The Old-fashioned Dry Sink

I'm so excited to announce that the +7 year project has come to an end. A few years before I met Dan a pulled this old piece of furniture out of the little old house that sits in my parents' farm yard. I had a dream to have it refinished someday.
The old house was the first house my grandparents lived in when they were first married. When my dad was born my grandpa upgraded to the house that I grew up in.
Anyway, this piece of furniture was always sitting in the bedroom of that old house and my sisters and I would play with it when we were little. The ceiling in that room started to crumble down about 7-8 years ago, so I moved it out and into my parents' porch.
It was used as a wash stand/dry sink. There was no running water in that house, so I assume my grandparents used it as there would-be bathroom sink. It probably had an old pitcher and basin sitting on it. The rack on the right side would hold towels. And the mirror pivots to accommodate tall vs. shorter people. The mirror has some spots and actually looks really old.

The bottom part was missing a drawer and part of the little door. Dan started working to scrape the old white paint off a few years ago, but progress was slow due to his lack of knowledge and tools.
After moving here we found out that an older gentleman at our church was a retired high school shop teacher. He let Dan bring it to his shop and helped him repair and refinish it.
It looks a bit different from the white paint it had, but after taking the paint off the original wood had a dark stain similar to this.
This picture outside has a better lighting. The camera didn't do it justice, it looks much more awesome in person. Dan worked many hours on this project and finished it in time to give it to me for Christmas. Thanks Dan , I love you. I'm excited to have this piece of family history in my home.

(I have some pictures of what it looked like before the refinish, but I can't find them right now. When I figure out where they are I'll post some before and after pics.)

Emmee's prayer.

I have to blog about this before I forget.
We just had our nighttime family prayer. Emmalynn said it.
Here's a portion of her prayer.
"Please bless us to be safe on Christmas morning, so that we don't trip as we're running to get our presents."
I was trying so hard not to laugh that I didn't actually hear the rest of her prayer. She's sure asking in advance!

Delicious!

It's always heart warming when your child enjoys a meal you made.
I rarely get that from my girls, who most often say, "You never make anything I like!"
The other night I made a ham-potato chowder soup. Adam ate it with gusto (and both hands) and after every other bite would say, "Delicious."
I'm not sure where he picked up that word, but it sounded so cute we had to video tape him saying it.

I'm back!

Okay, it's been forever since I last posted anything, including my kids' blogs. On the 30th of Oct. the kids and I flew to ND to stay with my parents and see all the relatives. I forgot my cord so I couldn't blog on my Mom's computer. Then somehow the week and a half between getting back and leaving again for the Thanksgiving break was filled with unpacking, laundry and extra homework, not to mention that Dan got a new (new to us, it was an old work computer he could buy for $50) computer and I am now figuring out everything on it. I hate the way the old things look completely different on a different computer, grrrr.
In the coming days, I will be backflashing the last month and a half on this blog and the kids' blogs. (If you haven't been to their blogs just look to the right of this post and look at the blog list and click on a blog name that has the name of one of my children!)
Halloween was great, Thanksgiving was wonderful, and we are now decorated for Christmas, and Emmalynn checks out the window, often.., to see if Santa's watching her! I tell her he is... all the time. HEHE. It works very well too.

Cheese Noddles and Bananas

Today the kids and I were eating lunch. We (except Cassee) had Mac n Cheese, aka by the Riskedahl's Cheese Noodles.
Out of the blue Emmalynn says: Cheese noodles are like bananas.
Me: oh, really.
Emmee: becept (except) they (meaning the noodles) have a hole on the top and a hole on the bottom.
Me: how are they like bananas?
Emmee: well becept they are cheesy.
Me: so, again, how are they like bananas?
Emmee: they are both yellow.
Me: but the noodles are orange.
Pause... Emmee thinking.
Emmee: well there's three things wrong here. (1) they have holes in the top and bottom,
(2) they are cheesy, and (pause)
Me: (thinking: there's a hundred ways cheese noodles are NOT like bananas)
Emmee: (3) you can't peel them.
Me: LOL And so tell me again, how are cheese noodles and bananas alike????

