Look What I Found!

A while back I had pinned a tutorial on how to make this stump side table. It seems pretty easy to do & I like the look, but I thought- Now where am I going to find a cut stump?

 Yesterday while we were on our run, we came across this house that had a pile of stumps all cut up in their front yard! I was so excited and made Lane knock on their door to ask if we could have one. Of course they didn't care and now I own my very own stump! Isn't she great? I can't wait to fix her up. Of course right now we don't have any place in our house where she would look right. So I'll just keep her around until we move and get new furniture and redecorate (1-2 years) because chances are I won't come across any more free stumps.

Welcome Home Hunter

Lane's brother Hunter has just returned from a 2 year mission in Utah. We went to the airport to meet him. Here's part of the welcoming committee.

 You could tell it was a bit of a shock for him. I guess it would be pretty weird to see everyone when you haven't seen or talked to them in 2 years. He's only here for a week before he goes off to California to work for the summer, so hopefully we'll get to see a little more of him.

Brothers

Happy Birthday Lane! -33

On the 16th Lane turned 33! He's getting on up there in age ;) It was a pretty low key day & I feel bad that I didn't have anything planned. But it wasn't from lack of trying. I looked around for ideas, but didn't find anything I liked. Fortunately, Lane is very forgiving with things like that. He had to work most of the day. I tried to get him to go out to eat, but he insisted on staying home. So we invited his dad & Brenda over for dinner and cake. Everything turned out great and it was an enjoyable evening.

Elliot was very excited about his birthday. She kept saying it was a "surprise". And now that it's over, she is constantly talking about her birthday.

Fort Worth Arts Festival

 It's been forever since I've been to this. We went with my brother & his wife on Thursday, so it wasn't busy at all. And the weather was perfect, so it was quite enjoyable. Can't wait til we actually have some cash & maybe we could buy something! I really liked this one artist that painted these mason jars. I know that sounds really random, but it was so incredible that he could capture the look of glass without any brush strokes.

Teeth!

I just noticed that Davis has his 2 bottom teeth coming in. They must have sprouted over night! 

 Obviously I was trying to get a picture of them, but was unsuccessful. I just thought it was cute.

 There they are! I wonder how teeth will change his look?

Sweetness.

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful Easter we've had. I am so thankful for the Savior's atonement and resurrection, which allows me to live eternally with my family. We were asked to speak in church today. Talk about pressure! I told Lane, "What are they thinking? We aren't Easter material!" It turned out ok in the end. It gave me the opportunity to read several articles on the resurrection. My favorite excerpt came from a talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin. Take 3 minutes to watch this video. It will cause your heart to swell.

We actually celebrated Easter yesterday because Lane had to work today. We had his parents over and it was great to spend time with them. The night before Elliot dyed eggs. This was her first time and she was pretty excited.   

As I said before, we celebrated on Saturday. Here she is finding her Easter basket.

If you're wondering why she has an "F" tag on her bucket, I have no idea why. I swear it was an "E" when I picked it up. Somehow it changed into an "F". I tried to draw in the missing part, but the first thing she said, was "F!" Of course she had no idea why it was even there anyway.

 Davis checking out his bucket.

Hunting Easter eggs in the back yard. She was scared to go outside at first, because we told her the Easter bunny had hid her eggs. I guess she was afraid he would still be around. 

Now we're off to spend the day with my parents. I hope you enjoy your Easter!

Davis at 6 Months

My little guy is 6 months old! Holy cow. I love him to pieces. 

Weight: 17 lb 7.4 oz     31%

Height: 28.5 inches    94%

Head: 16.89 inches   19%

He is in no way sitting up on his own. In these next few pictures, I propped him up on his hands.

This is is favorite game to play with dad.

 I think he looks older in these pictures.

 Right now my favorite thing is to carry him to his bed when he's asleep at night. He is so peaceful looking.

Broken

I feel like we are in a constant state of fixing things. I'm sure you all feel the same way sometimes. I swear Elliot is going to look back on her childhood and think that nothing ever worked around the house. She's always asking, "It's broken?" And I just sigh & say, "Yes, Elliot. It's broken and we need to fix it." I feel like it all started last summer when our AC broke like 10 times. That number is NOT an exaggeration. So there were many nights spent at the grandparents. Luckily they're close by. With the drought our house shifted & it's next to impossible to get our front door open. Not to mention there are several cracks in the walls/ceilings. Things quieted down for a while and then our disposal stopped working. That was a quick fix. I know there's probably several more things that went wrong, but I can't seem to remember them. Probably for the better. Then most recently, we got new tires on the car 2 weeks ago & in the process found out one of the wheels was cracked, so we had to fix that as well. Our disposal broke again. Then just this past weekend, my right front tire looked low. I aired it up a couple of times & took it back to Discount Tire. Found out there were 2 holes right next to each other & they had to completely replace the tire instead of patching it. Only 2 weeks after getting new tires! Good thing we bought the warranty. Lane just called & said he's going to have to get new brake pads tomorrow. And the latest, we need a new hot water heater. I walked into the hallway & noticed water. Sure enough, the basin was completely full. I had to scoop out water into a trash can to keep it from overflowing. So that's being fixed. Thank goodness we're just renting our house, or else I think I would die. Our land lord is really great and on top of things too, so that's a blessing.

Papa Love

My little guy just LOVES his Papa!

Just having some QT.

Rainy Days Aren't So Bad

After the storm had passed, we ventured outside to have some fun.

 Floating a duck down the river.

Chasing along side

 Jumping in puddles. She got upset that her skirt got wet so she went inside while we were talking to the neighbor.

 

She came back with no pants.

 She took a little fall.

Upset again.

This is my favorite shot of puddle jumping. Pure bliss.

Easter Egg Hunt

Hurst had a little Easter egg hunt that we attended this past Saturday. My brother & his family came along and also brought one of our old friends & his family. It was fun. Elliot did really well. In fact, she had so many eggs in her basket I told her she had to stop. I was afraid it would break!

 Family photo-Lane had to work :(

 Before the hunt.

 Just starting.

 Her loot.

 It's hard to get a true smile from this kid.

 And it's even harder to get 3 2 year olds to all look at the camera.

Worn out.