Happy New Year!

Photo Card

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happy valentine's day

a couple of days early...

Valentine's Collage Red Valentine's Day

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

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milestones

So, I've given up on the summer recap.  I seem to be much busier than I dreamed when Rachel got on the school bus!  However, I can't let a couple of milestones pass without their mention.

July brought Timothy's 12th birthday.  A big deal for a young man in the LDS Church.  What a difference the priesthood has made in his life (at least on Sundays).  He loves passing the Sacrament and takes it seriously.  Somehow, helping with this ordinance each week has helped his behavior in general during the rest of the meeting.  All of the sudden I have a peacemaker on my hands versus the one throwing the punches.  May it last...

Along with receiving the priesthood, he has also been able to attend the temple twice already.  Trevor and I were able to go with him on his first trip.  What a blessing it is for these kids to be able to get away from the world and enter a place of such peace.

September 11th had new meaning for us this year.  8 years ago on this day we brought home our first baby girl (on the first anniversary of that horrible day).  I remember the nurse coming into my room that morning and instructing, "Don't even turn on your TV this morning.  This is to be a happy day for you." And it was.  It was so again this year as that same daughter experienced a rebirth of sorts as she entered the waters of baptism.  Thank you to all of our "family" that came to support her.  We really feel blessed to have you in our lives!  The spirit was so strong at the service and I know Hannah felt the same as she was so overcome with emotion and couldn't explain why.  It has been interesting to watch her sensitivity to the spirit since that day.  She truly has been given a gift.

Speaking of gifts, my ever-so-talented-friend Sharese made Hannah's dress for the special occasion.  I thought I was going to be able to pull it off myself.  When I quickly realized I wasn't going to be able to, she quickly (and willingly) came to my rescue and took care of things for me!  Thanks, Sharese.  I owe you BIG time!  

I asked for a daughter

and was sent a princess.

I'm not kidding.

After two very precocious boys, I prayed and prayed for a girl.  A well behaved one.  I must have been in good graces with the Lord 8 years ago, because He sent me exactly what I asked for.

Hannah made life easy from the beginning...she arrived 45 short minutes after our arrival at the hospital, was sleeping eight hours a night by three weeks old and never really fussed unless she was hungry, tired or messy.

She is typically the life of the party and is a girly-girl through and through (something I am not).

However, she's never let that stop her from keeping up with the "Stinky Brothers!"

She's always (OK, almost always) willing to lend a hand...

...and is a great big sister.

She is generous with her love (and kisses), even when she may not be feeling her best...

                                                      

...yet can throw a pretty mean kick if needs be!

She's growing up to be a lovely young lady and I'm proud to be her mom.

Happy Birthday Cis!

Love,

Mom  xoxo

the end of summer

Usually, when it comes to 3-day weekends, Trevor and I don't plan very well.  We typically spend the weekend at home, cooped up with our 4 kids doing chores and breaking up fights.  We always say that we need to do something fun.  We just have a hard time of following through!

This past Friday night, Trevor and I were out to dinner (I can not believe that we can finally leave our kids home alone for a couple of hours!) when he looked at me and questioned (after letting out a big sigh), "What are we going to do tomorrow?"  I immediately began thinking of all the things that needed to be done around the house when he followed with, "Why don't we go canoeing?"  Good answer.

We got up the next morning, ate breakfast, packed some lunches and headed up to Fort Ancient to the canoe outfitters.  We (the boys and I--Trevor is the expert canoe-er) spent the next few hours bickering on how to steer a canoe and get it unstuck from the many shallow areas along the river.  The kids froze their toushies off after getting in the cold water and Rachel screamed every time we got stuck, thinking we were going to tip.  I got to listen to all my kids tell me how much better Dad is at steering the canoe (this was my first trip down a river, Trevor used to make a living at it) and that they would much rather ride with him.  I think next time I will go with Trevor and let the kids fend for themselves in their own canoe (and we will pay the extra 5 bucks for a plastic canoe that never seems to get stuck)!  :)

What am I going to do when that girl is 14?  HELP!

He looks happy now...

Are we having fun yet?!

Rachel isn't so sure she's up for another canoe trip any time soon!

Sure enough, after these 4 photos (and about 30 minutes into our day) the camera battery died.  Leave it to us to have a dead battery and no back up!

Monday morning rolls around and, once again, we are completely unprepared for the day.  I kept thinking about everything we didn't accomplish around the house on Saturday (I know, such a stick in the mud), when Trevor proclaimed, "We're going biking today!" to which Hannah exclaimed, "Wow!  Two fun things in a row!"  Are we really that pathetic as parents?  So, we packed up the kids' bikes and a backpack full of water and headed out the door.  Jonathan saw our "other" camera sitting on the desk and grabbed it for us.  Timothy yelled out, "Make sure to grab extra batteries!"

