The Car on the Farm

So we have this "fixer-upper" car we got from my brother-in-law so Owen can commute to work each day cheaper than what it costs for our SUV. It's awesome to have but I admit it was more of a project to take on than Own originally realized. 

In the process of all the fixes, Owen came to the conclusion, we cannot do anything else until we either have a full on car lift, or a mechanics pit. As it happens, his Aunt Kathy is married to a man who's father owned land and a garage/ barn that has a mechanic's pit! Lucky us! 

I have an adorably handy and super hot hubby! 

Being as grateful as we are Kathy let us use this, we won't mention the freaky spiders deep in the pit around Owen that had taken up permanent residence....therefore they were huge....

Neither of us had ever been there before. Going was eye opening actually. We had no idea there was still farm land like this in the middle of the suburbs. 

It was awesome! Owen has a deep love for nature and farming so seeing all the vintage treasures and open land with potential made him practically drool. Haha, sadly, it will be sold soon. The land owner passed away and the family doesn't have the desire to keep it working land. So, to immortalize this, I took some pictures :-) 

Sadly, even though we fixed what we needed that day, we still needed to take it in to the dealership to get it to pass emissions and safety. :-( regardless, we are very thankful for this opportunity and experience. 

Kidsplay

The life of a child. I really think one of the main reasons we have children is to help our minds revert back to the basic fundamental beauties of life. My kids have a way of reminding me often how to calm my mind and just remember to smile instead of stress. I don't know why I would get so upset back in the day. I remember a few years ago, seeing the kids wrestle and I'd yell to stop it and sit nicely, etc. nowadays I see them and almost want them to wrestle more because I encourage them to love their childhood as much as they can. So random days happen with random fun and I love to look back and smile. Enjoy this collection of awesomeness: 

The "clown" car at Harmons: 

The snake hair....yes this was a real snake! 

The Lego exhibit at Fashionplace mall:

And the kids and their dog

I love these munchkins. They keep me smiling and remembering what happiness actually looks like :-) 

Girls Night Out

Work has been super stressful lately. On top of life stress and family stuffs, I needed a timeout. 

My friend Aubree knew just what to do! She had tickets to Painting with a Twist and invited me to use her plus 1. So of course, I said yes! 

We had solo much fun! I loved every part. I've always wondered if painting was something I would have a knack for. I really enjoyed the whole process. The class teaches step by step about the layers and effects. I think the best part was seeing the difference in each one. Not one person did their painting like any other. Here are our pics

Mine is on the left

The moon was by far the hardest part! I really enjoyed this so much that I think I will continue to paint in the future. I'm excited to try a few more instructive type video ones before I start going freelance on it. 

I have now hung it up in my house. As my first painting ever, I'm not ashamed :-) I suggest to all of you to do the same! Try it out at least once :-) http://paintingwithatwist.com/murray

They See Me Rollin....

We finally did it!! After years of planning and saving and planning some more, we finally traded in the truck ( old Seth, as we liked to call him) and bought a family car that is capable of pulling a trailer! The truck, sadly, couldn't tow much and we are working on expanding our family so we knew we needed a change. 

The way I shop for something is quite a process. First, I figure out my end goal in what I would like to achieve. Then I start compiling all the steps between where I am and what  we've decided we would like to get as well as assessing what our needs are. With this vehicle, it was a long narrowing down process. We knew we wanted an engine big enough to tow. We knew we needed the third row seating. We knew we wanted leather after dealing for so many years with the cloth seats. Everything after that point was wants and hopes, etc. we narrowed it down to a few options. At that point, it was the fact finding and comparison phase. 

Once we narrowed down to the make and model, it was shop time!! 

So I started hunting ksl. For cars, I like to stick with dealers for two reasons, 1. They actually have to stay in a realm of probability with the cost of worth, and 2.  they do warranties and they have the ability to finance like we needed in this case. Independent sellers always seem a little more selfish and even more dishonest than car dealerships with worth and withhold lots of info regarding previous accidents, dings and quirks, etc. 

So I compiled my list of favorites on ksl. On a Saturday that we were really looking into buying, I pulled up the favorites. Most of them were colors I wasn't sure I liked either on the inside or outside, the miles were too high or the model was too old. There was one that caught my eye though. The price was above our budget but something told me to call and ask if the price could be lowered. Surprisingly, it already was! When I called, they told me it was lowered by 3grand just the week before! So, we took the trek up to Heber to check it out. (I love road trips with a fun purpose). 

When we test drove it, we knew. The exterior was right, the interior was right, the miles were crazy low for the year that it was. The size, make model and all the fun bells and whistles that came with it were all perfect. We had found our car :-) so, we went through the buying hassle. When we got the kids that week, we took it for a ride

I can honestly say, this has been officially kid tested, and parent approved :-) we couldn't be happier with our choice! 

Jab Jab Cross!

Mitchell got to try out a karate class his bio Mom got a coupon for in Feb. he absolutely fell in love with it! He has taken to it like a bird to the skies. It's been so great to see him so happy! They really focus on respect there too. It's been very cool to see him passionate about something and gain the confidence he has while doing this. We've decided to let him continue on with it full time. Here's him at a class

Because he has done so well, we plan to keep him in for quite a while to see what he will do with it :-) my little kick butt master! 

Spring Showers

Hello All :-)

It's been a few months and about a million events but I'm back! It's only April but I already feel like a whole year has gone by these past 3 months! I should say, I can't believe it's already April though. It seems like time passes so quickly now as an adult. Remember when summer vacation seemed to last forever and you somehow found the time to get bored as a kid?? I would love to have that time back! 

These days it seems all I can do to find the time to shut my eyes for two minutes to rest! 

So let's catch you up. 

Jessica has her first piano recital!! She did so amazing! I couldn't be a more proud Mama! 

She performed at Bountiful Music on their big yellow piano.  I love her teacher Sister Vickers

She played two songs and rocked them both! Her teacher had each student bring a treasured item to put on the piano for comfort. She chose her "love puppy"

Also in Feb was Valentine's Day. Owen sent me some beautiful flowers at work and we went out for dinner to the cheasecake factory @ City Creek. I'm pretty sure I put on 10 pounds of "loving" weight for that meal. 

When the kids came over, we built a big tent fort and had a sleepover watching movies to finish off Love Day right 

Love day was good. :-)