Ballroom

Dawn and Rachel have been busy Tango-ing, Cha Cha-ing, Foxtrot-ing and Merangue-ing.   And they've been loving it!  They danced in their first ballroom competition a few weeks ago.  They were fabulous!  And I felt so silly, and therefore didn't tell them, but I was so nervous.  I couldn't sleep the night before, I woke up early with a stomach ache.  I even forgot to eat breakfast.  I think it was a little too familiar a feeling dredged up from my long lost youth!  But all was well.  They danced great and were so darling. 

Scott rocked the (school) house

Scott had such a great year.  He loved his teacher who was all about music.  They made a cd and this track was one of Scott's finest!  He does the speaking at the beginning and ends it with a sweet solo.  Enjoy!

Yes, It Would!

My pretty sink stayed clean all week, even when I left for the weekend to visit my sweet mother, all clean!  Sunday night after a long car ride, a get-together at my house, unpacking and tired kids and mommy and sick daddy, I still conquered the sink. 

Having a clean kitchen all day just made everything so much easier, well, at least the food things.  Clean up was easier at night for the kids.  Having room to work was so much nicer.  All things considered, I will definitely keep it up.  Maybe not quite so dedicated, but I'll try. 

Would it make a difference

if I cleaned my sink after every single meal?  After one week, we'll see...

Live or Blog? Plus a really big house!

Seems I can't do both!  The last month or two have been crazy.  I haven't really had any desire to blog, just guilt!  But I do again, not sure what changed.  It may be the sunshine and arrival of spring.  I've popped out of my winter malaise like my crocuses and daffodils have popped out of their winter bulbs!

Last month Matt and I escaped to St. George for a little sunshine and quiet (only taking the 7 month old qualifies as quiet for parents of 6 kids, I'll tell you!)  What we didn't get was much sun and warmth, it snowed!  We did have a wonderful time.  Thank you to the super Grandparents who made it all possible!

We drove into Kolob Canyon of Zion National Park.  It was probably our sunniest day (the drive down).

We always check out the home show while we are there.  This time we saw more houses than usual because of the overall stormy weather which made hiking less than ideal.  In a questionable move, we decided to see the biggest house first.  It was a mere 10,764 square feet with four master suites (sweets!).  They each had these funky bathrooms.

 
But the true master had a shower with the coolest glass surround.

The first thing you saw was this fabulous garage, but admittedly it wasn't the prettiest approach. 
You walked into the courtyard where there was a fabulous seating area with fireplace
 and fountain.  We both loved this and want to make a smaller version for our back patio.  Wouldn't it be perfect?  No pool for little ones to drown in, very natural with real rock and a nice splashing. 

The backyard wasn't hurting in the fountain area either.  This was the coolest!  Here it is in daylight.

 And here it is at dusk!

 Even with the four master suites, there was plenty of room for a huge kitchen.

 The formal sitting area was flanked by huge stone covered columns. 

And the view wasn't too shabby. 

 It was a beautiful house and so fun to look at.  Of course it had a theater room, pool and lots of there pretty stuff, but I had to stop somewhere! 

Hope you enjoyed seeing this monster house.  I'll show you more beautiful desert houses over the next few days. 

Bananas, pancakes and babies

This morning I fed my 6-month-old sweetheart bananas for the first time while listening to Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson (I love that song). Summer didn't love the bananas as much.

But being so cute counts for a lot.

Inspiration for Decoration

 Found a new blog, Inspiration for Decoration.  It's just like I like it, not much chit chat (which I always read even though I don't have the time, generally to hear someone pontificate over a pretty picture) and lots of pretty pictures. 

Today I'm thinking about mudrooms or the lack thereof.  I'd love to have this:

But instead I barely have room for this:


But mine isn't nearly as pretty.  Darn.