Vanity gene

I confess. I'm a carrier of the Vanity gene. It comes from the Hunter side of my family and causes me to never leave the house without lipstick applied (with another 6-7 shades in my purse, just in case), wear shoes that are often chosen for style over comfort, fret a little too much over the condition of my hair, and do things like change my Blogger profile picture numerous times in one month--at least this past month.

In my defense, I kept this--my first profile pic--for quite a while:

Jessie took this photo of me in May 2007 when we were in Utah for a family reunion. I was actually holding Bella on my hip, but liked my hair and the lighting, so I cropped it for my first-ever profile picture.

When I changed hairstyles in December '07, it seemed like I should update my profile once again. It took me awhile, though, as the picture I used was not taken until August '08. Perhaps the update was more a result of my evolution from blogging commenter to actual blogger. This photo was originally a SP of Charlotte, Emily, and me, but I like my eyes--so a quick crop and I have Profile Pic #2.

Almost a year later it seemed time for another update, after all, my hair had changed yet again and this SP I snapped before going to a concert in May '09 seemed like the right choice (though in retrospect, I might have thought to PhotoShop that blemish off of my forehead).

Not one week later I decided to cut my hair and go for a short summer look. I credit (or blame, depending on how you look at it) Susan for the change, as when we were in Vail she brought out her customary stack of hair and fashion magazines in which she had flagged all the cute new 'do's. Mine turned out a little shorter than I had bargained for and I fretted I was destined to look like a Middle-Aged Ball Head. Nevertheless, I felt that my profile pic should reflect my current look.

Now, a few weeks into my new cut, I'm starting to like it more and feel a little less ball-headed. Since I liked the way I styled it today (why is that some days we like our hair, and some days we don't?) I decided to snap these two photos in the afternoon light of my sunroom. Now I can't decide which to use as my new(est) profile pic.

*sigh* The vanity gene can be really bothersome at times.

red letter day!

Look what the UPS man brought to my door today:

Replacement rhinestone sandals identical to my all-time favorites that broke last year!!

A happy day, indeed.

morale boost

After seeing the gorgeous gardens of blogger friends Shannon and Lee, this post seems a bit pathetic, but if you A) knew how little gardening skill and experience I have, and B) saw what we started with, you might just be impressed--or at the very least happy for me that my front yard no longer looks like something that belongs in a neglected trailer park.

When we first moved into our home nearly five years ago suffice it to say that the yard was not the thing that attracted us to the house. The main "garden spot" at the front walkway was a mass of over-grown fitzer bushes that may have been pretty at some time (the house was built in 1959), but had long-since lost their appeal and were nothing but a sprawling mass of spider-infested prickles.

With so much work to do on the inside of the house the outside landscaping lived on in continued neglect, brightened only by an occasional seasonal display on the front door. My attempt at gardening was confined to a pot on my porch which was home to a few lonely petunias and geraniums each summer.

Mark finally tired of my incessant complaining about the horrid bushes and pulled them out at the beginning of last summer. Ah--progress! It was like having a rotten tooth pulled. Finally, a clean slate--or so I thought. Oh. Roots. Lots of twisted, deep roots. Roots that must be dealt with before any planting could take place. Alas, another summer passed--this time with a lovely patch of root-filled dirt as our front-yard decoration--which was, believe it or not, better than the bushes.

Fast forward to Mother's Day 2009 (which of course I have not yet blogged about). Mark surprised me with this beautiful rose bush and a gift certificate to a nice local nursery. I know very little about growing rose bushes, but do know that my favorite color of rose is the one he bought:

We had so much fun going to O'Toole's nursery to select our plants. We chose these two bushes, which I liked for their bright green color, two flats of Vinca in shades of vibrant pink and white, and a flat of a cute creeping perennial with little white flowers. Looks like we'll need a few more gift certificates to complete the project.

Next, it was time to involve the whole family. We spent the rest of that day pulling up weeds and digging out the remaining root stumps. (Yes, we use latex dental gloves for gardening and cooking.)

My parents dropped by at one point and my darling almost-ninety-year-old father helped show John an effective method for manual stump/root removal.

(By the way, my dad still mows his own lawn--how great is that?!)

Ta-Dum! Behold--a root eventually wrangled out by Mark:

The next Saturday I went to buy compost and Mark did the honor of first breaking up the existing clay-filled soil, and then working in the compost. Oh, and did I mention the nasty 40+ year old plastic liner we had to dig out, as well?

Finally it was time for planting! Sarah helped me with this.

Mark dug the holes and planted the bushes, as I'm not so handy with a shovel.

I even re-potted a basil plant I bought for summer cooking.

While the finished product may not look like much yet from the street, and we've already started a list for our next trip to O'Toole's, it looks a heck of a lot better than it did before we started!

