Hallway Gallery Update

I feel like I've been working on this project forEVER!  It's still not finished, but last week, I added a few more pictures and a giant T that I am currently in love with, so I thought I'd share.  

Here was my original inspiration...

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I loved that she used all black and white pictures.  I loved the large white mats.  And I loved the intentional, haphazard way that she put everything up.  That's me...intentionally haphazard.  :)

Here's the progress on my stairway wall...

It was agonizing to put up those first two giant pictures.  I was so worried that they would be "wrong" and I would be stuck looking at them in the wrong place for the rest of my life in this house.  (I know, sometimes I'm a little dramatic.)  We put them up anyway even though it was scary.  And then we put up a few more.  And then I found that cute "FAMILY" thing in the middle, and added it.

And last week, I found this awesome T for next to nothing at Hobby Lobby.

This one was actually gold, which I didn't love.  And if you look closely you can tell what a giant short-cut-taker I am.  I didn't want to spray paint it because I didn't want it to be flat or shiny black.  I wanted a little of the rustic goldish look to still be there.  So, I pulled out my handy, fat, black Sharpie marker (which has become my new best friend lately) and colored the gold parts.  Tada!  Black, but not shiny.  Rustic, but not gold.  Intentionally haphazard.  

And here's my new favorite frame that I added last week...

This frame used to be white.  It used to hang vertically.  And it used to have four pictures of Savannah at a lighthouse in North Carolina in 1997.  I repurposed the frame, spray painted it black (and used my favorite Sharpie to color in the parts I missed.)  I printed black and white prints of each of the kids at four years old.  (I'm not entirely happy with that picture of Savannah because all the others were taken outside, so I might have to change hers when I find a better one.)  I hung it at the bottom of all those vertical pictures.  And I LOVE it!

My intentionally haphazard wall is coming along pretty nicely, I think.  There's more to do, but I can never wait for the finished product before I report about things.  And now I keep looking at all the other blank white walls in my house thinking that I might need to cover all of them with black and white photo collages of my family.  I love looking at all these memories, and I love hearing the kids tell their friends about all the pictures. 

Homecoming

Saturday was a BIG day for us!  First, the Connemara Eagle project in the morning, then a baseball game scheduled for McKay's team at 4:00pm.  We also had a little friend of his over for a few hours before the game.  And right in the middle of all of that, I blasted out a text to my sister-in-law, Nance, who was expecting her missionary son to come home from his two-year service in the Cuernavaca Mexico Mission.  We knew he would be arriving in SLC sometime Saturday night, and I knew that she had so much to do that I thought I'd just quickly send out a little love via iPhone.  

Here's the response she sent back...

  
We had to move a couple of small mountains to get all 6 of us to the airport on time, but we did it!  The Customs line took a little longer than any of us expected, which was a huge blessing actually because we had no way of getting in touch with him to let him know we were there.  So, we waited...mostly patiently...

...some of the elderly and bored in our crowd found ways to pass the time...

and finally...after about an hour, Elder Thunell finally appeared through the doors...

I'm so sorry it's blurry, but we were all jumping up and down...

Tyler was shocked to see us, and we were all so excited, I'm sure we caused quite a scene.  I don't know how many missionary almost-homecomings the people in the DFW airport get to witness.  

We took Tyler to the closest place with food that we could find, and we sat in a giant circle around him peppering him with questions about Mexico.

He was pretty excited about the food, though, so we slowed our questions long enough for him to take a few bites.  He was so cute raving about how beautiful everything was and how good American food tasted after being in a foreign country for two years.  He also went on and on about how big our kids have gotten since he left.  

He had the most adorable Spanish accent and had trouble sometimes remembering the English words for things.  He told us some great mission stories and shared his sweet testimony, and left us with these little facts... 

Fun Facts about Mexico

1.  They DO NOT use utensils there.  They just use their hands and tortillas to scoop everything up.    

2.  Instead of a Tooth Fairy, they have a Tooth Rat.  (hmmm...I can't really picture that in my very-American head) 

3.  There are NO speed limits in Mexico.  

4.  Iguanas are food there. 

and this was my favorite... 

5.  "You get used to eating eyeballs."

After an amazing, leisurely dinner, we took Tyler back through security and sent him off to his  REAL homecoming in SLC, and texted his parents about how awesome our hour with him had been.  

What an unexpected delight it was to be able to catch Tyler halfway between his mission and his final destination.  He had that glow-y, humble, happy demeanor that comes only after serving for two years as a missionary of the Lord.  I am so grateful that the kids all got to experience that glow and hear his love of the gospel, his love for the people of Mexico, and his love for our Savior.  There is nothing better than hanging out with a returned missionary for an hour!

Welcome home, Tyler!

Connemara Eagle Project

This morning, the Scout Master took Megan and McKay to Connemara to help with an Eagle Project for one of the boys in our ward.  

McKay went because he loves hanging out with the older boys and his dad, and because he will jump at any chance to use a hatchet.  

Megan went because she LOVES Connemara and she might also love that boy who was working on his Eagle project.  (Not like LOVEY DOVEY kind of love, but like SUPER good friends kind of love, you know?)

Really, how can you NOT love this gorgeous little piece of nature right in the middle of all of our Allen civilization??

