Laundry Room Finished

My laundry room project is finally complete. My washer has found her matching mate and they are very happy together. I owe a huge thanks to my in-laws for picking it up for me and driving it out here. I am quite pleased with how it all turned out. I found my idea for the pedestal and the door here.Above was my sorry excuse for a laundry room and below is the reward after many many days of hard work. Hmmmm...does this mean I have to enjoy doing laundry now?

I am thrilled with how the pedestal turned out and I also love the door project. It was so easy and really adds just that extra touch I think.

Here is my sink before and after. Who ever thought I could get so excited about a sink?

I am loving the cabinet still and I especially enjoy my drapes that cover up all the ugly floor cleaners. As much as Charlie and I have enjoyed working together I think we are calling it quits for at least a few weeks to catch up on all of our nights of lost sleep. Our next project on the list is new sinks /counter/cabinet for the kids bathroom but I am going to enjoy my laundry room first for a bit before diving into the next mess.

Watch out 5K here I come!

Ok so just typing my post title made my stomach get a little queasy...but alas it is true. Less than a week ago I got a new toy. Her picture is shown above and I will from this point on lovingly refer to her as Bertha.

Bertha and I had a great plan. Considering I am not a runner and never have been a runner we thought we would start things off slow. You know, get to know each other bit by bit. My plan was to try the couch to 5k program. It gives you 9 weeks of training to prepare you for a 5k. I had in my mind that I would just go at my own pace and if I had to repeat a few weeks so be it.

I was pretty proud of myself considering that in my entire life I have never ran more than 2 miles and that was only once or twice. To be 33 years old having had 5 kids and one who is only 4 months old running a 5k sounds like an impossible task.

Unfortunately or fortunately (however you choose to look at it) some of my amazing and inspiring friends are all signed up for a race in 5 weeks. Did you hear that part? Yup, 5 weeks not 9 weeks. They have all been trying to convince me that I should sign up as well.

So with extreme fear I am ramping up my training schedule to possibly attempt to run the entire 5k in just 5 short weeks. The race is a run/walk and I have a strong suspicion there might be more walking than running for me and I am trying to be ok with that. Regardless of how much I do it will be more than I have ever done and I will be proud to cross that finish line.

So there it is friends. I will do my best to train my heart out and be there to join you as you cross the line as well! Wish me luck (I'm gonna need it)!!!!

Blueberries

Last night we went and picked some of the most delicious blueberries I have ever tasted. The kids LOVE picking and they actually do a really good job.

The weather was beautiful, it was truly a perfect night. We went with some good friends and picked for about an hour and we got over 20 pounds! We love blueberries in our family and these ones were so sweet they are almost like eating candy. Our friend called them "blue sugar" and boy was he right.

Logan was a great sport and we all had a great time. I can't wait for a year full of blueberry muffins, waffles, and crepes! My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Laundry room project

As I mentioned we are working on the laundry room as well. While it will still be several weeks before it will be completely finished I thought I would share what we have finished so far.

This was our laundry room cabinet before. It was a huge ugly mess and not very pretty to look at. So I got my wheel turning and below you will see my ideas come to reality.
We painted and I LOVE the color. It looks very green in this picture but it is not green at all. I made some curtains to cover up the vacuum and all the floor cleaners. We added some doors to hide all the laundry stuff and I found some great baskets at Lowe's from the Martha Stewart collection that I love. I think the end result is MUCH improved.

I can't wait to show you more as we complete it step by step.

Kitchen Sink Project

Charlie and I have been busy worker bees this weekend. Since we moved into our home the only projects we have done is paint and put in some new carpet. I caught the "project" bug the last week or so and now we have some fun ideas to work on the next few weeks.

The first project we decided to tackle was our kitchen sink. Don't let the picture below fool you. The faucets were leaky and old and the sinks finish was so worn off that it stained terribly and we have hated it since we moved in.
Projects always take WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY longer than you think they should. In my mind I was thinking...sink out sink in, how hard can it be? While I can't say that it was hard it just took about 5 hours, a lot of mess, and some very heavy lifting.