Best of all is the morale boost this project has given me. I'm no longer embarrassed to tell people which house is mine, or feel the need to make disclaimers about its outward appearance.

How can you not smile when you have rows of pink flowers outside your front door?

battery recharged!

Thankfully I did have my camera's battery charger with me so I was able to completely document our trip to Vail. Regretfully, however, I have had a difficult and frustrating time managing my photos on my computer, and despite the fact that I have sat down to post three or four different times, I have been unable to upload the photos (in the correct orientation) that I've wanted.

After reading Jill's post, however, I am determined not to let our mountain get-away slip by without proper documentation--no matter how frustrating. It's so easy to get sucked back into the ever-whirling vortex of everyday life and forget you ever went on vacation. So here's my scrapbook, if you will, of our trip to Vail. (My apologies to Jessie, in case it makes her sad.)

For starters, here's the photo I had intended to post at the end of my last entry (but couldn't, due to a dead camera battery) showing the grandeur of trees in the neighborhood:

Before continuing, I must remind you that I already made the disclaimer that we are low-level recreators. We love having little projects on which to work, watching movies together, taking walks, preparing tasty food together--I know, we're a little weird.

I was quite proud of the fact that I actually documented my sister Susan in a RARE moment of relaxation. She is quite possibly the most hard-working person I know. We were happy that Sarah had thought to pack both Anne of Green Gables and the sequel, Anne of Avonlea. We watched all eight hours over our five-day stay and I cried at all the same parts I usually do. I LOVE those movies and haven't watched them in years. (Yes, those are in fact my toes comfortably resting on the ottoman.)

Emily has become a knitting machine! She made this hat and began another project--something called "muffitees" while we were there. We were all impressed by her newly-acquired skill.

Charlotte brought along a complicated counted cross stitch project that she's been working on for several years now. I'm impressed that she has kept at it for so long! It's beginning to actually look like something you'd want to frame and hang on your wall. (Don't you think she sort of looks like Hilary Swank in this photo?)

One of our favorite pastimes was playing Bananagrams, our new most-favorite game. I had to document Susan's frustration at getting a poor assortment of tiles one time. We loved playing round after round of this game and even made up a new rule that if anyone sneezed during the course of a game, everyone had to mix up their tiles and pass them clockwise. It actually happened a time or two, though unfortunately for Susan, not in this round.

Almost everyday, late in the afternoon, we would take a walk in the neighborhood and gawk at the surrounding beautiful houses and scenery. There was a great park nearby and even the older kids had fun on the playground equipment.

I think Sarah would love any vacation destination that had a park like this one.

One day we went into the village (Vail proper) and strolled along the quaint shopped-lined streets. It wasn't until after I had taken this photo that I realized that my nephew Ryan was carrying his mother's purse--too funny! He isn't really a purse-carrying type of guy, but I thought it was sweet of him to tote this heavy patent leather load for his mom.

Here are two of the more interesting looking store fronts we saw:

Many of the shops were closed, or kept odd hours, as this time of year is sort of between tourist seasons.

After several unsuccessful attempts at group SPs, an amused local offered to snap this photo of us (it was before we met up with Ryan, Miles, and Max). There will always be those people who don't grasp the concept or value of self-portraiture.

This one turned out a little better, perhaps because we weren't trying to crowd so many people into the photo.

Saturday happened to be my brother-in-law Fred's birthday, so Susan make a breakfast tower out of one of his (and our) favorite store-bought treats--mini chocolate donuts (or as we like to refer to the little waxy-chocolately "cakes," feaux-nuts).

One night we made homemade pizzas. Regrettably, I forgot to bring a rolling pin. Ingenuity led me to use this can of Pam to distribute the homemade crust (somewhat) evenly in the pan.

My favorite of the four we made was this vegetable pizza, shown here prior to baking:

We introduced the Taylor and Olivier clans one night to a Wood family favorite dinner: popcorn, M&M's, apples, and cheese. Don't laugh until you've tried it--it's pretty darn good. We went all out and had two kinds of M&M's--dark chocolate peanut and my personal favorite, peanut butter. (And if you try this at home, it has to be real popcorn--not the microwave kind.)

Another night we grilled hamburgers--or shall I say, Mark grilled them for us, fighting vast amounts of leaping flames and smoke to do so. I think he may have lost some facial and arm hair in the process.

Eva provided a constant source of entertainment to all of us (with the possible exception of her mother, who patiently dealt with her sometimes unreasonable--though quite humorous--demands). Surprisingly to me, Eva was quite camera-shy the entire time and was not inclined to favor us with many photo ops.

