My Life In Ruins...not really

This was our morning yesterday...
Naked Beau sitting on my bed, reading a book...Bekah commandeering Beau's old shoes to brace her crippled bear...Colonel taking a nap on my pillows...and sweater...Insidious pooper. He pooped on the legs of my table. And peed. I know you're sick of hearing about it. Believe me. I know. Oh and he's getting bigger. eek.Bekah insisted on packing lunches for our adventure yesterday. When I went downstairs I found her lunchbox filled with five granola bars, an orange, and three fudge brownies. Apparently those were the essentials. I added to that more real food and seven water bottles along with three winter jackets, gloves, hats, two kelty packs, Colonel, Colonel's kennel and leash and food, and Jacob's toolbox equipped with a batman movie we had rented the day before.
Jacob seemingly woke up in his hiking clothes (actually he did sleep in the same shirt...), complete with shoes and a big boogery smile. I hate how allergies and colds ruin my kids' good looks. Couldn't they just feel rotten but still look adorable, not like a petry dish of germs? Jakey is pretty stinkin' cute here.By 10:04 we were loaded in a clean van (I vacuumed, wowza, when you find an orange rind, a shriveled apple core, and a bald polly pocket, it is time) and headed south to have a picnic in Socorro, visit the New Mexico Tech Mineral Museum, and go for a hike at Ft. Craig.
We had invited anyone we thought would be remotely interested and so we were pleasantly surprised to find two families waiting at the rendezvous point...Carla and Doug and kids, and Scott and Lisa and kids. The park still had lingering snow, but the weather was wonderfully warm and sunny. I think we were all happy to have the sun warm our coats, especially half the kids who won't keep their coats on. I was finally able to show Bekah and Jacob the art of making a snow angel. After playing and eating we visited the Mineral museum which was a perfectly sized room (as in small and contained, one way in, one way out) full of displays of all different types of rocks. Here's Bekahite:
Ft. Craig was about 40 minutes south of Socorro. It was an old Union fort from the mid 1800s. Now all that's left are some crumbling walls - evidence of poor construction if you ask me. We had fun walking the trail around the ruins - the kids took turn holding Colonel's leash and winning skipping contests, whining about being tired and breaking down into tears, falling behind and being carried to the front. Here is Emma, mad at Rus for letting Jacob take a turn with Colonel's leash.On the way home Rus insisted we take the scenic route - meaning frontage roads, back roads, dirt roads, canal roads, and "Are we supposed to be driving here?" roads. I love looking at old homes and buildings, signs and bridges and fences. We drove past the Bosque del Apache, a wildlife preserve and took some neat pictures from there.We had a great time...I love spending time with my family! And that's just the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?

By the way I submitted some essays to a Santa Fe magazine, Tumbleweeds, and they are going to be published next month! I'll keep you posted...yay!

Gran Quarai

Today {actually this past Sunday...this little post has been sitting in the "edit" bin for a couple of days} has been a blissful day. Never mind the dog pooping twice in our kitchen, with a puddle of pee to round out the mess. The weather has tricked my legs into thinking it's spring and I went sans-nylons to church. (Who am I kidding, I rarely wear nylons, but whatever, it is that beautiful outside.) My parents and Amy, Mike & entourage are visiting and despite some syrup mishaps we have had a blast. We went for a hike at some ruins called Gran Quarai - what once was a Fransiscan monestary over 300 years ago. What was Bekah's favorite part? "Ice skating" on some ice in a poorly sunshined part of the ruins. The kids also loved scooping up icy pieces of snow and throwing them at their uncle Mike, fighting over who got to hold Colonel's leash, and saying "I'm hungry!" Amy and Mike have made it a goal to makeout in famous places, and so while Gran Quarai is semi-famous, they made do with a polite little kiss. At least as far as I know. There were a lot of little niches in that place. :) That's the kind of new year's resolutions one should make. Another one of theirs is to eat outside once a month. Amy and I (we, as in she) also made these cute little button hair prettys that turned out so super cute I want to make many, many more. {I love Amy! She is beautiful and smart and creative and patient and so fun to be around! She thinks outside the box and she is so thoughtful of people and special occasions and she is the most honest person I know...if I ask her opinion I had better be ready to hear it. And whatever that opinion might be, she's usually right.}
Hmmm, other parts of my blissful day...I played scrabble with my dad - a tradition - while everyone napped, and I won - also a tradition. j/k. :) {Aquine is not a word, Dad.} Then we went on a walk with Beau and Colonel who happen to be the same age, I think. Puppies are not like babies. They are like 18 month olds - stubborn and persistent and hard on furniture, with leaking problems and a blind eye to discipline. Colonel pees on the floor, Beau spills on the floor. Colonel bites other kids, Beau hits other kids. We yell no to Colonel, we yell no to Beau. Colonel throws up on Rus's sister's doorstep {awesome}, Beau does a similar amount of damage inside. We put up with Colonel because he is adorable, and, well, you get the idea...
And now I must go...it seems this new year is going to require a lot of me and my crafty side. I'm doing the yearbook for Bekah's school. I remind you that Bekah is in elementary school. And they will have a yearbook. Oh well, it will be the most adorable 44-paged thing you've ever seen. As will a party I've been invited (and am honored) to throw for Rus's Grandma's 86th birthday. As will the Art Night at the school ("we don't care what you do as long as you do it...") But...the dresser from a few posts back is very near done and sitting in my living room, in fact. It needs some finishing touches, but I'm not sure what those are yet. I'll post a pic later...So one thing down, twenty million to go.
Right now Jacob needs hugs.
So I'm off...

