9 years...

and still just as wild as ever!

Nine years. I can't believe it!
It seems like yesterday we were driving around Moapa with Chase and Meliss.

Handy Hubby

The other day, I sold my Kick Off Your Boots sign. 

I loved this sign!! Dustin made it for me, but the brown vinyl just wasn't working in this space.. so I opted to sell it and order new vinyl in black.

As I was taking pictures of the sign, I thought..
Its a good thing I have a handy hubby that will make me a new one!

Then I realized that I had never taken a picture or posted about the boot bench,
right below the sign, that Dustin built too!!

And then I thought,  
Dustin is so flippin' handy! 
He made the bench and so many other things lately, that I haven't even talked about!

So this post is what ensued... enjoy!

****

Here is a close up of the fabulous boot bench in our mud area/backdoor. 

(Boots By the Backdoor, anyone??)
I'm thinking a double decker like this might be in order, if we keep having kids!

He also built the hat/coat rack on the adjacent wall.
He's built a couple others, in the office, for backpacks as well.

This is the corner by the backdoor where shoes, coats, hats, backpacks, spurs and the like get thrown down!

Since I was taking pictures of the house, I had to document my new paint in the kitchen! 

I've been begging and pleading for Dustin to paint our kitchen, for a while.. but as it would seem I have him on lots of other projects!

But he just finished it about a week ago! I love the color!!!

The next thing in my kitchen, that my handy hubby made, is this awesome chalkboard calendar.
He used chalkboard paint and stuck it in a frame for me.
The cans are just old veggies cans and hold our chalk, pencils and pens.
Everything is stuck to the fridge with magnets or velcro tabs.

I've really needed a place to hang all my necklaces. This would be ideal but I don't have room for it. So I asked Dustin to just build the bottom part. He did a great job! Now my necklaces don't get tangled!!

The boys were in serious need of some kind of bookshelf in their room. But since space was limited I knew a wall mount was needed. I showed Dustin this picture and said, "build this please!"
And he came up with this great shelf!

Mark keeps it full of hunting, rodeo and fourwheeler magazines as well as some classic Dr. Suess and the like.

And last but certainly not least! Luke's new big boy bed!! 

Dustin made it using wood from an old fence that used to be in our backyard.

I made the bedding to match Estefan and Mark's.

Up close of the head board. So sweet.

And here is my handy hubby!! 

I love him so much.

Did I mention he's not only handy but also very good looking. 

The fact that he changes diapers and helps clean just raises the bar even further.

Man... maybe I need to start pulling more weight around the place!

Love you babe! Thanks for all you do!

Are you the king of anything?

Are you the king of anything?

Like what?

Anything. King of the lanes at the local bowling alley.

King of the lanes?

King of the lanes, king of the trolls,

King of the Trolls?

Yes, uh uh uh a clandestine land found underneath your floor boards.

No.

Huh?

No. That's ridiculous.
(Name that movie)

.........

You may not be the king of the lanes or king of the trolls.. but you are the king of my heart.
Love you babe! Happy Anniversary!

Double Negative and Hagrid

During the height of my morning.. er all day sickness, Dustin was so great and helped with the kids and dishes and laundry and cleaning and and and and and everything.. one day he took the kids out to Double Negative for a morning ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, my dad called and said they had found an owl stuck in a fence and he was taking it to the game warden. He asked if we wanted to come see if before he took it in.
Yeah, I got my preggo butt off the couch to see this guy!

It wasn't a Snowy Owl like Harry Potter's but it was an owl none the less, so going along with the Potter theme, we named it Hagrid.. for the ten minutes it was in our yard.

Pretty cool, eh?

A Good Year

Pardonne mes lèvres. Elles trouvent la joie dans les endrois les plus inhabituels.

Happy Anniversary honeybuns!

Simple Math

Dustin and I are working really hard to make our house a home.
One of our many projects is improving our fireplace.

Right now it has water stained bricks (from a leaky chimney) and retro tile on it. :P
I would loooooove to re-brick the front with some stone like this:

but the conservative side of myself (and my wallet) says that tile, like this is the way we should go.

While emailing and discussing the matter, Dustin said the following:

Were not doing that big of an area.

Figure the sq ft of the area were doing. Times the cost of the tile. Then times the cost of the rock. Subtract those numbers for the difference.

Divide the extra cost by the number of days left of your life, figure the cost of your unhappiness per day. Figure this by how many times you will see it a day and shrug with unhappiness, minimum a buck a shrug. Then multiply those numbers (days of your life times how many times a day you shrug)....its overwhelmingly worth the added cost to be happy.

Plus down the road you would have me redo it anyways

I'm just sayin

So the stone it is! :D

This post is brought to you by the letter B!

BABY

Luke is growing so much. He is already three weeks old! He weighed close to 9lbs at his last doctor appointment. {Its weird to think that Mark was bigger than that when he was born!} Luke is filling out and loosing that wrinkly newborn look, spits up like a mini volcano and loves to snuggle with his mama. Everyday Mark tells me, "He's our's. We get to keep him." Yeah we're purdy much in love with him!

BASEBALL

Allie has a new obsession will all things baseball.

She's getting to be quite good! She hits and throws like an All-Star!

See how happy she is!!

Well whatever Allie is doing Mark has to do too!

Dustin says, "Keep your eye on the ball."

Mark closes his eyes tight and swings.. then he says, "You're killin' me smalls!"

But he looks pretty happy too. We'll work on the keeping your eyes open thing...

Dus even batted for a bit. Allie proved to be a better pitcher than me!

BATH TIME

Luke's umbilical cord stump finally fell off last week, so he's been enjoying baths sans sponge! He loves the water and doesn't cry til I get him out. Oh how I loooove the smell of a freshly bathed baby, ooooohhh and the clean post bath hair poof. Love it.

BUNK BED

When Luke moves out of his bassinet, he will share a room with Allie. To accommodate for the crib {which takes up more room than ya think} Dustin built Allie a bunk bed with just a top bunk and we put her dresser underneath. Dustin did a great job and it turned out so cute! Allie loves it!

...now if I would just get her BLANKET finished up she'd be set!

Have a B-eautiful Day!

Little Lumberjacks

Dustin was cutting firewood the other day and the kids thought they needed to help him.

My Big Workin Men!

Mark has a wicked swing! Hi-YA!!!

Dustin cut Allie a little seat with the chainsaw. But don't let her innocent face fool you...

She a little crazy with the hatchet! Watch out!!!

 

Now we have lots of firewood ready for the winter and Allie and Mark have a greater appreciation for sharp objects. Not to worry, no one was greatly injured in the making of this blog post. ;)

When you're 90..

I hope your still goin' 90

Happy Birthday Honeybuns!

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