For the last few weeks, I've been working really hard to get things put together in the house. It's taken a long time for me to have the energy and time to get up all my pictures and decorations. And, I was trying to get my house ready for an Uppercase Living party. I wanted the house to look nice for all of my family and friends. Well, I've gotten most of it done now, and I've even put up most of my vinyl sayings from Uppercase. So, I though I would give you a brief tour through the house, and tell you about some of the pictures as we go along!

Well, the outside of the house is still pretty barren, but eventually it will have grass. Until then, I'll settle for a pretty wreath on the door, and my welcome angel.

This is the front living room, from both sides. I've placed one of my favorite sayings over the piano.

This desk near the front door is an antique that was given to Doug. It once belonged to his great grandmother. It's a beautiful piece of furniture. And, sitting on it, is one of the heirlooms I've been given, which is one of the small teacups that my Grandma Poulton collected over the years.



Then, straight past this room is the kitchen and dining/bay area.

I love the hardwood floors and the cinnamon spice knotty alder cabinets. And, I love the long, raised bar, as it's really easy to be preparing a meal that you can just hand or set up close.

To the side of the kitchen is a common area, where the french doors go out to the back, and we have our hutch.


From here, you can go right into the family room. This room has my favorite light fixture, and one of my favorite wall sayings. I love the light because of the "crackled glass". I've always liked that look. There is also the lovely tapestry that Lana gave me of a Greg Olsen picture. I couldn't figure out where to put it, because I love it so much, and I wanted it to be just right. I thought near the family room would be good, as we'd see it every day.




If you don't go into the kitchen, but head upstairs, you will see one of the other sayings I've put up, along with a style of clock that I have been wanting to get for years. I finally have a wall big enough!


When you get upstairs, my room and bathroom are really the only places mostly pulled together, as far as decorations go. So, I'll show you a bit.

This is the bedspread set I got for Christmas, after I'd had the beautiful purple one I loved for 12 years. It was time for a change, even though I still love purple.

Lana gave me the picture of the Manti Temple which is above our bed. It was my birthday present last year, and I couldn't wait to put it up in our new house. She has given me two of my most favorite decorations, although they are much more than that to me. This picture doesn't do it justice, as I couldn't get rid of the glare. Over my mirror is the biggest wall saying I have, and it had to be somewhat romantic I thought, to be in the bedroom. I didn't realize I was capturing myself in the picture too!

Some of the other things in the house right now, are a few other pictures that I've been able to put up, that were given to me by my grandmother. They, too, feel like more than just pictures.
I cried tonight, because while I was working on this, and uploading the pictures, I've been unpacking some things that needed to go in our filing cabinets. One of the Norman Rockwell collector plates that my grandmother gave to me, was on top. I let the cabinet on the top, become to top heavy, and it fell over, and broke the plate. I'm truly heartbroken about it. Jacob came in to see what had happened when he heard the crash, and told me that I should call my Dad, because he is an expert at gluing things back together. He knew, because he accidentally broke one of the plates my grandmother had given to my mother, that she put up above a door. I guess we're "two peas in a pod" when it comes to clutziness.

Well, if you want to see more (although you may not have wanted to see this much!) you will just have to come and visit me! Now, if I can just finish this "unpacking" business in a few days, I will be ready to start working on some lesson plans for school. It's hard to believe we are already in the last month of summer. I'm in that position right now, where I feel like I might need a vacation from my vacation!

Yesterday was a very hard day for Cody. It was the day he got his braces put on. He was dreading this day because he just didn't want them, because they weren't cool! But, alas, when you have a ti nee tiny mouth, you have to stretch it out for all those adult size teeth. So, we started the day by having everyone get their normal 6 month cleaning and exam. That way, Cody's teeth would be super clean before putting on the brackets. Nobody had a cavity, except for Cody. And, it was on a tooth that was going to be covered by a bracket. So, it had to be filled while we were there. The room that has the laughing gas was already being used. So, Cody had to get the dreaded shot to numb up his mouth. So, that was great fun! Then, there's the fact that...

Cody hasn't been able to get in the pool at all for over a week, because he got an infection in each of his ears. He has tubes, and even with the ear mold plugs, he still got one. So, he's been on medicine for that. It was time for his 10 day re-check, to see if things were clearing up. The doc said that things weren't cleared up yet, and we would need to bump up in medicine, and drops into each ear--and still no pool. That one was the kicker! He begged me all day to go in the pool, because he would just keep his head above the water. It was hard to tell him no. So, his mouth hurt from getting the braces on, was numb for quite some time, his ears were still draining some fluid and he had to start taking a really NASTY tasting medicine... and he couldn't get in the pool. Bummer day! But, he's doing better now as he's eating really soft food.

Things will be 100% better when his friend Erin is available to play again. That was the other bummer thing for a few days. His best buddy was gone, so he didn't have anyone he wanted to play with!

4th of July!!!

Yesterday was lots of fun, as I had the family over for a BBQ and to just hang out and talk or swim in the pool (it was the first swim of the summer, so really anticipated by the boys!). Doug had to work pretty much all day and night, so I recruited my brother Morri's help in order to cook the steaks and hotdogs. He did an excellent job as chef! He really was a trooper by doing this, as it was truly hot outside!

Cody was the one who stayed in the pool the longest, and seemed to be enjoying it the most. The other boys went back and forth between the pool and playing their DS games. It is a very captivating activity, as you can see by the picture. Our nephew Xander is really into Pokemon now, as he loves to sit and watch his older cousins play their games.

The other fun thing for me, was to get this cute picture of me with my Mom and all my sister-in-laws, except for one (Breanne, Me, Mom, Liza, and Lana). Mom's birthday is this next week, only she will be in California visiting her mother and sister. So, we celebrated that a bit too, with my sister-in-law, Breanne, giving Mom a fun scrapbook calendar that she makes for her each year.

Cody Has Earned His Wolf Badge!!

This was actually about a week ago, but I just got around to putting a few more pictures on the computer.

Although our ward here is not quite as good as our previous one for making Pack Meeting a more exciting event, they did try and make Cody feel like he had done a good job in earning his badge. He was the only boy receiving an award, so Pack Meeting was really fast. That may be why it didn't seem like more of an affair for him. He's already gone to his first Bear den meeting, and still seems to be loving scouts as much as ever. He is always excited to go and do any activity that involves scouts, as he's always been very willing to try new things. He also earned one gold arrow point, and is working for more silver arrows now. He's seen both Jacob and Jeremy get to do all kinds of fun things as a part of scouts, so he gets a little impatient at times to go camping or work on bigger merit badges like swimming and biking. So, for now, he's going to be working on lots of belt loops that are the same type of thing only scaled down. It's nice enough outside now (although way tooo hot!) for just about any activity (if you have sunscreen, a hat, and a gallon of water!).