Little Piggies!

So Sunday's round these here parts have gotten a little lonely and boring! {we use to go and visit Dave's parents after church-- but with them gone we get a little bored and the kids get a little restless}

So yesterday we went on a little walk to visit our new little Piggie.

{Yep! We bought a Piggie! It's gonna live at Dave's sisters house! The kids were pretty excited about it!} 

Last night the light was beautiful and with all the pretty trees blooming we just wanted to be outside!

{I'm pretty sure at this point there's no chance Ellie's hair is gonna go blonde :)  I mean look at all that red hair :) I love my little cute red head }

 The cute little piggies!

Zeeta wasn't to sure as to what in the world these things were :)

The kids also had a kick looking at the chickens

Cute little piggies! It'll be fun to watch them grow!

House update {catch-up}

I know, I know-- I have seriously been a big slacker on the house updates-- but well nothing to much has really been happening-- and lets admit it-- all that has been happening is the boring not so pretty stuff :)

The Insulators came-- {looked like a fluffy bomb had gone off in the house-- those guys know how to make a mess!} But they were quick had it done in 2 days

 Than came the sheet rocker/tape texture dude {originally we were gonna do this ourselves but by this point we were happy to hire it out} 

To put this nicely let's just say this has been a huge HUGE mess!!--- First the guy gave the impression that he would have a crew-- and after we'd pretty much hired him- he than informed us it would be just him {ok? we thought-- and asked how long} he said 3-4 weeks tops-- we said alright if he's gonna do it by himself at least he'll do it fast and be in a decent time frame {faster than we could do it ourselves at least}

NEVER! NEVER! Do verbal contracts! {and be people like me and Dave who don't like confrontation--we were stupid and naive!}

Needless to say the sheet rocker took 9 weeks! 

Half the time the guy just wouldn't show up-- would show up at noon and work till 2 and started working another job before he was finished with ours and was pretty much just scum!-- we had to harass and call and check up on him daily -- and he'd just flat out lie to us------ {so frustrating-- we were to the point of firing him but since we had a verbal agreement-- we had no clue what the legal complications were-- and if we could even get on another sheet rockers schedule before he could finish -- he'd keep saying for sure this weekend I'll be done! -- So fun!}

We now have 10 weeks to finish our house- before we have to close on our loan -- which for us is like 10 days practically since Dave works full time and really only has Saturdays -- we might be a little stressed-- just a bit crazy-- { so if you see me with my hair standing straight up covered in sawdust and caulk-- give me a little slack :) at least I didn't submit to the temptation of shooting a sheet rocker and burying him in my backyard}

 We were trying to keep our Sanity while the sheet rocker worked so we worked outside on our yard

{You might question that sanity-- cuz I made some mounds and dykes :) }

I really wanted a small yard-- but that didn't happen cuz of the way we faced our house for wind-- and the 80 feet or so you need for the county from the road--- so we got a fairly big side yard-- so we built an area for a fire pit and hopefully some shelter from the road until the tree's grow and we can get our rock wall in.

 We pulled all our sprinkler pipe and got the sprinkler system hooked up-- {which I gotta admit I'm super excited about} I've always had to pull hose and that just sucks!

We bought some fill dirt {no where near enough to cover all our rocks} but dirt is so dang spendy :) Our kids have had fun playing on the piles-- they'll be sad when they're gone :)

 Texture

 We were pushing the sheet rocker so hard in the end we were practically on top of him with installing our doors and putting on trim.

 I LOVE love the trim! I'm excited to finish it and get to caulking it and painting!

 We have a ton {TON!} of work ahead of us-- but it's the fun pretty stuff now-- so expect many much posts and pictures :) 

Picnic at the Park

My brother and his cute family don't live to far from us{only a couple of hours} but man we still hardly see them it seems-- just so much always going on :) anyways

so when they invited us to a Picnic BBQ at the park we jumped at the opportunity!

Ellie I swear becomes 10 times paler around these two! :) 

We had lots of fun swinging and playing on the toys, eating yummy hot dogs and BBQ'd corn {yum!}

Little Zoe eventually at the end warmed up to me-- most the time I got this lovely worried scowl every time I'd point the camera in her direction :) 

 Riley pulled out his kite and I don't know who liked playing with it better the kids or the "guys"

 It was such a fun perfect day!! I love it when we get to go relax, hang out and create some fun memories for our kids!

DIY schoolhouse light fixture

So I love LOVE school house light fixtures!! I've been coveting them for in my house for along time now  but.....

I really couldn't afford a $100-$200 price tag {restoration hardware} and even at $52 {wayfair} for 8 of these babies that is so outta my budget!

I'm happy to say though for $15 and some spray paint I have my School house light fixture!

