Mr. Hops-a-Lot

Just in case you were wondering, I am NOT typically afraid of frogs... It's when they're jumping at you and you can't see them that it gets a little creepy! ;P

What was I thinking??

It has only taken me 2 months to adjust to "Eastern Time" out her in Michigan! I swear it is light here until 10pm which makes it hard to get on any normal schedule (in AZ there is no daylight savings, so it is dark by 7 or 8 in the summer)! Alas, the lack of sleep from all of our projects (and the fact that we just returned home from camping on Saturday) caught up with me! Brandon graciously took the kids as I CRASHED at 6pm "last night".. it is now a quarter to 2 in the morning and guess who is WIDE awake?? Oh yeah...:P On the bright side, this is the fast track to getting prepared for early morning seminary to start! Though I thought a better plan of preparation was getting as much sleep as possible and enjoying my last month of "sleeping in" until 6:30 or 7:00am, NOT waking up at 2 in the morning!!! Oh well, I guess I have time and energy to update on what we've been up to lately...

Hunter turned TWO on Saturday! We were camping with some friends and headed home just in time for a little family celebration (and by family, I mean Brandon, myself and the kiddos!). It was a fun weekend! I even got sucked into a spur of the moment 10k (which I biked because I am so NOT in the best shape of my life right now!).. my racing buddy, a gal's daughter from my ward, and I came in 3rd and 4th overall which was fun and goes to show how competitive the event was not! Accept for Mary Mercado who kicked my tail - I saw the competitive side of that sweet woman and her husband.. don't mess! ;)

Aside from this weekend, we've been living it up catching bugs in the backyard, visiting fudge shops in Frankenmuth, Brunner's - the largest Christmas Store in the world (Bailey even found a "Bleu" ornament), and of course, the lakes while we can! BEAUTIFUL doesn't even begin to describe them! We all know the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words".. well, "read" away! :) ...

Little Bleu

A little over four years ago, Brandon and I purchased the sweetest little black lab puppy in the pet store. She was our first baby! As the kids came, so did the ear pulling, jumping, and tail grabbing. Bleu was always very tolerant, but never really loved kids if I'm being honest with myself.

Today, Bleu snapped. She bit a friend of mines' little boy in the face because he was following her around. Thank goodness it didn't require stitches, but it was significant enough to aid in our very difficult decision to find her a new home without young children to pester her... This evening we found such a home! A couple on a 40 acre farm.:) The man just lost his yellow hunting lab last month and needed a good new dog - Bleu was that dog. It was horrible saying goodbye. I've never seen Bailey (or Brandon and I for that matter) cry so hard. It's been a tough day, and before I could end it, I wanted to pay tribute to our beautiful lab Bleu, who has been a member of our family for four years, and will always be in our hearts. We love you and miss you Bleu.

Independance Day

We had some families over from our ward for a BBQ, Mario Cart, and of course.. fireworks!!! It was a blast watching the kids' faces with the fireworks (and the dads too, as they became like kids again)! Here are some pictures from the festivities!:)

A new start...

MY NEW PRESCHOOL ROOM!!! This is what the kids see as they come down the basement stairs...
Here's the main playroom and circle time area:

I have a separate room for their seated work time, crafts, lunch, etc. which is WONDERFUL!

Anyways, pretty fun! It's not completely done, but getting there! It's exciting to see the progress that's being made!:) I can't wait for the school year to begin!!!

Project Central

We have been hard at work with interior projects in our new abode here in Michigan!:) This is our TV room that I still haven't worked on yet... Brandon mounted the TV last night with a friend and hid all the wires like a pro!

We have a gorgeous mantle that we stained dark ebony and painted the wall an eggplant color with sponged gold and beige and then laced a gold vein over top of it...

We still need drapes and other finishing touches, but this shows how the rooms connect.

Here's the front entryway hall - I sponged 3 shades of beige and 1 gold onto it and LOVE it!

We stained the cabinets ebony (they were light oak) and painted the waynes coating eggplant to darken it up and give the kitchen a little Hooley flair!:)

These are a few of the projects that I've been working on these past 3 1/2 weeks!:) We are renting this house for the next few years until we know for sure where we want to be. Jill (the woman we are renting from) has been nothing short of FABULOUS letting us change whatever we want! LOVE THIS WOMAN! Thank you Jill!!! It's been so much fun decorating again!:)

When did THAT happen?!

So I'm at Home Depot getting yet another gallon of paint, when the man behind the paint counter says, "Excuse me young lady..". I turned to see what he wanted and he smiled and said, "Sorry ma'am, I was actually talking to your daughter. Not that you aren't young too..." WHAT?! Not that I don't appreciate the respect that comes with a "ma'am", but when did I become the ma'am, and my DAUGHTER the young lady?! Note to self: "young lady" - no longer me!:( ...wow...

So, here's a picture of "Miss Ma'am" and her "young lady"! lol:)