Girly space

Last month I decided to do a project I have always wanted to try. Beadboard. I just love the charm it adds to a room. You can't really see it in this picture but it turned out really cute and wasn't too tricky to do once I got it figured out. My mom and Rachel helped me with the kids and painting. Thanks so much guys! I decided to revamp Sydney's whole room because my dear sister Kim and brother-in-law Nick gave us a bunk bed that they had been storing from a model home he'd sold. This bunk bed was blue which did not go with the previous color scheme one bit. I had planned to repaint soon when I did the beadboard anyways, and needed another bedspread for Natalie as well. I'm kind of one of those people that can't be totally happy until everything matches. So I was thrilled to find this bedding on Walmart.com that was well within my budget! Yay! And it looked very similar to the Pottery Barn bedding I had been considering splurging on. I'm SO glad I went with the cheap Walmart bedding instead since Natalie colored all over one of them with black dry-erase marker just a few days after we got them. I think I may have had a heart attack if it had been Pottery Barn. Anyways, the whole project turned out quite cute I think. Her room was okay before, but now its much more girly and fun and it full of bright colors I may never have had the guts to use if it hadn't been for the blue bunk bed. I hope to tackle Tanner's room sometime this year after the yard gets a little attention.

Before

After

As well as a new room Sydney also got a new roomate, Natalie. She's so excited about sharing a room. I may have to remind her in later years how much she wanted to share a room. Tanner wasn't quite so happy about being in his room all alone at first. It's been a few days and he seems fine with it now though. We can tell Natalie is also feeling pretty grown-up with this big step. This morning she was so pleased that she could wake up, walk into our room and squawk "MAMA! MAMA!" We now have our own little rooster.

Blue-eyed girl

I have been requested to show Natalie's battle wounds from a couple weeks ago. On our drive down to St. George we stopped at a McDonald's in Beaver I which do NOT recommend. Honestly you would think the playland would have been pass some sort of inspection or something. It's quite poorly designed. Sydney ended up with a small goose egg on the forehead and Tanner bit his lip causing it to bleed. These were because the tube slide slopes steeply and then makes a sharp turn at the end. So all the kids smash into the side of the tube where it turns. Anyways, at one point Natalie tripped inside the tube maze and ended up with a huge goose egg that I was sure would pop at any second. The employees there took their sweet time getting us some ice for her even while they were wincing at her injury. We will basically never be stopping there again. So two days later Natalie decides to try running along the sidewalk and her head gets ahead of her feet. Bam. I was relieved when this fall did not cause very much swelling. The next day her eyes started to look a little dark though and continued for the next several days until she looked like a racoon. Apparently, if you hit your head or nose in just the right spot you will get black eyes. I learned this from many of the moms and daycare workers at the gym when I had to take her there looking like an abused child. She is almost back to normal now. Just a little darkness that makes it look like she's a bit sleep deprived.

St. George

Last week we went down to St. George to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday. I forgot my camera at the party but it was a lot of fun. It occurred to me right when we all yelled "SURPRISE!" that maybe an 80-year-old should not be surprised quite so much. But thankfully he's healthy as a horse and it was a great time!

This is Jeremy and Sharla's super adorable guest house they let us stay at. I felt like I was living in a Pottery Barn catalog. It was so cute and in such a fun location!

We thought it would be fun to go hiking at Zions on Saturday, but settled for just playing on the red rocks in St. George. That way the kids could climb around instead of sitting in a backpack. They had a great time and got real good and dirty.

It's hard to get a picture of Tanner from the front sometimes, because he always running away to the next thing.

He did sit still occasionally though, so I got one!

Sydney is a pretty good climber even in her flip-flops!

The kids found this cozy little hole in the rock that was perfect to sit in.

Daddy is giving his kids a valuable lesson in sand. As you can see they are all finding it pretty interesting.

Natalie got in trouble for throwing sand at her siblings and had to find a new "sandbox" for herself. She also found this tasty rock.

Warning: Cyberpower power backups

I feel obligated to write this, hoping anyone with a Cyberpower battery backup or surge suppressor should be aware of, or warn from purchasing.

Last night the power went out. I felt reassured as all critical equipment was on a battery backup. When I came down to work this morning, one of my monitors was fried. I called to figure out what they needed to send back my 800AVR battery backup, as well as file a claim about the monitor.

I was told that I needed to pay a certified technician to get in writing that the monitor won't turn on. I need to send in the receipt of paying for the monitor, the battery backup, have registered the device, pay to ship back the battery backup, etc etc. After prodding they said they'd pay up to $75 for the certified technician fee, but the shipping was still my cost to send their battery backup back. All this depending on if they have proof that their device was damaged and that they could be assured that device caused the problem. This all had to be done in 10 days or the claim was invalid.

Tell me why I should pay for the tech, shipping their device back (this is the second one I've had to ship back), and who says their device has to be damaged for it to fail? So many loopholes it begs the question of whether the monitor is worth the $75 tech (that they approve), $18 shipping, just for them to claim the device isn't damaged so it couldn't have blown the monitor, and hence not cover the tech cost or recoup the shipping charges?

At least the first one (of which this is the replacement for) failed before frying anything else.

Fun weekend

We've had a lot of fun lately starting with the end-ish part of the week, last Thursday. My mom, Rachel, Andrea, and I decided to hang out for the afternoon. Andrea was down from Logan playing with us while Eric went off to Arizona for an interview. I was so happy to see her but extra, extra happy to meet my new niece, Maci Jane. Isn't that the cutest name? She is such a beauty too! And she has a great sense of style in clothing and accessories. We're so happy she's here and healthy after a very scary delivery process.

So Thursday we decided to use our creative genes and do a little craft that my mom came up with. We made some name blocks for our kids. My craft seemed to take forever since I had to do a total of 19 blocks. Rachel helped me with the embellishments since I never really know what to do there.

They turned out pretty darn cute though I think. Sydney's and Natalie's are pretty bright and almost hippy looking but they look great in their bright colorful room.

Friday night my mom and I headed to the Spring Home and Garden Festival. This is one of my favorite things to do every year. It's a little dangerous though because it tends to plant ideas in my head of future projects for my house. This year I have become inspired to try square foot gardening. I'll let you know how that turns out. I'm pretty excited about it!
Saturday we went to our friends' the Carrolls birthday party for their son Jace. It was at Flips Gymnastics so it was super fun for our kids.

Sydney is a master at the bar. I have a feeling that might become her specialty.

Natalie is holding up the line at the beam.

Tanner spent most of his time on this ramp. He would do a somersault on it over and over.

Sunday we visited our old ward for a farewell and it was so fun to see some of our friends. In real life. Not just on their blogs or on facebook. Later that day we went to my parents for dinner because all my siblings (except Nate on his mission) were there which does not happen very often anymore and will soon happen even less often when some of them move out of state. Boo.

So here are all 5 Ruben grandkids. Aren't they a happy bunch? Well Sydney is anyways. The others didn't know what to think of the 20 adults that were behind the camera trying to get them all to smile. At least no one is crying!

You live in Utah

Thanks to Mike Burge for this. It's on his facebook page, but linked to the blog. I'm wiping tears from several of these:

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September to May, you live in Utah.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Utah.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Utah.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number, you live in Utah.

If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the weekend, you live in Utah.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in Utah.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Utah.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' and back again in the same day, you live in Utah.

If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both doors unlocked, you live in Utah.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Utah.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Utah.

If the speed limit on the highway is 75 mph -- you're going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in Utah.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Utah.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Utah.