[ o ] a peek into my life

a visual update

Hello long lost blog friends...it appears as though it's summer, where the days are long, but rarely empty. Too much to do, not nearly enough time to get half of it done.

some house updates:

Not great photos by any stretch of the imagination, but it shows that my office is no longer one of a scrapbooker. My great standing desks are gone (to the basement for other great uses) and I moved in my dad's old desk from his office years ago...and it's still not done, but it's much closer than it was. And it's so bright and airy, that I love :)

the above photo shows that I finally have the shelves up in the kitchen and instead of art on either side of the dining area window, I opted for some of my white fiestaware plates...Jarrod doesn't love it, but I'm happy :)

some birthday stuff from Claire's Hannah Montana celebration.

a nice summer evening

I have more photos and recaps that I want to share, but for today, I want to post some images from our night last night. After a nice dinner with Grandpa we headed home to finish getting the trampoline all set up...dad and Jack played a game of horse and we hung out in the backyard for a little relaxing.

 

 

 

 

 

and last here is an image from half of the rainbow from our Friday night storm:

Lake Powell and other summer fun

Just a couple days after school let out for the summer the family took our yearly trip down to Lake Powell for a week. We had a great time on the boat, found a nice place to park the houseboat for the week and enjoyed lots of family time.

 

There is a great slide off the back of the houseboat, Claire of course loves it and goes down it all the time. Last year I went down it a time or two, but where we parked this year, it wasn't quite deep enough for me to feel too safe. Jack and Max are not huge fans of the slide, but they spent lots of time in the water.

 

The photo above is of Jackson, Claire and their cousin taking a walk along the rocks just above where we had the boat.

 

The above photo was taken from about where the kids were on the last pic looking back down onto out houseboat and ski boat. I just love Lake Powell, I can't imagine a summer without it now.

 

Another pic of two of mine and one cousin...I think Max was inside playing somewhere and wasn't too interested in climbing up the rocks.

 

There go the kids heading back to the houseboat.

 

In this photo above and many that follow you can see the amazing sunsets that we get each night while we're there. We sleep on top of the boat, enjoying the stars every night...and sometimes a bit of rain :( In the photo above you can see Jarrod driving off on the jetski waving goodbye.

 

That's just about the same photo...oh well :)

 

There he is coming back, probably to get a kid or two to take on a ride.

 

There he is with one of the kiddos...not sure which one as all three love to ride the jetski with daddy...mommy, not so much :)

 

The photo above shows all three of my boys coming back after a fun ride. jack and Max's hair was hilarious when they got back, sticking up from all the wind.

 

Another sunset. (really, Carrie? Couldn't have guessed.)

 

The above photo shows a Silent Rock...you must be silent as the car drives through a rock that has been cut to provide room for a road.

she's seven now...

I'm such a bad blogger, but what's new, really? :) I've had family in town since before school got out...went to Washington for my dad's wedding...we went to Lake Powell for a week...my daughter turned seven...and it's just been busy crazy and fun...and tiring. None of that is in order either.

Before I forget to blog Claire's birthday, I thought I'd better get some photos up:

 

She got her much anticipated American Girl doll, Chrissa, who she just loves. I was surprised really at how excited she was and how much she loves her doll. It's so great to see her get her wish.

 

Something that I loved watching was Claire reading all her cards this year. She took the time to go through each one.

 

Grandpa Rick got her several games for her DS, lots of girl games so she doesn't have to play her brother's games anymore!

 

Aunt Sherrie tied the bow from Jarrod's and my present (Chrissa) in Claire's hair.

 

She wanted a Hannah Montana cake, a guitar or a microphone, but we decided to save the cool cake for when she has her friend party and just go with a simple round cake that I added some decoration to (not the coolest, I know) I added the little signs and the candles and it ended up making her happy. At least I'm getting some good use out of those scrapbooking supplies!

 

I love how happy she looks in this photo, smiling as we all sing to her, the center of our attention.