The Mom Club

I've joined a club!
It's called The Moms of Bloomfield. One of the ladies from PTA invited me.
They meet in the Baptist Church once a month. The kids go one direction and the moms go another direction. They do different things each time. Sometimes it's a craft, skill, or inspirational speaker. Then they have a potluck lunch. It costs $5.00 each time you go (instead of a monthly or yearly due). That covers the kids and crafts, etc.
Throughout the month they also do activities with the kids.
Yesterday we went to the Sutherland Farms. It's a big pumpkin patch with a small corn maze, little pumpkins patch, hay ride, train ride (for kids), snacks, petting zoo, and corn pit.
You're probably thinking, "what's a corn pit?" Exactly what it sounds like. It's bordered with hay bales and is like a giant sand box, but instead of sand it's field corn. It was so cool.

Here's our hay ride.

This is the kiddie train ride. Cassee is in the second car back.

By the front there is a purple cow (next to the Purple Cow Cafe). They actually have teets on the cow filled with water. The kids pretend to milk it. It made me laugh.
For more pictures look at Adam and Cassee's blogs. Emmee was in school and missed out. But I think the whole family will go on Saturday.

The Hammock

We have some fabulous trees is the back yard for hammocks. There are two willow trees (one actually looks like it is dying) in the middle of the back yard. They have huge trunks. Today Dan put the hammock up between them.

It's a hammock Dan brought back from Brasil.


And since we are still enjoying 70 degree weather, I'm sure we'll be using it a lot more this fall.

Baby Number 4

Ok everyone, Baby number 4 is in the oven. We weren't sure who to tell first. We couldn't call everyone at the same time. Whoever is the first to read our blog is the first to find out. We are due sometime in the middle of June. Yes, Ronda, I'm only about 5 minutes pregnant! Hopefully all goes well!

The Unpacking Mess

We got all our stuff on Wednesday. We are surrounded by boxes.
Here is our horrid unpacking mess. Actually it's only a couple of them.
Each picture show a different, separate mess of packing paper. They all happen to be taken in the same spot, the living room.

At 2:29 pm


At 2:49 pm.


At 3:05 pm


At 4:08 pm
All these pictures combined only shows about a fourth (maybe, but probably not even) of the unpacking materials.

From Bloomfield to St. George

Last weekend we went to St. George, Utah for a little Jones Family get-together.
This is all the Jones grandkids, all 18 of them. They are lined up according to height, not age.
Marcus, Sydney, Mathew, Holly, Benjamin, Brynley, Kaleb, Jack, Emmalynn, Bryant, Lyndsi, Cassidee, Hailey, Chase, Graysen, Chad, Boston, and Adam standing in the corner.

This is the awesome house that belongs to Nate's wife, Leesa, 's parents. If it was big enough for all six couples and their kids, and cousin Annie and her hubby, Rob, you know it was big.


One the way home we stopped at the dam that creates Lake Powell. It was pretty cool. We were on a bridge that goes over the river. The dam on one side, the trickling river on the other.
This is the dam side:
We thought of our friends, the Johnstons, as we looked at Lake Powell. Maybe we'll still get to hang out with you there someday??


This is the river side. I love the red rock cliffs.
Ok, so it's not that trickling. It is after all the mighty Colorado River.


These are just some cool rocks we saw close to the Arizona/New Mexico border.

Our pathway (which was almost soli little two lane highways that wound around cliffs and canyons and desert) from Bloomfield, NM to St. George, UT took us from NM to AZ, into UT and back to AZ, then back into Utah. No wonder it took 7 1/2 hours to get there! But there was some awesome scenery along the way.

We Closed!

