We Bought A Zoo

I've been hearing about the movie "We Bought A Zoo" for a while now, and thought it sounded like a "little kid" movie that I probably wouldn't like. However, when I was visiting my family in Oregon, we all ended up watching this movie together and I LOVED it! I'm pretty picky when it comes to movies, and there's only a handful I can think of that I would actually want to own. This one is definitely on my "to buy" list! Great story (based on a true story), great acting, and clean (it's PG). I basically want to steal adorable little "Rosie" and keep her forevvver.

Anyway, it's good. Watch it.

Mother's Day 2012

Well, my apartment is strewn with half-full boxes. In the mess of that, there's duffle bags and suitcases that we're still living out of from our recent vacation, and the mess of toys, books, etc. that comes with the normal living that must go on amidst the packing and moving. The good news is that we're only moving about a mile away, so that makes the move pretty easy. Yay for finding a cheaper apartment with more privacy! 

Anyway, there's lots of things I want to blog about right now, but for starters, let's just talk about Mother's Day.

We were at the Hoyt home in Washington for Mother’s Day and I felt kind of silly to be honored along with my mother-in-law, because I feel like I’m about 1 millionth of the mother that she is. For as long as I can remember, Pete has always referred to Mother’s Day as “Golda’s Day” after the nickname he has for his mom. After raising 11 children that all turned out to be incredible people, I don’t doubt that she deserves her own national holiday. She is such a strong and faithful woman, and I’m so grateful for the way that she raised my Peter.  My Mother’s Day was really special---Pete made me an incredible breakfast and a little movie with pictures and music. It’s funny though…what I love even more than the breakfast he made was the way he announced to me in an excited voice “I’m making you an omelet this morning!” He’s so good at finding little ways to serve me, and not only on Mother’s Day. And even more than I love the sweet movie he made me, I love that during finals week, he took 3 hours away from his studies to make me a 3 minute movie. He’s so willing to put family first in his life and it’s one of the reasons I love him. On Mother’s Day evening, Pete suggested we take some family photos with his beloved Mt. Baker in the background. It’s worse than pulling teeth to get this man to take pictures, so I was shocked when he not only suggested it but even changed out of his typical basketball-shorts-and-t-shirt attire for it. All in all, it was a wonderful day!

I’m so grateful for all the amazing women in my life---especially my mom and both my grandmas. Thanks for raising me, for encouraging me, and supporting me from the time I was a spirited 2 year old that needed a spank (just kidding, kind of…) all the way til now when I’ve got my own toddler to raise J

Cakes!

Okay, I just need to say that I LOVE CUPCAKES. Baking them, frosting them, eating them. I just think they're so cute and fun. Pete thinks I'm slightly obsessed, and he might be right. I jump at any chance to make cupcakes. While being home, my ward was having a cake auction to raise money for Young Women camp, so naturally I wanted to do some baking! We made a Kit-Kat cake (thank-you Pinterest!) which turned out awesome and some white cupcakes with raspberry cream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. Yum! My only regret is that we didn't get to try any of the Kit-Kat cake or even see it cut open (I'm already trying to think of an excuse to make another one---for us this time!). It was so fun to do some baking with my mom and sister!

Bathroom Re-do

My mom and I decided to undertake a little project while I was in town...a bathroom makeover! While this was "my" bathroom while I lived at home, I can't say I was sad to see it go. It was great in all it's lime green splendor, but those glory days have come and gone.

before

after

 We still need to add some crown molding around the tops of the walls (you can tell we painted it knowing we would be putting that on), but Home Depot was out of the kind we needed. Here's what we did:

*painted walls, door, vanity, trim
*ripped up the old floor and put in new
*replaced shower curtain
*did a lot of caulking that was way overdue!

I must admit, I thought this project would be a bit easier than it was. We ended up taking the toilet out, replacing floor boards, etc. And let's be honest, by "we" I mean mostly my dad. My mom and I did the demolition and painting and my dad spent several early mornings and late nights putting it all back together again. My mom wants to put in a new mirror, light fixtures, and some kind of shelving above the toilet, but even without all that, it has had quite the transformation! It was fun to create a nicer, more peaceful feeling bathroom and made me realize that there is so much I don't know about this kind of construction/remodeling stuff around the house. I picked up a few tips and tricks from my dad during this project, but I really wish I knew a lot more!

Roses

Recently, I took some time to stop and smell the roses. Literally :)

Me, Emery, and our fancy shmancy camera headed to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to get a whiff of these beauties:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how these old-fashioned roses smell. 

Their scent reminds me of my grandma, of wet feet on bare sidewalks after swimming at Medical Springs, of the small stream of warm water in the backyard there with soft, squishy green moss.

this ladybug made me think of Ryker! :)


After the garden, we went to Piedmont park to play and feed the ducks at the pond. It was nice to enjoy a not-too-hot day in Atlanta, because I have a feeling those are dwindling. I'm finally feeling pretty comfortable in Atlanta...it only took about 10 months!

notice how lopsided her ponytails are? It kinda drives me nuts, but I also think it's kinda cute :)

Right now, Pete is on break between semesters, so we are enjoying some family time in Nyssa with the Jensens. Soon, we'll head up to Washington to be with the Hoyts. We're so grateful we could come see our families!