 

After a couple tries, all the candles were out and we got to enjoy the cake.

Here is a link to some photos on my photography blog for those that don't frequent it that show the kids on the last day of school on our adventure downtown to meet dad for dinner: downtown kids photos.

I have tons of photos from Lake Powell to sort through and I'll post an update about that soon. My kitchen/dining area/family room look exactly the same as they did the last time I posted, so nothing new there. Jarrod's still not sold on the color and I love it about 98% of the time...there's a window of time when the combination of natural and artificial light makes it look not so appealing. I'm trying to decide if I care about that or not...I think I just need to finish it up and get over it. I also need new art for either side of my dining area window as my old stuff is too yellow now (those will go elsewhere in the house) and I need more time. Lots more time :)

I'm off now to check on the kiddos, they're doing a little clean up in their rooms and I must say...they are doing a really great job!

more progress...

yet still not done. I need art for either side of the dining area window and shelving to the right of the kitchen window...and I need to finish painting the family room. I  think I will also restain the window casings to match the wood sliding door in the family room (closer match to the cabinets).

Please do not look closely, these are only being posted so people will stop asking :) Remember....I'm NOT done yet :)

 

 

I see in that pic how desperately I need to paint that table. Fast.

I also finally took the print down from above the fireplace in the living room and put up my three kids pics :)

 

Now I'm off to convince hubby to watch AI...much more interesting than news I think :) My guess is that Kris Allen is gone tonight. That makes me sad, I think he's pretty awesome the way he twists his face up when he sings. I think that Danny should go, although I like him too. I'll be very upset if Allison goes.

kitchen progress

here are some photos of the kitchen and the progress we've been making. My mom and Wayne came down for a little visit so we got some much needed help from Wayne (thank you!) and we're still slowly working away. Painting will come soon (in one of the pics you can see 2 paint color samples...I know which one we're using but y'all will just have to wait and see) We're still working a little on the seams in the ceiling because although I'm a pretty good drywall taper and mudder (for someone who's never done it before) I'm not a really good drywall taper and mudder. So we're still working...and that's ok :)

the last before shot I posted for some reference...somewhere I'll dig up an original pic

 

and some progress with the ceiling down

 

other direction...

 

some ceiling up and new soffit built...

 

soffit finished and lights in

 

and this one shows 2 paint samples (on the left side of photo) and how stinking messy this house is...can't wait til it's done!

 

when it's all done i'll take a pic from the family room to really show how much more open it feels :) but for now, I'm headed out to enjoy the sun!

a weekend in california...

such a bad blogger I am :) But I've had posts in my head...I'm needing to revisit my New Year's post about FOCUS and how that's all going, but I wanted to do a quick photo filled post about what's been happening here at the Owens house.

A good friend invited me to go scrapbooking with her a couple Fridays ago, I was looking forward to going, but didn't really know what to work on as I don't really scrapbook anymore. I packed up my bag with some papers that I'd pulled together, some chipboard elements, some punches and a sketchbook. I decided to work on a little banner for spring.

 

In the end, I decided it should be an Easter banner, as I don't really decorate for Spring, but I do (usually) for Easter. It's almost finished and I'll post photos when I get it all done. The interesting thing about heading out to my old store to do some scrapbooking is that I was really curious if it would jump start me back into scrapbooking, make me all excited about the products, make me feel like I was missing out not playing in this great hobby that I once loved so very much. I did feel that I could get sucked back into it...all caught up in the awesome products that are out there. But as I watched the other women scrapbook and my friend work on her album I realized that I just had no desire to create a page to put in an album. None. That leaves me with some mixed feelings. In one way I was glad to finally realize that no, I am not a scrapper anymore. To know that it wasn't just laziness keeping me away from filling up more albums. And in another way it made me a little sad, to know that the love really was just gone :(. I do still feel the need to be creative, do make little paper crafts like these or to put together mini albums (I started working on one while I was there as well when I couldn't go any further on this project). So I guess there still is some love there...it's just evolved now.

