A Walk in the Park

There is a lovely little park a block away from our house. We go there A LOT. And Owen looks forward to the park for two reasons. First, of course, is the play equipment full of friends. And second is the variety of dogs he encounters along the way. Owen's routine is to greet the dog (every single one), pet the dog, and get the dog to lick his hand.
Well a few days ago Owen wanted to go to the park just before dinner. This time he informed me he'd be walking his dog. Alright, I said. I grabbed our shoes and jackets. Owen grabbed his dog (a.k.a. vintage-style pull toy given to Owen by my parents when he first started walking).
We walked to the park with the loud clickety-clack, clickety-clack of the dog's wheels all along the way. When we reached the play equipment I figured our "doggy" would soon be forgotten. But I was very wrong. Owen went about introducing his pet to all the other dogs and their owners. He showed the dog to all his playground friends. And he made sure I took good care of the dog while he went down the slides and crossed the bridges.
We got all kinds of looks from people; friendly smiles, pity, genuine confusion. I just sat back and let Owen do the talking. Then with a clickety-clack, clickety-clack all along the way, we walked our dog back home again. And I couldn't help but think to myself that maybe it's time to get a real dog. If only it were as easy to take care of as our pull toy variety.

Spring Project: New Carpet

We have never been very attached to the carpet in our place. It is old and worn, holds the smells of renters past, has no padding, and is off-white. Off-white! Kids and light carpet do not a happy combination make. After shopping around a bit, we found a great deal and snagged it. The new carpet was installed a few weeks ago. And it is heavenly!
Somehow, with new-carpet stars in my eyes, I overlooked the fact that we would have to move all our belongings out of the house for this little renovation. It was a painful couple of days. I did what little I could and left the heavy-lifting to Mark (and a few good friends).
In the end? Totally worth it! Not only do we have the new carpet, but I was also able to sneak in a deep spring cleaning of the entire house. We decluttered and donated, spaced out and spruced up. Though my nesting instincts tell me there is more to do, I am feeling pretty satisfied with the changes.
We forgot to take a good "before" pic, so you have a "during" pic instead. It doesn't give a true picture of the improvement. But trust me, it's oh so much better.

Spring Enrichment Night

Whenever there is a serious lack of blogging going on, you can be sure we are busy living our lives. And now that spring has sprung, we are tackling one project after another. The first one I'll post about is our church Enrichment Night Birthday Dinner that took place last week. I only snapped a few photos before the evening got underway, but our theme was "Hats Off to Relief Society".


As you can imagine the decor featured a lot of hats. I tried to stick to a spring color scheme of pinks, yellows, and oranges. Everything looked fresh and springy. On each of the dinner tables sat a white hat. We overturned the hats and used them as vases to hold arrangements of bright flowers. We also hung pink, yellow, and orange rice paper daisy decorations on the walls behind the serving tables. We created a display board that showcased each of the General Relief Society presidents over the past 167 years too. But my favorite feature of the evening had to be a grouping of old-fashioned hats borrowed from Mark's grandma. The hats had been stored away in the most delicate hat box and each was so special. I felt privileged to borrow them for the evening. We served a delicious dinner and held a fashion show of hats. Everything turned out really well. Now I can take a few breaths before I have to start planning the next Enrichment Night!