I've seen the bulbs at Home Depot forever and I've seen the tuts online {like this one}of using the smaller bulb light base's for the lights {the problem is I wanted the big bulb with the 4" opening and not the smaller bulb-- and I really wanted the curvy base :) } 

So I searched and searched and found a curvy base for about $19 {here}you just have to buy the globe- so you'd have your light for $25 (since the big schoolhouse bulbs are at Home Depot for about $5)

I debated that for awhile and than found this post

She had ordered the parts separate from MyLampparts and just put it together

 {Dave's a genius with electrical stuff so I wasn't worried about him putting it together}

 So I bought this Canopy for $7 {here's the link}

For the rest of the Light I needed

Light socket {link}

Bar {link}

screws{link}2 for each fixture

knobs {link} 2 for each fixture

comes out to around $10 

{and the shipping wasn't bad either- I can't remember the exact total I just remember it wasn't bad :) }

 I wasn't a huge fan of the white so I knew I'd be spray painting them to the oil rubbed bronze

 I like to use a orangy bronzey gold color underneath because I feel it gives it a more realistic feel and you can sand the top coat to show a little of that.

 Coat of the oil rubbed bronze

 I love how they turned out {sorry for the crappy pic} we were in the middle of moving and I was in a hurry :)  But eventually when we install them in the house I'll take some better pics! 

I love my light with it's beautiful vintage bulb and curvy base-- it's my favorite :)

The Happenings!

Where to begin-- where to begin!?

Well these three all got their mission calls {don't know what a mission call is go here to learn about it}

 My little Brother is going to Mexico City, in July

And Mom and Dad Foster are going to/left to Indianapolis, Indiana 

I won't lie it's been kinda hard-- We are very very attached to Dave's parents :) and for the last year I've gotten to spend everyday with them working on the house {I've been a very very lucky daughter in law to get to spend so much time with the most awesomest people you'll ever know!} so we miss them a lot-- but we also know that there are people that probably need them-- more than we do right now--They will be some amazing missionaries!

And my little brother-- I'm gonna miss terribly-- We've gotten really close since we've been living with them--{ya know the daily after school chats :) } and I feel a bit like a mom to him since my mom has been so busy with her schooling---I'll miss him no doubt but I'm very proud of him though and know he can and will be an awesome missionary!

Well that leads us to the next going on's :)

We've moved!! 

No not into our new house {I wish!} but into Dave's parents house- while they're on their mission-- It was a quick move really and we didn't' bring much-- {yep our stuff is scattered all over now- some in storage, some at my parents, some in the barn, some here-- It's going to be called the great gathering when we finally get to move into our house :) }

But it has been really nice to be closer to our new house {just across the street} and to have a bit more space and not to be living with someone-- that helps too! 

In moving though we've had some changes too-- 

Zeeta went and lived with her mom "our niece & nephew" for a bit

Bryn missed her terribly {she loves LOVES her puppy}

Another thing that happened was we lost our Tiki (Lhasa apso) {we had him for 9 yrs} and he was a very good amazing dog-- but he was getting old and had some arthritic problems and sadly one day he bit Ellie pretty bad on the wrist {and we had decided long long ago that we would never ever have a dog that bit} So so sadly Dave had to go put him down :(  I'll admit it I cried a lot-- and I missed him -- and Brynley was pretty traumatized by it {she drew pictures of him with a frown and a bullet--ya pretty traumatizing} But it's gotten a bit better now.

We did have lots of fun Celebrating Easter {we celebrated it early-- so we could do it with Dave's parents}

We had the annual awesome Easter Party-- Egg hunt, with a yummy BBQ, Candy Throw, and the egg roll competition!  Needless to say it is a lot of fun- and our kids LOVE it! 

 Ellie's first year coloring eggs-- surprisingly she did really well-- and liked it a lot!

 I love Easter Eggs!

 Grandma drew a grandpa egg :)

 Also the night before the party we got to welcome our nephew Kody home from his mission in Africa! Payton had fun helping color his banner!

 Going on an Egg hunt!

 Dave making sure Ellie was geared up for the Candy Throw!

 It's a dangerous sport! :) but the kids sure love it!

The kids got quite a lot of candy :) 

{I loved how ellie was putting both hands in hers like she was relishing her spoils :) }

 Dave was in charge of the Egg Roll competition-- {don't you just love his business socks with his shorts :) makes me smile every time! Yep I'm married to that crazy hot man :)}

Brynley almost won the competition!-- until she dropped her egg on the concrete :) She's such a great girl though and really doesn't let things get to her-- she really just said - O-well and started peeling her egg :) I really love that about her personality!

Really I feel like this post could go on forever {I'm such a slacker blogger!} but that's pretty much most of the happenings lately :) Life is great-- busy-- very very busy right now-- but great!