Big Blank Wall

Remember this?

No, not the couch. The big blank walk behind the couch.

Filling that wall was a long thought out process...

A lot of different art pieces were considered.

Even more frames were brought home and tested out in arrangements. (I am queen of returns.)

These are the ones that made the cut.

And after my "test products" hanging on the wall for weeks, I finally let Aaron put the nails in.**


I am happy with it!
I wanted something a little different. But I have to have some symmetry.
I'm not even going to paint that one black frame. I know, I live on the wild side. ;)
Gosh, I am SO glad that I hung onto that unfinished Family Tree for so long. I came so close to not keeping it after it sat unfinished for many, many months.
How fun it was to complete it and see how pretty it is all framed.

Each of those leaves has a name on it.


We grew peanuts in our garden. They were definitely the one thing that thrived this year.



Emily and her boyfriend/future husband. Or so she says :)
Carter just loves having her for company when Olivia's at school.




**Yes, I have issues with putting holes in my the walls of our house if it's not to hang something that I really, really like/love. So sue me :)

Last month of summer!

We have had a great month!

Check it out...

Carter & Olivia recently discovered Ninja Turtles. Immediately after watching the movie, they had to come up with their own turtle costumes & have worn them quite a few times since.

Carter turned FOUR (on the 4th)! I love this little guy and he has become quite the playmate to Olivia this summer. He keeps up with her quite well. The above picture is when he opened one of his favorite gifts: a lunch tote. He was very excited to have his lunch packed in it the next day when we went to the park. I love how easily pleased little kids are!



Carter had really been wanting a frog for his birthday, but I wasn't up to that. So, he got sea monkeys. They were fun to watch for a few weeks (they have since moved to sea money heaven).



After lunch at McDonald's, I took the kids to "the jungle" on Carter's birthday to let them pick out candy. Fun Dips are always a hit!



Carter's requested birthday dinner: green bean casserole! He gobbled it all up too!



After dinner, we took Carter to the city pool and let them play for awhile before coming home for cake and ice cream.
Happy Birthday to my little man!

On August 8th, Olivia went from this...

to this! Those tangles in the long hair caused too many tears each morning. The short hair is SO much easier (although I do miss being able to be creative with Olivia's long hair). It was Olivia's decision and we are both very happy with it.

Aaron celebrated entering his early 30's on the 10th of August. He got a chocolate PB cup pie for his birthday dessert.

Unfortunately Aaron has spent most of this month trying to repair a leak we've had in our basement since we moved in. After getting the plugs in place and before he could fill the crack, we got a good rain storm! Luckily, the carpet didn't absorb all the water this time. This has been a huge work in progress, but we're hoping it will also be a one time project! The basement is a wreck and we've really missed not having a place to send kids to play. Hopefully we can get the rest done quickly!

Olivia started 1st grade on Thursday the 26th!

While I miss her since she's gone all day now, it is kind of nice to have just two kids at home for part of the day.

Her favorite part of 1st grade is lunch time. She loves going to the cafeteria to get her food and eating with her friends.

Since Olivia's gone all day now, Carter and I have been able to sit down and do some pre-school work. I think he liked this gold fish activity. Especially when it ends in a snack.

family pics

Our very first ones (Aaron isn't a fan of having anything like this done). Here's a few highlights of our little shoot.

Thanks again Adrienne. You did a fabulous job.

Lazy Summer

We haven't had much going on since we got home from Utah. Thus, the shortage of pictures...

Haylee checking out a big bunny birthday gift that she got after getting home to Ohio.

Our family has been doing a fair amount of swimming in our neighbor's pool.

As usual, we had a fabulous Independence Day celebration with friends.

Carter could probably go through a ream of paper in a week if I let him. He LOVES making cards and pictures and lists, etc. for anyone that he can.

Olivia surprised me the other day by walking around the corner of the house with cicada shells stuck all over her shirt. Gross!

Haylee turns ONE!

My Miss Muffett turned one year old while we were in Utah!
She loved her birthday cake.


