!!"

It really was a fabulous surprise!  I do not like that she lives all the way in Washington.  It's MUCH too far!  She stayed at our house and we got to celebrate Mother's Day and Ambie's birthday at the same time!  It was fun to see her and how great a little momma she has turned out to be.  She was always a natural with my kids, so it wasn't a shocker to see her with her own.  What I really am sad about is that our little boys can't play together very often.  But then I think about the relationship I have with my Little (Lanae) and I know that it's possible for them to still be close in time!  :)

Thanks for coming out and for the GREAT surprise!  I sure do love my Sommy...or Schlimy Wright as she tells me!  

Happy Mother's Day

Who's the luckiest mom....THIS GIRL!!!

I am certainly lucky to have such awesome little boys (and Coby) that make me feel SO darn special!  

Today they let me sleep in, then brought me breakfast in bed...scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon with a glass of OJ.  Then they gave me a really pretty necklace and earrings too.  All day long I was able to be lazy, play on the computer and not have to worry about ANYTHING!  Coby took care of all the diaper changing, kids fighting, and overall fort maintaining!  Thanks sweetie!  I love being a mom...most days...and I owe it all to you!  Thanks for choosing ME to be the mommy to such cute boys!  I hope that one day we'll see what a little girl will look like....not NOW of course...but maybe in a few years!  :)  I'm one lucky lucky gal!  Love you baby!

Today was actually really great...until I read a sweet email from a darling girl in my new ward.  She sent me the nicest note telling me that she was sure that Jack was close that that he was proud of the example I was setting.  It was like I hit a brick wall.  All the sudden I realized what...or WHO was missing.  I felt like I couldn't breathe.  I quickly and quietly walked upstairs and went straight for my closet.  And then I sobbed.  I sobbed because I missed this little boy.  I sobbed because he's not here.  I sobbed because I know that he is "doing a great work" as he tells me and that he's busy being a missionary.  I wish he was like other missionaries that get to come back to their mothers and fathers after 2 years.  I wished that like most missionaries I got my Mother's Day phone call.  My heart is broken.  It will always be.  And even though I am VERY good at hiding it most days, I can let it all out in my closet.  It was then that I felt an all too familiar voice telling me that he loved me.  He said he was sorry he couldn't be there celebrating with this brothers, but that he was doing a great work!  He said that Poppy was working along side him and that they didn't waste much time putting him to work.  He told me not to be sad and that he was always close and would be there any time I needed him.  After that I felt a little better.  What a blessing the gospel of Jesus Christ is!  I know that I'll be with Jack again.  I know that he IS doing a great work and I hope he knows just how proud his momma is that he was chosen to do so!  One day all of this will make sense and I'll be happy that he was chosen.  But until that day comes....I'll just have to hold on to that hope.