Summer Projects

I get a little stir-crazy in the summertime. One week Mark was out of town and I decided to freshen up our playroom. Here is what we ended up with!

I started out in the playroom but then I saw this idea for ghost lampshades and had to try it so the lamp in the office got a little makeover. It's amazing what a few bottles of spray paint can do!

This was probably my fav! I had printed a cute saying from a canvas company a few months ago and decided that I wanted another one. I really didn't want to spend another $40 on one so I found another way. First, I bought a blank canvas at the craft store for $4. Next, I painted the canvas with white acrylic paint. Then came the fun part, I designed a monogram graphic using the Cricut and cut it out on vinyl. After I put the vinyl on the canvas I spray painted it green and then removed the vinyl. There you have it and for a lot less!

Me and the KSL Classifieds are a bad combo. I was looking for chairs to refinish and found this cute bench that I didn't even need. Gave it a fresh coat of spray paint and glaze...love! This red is my new favorite, Krylon's Banner Red. What else can I spray?!?! I have never glazed a piece of furniture before, but it is so easy and makes a huge difference!

This antique window was also one of my favorite projects. Did I mention that I should never go on KSL Classifieds? I found these antique window frames for $10 and knew I had to use them. First, I took fabric and cut it to the size of the glass. Then, I sprayed the back of the glass with spray glue. Working quickly, I laid the fabric down and smoothed it out. Last, I bought a picture hanging kit at the Depot for $3 and attached it to the back. I loved it so much that I made three of them!

I always love to add new curtains!

I have had this doll furniture since I was a little girl. My mom bought it unfinished at Wood Connection and we just never got around to finishing it. I had to do quite a few coats of the yellow spray paint. My brother Mitchell drew Batman heads all over it when he was little and it was tough covering those little blue heads up. I have never used an upholstery stapler before and now I want to reupholster everything. The little cushions in the crib were super easy and made a huge difference!

I don't even want to think how many bottles of spray paint I went through this summer. I just couldn't get enough of it and all the fun colors there are. My backdoor neighbor started to tease me...he said that sometimes he would look over and I would just be spraying grass!

Can't get enough of Banner Red! When I do projects everything else goes to the wayside. Poor Luke probably got told a millions times that week that I was doing my projects and couldn't play. Now he'll tell Mark and I to leave him alone because he's working on his project. He'll start to gather things up around the house and tell us that they're for his project! Whenever I would be spray painting in the backyard I'd give him an empty can and a scrap piece of wood to work on. Such a fabulous assistant!!!

Markers

Lately Luke has been into coloring, but the other day he discovered markers and now we would categorize it as an obsession! Of course he discovered the markers on a Sunday and all we had in the house were highlighters and sharpies. I have boxes full of washable markers in my classroom...no help. First thing Monday we went and bought Luke his own washable markers. Now he finds any scrap of paper in the house and covers it with colorful scribbles!

Andra's Big Top Circus Shower

Mark's sister Andra is having her first baby boy and we are so excited for her! I did a shower for her last weekend and it was so fun to get together with everyone. I decided to do a circus theme and it was super cute! Now we just can't wait to get him here!

Tour of Utah

One of our favorite summer activities is going to watch the Tour of Utah. This year the setting was pretty cool...President's Circle at the U of U. This stage is a short track so you get to see the riders come by pretty frequently. Luke loves to cheer them on. We got to sit pretty close this year and got some good shots of the racers. It is only for professional racers and probably the biggest name and the winner this year was Levi Leipheimer...he is the one in the yellow jersey.

Finally Some Cousin Time

Poor Luke doesn't have any cousins so whenever we get to the chance to hangout with cousins we're super excited! My aunt and uncle came up from Arizona for a few days for a quick visit. The first day we went to Seven Peaks. Luke was starving so I stopped and got him a happy meal on the way down. He was also so tired that he had a hard time deciding if he wanted to eat or sleep. The poor kid finally gave up and fell asleep with his little hand in the french fries.