One of the best parts of our stay was literally watching our beautiful surroundings bud before our very eyes. I swear that there were several trees that were bare upon our arrival and in bright green leaf by the time we left.

If you've made it this far in my post, you're probably either related to me or just bored enough to wade through someone else's vacation photos for lack of anything better to do. While I am very thankful that I did in fact have my camera's battery charger with me and could adequately document my trip, I am even more grateful for the recharging of my own battery. It's amazing what just a few days of total relaxation and escape from the daily grind can do to revitalize one!

I have additional family photos but will wait for another post for those. For now, I'm just thankful for a preserved reminder of an enjoyable time spent with my favorite people. *sigh*

Now, back to Real Life.

a little bit of heaven

Sometimes I can't believe I live in such a beautiful place. Granted, I don't actually live in the mountains, but this amazing part of God's creation is only a short drive from my home.

We went for a walk this evening and these photos don't even begin to capture what we saw. I think tomorrow I'll try to go when there's a little more sunlight left. The deciduous trees are just starting to leaf and that, in combination with the lush stands of evergreens, provide more shades of green than even I could name.

It's amazing to me that in the Spring you can find everything from daffodils to pine cones.

You can't really tell how large these trees are until you see us standing by them. I was going to post said photo, but my camera's battery just died. I sure hope I remembered to bring the charger.

Until tomorrow then--I just wish I could post a scratch-and-sniff button so you could take a deep breath of this cool mountain air.

time flies--whether you're having fun or not!

How can it possibly have been more than two weeks since I have posted?! I was afraid this would happen. With my new responsibilities at church I find myself running through each day, struggling to keep up on laundry and other menial household tasks, wondering if I'll ever cook dinner regularly again, and collapsing in a heap of exhaustion late every night

At the moment, however, I find myself relaxing in the Colorado mountains, thanks to a generous friend who has kindly offered us the use of her beautiful vacation home. Nothing could be better than relaxing with my family in a setting such as this. We're what you'd call low-level recreators; give us a few good games, a stack of movies, a menu plan of delicious homemade meals and snacks-a-plenty, and we're good to go.

I'm hoping to steal enough time on the computer (there are others here who want to use it, too) to post a few catch-up items. For now, you'll have to be content with photos from our grocery store escapade last night:

Like I said, we're easy to please.

taking the "tag"

I usually ignore forwarded emails that direct you to "Forward this message to twenty more friends!" I find them annoying and don't appreciate the guilt trip they try to place on the receiver who opts out of forwarding. In the same vein, though not nearly as annoying, I don't usually respond to "Tag, you're it!" messages. Today I'm making an exception, however, as this one I read on my friend Gena's blog actually helped me focus my thoughts when I was feeling behind and overwhelmed by my recent lack of (and time for) blogging. I tweaked it a bit to better suit my need to catch up.

8 things I'm glad I accomplished in the past week:

• Finally finished a bench cushion cover for a sewing client.
• Held my first presidency meeting.
• Welcomed my daughters home for the summer!

• Refused to let the dramatic increase in laundry overwhelm me.
• Washed and ironed my sheets as well as the girls', prior to their arrival home. (Found Moosey cuddled on top of this pile of blankets from my bed.)

• Attended an excellent focus seminar put on by LDS Family Services about depression.
  
• Hosted a luncheon for the high school moms who helped with costumes for the musical. (Thank heaven for the generous help of my own darling mom!)

• Took Sarah out of school early on Thursday afternoon for an emergency matinee with me, Charlotte, and Emily to see the Hannah Montana movie. Smuggled contraband into theater and enjoyed being the only people in the whole room!

• Okay, this is number nine--it's my blog list anyway! Made cute table centerpieces for the Stake Teacher Appreciation evening, with the help of my girls.
  

8 things I wish I would/could have done in the past week:

• Finished organizing the Visiting Teaching routes in my ward.
• Cleaned my bathroom.
• Written some thank-you notes.
• Visited an older, ailing sister in my ward.
• Made something real for dinner more than two nights.
• Planned menus for next week.
• Gotten some ironing done for next week.
• Given my mom a pedicure.

8 Things I'm really grateful for right now:

• Kids and a spouse who help me clean and make me feel loved.
• Brother Hendrix (from another ward) who is fixing a gas leak in our 800-year-old furnace.
• The Relief Society Lesson I finished preparing this morning for tomorrow (as opposed to waiting until late tonight to put it together).
• The internet and a computer at home--even if it's slow at times.
• My BlueTooth wireless headset and unlimited cell phone minutes after 7 p.m. and on weekends.
• Having DVR so I can still watch a few of my favorite TV shows AND skip all the commercials.
• A family who doesn't complain when we have dumb dinners.
• A testimony of the Savior's love for me personally.