Two "Practically New" Chairs

My Step-dad, Larry works at Waste Management. He used to work a residential route. On that route he would find AMAZING things! Sometimes brand new things in the box (ex. The Eddie Bauer Full Size Baby Stroller I currently use) and sometimes things that worked just as if they were new.

He would always come home super excited from work, like it was Christmas morning and declare that he found the COOLEST thing today "practically new!"

(Sometimes we had to chuckle a little at his expense because the things he was super excited about weren't exactly "practically new.")

With that said, in our family whenever any of us find a cool thing for free or really cheap, we think of Larry and say we found it "practically new!"

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I feel like that sufficiently explains the title of the post. :)

About a month ago we scored the best bed for Jared. We knew that eventually Sadie would grow out of her crib and need a real bed and Jared would be giving up his bed (that converts into a bunk bed with Novalee's).

So when I saw this bed sitting outside the neighbor's house next to my grandma's I just had to have it regardless of all the kitty stickers from the early 90s and the bright pink drawer handles. I'm not sure what the cost was...my grandma was the one after repeated attempts, to actually get the neighbors at home and then of course she told me not to worry about the price. Thank you grandma. :) I'm going to call it a deal, hopefully it was.

After new handles and a little Goo Gone it looked "practically new."

It is so sweet! It has great storage and made a ton of extra room in Jared's room.

I'm kind of torn about this next picture. Yes, I would have liked to have a picture that shows Jared's room completely perfect and clean but really in all honestly, this is how it looks 90% of the time. Plus I had no desire to clean his room just for a picture. At least you get to see how cool this bed is.



It also has a computer desk and so he needed a computer chair.

I found this one at a thrift store in Forest Grove for $3.50. What a beauty! :) Who can resist weird stains on furniture where your bottom goes? I mean it's just too tempting. ;)



I just took off the old material and replaced it with new blue pleather.



Those old chairs are sturdy! This one was from 1973! The material is actually held on by little chunks of metal they notched out in points during the original construction. Pretty cool!

Jared's new bed is also his dresser. So we got rid of the old one. But with it gone there was a whole wall in his room without furniture. (If you grew up with my family you would know that is just not allowed. Clutter, clutter, clutter is the family motto.)

Anyways, we decided he needed another chair. Wes said maybe a bean bag...but they are expensive and I could totally see Jared bringing it downstairs all the time to play on and I would have to carry it back up. Everyone loves picking up after their kids, right? ;)

Anyways, I got this chair at the same thrift store for the same price.

In case you can't tell, the color is a bright fuchsia. When I showed it to Jared I'm pretty sure he wasn't very pleased. But he liked the idea of the shape of it and how it rolls.

I do have to say that the color didn't seem to stop him from playing on it during the month it took me to change the color. :)

Anyways, I finally finished it today!




It's pretty great if I do say so myself!

(Yes there is pink still showing from the material underneath. Oh well, nothings perfect). :)

Novalee Is Just Amazing!

I love telling people about Novalee. She is just great.

Two things I really love about her. One she is confident. Two she is a self motivated person.

Maybe I love that about her because I like to think I'm like that and maybe I love that about her because I would like to be even more like that.

Here are some examples of these qualities. She never needed or wanted a binky when she was a baby. She didn't suck her thumb. She never had a cling toy. Before her first birthday she weened herself from nursing. She was the one (before the age of two) that wanted to potty train. She was the one that first asked to see her name written out so she could copy it and learn it.

Aren't those all really neat things?

Well she can now add learning to ride a bike without training wheels to her list of accomplishments.

A week or so ago she asked me to take off her training wheels. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted me to take them off. She responded, very rudely, (to be honest), "MOM! I already told you I wanted you too!" Wow, so much for double checking to see if she changed her mind.

I was a little reluctant to take them off because it was serious work to get Jared to ride without training wheels. (Maybe the difference was that he didn't want them off). I worked all summer to try and get him going and finally he got it. I was so proud of him!

I was seriously wondering if I really wanted to try over and over again to keep Novalee up and unhurt while holding Sadie. Was it really a good day to try? It definitely wasn't my best day in regards to patience.

Off the wheels came. Bracing myself for an afternoon of frustrations...(as much as I would like to claim to be the type of parent that enjoys things like teaching the kids to ride bikes, read, write...I'm not. I just think it's work and only really do it for the kids sake. Yes, when they actually reach the point of success it does make the work worth it.) Anyways, bracing myself for an afternoon of frustrations, I had Novalee sit on her bike and as I held onto the back of the seat to steady her, I told her to pedal.

What do you think happened?

Not what I thought would, that's for sure.

Her she is on attempt number two. Seriously, the second try!

Okay so after three hours of waiting for the video to upload I give up. Here is the link to it on youtube.com.

Novalee's Awesomeness!

The cool thing is that the first try was just as good.

She is awesome!

Sometimes Things Aren't So Heavenly

Yesterday Wes signed us up for Netflix on the Wii. It's pretty sweet.

