My secret love

Yes, it is true.  I LOVE garage selling!  It is the spontaneous buying, leaving with garbage bags stuffed full, and talking down the already low prices to get incredible deals that has won me over.  Just like Mike Wolfe, I get a thrill to find a treasure in a pile of someone else's junk.  I have a special talent for "grouping" items for big savings.  And there is nothing like feeling like a big spender for only pennies on the dollar. 

We live in a great area for garage selling.  I could fill 5 houses with my amazing finds that I wish I had room for in my little apartment, but don't.  That is often my unfortunate problem.  Sometimes I find something that I know I will someday love, someday when I have more rooms to fill, or a yard, and sometimes, though I have no place or use for it now, I buy it anyway, hiding it away until... one day in the future.

My other problem is that, regrettably, my pennies on the dollar turn into many pennies and dollars because there are so many good finds it is hard to stop.  So even though I am just ACTING like a big spender in all actual-ality I become a BIG SPENDER (Aaah!).  I've only been out two Saturdays since the opening of the "garage selling season" and already I've decided (with some motivation) that I am going to have to limit myself and force myself to stick to a budget! (ugh)

I caught on to a bright idea and I think I have my solution...
Go Pro garage selling!  Yes, best job ever... Maybe I'd call myself a Garage Selling Specialist.  Other people paying me to fill and decorate their houses with amazing deals.  My clients would pay for the items and me for my time.  Awesome... maybe I'll run with it.  :-)

Egg hunt

Our eggs were filled with cheerios and raisins... definitely the favorite, haha.

Bridger's Dance Moves

Acting like tourists

    My family came again last weekend to visit and we toured around and did some super fun things that we haven't done before.  Our plans got rained on (literally) so we had to make some spontaneous adjustments.  Even so it was still so much fun!
    We had planned to visit Shenandoah National Park.  Skyland Drive goes right through the park and is rated at the top as one of the prettiest/most scenic highways in the US.  Unfortunately we were a little ahead of the season, the trees still looked a little bare without their leaves.  We decided it was still pretty to see the true character of the trees.  Like seeing me without make-up, (wink wink).  Also in the park there are tons of hikes (the Appalachian trail runs right through there).  We planned on hiking to a few waterfalls, we didn't mind a little sprinkling rain, but then it started to pour.  Even though I wouldn't mind an adventure or the rain, Bridger does. :)
    We did go to the Luray Caverns.  The pamphlet calls them a "must see" U.S Natural Landmark and a "fairyland in stone".  They were way neat!  We took a one-hour tour and saw wondrous formations including fried eggs and the Great Stalacpipe Organ.  The organ really plays music using Stalactites (defined: a deposit, usually of calcium carbonate, shaped like an icicle, hanging from the roof of a cave or the like, and formed by the dripping of percolating calcareous water).  The formations we saw were 4,000,000 centuries in the making.  It would be really cool to be the guy that discovered that!

 Sparkling Lake

 Fried Eggs

   They also had this little museum called the Car and Carriage Caravan.  It held some fun old cars and buggies.

    That horse moves when you pull the handle bar to imitate the up down of a horse trot. 

                                      

Devin found a nice hat...

   The next day we rode bikes into DC.  What an awesome way to get our work-out in while seeing DC!  We didn't ride from our house (that would be 40 miles round-trip, quite the workout).  We drove a bit and rode from Vienna.  It was a pretty ride.  We took the WOD trail all the way in.  We rode around the Potomac River and looked at the remaining cherry blossoms, we ate lunch on the mall and stopped by the Jefferson memorial.

   Going home we rode past Arlington National Cemetery and the Iwo Jima memorial.

   This is the house we admired

We also went to the park near our house

 Bridger likes the scooter

    :)  I like being a tourist!  Thanks for coming!

New Pack and Play

 

Dandelions

      On our walk today Bridger noticed these dandelions.  I picked one for him, which was a mistake because after he picked one and gave it to me (I said "Thank You" enthusiastically),  then he wanted to pick all the dandelions.  I had to drag him away from this patch.  Our walk home was very slow because he tried to stop for every dandelion he saw. 

Long Nap

   Today Bridger must have felt a bit sleep deprived because, as I was babysitting two other kids, his naps were thrown off schedule and he hadn't slept well in the pack and play last night.  This morning he missed his morning nap but fell asleep on our way home at 2pm.  I transferred him to his crib when we got home and he slept FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!  I didn't know it was possible to nap that long.  He woke up at 6:30pm.  Any bets if he'll sleep tonight?

Pushing a Box, a Basket and a Truck

    Lately Bridger's favorite activity is pushing things around the house.  

The Box:  

 The Basket:

The Truck:

Our Prophet: President Monson

       "We thank Thee Oh God for a prophet to guide us in these latter-days"!

     There is a picture of President Monson hanging on the wall in Bridger's room.  I will usually point it out to Bridger and say "that is our prophet, President Monson".  I had used the frame for a visual in my young woman lesson and was just putting it back up on the wall when Bridger wanted to hold it.  He walked around with the picture of President Monson giving him kisses!

     We were so grateful for conference and to hear the words of our prophet.  We are so blessed to have a living prophet to guide our church.  I pointed him out on the TV and Bridger pointed to him and babbled as if he recognized him.

    We thank Thee, oh God, for a prophet!

*(If you missed it, you can hear what our prophet has told us at this link: April 2011 General Conference)