Before/After House pics

Well, I finally got around to taking some after pics of our new house. Here are a few pictures of the before and after of all the work we did over the last couple of months. New laminate flooring put in (about 1300 square feet), Granite countertops, new carpet in the basement, 24 gallons of paint, 2 gallons of polyurethane, 3 gallons of stain, new light fixtures (and other electrical work), and the list goes on and on. It looks great. We still have a few little things that are still needing to be done but that list will always be added to. Now that the weather is starting to turn nice we've started planning our yard/gardens which will be fun.

Living room off of the kitchen, could be used as a dining room but we aren't dining room kind of people so it has Josh's armor, the harp, computer, etc. It is hard to tell in the picture but it was a bright purple (weird color for a dining room if you ask me).

Primed and painted all the banisters in the house, which there are LOTS. At first I was counting them as I went but when I hit 35 I just got depressed so I stopped counting. The black matches our cabinets and looks great!

Front Room, looks so much better without carpet and tile at the front door.

The countertops were in horrible shape so we had granite put in. I took a lot of before pics of the kitchen but I put this one in to show the colors, etc. Doesn't it look so much better with new lights, paint, floors, etc.? Very modern I think.

We built our own closet systems in our closet and both girls closet. All that was there was these wire shelves that couldn't hold much weight and we had this huge closet with no storage space in it. It took a long time to plan, stain, paint, and put together but it was worth it. They look great!

(hard to get good pictures of our walk in closet, but these will have to do)

Well there is a sample of our house and a sample of all the hard work we put into it. It all worked out nicely and looks like a completely different house. We love our new Ward, neighborhood and home (although we do miss our old place as well). Later to come: The Yard! :)

Bailey's Surgery

My little girl had surgery yesterday morning. She had an Adenoidectomy and a Turbinate Reduction (her adenoids were blocking over 50% of her airway). She was so brave and did really well. She was nervous when we got the hosipital but the nurses were great helping her feel comfortable and very kid friendly. Here are a couple pictures before and after. I picked the best looking one for the after pics, there are some where she looks worse.

Afterwards they gave her popsicles and slushies. She is supposed to have 8-10 popsicles a day for a couple days, such a chore for her. :) She perked up well when we got home and today she is having some pain but nothing over-the-counter meds won't take care of. Speaking of medication the only real trouble we had at the hospital was after she woke up and was in pain, but she wouldn't swallow the meds the nurse was trying to give her. I had to hold her down to get her to hold still, half got in her hair but the other half made her more comfortable.

I am proud of her, she did great. It was a rough morning for her mom as well--especially during parts of the surgery (I watched it all on a television, and parts were a little rocky to watch).

Bailey's Baptism

On Saturday, January 8th, 2011 we had a very special day: Bailey was baptized. It was a wonderful day of family, friends, and blessings of the Spirit. She is growing into such a wonderful young lady. I am proud of her that she made this great decision.

Josh baptized her, and I have never seen such a large circle of Priesthood holders for the Confirmation. We were blessed to have so many people that love Bailey able to attend. I love you Bailey.

Cruise, Birthday, and Christmas!

WARNING: This Blog contains a lot of pictures. So much to cover over the last couple of weeks.

We went on a cruise with my Mom, my sister's family and my brother's family. It was 5 day cruise to California and Mexico-and it was a blast. So many memories were made and it was great to spend time with all of my family. Unfortunately it did rain most of the time but we didn't let that get in the way-plus it was warmer than Logan! If you ask Bailey what her favorite part of the cruise was, she would say the food (among other things). She loved that she could eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and as much as she wanted. Great for a growing girl (that girl grows quicker than a weed!). Erin loved being with her cousins, being crazy, and having everyone's attention. She is a nut. My niece got some great pictures of Erin on her camera so I'll post psycho Erin soon.

Our first stop was to Santa Barbara, CA where we walked through the rain (notice Dave's wet clothes) to the Ty Warner Sea Center. It was a small aquarium but it had a lot of interactive activites which were great. Here is Bailey petting a shark while my brother holds it.

Erin LOVED playing with the sea stars, sea urchins, and other creatures in the tank. She stood here playing for over a half an hour. She didn't really care about anything else at the aquarium.

Our next stop was Ensenada, Mexico where we took a bus tour to a Blowhole (la Bufadora) which was neat to see the natural water geyser.

Londa and I

The best part of Ensenada was the flea market type shopping we got to do. Bargaining for items was great fun and we got some really great souvenirs. Definitely a different lifestyle than what we are used to.

Formal night on the boat. It was great to get in our really dressy clothes and enjoy yet another yummy dinner!

The girls spent a lot of time on the boat at Kid's Club where they had activities all day for the kids to do. It was great to be able to drop them off so we could go to shows, etc. and they could have fun as well. One evening at kid's club the leaders took all the kids to the adult dance level before it opened and let them have a disco night. When we were ready to go pick them up we watched for a few minutes-it was great to see them movin' and a goovin'.

One morning we got breakfast in bed. Granted it wasn't as good as going to the unlimited buffet for breakfast, but when else can we get breakfast in bed for free (besides tip)? Bailey thought it was great fun. Josh and Erin were sharing a room so I didn't get a picture of their breakfast in bed.

