If these chairs could talk....

They would tell you many things.

Like how many biscotti crumbs they have caught.
Or the summer days they spent basking on my great grandmother's deck in Pingree
Or maybe how they got lonely & neglected when my Nonna got sick and passed onto a better place...

They would tell you of the grandkids they loved
and the long talks that were had on them.
Or about all the coffee cups they have held and laughter they have heard.

They would tell you that some have called them hopeless or a waste of time to repair
and that they are creeky with rusty bolts

BUT

They can't talk, so I will tell you of the HOURS I spent sanding and staining these beautiful chairs of my great grandma's. I was proud to inherit them and to get to refinish them. I have cherished memories on these chairs as a kid so I couldn't just let them be thrown out.
And here is the finished product. With some spruced up cushions (yes the tags are still on), new bolts, and a new coat of stain they don't look too bad!



And if these chairs had ears, I would tell them of the many summer days I will spend relaxing on them, and the BBQ's we will have, and the children they will hold....I can't wait. Bring on summer!

M-A-Y

Nothing very exciting has happened this month, but i did want to get in a post for May. So here it goes.

This little tart turned 7 months! She is such a joy. People are constantly telling us what beautiful eyes she has and that she will be a heart breaker for sure when shes a teenager! I'm just enjoying her while she's little!

She now bathes in the big tub and loves to splash and kick in the water. I think she will be our little water bug.

Carter is crazy as ever. We made the FOURTH trip to see a doctor for things shoved up his nose within 1 month. The last doctor we saw sent us to an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor and sure enough he retrieved another wad of paper and a piece of foam. UGHHH!

It was a sad day last week when one of Carter's friends Finn, moved away. These 3 were inseparable and are constantly talking about each other. We will miss you Megan, Jordan, Finn, & Madden!

May was a difficult month for my in laws. We found out that Chad's mom had colon cancer and she went in for surgery the 1st week of May. About a foot of her intestine was removed but since then has been declared cancer free! She is on her way to recovering well.

2 days before her surgery, Chad's dad was on a ladder that collapsed. He came down on top of the ladder on his rear end and compressed a vertebrae. He is as black and blue as you can imagine from his ankle to his ribs. He gets to wear this lovely "turtle shell" for the next few months. And trust me, many jokes have flown around about this shell! I took this picture knowing someday, they would be able to laugh about it all!

We were able to spend Mother's day weekend taking care of these two and seeing alot of Chad's side of the family. It was a wonderful weekend. I just wish it would have been under better circumstances!

Hippity Hoppity Easter

Every year since I can remember, ALL of my cousins have gotten together for an egg hunt every Easter. This is a good chunk of the gang (minus 14 people). We are getting quite large, but wouldn't trade in these visits with my cousins for the world. I'm glad our parents have helped us stay so close. We miss our other cousins in other states that couldn't be there!
The next generation or "great grandkids" (minus 10)!

We celebrate Easter on saturday so that we can focus on Christ on sunday. So Saturday morning we woke up to a visit from the Easter bunny!

These cars have almost made it in the trash a few times. I have never seen Carter SO obsessed with a toy as he was with these cars. He didnt want to do anything but play with his cars. Luckily the coolness is wearing off a little.

Even Miss Mollie made it out with a few goodies!

Then we headed to grandmas where we had a HUGE egg hunt. There were SO many eggs. I don't think Carter knew where to go first.

Easter sunday was a beautiful day and we got to stay and spend it with my family. We attended stake conference where we got to hear an amazing talk from Pres. Uchdorf by satellite broadcast. What a great way to spend the day. Hope your Easter was just as happy as ours. :)

Finding Eggs

These wouldn't post to my last entery, but i wanted to have them in our book. Just a few cute ones of Carter finding eggs. We 'practiced' finding eggs weeks before Easter arrived. He got to practice at a friends house too before the big hunt at my moms.

April Babies

I've been waiting for this day because I have been wanting to do this 'April Baby' post for a long time and today the last April baby arrived, my neice Kloe Evelyn. This is Chad's sisters newest one born April 26th.
On Aril 2nd Lily came into the world. My good friend Jenna Sorenson's little sweetie.

On April 3rd (my birthday) another little neice, Haidyn was born to my brother Justin and his wife Carrie.

April 5th was another great day for my cousin Ben & his wife Emily who gave birth to Lydia.
And on April 15th another good friend, Stephanie Gilbert had little Jayden who is a BOY!! (we need a boy amongst all these girls!) I LOVE April because it is my birth month and we have loved welcoming all these little ones to our lives! (hope its ok i shared their pictures!)

What do a rock, wad of paper, and 2 peices of styrofoam have in common?

They were ALL up my son's nose!! The story starts about 3 weeks ago....



Carter has a styrofoam basketball and we noticed during nap time he was picking pieces off of it and eating it and making a major mess. One day we noticed he had shoved some up his nose. Chad and I held him down and did "surgery" on our own getting all that we could out of it...which was 3 good sized hunks of foam. We thought we had got it all and so we forgot about it. I noticed his breath was REALLY stinky but i thought it was just from drainage from having a cold. It had gone on long enough though that i was starting to wonder if there was still something up there.



One day during nap time he was crying a little and whining like he was in pain. I went in there and noticed there was MORE foam in his nose..AHHHHH! So i got the tweezers and the flashlight and pulled out a small piece of foam and a wad of paper about 1/2 inch long. I kept digging and i scraped something hard with my tweezers. Sure enough, it was a tiny black rock. I knew then we were in serious trouble. I didn't want to even try to get it out. I called the doc and they saw him immediately. The doctor successfuly pulled out the rock and another piece of styrofoam about the size of a quarter! The doc first thought it was a peice of meat or something because it was so decomposed that's what it looked like.



Well I am happy to say that Carter's breath no longer stinks.

He is much happier.

And

I am throwing THIS BALL away!

Rockin' Birthday

I did it! I turned the corner headed to 30...yes i am 26. It was a great weekend. I got to celebrate every day of it! On thursday, i got to go out with this handsome man on a smokin' hot date to the falls and then to kiwi loco. Friday we headed to Idaho Falls and ate at the Olive Garden with my family and a few cousins in tote.

It was 2 days before my sister in law was set to be induced (Carrie on the Left) and it was my cousin Emily's due date (Right, she later had her baby on the following tuesday). We had lots to celebrate!

Saturday we watched conference which was wonderful and uplifting and then my brother got me tickets to "Bodies" at the Museum of Idaho. If you dont know me, I LOVE anatomy so this was the perfect gift. It is real live cadavers in every form you could imagine on display. If you ever get the chance, GO! it is SO worth it.

That evening we had presents and pie. My sweetie and my mom spoiled me. I'm not a huge cake fan so my mom made us pumpkin pie! Chad got me new running shoes, a SCHWINN!! and a cake decorating kit.

And on sunday we watched more conference and in the afternoon, this little sweetie was born on my birthday! Haidyn Meri Reed! This is my oldest brother's daughter. Here's the birthday girls!

Thanks so much to everyone who made is such a special day! 2011 has been my best year yet!