We closed on our house yesterday. It is officially ours now.
I'm not sure if I'm happy... or disappointed. There's no turning back for sure now. We could be here FOREVER!
We are excited to get the rest of our things next Wed. Anyone want to help unpack??
We'll see how everything will fit into this house!!

Tomorrow - The Closing Date

Tomorrow we are scheduled to close on our house here in New Mexico. We think we have everything set, but we'll probably find out something we are missing when we actually start signing the papers. This will surely clean out our checking account! Next week, hopefully we will get the remainder of our stuff and then we'll really feel at home once again.
We'll let you all know the update on the closing after tomorrow!
Hopefully we'll still have the use of our writing hands after signing the zillion papers it takes.

The Life of a Moving Box...After Moving

Oh, what to do with all the moving boxes!?

Play in them, what else?
When the Ryan cousins came to visit they had a fabulous idea to decorate and play in the boxes. They each made their own.

My kids have had countless hours playing in the gigantic boxes! But...someday soon those big boxes will have to find a new home. (Like next week when we close on the house and the rest of our stuff gets here and there won't be room for big boxes!)

Yikes!

It's been a long day.
Little Adam got a fever yesterday and took medicine before going to bed. He woke up at 2:30 in the morning burning up. I was up from 2:30 to 5:30 taking care of him. I slept until 6:15 when all the kids woke up. Emmalynn dressed herself and did her own hair. I didn't really pay attention to what she looked like when she went out the door. This is what I saw when She got home from school.
A patterned purple and maroon skirt and a bright red shirt with a shiny sequined heart.
This is the result of three things.
#1 - I was half dead this morning when she went to school because of Adam's fever.
#2 - All her pants/capris were in the laundry.
#3 - She only has 5 pairs of capris anyway because the tub of her new school clothes I'd been collecting for her got left in the storage unit instead of coming to the new house.
Ooops! Maybe she needs a lesson in fashion. Or just one in matching colors instead!

Bathtime Fun

The cute pictures of my kids playing with bubbles in the tub have been removed to avoid possible problems with Social Services and Child Pornography Police.
It's a pretty sad world out there when parents get their kids taken away from them for trying to print a picture of their kids playing in the tub.
Jill informed me of such a thing she saw on CNN yesterday.
I wouldn't want to risk having my kids taken away.
But, how in the world are moms now supposed to get the "Bathtime, Bubble Fun" scrapbook pages done??

The Undaunted

I wasn't aware that Gerald Lund had recently published a new book called The Undaunted. It is the story of the pioneers that came through the Hole-in-the-Rock. They started the settlements in the southeast corner of Utah.
For my birthday my wonderful mother-in-law gave me the book. I loved his other books and was very excited to read this new one as well. (Even though I didn't know it existed before she handed it to me last weekend.)
I happen to be a terrible mom, wife and housekeeper when I'm in the middle of a good book. I can't stop reading to attend to other things. I couldn't finish it fast enough. I started Monday night or Tues. morning (I can't remember, see how bad I am) and finally finished it this morning. It's over 800 pages long, it's massive! (Cassee has watched way too much television these last few days.)
It was fabulous. (Thank you so much for giving it to me, Chris!)
This story has special meaning to Dan's family on the Jones' side. The people in this story are his ancestors from the family tree. One of the leaders, Jens Nielson is a great-great-great (I'm not sure how many, the pedigree chart is in a storage unit) grandfather to Dan's dad. He was an important leader and was a main (real) character in the book. He was also a main (real) character in another book by Gerald Lund, The Fire of the Covenant, the story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies that crossed the plains. Also an excellent book.
These pioneers went through so much to do what the Lord asked them to do . They are an inspiration to me. I have grown to love these pioneer ancestors so much as I've learned about their trips and trials. I know that I'm not a direct descendant, however, my children are! I hope that I can teach them to love these ancestors as well.
It's an amazing story. You can look at pictures of the areas and learn more about it at the website: Undaunted-TheNovel.com
Thanks again Chris, I thoroughly loved this book. And I definitely didn't wait for Dan to read it together!

