Our New House

As requested by my mother on many many occasions I am going to post some pictures of our house. I will say that I don't think the pictures due all the work my very hardworking husband did justice and those that saw the house before and after know how much he did. Anyway most of the work that was done was in the great room area so I am going to post these pictures first since I have the most here and then later I will show the rest of the house. Hopefully you want get too terribly bored.This is the entry way before not a lot to see but the light is a beauty and the stair rail got quite a bit of work from my husband since it had never been truly finished with a polyurethane.

Stair rail after.

New light.

Just pictures of what the whole space looks like. One reason we got the rug is because there were a few spots that Cameron didn't like after he finished refinishing the floor and it covers them. Also we changed the paint color. It is hard to tell in a picture but before all the walls and ceilings were lavender. Yes I know pretty so pretty much everything in the whole house doors and baseboards included were repainted with some help(a lot of help) from Cameron's family. I hope I have a good picture that will be posted later that shows the beautiful color off.

This is the upstairs family room before paint and new carpet.

This is after. I really really love the new carpet and can't wait til we can afford to do it in the basement also, it is so soft. Also I love having a fireplace but hopefully we will add a mantel one day as well.

Throughout the entry, dining and kitchen there is hardwood and I don't think this picture shows how bad it really looked when we bought it but it was pretty bad. Cameron watched a video on Utube about refinishing floors and decided he could do it himself. It took forever (mostly all the sanding) but I think it turned out great.

The floor after. Both pictures are of the same space.

This is the dining area.

This is the kitchen obviously. They took all appliances except the microwave so we bought all new. Also the sink was pretty dinged and the hot and cold didn't work that great so we bought a new one of those. Also they went through the house and took all the blinds that looked good(we are guessing) and left behind the ones that were really gross so we replaced all of those.

Dining area after. In here we also replace the ceiling fan with a new light.

The kitchen with appliances. I am really happy with the outcome. Of course there are more things they we want to do in the future but for now the budget it spent so we will have to wait. I do want to say that I am grateful to such a wonderful husband who worked none stop for at least two weeks before we moved in and has continued to work since we moved in to make this a great home for our family.

Happy Birthday Blake!

This weekend we celebrated Blake's third birthday. I can hardly believe that my baby is actually three! He insisted on having a Lightning McQueen party and was very excited when the day finally arrived. He got to celebrate with all of this cousins (on Cameron's side) and since those are pretty much his friends he had a great time. He was a little mean to anyone who tried to touch any of his new toys and tired to hold all of them at one time so no one else could touch. I guess we need to have another lesson on sharing.His Lightning McQueen cake. He wanted the car all day so after he blow out the candles and I cleaned it up I gave it to him and what did he do? Drove it down the road of the cake. Oh well at least the car was brand new and clean.

All the kids in their birthday hats.

Blake and some of his presents. He did get a bow and arrow set that he loves and beats Grace with if she tries to touch them. Big thanks to Uncle Jesse for that one. I guess he is starting him young so when he is bigger he can actually hit something.

This would be his favorite gift. Good job Grandma and Grandpa. He pretty much wouldn't open anything else after he got this. Not even what Cameron and I got him.

Blowing out his candles.

Eating his cake. The red and black frosting really made a big mess so he just decided this would be much easy.

After the fact he was very upset to have a messy face and his dad pushed his face down in it further.

This is when he finally crashed. Between playing hard, no naps and staying up late we found him in the guest room asleep. He had a great day and if asked he holds up three fingers and says "I four", I guess we need to work on that.

Bubble Dress

This is my first attempt at making clothing. I actually bought the fabric to make this dress for Grace last summer and never got around to it so when I found out we where having a girl I thought it would be fun to make it for her instead. It turned out better than I thought that it would and reading the pattern wasn't nearly as hard as I thought. There was one part where you connect the armpit that I had trouble and had to bug my friend Tiffany but other than that it was pretty easy. I had never gathered anything before so the gathering around the body of the dress is a little rough and one of the armpits is smaller than the other. But don't worry I borrowed a few friends babies to make sure it would still fit so I wouldn't have to redo it. Thanks Callie and Heather or should I say Carter and Ella my little models. I don't know that I will be making tons more clothes in the future but it was fun and I will probably try again one day.

Big Boy Bed!

Last week we finally moved Blake into a big boy bed. We have been telling him for quite some time that we were going to move him and we just haven't gotten around to it. He is very excited and loves his new bed. He also has started sleeping in again and I have to wake him up so that I can get Grace to school by 9:15. It was also good to move all that other furniture to the baby's room because when we moved we unbolted his dresser from the wall and he climbed it and it fell over on him. Thank goodness his train table braced his fall and it only left a big bruise on his shoulder. His new dresser is much more sturdy and sits lower to the ground so I don't think it can fell, if he ever tried that again he was really scared. He new favorite thing to say is "momma I not baby any more I big boy!"

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity

Let's go racin' boys! This last weekend we made our annual trip to Vegas for Nascar weekend. Yes I know this is so not something you would expect of me but it is fun. Usually I only go to the Sunday race(my mother-in-law watches the kids for me) but this year I decided to go to the Saturday race so Cameron and I could go to the Neon Garage. For those who don't know, which is most people I am guessing, the Neon Garage is in the middle of the track and you can look into all the drivers garages while they work on their cars and you can also go onto pit road. We decided to do this on Saturday because we figured we would have the greatest chance of meeting some of them since the Sprint Cup drivers(the Sunday racers) were doing their final practice. We had a lot of fun and got to see quite a few drivers leaving their cars after their practice was over. After practice we decided to go to pit road for the beginning of the Nationwide race. We walked to down as far as they would let us and then we had to stop. We did not notice that we were standing in front a of the porta pottys but guess where all the races go right before a race. The porta potty! So the left is a picture of me and Brain Vickers and below is me and Carl Edwards. My advice if you are ever at a race and on pit road stand next to the toilet. The rest of the race was just ok except The Biff(Greg Biffle to those who do not know) won. He is my second fav driver.
Carl Edwards #99 and me

Cameron and the kids at qualifying on Friday.