Here is our hole, waiting for it's new owner!

Here is a glimpse of the mess that my kitchen was all day Saturday. How can one sink require so many tools?

Here is the final product. From the picture it does not look all that different than before but in person it is beautiful and well worth the effort. I love that the sink is still divided but not all the way up so it is still very easy to wash pots and pans by hand.

Charlie and I love doing projects together and we have had a fun weekend working as a team. We are currently working on the laundry room as well and the project after that will be the kids bathroom. I can't wait!

Day at the beach

Each year we try and make it to the beach at least once with all the kids. It takes some work to get there but we are always glad once we make it. It was a beautiful day with friends and the kids had a great time.

It was a little cool that day so all the men built a "hot tub" complete with seats and cup holders. The kids played in the hot tub most of the day so it was well worth the effort.
Here is a picture of just some of the people that joined us that day. I was not great at taking pictures this trip...maybe it was because I was too busy trying to make sure my 5 kids did not drown.
It was a great day and I should get all the sand out of my car just in time to go again next year!

Carn Family Reunion 2010

We arrived home a few days ago from a wonderful Carn family reunion. The trip began when we all met at the Carn compound and made our first trip of many to our favorite restaurant Portillo's! The cousins were all excited for a fun filled week ahead.

We had the opportunity to bless our not so little baby Logan at Charlie's parents home with all of his brothers. Logan's little cousin Finley was blessed as well. How did we not get a picture of the two of them together? Oh yeah, there were 35 people squished in one little room...I guess it was too crazy for pictures.
Here is Logan with his proud papa. What a special day it was to bless Logan with so many family members around.
Then the packing began. It took us 5 vans and a truck filled to the top to get to our destination. We were headed to The Grand Bear Lodge and brought enough food with us to feed a small village.



This was where we stayed. We had two lodges to fit 35 of us. They were a great place for us to all gather together and spend some family time.





The lodge has a great indoor water park with a wave pool, lazy river, and fun water slides. The kids had a blast here and we went at least twice a day if not more. One of my favorite memories was our family train of tubes floating around the lazy river. There were so many of us that the tail end of the train almost reached the start of the train!

The lodge also had a great little amusement park and mini golf but we also spent plenty of time at the lodge with fun planned activities. We played a great round of family feud, made bottle rockets with Grandpa, played bingo for the grand "Fanta" prize, and we even had our very own talent show. The talent show was quite a hit. My favorite moments were Spencer singing and dancing to," Eye of the Tiger" and believe it or not I really enjoyed the all girl act singing to ,"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair." Charlie promised to get it on video but he ended up messing with the baby. Someone did get a cute picture of it though and if I get a copy I will post it later.

Here is a picture of the overall craziness of the lodge. When you get 35 Carn's together you can hear us from miles away. I was glad no one was in the lodge next to us!

Here are the kiddos on the way to shoot off their rockets. It was REALLY hot but the kids had a blast...literally!

This is how we all felt at the end of the trip.

A great time was had by all and I am grateful to my in-laws for putting it all together. I loved almost every second of it :) and I am glad my kids had some good quality time with family that they do not get to see very often. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Below is a clip of what our family did for the talent show and just a small bit of Spencer's awesomness!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I opened my email this morning after 5 days alone and 4 more ahead still to go. The kids were all screaming and fighting and it is 9:30 and I am already tired and I got to watch this. It was just what I needed. Thanks Charlie...I miss you!

Cedar Point

Charlie got it in his head a week or so ago that he was determined to go to Cedar Point. It had been a LONG time since I had been on any big roller coasters so it sounded like fun. We got a babysitter for the entire day and took off with some friends for a day of terrifying fun.

This was right before our first ride and before I knew what I was getting myself into! We rode Millennium Force first. This ride has a 300 foot drop at 93 mph!

We also rode Top Thrill Dragster. I honestly think I died a little on this ride. It accelerates to 120 mph in just 3.8 seconds. It sends you right up a 90 degree incline and sends you straight back down a 420 foot hill!

