Family Pics 2010

The boys had a blast taking pictures this year, mainly because they got climb and play on the rocks and dirt, see the fish, and find fossils....So what do ya think? My how we have changed in 7 years!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to the only man who is willing to deal with me for eternity! A lot has happened in the last 7 years, and we have so much more to look forward to! Can't wait to see our pictures we took this morning and looking forward to our Eclipse date tonight! I love you so much and sure am glad I made the right decision ALL those years ago when I was 18. Love ya much!

Wardle reunion 2010 part 1

I wanted a picture of out shirts.

Our couple picture ( also known as our "before we lose a whole bunch of weight and look amazing" picture)

Hike picture

Our horse family picture

Kevin's horse pic

Cameron's picture

Tyler almost getting up on the wake board.

my babies...

me and Cameron on the tube...

Kevin... right before he went under!

Cameron being cute on the boat.

That is all the reunion pics for now! I hope to be collecting the rest from everybody else! 4 wheeling, beach pictures you name it! We had a blast!

Before we left for vacation we had some fireworks.. the kids favorites were sparklers!

Summer fun!

the boys wanted to get out the slip-n-slide and yesterday was the perfect day! they loved it!

It was especially fun after Dad came home and jumped on with them! Between the slip-n-slide and the bubbles, the backyard had at least 4 inches of standing water at the end of day... but I think it was worth it!

A sneak peek...

So we decided to redo our guest bathroom it is tiny and the ugly yellow/white that it always has been... Here is a before...

Here is the pre-after!.. I haven't quite finished the little decorations that will make the place great!...but me and Tyler really love it!

What do you think?

Before and After Home Improvement

The front door: the plain jane construction door, and apparently I didn't take any "afters" with the tape off the door, lol. I'll have to do that later!


Before: plain jane, white, same as when we bought the joint look.


During: my message to Tyler, his message back (he added the 2) :)



After: the exact color I saw in my head, the cabinets just "pop" P.S. don't make fun of my messy fridge, I was on a "free from kids time line" I will clean it now that the kids are back.



So what do you think? not bad for a couple of days without kids huh?... but thats not all, we have a few other projects that got started but are not quite finished cause I was missing my kids too badly... but before and afters will be up soon!

My dream home..

So all this home improvement has me dreaming of my dream house... I think it is so fun to go look through floor plans! ( this is a list of things I would change about the house we are in now, as well as those things that "would be nice" as well as a few "if I won the lottery" things)

• A Flat lot

• A lot big enough for a garden and a few fruit trees with room leftover for the kids to run and play as well as the dogs!

• I like a one level house with a basement over a house with two stories.

• On the ground floor there must be a bedroom with a bathroom or two bedrooms with a bathroom, ( I don't know why but I always picture one of our parents coming to live with us when they get old... my parents deny this will ever happen, and I have never asked Tyler's parents about it.)

• I like having the idea of all the bedrooms on one floor and the rest of the stuff on another (other than the whole grandparent suite thing)

• You can not see my kitchen or my family room from the front door (deal breaker)

• I would like to have a guest room. ( that isn't the storage, catch everything else room)

• I like the kitchen, breakfast nook, family room combo, just wish they weren't all the same room divided only by flooring.

• In my mind a formal dining room (only used for Thanksgiving and Christmas)is a waste of space...

• Give me lots of windows.. I love natural light! I love covered porches!
  

• I want a beautiful bulb garden in the front yard!
  

So that is some of my wishes... what are yours?

My Style...

So we have lots of projects lined up for this summer and we have been doing a few home improvement things around the house, I have been looking threw some great DIY blogs... I love them... I get lost in them and at times the kids have to come get me..lol. The funny part is, I have no style... My husband hangs everything in our house, has every move we have ever made.. and he has great taste.. so that works for us! But as I do more and more projects I find things that I don't like, and things that I just love! Here they are:

• I like solids or wide stripes, very few patterns ever catch my eye... way to busy!

• I like textures, I like fabric to have textures...(think my headboard fabric)

• I do not like flowery fabric!

• I like stone, but it is way out of my price range..:)

• I like silver over gold.

• I like light colored wood over dark.

• I don't think you can go wrong with a new coat of paint! (unless you are painting over light wood..bad!)

• I think bedrooms should have a darker more subdued flavor, while kitchens, bathrooms and family rooms should all have a brighter feel. (how to get this to flow.. I have no idea)

• Windows are made to be opened

• The simpler a window covering the better.

