Easter Fun

Easter this year has been a time of great reflection for the many blessings that we have been given.
We began with an egg hunt at the church for a primary activity for the kids just over a week before. The kids were able to play egg games, decorate cupcakes, and of course hunt for eggs. Wednesday Becca and Justin had to have fillings done at the dentist, unfortunately, that wasn't the highlight of their week. Wednesday, early evening, Mike and I were able to go to the movies, and then dinner. That was so nice! We saw "The Last Song," and La Frontera for dinner. The movie is a tear jerker, so take you tissues if you go. The Friday before Easter we did haircuts for all the boys, and then headed off to the annual cousin party. The kids had a blast making bunny bags, eating fun treats, and hunting for eggs indoors. The week before Easter was Spring Break and it wasn't very "Springy." They found fun stuff in their eggs, like 2 $1 bills, candy, and festive erasers.
Saturday, we decided to go to a warehouse that sells home improvement items for super good deals. While there Mike cut his finger. Mike being Mike he thought no big deal as long as the bleeding stops. So he wrapped it in a gross brown paper towel and off we went. We went then went to the Habitat Humanity Restore to shop for more deals, and headed back to my parents house, since the kids got bored and grandma took them home with her. Mike decided to clean up his finger better, and off to Instacare we went. Some how, when my mom says, "you need stitches," he listens. But when I say it, he says, "naw, it's no big deal." We left Instacare a couple of hours later, with 4 stitches, an antibiotic, his hand in a half cast up to his forearm, and instructions that he has to see a hand specialist because he cut into his tendon. YEAH!! Saturday did finish better than it started, Mike went to Priesthood session of Conference and I was able to get off work early enough to get ready for the Bunny to come. The kids spent the evening with Sher, Mike's sister, and had so much fun! Thanks Sher! :)
Easter Sunday was so nice. The kids woke us up at 8, and after Mike checked to make sure there was no 'bunny droppings', the kids went to town finding all that they could find. Their baskets were filled with fun loot!! They all got flip flops, an activity book, chocolate bunny, pencils, and a few other things. We ate our traditional breakfast of hard boiled eggs and toast, and then watched Conference. Between sessions of Conference, we had my family over for lunch. It was fun to have everyone here! We listened to most of the 2nd session, while Uncle John got schooled on the Wii by the kids in bowling.
During all of these crazy events, I am very thankful for our safety on the roads as we have done alot of traveling. I am also thankful for medical insurance, when Mike got injured, it was a matter of which facility do we go to, not even thinking of the expenses of care. I am thankful for the health that we are blessed with. I am thankful for our wild and crazy family, each and everyone! I am thankful for my Saviour, and the example that He set for us to live by.
(I will post some pictures soon)

Buying our house and making it our 'Home'

A year and a half ago, Mike and I decided that since interest rates were going down we should look into purchasing a house again. This was quite the journey. Where to go, where to go, where to go?? We looked from Tremonton to Payson, and Tooele to the Heber. Thankfully, most of this searching was done on-line. We finally contacted our realtor and then the actual walking through homes began. We walked through probably 30 houses. We went through one house, during a snow storm, and when we went into the basement, there was water dripping. Gee, wonder why we passed??? We went through another house that had the strangest murals painted on the walls of every room in the house. Yes, painting is no big deal, but I really wanted a house that you couldn't see the kitchen sink from the front door. Well, this house also had a very odd layout, the front door was between the kitchen and front room, with no dividing walls, so you saw the whole kitchen. No thank you! Another house had no kitchen sink, and another had linoleum in every room. Most of the houses were short sales, because of the economy, so we really had no idea what to expect.

Then one day in January (2009) our realtor called and said I have a house for you to look at, keep an open mind, this house has a really bad pet odor, but I know for a fact that it can be taken care of, during the conversation Mike and Todd, our realtor, nick named the house "smelly nelly". He gave us the address and we did our normal internet searches, google maps, and then real estate sites. I told Mike that I wouldn't live there, but we could go and look. I was so sure it was just somewhere I didn't want to live. Well, we walked the house, and he wasn't kidding, it was bad, it was aweful!! But, the price was right, the layout was good, and there was plenty of space. We made an offer on it that night!! We finally closed March 6, 2009, and the mayhem began. We imediately tore out all the carpet and pad from every room in the house, took down all of the window coverings and began pulling up the linoleum in the kitchen. We had decided that everything had to go since Mike is allergic to pet dander, and who wants to live in a house they are allergic to? We worked on the house everyday, Mike used up a chunk of his vacation time, but it was worth it. We painted everyroom in the house minus the bathrooms with the assistance of family and friends. Thanks to all of them!! We were very fortunate to be the receivers of free carpet that we used in the kids bedrooms and the playroom. We got the best deals on what we could, and shopped the best way we know how. I think we did pretty good. :) We were able to lay wood laminate flooring in the frontroom and kitchen/dining, we replaced the blinds in the same rooms too. We bought carpet from the Carpet Barn, and my brother layed all of it for us. We were told to paint the sub-floors, after scrubbing them with bleach, and that should take care of the pet odor. Well, we had a really bad case, because it didn't work. My mom ended up contacting the health department to ask them what we can do. They told us to purchase a sealant from a very specific store and that would take care of it, IT DID!!! Yeah! I was so worried, I couldn't imagine living here with the smell, it was starting to make me crazy.