Another big one was Maverick. This one drops down a 105 foot hill at a 95 degree angle...yes, that is 5 degrees past vertical!

Here are some videos of just a few of the rides we went on. None of the videos were taken by me. Trust me I was holding on for dear life and closing my eyes and going to my "happy place".

This was our last ride and the only ride I put my arms up on. It was the train ride around the park with a top speed of 10 mph!

Did I have fun???? Yes, after all I had no kids for 11 hours and spent the entire day with my hubby. Am I thrill seeker????? No, I have decided that I like the ground and if I am going to splurge on a fun filled day again I think I will pick the spa next time :)

June

The summer is moving way too fast so I thought I would put up a few pictures before I get too far behind.

I have been very bad at taking any pictures of my little Logan. I always swore that I would never end up with one of those kids that only has two pictures of them because their parents just got too busy but here I am on number 5 and I seriously am lacking in the picture department. Here are two new ones of my little man. He is smiling ear to ear and cooing up a storm. He is sleeping a little better and we are just loving him.

Here is my attempt to actually be in a few family pictures. I am always the one behind the camera so I don't get in many pictures. So this is me and my five little kiddos. The pictures are far from perfect but they are real life and I love being their mommy.

Sam is always keeping me busy. He has decided not only is his body a temple, it is also his canvas. If this boy gets his hands on markers watch out...he colors anything he can get his hands on including himself.

We have been working on our little garden again and Sam loves to go and play with the bubbles. Here is a shot of our planting day. He was covered in dirt from head to toe. Apparently marker is not his only medium!

This is our garden after only 1 week. The kids love to see how fast everything grows.

We have had a great summer so far and look forward to some more long fun filled beautiful summer days!

Ethan's 7th birthday

My little boy just turned 7! He had a great few days and says that this was his best birthday ever.

We went to a really fun place in our town where the kids played mini golf, rode bumper boats, played laser tag and even rode a roller coaster. Ethan invited a little neighbor girl who has been in his class the last two years.

Here is Ethan on the bumper boats. The kids got soaked and had so much fun.

Here is the group playing laser tag. Ethan and Marlee gave up after only a few minutes because they got scared but Abby and Morgan played the whole time. Sam even ran around with Elmo as his protective shield the entire time.

We also went to a baseball game the night before which is one of Ethan's most favorite things to do. They put his name up on the big screen and we got the entire outfield to sing happy birthday to him. Abby also was in a cheer camp that week and got to cheer at the game. She loved it and it was fun for Ethan to have her cheer at his special game.

Yet another birthday down and now our month of birthdays has come to an end until next year.

Here is some video of the roller coaster ride that the kids loved...it scared me half to death but little did I know that much bigger roller coasters were in my future, but that is for another post!

Pittman Trip 2010

We are so lucky to have had some great friends since we were first married. The Pittman's have been with us through all of our ups and downs and we love them. They just came for a visit with their 4 adorable kids and we had a blast!

The trip started with a journey to Niagara Falls. The kids had a great time swimming and getting wet in the falls.

We stayed at our favorite hotel that has the yummiest breakfast and an amazing view of the falls.

We had a date night at the gardens. It is so much fun how young and care free we feel when we are together. I don't know if it is because our friendship started before we had kids but when we are together we are silly and in love just like we are newlyweds again.

This is me and my beautiful Cher. What an inspiring and amazing friend she is to me.

Here are the boys bowling. We had so much fun.

Here is Charlie teaching Kira how to eat like a piggy. They laughed so hard and made quite a mess.

It has been so much fun to have our kids grow up together. Here is Abby and Leah when they were still little girls.

Here are our big girls today.

Ethan and Luke were born just a few days apart.

Here are our cute boys now!

The kids had lots of time to just play outside and get to know each other again. We love how much they love being together and how well they play. We can only hope they are college roomies someday.

Here was our last group shot with all of us before they headed back home. We are quite the group.

It was a crazy few days but I would not trade it for anything. Mike and Cher thank you for being our friends and thank you for making the trip out here. We love you and your kids and can't wait to see you again!