"No, Mom. I don't need a nap."

 "I'll just go color on your phone in my room.  I'm not tired."

Just Call Me Van Gogh

I've been looking for the right piece of art to hang over our bed since redoing our bedroom last year.  The wall has been blank every since we moved in.  I never find anything I really loved (that I could afford anyway,) but I saw this tutorial by an Australian painter on Youtube.  It looked like something I could at least attempt, so after watching the 10 minute video a hundred times, I finally practiced on a small canvas.

My first attempt was a DISASTER!!  Ha ha!!

I painted over the same canvas 2 more times.  

The 3rd time, I was finally happy and felt like I understood his techniques better.

Then I moved onto the BIG canvas I bought back in August.  

(This project has been waiting for quite a while!)

There are few things scarier than a giant blank canvas.

At this point I stop and think, "Holy crap, this is gigantic! What was I thinking?!"

The first stages of the painting have to be done fairly quickly so the paint doesn't dry on the palette since you have to use the same mix of colors to go over other parts.  I tried recreating colors when my mixes would dry, but it never worked and I'd have to start the entire painting over again.  It was so frustrating!  I realized Artists don't have studios just for a quiet place to paint and make a mess.  No, no. They're more meant to protect well-meaning family members from being yelled at in moments of artistic frustration.  

By my 3rd or 4th attempt, I decided good enough was good enough because I was getting sick of trying to make it look as good as the small version.  Smaller was definitely easier.  

 

 It then took me weeks to actually get it hung over our bed.

I love it a ton more on the wall then I do up close!

And just as a reminder, this was the room just over a year ago as I was starting to look at wall color.

It feels so different in there now!

Mouse in the House

When you find mouse droppings in your silverware drawer and realize those specs have been there a while, and upon greater searching find many many more fresh feces in places you had no clue you:

A.) Cry
B.) Throw up
C.) Douse the house in bleach
D.) Miss church because of cleaning efforts
E.) Immediately google everything known about Hanta Virus
F.) Make an emergency Sunday trip to Walmart for mouse traps
G.) Dig a giant hole at the side of the house looking for their entrance
H.)  Cover every single crack in the wall you can find with any material you have
or
I.) Burn it all down and start over

For us, the correct answers were A, nearly B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.

But man, I really wish that last one had been an option.

Epilogue:  We never caught the enemy.  His droppings were all down those drawers pulled out, to the right corner near the stove, and across the kitchen in our pantry behind the dog's sealed food.  We had traps everywhere we could put them and under all appliances.  Dan must've boarded the walls well because we never saw anything again.  It was a horrible 2 weeks in our house.

Tutu Cute

Lacey had pictures taken for her ballet class, but since I can take portraits just fine myself, I didn't feel like paying this year for someone else to do individual shots of her.   I'm stupid and frugal like that. So once she got home, we did these together while her hair and makeup were still cute.

(Disclaimer: I took literally 10 minutes to edit all of these, which is no where near the attention I would give them if they were for a client.)

And then someone else showed up who is not allowed in the basement.  

We let her have her 2 minutes in the spotlight.  

Provo City Center Temple

My kids have been so lucky to attend so many temple open houses.  Off the top of my head, I can think of 5, but there may be more.  It's such a great opportunity to teach them about the temple and give them experiences there so that they want to return on their own someday.

 Can we just talk about how cute this little stinker is???  She's definitely hitting her "three-nager" stage already, but her cuteness gets her away with murder.

 

Auto Show 2016

Yes, it's the end of April.

My lack of desire to edit this specific post has caused my extreme delay in blogging.  But now I'm behind on holidays, birthdays, big events, you name it.

So back in January . . . 

Chalk this up under "Unusual family traditions my kids look forward to all year."

Narrowed down to 42 pictures, the best I could do.