I love this little girl so much!

weight: 17 lb. 6 oz. (3rd percentile)
height: 28 inches

UTAH

We had a great time in Utah. It was so much fun to spend time with all of my family whom I hadn't seen in almost two years. We left the evening of Friday, June 4th and drove straight through. Just before leaving that day, Aaron had to do some very last minute work on the van after I could smell it smoking earlier in the day. We were a bit concerned for it on our drive, but were blessed to not have any problems after Aaron's handy work ;)

Also, I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I was planning for our kids to get sick when we got to Utah because that is what traditionally happens. What a surprise it was to find out Olivia had strep throat the day we were leaving Ohio. Actually, I was just happy that it was something we could get her medicine for and knew she'd be better within a day or two. The rest of us escaped any sickness!

We had it in our plans to stop and get a hotel Saturday evening, but the kids were cooperating fairly good, we were making good time and Aaron and I felt like we had it in us to just keep driving. It was nice to arrive very late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. The drive through Colorado was beautiful and worth the extra bit of time it took.

This beautiful picture of my niece, Kendra, is out of place.

(Blogger is very incooperative at getting it moved back to where I had it originally in the post.)

My dad had the kids "rapelling" in the garage shortly after we got up on Sunday.

My usually shy Haylee, was happy to spend time with whoever wanted to hold her.

Sammy (nephew) showed us some "cooter" action.

My brother, Shad.

My kids loved jumping on my parent's trampoline.

On Tuesday, the 8th, we hiked to Timpanogos Cave.

Olivia, Grandpa, Carter, Max, Shonte', Kendra, Shellee & Aaron.

Going through the cave.

Hiking back down the mountain.

One day some of the cousins went to Kangaroo Zoo.

Kelton, Kendra, Olivia, Kylan & Carter

Haylee and my mom watching the kids play.

My kids loved having someone to play with them every day! My Grandma Harper was always good to bring fun little things (like this puzzle ) to do together.

I got to go to lunch some beautiful old college roommates.
Sarah, me, and Jennie.

Another day we went to the Dinosaur Museum.

Carter, Kelton, Olivia, Max, Grandma & Haylee

Carter really loves dinosaurs and this museum didn't disappoint!

I thought the museum was pretty cool too!
I really love Thanksgiving Point.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Just a cute picture of Shellee (my sister) and Olivia (who just got a tatoo).

Aunt Shellee was great to take Carter and Olivia on most of the rides at Pleasant Grove's carnival.

My dad taking Olivia for a ride on the trail bike. She loved it and apparently felt very comfortable on it. She informed us that she put lipstick on while riding. That's my girl ;)

My dad also took the kids for a canoe ride at Adventure Park.

Then my kids just had fun throwing rocks into the lake.

We were even able to squeeze in a little horse back riding. The horses were being kept at my Uncle's house and so we just let the kids ride them around his house.

Sam & Kelton

Silly Max
He's always good for a laugh.

My kids loved spending plenty of the warm days playing with their cousins on the water slide at my parent's house.

My Grandma Harper wearing Shellee's new glasses. I thought it was kind of cute (and funny) to see her in these trendy things.

Grandma Harper with her sister, Alta Mae.

My nephew, Kylan.
(can't believe he's getting his learner's permit soon!)

My sister, Shonte' & her husband, Mark.

A girl's picture!

This was Shellee's idea ;)

Happy 25th Birthday to Shellee!

My and my three siblings.

Love and miss these people so much!

Some of the other fun things that we did were, going to the PG Strawberry Day's rodeo (Olivia loved it!) and parade, Aaron and I were able to attend an endowment session at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, we all got to visit Grandma Lunt (Aaron's Grandma who doesn't like pictures taken of her) and I got to do lots of shopping WITHOUT kids. It was all so much fun!

The drive home was uneventful also. We made it in 28 hours taking the Wyoming route. Our kids are great travelers and I found out that all I need is some almonds & Mountain Dew to keep me awake while driving.

Love you guys!!! Can't wait to do it again! (minus the driving)

Oh, & the ducks, they were hatched and moved on when we got back to Ohio. Friends & neighbors kept us up to date on this cute family though.