Bahonners

Get it? Bonners+Bahamas=Bahonners

I guess when you have to explain it, it dilutes the cleverness.

Once again, thanks to my hard-working husband, we earned a fabulous trip this last March. We were guests at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
Highlights: Waterpark, sunshine, friends, huge aquarium, visiting the straw market, and relaxing poolside. Also, I got my very first swedish massage at the spa. I probably should have listed that first.
Lows: Scary eels in the huge aquarium (I have a scary snorkeling experience involving eels, it was very traumatic) and the 7 mile trek across the whole resort to get to breakfast. But really, when you're getting almost all your meals for free, there's not really a lot to complain about.
Enjoy the pictures:

 Here we are at dinner one night. Evidently, I had spent a lot of time in the sun that day.

 One of the many beautiful views around the grounds of the resort. There were marine life all over!

                                              Real, true life sharks. Not as scary as the eels.

 Eww, aren't they gross? They just look so sinister. Like they want to take you to an evil sea witch...

 One night for dinner, we went to a really fancy restaurant, and this was my dinner. Oh, gosh, it was delicious. This might have been the second favorite part of my trip...

                                           Perusing the goods at the straw market.

                                           An old church. I just like old buildings, so I took a picture.

                                              Jeff and Stacie in front of an actual pirate looting.

                  The Atlantis also has a marina where people dock their multi-million dollar yachts.

                                                       The whole MRI pacesetter gang.

 As we were coming in to land at the Nassau airport. The pinkish-looking buildings in the back, taller than anything else is the Atlantis Resort where we stayed. It was a super nice resort.

 Here's the view from outside our hotel room window. Not bad, eh?

 This was a guy walking around the 'straw market' which was a big swap meet, and he reminded me of a pinata. And he was singing. So, that was awesome.

 Atlantis is the big pink buildings in the back, towering over everything.

 Isn't my husband awesome? He totally made this shot. Because he's awesome.

                                                 And attractive.

                                           My friend Jaime and I, in a conga line. I love this girl!

                                     I love her so much that I jump into her pictures with her husband.

                         Mandie, Jaime, Stacie and Tiff- just after we plunged down 50 foot waterslides.

                                           Apparently, Jeff didn't think it was as funny as I did.

                               Yep, that's a great white shark in there. He's just a baby, though.

                                                 

                                          An ancient temple, you say? Tricked you! It's a waterslide!!

                                                          This is a palm tree on the beach.

So there's our Bahama trip. It sure was a good time!

Turns out, maturation programs are not all they're cracked up to be....

Recently, I went with my daughter to the rite-of-passage ritual known as the fifth grade maturation program. It was held in the library, with about 50 fifth grade girls and their parents (I would have said moms, but there were a few very brave dads there).  Let me tell you what happened:
about 15 minutes into the presentation,  I kept thinking "Why is it so hot in here??" 
Nurse "... when all the fluid comes out, that's a period."
Me "it is like, one thousand degrees in this library, why is nobody else sweating?"
Nurse ".... eggs released from the ovaries..."
Me to my friend sitting next to me " Karin, I think I'm going to pass out..."
Karin "Really?" (Karin isn't sure if I'm joking, after all, what grown up passes out at the mention of ovaries?)
....BLACKNESS.....
The next recollection I have is of waking up on the floor of the library, looking up at the ceiling, with my feet up on my friend Karin's lap (good thing I wasn't wearing a skirt, THAT would have been embarrassing!). A number of strange faces are peering down at me, with concerned looks on their faces. Oh, and I have a water-soaked maxi pad on my forehead. 'Cause they didn't have a cool washcloth.
My daughter is kneeling by my head, with tears running down her face. And the nurse apparently hasn't missed a beat, because she is talking about how to use a tampon.
After I ate a banana the sweet librarian offered me, I sat back up on the chair, put my arm around my daughter, who thought I was having some sort of seizure, and tried to act as if I had just dropped my cell phone on the floor.
But the minute I registered what the nurse was talking about, I felt the blackness sneaking up on my peripheral vision. So before I could pass out again, I excused myself, and my daughter and I walked around the hallway until the whole thing was over.
After my daughter went back to class, the nurse asked me if it was my daughter who had passed out. "Uh, no." I said uncomfortably, "That was me."  "Oh," she said, "Well, some people are just fainters."  Hoping for some validation, I asked "So does this happen a lot? People passing during the program?"  "Well," Said she, " I've had girls faint before, but I don't remember a parent ever doing it...."
So now my daughter is traumatized (because she said I had 'crazy eyes' and I was out for about a minute, and she thought they were going to have to take me to the hospital), and I don't know if I can actually handle a face to face talk with her about that stuff. Good thing I already told my mom she was going to have to step up for that. And also take my other daughter to her maturation program in 2 years. 'Cause I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be allowed to go back.
I would like to say that it was a fluke,  that I was sick, or hadn't eaten that morning. But the truth is, this has happened to me before. When I was in high school, I passed out in class when the teacher was talking about the process of labor. She said "mucous plug" and before I could ask to go to the bathroom, I fainted right there in class.  I can't really listen to people's health stories (especially if it involves the female reproductive system), because it makes me feel faint. I can't help it, I was born this way.

