I Finished... Finally

I have been working with the Young Women (ages 12 to 18) in my ward (church) for almost four years. These girls are MY girls in every sense of the word. They come to me with problems, for help with homework when their parents aren't around, we laugh, cry, and dream together.

In Young Womens there is a program called Personal Progress where we have to complete 6 experiences and 1 project for each of the 8 Young Women values. The projects have to take at least 10 hours to complete and the experiences can take anywhere from an hour to three weeks of working on a goal. Some of the goals include help plan and prepare meals for your family for two weeks, develop a habit of scripture study for 3 weeks, notice acts of service and give thanks for 3 weeks, read articles on the divine nature of women, etc. When you complete the program you get a Young Womanhood Medallion. As a young woman I earned my medallion.As a leader we have the opportunity to earn the award just like the young women. It takes a lot longer as an adult to accomplish these goals. I think it took my this long because I am just too stinking busy. But, last night I had my interview with the Bishop and I earned my medallion. In a couple of weeks I will recieve it. It was such a blessing to redo this program. I have learned so much about who I am and who I can become. I have a deeper and stronger testimony that Heavenly Father loves me and watches over me. How thankful I am for my girls encouragement to complete Personal Progress, again.

Dreams for the Kids

I just found this idea and I am in LOVE! How fun would it be to have a book nook for the kids?! The blog where I found this the lady turned an unused closet into the nook (seriously. An unused closet. Where can I find one of those too?) I remember as a girl wanting to find a place just for reading, all by myself in peace and quiet. They would love to escape from the real world and go be inspired. I am really wanting to create such a space. Just have to find the perfect spot, money, and time to do so.

Fireplace

In the shed there is no forced heating and air. We are going to have a wall air unit for cooling. We found a wood burning stove in Salt Lake for the heating. I have a stove in my basement (used it to heat up our home all winter) and they work well! But I have a few ideas to use the space better.I want to have the stove about 3 feet off the ground. That way you can have storage underneath for firewood without it being in the way of everything.This outdoor stove really captures my vision of storage below (but our stove will be in a corner so only one cubby for wood).I love the cozy feeling this mantle brings to the room. The shed has a small living room (12 x14) and that is the only family space so it has to be inviting and feel big. A mantle would give the room some much needed "wall space" for decor (2 walls are full of windows and doors, one is the stairwell and the other has the opening to the kitchen). Again the storage underneath makes it so functional.

Kitchen Ideas

I have been obsessed with trying to figure out how to make this shed a really livable space. The kitchen is where my focus is now. The space is small. About 10 feet wide by 11 feet long. There is a beam going through the one side that supports the loft above. Mark and I found some used cabinets in Salt Lake for $300. The guy gave us all the cabinets for a full kitchen, the counter-tops, the sink, and faucet. What a steal! The cabinets are going to get a face lift so I have been design blog hopping for ideas. Here is what I found.White cabinets are IN! Especially in small kitchens (Check) and country style homes (another Check). I am not so sure about white (little kids+ sticky fingers= handprints constantly!) but I have also seen some light blues and grays on cabinets that catch my eye. I really need to decide a wall color too. This first picture shows some blue cabinets but my favorite part are the open shelves. One wall has a window and we don't have any cabinets for it. If we do shelves like this we will get lots of storage space while being cute, fancy, and country all at the same time.
I like these white cabinets that are antiqued. My first idea for the cabinets was a cream color with antiqued glaze. I am thinking eventually we will add things like bead-board to help it have character. I also love the butcher block counters. I also love the industrial meets country with the stainless steel shelves. Ikea has a good selection of these kind of shelves for pretty inexpensive. Future ideas.
I WANT A PANTRY! Mostly for food storage. I had designed one to be build in like a closet. But with the cabinets we bought the pantry was lost. This picture solves the problem. I have about 15" that we could build a cabinet that pulls out for a pantry. Hallelujah chorus if you please!
I also have been looking at curtains vs. blinds. Right now, curtains are winning.

The Blogger I Want To Be

I am not the blogger I want to be. I love reading all of my friends blogs. I love looking at designer blogs. I love letting people catch up on what my little family is doing. I hate finding the time to do all of these things. Usually reading blogs happens more than writing my own. But not today...
This is a picture from Girls Camp. Katherine and I went the last two days of camp. We did a trust fall where a girl would climb up the ladder, turn and fall into everyone's arms. It was quite the experience. I really loved this picture. It helps me remember how much my girls are there for me. Yes. I did fall as did our bishop and fist counselor in the bishopric.
In a previous post I mentioned we are building a shed. The shed is actually a barn. Well, it looks like a barn. Yes, it is red. RED. Not my choice but it is growing on me a little. I am hoping the shingles (gray like our house) tone down the red. Luckily there are no windows in the house that face the red barn. The views from the loft of the barn are AMAZING though. We are making the barn into another living space (because we don't have enough of those). Three bedrooms, two baths. Mark is working on convincing me to live there. I will admit the 1280 square feet sounds much more appealing to clean than my current 3,000 sqaure feet. However, there is not a craft room so I am not 100% convinced.

