Kitchen projects

Over the weekend, Brent was gone fishing, and I decided to work on a few projects around the house that we've been putting off for awhile. I finished painting all the newly trimmed out windows, and they look great! I'm so excited to have them all finished! Now we can hang the blinds and curtains!

Another project I decided to take on was something we've debated about for awhile, a backsplash in the kitchen. So, I went to Lowes, asked a ton of questions, looked at every single tile they had, and picked one out that I fell in love with. After thinking more about it, I'm not sure it's something we want to do, we love the tile, we just dont know if they really fit in with the kitchen, or if it will be too much... so i'm going to post some pics, and would love your opinion on them, feel free to comment or email Brent or I with your comments. (ignore the tape) :o)

Last but not least, Here are a few pics from the last week or two of miss Maggie, the little girl I nanny, She loves Abby, and love Brent, and always ham's it up for the camera :o)

Sick, Sick, Sick

Brent and I thought we could get through this season without any significant illness... we were wrong. We both started feeling kinda crummy last week about Wednesday... then thought the worst of it came this weekend, we'll, today thankfully I got off work really early, and was able to come home and take some meds to help kick this icky cold, but it's not helping that much. So I sit here suffering a terrible cough, stuffy and runny nose, aches and exhaustion, while Brent is already on the mend. I really hope summer gets here soon, I think the back and fourth of the weather we've been having is what caused these super colds, we've had random snow in the middle of sunny days, then it's gone and sunny again, and it was 20 degrees this morning! after record highs in the last two weeks, we get record lows this week, weird.

On a better note, while Brent and I were trying to ignore our sickness this past weekend, we were able to get some much needed maintenance done around the house! Brent fixed our failing fence for the umpteenth time, replacing a few missing boards that Abby took out while chasing a squirrel. I pruned 2 of our bushes out front, the really big one, and the small one we thought was dead... it's not dead! i'm so excited! the branches were green! woo-hoo! we transplanted it from the back yard, and Brent injured the base root with the shovel, it was split, and didnt grow for over a year, but now it's green, so I think i'll fertalize it and love it and hope it grows! This weekend i'll go out and trim the rest of them, but the one big one took over an hour, and gave me a blister!

Spring is finally almost here, and were so excited to finally get back to working on the house, new deck, new fence (sometime I hope), new grass and yard! I'm really excited to be able to use the backyard, and i'll be sure to take lots of pics during the construction process.

This weekend we were able to get together with our great group of friends! We try to get together often, but it was extra special this weekend because Angie was down visiting! I had the kids fair this weekend, so Ang, Marci and Annie helped me with the booth all day, what a great group of friends! After the show Jannette was amazing and made us all dinner at the Mascorro's house! Then it was off to the Bullshead pub in Eagle to watch the Dualing Pianos! it was louder than I expected, and crowded! but we had a great time! I'll post those pics a little bit later.

(below) at the Mascorro's house for dinner

(below) at the kids fair

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Brent was a wonderful husband, as always, and brought me flowers on Friday! They are so beautiful! and they have all opened up and smell so good!

On Saturday we went out to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel... we'd never been there before, and Brent had really wanted to go, so we tried it out, and it wasnt bad! it was very southern, more than we realized, with deer heads above the giant fireplace, and a fully stocked counrty store, with some pretty neat things, we'll definately go back.

That evening we decided that instead of one of us cooking a fancy dinner for the other, we would cook a fancy meal together! We actually had alot of fun! Usually our kitchen is too small for the two of us to be in together, but we made it work, and had a fantastic dinner of Penne with roasted bell peppers and pancetta in a sweet vermouth reduction. and since we had the vermouth, we practiced making martini's, Brent was a great bar tender, and had a whole mixing station set up on the counter, the drinks werent half bad either!

It feels like Winter is almost at it's end! We're half way through February already and I cant believe how fast this year is already flying by! I've been working alot lately, and finally have some time off to blog and post some updates! Every week I try to get the kids out at least once or twice for a playdate with friends. This ends up being just Maggie and I, now that Josh is in school full time, and Matt goes 3 days a week (without any crying now!). Last week we were invited to do something new and very fun, Bowling!! It went well for the first few rounds, we split the kids up onto two lanes, so they wouldnt get impatient waiting, put down the bumpers, and let them roll! Maggie was just barely big enough to hold the ball, but she insisted on carrying it down and rolling it herself! I helped give it a little push sometimes, cause it would go too slow and set off the fowl buzzer, but she still had a great time doing her bowling ball dance to make it go faster down the lane. I think we'll have to do this again soon, we really had a fun time.

(Below) Maggie getting a hug from her friend Roman, and Colton looks like he wants one too!

(Below) Ellie and I waiting for the ball to come back