While I recognize that telling this story is REALLY EMBARRASSING for me, I also recognize that it is DANG HILARIOUS.  So I hope you laughed when you read this. And also that you felt bad for Brynnlee.

American Fork Canyon

My kids were off-track in October, so we took a scenic drive up American Fork canyon with my 92 year old Grandma. We had a lovely picnic, and collected interesting looking leaves and rocks (which was nearly every leaf and rock we saw).

update and telling it like it is

I'm not even going to say sorry for not posting, because I'm not. Nobody is really upset that I haven't posted in a few months. Everyone's life is busy, and life doesn't seem less fulfilled because you don't know what's going on in BonnerLand. And if you are upset that I haven't posted, well, then, maybe you should call me to see if I'm ok.

Here's What's been going on-

-Brynn finished 4th grade, Lauren finished 2nd grade, and Ethan finished Kindergarten. 3 weeks later, Brynn started 5th grade, Lauren started 3rd grade and Ethan started 1st grade.

-Ethan turned 7.

-My toenail fell off.

(this picture was before it actually fell off.)

-Why did my toenail fall off? Well maybe because I am now a runner! and sometimes the hard core runners lose their toenails. (so I've been told)

-we've had a few other things happen, but these are the big things, (and also the ones I have pictures of).

No empty promises about doing better at blogging, though. If I get to it, I get to it. If not, call me and see what we're up to.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Lauren's baptism

I know what you're thinking, 'is she that old already?' and the answer is yes! She is that old! Our sweet little Lauren was baptized last Saturday, and we couldn't be more proud. It was a perfect, perfect day.

'

a funny quote

"I have CDO. It's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order. AS THEY SHOULD BE."

This makes me laugh, because I may have a slight problem with OCD. I like things to be in certain places, especially in my house, and look certain ways. Sometimes it's hard for me to let my children do things themselves because then it doesn't look the way I think it should., and so what if I iron my sheets. I have gotten better at these things. It's not debilitating or anything. not yet, anyway.

I should go on a run, but I'm too busy eating s'mores

Ragnar is 3 days away. I should be training and running to make sure I don't throw up on the side of the road. the three legs I have to run are pretty intense. But you know what? I love me some s'mores.

Secretary Desk before and after

I found this secretary desk on our local classifieds (ksl.com) and when I first saw it, it was $75. Well, I waited a week, and saw it go down to $60, then to $50. Finally it went to $30, and I offered her $20 and she said "SOLD!" So I picked up this little beauty to try my hand at refinishing furniture. After I picked it up, it sat in my family room for a good 2 months, before my husband said "no more projects until you finish that desk." and he said it with his serious voice, so I got to work (because I have many more projects to do).

As clear as I can remember, this is my first sand -it-down-refinish-and seal-it kind of project. I really wanted it to turn out well, so I tried to do it the right way. Let me tell you, It took a few tries to get it right. First, I tried just painting it cream, without priming it. That was lesson #1. So after 2 coats of paint, then 2 coats of primer, (i know, but I didn't feel like sanding the paint off) I did 2 more coats of paint. I kind of wanted an antique, distressed looking piece so I tried rubbing a stain on the whole thing. This I did not like. So I sanded the stain off and did yet another coat of the cream/ivory color. finally, after letting it dry, I sprayed a coat of polyurethane to seal it all.

(I realize this picture is awful, I'm going to take some photography classes to learn how to take gorgeous pictures)

I wanted some fancy on the inside, so I decided to mod podge some fancy, vintage looking paper on the inside. My brother-in-law Josh helped me with this part, mostly because he's super nice and he can't say no to me.

So that's my secretary desk revamp. Not too shabby for my first time. I loved doing it, and I have now learned things I should have done differently, so I will know what to do for next time.

I really love the cream and black look, and think i'll probably put it in my girl's room, as it will go with the vintage theme in there. plus Lauren thinks it is the best thing ever to have a desk in her room.

one chair, two chair, old chair, new chair

Because I like to switch up my furniture, I sold my sectional upstairs. I found another couch that I want up there, but it's on backorder for 6 weeks! So we moved the recliners (one was in our family room downstairs, and the other one was in the girl's room) into the tv room for seating for now.

So we had a big empty space in our family room downstairs. It just so happened that I had an old, yard sale chair sitting in my basement that I was going to try to re-upholster. It was going to be a desk chair, but I thought it could work in a formal sitting room. the chair was free, so I wouldn't be sad if I had to throw it away, should it turn out hideously.

.

So this is the new chair. I know, it looks like the lining of a sleeping bag, but this fabric was inexpensive, and I didn't want to invest too much if I was just going to throw it away.

I didn't get any pictures of the chair before I redid it, but this is the fabric. It's a baby blue velvet. quite fancy, actually.

I didn't really know what I was doing, I just made it up as I went along. So considering that, I'm really quite pleased with the way it turned out (camping plaid aside). My first reupholster was a success! So now I'm looking for something else to redo!