New entry way -- new bathroom

Well, after a couple of weeks of work, not steady of course, the entry way is at last complete (or at least 96.75% complete). I still need to put the door back on the coat closet and wash one tile that I didn't get the grout sealer off; but other than that, it is complete. I didn't think to take pictures for a before and after but you've all seen the ugly tile that was there before. I do have a middle picture (after I did the grout) and the after picture. I'm sure you'll love it as much as we do (please don't read any pride into that comment -- although I'm sure it's there). Any way, here they are.



Also, another piece of good news. After so many complaints about the lack of bathroom space in the house, we have decided to have the downstairs bathroom remodeled and put in a real toilet, real shower, and new vanity and lighting. We're hoping it will make staying here much more comfortable when we have a full house. I have taken a picture of the bathroom as it stands today so that you can remember what a wonderful place it was (I'm sure some of you have fond memories of it.) It is supposed to be completed before Thanksgiving but we can't have it started until after we return from Utah. You'll be impressed with how it turns out.

Balloon sighting

So we're sitting at dinner last night and Mom heard this blow-torch-like sound and ran outside to see what it was. It was a hot-air balloon right over Mollie's house. It was very close and looked like it was coming down in Taylor's backyard. I think it made it over into the field by Theiser John Deere but we don't know. At any rate, I took three pictures of it and thought you might enjoy them. Isn't Michigan fun!!

Thank You

Thank you Hillary and Kurt, all of those pictures were great! I should complain more often.

Funny spoof

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMzv_rnU5l0

Charlie and I were watching the news the other day and they spotlighted a guy who makes literal music videos. He has some really funny ones. This is a spoof he also did of the product called the "Snuggie." I thought it was so funny I just had to share it.

Lots o' Pics

Mom wanted some pictures, and I just happened to have some new ones. Here they are! I apologize to Hillary for pushing her massive set of photo-posts down.

This first set is when we went to the Toledo Zoo. We went with our friends Rourke, Heather, and Archer. Harvey and Archer are great friends. He looks forward to seeing him all day whenever we mention that we'll be visiting them or vice versa.


Heather shows Harvey how to make "bear hands" at the polar bear exhibit. He does this any time he sees a bear, now.


Sleeping bear


Riding a tiger!


And kissing a tiger.


This is part of the Toledo Zoo's new children's area. This indoor place has live animals to look at, stuff to climb on, and things to explore. It's really neat.


Another part of the indoor area. This is modelled after a bee hive. They had bee costumes, too, but we couldn't get Harvey into one.


We obviously had to get this picture. Harvey's got a ways to go.

Now we move on to a couple "firsts" Harvey had this past weekend.

First time eating corn on the cob by himself.


Of course, he loves it. (Don't mind the bruise on his chin.)


First ice cream cone!


First bite of the first ice cream cone!



More funny faces.

Our garden so far...

Here are some more things from our garden. We have had a plentious load this year. Our tomatoes are just starting to come on and ripen. We have some kind of bug attacking them though. They are eating the tomatoes from the inside out. We don't know what it is or what to do about it.

This is a super weird looking cucumber that came out of the garden. Makayla got to eat it. She thought it was delicious.

These are the jars of pickles we did. It's our first pickling experience and we haven't tried them yet to see how they turned out. We'll keep you posted.

More fair

These pictures were on another camera...

This is Makayla during the Cloverbud showmanship class.

This is Chelsea during the Cloverbud showmanship class.

This is Chelsea as a Christmas tree and Brunch as a reindeer for the costume class.

This is Makayla the babysitter and Breakfast the baby for the costume class.

Harvey on the trampoline

At the beginning of summer, we got to have Harvey come stay with us for a couple of days. We had lots of fun with him. While he was here, he jumped on the trampoline for the first time. He was very sure of it, but warmed up to it a little. Here he is...

Nauvoo

We just got back from visiting Kari, Eric and Noah. We had lots of fun with them. Thanks, guys, for letting us come and crash at your pad. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Nauvoo. We went Thursday afternoon and then stopped again on our way home on Saturday. Even though we went twice, we still didn't get to see everything. It really has me wanting to go again. Thank goodness we will have the chance to go next summer for the reunion.

On our way to Nauvoo there were many hills to drive over. Charlie gave the kids a thrilling ride by speeding up and down them, just like a roller coaster. My kids started to put their hands up and say "Weeee." Noah started to do it too but he stopped just as Kari tried to take this clip.

Elder Walker showed us how to make rope and then he made Makayla into our very own "Rope Angel."

We got to see a bread demonstration with a bussel oven and then got to taste bread samples.

We saw a candle making demonstration and then each of the kids got their own candles, made at Nauvoo.

We played school and saw some words that some of the early LDS men spelled, phonetically. They were spelled in really weird ways and some of them were pretty funny.

This is how our family would have looked if we had lived in Nauvoo, back in the 1840s.

This is one of the many pioneer games you can play at the Living Center in Nauvoo.

This is another pioneer game at the Living Center.

My kids loved playing pioneer with the dress-up clothes. They were so cute too.

Fair

So the Genesee County Fair was where our kids took their goats this year. It was the third week in August. It was the longest week of my life! I'm so glad it's over. It was a great learning experience and I REALLY hope many things are different (better) next year or we might have to go back to the Livingston County Fair.

This is Merrit's goat, Breakfast and Lexi's goat, Brunch.

These are all the goodies the kids made for fair entries. Lexi made Sundae Brownies, Merrit made Refrigerator Rolls, Makayla made Banana Muffins and Chelsea made Oatmeal Carmal Bar Cookies. They were all very delicious. I haven't got their other entries back yet, but I'll post pictures of those as soon as I do.

Chelsea's 6th birthday

Here are some highlights from Chelsea's birthday. Thanks, Heather and Kurt, for the great gift. She really loves it and loves to play with the other ponies she has on that rug.

Chelsea actually got to have her birthday dinner at Big Boy. We don't usually do that, but we were in Chelsea, Mi that night. That was the first day of girls' camp for Lexi. She had forgotten her swimsuit so we went all the way back out there to give it to her. We knew we would be late getting home so we stopped for Chelsea's dinner and birthday party on the way home.

Lexi had a good time at girls' camp. She made some new friends and tried some new activities she had never done before such as tubing. I think it may have helped her come out of her shell a bit. I'm glad she got to go.

Memphis Children's museum

While we were in Memphis we were able to check out their children's museum. It was a pretty descent museum (nothing compares to COSI though). These are some highlights from there...

This was a really fun trip, although it was so quick. Maybe one day we'll be able to go visit Jana and stay a little longer and hang out with her and the fam more. Thanks, Jana and Jason, for letting us come!

COSI Columbus

On our way down to Memphis we stopped at our favorite children's museum ever! It's well worth the drive to go. Here are some highlights....

Jocelyn's wedding

For those of you who don't know, Charlie's sister, Jocelyn was remarried on July 12th. She kind of eloped and Charlie and I were their witnesses. The girls thought it was fun.

School is almost here!

So I have one week until the kids go back to school and my classes start again. I have found myself some time this afternoon and thought I'd play catch up on the blog. Bare with me as I am going to have several posts, but Mom asked for it....:)!

vacations vs staycations

I know that Heather and Hicks have gone on vacations in the last few days. Those of us who are on staycations would like to hear about their trips. Please share so that we can live vicariously.

What you have to look forward to

Whether we'll see you in August, September or at Thanksgiving, you might see us playing this little game. Enjoy!