But again that leaves me with the "what to do with my stuff" problem. I have an overabundance of scrapbook things to not be a scrapbooker. But, oh how I hate to get rid of it. I went from a girl who could corral her stuff into a little bag to someone who has a room overrun with stuff...how do I go back? What do I let go of and what do I keep? Something for me to keep thinking on...

 

The family went out of town this past weekend. The opportunity to head to Northern California to visit some old friends came up and we jumped at the chance. We've been wanting to get the kids back to the area for a while now, show them where we lived before they were born. We went to Walnut Creek to stay with some friends (and take some very fun maternity photos of our friend who is expecting their third child) and were able to show the kids the apartments that we first lived in when we moved from Seattle to California. On Friday we loaded up the two minivans and drove into the city. The above photo was snapped from Treasure Island where we took a little detour...

 

 

 

We went to Pier 39 and let the kids ride on the carousel, ate at Bubba Gumps, looked at the seals and wandered around, we then headed back to the cars, Max jumped from portal to portal transporting himself :) we watched some break-dancers and then drove to Ghirardelli Square for a little dessert.

 

 

 

 

and I'll leave you with this last photo...one of my fave things I saw while in the city...

one skied wonder

We went skiing yesterday and I took my little point and shoot Canon to take some pics. When I got home to upload (download? which is it?) them to my computer I saw all these old pics from when we went to see Walking With Dinosaurs and also from when the kids had their races from their end of ski lessons day…

 

 

 

 

 

Walking with Dinosaurs was really cool, if you have a kid who is or was really into dinosaurs, like

Jackson

was, then it’s a really great thing to go see. All the kids had a great time and so did mommy, daddy and grandpa.

 

 

 

 

This year the kids took a five week ski lesson session and all of them really had a great time. It was so cool to see how quickly they took to the sport and how we didn’t have to deal with the frustration of trying to teach them  J

Some photos from yesterday at Alta:

 

 

 

I had some photos that I took of Claire and I on the lift on our first trip up the mountain, but they didn’t make the cut for the good old blog. But as we were riding up on the lift, the lift stopped and I decided that was a great time to take the pics, got my little camera out, took a couple shots, and as I was looking down to put it back in my pocket I happened to notice that there were only 3 skis down at our feet. Claire had both of hers, but I was missing one. Oh, joy. We had only been on the lift a short time, but I had not noticed that I had somehow lost a ski. I looked down…it wasn’t half buried in the snow…I looked back, couldn’t see anything. No one yelled at the crazy lady with just one ski. And then I saw about 4-5 people back, someone was carrying my ski. So we rode the rest of the way up the lift with me worrying about how on earth I was going to get off that lift (I already have enough anxiety about ski lifts, rope tows, buses and light rail systems, but that’s a whole different post). Finally at the top, the little dude inside the hut stopped the lift so I could ski down the little hill on one ski. Jarrod was just a couple behind us and then my ski arrived a couple people behind that. While we were fixing my ski (the binding was a little wacko) another girl came off the lift with just one ski too. Made me feel a little less embarrassed J

Living in

Utah

is really a great thing if you like to ski. We’ve lived here for just over 8 years and I haven’t skied once until this season. The last time I was on the mountain was in 99 or 2000 when we went with some friends to Tahoe and we attempted to snowboard (so very much not my thing). I’m not an excellent skier…I grew up skiing winters with my dad, usually getting up at least once a season, more when I took lessons when younger. I enjoyed it. My dad loved it. For the first 3 years that we were here, I was either pregnant or with an infant so I never made the effort. Then we had three little ones, so we resisted the urge to try and wrangle three little ones on the slopes. Jarrod took Jack up a time or two, but until this year, it just wasn’t in the cards for us. It’s great to have the opportunity to just head up to Alta and be skiing in about an hour…and it’s free between the hours of 3-4:30 for the little runs…can’t really beat that. Also turns out that after my third time up this season…I finally feel like I know what I’m doing again – can’t wait until our next trip up!