They wanted to be like mom and dad and wear our hats. Grace however really does like Jeff Gordon. Most likely because I do.

Jeff Gordon during practice. I really like his new paint scheme.

Kyle Busch(Cameron's fav) doing his burn out after winning the Sunday Sprint Cup race.

Top left Jeff Gordon singing autographs. Top right Ryan Newman. Bottom left The Biff. Bottom right David Reutimann.

Top left Tony Stewart's new car. I only put him here for Elizabeth, I am not a big fan. Top right Rick Hendrick(Jeff Gordon's owner) and Steve Letarte(Jeff Gordon's crew chief). Bottom leftCasey Mears(the hottest Nascar driver). Bottom right Denny Hamlin(my absolute least favorite driver). We had lots of fun and Blake even made it on the Speed Channel after qualifying on Friday. Too bad we were not recording it.

So this is Love!

When Cameron asked what I what for Valentines Day told him nothing because we were going to be spending so much on the house and I really just wanted the things done on it that we had agreed on. Then after some thought I decided that I wanted new toilets. This is one item that the two of of us had not agreed was a necessary purchase. I figured hey if it is a gift and not in the budget then it doesn't matter if it is necessary. So unwillingly Cameron agreed to let me have my toilets. So yesterday he calls and says that I need to go get the toilets now without him with the kids. Sounds like fun doesn't it. Well it was quite the stressful event. First the toilets we picked out were very expensive. The price we had seen originally was the installation price. So after getting them all the way to the front and ringing them up, I realized that I could not spend that much. So we go to the back again and look for cheaper ones and of course everyone I want is not there. At this point my kids are literally hanging from the rafters and the Lowe's guy is very concerned they are going to die. He found some for me at another store so I had him hold those and went to Home Depot. Same thing there the toilets I want are gone and the kids are very naughty. I don't know how many times I threatened to put them up for adoption(I guess the threat would work better if they know what it meant!) Finally I talked to a sells guy and he found me a great toilets, not too expensive and would actually flush and not get clogged. Well then he only had one and I need three. He goes talks to his manager and comes back and says he will give me the more expensive toilet that is a little higher for the same price. Ok he checks that and he has one. So we now have two. He checks another store and they have seven but he says he will still give me the deal on the two if I want. Cameron says do it. I take him the two and go get the one alone(after I have a break down and cry because my children do not listen). So now I have three new toilets and Cameron has a nice higher toilet. I told him the height doesn't matter for me I am short and my feet will probably not even touch the floor anyway(JK) but hey he is happy and doesn't mind so much that I am crazy and can't use old toilets! The picture to the left is Cameron's higher toilet in the master.

These are the three old nasty toilets. The one on the end isn't even white it is like a brown color.The half bath. I will say that I gave in a little and we didn't replace the toilet downstairs because it was pretty new and didn't look that gross and hey it is just for the kids anyway and since Blake has been potty trained he makes a mess everywhere anyway right. Just Kidding! He is actually doing really well and that toilet really is nice. So now I feel much better about how clean my bathrooms are and I will not feel like I am in public every time I have to use one! This is the most romantic gift Cameron has given me(JK). I guess it shows how long we have been married and the shift in priorities that begins to occur because I am probably the happiest with this gift as I have been with any other.

January Fun

Since I took all of January telling about December I thought that I would take February to tell about January. I am just going to throw up a few things here that we did. First we did an all cousins play date at the Bean Museum at BYU. It is life science museum with all kinds of dead animals in it. The kids had fun running around and seeing everyone. After we all went to the creamery on 9th for lunch and of course I got a hot fudge sundae. To the left all the kids Natalie, Maddi, Dylan, Grace, Blake, Braxton, and Preston minus Savannah and Alexa.Grace and a zebra. She would pose in front of it because it wasn't scary.

Blake, Braxton and Dylan being bears.

We also decided this month to finally take Grace ice skating. She has been begging all winter so we met Cameron's brother Dan and his family in Midway to go to this out door rink. Five kids 4 and under, one pregnant adult and three adults who haven't skated in forever doesn't make for good ice skating. Also Grace took this opportunity to pee her pants for the first time is forever. Don't get me wrong it turned at to be pretty fun but I do think that ice skate again should wait til everyone is a little older. After we skated we went to my favorite the Dairy Keen. They have the best salads and onion rings, I know it is quiet the combo. To the left is Cameron, Grace, Maddi and Dan.Maddi and Dan.

Grace with a big cheese.

Cameron and Blake.

Cameron and Grace.

The last fun thing we did in January is go to the Draper Temple open house. Grace is always asking Cameron and I what we do at the temple so we thought it would be good for her to see the inside herself. We went up with Ryan, Chalan and their kids. We went in the morning and there was no one there, it was nice you didn't feel rushed or crowded. You first met at a church and watch a video about temples and then you ride a bus over. After you go through the temple you go to a little reception and have cookies. We had fun and it made the temple more real for Grace.Our family outside the temple.

All the kids before the video.

Ryan, Chalan, Blythe and Creed outside the temple.