{redesigning spaces}

Bright lights and wide open spaces are delightful!

Yesterday, after church, I couldn't resist enjoying our newly found space.  It was the perfect place for a picnic.  Sir Thomas provided delicious hamburgers and links.  

It was so fun!

India & I particularly loved it.  We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with our own little time together.

My precious girl time.  (Pun intended!)

{a day being me}

 Saturday was a beautiful day! I had BIG plans for tackling my to-do list.  Everything was going so well . . .

Sir Thomas did have a minor mishap when the Suburban got stuck in mud.  I love living in Texas!  A very nice total stranger stopped in his big truck, pulled the Suburban out, stayed a few minutes for a short, friendly chat and left without wanting compensation.  Thank you dear friend!

Keaton was busy staining the doors for the cabana. . .

The doors will soon be installed here . . .

I was in the house - busy conquering the world.  

Then we had a lunch break.  

During lunch I mentioned a few little things on "my" list.  You know, the one that also involves a husband.  The day suddenly got more interesting.  Interesting is normal.

Lesson 1:  If a man gets a new couch . . .

He will want a chair to go with it.

Lesson 2:  When a man gets a new chair, his wife will want him to remove the old one . . .

Lesson 3: The man will ask one of his strong, handsome sons to help him remove the old chair to make his wife happy. (likely the son not staining doors) Together, they will have a GREAT idea.

Lesson 4: Men always want to do everything in one trip.  If the old chair has a matching ottoman, he will want to take it out at the same time.  The best solution: stack them.

Lesson 5: Gravity.  

(Breakfast tables are highly overrated anyway. Particularly when they are glass.)

Lesson 6: Life is good!

We laughed . . .

. . . and we laughed . . .

. . . and we laughed.

We were happy to have people laugh with us!

Lesson 7:  I have company EVERY day.  That makes me happy!  I did learn that Lesson 5: Gravity, does not prevent guest from arriving.

5 minutes after gravity collided with my breakfast table, company arrived.  Since the door was open, I heard it clearly.  It was one of my favorite voices . . . 

Johnny Ross, a.k.a. VISD Assistant Superintendent. The other voice was foreign.

Lesson 8:  The VISD Superintendent, Dr. Burns, has long admired our cabana.  (Dr. Burns also has a really great son.)

It may not seem like a lesson but I did learn that because he arrived at my house. Dr. Burns mentioned the fact that he admired the cabana to our dear friend, Johnny Ross, as they were driving past our home.  Since Johnny IS a dear friend, he pulled right in our driveway to ensure a tour of the cabana for our esteemed new friend and his son.

Sir Thomas was very kind to act as tour guide.  I hope they enjoyed the tour!  I'm so glad they stopped by!

(I also hope they recovered from the shock I noticed on their faces as they surveyed my redesigned table.)

 My to-do list didn't seem as important.  I thought it would be nice to work on one from my husbands list instead.

The final lesson:  Tall blue vases shouldn't be filled with flowers for Valentine's Day.  I once thought they should (actually, I thought that after lunch today when I put them on the table) but I stand corrected.

  

{thinking of Nolan}

When I was a little girl I loved to walk on the frost covered grass during the winter and feel it crunch under my feet.  So, this morning when I returned home after teaching seminary (early morning religion class at our church) I decided to take a short walk.  The cold weather made me think of Nolan and the stark contrast with the weather he is experiencing.

My sweet son is serving a mission in Argentina.  He emailed me this past Monday and mentioned that it had been 114º last week!  He wasn't complaining . . . just an FYI.  He has a talent for being positive.

He LOVES it there!  It was such a treat to get these pictures last year.  Right now he is in Villa Fiorito, the slum city made famous by soccer legend, "El Diego" . . . Diego Maradona.  It's his hometown.  Elder Moore doesn't take pictures in the city though since it's dangerous.  People tend to steal cameras there quite regularly. 

He hasn't changed!  He mentioned that the only nice roads are out in the country . . . doesn't look like they get used much!

Cycling was a favorite before he left.  He was SO excited to get this one speed.

How I love this picture!  Smart boy . . . loves Texas!  He's definitely one of my heroes.

He even remembered my birthday!

He misses Root Beer and celebrates with every can we send.  I'm guessing this is a toast to the picture above.  Seeing others learn about Jesus Christ and accept his teachings is priceless.

My sweet mother-in-law came to visit today.  Sir Thomas decided to make etouffee and his mother was happy to be in the kitchen with him.  This is another priceless moment.  It made me miss Nolan even more.  I love my boys! I hope that when Nolan gets really grown up, he'll invite me over and spend time with me in his kitchen.  

{Please send SNOW}

It's COLD . . . actually, it's FREEZING! Literally.  It did get above freezing today but the windchill was still in the 20's . . . even when I went out this afternoon.  I love blankets and staying warm and watching my sweet kids bundle up.  I don't ever want to be an empty-nester.  

Although I have 8 sisters, I think it's nice for India to be an only girl in the family.  I get a permanent BFF and . . . well . . . I don't have any competition . . .

until Raja joins the party!  He is definitely India's BFF!

Landon is SO fun and the little boy in him is alive and well.  He won't want to hear me say that but I love his deep voice and his little boy smirk - so glad he kept that.  It gives me hope that he won't leave home too soon.

Keaton is NOT cold.  He is serious about his P90X and the smile after a good workout is proof.  I know that this process will help him develop the self-confidence that comes from doing HARD things.  I made him a countdown chain.  Yeah, it's a bit "elementary school" but I can tell that it really means a lot to him.      

Cold can be fun . . . our snow-skiing trip in December is all a wonderful memory now.  Why can't we have SNOW when it's cold?

My fun loving Landon is growing so fast!

Isn't the snow beautiful?  Perhaps we shouldn't get this much snow in Texas but since it's cold, it would be oh, so nice!

Yesterday was COLD and RAINING and it made me wish for snow.  The cabana would be beautiful with snow!  If it's going to be cold, please let us have ONE snow day!  The sad cabana is ready for sunshine and a pool party but would be happy to have us get the fire going and bundle up inside it's beautiful surroundings to enjoy the snow.  No one wants sit and visit in the COLD RAIN.

Keaton and Landon know how to have a lot of fun dressing for snow weather.  It reminds me of the funny times they would dress themselves when they were little.

Sir Thomas, it's no wonder why I love him!  I'm definitely having a happily ever after.

Yes, this last picture with Keaton definitely makes me want a SNOW day.

{Two Days in a Row!}

A few more hours and another day spent with my blog.  I'm learning!  My dear sister Cari helped me with my background. (Thanks Cari!)  She's so wonderful.  I was SO excited.  AFTER adding the background, I decided to stalk some of my favorite blogs and discovered I had the same background as another amazing sister!  (Sorry, Sarah.)  Feeling rather competent after my initial success I decided to try again.  My second background instillation was successful!  Perhaps I'm actually competent after all??  This led to more blog stalking and my second discovery . . . I looked like a copycat AGAIN!  (Sorry, Janene)  I could NEVER make the background look as gorgeous as she did so . . . third times a charm?  Hopefully!  At least I learned an important lesson . . . finish stalking my favorite blogs FIRST.  I'm pretty excited that I got this background up!  (Crazy me.  It would NOT copy and paste so I typed in the code!)  I'm not totally in love with this background but tonight it will stay until I find something that makes me truly HAPPY.


I'll try another post soon and see how it goes!  (Step 2: add some pictures and a bit of LIFE!)