Catching up on some things

Well, it has been a while, so I thought it was time to do a little catching up on my blog. We have been so busy with the outside work needing to be done. I'll post pics of that after we get more of it done. This post is most recent to the past and there is a lot that has been going on so here goes!


My friend, Wendy and I went to Salt Lake City last weekend for a little getaway. We spent Friday wandering around the Gateway, dinner, ice cream, a movie, and not having to worry about kids! Saturday we lounged around the hotel in the morning and went to a yummy lunch at The Garden Restaurant. After lunch we walked around Temple Square for a bit and then saw Mamma Mia! It was a great show!! No, we didn't plan the purple shirts-purely a coincidence. After Mamma Mia we had ice cream again and drove home. It was a wonderful weekend break. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful friend!

A couple weeks ago we went to Black Hills, SD for a week long camping trip with Josh's parents. It was a bit chilly (especially at night-40 degrees) and rained a bit but we didn't let that slow us down! We were rarely at the campsite so the weather didn't affect us much, we were out touring. Who would have thought there was so much to do in South Dakota, we actually extended out trip by a day so we could see more things! This was a memory filled vacation.

On our way to SD: Shell Falls, in the middle of nowhere WY. What beautiful things you can find when you are driving through 9000 ft. mountain passes!

Spent a quick day at Yellowstone on our way to SD (we took 2 days to drive to SD so we could see things on our way). Here are the girls waiting for Old Faithful.

Our campsite at the Black Hills. Our tent and Gary and Nancy's little camper which was nice to eat in when it was raining. We are trying to dry things out!

Wild Burros!! We saw so much wildlife-buffalo herds, prairie dogs, pronghorn antelope, etc.

We saw Mt. Rushmore, went to Reptile Gardens, Wind Cave, hiking, Bear Country USA, museums, etc.! The girls were so excited about going to Mt. Rushmore and the Cave-those were two things that were on the top of their to do list.

Made a detour to Devils Tower on our way to SD.

We were having a goodbye BBQ at our house for our good friends the Crockers (about 30 people at our house). Towards the end Erin came to me crying saying that she hit her head. It wasn't a huge cry so I thought she had just bumped it. Nope! She split it pretty good. So we left our guests and took her to Instacare. She got 5 staples in her head. I saw her skull!! She handled it so well, she was incredibly brave. It is now healing really well. Thankfully they didn't have to shave her head.

Lauren and I. Below: Evan, Lauren, me, and Josh. They moved to Pennsylvania. I am so thankful for email and phones so I can keep in touch with them. I miss them!

Happy Easter!! My beautiful girls!

Josh and I went to his APA Conference again this year. Boston!! What a great city! There is so much to see and do-and so much history! We saw were so many important people of this country lived and were buried. So much fun.

Of course had to go to Cheers, I remember watching that show with my dad when I was young.

Public Garden-the trees haven't leafed too much yet, but can you imgane the beauty here??

One of the days I went to Salem, MA on my own while Josh was in classes. I was a little nervous since I had to make a few changes on the trains, but I made it and I'm glad I went!

Memorial to those who were killed during the Witch Hunt. Each bench represents a person, this is only a few of the benches.

USS Constitution (aka USS Ironsides). Fun to climb aboard this historical ship.

Paul Revere and Old North Church. To be able to sit in Old North Church and see where the lights were lit and follow along the path that Paul Revere took that momentous night. It was amazing!

A good April Fool's Joke

Bailey came home from school today telling Erin that she had a piece of cake for her. (Bailey will frequently share her treats from school with Erin so this was not a surprise). Erin picked it up and took a bite...and pulled, and pulled---it was a sponge Bailey had decorated with frosting and sprinkles. It was a great joke! Erin ate most of the frosting and sprinkles off the top so it doesn't look like a real piece of cake anymore, but it was pretty clever! Erin was a bit sad she didn't get to eat any cake though. :)

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).