House Update....

we are almost done! And it is so much fun, we love all the extra room, I am especially fond of my new bedroom - the skylight and vaulted ceiling rocks, our beautiful yards, our big huge couch that we can ALL sit on together, and I can not forget my new bathtub. Everytime I take a bath I feel like I am in a really nice hotel!

The girls were suppose to get the new big bedroom with the walk in closet but as it started to take shape I began to think why am I giving this to my kids? So I told Justin I wanted it and he was just fine with it.

Take a little walk through our house with us..it's not all done but pretty close!

Front yard

Welcome to our home......

Hallway to the bedrooms...

Bathroom, Justin redid it about a year ago...I just finally hung the pictures back on the wall

Our new bedroom, the part over the headboard of the bed is vaulted and there is a skylight in it

Our old room...now the girl's room

This is the view looking from my kitchen into our old living room, the TV still has to be moved and the brown wall will become our "office" area

Future home of our wood burning stove in the family room

Big couch in the family room, there is a place for the girls to play behind the couch

Another view in the family room, the door on the left goes into our "new bathroom"

The girls love the bath too!

Part of our backyard

Part 1 of San Diego Vacation

Time for the MONTHLY update

I can't believe that it is already May. Really where do the days go? Lately I have been sleeping a lot or least feeling like I want to but they can't have all passed me by that quickly, could they? I went to get pictures from this last month and realized they were all still on the camera. Now that I have them loaded I decided I wanted to make some scrapbook pages so may be later you'll get an insight into our past month.

Look we now access our family room! Which also means it is much easier to banish our children to the backyard. I can't wait to move in the furniture, the painters and electrician come this week...and this next weekend we should get to move into our new bedroom! Hurray! The end of construction is in sight! Up until yesterday there was a piece of plywood separating the rooms.

Ballet School

The girls and their cousins performed in our ward variety show at the beginning of the month...I had almost forgot about it until I saw it on my sister's blog. This month has been an overload month...I can't wait for it to be over!

They did a little ballet school where they had a new member "Frankie" (he's our home teacher) that they had to teach to dance. They got lots of laughs and loved performing!

Just had to share this one...

as most of you know we are doing a major overhaul on our house and yards right now, on Monday the lawn guys were getting ready to put in the sod which meant a bit of fertilizer for the yard as we went out the door that afternoon Lainey says..."EVERYBODY COVER YOUR NOSE HOLES!" I couldn't stop laughing and had to snap a picture to remember it forever!

February and March happenings...

Just got back from a "girls night out" and yes we had FHE first and then Dad's got to put their little ones to bed....I love that I have my sisters here in town....wish you were closer Chels, and that they are truly my best of friends. Dang it I forgot to take a picture of us together and I even had my camera! Our addition is moving right along and I needed to find bedding for our new room, hence the girls night out, so I could decide on paint colors...I can't wait! The concrete set perfectly and it really is beautiful as beautiful as concrete can be! The drywall is being hung and Justin came home with the tile today and a few weeks ago we picked up the wood burning stove. Last Friday I finally found my perfect sectional on craigslist, it is this really cool bluish color and I also bought the rug that they were selling too! My sisters and I even picked it up and moved it home all by ourselves!

We started February with a visit from Justin's brother's family. The kids had so much fun playing together, as always the visit was way too short and the girls continue to ask when they will get to see their Utah cousins again. We then headed to my nephew's baptism up north and came home via San Francisco, where we stayed with a friend of mine. I love the fact that only time I can get all my family to look in the same direction is when a total stranger takes the photo. It works every time!

So my youngest sister decided we ought to have an anniversary party for our parents, it was a total last minute thing and it was so FUN. They were absolutely surprised about the whole thing! And my whole family was there...Chelsea and her family surprised all of us and drove down for the big party! Happy 36th to the BEST parents around!

Lainey and Malia started karate a few weeks ago we got a REALLY good deal on lessons at a YW camp fundraiser and they have loved their classes. They can go up to 3 times a week and the smiles on their faces is so worth it! I love that Malia now bows when she steps off the rug in our living room and says "yes mam" to me. Lyndie likes to sit on the side and try to do whatever they are doing...she and I are taking a swimming class together through her school and today she amazed me by swimming about 7 feet under water...I can't wait for our summer pool days to start again!

In honor of Dr Seuss we celebrated with Green Eggs and Ham...we had the missionaries for dinner that night so they got to join in on our birthday celebration!

Strawberry season is here again! This stand is less than 1/2 a mile from our house and they have the BEST berries you have ever eaten.

We've celebrated 2 birthdays in the last month...it's so hard to believe that our baby is 3 now. We went to Disneyland on her birthday...it was the last day of our passes and her last time to get in free! Lainey opted for a wacky olympics party which we celebrated at the park with her friends and cousins. And to think she is now 6...as my mother in law put it she's a third of the way to 18, I told her I didn't want to think about that!

And that concludes our month in review...
until next month!

Please don't let it RAIN...

Usually we welcome the RAIN, but please Mr. Weatherman could you hold it back a few hours? We (well not me, but my dear husband and dad) just finished with the last of the concrete and it really needs time to set a bit more! In the last two months we have had countless amounts of cement poured down the side of our house and now finally in our driveway and up to our front door. It is so beautiful!

This is my dear friend Katie aka Harmony who came to spend the day with us on Valentine's with her family from Idaho. Beautiful weather and guests from out of town meant we had to make a trip to the beach. Katie and I met at Academy for Girls and then worked together to create a camp for girls called Retreat for Girls, which she and her husband now run. This year they had partnered with Deseret Book.

The next best thing to spending the day with Katie and Jeremy was watching our kids become friends. I hate the fact that we live hundreds of miles away from one another.

This was our yummy Valentine's Breakfast...Daddy's homemade pancakes with real whip cream and the most delicious strawberries around! The stand around the corner from our house just opened and it is so tempting to stop everytime I drive by.

Our 2010 Valentine's photo...has it really been 9 years?

Lyndie getting ready for her upcoming birthday...yes the pinata is bigger than her, and NO it is not completely filled with candy. She had so much fun trying to decide which one to pick out.

Olivia Owl from preschool helped Malia put her handprint in the sidewalk....we kept forgetting to put the girls handprints in the concrete.

I think this one has been watching too many old movies with me. We love to watch old movies together, recently we watched a bunch of the ones with the underwater ballet in them. She got all dressed like this when we went to the pool this last week.