Labor Day Fun

Chris came for the Labor Day weekend. We had lots of fun with Grandmama.

On Monday morning we headed to the Bloomfield sign for some pictures.


Then we went to a park in Bloomfield next to the river. Bluffs line the south side of the San Juan River. There is a nature trail along the river too.
Cassee's having fun in the sand on the bank.

Then we headed to Dan's workplace to see the building. Good job, Dan!! We are all glad you got a job!!!!!!

NAPI stands for Navajo Agricultural something something. (Irrigation might be in there somewhere too.)


Then we headed to a park in Farmington. After our picnic the kids played in the water area. Fountains shoot water up randomly. They had a blast.
They were all soaking wet for the ride home!! And no one wanted to leave. It was as fun as the pool, yet even better because it was free!!!

Toy organizers

I've never had any toy organizers in the kids' bedrooms before. I was determined to get some in this new house. I found these at Target and put them together. (Actually Dan did Adam's.) The bins come separately. They have little handles on one side and come in lots of different colors. The shelf can serve two purposes: bookshelf and toy bins.


This one's in the girls' room.


This one's in Adam's room.

The wooden stool

Did all you Tuttle-ites notice the wooden stool in the picture of the bathroom? Did you all still use yours?? It's perfect to use when I bathe my kids in the tub.
We all had to make a wooden stool like that in shop class in 7th grade. Thanks Mr. Abeldinger. (Did I spell that right??)

The Bathroom, put together

Here are the finished shots of the bathroom.

Here's the shower curtain.



Here's the rug and the towels.


Here's the sink.


I realize it looks better in person than in the pictures.
I'm not making any more returns, so don't tell me if you don't like it!

The Bathroom Dilemma

For Dorothy, who spent much time with me examining the bathroom section at Target.
We have an interestingly colored bathroom floor. It has made finding matching bathroom accessories difficult. This is the fourth set of stuff I've gotten. Target might ban me from the store soon. I just can't make up my mind or find anything just right. What's your opinion?

The colors in the floor are a Santa Fe reddish-orange and tan color combination.


Here's the latest shower curtain I've gotten. The stripe of orange and red match pretty good.


Here's the rest of the stuff: the rug, a bathmat, washcloths, and decorative towels.

The new house in Bloomfield!

Here are some pictures of our new house in NM.


This is the front view of the house.



And here's the back view. The middle French doors go into the family room. The garage door on the right goes into Dan's workshop and the patio doors at the far left go into the master bedroom.



This is the living room from the front door. The fireplace is wood burning. The doorway across the room leads to the family room. The door on the left goes to the laundry room, and then to the garages.



This is the family from the corner. On the far right is the stone platform which has a pellet stove. The large doorway on the right leads to the living room. The large doorway on the left leads to the dining room. The kitchen is on the backside of the fireplace.



This is the kitchen. The oven is in the wall, separate from the range. The frig is huge and takes up too much space. At the top of the picture is a skylight.



Sorry I don't know how to rotate the pictures. This is the main bathroom. It also has a skylight. It now has a shower curtain too. The master bath is a 3/4 bath.



This is the extra garage in the back. It's more like a workshop. Around the door on the left there is a work table. The front garage is a typical two car garage. Sorry, no pic.


There are four bedrooms. Two are quite large. The two for the kids are good sized as well. It has more than 2400 square feet. It's on a half acre lot with lots of trees in the back. We are excited to get our hammocks out of the storage unit! It's a very quiet neighborhood on what used to be an apple orchard. Many of the neighbors have original apples trees. Sadly, we do not.

You know you've been working to hard when...

