March 13, 2017

You never know what you will find!  I like to find old chairs to re-upholster.  They are one of my favorite things to re-do.  I found this chair on a local classified site I like to use.  It sat in my basement for months and I finally got to it.  While tearing the old fabric off I heard something hit the table.  It sounded like an old coin.  I love the sound of old coins.  You can hear the difference of the old silver versus the metals we use today.

Sure enough, two old coins had fallen out of the chair.  

One was a dime but I knew it was old by the sound it made.  It was a from 1897.  The other was a really old Mexican coin from 1833.  Can you believe that?  I did a little research and the dime is worth about $5 and the Mexican coin around $50.  Not bad!

And the best part is....the chair is now cute!

March 11, 2017

We spent the weekend at the Bear Lake cabin.  We love to go there and as we looked at our calendar we decided we better go up while we had the chance.  We love to hang out and spend time together and just relax!

March 10, 2017

Maggie has been working hard to learn to play the violin.   She's been working with a really great teacher, Jennifer Ostermiller, for a couple months and she has really improved.  She had the opportunity to play in a middle school solo and ensemble contest.  She did a really great job!

Cora has been taking piano lessons lately so I asked her to play the piano for Maggie.  They both worked together and it turned out just great.

I'm so thankful that music is such a big part of our lives.  It brings such a wonderful feeling into our home and is something that we can all share together.

March 9, 2017

My husband is not as young as he thinks he is!  It's the harsh reality!  Remember a couple weeks ago when we were celebrating Ethan's birthday and the Ninja Warrior gym?  Well, Todd tried the warp wall one too many times and tore his calf muscle.  OUCH!  Here's what his poor leg looks like now!

 

March 8, 2017

Tate has been loving his pre-school class this year.  He only goes once a week because he goes to a class in Brigham City that my friend Heather Gibby teaches.  We have to drive over the mountain to get there and he doesn't really need the pre-school academics so we just go once a week.  The other night he went and got his backpack and brought it into show me all the stuff he had done that day.  These little glasses they made cracked me up!

March 7, 2017

Whenever I leave the house Tate insists that I, "do the I love you sign" to him in the window.  It's really cute that he does that.  I know someday he'll grow out of it but for now it's special!

March 5, 2017

One of Tate's favorite things to do is go shopping at the DI, a thrift store here in Utah.  He loves to find little toys there to buy and sometimes we find really great ones.  This toy we found the other day and he loves it.  We got a whole box of Fisher Price Imaginext building toys but also in the box was this ship.

March 3-4, 2017

Our first vintage market of the year was this weekend.  Todd and I headed to the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City for Vintage Whites Market.  We had a good weekend but it was really cold in the barn we were in.  I about froze Friday night but Saturday was better.  Here's a photo of my little booth.

March 2, 2017

Tonight we went to Ethan's Logan High School wrestling banquet.  It was a nice evening and a chance to celebrate Ethan's first year wrestling.  It was a tough season but we were proud of him for dedicating the time and effort it took.  He was also on the swim team at the same time.  He would get up and go to swim practice at 5:00 am, head to school, and then wrestle until 5:30 pm.  He worked really hard but was able to keep his grades up.

At the banquet Ethan was awarded the Scholar Athlete award for the highest grade point average!  Good job kiddo!!

Ethan with coach Tuvey

Feb. 28, 2017

Some things I've been making for the upcoming Vintage Whites Market in Salt Lake.

Feb. 23, 2017 Ethan's 16th Party

Happy 16th Birthday Ethan!!

(A little late!)

Sam, Hugh, Ethan, Aries, Easton, Dalan

So in January at Tate's birthday party Ethan mentioned how disappointed he was last fall that we didn't do something special for his 16th birthday.  I felt HORRIBLE!!!  I remembered asking him what he wanted to do for his birthday but we never came up with a plan.  We made him a cake and bought him a nice watch and called it good.  Or so I thought!

Well, I decided to throw him a surprise party in February.

We love to watch the show, "American Ninja Worrier" together as a family.  On the show amazing athletes compete in crazy obstacle courses.

A new local gym built one of these obstacle courses so I thought he and his friends would have so much fun playing at the gym for his party.