On the way home, we stopped at some friends to drop off the skiis Jarrod's dad was using and while waiting for daddy to get back in the car the kids were still pretty hyped so I snapped a few pics of them acting silly:

 

*edited to clarify why the kids weren't buckled up :) we were still parked :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

keep in mind...all photos in this post were taken with my little old point and shoot, so they may be a little blurry, pixelated :) Have a great rest of the weekend! and mom, I'll get the other photos posted soon :)

photo recap

random photos...

Pinewood Derby prep (he won best paint job! :) )

 

excited boy before the event...

 

 

there goes the green tank...

 

backyard in the snow today

 

 

this and that

speed limits…

 

Apparently someone has taught my daughter about speed limits because every time we are in the car now she is constantly asking me what the speed limit is where we’re driving…or she’ll see the sign herself.

 

“Mom…the speed limit is 45 here. How fast are you going?”

 

“I’m fine, Claire, we’re going the right speed.”

 

“You sure? Because I don’t want you getting a ticket.” Thanks, babe.

 

EVERY

TIME

 

WE’RE

 

IN

 

THE

 

CAR.

 

oh, joy.

 

 

valentine’s day…

 

A couple days before just about every holiday a white box arrives in the mail…the kids now know exactly what it is and who it’s from. It’s a box of ready to decorate cookies themed to the upcoming holiday from Grandma Carol. For this Valentine’s Day they were little X’s and O’s and hearts. There is ready to mix icing and little candies to decorate with and the kids just love to make them…

 

  

 

 

 

 

scouts…

Jackson is in Cub Scouts and this time of year means the Pinewood Derby (see how I’m acting like I know all about what I’m talking about). Jarrod and Jackson have been doing research on designs and have started working on the little car. Claire and Max are a little jealous and Jarrod decided that all the kids (and mommy, too…because who am I kidding, I was pretty jealous too!) get to make their own car.

  

crafty weekend…

 

Jackson and Jarrod went to

Lake

Powell

this weekend for a work weekend on the houseboat, so the young ones and I were left here to entertain ourselves. We got a little bucket of Perler Beads and made a couple little projects, I made a little mirror for Claire and we did some organizing and laundry and watched a couple RedBox movies. It was a fun weekend.

 

For some reason…this is the smile I’ve been getting lately from the youngest J

 

  

 

 

 

 an IKEA mirror with some chipboard letters from Doodlebug, some IKEA hooks and we’ve got a little mirror for Claire to hang her necklaces and bracelets. Let’s see how long it takes me to actually get this up in her room. J

 

home…

 

A couple of pics of areas in the house that I love…and one that needs some improvement.

 

   

 

I tend to show this area a lot…because I like it J When my aunt Pam came for a visit she brought me these very cool alphabet blocks that I’ve used in a couple areas around the house. Here is a J (Jack), C (Claire), and an M (Max…gee…betcha couldn’t have figured any of that out) next to my fave little dish that holds a hand painted rock from Jarrod’s grandma, and my very favorite little piece of art that my dad gave to my mom many many many years ago…oh, and daisies…gotta have some daisies in your life.

 

The following is a before pic of our kitchen…it’s actually an “in progress” pic as it’s not the way the house was when we bought it. I took those cupboards down quite a while ago, but Jarrod and I have yet to agree on how to tackle this area. I took this pic today to sketch out what I have in mind to see if he can just agree with me already. We’ll see. Not like I went to school for this kind of thing or anything. J

 

  

 

I hope to have an “after” pic in the next year or so…so be sure to stay tuned, hahahaha.

 

 

And finally a recent pic of my office…to show that it’s still pretty clean and that I still do actually use it. Even though there is a vacuum hose in the corner. I’m wondering why that image looks so fuzzy…hmmmm….

 

 

Ok…I’m off to return some RedBox movies (on time, imagine that!) and get dinner started for these kidlets.