My little guy is going to turn 3 next week! How does that happen? It seems like a few days ago he was kicking me in the ribs and now he is 3? He is hitting a terrible three stage. Mark and I are learning what works and what doesn't when it comes to teaching him lovingly. At least he always hugs me after his timeout and tells me he loves me. I love that part.
And in three weeks my baby is going to be ONE! She is crawling, scooting, pulling herself up on furniture, and getting into anything she can (usually my bag. I have to start remembering to put it somewhere other than the floor). Her hair is getting so long (this picture is right after a bath when her hair is easiest to do). This past weekend she and I have had a head cold. I think we are getting better.?. She is starting to sign to us. "Sleep" "Dad" "More" "Milk" and "Socks."


These last two pictures are from the Salt Lake County Jail B-B-Q for families. We went with my mom and dad for hot dogs, games, and fun. They had a helicopter there that Spencer loved watching take off. It was really warm and humid but still a fun time out of the house.
In other happenings: I have started exercising. So far I am losing about 2 pounds a week. Hopefully I don't stop because of this dang cold. Mark started school yesterday. One year left is what I keep saying to myself.

Summer Time Fun

June and July always seem jam packed with family reunions, holidays, birthdays, and other fun activities. I never seem to get enough of the hot summer days because there is so much to do and I hate picking what things I will have to miss. Here are some of the things that made the cut this year.

Our annual fourth of July trip to my parents and North Ogden (where Mark grew up). We loved seeing so many of his friends and neighbors from growing up. We also went to the parade in North Ogden which was great. It was an hour long (perfect length) and some great candy (banana popsicles. need I say more)! Then the b-b-q chicken and ribs at my parents for Grandma K and Nanny. AWESOME!!! With a light rain shower and then the kidde pool I think we all got cooled down.

Mark and Spencer went to a family reunion in Mt. Pleasant two weekends ago. Katherine and I stayed home for some R & R. Spencer had a blast and took a good long nap from staying up too late. Mark loved seeing his extended family.

We held a spaghetti lunch and clearance sale at our store last week. Usually we do this in the spring but we postponed it because Mark was in school. We did sell a few things and saw some old friends and customers which was great. Thanks Mary for helping cook and for watching Spencer while we prepped for the big event. Side note: if you need new lights we still have a ton we are clearance selling. Tell your firends!

Last Saturday we had the annual Elders Quorum Breakfast in our backyard. Potato pancakes, eggs, pancakes, bisquits and gravy, and orange juice. Yummy! Thanks to all who helped and came! What a way for Mark to go out with a BANG! He was released from Elders Quorum President Sunday. It is a bitter sweet ending. He is hoping for nursery or primary song leader.

I was able to go to the Relief Society Retreat last Wednesday (Yes. Last week was CRAZY!) It was up at a cabin at Brian Head which was wonderful. The potatoes and chicken from the dutch ovens was wonderful (no wonder I can't get in shape. All I do is go here and there and eat food). I learned a lot from the get to know you game (so thankful I have not been in a car accident like some of those ladies) and the games were funny.

I think that covers the big events. Coming up the next couple of weeks? Girls Camp tomorrow and Friday. Pioneer Day at home doing house work and yard work. Family reunion in Idaho next weekend. Miamaid B-B-Q for reaching our class goals. Family coming for visits. Mark goes back to school. Seriously, summer days are few and far between.

Lots To Do

(A view from where I spend most of my day, Mountain Lighting desk.) We have been keeping so busy with, well, anythig and everything. For example, today Mark is building our shed today. I would insert a picture here but all there is right now is 24' by 30' of concrete. While he does that, I played tetris with two houses of lights, camping gear, car seats, and food to take up to Salt Lake. My brother is a builder and lets us do the lights for his homes (THANKS TIM! WE APPRECIATE THE BUSINESS!!!) Then, we are sleeping over at Nanny and Papa's house tonight. Then tomorrow we are going to Strawberry Resevoir for a quick camping trip. Coming home late Saturday or early Sunday. Mark is staying home to build the shed and work Friday. Hopfully he gets some of the stuff done at work that I have been avoding all week.
(I love Spencer's smile in this picture and Katherine's expression is classic. He loves his sister.)Mark and I got new phones yesterday! In the words of Spencer "They. Are. Awesome." We got the brand new, not out to the public, HTC EVO 3D phones. I already loaded the scriptures to my phone. Now I can find a spare moment to read my scriptures and actually have them. This week was a small break for me in that I didn't have Young Womens. Youth Conference is this weekend and because I would have had to take Katherine with me they gave me a freebie this year (good thing too because last year I went with less than 30 days to go while prego with Katherine). So, instead of heading to the church Tuesday night we went to Dave and Joy's for dinner. Yummy! hamburgers and hot dogs with lots of family. I have been working on both kids' scrapbooks for their birthdays. I am doing most of it digitally on Studio J. The company I sell scrapbooking products for has THE BEST digital scrapbook program around. You don't pay for the software. That is free to use. You only pay if you want to buy the JPG file or scrapbook layouts. Saves time, mess, money and I can work on it at work. Basically, life is crazy. But, we like it that way.