Cow Yoga

While Peter was in his PE class at UVU, Luke took me on a walk. One of the things he wanted to show me were these silly cows. I laughed so hard. They are cows doing yoga - bwahaha.

A Roman Dinner

For the past month or two, we have been studying Rome in our history studies. We finished off this week learning about Augustus Cesar (who took over for his Uncle Julius). I decided it would be fun to dress up in togas and have a Roman dinner. It was easier to do since Brandon was out-of-town for work.

The boys lasted about 10 seconds in their togas. Peter accidently caught his toga sleeve in some water and spilled water everywhere. It upset him so much he threw off the toga, stomped upstairs, and yelled at me that he wanted a waffle for dinner instead. Luke kept being super bothered by his leaf crown. He said it was scratching his ear (it probably was). Oh well, you win some, you loose some. I thought they looked pretty cute.

Jordan River Temple

A few days ago, in the middle of the day, the boys and I drove up to Salt Lake and attended the Jordan River Temple open house. It was the middle of the day and no one was there. It was amazing.

We left the house later then I wanted, so we needed to get food before attending the temple. I pulled into a strip mall area and we were lucky enough to find The Indian Palace. I was crossing my fingers that the boys would eat the food because we were all so hungry.

I got lucky, and they both ate the Chicken Marsala - and loved it. I only got the leftover sauce (still so yummy). Peter also enjoyed the Naan bread, and Luke ate all the Mango Ice cream. Although it was more expensive the McDonald's would have been, the food was SO much better.

After getting turned around more then once, we finally made it to a church parking lot and they shuttled us by bus the two blocks to the temple. The boys LOVED riding the bus, and that was probably the highlight for Luke.

Although, at the end he was VERY excited to see this statue of Christ and told me he needed a picture of himself in front of it. It was a sweet request and I was happy to oblige. The boys also said I needed my own picture too.

After we were all the way done we went outside and I had the boys record some of their favorite parts of the temple. Peter's was the baptistery with the oxen. He thought they were amazing. Luke was just thankful it was all over and he could go home and play electronics. That kid can bring me to my lowest point like no other.

Regardless of Luke and his attitude, I was glad that we went. I look forward to the day I can go and attend an endowment session there.

Courtesy of lds.org

Preforming in Provo

The boys and I had the chance to go to the Provo Senior Center to preform. I made the boys each do one of their piano songs. It was so much fun to see how excited the seniors were to see children.

We went during their lunch time so lots of people were there. After each person there was lots of clapping and cheering. Afterward, many of the Grandpa/Grandma's came up to the children to let them know how much they enjoyed it. It was a good experience for my boys to preform in front of people that they don't know.

Peter had to go 2nd and he was very nervous about it, but he did a fabulous job. Luke had no problem with nerves at all. He even told me he didn't need to take his book because he had the piece memorized. A local homeschool Mom coordinated this event, and her plan is to do it monthly. I'm sure we'll be participating often.

Dry Ice Fun

Homeschool has so many benefits. This year, it's been especially enjoyable to have Brandon teaching the boys Engineering. A few Mondays ago, we played around with dry ice (chemical engineering unti study). The boys had such a blast! It was cool to see the chemical reaction part, and even cooler to see what it can do.

The boys really had fun with a shot gun they made for the dry ice. They thought having the smoke come out at Brandon was hilarious. 

A new job?

Every week the boys and I travel to UVU to attend a homeschool PE class. My heart loves that school so much, and I miss being there as often as we used too. I wish, with all my heart, that someday Brandon will work there again. But if not, I'm going to work there once the boys are grown.

This past Friday, I saw an employee I used to know when I worked at UVU. It made the longing in my heart even worse. I came home dreaming of the day when the boys were out of the house and I could go back to working outside our home.

Rewind a few days. We went to this local store and saw a flyer that they were hiring.

Later that night, I told Brandon that maybe it would be fun to have a part-time job. One that I could do in the evenings and on Saturdays. However, I couldn't seriously contemplate the idea until summer was over due because of our vacation plans.

