Before and After
Sorry I haven't posted these already.

Playroom transformation BEFORE:

AFTER: Since taking this picture I have filled the frames with my kids' pictures least you think I only hang old missionary pictures. hee he BTW the color on this wall is still the same as before, Avocado Green from Kelly Moore Paints, but due to the lighting the color is washed out.

Etsy is a wonderful place to find vinyl. I had a company custom make this branch for me.



BEFORE: The dresser of my youth. It was once painted green, then we striped it down and did a cherry stain on it about 17 years ago and then. . .




AFTER: We painted it baby blue with the most amazing milk paint EVER. Many people have asked me where to purchase milk paint and we bought it at Four Chairs in Lindon!!


BEFORE: This is the playroom in all its hand me down beauty. Hand me down t.v., console, etc. We had to ditch some of these items and came up with . . .


AFTER: After being utterly memorized by my neighbors curtains that she hung in her sweet baby room shown here, which she purchased from here, I made my mother help me make our cheaper version of them. Considering the hours and hours that it took to make the number of ruffles, I suggest that you just purchase them. I do like how they turned out though.

Since taking this picture we also ditched the flimsy metal rod and replaced it with a white wooden one.

The funny thing about redoing a room. . . I'm already wishing to change things up again.

Birthday Boy



My how time flies. My sweet boy turns nine today. Wiley is the perfect older brother. Smart, adventuresome, protective, and gentle. This little man has taught me so much. It has been a privelege to have him in our home.

I love you Scooby.

Flashback

Oh me, oh my. Every time I look in the vaults I realize how much my kids look alike. They all have round faces with chubby little cheeks. Can you tell which girl this is? Rosa, Eva or Hazel. It is amazing how similar they are.

Birthday Girl turns 2 today!



The birthday girl got everything she wanted elegant, sparkly, jewels with a sequence purse to hold it all.


She kept looking at us as if to say teach me how.

This child has been so delightful to raise. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have documented her messes and "tissed" away "ouchies". I have changed countless "ewes" and wiped away the "goss" stuff on her fingers. There are many times in a day while playing with her or feeding her that I think my heart is going to burst with love for her. If I were a singing gal I would break into song. She is priceless.

Happy Birthday Eva.

Traumatized

My favorite person in the world deserved a reward after his work week and I decided to treat him to a pedicure. When I told him my surprise he didn't look convinced.

Twenty minutes later he was sitting in a massage chair and picking out his color. What the? I was thinking he would go with clear or not have any polish at all. But to my surprise, he picked a very manly Titanium Black color. The technician working on his feet asked him multiple times if he was sure he wanted that color painted on his toes. We just kept laughing and nodding yes.



So an amazingly enjoyable hour passes, my significant other is "convinced"and we return home. Rosa has a very disgusted and confused look on her face. "Dad, why did you paint your toes"? she spat.

Whoops, I guess we might have traumatized our oldest daughter. On the positive side, Wiley liked his color choice.

Oh dear, what have we done?

January Fun

I am in desperate need of a nap. Not only is our family experiencing the yucky sicknesses that come with cold weather but we are also having a lot of fun, thus my need for a nap or two or three.



Before our family from Ohio left town we hit the slopes. Rosa and Wiley love Aunt Lisa, Uncle Matt, and cousin Kimball.


We just had to go skiing a few more times. Rosa and Wiley consider themselves experts, I just do my best to chase them down the hill. There is something really special about a family trip to the slopes. I get that same feeling when we all go on a bike ride together. Ahhh.



Big news: Eva started sledding. Last year we took her on a few sledding runs but this is the first year that she really loves sledding. Grandma got this great blow up sled. We turn it around backwards and away we go. Eva giggles the whole way down. She loves it so much that now she doesn't want to be left in the boom boom (the green mule) she has to get as many runs in as the big kids. Although I don't have a picture of our favorite place to sled, just know that it is the perfect balance of length and steepness. People of all ages love our hill.


Rosa has been asking to go ice skating since before Christmas so on Friday we fulfilled her wish. We left the babies home and Wiley and Rosa went skating with us. Both of them did awesome. They seemed fearless on the ice.



Now, back to that nap I mentioned. I need one. A good one.

My Wee One
7 months and counting


I love this girl. She is so fun to have around. So adorable. She is growing up too fast though. She can pull herself up to a standing position. Yikes. I wish the time didn't fly by so quickly.

Welch Family fall 2010
take 1

take 2

take 3


Rosa is happy and gorgeous.


Wiley is working on his Mr. Darcy look.


Eva is um. . . calm?


Hazel is amused.


What the. . . I look evil. I am about ready to bite off Ben's nose or perhaps I'm saying Mehhaahaa with a really deep voice. I can't decide if this shows the real smiley happy me or if it shows the real crazy-to-attempt-family pictures me. oh well either way, I may be an evil genius for actually making pictures happen.

Capturing Eva



After a fairly eventful week, (and it is only Thursday) I only have a few pictures to show for it. Capturing Eva is so difficult. She moves too fast. I barely caught the above picture but that was because 4 of us were holding her down while the Doctor stitched her up. 7 tearful stitches, no thanks to the side of the bath tub.


Three days later we are in the hospital again.


I literally have tried so many times to get this girl in print. This moment was caught on film only because she was scared. This was her just this morning right before her little procedure.
Even though the nurses were nice, she still was acting extremely cautious. Thank goodness we had George, her favorite animal, to get her through.


She really disliked the hospital gown, but she loved the little socks they gave her. She won't take them off.

All is well with little Eva for the moment. We've had a total of 6 visits to different doctors in about 9 days time and she has 7 cute stitches on her chin and tubes in her ears now. Lets hope this weekend goes a little smoother than the last two weekends.

Fundraisers and Hooters?



My sister's blog reminded me of how creative (or desperate) public schools are when it comes to raising money. For example, our kids were recently asked to participate in a walk-a-thon. A classic fundraiser to be sure (boring and safe), but by no means the only option.

For instance, my little sister did a Jazz-a-thon (Jazzercise). I participated in numerous Jump-a-thons (jump-roping). And I even once (wait for it) took part in a Wing-a-thon. Yes, we ate buffalo wings to raise money. Not just any wings, either. Wings from Hooters. Yes, Hooters.

Not surprisingly, pitching this idea to potential donors/neighbors was a hard sell. For one thing, the fundraiser was for sports (hardly a cause that is conducive to wing-consumption). Second of all, there's the question of whether high school kids should be hanging out at Hooters. (Seriously, what message was my school trying to send?) Regardless, I participated. I even ate 11 wings before my mouth was on FIRE.

Back to the walk-a-thon. Basically, my kids spent an hour doing laps around the schoolyard. Lots of laps. Rosie ran just over 4.5 miles. Wiley did just over 3.5 miles. Thankfully, I did NOT sponsor them for each lap they ran (I did the flat fee). Of course, I didn't tell them that ...

In the end, the school made a couple bucks and my kids got some exercise. Everybody wins. But it did get me thinking about concocting a fundraiser of my own. The key is to get people to pay me to do something I already enjoy doing. Hmmmm .... how about a Watch-The-Biggest-Loser-a-Thon, or Eat-Warm-Fudgy-Brownies-With-Chocolate-Sauce-a-Thon, or Shopping-For-Clothes-a-Thon. The possibilities are endless.

Please contact me if you would like to participate and/or donate to such a worthy cause.