Becky's blog has a new address

I decided to change my blog address to the name of my blog.  It's kind of a headache, but it'll be better in the long run.  Usually when someone is looking for a blog, they type in the title.  So I thought my address and the title should be the same.  Anywhoo, here it is:  small-n-simplethings.blogspot.com.  Apparently there are alot of small and simple things out there because I had to get creative until I found an address that wasn't taken.

Project in Progress with old doornobs -- our hall wall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the doornobs I've had for quite awhile, and finally decided what to do with them. The paper on the wall came from Ballard.

No use crying over.....

No use crying over spilt milk, right? Or lost diamonds? I'll explain: I was walking through the parking lot at Kohl's the other day. I hardly ever notice things on the ground like my husband always does, but this day I noticed a diamond. Or at least it sure looked like one. It looked like one that had fallen out of someone's ring. It wasn't huge, but not small either. "I wonder if this is a real diamond?", I thought. At the time, I had the items I was returning, my receipt, my purse, cell phone and keys in my hands, so I stuck the diamond in my pants pocket until I could look at it later. I made my return, then went to look at pants for our upcoming Guatemala trip. I NEVER hardly ever try on clothes, I almost always just get them and then return them if I need to. Well, this day I tried on pants. Like 3 seperate times going into the dressing room. Later I ran in the bank and quickly stuck my keys in my pants pocket - the same one with the diamond, and then pulled them out again without thinking. So anyway, somewhere during my pants taking on and off and my keys putting in and pulling out.........you guessed it, I lost the diamond. By the time I remembered about it and looked in my pocket, it was gone. GONE!!!! Later I was telling my family my story and the kids asked Rob what he thought it could have been worth. He said depending on the quality and size, it could have possibly been up to 10 or 15 thousand. WHAT??!!!?? Even if it wasn't that great of quality, what if it was 1 or 2 or 5 thousand? Anything would have been exciting. But it's gone. Gone forever. But then I thought about the poor woman who lost it. If it came out of her wedding ring and she loves her ring as much as I love mine, she's very sad about that. And maybe, just maybe, wherever I re-lost it is somewhere where she could re-find it! Wouldn't that be cool? That's how I want to think this story ends, with some very amazing, magical ending like that. And that makes me less feel like crying over lost diamonds.

If you.........

We hosted a dinner last night for the sweet single sisters in our Ward.  Because my family has been eating, playing and living in my house over Christmas break, it needed a deepclean.  So I started as soon as Isabelle got off to school.  I found myself alone in the house.  I don't think you understand the signifigance of that statement, let me clarify for you:  I WAS ALONE IN THE HOUSE!!!!!  For the first time in I can't remember when.  Anyway, I set out cleaning, declutering, rearranging.  I had no plan, no system.  Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a popular book series.  If you give a mouse a cookie......If you give a pig a pancake........If you give a moose a muffin, etc.
My story went something like this:  If you take a towel back to the bathroom you're going to notice that there is no toilet paper in there so you go down to the laundry room pantry to get some and you notice that the sink in there is really gross.  So you go to get the cleaner under the kitchen sink and you see the pledge and that reminds you that you'd better clean the stainless steel fridge and dishwasher for tonight before you forget.  While you're cleaning the dishwasher you notice that it needs to be emptied and so you empty the dishwasher and then you clean the fridge and notice that the floor in front of the fridge is really dirty so you mop it and when you go to throw the mopping cloths away, you see that the garbage is full.  So you take the garbage out and on your way back in you remember that you need to get the extra chairs out of the shed for the dinner, so you go get them and see how dirty they are so you begin cleaning them and decide while you're cleaning them you might as well clean the dirty french doors.  But you keep stepping on leaves on the patio and decide to sweep it off and that reminds you to sweep and vaccum the floors inside the house.  Before you sweep you tidy up the tv cabinet and see how dusty it is so you dust it and seeing the dirty rag you decide to do some laundry and wash some rugs and towels.  So you go into one bathroom and see how badly it needs cleaning so you start cleaning the sinks and mirrors and then you go into the next bathroom to clean and get the rug, and you notice that there isn't any toilet paper in there....

And then you go lay down.