We invited a few friends and took Ethan to the gym and they had a ball!  Oh my goodness it was fun!  Who knew teenage boys could have so much fun playing!

The Warp Wall is a favorite from the show.  It's about 14 feet high and quite the challenge.  Ethan was able to do it after about 3 tries.

We all had a great time and I guess I need to do a better job celebrating each of my children's birthdays!!

Happy Birthday Kid!!

Feb. 22, 2017

One of the fun parts of my business is hunting down treasures to turn into home decor.  Today I found these great old windows.  They will look amazing cleaned up and hung in someones home.

Feb. 20, 2017

The picture for today is another from Rick Rack Vintage.  I was inspired to turn this wash tub into an ottoman and I think it turned out so cute.  I painted the tub with Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Pantry Door and then added a rub-on.  I  did the upholstery and tufting on the top.  I love it! 

Feb 19, 2017

This week Cora auditioned for the Unicorn Theater's production of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.  She got the part of Mr. Beaver and she's so excited about it.  She's quite the talented girl!

Feb 18, 2017

Todd and I got to take some friends up to the cabin at Bear Lake this weekend.  We took Rosie and Kevin Barker, our friends we met in Nebraska that now live in Ogden, Scott and Heather Gibby that were in our ward in Brigham City, and Deandra and Jim Harps who are friends from Logan.  We had such a great time talking, playing games, eating good food, and just relaxing together!

Heather, Scott, Jim, Deandra, Rosie, Kevin, Todd, Gretchen

Feb 17, 2017

Today Todd and I got to go to the middle school and watch Maggie perform a violin solo in her orchestra class.  She did a great job!

Feb 16, 2017

Every day Ethan sits at the dining room table and does his homework.  It's so nice to have kids that enjoy school and don't mind putting in the hard work that it takes.

Feb 15, 2017

Tate decided he wanted spiky hair after his bath.  Pretty funny!

Feb 14, 2017

Happy Valentines Day!!

Some pillows I made to sell.

Feb 13, 2017

Maggie participated in her Mount Logan Middle School orchestra concert tonight.  She is doing a great job learning the violin!

Feb 11, 2017

Ethan texted me from school today to say he thought he had ringworm.  Sure enough, we took him to see Dr. Nordell Brown and he has ringworm.  It's going around the wrestling team so we weren't surprised.  He'll put a little anti-fungal cream on it for a couple weeks and that should take care of it.

Feb 10, 2017

I got to sneak into Todd's American Festival Chorus rehearsal.  It was fun to see the rehearsal and the way that Dr. Craig Jessop refines the orchestra and choir to get the exact sound he wants.

Feb 9, 2017

Rick Rack Vintage has been such a fun business for me.  I've been trying out some new things.  I tried a rub-on transfer on this cute table and I love how it turned out!  It's fun to try new things and have them turn out!

Feb 8, 2017

Tate loves to play Legos!  We were talking today and I said how fun it would be to have a tree house.  Well it wasn't very long before he came into the kitchen to show me the Lego tree house he had made.

Feb 7, 2017

I LOVE to re-do upholstered chairs.  I don't know why, but they make me happy.  I learn new things each time I do one and they don't take as long as a couch.  Plus, they are easy to move around when I'm working on them.  This is my latest chair.  It turned out so cheery!

Feb 6, 2017

I recently got a new job working for Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater.  I work for them each summer sewing costumes but their painter, Anne Benson, recently contacted me and wondered if I would be interested in sewing backdrops for her to paint.  Drawings were coming in from the scene designers and she couldn't keep up with sewing and painting all the drops.  So I took the job and it's been great.  Easy work, other than the massive amounts of fabric to deal with.  The large drops are 26 feet high and 60 feet wide.  The best part is, I only go in about 2 mornings a week and I get to take Tate with me.  He sits and watches movies while I work.  It's great to have a flexible schedule and be able to take him with me!

The picture today was taken after we had been at work.  Tate wanted to go get a Happy Meal from McDonalds but I told him we had food at home to eat.  He suggested that we go home and make a happy meal.  What a great idea!!  He likes chicken nuggets, apple slices, and chocolate milk in his happy meals!

