My friend texted me...Are you out there?

We are out here! 

Jake and Talmage started school on August 11TH!!  Jake is our fifth grader.  This is his last year of elementary school.(Cannot believe it?) Talmage is our first grader. He goes all day long! I worried how "we" would do all day ;)  Talmage is doing well.  I am too.  We have made it through a  week and a half of school so far. Their school starts at 7:35 in the morning. They get out at 2:20. Guess it is a Kingman thing. 

Jake's teacher is a guy!  His teacher is an American History buff!  Jake comes home with great stories. He has a few good friends at school and girls that want to "go out with him"!  What?!!!!  In fifth grade?  He laughs and says "no".  Good boy. 

Talmage has an adorable teacher.  She just moved from Washington D.C. five days before school started.  She has taught for 12 years.  She is calm and patient from my observation. Talmage has a friend that he walks out from school with at the end of each day. I wait at the gate for him. I saw Talmage give this friend a hug and he told him "bye, I will miss you".  His friend said  "I will miss you too".  Watching the sweet exchange gave me wings!  Made me feel like life here in Kingman will be just fine.  The next day Talmage walked out and hugged his friend again.  His friend I could tell was a little worried about hugging.  I had to talk to Tal about just giving high five instead.  So, again the next day he walked out with his good friend. Talmage turned and gave him five, told him he would miss him, his friend told him that he would miss him too, and all was well!  When I asked him his friends name, he said "I don't know".  Ha!  Names aren't important.

Jonah  (still Captain America) started preschool too! He LOVES it! I am glad I still have him home with me most of the time as my side kick. Fun to have him love going to "School". 

I had a birthday this last week too.  What I loved most, were the friends that I got to celebrate with.  I even had one of my closest friends drive from Vegas a few days before the actual date.  She came and we went and saw the movie The Help. She had marinated chicken and brought the works to make dinner.  Chicken tacos to die for!  She even brought a Nothing Bunt Cake.  At the end of the night, before she left, she gave me this most AMAZING oil painting!  From the first time I went to her house, I have always adored the same picture that she has up.  Her close friend painted two of them for her.  I cannot believe I am the owner of the second one now.  They are our "friendship paintings".

My Sweet Mom had Domino's surprise deliver Pizza and every side Domino's offers!  The pizza delivery guy even sang Happy Birthday to me in it's entirety!  Now that is a Delivery guy!

The Hospital that Jared works at makes dreamy cakes!  Jared had this cake specially made for me.  It was Red Velvet and Cream Cheese frosting.  I pretty much ate the whole thing by myself.  Over a few days.  Still.  We only have a birthday once a year .

Fun design stuff coming over the next week or so!!!!

What a week!

Before we left Salt Lake, Jonah found this helmet on my parents four  wheelers and wore it all around.  He even got into my Mom's little red car that never gets driven.  He wanted her to take him for a spin.  Pretty funny.  Glad that he is thinking of safety first!  This was a week and 2 days ago.  It seems like two months ago.

Jacob lost another tooth! Poor Tooth Fairy.  ;)

Jonah turned 4!  His favorite present was this mask!  He did not take it off.  He still comes into my room in the morning to wake me wearing it.  I open my eyes to Captain America!

We went and saw Smurfs on Jonah's birthday.  Our first time seeing a movie in our little town.  The theater is like the theater  that I used to go to when I was a little girl.   Kinda fun.

Remember my little garden?  I have zucchini growing like mad!  I have been making zucchini pasta and bread. We have cute little pumpkins and cucumbers.  Very exciting to Jared and me!

Jake had his first "Kingman friend" over.  His name is Derrick.  His Mom is my friend too!  She has 4 boys.  Jake and Derrick will be at the same school.

 

At the end of the night tonight, we went out into our  yard and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. I have had a bit of a tough week.  I miss my friends and family so much!  I have a heavy heart.  Trying hard to keep my sad heart busy!

Quote:
             " What I love most about my home is who I share it with"

                                                                                             -Tad Carpenter

When a house becomes your home

I just returned from Salt Lake late last night. I was gone for a little over a week.  Jared stayed behind to work.  Salt lake was great!  Salt Lake in the summer is so charming. The winter...not so much.  What I miss most about Salt Lake are the people that I love.  I have friends that I don't get to see each time I go. I have family that I wish I could be around 24/6. ;)  Goodbyes are terrible for me.  I think that I feel things much to deeply.  My Parents are moving.  Moves are such a BIG ordeal. Physically and emotionally. They are moving just a few miles away from their current house. Still, the goodbye part is hard.  My Mom said that as they moved the last things from their dream house, the new owners pulled up with about 30 people to help move them in. She described the many people that swarmed her house, and the newly cleaned carpets with dirty boxes being thrown down every where.  It broke my heart for her.  The new house they are moving to is equally as charming.  Just different.  Such as life.
My new house in Kingman is different from Las Vegas.  Slowly, my house has become my HOME.  As I pulled into my little town last night, joy raced through me.  I was truly excited to be "home".  Did I mention that my Jared was there waiting for us too?!
                                      