I managed to click this one shot before, you guessed it, the camera went dead.  That's what we get for not listening to Timothy!

We ended up riding 15 miles (Hannah rode the whole thing on a too-small bike) and the kids explored in the river for sometime.  We ended the day with lunch at The Works and Hawaiian shaved ice, after which Jonathan declared this 3-day weekend "the best ever!"  I would have to agree.

Thanks, Trevor, for "planning" such a great weekend.

the result

"Isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful..." Thank you, Stevie. I happen to think so.

Trevor and I are both thrilled about finally having double ovens. One for me, one for him.

See that little wall we built? It hides a desk (actually, a Costco plastic table until we get a desk) so that my countertops can remain junk-free (a woman can dream can't she?).

Notice the new windows (window treatments are still to come). One of my favorite things. Not only are they bigger, but gone are the sliders so they are one big piece of glass. Washing dishes with a nice view is much better than washing them without a view.

Sorry about how dark this one is. I can't get our lame camera to take it any differently. I recently told Trevor that I think we should get a better camera. It probably wasn't the best thing to say after just having finished this project!
And, finally, from the back. New deck, new windows (that don't scream, "Look at me!") and new siding.

I told you it was worth the wait.

Next up: landscaping!

P.S.  A shout out to Diane for helping me pick out everything!

summer recap parte dos

WARNING: This post contains a gazillion photos. However, I feel the need to show you all aspects of my "old" kitchen so you can appreciate the "new".

Back in oh, February, Trevor and I decided it was time to move ahead on our long-awaited kitchen project. After months and months of waiting, we finally got started one week after school let out. We still aren't 100% finished, but we're close. I'm such a ding-dong (probably was just over anxious to start the project) that I didn't take any before photos. So, I had to dig through all of my old photos to find any that were taken in/of the kitchen.

I present to you: the "old"...

Our house in Arizona lacked any colors on the wall. I think we overcompensated when we moved into this house! Once we started painting, we couldn't stop. We ended up with what we affectionately called the "Crayola" house.

I always wanted a yellow and blue kitchen. I certainly had it! Take note of the windows and the vent over the stovetop.

I promise I didn't include this one to show off my attractiveness (anyone ever seen the Steve Martin movie, "Roxanne"?) Just focus on the junk room behind me. It has been a useless eye sore (who puts carpet in a sunroom where it's 90% humidity most of the summer?!) for the past 9 years and we finally decided to do something about it!

I know it's hard to take your eyes off my adorable daughter, but try for a second to check out the fridge and microwave/oven combo behind her.

Trevor obviously has a few lessons to learn about taking pictures of his wife...

Couldn't leave out the view from in the kitchen. See, proof that our house was Crayolaesque! For some reason that I can't pinpoint, we always craved mint chip ice cream while sitting in the family room watching TV and Trevor doesn't even like mint chip.

OK, I try to be photographed as little as possible. So, can someone please explain to me how I ended up in all of these?!? As you would remember from last year (because I know I am so popular and you have all been devotedly reading my blog, even with 14 month gaps between posts), we put in a new deck last year. Our renovation this year included the exterior of the sunroom (with the white windows that scream, "Look at me!").

The first week the Greg and John (our fabulous contractors - I happily recommend them) were here was better than summer camp. They were demo-ing the sunroom and apparently it was so entertaining, my kids set up this viewing area to watch them rip it apart. I not kidding when I say they spent the better part of the week in this very spot. Except for Timothy - he was out there hauling drywall and brick to the garbage (and talking John's ear off). I kept asking Greg if we were going to get a discount on our bill since Timothy did so much work.

When I was a kid, my parents remodeled just about every room in our house. Before putting up the new wallpaper, they would let us cover the walls with drawings. Not only was it fun to have permission to draw on the walls, but I'm sure it was quite the reward for subsequent owners when they had to strip all that wallpaper.

For Family Home Evening one night, I broke out a bunch of Sharpie's and let my kids have at it.

Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief that I took this picture and that it wasn't taken of me! Here are a few of the results.

Is that a plea or a threat?

Was Trevor's a plea too (that the sunroom would turn out OK)? I love that he still loves me like a middle-schooler (I'm not kidding). However, I think it's missing "2gether 4ever".

Self-portrait by Rachel. I'm not sure who was wishing good luck, nor for what. I should have guessed that what it really meant was, "Good luck without a kitchen for the entire summer!"

The result? Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow as I have to now go clean the kitchen and take photos of the "new".

Let me just say, it was worth the wait!