sing, sing a song

We hosted Family Home Evening at our house Saturday night for Dan's family--something we trade off on a monthly basis or so--it's always so fun and a way to keep everyone in touch and the cousins growing up together, since none of us live in the same cities.

We had a yummy dinner, enjoyed a campfire in the backyard, and then came in for some SingStar karaoke.  So Fun!!

  Bradley and Jared singing "Eye of the Tiger".

          Becky and Dan doin' a little "Mo Town Philly".

      Sean and Scott doing "Our House" I think?

  Emma being cute.

 

And Madi being her happy self with Grandma.

 Jack finally gets his turn at "Eye of the Tiger" !

Cameron did one song (sort of) but that was before I got my camera out--after that he was content to play drums on my food storage cans in the corner.  :)  Ethan had no interest in singing.  I did a couple of songs but no one thought to take a picture of me, lol!

This was such a fun night, something we'll have to repeat in the future!

just overheard, from my kids

(while playing online video games)

C: Be killed by my wrath!!

E: What's a wrath?

C: Like...a sword...

E: Oh, ok.

i'm finally there

In Nursing School that is. :)

After a year or two of some pre and co-requisite classes and being on the wait list for 18 months, I have finally started my Nursing School education!

 It's beyond tough.something like 250 pages of reading alone assigned for the past two days, along with online stuff for each chapter, 4 chapters of math, and something like 50 skills videos to watch and review.

 But I'm so happy I'm finally here, at this point, making progress, and learning new things.  Wish me luck, the next 2 years are going to be busy!

(which will explain why my blogs will like fizzle out a bit!)

a blog tag -- haven't done one of these in a while

Q1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you aren't anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously so that you could be anonymous now?
I don't blog anonymously, at least not really. I choose to not purposefully share my last name and location, but otherwise, my details are out there. I've never really wanted to be anonymous...I'm fine with people finding my blog through various outlets (scrapping, my ward, BlogHer, etc) and have made many friends that way. I know that wouldn't have been possible if I had a private blog. This is definitely a personal decision, and I am comfortable with my current stand.

Q2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.
Totally stubborn in my refusal to join FaceBook. Do I think it would be fun? Sure. Do I think I'd reconnect with those long lost? Definitely. Will I join? Heck to the No.

Q3. What do you really see when you look at yourself in the mirror?
Oh gee, lots of things. I see wrinkles, but a happy person who has earned every laugh line. (cheesy!!) I see cellulite but I also know that I have worked very hard to slim down from my prior 200lb frame and am very happy with my current look. I see a maturing woman who finally knows what she wants to be when she grows up. :)

Q4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
Diet Strawberry Limeade from Sonic.

Q5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Right now? Study! Beyond that, read. Ideal? Reading in the bathtub with a bowl of peanut butter M&Ms at my disposal.

Q6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life?
Finish Nursing school in 2 years! Serve a mission with my honey when we are old and retired. Raise happy kids, have grandkids.

Q7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching?
Definitely not the clown and I never ditched. But I was shy and I did do my best to get the best possible grades I could. It was really my only thing...I wasn't into sports and I grew up in a teeny tiny town where sports were really the only Thing To Do. That and get drunk after the sports games, which of course I refrained from as well. But yes, I was totally shy, but comfortable with my very small group of friends.

Q8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see?
First of all, Merriam-Webster has several definitions of 'poignant'. Yes, I had to look it up.

a) pungently pervasive (huh?)

b) painfully affecting the feelings (our rollover car accident in 01, looking at the driver's side seat next to me and finding Dan had vanished, not knowing where he was, if he was alive or dead, etc)

c) designed to make an impression (both of my major career moves...sign language, and then health care, and the decisions that led up to them)

d) pleasurably stimulating (happy moments and memories with my family camping...and any memory having to do with chocolate)

e) being to the point (I'm a pretty matter-of-fact girl. Not black or white mind you, but I generally see things as one way or another with very little gray in between. Sometimes thats a good thing, sometimes not)

Q9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog, or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
I'm pretty comfortable about writing about myself online. I'm not perfect and I'm just as likely to write about my failures as I am the successes. Yet, ask me to talk about those things in person, I'm likely to shut down and lose my words.

Q10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

Definitely read. Reading is easy, an escape, relaxation. On the phone I sound like a 13 year old girl and can hardly put 2 clear thoughts together.

Thanks, Leaner, for tagging me. I tag Emily because she hasn't updated in many moons (shoot I just noticed that you updated yesterday, woot woot!), Chris because she IS updating every day and I love that, Laurie because I love her introspectiveness and am curious about her answers, and CC because she just had a birthday and I still need to give her a present. :)

a'camping we a'went

We didn't get to get out and camp much last year, between schedules, weather, baseball, basketball, flag football, and scouts we were just too busy to get away too much on weekends.

So last week, Ethan pipes up and says, "In 10 days, we're going to go camping!" And every day after that, his time frame adjusted accordingly.  In 9 days.  In 8 days, and so on.  Until last Wednesday he said "Tomorrow we go camping!" and we had to remind him that no, we had school.  And after that no, Dad had work.  And so on, until we actually came up with an overnight that worked.  We did just celebrate MLK day y'know?

Thusly, we drug brought our good friendly friends along with us and did a quick overnighter at the White Tanks.  {FYI, overnight camping is now $17.  I hate to be a cheapskate, but $17 for desert camping?  Are you serious?  Yes, yes, it's an actual campground and there are bathrooms, but it's still the stinkin' desert--not a pine tree or river in sight.  Oh well.}

I took over 270 pictures.  LOL!  Not because I had anything really worth shooting, but it was just so fun.  *in love with my camera*

We started out with a bit of cactus in one kiddo's leg.  (2 points if you can guess who it was--I mean, could it be anyone but him??)