Luke was a nut at Seven Peaks. My cousin Cory is actually Luke's age, but Luke hung out with Jeffrey since he was more of a daredevil and would go on the slides. We had a blast watching Luke on the slides. He would go all by himself to the top of the slide, butt in front of all of the big kids, and go down the slide over and over. All the kids were twice his size, but he didn't care. Then my mom and I took Luke and Jeffrey over on the big tube rides. When we were waiting at the top Jeffrey said, "If this ride is awesome we are totally going again!" We couldn't get them off the slides...they were in heaven.

The next day, we went to This is the Place. It was a good thing all of my cousins were there because we were all chasing Luke around the entire day. My poor grandpa would get tired going all around with us and have to just sit down and take a rest. Luke was always sure that great-grandpa wanted a visit! Luke's favorite part was probably the pony and train ride! It was a fun, but hot day. We were so sad to see our cousins leave. Luke loves it when he gets a chance to be around cousins. Can't wait for them to come again!

Pink!!!

Despite what daddy thinks, Luke thinks that pink is a pretty cool color. Last night when I was getting him out of the tub he begged to wear mommy's pink robe. He was so happy when I finally agreed. Such a manly man!

Tour of Park City

Mark decided to do the Tour of Park City bike race at the last minute. Since it is such an early ride we decided to just spend the weekend in Park City. When we got there on Friday Luke and I got to go and see Mark's new office at Skullcandy. Luke introduced himself to everyone in Mark's office as "Duke Jeffrey Hansen." It was fun to see their offices, not your normal office.

The race was going to take all of Saturday so Luke and I were on our own. Luckily, this was the same weekend they were doing the big ski jump event at Olympic Park. It was a lot of fun. Luke had fun watching the skiers jump into the water. When he was sick of that we went over to the children activities they had there. His favorite was the bouncy house...I had to drag him out of it when it was time to leave!

This race wasn't Mark's longest race, but it was definitely his hardest by far. The total mileage was 170 and poor Mark had a rough go. He did the race with his coworker Ron. The first part of the race everything was great and then Mark started to get sick. Then they had nonstop bike problems...Mark's chain fell off seven times and they had to fix five flats between the two of them. When they got to the finish line their hands were black from all the bike grease. Once Mark started to feel better Ron got sick for the remainder of the race. Basically, they were happy just finish! Mark couldn't get out of bed the rest of the night, he needed to recover from the eleven hours of biking.

Overnighter

Mark had to work over the 24th of July so we didn't really plan on doing much. At the last minute Luke and I decided to meet my family in Bear Lake to camp for the night. While I was packing the car I wondered if it was worth packing all the camping gear for one night, but Luke loved it. He had a lot of fun...Uncle Bob and Uncle Art were the hits of the weekend for Luke. I thought Luke would love smores on the fire, but he only wanted the hot dogs. My sweet boy is not the best sleeper, but he slept amazing in the tent. Maybe we can talk Daddy into camping more! The next day I went on an early morning bike ride and then we spent the day at the beach. Luke had fun playing in the sand with his cousins and Uncle Tom, but the hit was the ride Papa gave him on the wave runners!

Denver

Mark's cousin Alex was married a few weekends ago in Denver. We flew down for the wedding, but didn't have a lot of time to spend there. Luke was a perfect traveler as long as he had his sippy, SkullCandy's, and iPod. This trip he was obsessed with pulling the suitcase, not the quickest way to get around the airport.

There have been quite a few weddings since Luke was born, but this was the first wedding that he understood. Once he saw Alex in her wedding dress at the temple he was in love. He was determined to get married, and has not stopped talking about it. Luke asks us to take him to the temple so he can get married to Callie and Izzy. He even put the white drapes on his head like a veil and told Mark and I that he was getting married like Alex. The wedding was gorgeous and the reception was super fun. They had lots of dancing and Mr. Luke danced for two hours straight. He was soaked with sweat by the time the reception was over.

The day after the wedding we went to the coolest water park ever! Poor Luke was so exhausted towards the end of the day and couldn't hold on. We were on a pretty crazy water slide with Wade and Aubree and Luke slept the entire time. He didn't even open his little eyes when we went down the hills or water splashed on us. It was a fun weekend!