Works of a Paintbrush, Sandpaper, and Momma Christine

Christine is a very talented woman when it comes to restoring and being creative with furniture and antiques. Her house is amazing!! She has taught herself from magazines and from the creativeness within herself and I wanted her to teach me. Mine and Dallen's house needs a little sugar and spice to make it "homey" so I called Christine and she came for the weekend and taught me a couple tricks of the trade. Here are a couple of things that we did together... :)

Before we started anything I had to promise Christine we would stop by the antique/boutique place in Lehi to see if they had anything there that she'd like, and for me too. I thought that everything was too expensive so I wasn't super interested in buying. Christine found an old grain bin that she liked a lot and talked them down to a reasonable price. We'll see what Eddie has to say before she gets it but it was fun to go. :) We later went to a second hand store where I found this little shelf for $2! I thought it'd be really handy to have somewhere around the house so we picked it up and took it home. I really like where we ended up putting it! Right above the kitchen sink...

Before....During......After!


I also had the idea to paint the shutter doors that go from our family room into the kitchen. They were pretty ugly before but now look really good in the 'black' family room. (Most of our decorations are black so it makes the door stand out against the brown wall)


This trunk is awesome! Christine gave it to Dallen and I to put in our home so we decided to paint it as well :)


KSL has become one of my favorite places to look for good deals. I found this table/desk on there for $20 and brought it home looking a little rough. With the help of Christine she was able to sand it down, paint it, and antique it to make it look like an $80 piece of furniture! I love it~



Christine went shopping with me to get some decor accessories and they turned out great! We now have the table with lamps, candles with holders, and a quote :) I think this was my favorite addition to the house.


Well....We had plans for this shelf but they didn't really work. We were able to get it painted blue to match the other things int he kitchen and had a perfect spot to put it!...right above the dryer to place dryer sheets, laundry, etc. on it. When we were putting into the wall we couldn't find screws long enough so we borrowed some from the neighbors across the street. They were definitely long enough, and we found out they were too long after we ground off the end of them on the cinder block that goes around the outside of our home. We also found out that there isn't any insulation between the cinder block and the paneling of the walls. haha....

We also found out that when the shelf didn't hold, we took it off the wall and we had put some BIG holes in the paneling. OOPS! ...We found some wood putty that had been used for holes prior to ours and tried to cover them up but I'm afraid it didn't hide ours too well. What can we do but laugh and remember the mistakes we made :) Every time I see the holes it just reminds me of the good time I've had this weekend.
Thank you so much for your time and help Momma Christine! I had a lot of fun and made memories with you that I will never forget. You're GREAT!

Surprise! Surprise!

This past week Franki, Davi and my Grandma Fullmer came to Lehi with Franki's kids so they could see Ian and send him on his way to Boston for medical meetings. He has been working on his residency for his medical degree and has been in Oregon for the past 2 months! Franki, McKay, Kali, and Paxton have all stayed in Monticello while Ian has been away for the summer. I don't quite know how she was able to do it but they managed and have finally made it close to the end of Ian being gone for a while. They came on Tuesday and I could tell the kids were very anxious to see their dad!

The plan was for Ian to finish up in Oregon late Tuesday then head out Wednesday morning and meet us in northern Utah late Wednesday ...We would have dinner and then he would jump on the plane that night for Boston. Well.... early Wednesday morning we woke up to Ian in the front driveway with breakfast ready for everyone! We woke up the kids and when they were awake enough to realize what was going on, they all rushed outside with big smiles and kisses for their dad.

We decided to play at the park for a while and then went back to the house for lunch and games. Davi, Mckay, and I all played "the game of life" and "Sorry". I was surprised at how well McKay picked up on all the money rules and bank concepts while playing 'life'. He's a smart kid! And Davi did great being the banker. I had a great time playing board games and I think they did too!

Being the AMAZING supporters they are, Ian and Franki took me grocery shopping and bought Dallen and I a full grocery cart full of food. They said that when they were first married someone had done the same thing for them, so in return they wanted to do the same thing for us! How kind and thoughtful they were to think of us! Dallen and I are very blessed to call them family and we are very very thankful for what they have done to support us. It meant a lot and we will always remember their kinds acts! Thank you Franki and Ian!!! WE LOVE YOU!

Cash for Clunkers

SO..... Dallen has convinced me over time that derby cars can help us make money. I often find him saying, "You can win a lot of money with derby cars babe", and most times I just shrug my shoulders and say, "Yes Dallen you CAN, but what are your chances of winning a whole derby?" Most times it turns into a discussion of the three top Mopar cars that are strongest and most often are in the top winners of each derby. Dallen has taught me that "If you build these cars right, they will be super tough to beat!" Don't get me wrong I do believe him, but I think that our latest "hobby" has helped us make more money than he will bring in from crashing.