Friday night is the only night I splurge and watch a movie after the kids are in bed. Saturday nights get too late with 9:00 church. So I started a movie about 8:30ish. Dan says he's going to be soon, he has to go to work at 5:30 the next morning. (note: he's been working 10 1/2 hour days this whole week.) Okay, fine. Go to bed.
The movie ends around 11:30 and I head to bed.
There's a lamp on low left on for me, so I try to be as quiet as possible. Dan wakes up anyway, looks at me and says "good morning." I thought it was an odd thing to say, maybe he's just being sarcastic.
Then he looks at the clock and says out loud, "it's 11:30". Good he sees that it's still nighttime. Right?
I head to the bathroom and realize (too late of course) that I need more toilet paper. I call for Dan (since he's awake anyway) and he gets up and brings me some.
I finish my bathroom nighttime routine and go back to the bedroom. He's kneeling by the bed.
I say, "What are you doing?"
"Praying," he responds.
OK, he must have forgotten to pray earlier, right? I kneel down to pray with him and I say the NIGHTTIME (wording should have been noticed, right?) prayer.
I then get into bed and he heads for the bathroom. After a few minutes I realize the shower is running.
"What is he doing?" I wonder. I go in the bathroom, he's taking a shower.
I ask "Why are you showering now."
"Isn't it morning?" he asks.
How could he still think it was morning?? He had actually said out loud, "it's 11:30."
We both just laughed, it was so funny.
I think being 6 hours early for work is a little excessive.
And, by the way, the next morning he didn't remember getting me the toilet paper either!

The first paycheck

We were all very excited on Thursday when Dan came home with his first paycheck from Raytheon. I wanted to take a picture of Dan holding it, but he said, "no way, that's too lame." I told him I wanted to post it on our blog, then he offered to take my picture. I said no way as well. So in the end we have no picture of the first paycheck. It's now in the bank. (I actually had to deposit it, he doesn't have the direct deposit set up yet. I haven't done that in forever!) Good times!!

We are the newest New Mexicans!

Hello everyone
Many of you know we are officially moved to New Mexico! The house we plan to buy is about 3 miles outside of Bloomfield, and about 6 miles from Farmington (not too far from the Four Corners area). We are renting the house before we close on it in Sept.
Dan started his new job 2 weeks ago. This Friday he will get his first paycheck in over 16 months! We are all pretty excited about that one. We just might have to have a celebration dinner eating out! If anyone wants to come join us this Friday we will treat and pay the whole bill!!
Emmalynn started school a week ago too. She's not sure she loves it yet. She really hasn't made any friends. Hopefully she won't take too long to get comfortable there. She gets on the bus at 7:05 and school starts at 7:45! This has taken some adjustment for everyone. She gets out of school at 2:45 and gets home from the bus at 3:21. Some bus ride huh? That's almost as bad as my bus ride as a kid in ND, half hour in the morning and 1 hour after school. Crazy huh!
Cassee is enjoying the extra mommy attention. We read books and play games when Adam is napping. She misses her playmate too and is very excited to see the bus after school.
Adam is a crazy little boy who insists on feeding himself these days (a very messy situation) and can't seem to leave the garden hose alone. He's very busy all day and seems to learn an new word everyday.
I'm getting the hang of being single again. I got too used to having Dan around all the time. Most of our stuff is still in storage, so I'm actually quite bored much of the time.
Except of course when I'm cleaning up water messes, broken bowls and glasses, piles of dirt and crackers everywhere, Adam is a VERY busy boy! Isn't being a mom fun?!!

Dan's New Job

Hi everyone,

I have received an offer from Raytheon and we are going to accept it! I still have to choose a specific start date but it will most likely be the 10th or 24th of August.

So, it is official, we are moving to the Farmington, New Mexico area! To all those who wanted to be the first ones to know, hopefully you read our blog because this is the first place it has been posted!

Dan Jones

Emmee Graduated and Casse turned 3!

The title says it all! Here are some pics for proof:

The New Kitchen...well, new paint.

Before

After