let me tell you why...

I love this man:

(Craig riding a horse is seriously one of my favorite things to watch him do... think "Man from Snowy River.")

We went and picked out our appliances today (so fun, even with the kids!). I am the kind of person who likes to get everything on Sale. I don't buy ANYTHING full price. So you know what I would have done, gone with whatever came with the house.



You know what Craig did? He upgraded. He wants me to have a fantastic kitchen. Moms spend alot of time in there. He got the bigger dishwasher that you don't have to scrub the dishes first to use, the built-in microwave, and the tripped out five burner gas stove/oven with convection heating and a glass front control panel. I honestly can't wait to cook with it.



I picked out black... stainless steel is a no-no for little toddler fingers that like to leave little sticky peanut-butter prints everywhere. And I can't wait to see our new goods at work...



Saturday is our meeting with the designer... flooring, counter-tops, cabinets... I am in heaven.

My husband is so good to me... he is my hero.

ps. We hired a babysitter, it will make it much. more. fun.

love-hate.

When I was a kid, my sister Tashi and I HATED eachother. It used to make my mom cry how much we would fight. We both have strong personalities, and the immaturity that comes with childhood didn't exactly help them mesh together very harmoniously. In fact we clashed, alot. Especially when mom and dad were gone and Tashi was babysitting us and I was not all about getting bossed around by my older sister. I was a bit of a wretch, and I guess if you asked my husband he would tell you I still am.

Luckily, we both grew up, and somehow growing up seems to change things. Our personalities are more mature, if not different than they were back then, and now the differences between us seem to make it easier to love my sister.

Thank goodness.

Because I do love my sister. I love the relationship I have with her. I love that she gives me advice and listens to all the little inconsequential goings on in my life, and gets a kick out of the stuff I tell her about my kids. And I love that when she calls to give me good news about her life my throat kind of swells up in excitement for her, and I almost do a toe-touch.

I'm proud of her. She is an amazing woman. You wouldn't believe it when you look at her, because she's gorgeous and looks like a Barbie doll, but that chickie spends all day everyday, teaching special needs kids. She wrestles them, helps them go to the bathroom, plays games with them, teaches them how to take on a world that sometimes isn't kind to them. She is so good at what she does. (And she often does it in heels, I might add-- that is awesome). Yesterday, she had another victory in her career. Way to go sis, your hard work is paying off.

What an awesome thing it is to be family. To be able to cheer for one another in our successes, and mourn with eachother in our failures. I'm so glad I've been blessed with the family I've got. And I love my big sister. She's one of my best friends.

I'm still cheering for you, Tash, toe-touch and all.

enough.

Question: What do you do when you've spent 4 1/2 months looking for a house, 2 1/2 of those waiting for a short sale, and then when it finally comes through, you get the inspection done and there are a TON of issues?

Answer: You say enough is enough and you build your own house.

Which is exactly what we are doing. And yes, we are crazy. And very excited. And have another four months to wait before we will be in a house.

But when we are it is going to be fantastic and new, and (hopefully) without drama. And a steal, I might add... Which is why we finally decided to go with a builder. We're done with the foreclosure/short sale nonsense. So now I get to document the building of our new home. I'll post pictures every week of the progress.

This is what our house will look like when it is done (except a different color)

This is what it looks like right now.

Use your imagination...

hilarious.

This is hilarious. Watch it, you will cry laughing.

good news.

yesterday we had some news. some very good news. like over the moon, jump up and down news. do you want to know what it was? i'll give you a little clue, courtesy of a friends episode:


Chandler: Hey Joe! We've got a couple of things we've got to check out at the new house. You want to come with us?

Joey: No, thank you.

Monica: All right. I know you're not happy about us moving, but you're the only one who hasn't seen the house.

Chandler: Yeah, come with us. You'll see how close it is to the city.

Joey: But no, it's not close. You said it was in escrow? I couldn't even find it on the map!


Ah, I love friends.

Did you figure it out?

tuesday morning dialogue.

Ethan (screaming bloody murder and pointing at Carter's toy): "Mine!"

Carter: "Ethan, I'll make you a fair offer."

Ethan: "No."

Where do my kids come up with this stuff?

Would you like to know why....

I've been such a terrible blogger lately?

I've been finishing this little project.

Which proved to be much more time consuming than I originally thought. Behold my fabulous garage sale find. Which needed only a little vision...

and a little, no scratch that, alot of paint (10 coats of white to be exact-- never cover navy blue with white)...

vintage scrapbooking paper and modpodge...

