Oooh, instagram...

Springtime in Utah can mean many, many things--wind, rain, snow, sunny sunshine, all on the very same day! But when you have access to instagram, it makes everything look just a little chic-er (not chick-er) or at least chic-er-ish...

Kylie and Cael ready for to hunt for some serious eggs...

The fam ready to check out the lovely new City Creek Mall...



Kendell and Temple Square...

And what would Easter weekend be without a family get-together and the proverbial cousin shot. Mmm, chic-er-ish-y...

anatomy of a makeover…

 While friend Chelby and Miss Kendell were ready for prime time, our family room most certainly was not…

For starters, some “freshening up” with a new coat of paint was much overdo at the casa de Goff.  Lucky for me (hooray!!), my dear husband voted himself to be the #1 ceiling painter—sweet!!

As long as Paul would take care of my least favorite task of painting on the ceiling (completely different from L. Richie’s most favorite feeling of dancing on the ceiling), I promised I would take care of the rest…

 That  meant a layer of golden (you are my) sunshine,

and then a very tall  (for me) ladder (which I got to become friends with after many, many trips up and down, up and down), a very small Moroccan-motif stencil, a sponge roller, painter’s tape, some golden apricot paint, a significant amount of time (hours and hours plus many, many more hours)…

 and then voile!  A wallpaper stenciled wall magically (after a couple of days) appeared!!

The room redo has had such a ginormous impact on Cael—actually as long as there is a steady stream of Disney Channel, he’s good…

next up, the kitchen--oohhh…

the goings-on…

So this fella turned 17…

and requested homemade eggrolls (that actually turned out-hooray)…

 this green kitchen got a coat of bleached wheat paint with a raw umber glaze…

 this fella used his superstar handyman skills to add a new backsplash to go with the new paint…

this little lady used her taping (and helpfulness) skills to help with the painting extravaganza…

this wall got 2 coats of golden sunshine paint with a Moroccan stencil of golden apricot on top (and just a little  fyi, wallpaper stenciling is most certainly not a quicky quick little endeavor)…

  this fella continued to provide me with keen insight to life.  After we woke up to a couple of inches of snow the other morning, Cael brought out a pair of winter boots and his sneakers.

Cael: “Mom!  Which ones should I wear? Is it going to be an inside day or an outside day?”

Mom:“Hmm, I’m not sure, Cael…”

Cael: “But Mom!  You are smart!  You know everything!  Which ones should I wear?!”

 Amazing that he has the whole mom-is –so –smart thing figured out and he’s only been in 1st grade for 100 days …

Delightful December

Season’s Greetings from the bloggiest family of the year!

We’ve loved all things festive this month—the sleighs, the lights, the pinecones and holly berries (popcorn for you, apples for me?),

the hats…

We also enjoyed visiting Dear Lizzie in Alpine, the most delightful place, and with a 2 for 1 hot cocoa coupon, how could we go wrong…

We appreciated being visited by jolly ol’ St.Nicholas…

and then getting to have the annual Gramma Sharlene and Grampa Randy Christmas breakfast with all the Goffs, Thornes, and a few bonus Madsens (Gramma Jan, Grampa Paul, and Uncle Jens)…

We’ve loved having so many cousins (and grandparents) in town this Christmas…

and appreciated Uncle Aaron sitting for the (in his words)“hang in there, little bro” shot…

Who knows, perhaps I will post more than 3 times in 2012? Hmm, good news for me—I may actually be able reach that bar…

And now Cael is tired.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

the end.

lifelong learning…

Cael:  “Hey Mom, want me to teach you how to hug a cat?”

  (**that may qualify as my best-ever greeting upon returning home from an intense evening of fabric-cutting, and good news for you—I do believe this generous offer actually extends to all interested parties…)

attempting lemonade…

 

So waaay back last month, we were enjoying every minute of our splish-splashing 14 ft. round pool on the patio in the backyard.  Cooling off, swimming, floating, whirl-pooling--good, good  great, great times!!

Then one day, as I was minutes away from leaving to join my teenage girlies at Girls Camp, Kylie and I heard a giant whooshing water sound.  Horrifically, curiously, and randomly, the floor of the pool gave way and tore apart at the point nearest the window well…

   This is what a basement looks like after a wall of water comes crashing through the window and tidal-waving everything in its wake.  The gravel is from the window well, the shattered glass is from the bent, broken, and thrown across the room double-paned window.  The broken glass slashed the curtains.  All the dvd’s on the shelf were filled with water and mud.  As we shoveled up the pieces of glass, the shovels would fill with water.  The family room , the bedrooms, and storage room were all water-logged.  The pictures don’t quite do it complete justice…

This glass is on the other side of the family room—so amazing how much damage can happen in such a miniscule amount of time…

 Fortunately, these boys were not downstairs at the time, which they so easily could have been.  Nobody was hurt; we’ve cleared out a lot of clutter that we should have cleared out years ago, and new carpet pad plus a new window later (window guy: “I’ve never seen a window frame bend like this!”), we are trying to be back and better than ever, minus one pool.  We have been so humbled by the quick action, hard work, and kindness of our gracious and phenomenal neighbors with shovels, shop-vacs, and helping hands…

On on a cheerier note, if this isn’t the funnest house ever, I don’t know what is—Morgan was slightly enthusiastic to take the tour of the incredibly delightful  UP house…

 The details were absolutely amazing…

 I do love the kitchen appliances very, very much…

 And after months and months (and months)of practice, football games have finally begun and my absolute favorite Grizzly is #70 (pictured with my very favorite dad of a Grizzly)…

School started for the Jr. High set…

and for the elementary set, as well (and no, Cael did not actually wear his sweet soccer uniform on the first day, he just wanted to)…

And what  could be finer than having the whole fam there to cheer on the mighty Grizzlies to victory over Hillcrest?  For Cael it would be cheering while wearing binoculars—good stuff…

summer synopsis, part 1

 One of my all-time favorite things ever EVER was the precious family of birds that nested in the plum tree in our backyard!!  We had no idea how fantastically fascinating it would be to watch the 4 baby birds grow and learn and sadly (for us), fly away.  It was National Geographic in our very own yard-awesome…

This pic is completely dedicated to my Gramma Bev, who always dreamed of having the whole Link clan attend the Manti Pageant.  While the whole clan did not make it,  3 youth-conference attending Goff’s did and it was amazing…

Kendell + sparkler= happy star-spangled combo…

 The fabulous KThoms came to town, so what could be better than a tour of the Conference Center?  We know how to do it up right in the SLC…

 Good news—resourceful Paul saved the day and got the circle pool back into commission!!  New filter and more patches made for hours of crazy, splashy cousin fun with even more super cousins…

Here’s a question: do fedora hats put you in a bad mood?  Little Goff family fun fact—apparently fedoras completely rub my bro-in-law Mike the wrong way (hmm), but Morgan and Aunt Tera were determined to get him to turn that frown upside-down…

Ever since Quilt Market in May, I have been wait, wait, waiting for the lovely new Joel Dewberry fabric line, Heirloom, to come to the shop and… it did!!  The orange blockflower blossom here is my absolute fave, and using it to make an Amy Butler Gumdrop pillow put a smile on Miss Kylie’s face and on Kylie’s mom’s face…

And HOO-RAY—after completing his project over a year ago, Curtis the Eagle Scout had his Court of Honor on Sunday.  And in the words of Elastigirl, “now, it’s official!”