We moved in the last weekend in March, what a day, what a day?? The carpet was being finished while we where moving in, so that made for lots of fun. Justin started with the stomach flu the day before, and was stuck to mommy's side all day. My sister in law thought she lost her wedding ring during the move. The day wasn't completely aweful, we did have a tremendous amount of help, we got all moved in one day, and we able to get our huge bed to our room. hehe

We have been able to make this "smelly nelly" into somewhere we call "home," and we love it! We have done a ton of work to it from painting the kitchen cabinets, refinishing the handrails. It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but it has been worth it.

If your ever in the neighborhood stop on by, and we'll talk you ear off about everything we've done!! :)

Dinner at our house

Dinner at our house can be an experience to remember. We try to eat dinner together at the table with the tv off, as often as we can. Since I go to work after dinner this usually works out. Lately we have been getting riddle books from the library and I have been reading the riddles to the kids at dinner. They laugh a ton! It's been fun.
One night Justin rolled his eyes at me after I asked him a question. I told him not to roll his eyes at his mommy that is wasn't a nice thing to do. He did it again and said, "I'm not rolling my eyes at you, I am looking at my hair!" It was hard not to laugh! lol
Another dinnertime, we were having fun and I decided to do 'rhyming time.' We went through all the normal ones; cat, hat, door, fan, chair, cup. When we got to corn and it was Becca's turn, she said porn. Mike and I looked at each other and said, "WHAT!" She said it again and I thought we are doomed. Then she said, "ya know, like the pourin' rain!" Whew, I guess we aren't so doomed after all.
When you come to dinner at our house, have an open mind, cuz ya never know what will happen!!

Sunday Singing Time

I am the Primary Chorister for my ward. Yeah, whoda thunk??? Today, during singing time for the jr group, I was asking the kids about someone special in their life. It was interesting who the kids said was special, and finally one said, "my mom is special." I was starting to wonder.... We learned a new song, okay new to them. 'Mother, I love you' and the kids sang so well. They are so funny. The senior primary did know this song and sang it with some resistance. They just couldn't understand why we would sing it so early, but I needed to know what songs they know. I came home with a raspy voice, yeah for my kids! Hopefully, next week there won't be so many impromtu singing times, but what a better way to spend time in church than singing!!

How we met

Mike and I met while working at the Church Office Building, in downtown Salt Lake. Mike worked on the gardening staff, and Janet worked in the cafeteria as a cashier. Mike really liked the fact that my checkout line was the fastest, so he only used my line. We both were attending SLCC, at the south campus. One night while I was catching up on my work for my computer class, Mike's class was in the computer lab holding class. We both saw each other, and realized that we knew each other about the same time. Over the next few weeks we said 'hi' to each other and that was about it, until I saw him working outside. I swear he saw me too, but he turned around and started planting, or whatever it was he was doing, so I pushed him with my foot on his butt. He turned around very surprised to see me, and then asked if I had a pen in my planner, so I could write his number down. Thinking there was no way I was going to call this guy, when his co-worker approached him to ask him a question, I wrote my number down and told him to call me. He called. He called me that night. We talked for hours, and then he finally asked me out. We were going to go to the 'Days of 47' rodeo. I had never been to a big rodeo, just small town stuff. So I was super excited. Needless to say, we never made it to the rodeo. His friends cancelled on us and we ended up going to a family BBQ. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind going to meet his family, but for the first date??? It was what it was, can't change it now, but do not recommend it. We went to his aunt and uncles for a BBQ, and all of his family was very nice! His mom wasn't there, though. She had gone to Missouri to help her sister, who had just had a baby. After we ate and hung out for a while we left and he took me up by the Bountiful Temple that was being built. He told me that he would be married there some day, and it kinda freaked me out, but I went along with it. No, he wasn't proposing, but some first date this was turning out to be. Then he took me home, and that was it. I do remember he gave me a hug at the door and thinking, this is odd.
The next day at church, my dad asked me how my date was and so very jokingly, I told him, "get use to him dad, he'll be around for a long time." Well, words could not be truer. No, I was not smitten, or anything, I just never brought my dates around, and my dad always gave me a hard time about it, so I decided to get him.

Finally

Finally!! I have been toying with the idea of making a blog about our family for some time now. Well, as you can see, I did it! I really wanted to do this more as a journal for the sake of our children. Who know maybe they will think I am again, weird!