Friday Funny

Three guys with hearing loss were golfing.  One says to the others, "It sure is windy, isn't it?"

The second one says, "No, it's Thursday."

The third guy says, "Me, too.  Let's go get a drink."
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And one more for those of you who, like my crazy kids, enjoy 5th grade potty humor.  This was actually sent to Jeff by one of his college students:
(say it out loud for the best effect...)

Knock, Knock.

Who's There?

I eat mop.

I eat mop who?

Eeeew!  You do?

(get it?)

Stirring Up Memories at DQ

I drove Savannah and a couple of her friends to DQ after her choir concert tonight.  Our DQ was recently remodeled and they have a whole bunch of nostalgic photos hanging on the wall.  This one immediately caught my eye.  Can that be anything other than the Salt Lake Temple in the background?  I'm guessing this was a Dairy Queen float in the Days of '47 Parade that runs right through the city each year on July 24.  We used to go every year and watch the parade outside my Dad's office.

Fun to find a little slice of my hometown inside a midwestern DQ! 

Savannah's concert was awesome, by the way!  Oh, and excuse the poor quality of this photo...  I could have at least taken it straight on.  Oh well!

My Favorite Nativity

Several years ago, my sister-in-law made me this adorable Nativity wall hanging.  I put the words on the frame, but she stitched the picture and then painted it by hand.  I love how it's like a family picture.  This photo really doesn't do it justice, but it's my favorite nativity. 

I love putting out each of our Nativity sets every year as we decorate for Christmas.  I only have a few, but they are my favorite decorations.  Here are the others:

The Little People Nativity is perfectly kid-proof and Sadie plays with it daily.  When you push down on the angel on the top, it plays "Away in a Manger." I love it!

The most formal of our nativity sets, this one usually sits on top of the piano.  Since the piano is still in my bedroom from the floor refinishing project, I've put these on a little shelf that seems to collect things - papers, books, toys, etc.  This fills up the spot and looks a lot nicer than the "stuff" that usually ends up there.

I love the simplicity of this one!

My newest and smallest (only about 3" tall).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Early Morning Rainbow

When I think of rainbows, I always picture them in the east because that's where I usually see them.  The late afternoon sun shining after the rain... 

A few weeks ago it was pretty chilly out and raining lightly.  Despite the rain and the early hour (before 7am), the sun seemed brighter than usual.  As a result, there was a beautiful rainbow right through the trees in the west.  A great start to the day!

Welcome Libby!

My brother and his wife are the proud parents of little Libby Marie who was born one week ago today.  We are anxious to meet our new little niece and cousin.  I love this picture of Libby with her pleased-as-punch big brother, Nathan.  David said Nathan has been so sweet with her.  I'm sure big sister Emma is thrilled to finally have a baby sister.  Christopher may be too little to get what is going on - after all, he just turned one about a week before Libby made her debut!  Unable to have children, I doubt Dave and Tanya would have ever guessed that in 7 years they would adopt 4 beautiful babies.  What a miracle and blessing.  We are so glad to have each of them in our family! 

Can you tell...

...who hung most of the ornaments on our tree?  Sadie can only reach so high.  She was so proud!

Friday Funny

A woman gets on a bus with her baby.  The bus driver says: “That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!” 

The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!” 

The man says: “You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you.”  

 I guess I could have just used a picture of me as a baby....  My Dad said I looked just like a baby gorilla.  (Thanks, Dad.)

Gingerbread Houses

While we were staying with the Randall's last week, we decorated gingerbread houses.  A long-time tradition for their family, we are so glad they invited us to join in.  I don't know that I've ever really decorated my own gingerbread house before.  It was so fun and we all had such a great time!  True to form, Paula made the gingerbread from scratch.  We helped by contributing some of the candy decorations.  Darin has this down to an art form and he looks in books and on the internet to choose what his house will look like every year.  He and Paula's were definitely the most elaborate and thought out.  The preparations took all day - seriously a ton of work! - but a great time together.  Thanks, guys!

 

Darin and Paula's-the big ones in the back. Soren's is half-eaten in the front...

The DOG HOUSE is mine.  Do you love the "steamin' jobbie" by the door?

The Ballroom

So, what do you do on newly finished floors until your furniture arrives?  Well, if you happen to be 5-years old, you rename it "The Ballroom" and you dance. 

Sadie busied herself for a good portion of Sunday afternoon creating decorations (see "wreath" below).  She even got her brothers to help.  Don't you love Sterling's chandelier?  They had a great time.  They even pulled out the Karaoke machine and Sadie and Soren were doing some serious dancing to Sterling's tunes. Good times!

Before and After: Wood Floors

After 10 years of blue carpet in the living room (it came with the house), we finally ripped it out last May.  We intended to re-carpet.  After all, there was a 30"x30" plywood patch in a conspicuous place which we figured would prohibit us from having the original wood floors refinished.  Too bad, too, because they were still in fairly good condition.  Sure they looked pretty rough, but we expected much worse for a house built in 1916.  Most of the living room is oak, but there is a large area of pine where the original owners would have laid a rug.  Pine was much cheaper and so they used oak wherever it would show and then put down pine where it wouldn't matter.  The adjoining and smaller dining room floor is mostly pine (again, where a rug would have gone) surrounded by oak. 

I mentioned our floors to Jay Allred at church and he agreed to come by and take a look.  He's been in the flooring business for years and knows his craft.  He assured us that the patch and some termite damage could be fixed.  He also said that the pine would be beautiful and look like an inlaid floor.  We took his word for it and hired his team for the job.  We are thrilled with the results.  They did a great job!

Before:

Left is pine.  Right is oak.

A pretty rough spot in the oak.

Pine, originally  meant to be covered up.

After (drumroll, please...):

Dining room looking into living room.  I'm loving the pine!

Living room.  The pine is on the right.  Most of the room is oak (left).

Dining room.  This gives a fairly good view of the oak surrounding the pine.

Aren't they pretty?  We love them!  Here are a few more before/after comparisons to specific spots.

Here you see the termite damage in one board.  The next photo shows the repair.  Then you see the final result:

 

Here is a before and after to show the corner detail (it may or may not be the same corner in both pictures, but you get the idea):