Today it's not working...so while I was trying to figure it out Sadie starting freaking about because she was tired and hungry.

So Novalee decided to "help" me. She has good intentions.

Milk on the counter, floor, rug, walls and less in the sippy than we started with isn't really helpful.


Yep. The container is shot. Three water bottles full of milk later...


I ABSOLUTELY had deep cleaning the kitchen on my list of things to do today. ;)


Of course Novalee didn't find this to be inconvenient for me at all and continued to ask me over and over again while I was cleaning up the milk if I was working on the Netflix and if I was going to get it working. :)

Growth Stats for Jared and Sadie

Yesterday (Tuesday) I took Jared and Sadie into the doctors for check ups. Sadie had to get shots too, poor thing. :(

Sadie was 29.5 inches long which puts her in the 57.45% for her age.

21.12 pounds or 68.49% for weight.

It is so weird to me to have her be very average in height and weight. Novalee was always average too.

I guess it's weird because Jared came into the world a whopping 9lbs.6oz. Since then he as always been at least in the 90th percentile.

Jared was 57 pounds on Tuesday. And 51.5 inches tall. That puts him above the 95th percentile for both. See what I mean? He's a big boy!

Oh well I guess it's okay for the girls to be smaller than Jared. :)

Trip to Utah

This weekend we went to Utah for Wesley's brother DJ's wedding.

This last Friday, September 16th, we woke up early (3am), drove to the airport and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada. We were all so tired. I can't say how everyone else felt but I felt the most tired I've felt in a long time by the end of Friday. Perhaps it didn't help that I woke up at about 1am Friday and finished a book I was reading and never really went back to sleep. :) The idea of leaving it unfinished all weekend when there were only 14 or 15 pages left was too much to handle. :)

When we got to Las Vegas, Wesley's dad picked us up along with Kacie (Wesley's sister) and Sam her husband. We then drove to Hurricane, Utah. That night we had dinner at the Pasta Factory to celebrate DJ and Ashley's upcoming marriage.

Only slightly related, that night Sadie didn't want to go to bed. We were exhausted. When she finally fell asleep she woke up every 2 or 3 hours.

We woke up at 5:15am...

Of course Sadie didn't want to be awake then...


DJ and Ashley got married for time and eternity in the St. George temple. That temple is so beautiful. I love the contrast of the green, green grass around the temple next to the red mountains in the background. The walls of the temple are so white. The ceremony was beautiful. Ashley was beautiful! We were so glad we got to be there for it.

Our family outside the temple.

Jared made an instant friend with Wesley's cousin Corban.

Novalee not wanting a picture of herself again, hence the grumpy face.

Uncle Russell with baby Sadie.

Sadie liked the flowers.

Grandma and Grandpa Crockett with Sadie. She was blowing the camera kisses on this first picture. :)

Look at these handsome guys!

My little ladies.

I should probably have some pictures of the actual wedding party in here somewhere. We don't want to take up too much space with them. ;)


It was nice to see the Crockett/Beatty family again. I even got to meet some new Crockett's at the reception in Pleasant Grove, Utah. All of Wesley's sibling were there except Justin who is on his mission in Guatemala. He was represented by a life size cardboard cut out of him. :) It was a pretty great idea. :)

Our family at the reception.

Jared and Novalee are happy to take pictures when there is someone cool in the picture. Basically they will take pictures with anyone that isn't family.

The girls with their grandparents. I love their little rose headpieces!

In my opinion (not that it counts) everything was perfect! The wedding and reception were both beautiful and well organized.

Congratulations to DJ and Ashley Crockett!

Sunday morning came and we all went back to our homes. Jared and Novalee were amazing on the flight. (But to be completely honest they were amazing the entire trip. They rarely complained, they were extremely patient with their worn out/grumpy parents and there really wasn't much kid stuff on the agenda which they dealt with really well). Sadie on the other hand chose this weekend to cut a tooth. And so she cried almost the entire flight home. (She also threw up from crying but you probably didn't want to know that). I'm pretty sure the people around us hated us and were inwardly cheering when the plane landed. She fell asleep minutes before the plane actually touched ground only to wake up at the baggage claim.

So then she cried the entire way home (45 minutes of torture for both Sadie and the rest of us)...


Notice Jared's face. Poor guy. He really can't deal well with loud noises unless they are coming from him. He even asked at one point if we could cover her face with something so she wouldn't be so loud. Good thing he doesn't babysit yet. :)


We are happy for DJ and Ashley! We are equally happy to be back home. :)

Happy Birthday Sadie

Yesterday was Sadie's first birthday! Wow, it is amazing how quickly this last year went. When I think about it, it kind of fills me with anxiety. I am convinced that as I'm getting older the time is passing quicker. I have issues with that.

But back to Sadie. :) She is the sweetest little "toddler" a family could ask for. She is calm and loves to just observe things. The other day she spent many minutes just laying on the couch with me while I read. I could understand her doing that if she wasn't mobile and able to get around but she is walking! Still she just loves to sit and cuddle and watch. I love that.