• If you have a big wall, you should have a big picture, or a bunch of little ones, but never both.

• I don't want clutter, crafts and pictures of people or things that I have never seen in real life are not decorations, they are clutter. The only pictures in my house are of my family, temples or of religious significance for me.

• I believe that your decorations should reflect the things you love.

• My one exception: Decorations can be useful... i.e. I use the "decorative" trivets that hang on my wall.

• I like glass shelves, and am perfectly fine with only a few things on each shelf. no need to over do it!

• Trim should be a different color that your wall.

• I love crown molding, have never had any, but it sure makes a room look rich!

• Lighting fixtures bore me. Haven't found one that makes me want to Do it myself yet.

• A large mirror can change a room.

• An objects use usually trumps "but it looks cute!"

• I love the look of bead board and board and batten. Think it is a cheap way to dress up a room!

• I don't buy things "aged" or "antiqued" ... I will add my own dings thank you!
  

So thats a taste of my style, whats yours?

The matching footboard

We made the matching foot board last night! Never realized that there was a need for one, but I LOVE IT!

pictures?

Remember my boys pics last September? the photographer who took those great pics here and here is having a giveaway!
check it out here!

Wanna see something cool?

at least to me!....

this is 4 of the 5 boxes we put in... the 5th is under the tarp in the back and we put one around the apple tree... so excited... I think I am gonna go put my "cold season" plants in! yeah! the wire thing you see leaning against the fence are where are am going to be growing my trellis plants up! I have 4 of them! wahoo!

now we need to put the watering system together! (Tyler is sooo excited... ok not really, but I am!)

Pure Joy...

Unloading of Pictures

AWWW... yep they sleep like this most nights!

Kevin just ended his first season of soccer... he is the one in the white jersey with the red hoody, he did great! The first practice was spent mostly lying on the ground but he got more and more into it after that. We got the "they aren't sharing" comment and the "I need a break" but over all he did much better by the end of the 4 week season. It was a lot of fun to watch him with is team.


Grandma and the boys being cute!

Kevin rockin his soccer gear with his boxer briefs!
And drum roll please......


I finally uploaded a pic of the paint job in the master bedroom.. three stripes on the South wall...and!

I have finished the headboard that has been two years in the making... literally, got the fabric two Christmas' ago, and the board and batting this Christmas... I don't know about you, but I LOVE IT! ( now Tyler is telling me to go order more to make a foot board...lol.)P.S. it will be a little taller than that, it isn't mounted yet.

Other than that we have been working hard in the yard. We built the garden boxes and got the dirt and even put one of the boxes in, now we just need to get to the rest of them. do the fence post for the raspberries and tomatoes, pick weeds, I could go on and on.. but really we love having the nicer weather and being outside ( the boys love it too) Tyler went on a camp out and had Scout-o-rama this weekend so we only got a half a days work in yesterday but we got everything mowed and edged... the yard is starting to look a lot better! Spring really is my favorite time of year!

Its never to early to force higher education on your children...

So the boys were splashing in the tub last night and I asked them to stop, more water came out... so what did I do? it went something like this...

Mom: "you guys need to stop splashing the water of out of the tub"
Kevin: "why"
Mom: "because you guys are gonna ruin our bathroom floor with all the water and then there isn't gonna be anymore money to send you to college"
pause..
Kevin: "but I want to go to college"
Mom: "then keep the water in the tub"
a couple of seconds pass as he thinks...and i chuckle to myself
Kevin: "hey mom, whats college?"
Mom: chuckling "college is where smart people go and get smarter, its called higher education"
Kevin: "Oh, I thought you said that me and you and dad were going to go to college to get brushed?"
Mom: "nope honey, you get brushed at the dentist, this is college"...

p.s. the dentist conversation is pretty funny too!

Later Tyler asked me how college came up in the first place... when i told him it was because i was trying to get the boys to stop splashing in the tub, he laughed, said "nice" and realized, i will do anything to push higher education on my boys....lol.

You have to start early! HAHA!