Then, a day or so later, a homeschool Mom posted information about amazon hiring customer service reps that could work from home! It was like the universe kept bugging me about getting a job. Sadly, that one required that you live in a specific state and the hours were in the middle of the day (when we do the bulk of our school). Ugh.

Guess that job isn't going to happen anytime soon. Then, just three night ago I had a dream. It was about my new job. I can't remember where I worked, but it was a dream that caused me a lot of anxiety, panic, and worry. For some reason, I was working full time while Brandon was also at work. So, my boys were home alone. I was freaking out and I couldn't get out of the building to go home.

I was also trying to get work related things done, but my legs wouldn't move. It was the most frustrating feeling ever.  At one point in my dream, I also ended up cutting off three of my fingers and I needed to get to the hospital. But, they wouldn't let me out of the building, and I kept dropping the severed digits. I remember wanting to sit down and bawl, but I was too worried about my fingers so I just kept trying to run to different external doors.

Needless to say, I've made the decision to NOT get a job any time soon. The Universe will just have to wait until the boys are on missions/have moved out of the house. After all, my fingers are at risk.

Bathroom Remodel

I've had the urge to redo our downstairs bathroom for a very long time. Finally, I decided to do it. Brandon was awesome and gave me space to let me do my thing. But, he was right there willing to help when I needed him.

The first thing that needed to be done was removing the mirror from the wall. It was glued on, so it was a nightmare to get off. Lots of pulling (but not too hard) and prying. Finally, we managed to get it off.

It left quite the mess underneath. I was determined to make it look normal again so I primed the drywall paper, put joint compound on it, and sanded. I did those steps on repeat for three days. I wanted to make sure the compound fully dried before I sanded it off. I never got it the way I wanted it, but I feel confident in saying that I did the best that I could. 

Next came the paint job. We painted the ceiling white and the walls (most of them) grey. Peter really wanted to help, so I let him start the project. He was so thrilled and we didn't get too many dribbles. 

My goal was to install ship lap on the wall behind the toilet. I'd never done it before, but I love the look. I was hoping it wouldn't cost too much since we only had a narrow wall to do. Brandon researched different methods of how to do it online, and we finally went to go to Home Depot to buy the wood. We got there and could not find the wood we needed. It was so frustrating. So we bought something we thought might work. When we cut it, it ended up splitting and making a big mess.

So, we ordered the right wood online from Home Depot. That way the employees had to find it and it was ready when I got there to pick it p. The next day we started cutting and painting. Here are the finished slats. If our wall would have been any bigger a table saw would have been essential. But, as it was, we just used a cordless saw and it worked well.

This is the wall freshly painted and almost ready for the nail gun party to begin. The tutorial we were following recommended painting the wall the color of your boards. Important because it would be nearly impossible to do any painting once the boards were installed. 

A nail gun quickly became our best friend during this part of the project. We also used two quarters to determine the space between each board. Thank goodness we had decided take the toilet off. There was no way we could have done this project with it in the way. I LOVED the way this wall looked as soon as the first couple of boards went up. Since the wood we used was very thin we didn't have to use heavy duty nails. Just tiny ones that went in quickly.

After installing the boards, I had to cover nail holes and paint, paint, paint. Although, I had already done a few coats of paint on the boards before, I put another three coats on to cover the nail hole and make everything uniform and smooth. That took a few days to finish (because we still had life to live). 

Then, the fun part came. I got to pick out:

The company I went with ended up sending these super fast. It was nice. We also got a mirror (from At Home), and the light fixture from Overstock (where it was nearly $40 cheaper then Home Depot). Getting all these installed was so much fun. Brandon did this part of the project. 

The last thing I did was paint the vanity using white chalk paint that I had left over from another project. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I knew the ugly color it was wasn't going to work. I'm glad I did it even though I did have to buy new cupboard knobs to match. 

Then, I took the boys over to the Rod Works, and we bought nick knacks. Peter picked a white ceramic pineapple, and Luke picked out a blue glass container. They were so proud to put them in the new bathroom. I picked out the rest of the items. Truthfully, it helps to hide the ugly paint problem we have. Sadly, the caulk that the previous owners used to install the vanity won't absorb paint. It's been a pretty great solution to a very annoying problem.