The Fun Outdoors

It has become habit around our house that as soon as Cody gets home from school - the first thing that both the kids say is "Can we ride our bikes? Can we play with our friends?  Can we play with the dogs?  Can we play baseball?"  The list goes on and on but the most important thing to them is to be OUTSIDE.  The weather has been great because it has really allowed them to play, play, play without being too freezing or hot.  And I have loved it because it keeps them entertained for hours without making a HUGE mess inside our house.  We have had a lot of fun and are so blessed to have great friends in our neighborhood that the kids can play with.



Brooke learned how to ride with no training wheels and is a little too daring at times.  She LOVES her bike and would ride it all day long if I let her!

 

Cody and one of his buddies.






Mr. Cody absolutely loves his bike and is already trying all kinds of tricks on it.  One of his favorite places is the BMX bike track at Oak Mtn.  That is a super fun place to go if you ever get the chance!



Our walk with the dogs.



Me and little Lizzie in the Baby Bjorn.  Thank goodness for those!



For those of you who don't know - we got 2 dogs from Santa last year that were full grown. Sadie is Brooke's dog and she is 4 - just like Brooke. Chance is Cody's dog and he is 7 - just like Cody. It was kind of crazy that it worked out that way but it helped us to know that they were meant to be our dogs. They are such sweet dogs and our kids love them to death! I am still getting used to them :) - but that is just because I was never raised with dogs. They have been a fun addition to our family.

Brooke and her sweet dog Sadie. 



Cody and his sweet dog Chance.

 

Another one of Cody and Chance.



Don't you just love the look on Cody's face?  He is trying to be super tough. 
I just think he is SUPER CUTE!



Cody and one of his best buddies - Trent.  They LOVE practicing their baseball!  And they are both lefties.  :)




A few more wig pics

I found these wig pics. on Dan's camera and couldn't resist adding them as well.

They just crack me up!



Doesn't this almost look like a doll? 



What a cool dude!

Yes - she actually DID sleep in it!  I had no idea until I went in to give her a kiss and she was fast asleep.  :)

Disco Boy

A mini Sharon Osbourne

Bad Hair Day!

Okay - so is this not one of the cutest faces that you have ever seen? She is absolutely precious and makes us smile all the time. But Dan and I have come to realize that our babies are just going to be bald for most of their early childhood and there's not much we can do about it. So I have just about every color hairbow, flower or hat to make sure that she never gets mistaken for a little boy.  But let's face it - even if I have her covered from head to toe in pink there will still be those people at the store that will say "Oh - HE's so cute!" I can't even believe it! She could not have more of a girly face - but oh well! It still happens!

Can't you tell that she is a girl?  But even with all of this cuteness - it is always fun to try new things. So the other day I was at WalMart and I noticed that they had all of their Halloween stuff for 75% off. This was pretty exciting when I noticed a Dorothy costume for $5 - because Brooke has already been talking about next Halloween and how instead of being the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz - she now wants to be Dorothy. (Can you tell what her favorite movie is?) So anyways - as I was looking at the costumes I noticed the wig section and saw that with the huge discount each wig would only be $2 each. I couldn't resist - because I figured that they would be perfect for our costume box. So I got one in almost every color!



This one is for a fun night out!



This one is for the Farrah Fawcett look!

For a Princess Look!

For more of a natural look!

And this was just a really bad hair day!  Would you be happy if you woke up to hair like this?

And Cody and Brooke had to have a go as well!

After Cody saw this picture of himself - he said, "Wow!  I look pretty good with hair like that!"  Don't you love his confidence?  All in all - we have had a lot of fun switching up our looks around the Bethers house!

Oh - and I forgot to mention that Dan had stashed the Farrah Fawcett wig in his suitcoat when we went to church on Sunday and I had no idea!  We ran into one of our good friends and her 6 week old baby girl who is literally covered with a head of hair - and Dan threw the wig on Lizzie's head and was like, "Oh yea, well I think my hair is better than yours!"  Can't you just hear his voice?  It was hilarious!  I could NOT believe that he had a full-on wig inside of his coat!  Only Dan! 

HALLOWEEN

I always love Halloween!  It is just about the time of year when it starts to cool down outside and it is so fun watching the kids get so excited about their costumes.  This year we had a blast at school carnivals, class parties, our church Trunk or Treat, and of course Trick or Treating in our neighborhood with great friends and family. 

 Brooke with some of the best babysitters of all time.

 Cody the Pirate and Brooke the Wicked Witch (but definitely a cute wicked one!)

These are some of our friends who had put on a few pounds since the last time I had seen them.  She actually told me that she went to the YMCA earlier that day in full costume and ran on the treadmill. 

 Brooke and some of her ballet buddies.

 Our Trick or Treating Brigade.  Our good friends the Claytons and Williams came with us and my sweet sisters Betsy and Cathy and their kids.  We had quite the group and had a blast!

 Little Elizabeth with a pacifier that of course her Daddy bought for her!

My sweet flower

School Carnival and Field Trip to Camp Hargis

Cody has been blessed with an amazing teacher for both Kindergarten and 1st Grade.  We have been so happy with his growth over the past 2 years and for his LOVE of learning.  Today he was so excited to finish a chapter book - that my sister Betsy said some of her 4th grade students are reading.  I obviously think that teachers are one of the most influential things in children's lives and I am so grateful that my kiddos sweet teachers dedicate so much of their lives to helping them.  This picture below was taken at the school Fall Festival.  The teachers had a costume competition and Cody's teacher dressed up as Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus and used some of the kids as her props.  And who do you think won???  Well of course - Mrs. Frizzle!  :)

 This was the climbing tower.  Cody was the 1st person of the whole day that actually made it to the top!  Everyone cheered!  He is so determined and will not give up until he completes something.