Where else do youth think i could slip in college...
"you better finish you food, or you won't grow up big and strong or go to college"
"you better clean your room, or your college roomate with think your a wierdo"

Easter weekend

So we had a blast traveling down for Easter/ conference/ baby blessing weekend to Utah. All fo Tylers siblings (6, plus spouses) plus grandkids (25 top be exact) had a grand ol time! Baby blessing of baby Hunter, family pics, and and easter egg hunt like I have never seen before! (egg hunts with only two children in your family are way different!) it was so much fun! the kids loved it! got some great pictures and enjoyed lots of family time! the boys were so beat this morning I let them sleep in a miss preschool and speech.. I know I will regret it later, but I figured they needed their sleep! Plus Uncle Ken was there! so the kids got to see ALL of their aunts and uncles! It was crazy fast (we even had to cut out early before the birthday party!) but well worth the drive! I'll have to get picture from Ty later... so cute!

Proof that it is all in how you look at it...

So I ran to Target on Monday with Cameron while Kevin was at preschool. As many of you know Target has these very large red balls sitting in front of their store, well, as we were walking out of the store my two year old being the boy that he is ran up and kicked one... he was very surprised to see that it didn't move... the funny part was there were two older ladies walking into the strore, the second he kicked it, one chuckled, knowing exactly why my two year old "100% boy" would have kicked a giant ball.... The other lady scowled at him like he was a delinquent who didn't have respect for anything...lol. I quickly explained that those balls aren't to play with... that they were way to heavy to kick, then both ladies started laughing...

When we pulled up in front of Target this morning, Cameron in that back seat reminded me that those balls are to heavy to kick! :)

Randomness

• We bought a partner tree for our Apple tree and will be planting it on the other side of the yard, it is a dwarf granny smith (Tyler's favorite)
• The tomatoes and peppers are growing nicely on the counter
• We just threw out our 2nd large dumpster load of gardens stuff away (weeds, old corn stalks) and only have a 1/3 of the garden left.
• We are buying some hog fencing for a fence for the garden this year (way excited!)
• We are growing, watermelons, honeydews, cantaloupe and cucumbers up trellis' this year (thank you Brett!)
  
• We are excited to put in a watering system (PVC, I have been told is very easy, way excited, although I am sure the neighbors will be the excited ones when they don't have to water when we go on vacation...lol)
• We are in the 60's today, and they boys are covered in dirt...love it!
• We enjoyed a trip back to Washington with Uncle Ken to see Grandma and Grandpa over spring break.
• Grandma took me out, got my hair cut and colored and got me and manicure and a pedicure the day before HER birthday... how that worked out I don't know.
  
• Me, Ken and Tyler went back to High school. Saw one of my and Ken's favorite teachers, saw what they are doing to the school and what they have already done... holy cow! Change!
• Drove past the new High school in town, still is weird to have more than one high school.
• Enjoyed some time on the Dingy, Dad got a new motor for his boat, so we all went out and enjoyed a couple of minutes on the Columbia... the boys loved it! They were sure they were Whale hunting.
  
• Tried to watch Avatar in 3d.. got sick, had to walk out. (since Chemo, I have major motion sickness issues)
• Cameron is now pointing out letters when he sees them, he knows about half his letters
• Kevin now draws his letters with no help and is starting to spell out words he sees.
  
• Cameron can count to 10, Kevin counts to 20
• I am finally getting back into a routine with the house, keeping it cleaner, keeping up instead of having to catch up, making life at home much more pleasant.
• The boys are growing up to fast and surprise me more and more everyday.. they are best friends and tag team Mom every so often.
  
• We attempted potty training with Cameron, and he goes on the potty when he wants to, he is in a stubborn stage and wants to do it his way... surprise surprise.
• Tyler is loving teaching Technology, got a night school digital media class to go and is enjoying it.
• Tyler is also applying for the PhD program at ISU to start next fall. We are excited to finish what we started.
  

Oh my, oh my...

So I sat down tonight to work on a sewing project, three hours, three bobbins and a really funny looking towel later, I finished the first of 4 projects... ( every time I break out my sewing machine I am reminded just how novice I am) I am making hooded towels to auction off at the Wardle reunion this year, for one, my kids have almost grown out of theres, and two they great for the beach and after swim lessons for keeping the kids warm, plus they pull over the head so the kids can still use their hands to eat and play and all that jazz...The next few will be made smaller and hopefully will go a little faster without so many issues....

Here are my models, Cameron, Kevin and Tyler, I made them for older kids so it looks a little big for Cameron and Kevin but I obviously didn't make it for Tyler, he was just so darn cute I had to post it!

Plus here is a picture of Kevin's eye when he had all his issues, just ignore the butter smeared across his face (he was eating toast)