Forgot my cape

It was dumb to trade the afore mentioned cape for painting clothes. I ended up needing it. While taping off Ben's 12 ft ceiling I fell from an 8 ft ladder. I ended up in the hospital (a lot of help I ended up being) I cracked two vertebrae and bruised a lung. I'm still recovering but doing quite well. It hurts to laugh, cough, and sneeze.
On a brighter note we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The family really took good care of me and just had a wonderful time.

Hard is not good enough

I was telling Jill the other day that when determining whether or not I should tackle a project, I tell myself that "hard" is not a good enough reason not to do it. Well, with this last project, I found myself repeating that over and over trying to convince myself.

Christina found two porch swings that needed some tender loving care; a little sanding, coat of paint, new awnings, new cushions, pillows, etc. Remember, hard is not a good enough reason not to do something, so I threw myself into it and as long as I'm covering the swings I might as well make covers for the patio chairs.

First, I needed fabric. In Phoenix, the sun can literally shred outdoor fabric within a season, so I knew I needed "Sunbrella" brand. One little problem, it was $18 a yard at the local fabric store and I needed 36 yards! So I found some on Ebay for $5 a yard (not my first choice in prints but for the savings it was worth it) and I was in business. I figured it should take me about a week. Well, as of week 4, I am just now getting finished. If I had it to do all over again, I might rethink my little "hard is not a good enough reason" mantra but on the other hand it's nice to have my patio so much more useable. Barry and I have spent a lot of time just relaxing on the swings already. The weather has been beautiful so for now my Sunbrella fabric is working out great, come summer is the real test.

Like all projects, one thing leads to another, so I painted the front door and front bench. Well it's time to change out of my superwoman cape and tights (should have scrapped the tights long ago....50 plus body in tights....not a pretty sight) and into my painting clothes. I'm off to St. George to rescue a son and daughter-in-law in distress (we are painting the whole interior of their new home this weekend.)

Dr Hulet

Brett passed his dental boards first try!! We are so thrilled for him and Jen!! He has really worked hard to make this dream come true and we are so proud of him. Amazing, just amazing.

That's what happens when your wife makes your heart skip a beat

So, I've spent most of the week in the hospital. My mom had surgery on her knee and Barry had to have a pacemaker put in his heart. It's nice not having to be the patient but there sure is a lot of energy expended worrying and waiting. I'm tired, relieved, and looking forward to getting Barry back home tomorrow.

sew what's new

Just a quick addition to my blog. I got a chance to see Nic and Christian. I had a really great time and it was so fun to see them. The added bonus was I got to spend some time there and back with Jill, Spence, and kiddos and Ben and Steph (and her very delightful parents). I've been so excited to show Nic how to use her new machine. She posted these pics of the things we made on her blog, so I just borrowed them. We had lots of fun and Christian was a good sport about being neglected.
I lugged my new machine along so I could dazzle her with the machine embroidery. Here's a pillow we embroidered and made.
She embroidered matching paislies on the pockets. It turned out so cute she couldn't give it away. embroidered matching paislies on the pockets. Turned out so cute she couldn't give it away as intended!

Some People Can Dish it Out....

Okay, so I suck at blogging. Lots of stuff has happened since my last entry. So I won't even try to catch up. Besides, at this very moment I'm typing with one hand and I'm on drugs. So a picture is going to have to be worth a 1,000 words.

While washing dishes a plate snapped in half and cut my hand open. I grabbed a beach towel with a panda head on it and called my mom. She ran me to urgent care. When they unwrapped my hand from the towel, it looked like someone had shot the panda through the head.

The doc didn't want me ripping out any of his stitches, so he put me in a splint. A little over kill if you ask me, but hey, he prescribed no more washing dishes for 2 weeks. At least the splint matches my toenail polish and PJs.

I've been working this summer on trying to get the dining room and front room painted and draperies made. This is the dining room. You can't see the chair rail very good in the picture but it turned out great.

I've had a birthday since I last blogged. It was nice to have Christina, Josh, Jill, Spencer, Avery, Logan, mom and of course Barry there to help celebrate.

Ben and Steph came for a little over a week in July. That was FUN. I took advantage of their willingness to help out and rented scaffolding and painted the two story entry and family room. This is Steph, a construction guy wanna be, eating her lunch while sitting on top the scaffolding. Ben figured out the strange contortion so we could paint above the stairs. Man, I love that kid.

Steph, my little spider monkey. The girl has no fear. She just sat up there while Ben rolled her for place to place.

Barry snapped this picture of his lovely ETERNAL companion. We painted the wrought iron fence with spray paint and it was getting in every crevice of my well creviced body, so this was my solution. Ever had black spray paint on your nose hairs? So don't laugh.

My little Michigan arm of the family came for a visit in May. This is Joz. She's fearless. Avery is peeking around the corner. mmmwah, I could kiss their little faces off.

My little guy Brax getting ready to slide with Avery. These little peeps are as cute as their parents used to be.

Okay, I'm getting Carpel tunnel here. Who knows what grand adventures I'll meet up with when next I write.

Celebrate!!!

Yea!!! such a happy day. Christina has loved Josh for SO long and it's wonderful to see them start a life together. They were married May 1st at the Seattle Wahington Temple. The day was gloriously SUNNY. Seattle can be intoxicating on sunny days and we were all feeling a great anticipation for this long awaited event. Chrisina had lots of support from family and friends. Here's a recap in pictures.

Chelsee Hunt (cousin) performed the magic. She has such a sweet and giving spirit.

Here is Christina ready to go get hitched

We had a luncheon first. Josh loved the idea of "Dave's BBQ" but they would only take reservations before 2pm so we ate before we went to the temple and that worked out great. It left lots of time for the photographer (an amazing guy who flew up from Phoenix) after the ceremony.

The happy couple!! just leaving the temple.

Beautiful couple

The Family.

We were quite the team pulling this all together. Everything worked out perfectly.

Christina's dear friend flew in all the way from Boston to help her celebrate. Shout out to

Christy Parry!

Josh's car says it all!! and I for one couldn't be happier for them.

Since we had so much of Barry's family there to support Christina, we decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. Greg pulled him out of the room to talk to him and we set it up in about 4 minutes, Crepe paper, balloons, cake and candles. We then brought him in, yelled surprise. Blew out candles, ate cake and told "Barry" stories until we were laughing so hard we had tears rolling down our faces!!

Brett had the brillant idea of getting him a WII as a group gift. Here is the "new little man" in my life.We then drove to Yakima and had a beautiful reception hosted by the Doddroes. It was amazing to see old friends again. So many people there that are so dear to us.

After the festivities and on our way back to Seattle to the airport, we took an opportunity to show some of our newest family members beautiful Washington State. Here are some pictures at Snoqualmie Falls

The Andersons

Brett, Jen, Brax and Joz

Barry at the Falls

We then flew home and started the preparations for the Open House here in Phoenix. We had a great time. Lots of good homemade vittles, and a great show of support from family and friends. ... I'm tired.