Cody had BEGGED me to go on his class fieldtrip and I had no idea how I would be able to work it out because I not only had Elizabeth (who isn't allowed on the field trip) - but I also had to get Brooke to and from pre-school.  My sweet husband was able to work things out so that I could go with Cody and it just made my day.  I had a great time spending the day with him and I LOVED that he was glued to my side.  Every time I was a few feet away - he would run over to me and grab my hand.  I don't want my baby to grow up! Isn't he cute?

 His cute class

What a sweet boy!  

My New Love

Okay - I have discovered a new love of mine and I am so excited about it!  For so long - I have flipped through the Pottery Barn catalogue and admired the gorgeous furniture and decorations.  But spending that kind of money on a piece of furniture just blows my mind!  There are so many other things that I could do with that money - like buy a WHOLE CAR - that runs!  So I have often gotten up at the crack of dawn to go garage sale shopping in the hopes of finding an awesome piece - for a fraction of the price.  My house is living proof of that.  I have tons of awesome pieces that I snagged at a garage sale and I am so proud of them!  I actually get some sort of a high when I get an awesome deal!

So... when I discovered that I could actually use some of my old and "not so cute" pieces of furniture and turn them into something that I would covet in a magazine - I got so excited!  I decided to start with an old night stand that I had sitting in my garage.  It actually goes to my guest bedroom set that - YES - I purchased at a garage sale.  I bought the entire set - a huge dresser, 2 night stands and a King size bed frame and mattress for... $200!  Amazing!!!  I couldn't even buy a nightstand in most of the stores for that price.  It's been sitting in the garage because our guest room felt too tight with 2 night stands in there.  So it was the perfect piece to experiment on. 

(Side note: Don't worry - we don't use that mattress anymore for our guests.  But it definitely came in handy when we only had a futon for them to sleep on.  Much more comfortable.)

Anyways, I decided to google ways to refinish furniture and found that it was a lot more simple then I was thinking.  There are lots of different approaches out there that work.  I chose to go with some primer, sandpaper, spray paint, and some glaze.  I recreated a new nightstand that I am in love with.  It's not perfect - but for my first piece I am pretty proud.  It's amazing what some new hardware can do to a piece.  What do you think?

Before:

And after:

That is more my style and I am very happy with the outcome.  So as I was working on this piece I happened to drive past a house that had a HUGE pile of JUNK in the front yard.  Old boxes filled with magazines from the 1950's, scrap pieces of wood with huge nails sticking out, garbage bags full of trash, and hiding in the middle of the pile, I spotted this:

Except it looked even worse.  It was brown with a big old sticker on it and completely discolored wood.  I figured it would be worth trying to resalvage it seeing that it was FREE!  It couldn't hurt to at least try!  So as you can see, I primed it and am working on finishing it up.  I will post pictures once it is done.  Who knows - it may end up at The Salvation Army once I am done, OR if it turns out how I am hoping then it could just find a new home in my house.  We shall see!  :)

An Amazing Woman

 Wow! I'm back! I had finally figured out how to create the blog - but when I came back to post new information I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it. I honestly wasted so much time trying to figure it out that I finally gave up. Then when I was talking to my sister in law, Jade, she reminded me that it was very SIMPLE and that I was probably overthinking it. She gave me a few directions and here I am! YEAH!!!!! I am so happy that I can finally do it now!

 So life with Lizzie has already gone so fast. She has been the most precious baby ever and I can't believe how much time I can just sit there and stare into her eyes waiting to get a smile from her. Her nonstop smiles make it impossible to put her down. And she loves to talk back to you if you talk in a quiet voice. The other day I went in the room to see Brooke singing to her and as Brooke was singing, Lizzie kept singing back with her ooooos and ahhhs. It was the cutest thing ever! :) I am just in love with those little girls. And as for Cody, he is just about the sweetest big brother that there could ever be. He is a huge help to me around the house and with Lizzie. We are truly blessed.

 We got some devastating news last month that still hasn't completely sunk in. Our precious Grandma Bethers passed away. She has always been one of my heroes and I am going to miss our long conversations so much. She was so great with the kids and they love her SO MUCH. They are still asking all the time why she had to leave us. Brooke prayed the other night that Grandma Bethers would come back to life. I explained to her that she won't come back to life anytime soon, but that we WILL get to see her again and be together as a family. This is a time when our beliefs have really helped us to stay strong. It is such a blessing to know that "Families can be Together Forever". She had that saying printed in several different places throughout her house and now it will be a constant reminder whenever I hear that beautiful phrase. I am grateful that Brooke Caroline is named after such an amazing woman who served more than most people that I know. I pray that she will follow her example and strive to be the kind of woman that Grandma Bethers was. We were so blessed to see Grandpa and Grandma Bethers only weeks before she passed on. They flew here to be with us for Elizabeth's baby blessing and it was such a special time to get to spend with them. We were also blessed to be able to make it out to Idaho for the funeral. All of the living children, 12 of the 14 total, were together for the first time in over 10 years. It was an amazing thing to be together as a family and talk about the fun memories that we all had of Grandma. I will be forever grateful for the unconditional love that she gave to me and for her acceptance of me from the very beginning. (Wow - I can't keep the tears from coming down.) I just love that woman and will forever be grateful for her amazing example to me. She is a true example of someone who had Christlike love and I miss her.

My all time favorite picture of her! She NEVER rode on the 4-wheeler, but when Cody asked her to she could not resist! :) That shows how much she LOVED her grandchildren!