what to so with a couch

Oh man... I did it! I dyed our couch! Hooray for bravery! Let's see if I can find some before pictures for y'all.

Here we go, fresh from the thrift store.

And now, after 15 hours of work and almost killing my sewing machine.

Very nice, right? But, notice how it just BLENDS into the wall? Boring. Not to mention this little guy.

Yes, that one! He is a walking dirt man mixed with a healthy dose of slobber. Not working for the buff colored couch.

Taking all these factors into consideration, I decided to go bold. I knew better (after Halloween) that RIT dye was not going to do the job, so after a little online searching I discovered Dharma Trading serious dyes for professional tye dyers. I hammed and hawed about color but settled on Teal. It's a little darker than I really wanted but, remember, we are dealing with dirt/slobber guy here.

Sarah, Nelson and I gathered our stuff and headed to Aunt Di's because she has a top loading washing machine.

For two girls who did not do so well in HS chemistry, this was a bit intimidating, but never fear, we prevailed.

Amounts

More chemicals

And finally.... TaaDaa! We have a blue couch that does not blend into the wall! Hooray!

It is actually more turquoise than the photos show, but you get the idea.

Now, I just need MORE pillows!

president's day

How grateful we are for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. For all they did to make us free, keep us together, and mostly for having birthday's in February so we can go see aunt Mel's show and cousins. Thanks guys!

We started the festivities at Trafalga. I bought the kids pass of all passes for Christmas so we could do the water park in the summer (hooray).

See those happy faces?

Frank (the little guy in the blue shirt) was the best to watch. He lives life to the fullest.

We, of course, saw Aunt Mel's production of A Year with Frog and Toad two times and it was CHARMING and I loved it and hooray for Frog and Toad. I don't have any pictures, but believe me, we were there!

We also took a little day at BYU to see some amazing art and eat ice cream and brainwash our children that it is the place to go to college.

Posing in front of the HFAC my building for 4.5 years.

Sunday night was invaded the Millett's house for visits. They are amazing and, as you can see, our 12 combined kids got along swimmingly (not all kids shown).

fro yo, temple and an outfit

Aunt Di is good for me. The other day she came over for a visit and declared it was free fro-yo at Yogurt land from 4-6. My natural instinct is to think, too far, bad time, who wants to take a million kids.....etc. But not Di, she is always up for a little outing so we went, had fun, ate frozen yogurt, got balloons and it was great. Yea for Aunt Di!

Like everyone and their dog, we went to the Gilbert Temple open house. The kids had a very nice experience and are excited for when they grow older and can go to serve there (mission accomplished). Nelson was a pill, but I'm still very glad we went.

Sarah dresses herself. She has interesting taste. I took this picture for my friend Kelli cause she gets it, but I had to share with the wider world too.

odds and ends

Hey there! Here are some of our goings on.

Sarah and I continue to juice tasty citrus (thank you to whoever planted the trees in our yard. I agree with the saying that "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is right now.).

Aunt Di had an extra ticket to the Gilbert Temple open house and so graciously invited Sarah along for the tour. Sarah had a lovely experience and now feels like the expert for when we take our family this week.

Big times in Nora's life. She got her brackets on this week. Here is the before...

And the after. She has 4 brackets and 4 different colored bands:).

The Wolfes out grew their LEGOS and bestowed them on us - wowee wow wow! The kids are having so much fun and I am in awe of such kind generosity.

Nelson... blue berries and a plain tortilla for dinner - he is strange.

Yesterday was national crepe day in France and since we are always up for a great food based holiday we had crepes for dinner. They were especially, incredibly delish.