Utah. Again.

We have a hard time staying away from Utah. And Arizona. I blame it on our family completely (why else would anyone in their right mind find every opportunity to hang out with scorps in 120 degree weather?! They wouldn't I tell ya!). But we were blessed to be able to go spend a week or four with family and it was a blast. It would take way too long write down all the fun things we did so I'll just tell it with pictures. This post is dedicated to Utah. The next one will be about Arizona. I spent a week in Utah before Kiel joined us after his finals and then we got to spend a blissful week together before he had to return home to resume his scholarly responsibilities. Of course I spent 2 more weeks frolicking with the fam.

We went to a sports class for lil tykes and there is nothing cuter than watching all these little bodies run and roll around! Parks was a natural...he must have gotten it from his brother.

 Obviously my monkey of a son struggles following simple instructions like streeeetch! Unlike Cousins Thing 1 and Thing 2.

 We took the boys bowling for the first time ever! Way more fun than being all serious and competitive and stuff.

 Ever wondered how to keep 10 kids calm and content at Costco? I present to you the Petramalo Method- tried and true. A) Find one of the long flat carts B) Pile kids on said cart C) Park said cart in front of a TV D) Leave a semi-responsible child to watch the other children E) Enjoy your shopping trip and don't forget to go back for 3rds on tastes!! =)

Ice Skating

Along time ago Kiel and I broke up. This was before we were married mind you. And he wanted to win my heart back so he took me ice skating. Apparently I'm a sucker for men in sexy ice skates doing toe taps and a triple axel. Can't resist! Anywho, we hadn't been back until just recently when we all went together as a fam. Shocking how 5 years can change everything...single and dating to married with 2 kids and some serious responsibilities...oi.

 Don't let him fool ya...he loved it.

 Us trying to be being legit, players.

 My bro acting all like he's helping the lil one when really his lungs felt like they were about to explode. As if anyone fell for it. And yes, we have awkward stares at the camera down to a science in our family. Proud of it yo!

 Aww...the whole family on ice. I shall submit this to Disney.

At the cabin

My in-laws finished building a cabin at about the same time we left for law school. Who planned that one I ask you?!? But its still a favorite get away any time we go home for a visit. We put the snow machines, sleds, inner tube, and snow shoes to good use. Indoors we warmed by the fire with magazines and books or played airhocky, foosball, or ping pong in the play room. Yeah...we sorta like the cabin.

Don't judge peeps. I didn't want to haul down a bunch of snow gear so we just borrowed my sister's kid's clothes instead. She happens to have girls. 

 Kiel showing his snow shoe stuff

 Parker wasn't sure what to do with all the snow...it was kinda swallowing him up

 After a long snow shoe hike...my hair doesn't just look like this everyday. Stop judging!

 Me snow shoeing in the back of the cabin

 Natalie, Bryce (BIL and SIL), Kiel and I went on a 3 hour snowmobile ride and it was fantastic. I was so sore the next day! Love it!! PS. Bryce is a mega show off. :p

Jazz game

I, of course, was not invited to this party. I guess my allegiance to my PHX Suns boys disqualifies me from ever sitting on the front line of a Jazz game. Whatevs. I can see it just fine at home on my comfy couch while munching on Doritos. What up now yo?! (I'm not sure why I'm feeling all gangster right now...just go with it..) 

My FIL's company is in the Jazz 100 club and I guess that means they serve you a fancy shmancy prime rib dinner before the game. Don't they look thrilled??!

 I'm not sure what this is a pic of but my husband said its important. So be it.

Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point

Gramma and Grampa Willmore took us to the Dinosaur museum. If you haven't been there and you live in the SLC area and you have little boys, you should probs go. My boys LOVED it! Heaven in a museum! 

 Caleb's face is priceless.

 Really Grampa?? Don't let him touch that.

 They have this discovery zone where the kids can build little sand hills for the plastic dinosaurs and then pour water over them, reenacting how dinosaurs died by floods. Awesome.