Girls Night Out

Whilst staying home from church a week ago because my kids had all been "tossin' their cookies," as Rus says, I decided that it was time for a girls night out. I also decided that it was a "make a fancy dinner at my mom's empty house, eat grown up food, play games and make a felted-project-I'd-been-meaning-to-make" kind of girls night.
Yay!
So I called the girls, arranged for Rus to be home, and proceeded to think about a menu every chance I could get. It had to be girl food. It had to be grown up food. It had to be amazing and mouthwatering, and of course the dessert had to be rich and chocolatey. So here's what I came up with...
Thai Chicken and Nectarine Salad (which Tyler and my mom swore was amazing. Looking at the ingredients, I wasn't sure how it would come together, but trust me, it was delicious!)
Coconut Shrimp with Fiery Mango Sauce
Chocolate Bundles with chocolate ganache and homemade whipped cream.After filling ourselves, accenting each bite with a "yum" or "mmmm!" we played Ticket to Ride which was very fun. And I won, gold star for me. :) Then we made pincushion cupcakes out of felted wool from thrift store sweaters.It was a terrific, rejuvenating night and I had a wonderful time. I am blessed with wonderful friends!

I Don't Have a Blah

Bekah's phone conversation with her cousin Sarah (who is 4 almost 5):

Bekah: What did you get for Christmas, Sarah?
Sarah: An Easy Bake oven. I made a cake in it. It's a real oven. It's real.
Bekah: Wow. You should take a picture of it and put it on your blog.
Sarah: I did take a picture of it.
Bekah: You should put it on your blog.
Sarah: I don't have a blah.
Bekah laughs and laughs. I assume it's because Sarah said "blah" instead of "blog".
Sarah: Why are you laughing?
Bekah: You don't have a blog!!

A New Arrival...

Has graced the doors of our home and already peed three times on our carpet. (We have plans to keep him in the kitchen from now on.)
His name is Colonel.
He's a chocolate lab/german shorthair mix and he is absolutely adorable. See for yourself.
Here are the kids making kissy noises to get him to come.I just want to cuddle and pet him every single second! Colonel loves to chase the kids around the island, although he's still getting his footing on the vinyl, so to watch him run around is pretty funny. Beau loves Colonel and he has been teaching him some tough lovin'!
Thank you Rus for getting me my first puppy! YAY!

To Refinish...or Dump

This dresser has sat out in a shed on Rus's parent's property for years. Hence the stink of mouse droppings. I think it has beautiful lines and I love the design on the door. All the drawer bottoms need to be replaced, the top needs new veneer (I just removed the old crumbling veneer this morning), and of course everything should be sanded down and refinished. But the joints are still very sturdy (despite the fact that it's been holding tools for years), and the wood on the drawers is in very good shape. I do have all the drawers, I just didn't replace all of them for the picture. Apart from what I just told you, I really have no idea how to go about refinishing this. Any tips?

Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas Got Robbed

Blind.
At our home.
I think the only person that had a hard time sleeping the night before Christmas was me. My mind would not shut off...Lyrics to Breath of Heaven kept floating around my head, along with the recipe for turkey marinade and the tracking number for Rus's missing package.
Jacob was the first one up at 6:51 am...What can I say, my kids are still amateurs. He helped us wake up Bekah and Beau.
Rus and I got a new camera from Santa. Yipee! I could just kiss that fat old man!
Bekah got the orange she wanted.Jacob got a gun from his uncle Jacob. (They're buddies.)Beau got chocolate. And more chocolate. And then bacon later for breakfast. And then he threw up. Yum.I got a vessel handmade by my brother James. It is made out of walnut and it is completely and utterly stunning. I love feeling how smooth the wood is and smelling the finish on it. He turned all the wood himself, of course. This is the top/lid/whatever (I forgot the name of it)...I was holding it upside down in the previous picture. Mmm...James did such an amazing job! I will admit that I originally had no idea what it was. Now I do. It is a vessel, for decoration. It came in a kitchen scale box and I was originally pleased/disappointed just to get a scale. Then I opened the box and pulled this out and I was struck. It really is beautiful!
I also received a beautiful, amazing scrapbook from my sister Amy documenting our St. George trip back in August. It was a gift of love, and I love it!
And then Santa gave me an armband for my ipod. The thing is, the stupid thing went black the night before and never came back on. So now I have an armband, but...
Here are Beau and Rus, already tuckered out from a morning of presents and chocolate.And here are some of the gifts Rus and I were able to make and give. Rus spent at least twenty hours making this longboard for his sister, Emilee. I did the painting on the underside of peacock feathers, and I cut the grip tape to look like these flowers. We both thought it turned out great, and Emilee about died when she got it. She loved it. :)We also framed this picture of Rus's dad on a bicycle when he was a kid, calling it "Roger Knievel".Here is Rus's nephew Russel. See the resemblance? Well, actually, um, hopefully you can't...Oh, here's a better shot of them...And the girls painting their nails.My favorite part of Christmas was going to the hospital Christmas eve to visit Rus's grandma. Grams was not able to get out in time for Christmas, so we took Christmas to her.
All of the Roger/Louise Payne family came to the hospital, took over the grand piano, set up a live nativity scene, sang songs, drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. My awesome friend Sarah (from high school) volunteered last minute to play the piano for us and she did a wonderful job. **Side note: Sarah came down Christmas Eve to hang out and practice the songs and wound up driving Beau and I to the Quick Care. Beau stuck his finger in the rabbit hutch (our friend's rabbits, ours would never do this), and the rabbit thought it was a carrot and gnawed his middle finger to pieces. So, so so sad! He could have used stitches but in the case of animal bites they just glue the wound shut in case there's bacteria in the bite. Poor Beau. His finger should be okay, though. And whole. Phew. :)
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and I hope your new year is pleasant and relaxing!