One of the few times we could do out on deck because of the rain. We went out while the boat was passing by some islands near Mexico. On this island there is a little fishing village where 15 men live there all year and 30 families live there during the fishing season. After we passed the island a little fishing boat came out to us asking us for help. There was someone critically ill on the island and they couldn't fly her out because of the weather. So we turned around took the person on board. Then we started heading back to Mexico instead of L.A. to get the lady help. We were going so fast and the boat was rocking a LOT (thank goodness for motion sickness meds!). Thankfully the lady stabilized and we could slow down and just take her with us to L.A. It felt great to be able to lend a hand to this remote village.

Christine, Josh, Ray, and Londa

Our last evening...we didn't want to see any of the shows that evening so we played some fun group games. It was a lof fun to be together.

Bailey is 8!!! My girl is getting so big. She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday so we had a girls day. Bailey, Erin and I went and got manicures, then met Josh for lunch and then got Bailey's ears pierced. She was a little nervous and 2 tears ran down her checks after but she loves them and looks so big!

Happy Birthday to the both of us! I made a palm tree/flip flop/beach cake remembering our cruise.

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas. Erin asked Santa for a Pillow pet, which she LOVES, and Bailey asked for a watch. The holidays are so much fun. Below is a pic of Bailey filling out her All About Me book. Josh had one of these that he filled out years ago that Bailey loves looking at. We got her one exactly like it and she has been having fun filling it out like Josh did when he was her age.

It's has been forever...

But we have been SUPER busy. As you know we moved about 2 months ago and have been fixing up the new house. Things have been really chaotic (and similar to a construction zone) but at least things are starting to come together a bit and even though it has been insane everything is looking great. I don't have pics yet, I want to get a little bit more done before I do the after pics, but watch for the before/after pictures soon! We are enjoying our new neighborhood/ward, everyone we have met is really nice. The girls have adjusted really well to their new school and neighborhood too (they especially love riding the bus).

So, I thought I'd go back and catch up a little bit of what has been going on (besides house stuff which pretty much has consumed our lives). Let's go back to the fall.....

Bailey and Erin's school picture day. Don't they look so cute? They are both growing up so fast, it amazes me everyday the things they do/say. They are the best of friends which is great, I love watching them play together.

Before we moved we did our annual gingerbread house for Halloween. Josh thought I was crazy making sure we did it since we had so much going on, but it wouldn't be Halloween without our gingerbread house. It was great this year because the girls are old enough that they can do it pretty much on their own now. Erin did the front, Bailey the back, and Josh and I each took a side.

Thankfully this year for Halloween the girls didn't have any crazy costume ideas like in the past since I needed something simple this year. Bailey was a darling witch and Erin was a pirate (sounds like her, doesn't it?). We did a little trick-or-treating around our new house, but then went trick-or-treating in our old neighborhood with our good friends the Crockers. We had a TON of trick-or-treaters come to our house, it was insane. The girls say the best part of Halloween is handing out the candy so they were happy to oblige so many kids.

Everyone (including Josh) thought we were crazy but we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with my Mom and my sister's family. We had enough of the dining/kitchen done to make it work, and it was great. It was a wonderful day with family.

Mason, Bailey, Cassie and Erin

Ray, Londa, Mom, Ky (who just got his mission call to Russia), Cavin, Marissa, Me, and Josh

The last part of November we had a blizzard hit Logan. It was crazy, they cancelled part of school and closed down the county early so people could get home before the storm hit. Thankfully we were all home before it came because for about 6 hours it was insane outside. We got about a foot of snow and the wind was sure blowing. We live up on the benches now so I was glad to be home safe and warm. These pictures I took about an hour before the blizzard. The girls love our new big yard and they built 2 big snowmen and below they are working on Erin's "snow camel". When she told me she was making a snow camel I cracked up. The best part is, after the blizzard it turned into a dinosaur! :)

Bailey lost her two front teeth about a week apart-she can officially sing: "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" now! She was excited to have them come out and she looks so cute with the holes in her mouth. She turns 8 years old next week and she is excited for her baptism coming up and getting her ears pierced.

Well, there is a bit of things going on. I'll keep up better on my posts now that things are settling down a bit. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

We still exist!

Yes we still exist. Life has been crazy. Our house sold and we are moving--this weekend is the plan assuming all the paperwork gets worked out in time. I'm ready to not be living out of boxes and be settled in our new place. Although change is hard and we will miss our neighbors.

More to come soon of our new house! We are doing a TON of work on it (new flooring, new countertops, paint, sink/faucet, etc. etc. etc.) So I will post pictures soon!!

First day of School

Summer Vacation is over, they girls started school already this year. Bailey started 2nd grade and Erin started Kindergarten (When did my girls get so big?). They are both LOVING school. Here are the pictures I took of them on their first day of school. I had to include the goofy one of Erin. I told her to say: "I'm going to Kindergarten!" and of course she had to do a little dance as well. :)

This past weekend my sister and her family came up for an evening of fun. We left all the kids at home with some pizza while we went to dinner. Afterward we all went to the Demolition Derby-such a blast.

It was a fun filled evening full of fires, crashes, disqualifications, cookies, odd people, and good company.