Target was clearing out their school uniforms online so we took advatage of the deals and got a few clothes for Hayley for next year. She was soooo excited to have some Vista clothes like Emily's. She has been begging to wear them to preschool so I let her wear them this week. Before leaving for preschool she was out riding her scooter so I decided to take a few pictures. She is our sunshine and truly knows how to enjoy each and every minute. We don't know what we would do without our Hay bug.

She got to bring the snack for preschool and was so excited that I let her pick it out.

Posing with her scooter.

She loves life!

Going blue...part 2

Before.....

Goodbye yellow...hello blue.

I love the new paint color and how it has totally changed the feel of the room. Though I love the yellow before I'm loving the blue even more. It's such a calming color that at times when the light is just right it will look blue, then sea foam green, to grey and then back to blue. It's been wild to see the different colors come out at different times of the day. I'm so grateful for my sweet husband and for all the work that was put into changing our walls. What a great birthday present. Though these things are truly not important and a couple of years ago I had no interest in any of this I do enjoy change like this and for me it's shown me that I can enjoy life again. Now I get to find or repurpose somethings to decorate above the cabinets and up on my big nook. Right now though I kind of like not having anything. I'm enjoying the simplicity of it all...less is sometimes more.

I put new fabric on my Grandma's chair along with some of the chairs around our kitchen table.

I need to get a curtain for the window. Most everything else though goes with the new paint color.

*** I've had a few people wanting to know the color of the paint. Here is the explanation on that:

I'm pretty sure the paint color is "Gentle Tide" by Glidden or "Reflecting Pool " CIL Glidden. I got the paint suggestions off of the blog "Just beachy" on my side bar.

We got a sample of both colors and took them home and put them on the bar. I'm pretty sure it was Gentle Tide by Glidden that we ended up using. Home Depot caries Glidden paint but at our store both paints were not availiable. They did have the "recipe" to mix them so that is what we did. We got a sample of each color and took them home and painted them on the bar. Once we decided on the color we took it to Kwall Howell and they matched the color.

Birthday/Ironman

Besides painting for my birthday we got to enjoy this yummy mint chocolate cake my cousin made for me. It was so fun to have a birthday cake. I can't remember the last time I had one. It was delish!

Besides birthday cake and painting the Ironman came to town and we were fortunate enough to have the biking portion right out our back door. So, Hayley spent time jumping on the tramp and cheering the participates on. Quite the amazing thing to watch. I can't imagine doing anything like that. It was really fun to watch them and cheer them on. I especially enjoyed hearing their comments as they saw the beautiful red rocks. Those that took the time to look up were astonished by the beauty that was in front of them. We feel so blessed to get to enjoy it each and every day.

Hayley saying "Good job."

Hiking

We have been going hiking as much as we can the past few weeks. We are blessed to have some really neat hikes just 5-10 minutes from our home. It's the perfect time of year here for hiking so, we have been taking advantage as much as we can. I keep forgetting to take a camera on our hikes so last night I finally remembered. I only took our point and shoot camera and later regretted that decision. The desert is in bloom and there were some really beautiful flowers I would have loved to take some close ups of.

This hike is a fun hike because there are some Indian Petroglyph's that you get to see. They are pretty cool. Tyler was at Young Men's so that is why he isn't in any of the pictures. Emily brought a friend with us.

On the way back the girls took the main trail while Derek and I went a different way. Well, while the girls were on the trail they came upon a rattle snake. Needless to say there was a lot of screaming and running and some crying. It scared them pretty good. I don't think they will be going by themselves anymore. Luckily they were just fine and now they have a story to tell. Here are a few pictures we took.

Cacti in bloom

Petroglyph's

Sunset

Going blue...part 1

Before.....

After.....

I've always enjoyed decorating. I've wanted to change my house with blue paint for a long time. Actually, before Wyatt was even born I dreamed of doing this but didn't have the time. And then grief hit and stuff like this seemed so trivial. I truly wondered if there would ever come a day that I would enjoy doing these kinds of things again. Well, I can say that I do enjoy them again.

In January I decided to change things up. We started first by painted the bar blue. We loved it so much we decided to paint the hallway as well. It use to be red. Then we painted the kitchen a brown color. I have loved it. I have to admit I loved the yellow and red before and have no regrets but I do really enjoy how the light blue and white look. It reminds me of the beach which is one of my most favorite places in the world to be. When I painted the chair I posted early in the month I also painted our bar stools white. I love how they turned out.

For my birthday on Saturday Derek's present to me was painting the rest of the room. I had decided that the yellow and blue just didn't go well together and since our kitchen and family room are all hooked together, I decided it needed to be painted too. That is where part 2 will come into play. Once I get around to taking some pictures of how it turned out I will post them. Let just say I LOVE it. I love paint and how it can totally change a room and it doesn't cost too much money just some time. I'm soooo very blessed to have an amazing husband that will help me. I love color...especially color next to white. I will post part 2 soon but here is a glimpse of what we did in January. It's been a fun change. The kind of change I like.

Bar stools that use to be oak color. I love the new white. And the bar that is blue now instead of red.


Hallway before....
After.....

Took this quick shot from my kitchen window of Wyatt's garden. I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place and love what I get to look at each day as I do the dishes.