I need a buddy...

Okay-I did it...I signed up for the Moab Half Marathon on March 8th. So who's in? Angie? Joel? Anybody? The Deadline for registration is December 15th-tomorrow, so if you're going to do it, you'd better get on it. Also, its just a lottery, so no guarantee you'll get in anyway. But good times if lots of us do! Here is the site to register http://moabhalfmarathon.org/halfm/halfm.html. And if you've never ran before-who cares. I have a great training schedule that will be easy and builds up gradually if anyone is interested. I

Now I am OFFICALLY a Painter

This past month I had a lot of time on my hands and I was looking for a project to keep me busy. Well I found it, and I'm still not done (but I guess most of my projects end that way). I have no art talent what-so-ever, but took it upon myself to paint my kids play area.

Our basement is pretty much dedicated to kids. We try to keep all the toys down there so I feel like when my upstairs is clean-my whole house is clean! Toys out of sight-toys out of mind. Well, my kids go down to play, but never stay long. There isn't any color on the walls, or pictures or anything. So I thought that if I put some fun stuff on the walls it would help with them playing down there. I have a friend who owns a screen printing company and she said she could just wrap the whole thing in any picture we want, (her playroom is all wrapped in Nemo, and is so cute!) But I'm sure that could get a little pricey! So I decided to just go for it and paint it myself. The worst I could do is mess up and repaint over it.

Well, here are the pictures of the semi finished product. I'm kind of proud of myself, because I did this all by myself and I think it turned out pretty good. At least thats what my 9 year old neighbor said.

This is the outside wall of the space under that stairs. The window to the left of the cannon is a real window (without the glass). Thats the stair railing in the upper right corner-just to give you a sense of where this is coming from. The entrace to this is to the left and around the corner.

This is the front of that cubby under the stairs. It has a loft area at the top that the kids can climb up a ladder and play. At the bottom, you can see the entrance. The name of our ship is, of course, the "Black Pearl". As you can see, I still need to finish up the top part, but it got too high and I ran out of that color. To the right is the hallway.

This is a picture of the loft through the window. Thats my inspiration on the floor there-the JUMBO PIRATE COLORING BOOK! Let me tell you that it is no easy thing being an adult and trying to get in and out of that space everytime the doorbell rings or the kids are needing something. It was sure a wakeup call to loose weight-thats for sure!

This is the bottom of the cubby space and I still have a lot to do in this part, but I'm kind of worn out for a bit. The window on the right is the real window and thats a dry erase board and the wall that you can see through it. In the back I plan to make it an ocean and beach scene with a treasure map and buried treasure. As you can see, I got a start on the sky, but then I got tired. And I still have my barrel and cannon to finish. Then obviously, there's the ladder on the left to get up to the loft. My Dad and nephew made those ladders for us-they are the best ladders I've ever had!

This is the front of the castle. It is right across from the pirate ship- a hallway goes between them. The number one thing for my boys and their friends to do is to jump off the top onto a big old luv sac ( the luv sac is in the very bottom right corner). I'm pretty sure I'll be blogging about a broken bone someday in the near future. You may not want me to ever watch your kids after this, but what can I do? -they're boys!

This castle is called the "Dragon's Lair", so we have a beautiful dragon watching over them. Don't laugh-I can hear you laughing at my little dragon! I stressed over how to draw a dragon and not make it look like a cat or something. The inspiration didn't hit me until I was at the dentist with Max and they had a stuffed dragon that kids could practice brushing teeth on. So I sketched him out while Max brushed away and this is the final product....thus the big teeth.

And for fun, we all put our hand prints in the "cement".

This is just one side of the bottom of the castle. Doesn't my fire look warm?

Above the fireplace is a coat of arms I made up with symbols I looked up online. But I didn't write down what they were, so I guess that was pointless. I even put a latin phrase on there- but we'll never know.

This is the other side of the bottom of the castle. Don't you like my purple castle there in the background? I told my kids that if I'm ever away-I'll be at that castle. :)

Well, I hope my kids enjoy this and that it doesn't it get too dinged up too quick. Thanks for suffering through my little tour.

10th Annual Girls Day Out

Today was the one of the most looked forward to days of the year...the annual birthday celebration for all the Taylor Girls! This is the day where my mom, Teresa, McCall, and myself get together and go shopping, to lunch, the spa, and a movie- all to celebrate our December (and one very close November) birthdays.

This year we went out to the Fashion Place Mall for some good shopping, where we mostly "just looked"-(at least thats what we tell our husbands :). Then we had a wonderful lunch at the newly built Cheesecake Factory where we ate until we were stuffed! (Calorie counting is not allowed on your birthday. ) So we had to walk it off for awhile-so we did more shopping. Then we hit the Sanctuary Day Spa for 90 min of pure bliss. I had the Hydro Body Polish which is historically, the best spa experience I've ever had. But this year, unfortunately, the hot water ran out and I ended up a cold, frozen chica. I spent 20 min in the sauna just to get my body temperature back to normal. Despite this, I think I will still try it again in the future-its just wonderful!

It was such a good day. But I have to thank my dear, sweet husband who took the kids all day and never complained once! He is so supportive of me doing things like this and doesn't make me feel guilty about leaving. He spent the day building snow forts and sleding down man made hills in our driveway. He also made popcorn and put a movie on for all the neighbor kids in our bedroom. (Although that last part I wasn't as happy about.)

I am so lucky to have him and I love him so much!

By the way...the "S" is for Superman!

Ho Ho Ho!

I found the cutest form letter from Santa that you could print with their name on it and send it to them. Go to http://www.myheartandhome.com/imgs/55/LetterfromSanta.pdf to see it!

Hope everyone is well! I have been lost in the Twilight series the last little bit and haven't done much else. As soon as I'm done I will be able to move on with my life and start this blogging thing again.