Fully Operational

We still have a lot to do to settle into our new home, but we are, in the words of the emperor, "fully operational"! (If you're having trouble placing that reference, ask Travis!)  Anyway, we are LOVING having more space.  Here's a few show-and-tell projects that I've been doing:

A $40 D.I. desk!  This was brown with ugly hardware, Rod chastised me for bringing home such a heavy piece of junk right before we moved!  But after I finished with it, even he had to confess it was a good find.  Just needed $10 worth of paint and viola!  (the new hardware was free- left in a box in our new house by the previous owners!)

This was a dumpster dive!  This was formerly a dresser or something with drawers, because it had these ugly plastic slides in the sides, no back, was brown and completely falling apart.  I bought wainscot for the backing, recycled old shelves from our other house for the shelf, and painted! This is Caitlin's shelf now. Caitlin has her own room, which is very exciting for her.  She's going through a tough phase right now (meaning tough for me!) and I think having her own space came just at the right time. 

Abby's "new" dresser is a dumpster-dived (meaning free!) changing table that's missing a drawer.  Enter some paint, new hardware, and a piece of (recycled) wood for the bottom shelf and viola!  I also put this lacey fabric over the bottom shelf to help it to stay clean.  As a bonus, it gives it this cottagey look I like.  Abby keeps her tea sets on the bottom shelf. 

Just had to take a picture of what I'm up against.  Two things that drive me a little crazy about houses here.  These tall rooms with huge amounts of wasted space are a standard.  It's ridiculous.  For one, you have to hire a painter to paint these tall walls.  That's annoying.  And two, there's enough space to build a whole loft up there!  (which we might do someday).  The second thing that drives me nuts is cheap-o hardware, like light fixtures and door knobs.  Nearly everyone replaces these disgusting gold abominations, and they end up in the trash or at D.I.  If builders just put something semi-decent in homes, there'd be just a little less waste in this world....

Me and the girls have been avid yard-salers these last few Saturdays.  Today one of my finds was two chairs for $5 (not each, together!)  Someday soon they will be cute when I'm done with them, but I just wanted to show you guys...

Another fun D.I. find: a unique tie rack.  The metal holders swivel so Rod can move them to get what tie he wants. 

Mom and I counted the drawers in the kitchen after we moved in.  I went from four kitchen drawers to 14 drawers!! This kitchen is heaven!  Okay, not heaven, because I'm definately not going to be cooking dinner in heaven, but you get the point.  And it has an island.  With outlets.  So cool.

A friend recently gave a pair of chairs to me.  She had gotten them from another friend with the intention of redoing them, but they had been sitting in her garage for so long she decided to pass them on to me.  This is the "before" shot.  The "after" shot is probably like, 6 months away, but I'm really excited about these chairs so I had to show them!

This is Rod's man-cave.  Our house has two attached garages:  a 2-car and a separate 1-car garage.  The one-car garage is the man-cave.  Rod has big ideas for this space.  Today he put up metal corrugated paneling 1/2 way up the wall.  He says it's not the metal paneling he was wanting, but it was left over from a job so it was free- and that's what counts!!

Finally, last show-and-tell item!  This was actually the first project that I did.  We have an under the stairs closet with lots of space.  I ripped out the closet rod and a shelf that was right inside as you opened the door, thus wasting all the space behind it, because you couldn't get to it.  I put the closet rod half-way back, and another one down low for kid's jackets.  Then I put up hooks on the wall for my purses, and used spray-painted recycling bins to sort kids' shoes, hats, and backpacks.  It's a semi-walk-in-mudroom now, and it works great!

Our list of projects countinues to be long, but it is fun.  It's fun too, to include the girls.  Abby helped paint the "mudroom" with me.  Lizzie painted Rod's tie-rack.  It's fun to see them get excited to help.  Up this week on my list:  begin painting the girls' rooms.  Painters come for the "tall" room on Friday.  Get shelving up in the living room.  Enjoy my baby 'cause she's growing up too fast.  Lose a pound. Be a good mom. Get sleep. Stay sane!

p.s. Rod turned 35 yesterday!!! Lizzie got him a BB gun and Caitlin got him Redvines.  They both knew exactly what they wanted to get him, and so that's what I bought.  I thought it was so sweet that they each could think of something fun for their dad that they were excited to give him. 

p.p.s. Caitlin was baptized!!!  Pictures to come on that later.....when it's not 11 pm......

This Could Be Very Bad.....