                                          Sounds of Summer time that I love:

                                                   Talmage's cooing giggle

                                                 Sprinklers watering lawns

                                                  A  running lawn mower

                                                  Kids laughing in the yard

                                       Relief Society sisters singing together on Sundays

                                                      Crickets chirping at night

                                                 Birds chirping in the morning

                                                    Ice clanking in a drink

                                                     Splashing pool water

                                              

               I wrote these down, because I was telling my sister that I loved the sound of Sprinklers, especially the old fashioned ones.  My Grandparents had a large yard. I loved spending the night and waking up to the sound of my Grandparent's sprinklers. Remember the old fashioned sprinklers that you  hooked up to a hose? Kind of makes you think about what sounds make you feel happy and why.

Life without Target is looking up

                                          

Ha! This is a picture that we were going to send out in our "We've moved." Things turn out differently than we imagine. Jared was setting a timer and running to get into the picture.  Barkley was posing without us wanting him to.  He just kept getting back into the picture!  Lexi, our little Maltese was minding and staying to the side.  Pretty funny.  Oh yah,  there were some cockroaches trying to pose with us too! 

Jared is ONE year older and keeps growing wiser!

Birthdays are such happy times!  My Mom has always made such a BIG deal about our special days. My Jared is very low maintenance when it comes to his birthday. It was fun to surprise him with his little celebration this year.

All the boys and I agree that there is absolutely nobody as great as Jared!  We wait for him all day with great anticipation...he never disappoints! The entire house feels different when he walks through the door.

His birthday was an exciting day for all of us.  

  We blew up balloons for what seemed like all afternoon.  Talmage had mastered tying a balloon, and Jake had not!  Jake was not going to be out done by his younger brother!  So, we had many frustrating moments as untied balloons shot around the room.  Jake finally got the hang of tying the balloons. Thank goodness! (Bigger fingers?)

Jared has wanted a  electric scooter for quite some time.  I found a great deal on a new scooter for him.  He was super excited.  Now if he can just get the back wheel to roll.

 

Our neighbor Fritz had a birthday this weekend too!  Haha!  Fritz takes a few guys in the neighborhood  "Over to the river for prime rib"  every year for his birthday! Laughlin is on the Colorado river.  People  water ski and wave run on the river.  Jared said they sat looking out at all the fun going on.  Looks exciting!  

Great isn't it?!  Old Fritzy is such a great guy!  He is from Poland and speaks 4 languages fluently!

That's my Jared for you. He is quite the party guy. Couldn't love him more!

Happy Birthday!

The Shop of my dreams

This is a store in Newport Beach.  I am always describing the shop I want to own one day to Jared.  He patiently listens and smiles.  As we drove by this store a while back, I screamed with delight   "Stop!"  He laughed and said the only shop I could own right now would be called ...RICHES TO RAGS! HA!  This is true.  I wonder if I should plunk a shop right on Route 66? 
I could sell jewelry and clothes I have not worn in a year.  Or, the pants that I no longer fit in, because I have gained weight! I could sell my friend Ali's best sugar cookies!  Notice my pattern of thinking....pants....too small...cookies!  I would love to sell  furniture I have found and refinished.  I love a good project!  

Right in the "Older part" of my little town are old shut down stores, run down motels, AMAZING antique shops, pawn shops, a few restaurants and I wish- my store. ;)

I would love to sell these things in the shop too:

Tresjoliedesigns.com    My favorite jewelry!

Etsy  bubalooandco 

I could go on and on.  I would be so excited to be able to sell these things!  Maybe one day.  For now, I need to "Set up shop" better at my own house!

ENJOY IT!

This is Jonah.  He says in a deep voice "I da Power Ranger".  He makes me smile.  Even when all I am good at doing lately is bursting into tears!  

I jumped into blogging hesitantly.  Mainly, because I didn't want to come across differently than what life really is like for me.  Of course I live a charmed life. However, I still have piles of laundry in my laundry room. Walking into my laundry room caused many tear last night in fact! I cannot show fun pictures of my new house yet, because half of my house is in boxes still. (Getting more impressive aren't I?)  It is amazing how at the beginning of a project that I  think will take just a few hours, becomes a one to three day deal.  Painting my kitchen cabinets took days upon days!  I still look and find spots that need to be touched up.  Walking into my kitchen gives me butterflies now. (If I have wiped the counters up from the last meal).

The point that I am trying to make today is life is life.  We all are trying our best.  Sometimes my best is not what I wish it could be.  Thankfully,  I have a new day, that I am healthy and my family is too.  It is the 4TH of July and I live in America!  We even get to have Jared with us tonight.  I hope that your 4TH will be fun for you.  Fun for you might be a good book and a bowl of ice cream.  Which ever way you spend it, I hope you ENJOY IT!  This is what I am striving for today.  Plus a few less boxes! ;)

Design inspiration #1!   www.houseofturquoise.com    Pure eye satisfaction!