Cars like this are as a 'treasure in a sinking ship' to derby drivers. Dallen has quite the eye for them and has been able to spot many throughout our travels lately. At first, I thought he was too obsessed with finding them and that stopping "just to look" was wasting our time, but recently he has changed my mind. We bought this car for $50.00 and turned around the next week to sell it for $500.00! Just about 3 weeks ago we were able to do the same thing with a car that we brought home from Dove Creek and sold that one for $600.00! Now that I am seeing the results of our efforts in looking for clunker cars, I have become more lenient towards buying and re-selling them. Although Dallen has me on the positive side of our own "Cash for Clunkers" deals, I'm still not too sure about our own "building to crash" part. However, I know Dallen has the most fun with crashing so I will support and help him with everything I can. It makes me happy to see him enjoying his hobby of demolition derbies. I love you Dallen!

All Is Well, All Is Well

Today in church we had a program by the choir in honor and gratitude for the pioneers that settled the Salt Lake Valley. The choir sang some really beautiful songs and told stories of the pioneer families. It brought tears to everyone's eyes. We were reminded of the sacrifices they made and the strong faith that they had to keep journeying on in hopes to someday find a place called Zion. I am forever grateful for their efforts and especially for my direct ancestors who came along with the pioneers. I hope to follow their example in believing that "All Is Well, All Is Well".


This picture is one that hung in my home growing up and is a good reminder of the angels that do attend us at our hardest trials in life.


The movie 17 miracles just came out into theaters and is now one of my favorite church history movies. The picture above reminds me of when it describes and shows the need for food so much that the women would gather cow and buffalo chips for their fires.


It never fails to touch my heart when I hear of the men who helped their companies cross the frozen rivers. I can't imagine being there to watch as they willingly carried across many children, wives, husbands, grandparents, and friends. What faithful servants they were.


One of my favorite songs that was sung in the program at church is called, Somewhere There's a Mountain. A little blond girl about 7 years old with her front teeth missing sang the whole song herself. It was very spiritual and made me cry. I found the song on you tube so here is the link if anyone would like to listen... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMfHeLdpnJw&feature=related

Another favorite song that I heard was called, One Who Understands. I found a link for this one as well... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1EXpwMbIU0&feature=related


I hope that each year as we celebrate the 24th of July that we will be able to remember why we are celebrating. The pioneers are great examples of hard work, faith, and enduring to the end. I hope to become more like them and always keep my faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Hired Gloves

During this spring and summer Dallen has played on a co-ed softball team. This past weekend was their season tournament and they ended up taking the whole thing! They won two preliminary games to make it to the finals that night and in the championship game they went to 2 extra innings to finish it off. Dallen played in right center and had a great hit at a critical time that helped his team stay in the game. It was fun to watch him play and I only hope that next time I will be able to play with him.

UTE STAMPEDE

Its CRAZY to think that just one year ago today was our first "real" date together! Last year we met each other on a Tuesday, the week of the stampede, and then went to 7 peaks and the rodeo Saturday night. We find ourselves here with our family again on a Saturday night to have some fun and watch the rodeo :)


The rodeo here in Nephi has a tradition to bring the flag into the arena by a parachute which is one of my favorites. It is cool to listen to the music as it is brought down through the air, and then to watch as the National Guard holds the flag during the anthem.



The rodeo was a great one and very entertaining with the Wild Child there. The only thing that put a damper on the night was when a horse broke its leg during the barrel racing. I felt super bad for the girl who had traveled all the way from Canada to have that happen to her. I think everyone got a little teary eyed for her but all in all we had a great time!


Maclee loved watching the motorcycle riders during their act as they jumped and did tricks in the air. She wouldn't move and each time they did anther trick she would smile. It was fun to be with Janice and Casey's family as well as Eddie and Christine. Thanks for the great night at the rodeo!

From Bulls to Steers

Over the past couple of days Dallen and I have helped Grandpa Ray with things around the farm. The fields that he has planted are potato, corn, and alfalfa hay that he waters with gate pipe irrigation. We helped bring down the gate pipe from the fence and put it all together for him in his fields.

We also stacked a whole bunch of hay bales that had fallen and afterwards Grandpa told us he didn’t like where they were stacked at. After some convincing of Grandpa we were able to leave them where they were and it’d be just fine. It was good to spend some time with Grandpa Proctor and to be able to help him out.

On a more exciting adventure, Dallen and I went to Grandpa’s farm in Pleasant Grove again to help him out but this time we castrated calves. Dallen and I have the two Holstein calves that needed it done and Grandpa had two for us to neuter as well. Dallen, Jason, and Krieg did the hard part of holding down the calves and fixing them while Grandpa Ray held the rope and told them what to do.

It was fun to see Dallen and Grandpa together. They’re both hard workers and I love them to pieces.

A couple of weeks ago a goat randomly showed up at the farm. Nobody knows where it came from or how it got here but it has been sticking around. It was first found in the horse pen and the horses didn’t like it so Jason put it in with the lambs and they didn’t like it either. So now it just roams around the farm, climbs on top of the sheds and does what it wants.

Nobody has been able to catch it so Dallen tried it out and was finally able corner the goat in the barn and got a hold of it. I’ve never heard a goat belt out and holler like this one did. Haha it was funny to catch it for a minute.