She loves the outdoors and Daddy. He is quickly becoming her favorite person. When he comes home she says, "Hi" over and over again and runs to him with her arms up to be picked up.

She also thinks Daddy is cool because he takes her outside when he gets home. Several times now she has brought him his shoes right after he got home and had just taken them off and then she would go back to the shoe bucket, get hers and bring them to him too. Then she sits down and waits for him to put them on so they can go outside.

Isn't that cute?

No words, no crying, no tantrums.

She knows what she wants and she knows that being adorable is a sure way to get it.

We are in trouble. :)

Last night we celebrated her birthday with my family. When we decorated that afternoon Sadie was asleep. When she woke up I took her around and showed her each new thing and said over and over again that it was for her. She loved the balloons and keep raising her hands up to them and then swinging them back down to her belly and crunching over. I'm pretty sure that is her gesture for "Give those to me. I want." :)

Here is a rather large amount of photos of the party. But what can I say, first birthdays are important.



Here Uncle Scottie is showing the kids how to juggle with balloons. Jared wants to be his roommate when he grows up. :) Needless to say the kids love Uncle Scottie.


This is Sadie's big girl bench. She is very proud that she can climb up on it on her own.

Sadie and Daddy.

Her first taste of cupcake. I'm not sure she knew what to think about it.

But she got into it.

I love this picture of her. It looks like she is about to throw her cupcake at me. :)

Cousin Hylton could have been given a prize for the best pirate mustache. :)



Sadie's new shoes. Daddy's idea, he thought she would like new ones since she likes shoes so much. Did I mention he might be her favorite?

Well she's one. And as the magnet, that she put on herself, says, she's "BIG."


We love you Sadie Lu!

Labor Day

Yesterday we wanted to make it a really special day for the kids since it would be their last holiday before school started.

So Wes woke up early (6am) and quietly got ready. A little while later I heard him quietly wake up Jared and tell him to get his clothes on because they were going fishing. :)

When I was a little girl my dad used to take me fishing a lot. In fact my 1st grade teacher finally called Child Protective Services because I was missing so much school to go fishing. :) (I remember clearly waking up one morning and asking my dad why we didn't go fishing and he told me that he got a call from the school and if anyone came to the house that day I should go lay on my bed and pretend I wasn't feeling well. That probably sounds a little sketchy that my parents allowed me to miss so much school but whatever. I loved it and I turned out fine.)

I'm glad that Wes likes to fish too. It was kind of a special moment to lay in bed and hear Wes wake up Jared just how my dad used to wake me up. It was also kind of special since I got to sleep in until close to 8am. :)

I got up with Sadie and Novalee around that time and we fixed a nice warm breakfast and just about the time I was cleaning it up, in walks Jared and Wesley.

"How did it go?"

How it went according to Wesley: "We got there, and after getting all the stuff set up, we were fishing for literally 15 minutes before Jared on his own started walking back to the car." Haha. Poor guy. He kept saying the rest of the day to me that he was a little bummed that Jared didn't want to fish longer.

After the boys got back we loaded up the car with bikes and headed to L.L. "Stub" Stewart State Park.

A couple of years ago we went camping there and my mother and myself decided to take the kids (Jared and Novalee (in a trailer)) on a bike ride. It was over a 100 degrees that day (deathly hot for us Oregonians) so we packed some water. The trail was beautiful and surprisingly easy. In fact little effort was needed to ride it. There were beautiful bridges, tall trees and lush greenery to look at.

All was well until we decided to turn around. Then we realized why the ride was so easy, the trail had been slightly downhill almost the entire way. And so of course no longer was it an easy ride. No longer did the tall trees provide enough cool shade for us. It was work, it was hot, and it was miserable.

We ran out of water and at one point my mother told me to leave her and just go on without her. :) Whether or not she was serious I don't know but I do know that there was no way I was about to leave her in the heat, alone, about to die of exhaustion and heat stroke(only a slight exaggeration). :)

After an experience like that you might ask what in the world would induce me to want to go back. I can only say that I really, really love the bridges on the trail and I love to bike.

What a difference 15 degrees makes too. It was very enjoyable this time. We had plenty of water, it was almost too cold on the way down, this time I knew that we would have to bike back up so we only went in about 3 or 4 miles in (yes Jared was awesome and biked it all on his own bike), and we even planned to have a picnic sometime on the trail.

Here the boys are right before the ride.



Told you the bridges are cool. We are standing at a point where only 1/3 of the bridge is behind us. They are so cool!

Our little picnic

Sadie loves being outdoors.

Doesn't Wes look like he's having fun? ;)




We all had fun. Afterwards we rented a video game for our new Wii system and had a Bar B Que.

Later that night Jared declared it was the BEST DAY EVER! Which is very unlike him. He usually will say it with us but rarely does he encourage it. :) I guess that means we did good. :)

Today, (Tuesday is the last day before school starts tomorrow). It seems really crazy.

Where did the summer go?