 

Then, some seriously crazy cute poses from Cavazos kids.  :)

 

Kids did some playing at the playground while we set up camp.  (We specifically chose our campsite because it was yards away from this play area.  Score.)

 

And I played with my camera some more.

 

Hello, Phoenix.

 

My night setting pics didn't turn out great, so I just used the flash and blinded everyone during dinner.  *grin*

 

James made carne asada to share.  I made hot dogs.  :)  If you ever get a chance to sample James' cooking, take that chance!

 

Next, some fun.  Out came the silly faces, the hot cocoa, the s'mores, and"Angry Bird" on the iPad (we were all pretty much instantly addicted).

We went to bed, and although some were freezing, it really was a pleasant night for our camping standards.  :)

 

Morning came and my chance to shoot some sunrise shots.

 

Is it bad to aim your lens directly at the sunlight?

 

Next up, some seriously goofy kids!

 

Love you too, buddy. 

Next up, breakfast.

 

Chorizo, eggs, poptarts, donuts, cereal, milk, and juice.  Serious yummage going on.

 

And back to the park for some more fun.  (that thing really hurt my bum)

Camping at White Tanks over MLK:  success! 

We had a busy busy day planned after that, including basketball practice for Cameron, a craigslist sale, studying for me, and visiting my brand new niece that I will hereafter regard as "Lizard" to protect the innocent.  Wish I could share pictures because she is cute cute cute!  Congrats to my Bro and Sis-in-law on their new addition and becoming parents for the first time!

And thanks Chris and James for roughing it with us!  :)

a first for my last

I was really surprised when one evening this past weekend, Ethan excitedly shrieked, "I HAVE A WIGGLY TOOTH!!"  See, Ethan is 6, and my other two were nearly 8 when they lost their first teeth.  I figured we had at least another year until this landmark occasion. 

Alas, one day it was wiggly, the next day it was out!

I have to admit, he IS pretty cute with that hole in his mouth.  :)

 

(I saw this pose in a scrapbook magazine like 10 years ago and I've always wanted to copy it!)  :)

my chandelier makeover

When figuring out what I wanted done with my kitchen to lighten, brighten, and update it a bit, one thing was for sure:  I had to get rid of the oaky-oak ceiling fan.  Either paint it, swap it out, something.  I'd seen a bunch of chandelier redos online and started looking on craigslist.

 

I found this beauty for $20.  And on its own, it's really not a bad piece.  But I had plans.  Big plans!

 

First I taped off all the electrical bits and pieces.

 

Then I hung it out in my workshop for the painting process.  (my kiddos' playset in the backyard.  Sorry Britney, for photographing the back of your house again)

I spray paint primed it white--doesn't it already look better?

 

Then I spray painted it white.  (I generally stuck with Krylon spray paints for all my kitchen projects)

Then the fun parts, accessorizing!

I bought beads at the dollar store around Christmas time, and bought prisms on ebay to glam it up.

And here's the finished project!

During the day.

During the day with the lights on.

 

At night.

And here's some more, just for fun.

  Can you tell that I LOVE it??  It was really pretty simple to fix up and install (so says Dan) and between the initial cost, the primer, paint, beads, and prisms, I think I spent around $50, so I think it was a good deal.

doorknob makeover

My home was built in 2001. And thus, everything in it was either adorned in oak or brassy brass. I really like the brushed nickel look, but replacing all my knobs and fixtures just wasn't in the budget.

I was sick of it. Sick of it I tell you! I had seen a couple of tutorials on spraypainting your doorknobs and fixtures, and figured I would try whilst redoing my kitchen.

It's actually very easy to go from this:

To this:

I'll share with you some techniques and some pros and cons of the project.

First, take out your knobs and plates, etc. I was working on my pass through doorknobs on the pantry and my back deadbolt and security doorknobs. (See me in the reflection? I'm not wearing any pants. Just kidding)

I sanded all the nooks and crannies really good using this 3M Sandblaster Pad. It was upwards around $4, but can be used multiple times on multiple projects without a lot of wear and tear. Sand good! Sand well! Sand it sand it and sand it some more.

Mine looked like this when I was done sanding. Then I stuck the knobs and screws into/on a box that I could easily move around. I took them out into my front yard and started spraying with Rust-Oleum's Clean Metal Primer.

This stuff works great.

The primer is whitish, and I did 2 coats.

Then I used Krylon's Brushed Metallic Satin Nickel spray paint for the final finish. I did 2 coats.

I love this faux finish. It's a little bit sparkly and has a great modern look to it.

The back door knobs were just a little trickier due to the dead bolt. But I got 'em off and on there all by myself without any problems.

Now, having said that, I'm not sure I'll do the entire house worth of knobs, being that in high traffic areas, these get scratched up pretty quickly. This little scratch happened literally 2 days after the knob had been installed. I love the look, but I'm not sure its practical for knobs that are used often. Or maybe we're just too rough, not sure.

In all of the tutorials I read and watched, none said anything about adding a protective coat over the finished product, but they did warn against possible flaking and/or scratching in highly used areas. This is probably a technique better suited for light fixtures, knobs that are never used, and hardware on doors and cabinets.

I will definitely keep these in my kitchen for now, and possibly touch them up as I need to. Eventually I may just end up swapping them out for the real thing, but those are expensive, upwards of $17-20 a set! This was a quick cheap project and I have plenty of supplies left to do other knobs if I feel up to it later.