Someone told me that these cookies taste just like the Girl Scout Samoa cookies. I was very skeptical to say the least. Anyway, I saw them in the store and resisted buying them. What if they are as good? It's like playing with fire. VERY dangerous. Weeellll, when we were in Spokane for Spring Break my sister in law and I were shopping and I passed by these. They were on sale. I think it was the combo of being on 'vacation mode' and 'sale' that made me weak. So I bought them. If you want me to tell you that they are nothing compared to the Girl Scout cookies, that they are not worth the money or calories, and not to waste your time on them-well, I would be lying. Yes, they are VERY good and taste just like Samoa's. I was disappointed actually. I was hoping they would not be a temptation. Store bought cookies don't do anything for me, I usually have no problem passing them by. So there you have it. If you need to satisfy a Samoa craving, you can any time of year. Just be careful. It's a slippery slope!

March Madness

Big news around here: Caitlin's turned 8!! This Saturday she'll be baptized and she can't wait! She was nervous about her interview with the Bishop, but it all went well and she's very excited about being baptized! Here's some party pictures!

$5 is A LOT to and 8-year old! Kudos, Winegars- you scored in Caitlin's book!

Her very own mini glue-gun. She thought this was pretty darn awesome!


For the first time ever, I made a pinata (it's the cat head). If I had known how fun it was, I would have made one a long time ago! It was messy & crafty (which =fun), and everyday the girls were eager to find out how much more I had done on it. This being an "even" birthday, it was a "party" year, which means invitations, favor bags, etc. We had her little friends over on a Friday night, and they watched the new Muppets movie, with Amy Adams and Jason Segal. It's hilarious, I loved it!




The family party cake.

This is my Lady Banks' Rose in bloom. It only happend once a year for a week or two, so I had to photograph it. It vines on an old metal chair.

I made homemade marshmallows! These tasted EXACTLY like store-bought ones. It was fun to make, but I can't say I'll do it again. I am glad though to know how to make marshmallow creme from scratch, that's an essential life-skill, right?

Let me know if this video of Haley works: She's 9 months old, can you believe it??? Where has the time gone?

Birthday and random nothings

If I post about an event that happened within the month, I feel like I'm doing pretty good. Here's a few pics from my birthday weekend. Troy and I got a 4! star hotel (for $70 bucks!) in downtown Portland. It was a lot of fun to walk around and find fun restuarants. I didn't take many pictures, I think I don't take many pics anymore since it stresses me out to think of all the pictures I have stuck on my computer that I need to order prints for, then get them into albums. So I don't take pictures, which isn't good. Anyway, the hotel was super nice. Everything was beautiful. We drank Martenelli's in bed and watched movies. For breakfast we went to a cute funky little place called Pudding On The Rice. I guess they used to be in Utah. Anyway, I had an awesome Crepe (above) with vanilla rice pudding and fresh strawberries. It was SOOOO goooood. Mmmm.

There were some neat old churches downtown. It was a little cloudy and sprinkly, but not too cold.

Here's my birthday card wall. Audrey felt the heart added some much needed 'umph' to it. Kate's card was cute with cut out letters. Everyone enjoyed reading it!

So these pictures are very unorganized, but you get the point, another cool old church.

Friday night we went to the temple and did sealings, then afterwards I chose Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I was craving a fat steak. We also got as Michael Scott would say an "awesome blossom, extra on the awesome."

Post temple, checking into the hotel, Zoolander style.

And there's the steak and potatoes. My plate definenently could've used some veggies. But it was my birthday.

Mom sent me these beautiful flowers from Hawaii. Who knew you could do that? They arrived packaged all nice and secure. They smell good. I'm glad they are still alive in our rainy, cold environment!

Dev had fun with basketball the last few months. Next year he is too old to do the city league, so who knows if he'll go out for the 7th (gulp) grade team.

This ice cream is to die for. I highly recommend.

Cameron did this quite a while ago, probably Sept. I thought it was very creative, maybe a little morbid? he was fasincated with the twin towers going down. He loves to create stuff. I should do a post just on that! I have more pics, but must go take a kid somewhere and pick up another kiddo!

Em's bday...continued

I know it's a day late, but I thought we needed a few more pictures of Emily. Hope you had a great bday Em, we love you!!! I'm so glad you're my little sis!!

Happy Day of Birth to Emily!

Although Emily was born closer to the first day of spring, I liked this picture of a couple of years ago on our trek to the Peter Grubb hut! Emily is always fun to have around. She has a tenderness about her that I love. Can't believe my baby is 23! So glad you are a part of lives. We love you.

Happy Birthday Brooke!!

Happy Birthday Brooke!
We are so lucky you are part of this family.
You are a great big sister, and you are so much fun to be around. You are beautiful, smart, caring and you are always up for a good time.
You always have good advice, and you're easy to talk to-
but most importantly...
you make the most delicious treats!!! :)

We love Brooke!