Prime Lake off Marshall Road by Upper Lake Mary

Dina, Sue and I took all the kids on this little known hike, it was amazing and so beautiful!! When we walked up to the lake for the first time, we could hear hundreds of frogs, it was so cool!!! Of course our last snow storm of the year had come just the Sunday before and the trail was REALLY muddy!!! We skipped rocks the whole way, only over mud instead of water. Of course we still got pretty muddy! We saw the Naval telescope compound that Lowell Observatory maintains--very cool. I love the lichen "J" that we found on a rock and the heart rock!! The hike continued up until we came up to a place where the trees thinned right on the edge of a cliff-ish thing overlooking Upper Lake Mary and the forest behind, breathtaking! And right in our own backyard practically!!! We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!! Wow!!!

Spring Break = New Family Room and Bookshelves

I am SO beyond freaked out HAPPY about these upgrades we've been blessed to make---yes, I said MAKE!!! Not me personally, but please refer to the post about my wonderful and AMAZING husband--wow, I am so lucky to get to say that and LIVE it!!! But again, I digress.

We have been thinking for a long while that we are sick and tired of the cheapy Target bookshelves that we have had our entire marriage. We have looked online, at used stores, Craigslist, the works. No dice, nothing strong and durable and simply crafted that would be our taste and stand up to our family and my occupation---preschool teacher and summer camp director.

So, Brandon figured it out. Yep, just what I said. He thought about it and thought about it and then came up with a plan and drew it all up, measured it all out, went to Home Depot, cut everything, and built it, just like that. We are getting our money's worth over and over from the chop saw that Brandon wondered about when we got it. Yep, GOOOOOOOD investment!! It took him 2 days to make 2 small bookshelves and one ginormous bookshelf--and they all fit PERFECTLY where they needed to go, he's a GENIOUS! He actually had to build the big one IN the family room because it was so huge that we would not have been able to get it into the house. Then I painted them and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them SOOOOOOOOOO much!!!! I couldn't be happier, they are beautiful and totally clean up our family room and living room.

Then, by total blessing from Heavenly Father---that is seriously the only answer because we have been looking for a computer desk for such a long time too, everywhere, even considering buying one new, which was ridiculous because we couldn''t even find one online that we liked and the prices were astronomical---Brandon found one on Craigslist and called and it was PERFECT, the same exact style as Brandon's furniture from when he was a kid---the dresser of which we have in the family room as our entertainment center to keep all the DVD's and stuff. So we put the hutch on top and set it up and Voila!!! We have a new Family room for the price of the lumber, which was $300, $90 for all the paint and stuff for that part and the desk, which was $140. We figured we saved $9000!!!!! YAY!!!

Did I mention Brandon was amazing?

Ode to Moods of Rebekah

OK, so because we get to be together this one last year all alone before Rebekah starts Kindergarten, we try to play games that she would like to play. I know I will regret not doing this more than I have, but we all try our best. ANYhoo, one such game is picture taking. She is so hillarious! So here are some of the results!!Too cute!

The Yellow Dress

My aunt brought this back from Mexico years ago and my mom saved it all those years. When Bethany was a baby, she brought it out and gave it to me and I was thrilled. It is one thing that I wore that I could take pictures of my daughter--and then daughters-- in. So fun!!! Now, don't look to closely at Lindsay. I did some photo-shopping--poorly--on that one because I couldn't find the pipcture I actually took, although I KNOW I did take it. Anyway, now I have a picture of all of us at about the same age!! I LOVE it!!!

Horsa Needs to see Despicable Me

Horsa is Rebekah's stuffed horse, she loves him. I found them sitting this way and she was deep in conversation about the merits of this movie and I just thought it was such a sweet moment!!! I love catching them on camera!!

SNOW,SNOW,SNOW

OK, so we really diddn't have great snow like last winter, worry. Hmmmm. BUT THIS was a great storm and we LOVED every minute of play time we got out of it....and it was nice that everything got a drink! :) You have to know that the sky REALLY does look like this when there is a big snow storm, I'm referring to the pink sky at night. I took these at midnight and because all the lights were reflected off the moisture in the clouds, or something like that, the sky stays pink and you can see everything, we LOVE pink skies!!!

Jeremy was the man with the plan this time, he was craving a dino, so we built one. I know, I get a little nutty, but it was a blast to make and the kids had a great time!!! It's amazing how strong snow can be when it's packed in hard and working together, but so cool how each flake is so unique!! This storm started the day before and walking to school the little flakes were absolutely discernable for a little bit of time. I am fascinated by these tiny little miracles!!!! Heavenly Father rules worlds without end, yet He cares enough to make each snowflake that falls different, and has the know how and creativity within those physical laws and realms to make them that way. It's amazing to me! I totally can see how Snowflake Bentley found so much delight in trying to capture these little amazements in picture form!

Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, it was an amazing time in the snow!! Interestingly enough, we had all our major storms this year over the weekends, yes, driving up herry Hill to church was terrifying, but I LOVE our suburban and it's wide wheels and heavy weight and 4-wheel drive. But we never once used a snow day! Go figure!