Feb 5, 2017

Well it was Super Bowl Sunday.  We don't watch pro football other than the Super Bowl each year.  The kids think it's fun because we eat lots of yummy food.  I took this photo of everyone, including the dog on the bed watching football.

Feb 3, 2017

Wrestling Divisional Meet

Ethan had a great wrestling season.  He had NEVER wrestled before so he had a lot to learn!  There was a spot that opened up on the varsity team and the coach asked Ethan to fill it.  He had to drop about 4 pounds in a week but he managed to do it.  So off to Tooele, Ut we headed to cheer him on.  His first match he ended up wrestling a girl, which we had kind of teased him about all season.

The next kid he wrestled was last year's state champion and he got pinned.  The next one was the kid who finished 3rd at the meet.  Ethan put up a good fight but in the end got pinned again.  It was a double elimination tournament so Ethan was done.  It was fun to watch him try something new, learn new skills, and work hard.  

Todd and Gretchen at the wrestling tournament with Ethan and his friend Simeon in the background.

Coach Drew Wilson talking with Ethan and Todd.

Jan 30, 2017

Another project for Rick Rack Vintage...a dressing table painted with milk paint.

Jan 28, 2017

Logan High Regional Swim Meet

This is Ethan and his best swim buddy Kolter.  The Logan High boys won first place at the regional swim meet!  This was a hard season for Ethan.  He decided to swim and wrestle.  Swim practice began at 5:00 am, then he would head to school, and then wrestling practice lasted until 5 or 5:30 pm EVERY week day!  He wore himself out but we were so proud of him for sticking it out on those long hard days.  He also managed to keep his grades up!  His times weren't good enough to qualify for the state swim meet so he was pretty disappointed.  He swam the 100 fly and the 200 IM. 

Jan 27, 2017

I love my business, Rick Rack Vintage!  It's so fun for me and I have met some fun people over the last 2 years.  Two of those fun people are Michelle and Mina who own 2 Chicks And A Tool Belt.  They recently created a chalk paint and asked if I would be a retailer for them.  I jumped at the chance to help out a fellow vintage lover.  So this is a photo of the paint display that Todd made for me to put in a store here in Cache Valley.  Isn't it cute?  I love that Todd is so willing to help with all my projects!

Jan 25, 2017

I got a new part time job working for the Utah Festival Opera Company.  The scene shop hired me to sew backdrops for them.  It's easy work but it's a lot of fabric to deal with.  Some of them are 58 feet wide and 24 feet tall!!  Tate gets to go with me so I took a picture of him at the shop.

Jan 23, 2017

When will the snow end????  The kids finally got to go out and play in it.  The other times it snowed it was -24 degrees so no going out to play.  I love the picture of our cute house with the snow falling!

Jan 20, 2017

I took this cute picture of Bentley dog laying on Ethan and giving him kisses!  Yep, the dog is really part of the family!

Jan 19, 2017

Happy 5th Birthday Tate!!

We had a super fun time with Tate for his birthday.  He chose chicken nuggets and apple sauce for dinner.  We then surprised him by taking him to his favorite place to play; Bounce And Slide!

Jan 18, 2017

Last night was New Beginnings at church.  It's a program for young woman in the church.  This year they welcomed in Maggie because she will be turning 12 in May and will enter the program.  I think she felt pretty special!  Cora was also a part of the program.

Jan 17, 2017

Happy Birthday Todd!!  The big 44!

Today was Todd's birthday.  We celebrated with steak and cake!!

Jan 14, 2017

Tate's birthday is coming up and he got a card in the mail today.  It's fun to see how excited kids get when they get mail.  The best part was that Grandma Cheryl had put some mazes on the card and he loves to do mazes!

Jan 13, 2017

Here's another one from my business, Rick Rack Vintage.  I finished this little dresser.  I tried some new things on it and learned a lot!

Jan 11, 2017

I made cookies for the swim team.  When they have away meets the moms take turns making snacks for them.  I love to have an excuse to make sugar cookies.  The little speedos are my favorite but the bears with tutus and Letterman sweaters are fun too!

Jan 9, 2017

Not so happy photo today.  We found a leak in our basement.  Don't know where the water is coming from and don't know how to stop it.  There was actually ice frozen on the inside of the wall.  Not good!!!