Family, Fun, and a Farewell

We had a fun filled weekend the past couple of days. My brother and his family came into town from Washington so we headed down and spent the weekend at my mom's house. First up was a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse-just adults (I guess we can count Ky, my nephew as an adult now).




We spent Saturday hanging out, playing games, shopping, and just letting the cousins play together.









Sunday was Ky's farewell. He will be reporting to the MTC on April 6th to go to St. Petersburg, Russia. He did a wonderful job on his talk and will be such a great missionary. Crazy to think he is that old-which means I am getting older too! He will be missed but I've already got some care package ideas planned for him. I Love you Ky!

It was wonderful to have a change of scenery for a couple of days.

Feeling Lucky?

I am feeling lucky today since there are currently 2 leprechaun traps upstairs! We're bound to catch on and get his pot of gold! (I promise to share if we do.) ;)

Bailey's sign on the side says: "Gold Up Ahead" just to make sure the leprechaun doesn't give up climbing the marshmallow ladder!

Catch Up!

Well we have been keeping busy with random projects around the house and so I haven't been blogging but here is a brief catchup of some things going on lately.
The girls have been busy playing out in the snow almost everyday after school. They love our new HUGE backyard. I thought these were two cute snowmen, pretty inventive since I could not find our "real" snowman stuff.

Erin lost her first tooth the beginning of February. She was so excited and is diligently wiggling another tooth so she can get more money! :) She had to leave her bedroom door open that night so the tooth fairy could get in easier.

Our 2nd Annual Non Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner! Last year I think we did it in March but we did a super yummy Thanksgiving dinner with our friends the Jasper's again this year. It has become a fun tradition, but really, who needs an excuse for pumpkin pie?!

Our Ward did a talent show. The girls heard it announced at church and told me they wanted to participate. Erin told me that her talent is that she is a good "drawer" so she put together a couple of art pieces to show. I made little titles for each one that also stated what medium she used to make her picture. The one on the far right is a collage of trash that she found in the basement trashcan one day. Mostly it is electrical wires and pieces of that nature.
Bailey wanted to sing a song in Dutch that she knows. Josh's dad has taught her how to sing Baa, Baa Black Sheep and she does it so well. She did practice a few times over the phone with Papa before just to make sure she still had the words right. The girls were the youngest to participate by far and I was so proud of them. They did such a great job!

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.