OK, here was the project.  (This makes me get a little weepy, it's such a great thing to do.)  So there were all these little stray trees on the property that were in the wrong locations...like those little saplings that just spring up in wrong places.  

photo courtesy of Chad King

photo courtesy of Chad King

photo courtesy of Chad King

So all the boys (and Megan) dug them up, cut them down, and dragged them over to big piles like these...

Eventually when the leaves die and wither away, the piles will look like these little huts...

There is a large population of coyotes in the area and at night the bunnies are pretty vulnerable prey for them, so these little "bunny huts" provide shelter.  They're large enough for bunnies to sneak into, but too small for coyotes.  And all the thorny branches are not very appealing for those coyotes either, so they keep moving, and the bunnies are safe for another night.  Isn't that awesome?? The boy scouts spent the day clearing debris AND saving bunnies from coyotes.  I love that!  And I'm sure the bunnies will, too.

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There was a great turn out for this activity, lots of future Eagle scouts and a handful of leaders helping, so they finished the projected 3 hour job in less than 2 hours!  And now all he has left to do is the paperwork...hooray!  One more Eagle about to leave the nest.  Craig is so proud of all these boys.  (Can you see the glowing pride?)

What a great service project to be a part of.  I'm so proud of my little environmentalist Megan who couldn't keep herself away from an opportunity to work at Connemara.  I see lots of GREEN greatness in her future...

photo courtesy of Chad King

Stranded...

Last night, right after YM/YW, the Scout Master left for a trip to Austin, and took the Jeep!  He NEVER takes the Jeep.  So this morning, when Savannah drove off to school in the van, and the kids all left with their carpools and walking buddies, I suddenly realized that I am not only completely ALONE in this house for the first time in over a week, but I am also completely...and happily...STRANDED.  

I can't go anywhere!

I can't go to the gym...

I can't go to the grocery store...

I can't pick anyone up from school if they have a raging headache or think they're having heart problems...

I can't take anyone's lunch, homework, poster board, recorder or phone charger to them if they've forgotten it...

I can't go to any appointments...

I can't go anywhere...

Hooray for me!  Hooray for being stranded...every once in awhile...!  Hooray for lots of good books to read!  Hooray for Conference talks that I haven't had a chance to RE-listen to yet!  Hooray for uninterrupted time to clean the corners of my house and re-organize those cabinets that have been neglected for way too long!  Hooray for playing the piano!  

And hooray for 7 more hours of unexpected, stranded BLISS.  

Temple Walk

How is it already Wednesday???  This week has completely escaped me.  They seem to be doing that more and more often lately.  

I had great intentions to write a post about the amazing Temple Walk the youth participated in on Saturday morning.  And four days later, I'm finally getting around to it.  

The Scout Master planned this entire youth activity.  He took two of the kids down to Moss Park on Conference Saturday between sessions and they biked the entire trail system leading to the Dallas Temple.  It would have been about a 22 mile hike across crazy freeway systems to walk it from our neck of the woods, so Craig opted for a safer, more scenic route.  

this...

instead of this...

Everyone met at the church at 9:00am with lunches in hand and walking shoes on.  The weather was a perfect 51 degrees and sunny with a high projected for later in the day at 72ish.  (I'm such a weather freak!)

Everyone had maps.  We coordinated GPS systems and had a designated take-off spot at the park.  We started with a lovely, brief testimony from a nice man in our ward.  And then we piled in vehicles to head down to Harry S. Moss park.  Instead of 22 miles, the kids would be walking 6.  (Not very strenuous, but much less treacherous.)  

Once we arrived at the park, the Bishop spoke to the group for awhile, while a few adults drove some "return vehicles" to the Temple to shuttle kids back down to the park after the hike was over.  While we were there, I snuck a quick picture of the destination...

My camera skills are pretty pathetic lately.  I'm making a 2nd quarter resolution to spend more time with that thing.  There was another man from our ward taking pictures all day and he emailed them to us, and holy cow! they were AMAZING!  I secretly wished I could just "borrow" them for my blog so you could see what the day REALLY looked like.  I felt a little better when he told me that he had taken 250 pictures and only the 30 he sent to us were worth sharing.  I might have to try that technique...mass quantities of pictures!

I drove the "return vehicle" adults back to the park to meet the rest of the group and that's where my part in this adventure ended.  I handed off 96 chocolate chip cookies to the Scout Master, and McKay and I jumped back in the Jeep and headed to his baseball game.  The rest of the activity was captured with the Scout Master's iPhone.  

lunch

When everyone finally arrived at the Temple (and there were some stragglers who took a REALLY LONG time to drag themselves in...)

 ...they all gathered in the shadiest spot they could find and got ready to hear from the Temple President.  

I have heard nothing but great things from the people in my house who participated in this walk.  It was a spirit-filled, uplifting day for everyone.  I'm so happy that my kids have the chance to do amazing things like this.  The Dallas Temple is absolutely gorgeous in the spring, and there is nothing more meaningful than being able to touch those walls and feel the incredible peace on the grounds of that awesome building.  

oh, and just in case you were wondering...

McKay had a great game and was so happy to be playing baseball again, but they lost.