Some after Christmas fun

This is why you should never give adult diapers to teenage boys for a white elephant gift.

Or maybe this is EXACTlY why you SHOULD give adult diapers to teenage boys.

 

Grandma just loved her slippers!

The captive audience

One of the skits provided by the energetic trio.

All dressed up and ready to go.

Good times. Good times.

A Little Story

Once upon a time there was a family of seven who liked to ride dirtbikes and 4-wheelers. So one day in early October, they loaded up their truck and trailer and struck off for St. George, Utah, 2 hours away. They spent the night in a hotel, got milkshakes and had a great time. Little did they know what the next day had in store for them. Bright and early, they were off, driving out of town a little, then hitting a dirt road bound for the Grand Canyon. It would be a 3-hour (a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour, sound familiar?), 80 mile journey never to be forgotten. The road was wash-boardy, dirty, and dusty. So dusty, in fact, that they couldn't even see their trailer behind them. After driving for a time, the dad of the family began to notice black birds flying near the vehicle. "Did you see that black bird almost hit our truck?", he shouted excitedly. But as they soon learned, they were not black birds at all, but pieces of TIRE! When the family got out of their truck to look at their trailer, this is what they discovered:

The tires were gone! Where did they go, you ask? Well, let's just say the hillsides surrounding St. George are now slightly peppered-looking.

Thank goodness they were able to laugh about it, then realize they needed to get to work. The trailer was unhooked, the truck bed emptied, and the assignments were made who would go and who would stay. Colby, with his knowledge of tires from his job at Discount Tire, was chosen to go, along with Miranda, who would be in charge of food and water. Of course, the dad had to go since he had the credit card. The rest of the crew stayed with the trailer to guard its contents. Once the dust of the truck returning to St. George had settled, those who remained realized it was QUIET. They were alone. ALL alone. Nothing but miles of rolling hills, sagebrush, and a trailer with no tires full of dirtbikes.

And it was hot. Blazing hot. The trailer provided shade and relief on one side, but some braved the sun and set up a tanning bed on the other side. Talk about making the most of any situation! This little bunch knew that since they had journeyed 1 1/2 hours out of St. George to this point, and those returning to town would have to go back 1 1/2 hours, then buy new tires and rims, then return the 1 1/2 hours back to this point, their wait would be......L.....O.....N.....G.....

Thank goodness they had food rations and a comfy place to sit.

And some were even smart enough to bring reading materials. (Way to go, Eli!) This little group passed the time by having rock-throwing contests, taking walks, telling stories, smashing ants, exploring, and talking to the occasional passers-by. Yes, 4 vehicles did pass by, 3 of which stopped to ask if they were ok. If you were in that 4th vehicle, shame on you! The mom of the family realized while sitting there that she hadn't been where it was this QUIET in a long, long time. She soaked it in. In due time the truck returned, loaded with the 4 last tires and rims of that style that the tire store had. WHEW!! And the men quickly set to work replacing them all, while the woman and children reorganized the truck bed and the supplies. Before long, they were off again. They hadn't gone far, however, when it started to rain. HARD. The kind of rain that makes you see how flash floods can occur. The dirt road quickly turned to a MUD road. The vehicles were sliding to and fro and the little family began to wonder if they would ever even make it to the Grand Canyon after all. Prayers were offered, and within minutes the rain stopped just as suddenly as it had started. It had rained just long enough to do this:

Everything was caked in mud! Back to work again cleaning mud as best they could before it dried 4 inches thick! Some in the family began to ask when the fun part was supposed to start!

It starts right now! Everyone got into their riding gear and helmets, and boarded their various vehicles and headed off down the REALLY treacherous dirt road. It wasn't a road fit for trailers, so theirs was left at this old schoolhouse, the truck locked into 4-wheel drive and driven by the mom, and off they went to a lodge about 15 miles away where they would rest for the night. The next day, it was back on the dirtbikes and 4-wheelers and off to.............THE GRAND CANYON!!!!

They actually made it!!!! Covered in dust, tired and some with headaches, but they made it!!!

The north rim is not as breathtaking as the south rim, but it was still way cool!!!! Now the whole family can say they've been to the Grand Canyon.

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.