Sickness, Soccer, and Summer's End

I haven't posted in a long time.  I was sick with a bad cold for a couple of weeks, and we have been busy with soccer and all of the end of summer craziness.  Here is a little bit of what we have been up to in pictures...

A Piano . . . at last

For years I have been wanting a piano, but a new or newer piano has never been in the budget.  I finally started looking on Craigslist, but everything that came up in my price range in my area had descriptions such as: "traveled across the plains in a covered wagon" or "the piano has been sitting in my barn for the last 20 years and may have been through a flood or two." or "I'm not sure this piano can even be tuned."  Finally, one day, a few months ago, I got on Craigslist and found a piano well under my spending limit that actually looked like it might be worth a look.  I called the owner and Jeremy and I went over that evening and looked at it.  I played it a little and was impressed that it actually sounded pretty good.  So, by the next afternoon, it was sitting in my living room.  Now, this piano was only $180.00, so it had a few cosmetic issues, but I was kind of glad about that.  My boys are still kind of hard on furniture, so I thought it would be nice to have a piano that I wouldn't freak out over if my two year old ran into it with his big dump truck.  On the other hand, the piano was still going to be the focal point of my living room, so I wanted it to look nice and to go with the other furnishings in there.  I started researching how to refinish a piano, and decided that a $180 piano was probably worth the risk.  I got out the steel wool and stain and got to work (with Jeremy's help).

This is what we started with.

It really doesn't look bad in this picture, but it was a little beat up and it didn't match the decor in the rest of the room.  After a little elbow grease, this is how our $180 number looks now.

I think it is a big improvement.  Jeremy thinks it needs one more coat of stain, and after looking at these photos, I think he may be right.  For some reason, in real life those color variations don't show up as much.

I still love it though and I am glad I took the risk and refinished it.  Now, I just need to save up the money to have it tuned, so I can actually enjoy playing it. : )

A Conversation with Jack

Tonia:  "Hey Jack.  What do you learn about in Primary?"

Jack:  "Ummmm"

Tonia:  "Do you learn about Jesus?"

Jack:  "No.  We learn about BigFoot."

Dallin's Baptism Quilt

I made this quilt for Dallin as a reminder of his baptism day.  I wish these pictures did it justice.  It is a simple pattern and I was able to make it up quickly. (Which is a good thing, since I pieced another quilt top for him and then decided I didn't like it.  I threw this one together in a hurry, but I am sooooo much happier with it.)

It is backed with soft white minky and quilted in straight(ish) lines. I have decided that whenever you back a quilt with minky it makes the quilting process a million times harder, but it is worth it. Dallin loves his quilt and sleeps with it every night.

I had this simple label made and added it to the bottom corner block of his quilt.  Hopefully he will always love it as much as he does now.

Dallin is Eight!

 

 Dallin turned eight and was baptized last week!!!

 

 

He was great at the baptism and we are so happy with what a good boy he is.

 

The whole crew right before the baptism.

Back home after the baptism.  He is an official member of the church now!!

 

Eight years old is a pretty important year in our church.  It has me feeling a little nostalgic and so I hope you will indulge me and let me share a few pictures of Dallin through the years . . .

 



You've come a long way buddy!!  We love you and are so happy that you are in our family.  Happy Birthday!!

First Day of Preschool

Jack started his second year of preschool last week.  I am so grateful that we have such a good preschool teacher in our ward and all of my boys have loved going to her school.  I know Jack will have another great year in her class.

First Day of School

Dallin and Thomas started school yesterday.  I grew up where we didn't go back to school until the end of August, so it is always kind of hard for me to send them back when it feels like summer is still in full swing.  Oh well.  I could go on and on about my thinking on this, but I will spare you all the rant.  I am just grateful we don't live in Holbrook.  They started school on August 1st.  Yuck!!

Thomas is in first grade this year.  He has the same teacher that Dallin had last year and she is soooo nice.  I know Thomas will love being in her class and will do a great job in there.  We miss having him come home at 11:00, but he loves school, so I think he is happy to be there all day.

Dallin started 2nd grade.  We don't know his teacher.  She taught at his school several years ago, but this is her first year back.  Dallin says that she is nice and seems like she will be a good teacher. Let's hope so.  He loves school too, so I'm sure he will have another great year.