Mancos, Colorado: building our table

perhaps my favorite thing about this photo is Liesel's "it's a cupcake day" shirt while she munches carrots.

What is it about a garden that gets my kids eating raw veggies?! I love it!

these kids will rip up your entire garden if left to their own devices. 

the raw lumber. 

I don't know about the rest of you, but in my family all the action happened at the kitchen table. Including, but not limited to:

--my first memory: my dad brings home my baby sister's placenta to show the family. We all gather around the kitchen table. Don't judge, guys. It was memorable. 

--Emily orchestrating the girls in Sunday afternoon cookie making. Emily would sit herself right on top of the table and proceeded to command. ;)

--Toasting in every new year with Martinelli's and ink stained hands after our annual New Years shredded newspaper war. 

--I'm pretty sure I learned long division at that table.

--leaving breakfast requests on the table for my mom. Early morning seminary was so much easier to get up for when there were homemade egg and cheese biscuits waiting. 

and. . .  you get the point. The table is where it was at. 

So, Brian and I wanted our kitchen table to be somethin' special. While I was in NC, he went to a local lumber mill just across the Colorado border and picked up some beautiful pieces of ponderosa pine. This past weekend we headed to Brian's high school buddies' dad's shop (didya follow?) in Mancos, Colorado. With a massive woodshop, all the tools and the kindest dispositions on the planet-- we were set for a weekend of table building. After 28hours man-hours of labor, it's half way there.  Brian will have to make one more trip to finish the job. 

I spent 4 hours at Walmart and 4 hours at the park. 

I love Walmart and I am not ashamed. And I might as well admit that I love McDonald's too. They won my heart after I won those 52 free BigMac's and Egg Mc Muffins.