Easter... err... in July

Someone missed Easter...

Saturday Morning

The Easter Baskets are always given out on the Saturday before Easter because they have absolutely nothing to do with what Easter is about..seriously NOTHING. At least Christmas is about giving gifts to others. Easter? Nothing like that.

Anyway...

See what that silly rabbit did?

I've seen this a couple times on the internet but seeing it at Shawni's blog I finally decided to make it happen.

Each girl "strangely" woke up with a ball of string under her pillow.

Thankfully no one woke up for a potty break and clothes lined themselves, although the bunny had done their best to hopefully avoid it if the sleeper took a direct path to the bathroom! A thoughtful path was also left for Dad to make his early morning tee time!

 This made for much more fun then the typical hunt for the baskets.

Sunday Morning

Love these Five!

First Things First

A little educational post today...

TRUTH: You have to dip your knife into the peanut butter FIRST.

Why? 

If you dip the knife into the Jam first and you are not an Erik "rinse your knife sort of gal or guy", then all that refrigerated Jam gets into the peanut butter.

THEN that peanut butter goes back on the shelf into your pantry.

THEN the jam goes bad and contaminates your peanut butter.

THEN someone gets some horrible sick botulism type growth in their stomach and worse.. intestines.

THEN... well it's just plain gross and so I tell you...

You are much better off abiding by my rule of always dipping into the peanut butter first.

Just solving the world's problems one day at a time.

Estelle-ism #265

Sometimes we must throw convention to the wind...

 And use what God gave us...

Who needs spoons when we have fingers?

The absence of rolls...

As I was looking at some old photos I needed to transfer off my camera I noticed these from the Hidden Cove House. Every time I made rolls the girls just have to have a little ball of dough for their own use and enjoyment.

Since moving from the Hidden Cove Home into the rental around the corner, I have NOT made rolls. One reason is rolls get very personal with your counters, sort of like pie dough (which I also have not made since moving), and most especially pizza dough. There is nothing as personal as that of pizza dough and a counter. All that kneading, pressing palms into that dough as it presses and forces itself into the counter.

I had white Corian counters before. They were a pain and a blessing.

They force one to be clean.

Like OCD clean.

At the rental we have laminate counters. Had the laminate been mine from the beginning there would be no problem.

But... I... just... cannot... get... past... the... dirt... from... other... people.

The counters have been steam cleaned, I have scrubbed them down but for some reason I just cannot bring myself to knead or roll out dough on them. 

The poor girls I'm sure are missing their dough time.

Just one more reason I am so very excited to get into our own home again!

hyperventilation

Sometimes I want to hyperventilate when I think about this new home.

Here it is with the frame of the house now covered with wood.

We love seeing it move forward and I am very anxious for it to just. be. DONE. but patience never has been my strong point and if anything, I am only becoming more set in my ways the longer I age.

Erik and I have always tried to be conservative with money. We had a goal to pay off our Hidden Cove Lane home in a couple years.

But we chose to change our goal for something which we thought would still benefit our family (and future teen age children), just benefit in a different way.

Of course, with the change of address comes other, different changes.

We have to tighten up in some other areas we hadn't needed to before... I mean... we are not ones with endless amounts of cash at our feet.

NOT that there is anything wrong if you do have endless amounts of cash, just sayin'.

We have tried to be smart in this decision with the new house, so it's not like we are going hog wild, but like the majority of people in life, when you choose to put money towards one thing, a home, vehicle, clothes, entertainment, whatever it may be, the money has to come from another area.

So... I start to hyperventilate over the unknown. I mean lets consider... in the future when my reading light runs out of batteries, I may not be able to just go buy another one.

I found all these in my drawer and thought it was sort of comical.

But now thinking about it, I think when I would go to purchase a new battery, the price for those "SPECIAL" nickel shaped batteries was so comically overpriced that it was cheaper to just purchase a new night light.

So... as I start to worry about the cost of this new home, and what I'll have to trade, I start to worry that possibly, just maybe, I won't be able to READ until 2-3am.

Home Exterior

Right now I need to decide on the roof shingles. The color of shingle depends on the exterior. So even though I don't have to pick the exterior this week I do need to decide on it so we can move forward on the roof. My windows are white with grids like the last two photos.

CHOICE #1

This has been my dream exterior for a very long time, from the beginning. The siding color looks darker in the shadow of the house but you can see the color better on the right above the garage. It is a tan with a very slight hint of grey.

Close Up of front

CHOICE #2

The stone is pretty close to the one above if you look at the chimney color and the stone in the above photo.



 
 Love this home and the thick white trim against the deeper color of the shingled siding.

 
And who wouldn't delight to call the below loveliness home. The paint color is a nice rich tone. Dark but not too dark - very close to the above picture(s).

This last home has me wanting to re-design my home to this front. Isn't it so welcoming? I'd be out on this porch like a permanent fixture.

So what do you like to cover this?

St. George Narrows

We call these the "Narrows" but they are not the ones found in Zions. Much easier to get to but VERY NARROW as the name describes.

Here we are getting ready to head in.

See that crack right behind us? 

That is where we are headed.

 

Here we are coming out the other end of the narrows.

Our view once we climb out...

If you want to see the video you can here but it isn't great but gives you an idea of the little hike through the split in these rocks!

Chairs

Brigham Young Home

Here we are sitting in chairs the girls Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Thomas Cottam crafted. They are found throughout the Brigham Young home and the St. George Temple.

He also did a piece in the St. George Tabernacle...

Cool huh?

St. George House

We love St. George!

Erik golfed every morning and went out twice with McCall. I didn't go out this time, just didn't feel okay about leaving the kids for a round of golf. Best to follow those promptings right? 

Erik tells me McCall is about ready to out drive me. Guess I better get out more often before she passes me by. I mean... I love that girl and all, but I'm her MOTHER, and I am competitive, and I am bigger and older than her, and by golly I don't want my daughter smoking me at golf!!!

We are so fortunate to get to stay in Erik's boss' vacation house. It's super nice and it is great to get to spread out and enjoy time away in such nice surroundings. It's the reason we spend so much time in St. George!

-------Main Floor------

Bedroom

Bathroom

Great Room

Kitchen

Patio

Dining

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

-------Upstairs------

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchenette off Family Room

Family Room

Bathroom

Bedroom

Kids Bunk Room

That's a wrap of the house tour!