A couple of rather boring months...(j/k)

This blog definitely has a mind of it's own. It thinks I am done adding pictures.... actually, I had a few more I wanted to include. Oh well, better than yesterday, when it would only let me put one in. So, here we are on my birthday... or actually a couple of days before, when the Topherbugs came up to celebrate with me. That was really nice of them, and we had lots of fun. On my actual birthday, my hubby decided that a trip to Yellowstone was in order, seeing we had the very nicest weather so far this year (it wasn't snowing or raining and it was actually warm). Every time we stopped, he pulled another gift bag out of the trunk, and I got to open another amazing birthday present.... talk about getting spoiled. We came down to Salt Lake and got to babysit Gwenny. We went to dinner at Ikea, where Marti assured us that Gwenny really likes the Mac and Cheese.... yea, maybe she does, but this time she much rather had Grandpa Sam's Swedish meatballs.... as many as would fit in at a time.

Afterwards we went to see Dacia and Ellie, and Gwenny decided that Dacia was enough like her mommy, that she was considered "safe". So she insisted on being held and Ellie didn't mind sharing.

Back at our house, we had a whole bunch for a weekend visit. Alan installed a zip-line for Max, who can now roam the entire lawn without vanishing over the fence (we had to put a few "stops" in and shorten the leash) And Joe installed a swing for the little ones. Thank you again, you two, you are the best!

Professional swing-installer at work.

We had a surprise visit by a pajama clad construction elf named Gracie

Max, Grace and Anya exploring just how long that zip-line leash will go

Father's day surprises for the Sammy, with Alan and Co looking on.

Here is my personal make-up artist... please note her perch... is that the new way of getting closer to your customers?

Jen and kids came along to Las Vegas to visit Emily for a while.... it was hot, but still bearable, and we had lots of fun hanging out at the pool and just being together.

Thanks to Lowes we had a very fun Saturday morning with all the munchkins building very impressive Monster trucks.

Pure joy there at the finished product.

Emily came up to Utah to celebrate Alan's birthday, and the first thing she does, is run a 10k!!! Look at that totally amazing buff momma!

...while Dacia and I were very busy producing a cup cake version of mini sliders. It took a lot of imagination to come up with a cookie or candy version of all the different "Hamburger" ingredients. But we did a very good job and actually managed to fool somebody into thinking it was a real hamburger... he made a funny face when he discovered his error.

Here we are in the middle of the process: 1 yellow cup cake, cut in half, green-tinted coconut, a round piece of brownie, a yellow tinted square of fondant...frosting for mustard and a piece of taffy for the tomato.

real sesame seeds on top.... and the chips are the real thing.... could have fooled anyone.

Are you impressed?

Perfect temperatures in the shade of Dacia's backyard.

A quick stop at Marti's for a fun 4th of July dinner with the Enkes.

So, maybe not an all together boring couple of months..... and July is not over yet. Summers here are totally heavenly.... if they ever come. My yard is so green and lush, everything is in bloom and the fruit trees are loaded. Just sitting out there is a joy. If it would just last for another 6-8 months, there would be no complaints.....actually, there for a moment I thought that was it, because the next pics were so far down, but no, stop! there is yet more to come, so bear with me for a bit longer. Dacia and Joe and Ellie spent a couple of days with us on their way to a Brewer family reunion at the Tetons, so we drove up with them and hiked at Jenny Lake. Here we are at the Hidden Falls on the Snake River, admiring the pretty scenery in person, that thanks to Alan, graces my wall at home.

And here is my project from 2 weeks ago:

First, I got it all taped, then the fun began, I actually got it all done in one day.

I tried out a couple of different colors, and decided on the off white. Lucky for me, I had some paint in the basement, that with some other color additions, turned out just right.

And here is the finished project. The room looks so light, and so much bigger. I love it. I also thinned out the furnishings a bit, it looks a lot less cluttered now.

I also added some finishing touches by making new couch cushions and re-upholstering the rocking chair and a foot stool in matching fabrics.

Here is one of the newly upholstered chairs,

...and here are the others. Dacia, Joe and Ellie stopped by again on their way home from the Tetons. It seems Ellie can't grin without both of her parents snapping pictures of it. Here she is enjoying some watermelon.

And here she is trying out the slide.

Max got himself a favorite place in the flowers, from where he watches all goings on.

We are really getting our money's worth from our yearly national park entry ticket: Look who we met last Friday going thru Yellowstone!

This was only our third encounter with this bear. We had taken a different route, and were at fishing bridge on the big Yellowstone lake, when we saw a bunch of people looking and pointing at the ridgeline of the hills right behind the parking lot. We walked over to see what was going on, when a ranger very authoritively directed us the other way. That's when we saw HIM! but before I could get my camera out and a picture taken, he had disappeared over the edge. We walked around a bit, took a picture or two of the lake and got into the car to continue onwards, when we encountered a big traffic jam... because HE had resurfaced, and was crossing the street. I thought: great, now I can get a picture! but before I had the camera out and was ready to go, the ranger turned the siren on and the bear scurried away into the woods! foiled again! We made our turn and I kept checking the woods next to the road, and there he was again! this time I was ready! and now you can admire him in all his greatness.

This guy here was holding traffic up aswell. By the time we got close enough, he had had enough, and was heading back into the woods, but we still got a good picture of him.

It looks like this is definitely now the end. hope you enjoyed it, we sure did.