50 Shades of Gray

Sorry, for those you expecting to find a steamy review or titillating photo re-enactment of the latest, hottest book trilogy, you are about to be sorely disappointed.

This is, in fact about the actual color gray. And my kitchen.

my kitchen

The only steam is from me boiling water for ramen noodles.

And unlike E.L. James' novels, my kitchen (for now!) is very, very clean!

No, this post is about how I finally got to paint my kitchen gray - the nice, calm, neutral color I was hoping for! It involved a lot of advice and input from friends and family to get where I needed to be with this color and in the end, it came down to compromise. 

And I am putting this in writing:

I was wrong. My husband was right.

Gray would NOT have looked right in the living room.

That being said, I am so happy that it is in my kitchen, grateful that I didn't listen to all my friends & family who told me not to ask my husband and just go ahead and paint it anyway (!), and pleased that it turned out very nice indeed.

before...

after!

before...

after!

Now, we have to decide on the color for the living room....

spring fling

The Elementary School PTO hosted a Spring Fling party for the kids last Friday -

and it was AWESOME!

There was fun music, black lights and glow sticks, face painting, popcorn, candy, balloons and even a room where you could play "Just Dance" on the wii! (a fave with both Hamp & Sam!)

Some of the kids even got a little spruced up for the party - note the jackets & ties on the big kids and of course Sam's purple shirt and plaid blazer, always a good look.

Anyway, the best part of the event was, naturally just being with friends!

March - and April! - Madness

Hamp just finished up his 4-week basketball season... and he had the greatest time!

Not only were most of his favorite buddies playing, but he really liked the game and learned a lot.

a few action shots... these are the only ones that weren't a total blur!!!

We had so much fun watching him play - but perhaps not as much fun as he had on the court!

post-season pizza party!

Easter eggs

What a wonderful weekend:

some good times with friends, a little work in the yard, a little golf and a bike ride, some great sunshine and of course, coloring eggs!

One of our new favorite things to do is drop crayon shavings on a hot egg and watch the colors melt together - makes for a fun activity and cool looking eggs!

We also did a few traditional colored eggs...  

 The Easter Bunny stopped by Saturday night and had a little carrot snack, left some cool toys in the boys' baskets, filled our plastic eggs with lots of great treats - and hid them all through the house, and even took a moment to leave a nice note to the boys!

It was a great adventure finding all the eggs... and subsequently eating all the candy.

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend full of family, good weather and lots of sweets!

Spring Break - just dance!

everyone gets a turn...

Spring Break - the surprise!

Finally, the sweetest part of the trip (besides little Allen's smiles!) was not just being together but celebrating a pretty significant event...

We decided to surprise Mojo & Dado with a nice dinner in honor of 

40 years of marriage!

So while Uncle Al was driving them around town thinking we would be meeting them at some upscale restaurant, we were putting together their table at the nicest location in town: 

the back patio!

Aunt Jei made a flawlessly beautiful red velvet cake in honor of their "ruby" anniversary, 

and the table was just lovely with roses, candles, lights and best of all 

a poster picture of M &D's wedding photo!

Of course, when they came back to the house thinking we were cancelling our nice dinner due to illness (thanks for the convincing performance, Jason! ☺) the surprise was complete and we could all enjoy a long, fun evening of chinese take out and  old wedding stories together under the twinkling lights and cool breeze!

Turns out being together for 40 years isn't too bad when you're in love... ♥

Spring Break - the park!

So, because the pool was cold but the weather was nice we all decided a trip to the neighborhood park for a picnic would be a perfect idea!

There was much playing (and even a little napping!) while at the park... baseball, football, and paddle ball! 


And when we finally sat down for just a moment, we shared a great picnic and many smiles!

Later, as we meandered down the trail on the way home, the boys came across a little creek and were immediately drawn to the water!

So we went back the next day for some more exploring in the creek and the boys spent the better part of an hour jumping the "waterfall", building a dam and considering hydro-engineering as a future career! ☺

and the SoCal adventures continue...

Spring Break - the pool!

The High-Ridge clan gathered in Southern Cal last week 

at the "Etheridge Resort" for some R&R, 

some sweet baby lovin's, some good family fun, 

and even a little surprise!

Of course, the main attraction was the beautiful pool - and the boys tried so hard to go swimming but they just couldn't get over how cold the water was still!

(note: Uncle Al is in a wetsuit and he's still shocked by the temp!)

"na na na na boo boo, you can't get me!"

When we weren't outside, we enjoyed just being all together...

cousins!

Mojo & Dado with their grands

so much more to come...!