Dani's Sucker

So I just entered Dani's Sucker video to America's Funniest Home Videos. Cross your fingers that it's funny enough to make us some "Cha-Ching"!!!!

It's back to school time! And other stuff...

Natalie and Emma just started school again yesterday. Natalie is now a 5th grader and Emma is in 1st. I'm starting to freak out when I realize that this is Natalie's last year in elementary school! Look at the pics of her I took yesterday - she's so grown up. We can actually share some clothes!!!

Emma is Emma! She's really taken off with her reading this summer, so I'm sure 1st grade is going to be a breeze. She's just like her dad. She can figure things out quickly and then she's bored until everyone else catches up. In fact, in the father's blessing Jeremy gave her yesterday he blessed Emma that she would excel in school but not become bored. Guess I'm gonna have my work cut out for me.

Dani is back to being my sidekick 24/7. We did a little shopping today and she was pretty good until the end. Then the waterworks came when I wouldn't go into the Smoothie store. She cried all of the walk to the car, getting in the car, and for about 5 minutes after we left the mall. Then she conked out... I suspected she was more tired than thirsty.

Jeremy and I are just plugging along. I just finished a 30 minute video montage for a friend's daughter's wedding. I recently switched from using Pinnacle Studio to Adobe Premier Elements to create the video and I fought the learning curve this whole project through. But it's done and I'm very happy with it. I hope the bride and groom are too. If I can figure out how to post it on my blog I will. It might be too big though.

Finally, a little bit of fun Christmas news - we're done with our shopping already!!! Yep, just one phone call to Carnival Cruise Lines and our family is booked for a cruise in January! Jeremy and I had so much fun on our cruise, that we decided for Christmas this year we would give the girls some fun vacation memories instead of more toys! We're actually not going to take Dani this time - we'd rather take her when she's older and can enjoy and remember it more. We're leaving out of Galveston on a 5-day cruise to Cozumel and Progresso. I think I'm more excited this time than I was my first time. I know what new and exciting things to expect this time and I can't wait to share them with Natalie & Emma.

My Kitchen is Finished!

So after four days of eating takeout or eating at the neighbors we've finally finished the kitchen. I LOVE IT!!! It's just what I was imagining. Here is a slideshow of our progress and the finished project. But the pics don't really do it justice - guess ya'll will just have to come check it out in person! Can't wait to show it off to you!

Oh, also I don't know if I mentioned that we have finished painting the back half of the "gallery"/"entry". We left the arches white but painted the walls in between a brown "Wendy's frosty" color. There are a few pics of that too. It's been a productive summer for our house!!

Vacationing on the Frio River

(Props to Hilary for writing most of this - I'm just plagiarizing, KB)

We have finally traveled outside of the Austin area for a Texas family vacation. Our destination was the Frio River in Leakey (pronounced Lakey - I know another weird Texas word) just outside of Garner State Park, which is west/southwest of San Antonio. It's a very small town. One of those where you blink and you miss it. Perfect for getting away from it all. There is one gas station and a mercantile where you can buy the essential groceries. We stayed in an old farm house which had been added on to, and added on to etc. I was grateful for a clean and fully functioning bathroom and kitchen, the mouse droppings aside. We we were accompanied by our good friends they Checketts, who live down the street. We have found ourselves spending most of our free/play time with them. It's so nice to have friends so close that we really enjoy spending time with, not to mention the benefits... Hilary is the one helping me texture/paint my kitchen. Our kids play together really well. Berkeley is 10 and he and Emma will spend hours playing legos and Wii. Brooke is 8 and both Natalie and Emma enjoy crafting, playing Barbies and computer games with her.

Our story begins as any crazy vacationing story should... with confusion, some serious packing, and a down pour of rain for good measure. As Jeremy (who had the day off, by chance) helped me load Hilary's truck, we were bombarded by the rains coming in from Hurricane Dolly. Needless to say we were pretty wet by the time we left (especially Jeremy). Tim (Hilary's husband) and Jeremy stayed behind to work the next day, so it was me, Hilary, and the 5 kids piled into the truck. It poured rain off and on the entire drive, which should have taken 3 1/2 hours but ended up taking about 6. Before we had even gone 10 miles, Berkeley had an impatient bladder. The trouble was that we were stuck in bumper to bumper rain traffic. After much anticipation, and bouncing in the seat, we finally got off the freeway and stopped to pee. Other than the rain, the trip was uneventful until we got to Leakey. By this time it was very dark and still raining. Oh how happy I was that I didn't have to set up a tent! Due to a misunderstanding about which flashing light to turn at (Leakey has 2 but the directions made us think there was only one) we were headed down the wrong road. This wouldn't be so bad except the road was covered with a thick layer of mud and sand. It was like driving in a very slippery snow storm. I was a bit nervous and we were both getting irritated. Not to mention the "Are we there yets?" were driving us insane! There were so many little roads off to the side, who knew where we were supposed to turn, not to mention the truck was covered with mud. Finally we got phone service and called the place where we were staying. They came and took us to the farm house which was just around the corner from the Texaco. By this time the kids were so ready to be there, and so were Hilary and I. Fortunately they had a hose at the house, so Hilary sprayed as much of the mud off the truck as we could see in the dark and we unloaded, and went to sleep. The next day we went to the actual Clear Water Ranch, the farm house isn't on the ranch. There we sat in our camping chairs with our feet in the water and read all afternoon. The kids played in the water, chased the fish, and tubed the river. This is my idea of a vacation! The water comes from a spring. It is so clear that you can see to the bottom of the river. There was an area that made a pool for the kids to swim in, and plenty of shade for the mom's. Later that evening the dads arrived. Oh Happy Day!!! We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. It was now Daddy time. The next morning we got up and went back to the river. Jeremy took the girls in a raft while Berkeley explored the pool for Catfish. It was yet another relaxing day in the river. The weather was perfect. It didn't get too hot and there was an occasional cloud to keep the sun at bay. There were these tiny fish that were eating our feet there. Brooke was especially attractive to them. When she would sit by Hilary they would come to her feet, when Brooke left they left too. Apparently there is some special pedicure where fish eat your dead skin. This was similar except there was no charge. Later in the afternoon we headed back to the farm house for lunch and naps. Did I mention this was my kind of vacation? We spent the evening playing volleyball, croquet, horseshoes, and reading. After dining on Jeremy's perfectly cooked hamburgers it was off to bed for the kids, and the adults visited for a while. The end of a very relaxing day. Sunday morning we woke up and started packing up to go home. Before leaving Leakey we went to the river one more time to fish. The kids were beginning to loose hope, when Brooke caught a fish!!! This is her first fish ever. She was so excited. Soon, after many tangles with the trees, Natalie caught a Catfish. I'm glad we made the effort to let the kids fish, they had a great time. On the way home we stopped in a town called Fredricksburg. If you ever come to visit we will take you there. It reminds me of Park City. There is a lot of WWII history there. The main street is lined with little shops and places to eat. When all is said and done, we will definitely go back next year, however we will stay at a different resort owned by a lady in our ward. It's a bit nicer.

Going "Old World" in my Kitchen

So after three years in our house, I'm finally getting around to painting the kitchen. I talked my friend Hilary (the decorating expert) into helping me retexture the walls in a venetian/old world style. Right now we're letting the texture dry. It took us about 6 hours over a two-day period to texture and then tomorrow we'll start painting. I'm going RED, baby!!! I'm visualizing the finished effect to be a cafe-like motif. We will probably do one wall (by the windows) in yellow just to tone down the red. To finish it off we'll do a brown glaze over it all to give it that Old World feel. Here are a couple pics of the work in progress. I'll keep you posted!