 Grampa+Caleb+Parker= the same weight as a duphesaphorus

 Again, be amazed at Caleb's facial abilities. 

Yes, we had uber fun in Utah. Yes, we plan to go back soon. Thanks Gramma & Grampa Willmore, Jana & Bret, Joseph & Mindy, and Mary for making our stay so fun. Loves to you all!

1 project down, 29837982374 to go!

We have a six car garage that is packed with my little (and big) projects waiting for a coat of paint, a part, a wipe down, a few screws, you name it. So I am so thrilled to announce that I finally finished one of my projects! Although this project has been sitting in my house and turning the corner where it sat into a dark, sad corner. The dark wood of the side table next to the black marble fireplace was just too gloomy. I needed to brighten it up! And the price was mega right. We inherited this table when we moved into our condo so that was $0...cha ching! Its very a high quality table from Crate and Barrel but it has definitely seen better days. The edges were pretty banged up and there's a nice long scratch down the side. 

So what did I do?? I pulled out my spray paint of course and brightened things up!

First I took off the knob and gave this puppy 2 layers of primer since it had a glossy finish. Then I spray painted it with some Rustoleum (my personal fave) in gloss and I painted the shelf in teal that I mixed up from several different colors I had laying around. Then I used denatured alcohol and 0000 steel wool to antique it. After that I lightly glazed it with some black tinted glaze to bring out some of the cracks and crevices. Finally, I covered it with a coat of polyurethane in semi-gloss. 

The final result has me swooning.  

Leave it to me to leave a bright pink computer case in the picture. dangit.

 It bightened up that corner like you would not believe!! 

 This basket was already being used in here to hold my ridiculous amounts of magazines. I just can't help subscribing to every home decor and health magazine out there when its only $3 for a year! (Black Friday deals my friends;)

 Did you want all the details??

I love the dramatic effect of the dark wood showing around the corners and accenting lines.

 I stole this pair of birds from my bro's wedding reception and they have since lived all over my house. They complete this vignette perfectly =)

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Hurrah for checking projects off the list and loving the final product! Next on my list to do with that area, find a different lamp- something a little shorter and maybe round and shiny and black :) and then take down the current picture and replace it with two square colorful pictures. Too bad you can't do everything in one day right??

Anyone else finish some fun/necessary projects over the weekend??

Under Construction

If you have not visited my blog in the past two days you may have clicked on my blog expecting something entirely different than what you are seeing now! Remember this post where I said I wanted to make some changes to my blog to make it more navigateable (pretty sure that's a real word in the inspired dictionary..)? This is all happenin folks. I've been doing some research and turns out its pretty easy to make things just how you want them on this bloggity blog! (I love you google and brilliant techy bloggers!) I'm still learning and ironing out kinks so please be patient with me as I try to make things more easier for me and you. And if you have any suggestions please throw them out there! 

Basically I have labelled all my posts so you can click on the tabs and find posts listed under that category. I hope this makes things easier instead of more confusing. Let me know what you think...thanks!

Traditiooooon!! Tradition!

Like Tevye, Kiel and I have always felt strongly about the importance of family traditions. We feel that they add a richness and depth to not only life, but the individual family unit. Throughout our marriage some traditions have naturally fallen into place while others we have thought about and tried to implement. Some of our more favorite traditions are buying the kids a new book each Saturday to add variety to their story time selection (we read alot of books around here) and having a crazy hair creation after bath time. That's right folks, crazy hair creations. We love it. Especially the kids. They do crazy dances to go along with their crazy hair and it is indeed a very special traditional moment in the Willmore household.

I give you tonight's crazy hair creations featuring the crazy Caleb and Park Man:

 Not only do we have a terrible camera, we also had terrible lighting :(

Yes, Parker's hair is incredibly long. No, I don't have any plans to cut it. Any other questions??

What important family traditions do you just love?? I seriously do want to know.