And you have a completely new kitchen, totally personalized for a little girl's bedroom. Well worth the effort in the end.

For this little chickie's 5th Birthday.

Details on that festive milestone to follow soon...

visitation.

Why is it that the end of every vacation means a week of HE-- to get the house/life/kids back in order. So much so that I feel like I need another vacation just to recover. That and the fact that we literally squeezed every last thing that we could into our visit to Idaho and Utah. Here, friends are some highlights from the trip.

Hannah got sick in the car on the second day of driving. We've decided that Mesa is a LONG LONG way from Idaho. We left after work on Wednesday and didn't get there until Thursday afternoon late. (with a brief stop in the middle of nowhere'sville to sleep for a couple hours) Anyways, half an hour into the drive the next morning Hannah starts screaming "There's juice coming up in my mouth!" Yeah we pulled it right over, but she still managed to puke it up all over Carter's arm and blanket, but luckily nowhere else in the car. So he starts screaming bloody murder and yelling "EW!!!!" Craig and I were cracking up so bad that we had trouble even cleaning up the mess. Anyways, she spent the rest of the morning holding a bag up to her pale little face. She didn't throw up again.

This child is so delicious. I know I say that all the time, but seriously. Don't you just want to devour that?

I forgot how pretty the sunsets are in Idaho, always so vibrant. I wanted to take a picture of the kids in front of this one. This is Hannah's version of cooperating.

Sparklers, and illegal fireworks at Uncle Darren and Aunt Melissa's house. I just have to turn off the fire chief's daughter within me.

We smoked up the air pretty good.

Little pyro's in the making. Craig's mom used to let him go out on the driveway and light a handfull of matches if he was being "really good." He said it was so fun. We came from SUCH different upbringings. Unfortunately it seems our children have the same fascination with flaming objects.

Carter at random times will get slightly apprehensive. Here he is in one of his little mini three-year-old anxiety moments before they started lighting them off.

Hannah L.O.V.E.S. Craig's cousin Jenny. Well, actually all my kids do...

4th of July, lunching it up at BAJIOS! If you live in Idaho Falls, Jackson Hole, Rexburg, Pocatello, or Logan give my father-in-law's restaurant a try. You WILL NOT be disappointed. I crave this place when we are gone. They don't have any in Mesa :-(


Fourth of July Duds. We went non-matching this year. You may remember why. Anyways I think my kidlets are pretty darn cute. That, by the way, is Ethan's "cheese" face. Yummy again.

4th of July on the greenbelt, packed with people, very festive, good good food, the best of the 4th of July. I love this picture, all the big cousins taking a walk with Grandpa while we wait for the sun to go down.

Ethan "cheesing" it again.

Hitching a ride from Daddy.

My father-in-law pretty much insists that we walk about 3 miles to the VERY end of the greenblet to be right across from the place where they launch the pyrotechnics. That way you have flaming ash landing on you the entire show. It's kind of become a joke now, and it really is the best spot. But still not worth making a 9month's pregnant woman walk. (Craig is still apologizing for that one). It also means, that I have to walk another 3 miles to have one of these babies. Oh how I crave my beloved funnel cake, that comes but once a year. So worth the walk. I relished every second of this one.

My mother in law says that the country is treacherous. She wasn't kidding. Hannah's procurred this little baby playing in the spa. Watch as it grows darker with the trip. PS. She still has the bruise a week and a half later...

I love this girly.

The kids are obsessed with the trampoline. I'm obsessed with the next. Brilliance.

Cousins.

And there must be horseback riding of course. But nobody got kicked this year. Thanks goodness Carter learned his lesson.

Swimming up at Hi-C.

My little modest baby, you don't want to show too much skin..
Last night with Grandpa.

Down to Logan, at the Legacy center. I look pretty fierce throwing this tomahawk don't I? Too bad it just bumped into the log I was throwing it at and fell on the ground.

My husband, the warrior.

Nasty little helmets for pony riding. ew. But once again. Cute baby.

Tubin' it on Nick's boat. Hannah was so brave. We totally hit a big wave at the end and crashed into the water. I didn't want her to be afraid, so I told her we should go again. Such a trooper.

they loved handging out in the front of the boat with uncle Ashton.

Nick skiing. He is SO good.

The Hubs, skiing it up.

Takin' a break.

Sushi baby. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

My husband is not capable of taking a non-goofy picture.

Apparently none of us are.

Lagoon. After you've been to Disneyland, Lagoon jsut seems like a giant carnival. But we still have fun.

My kids are so precious.

Uncle Matty. Speaking of cuteness.

Craig on the sky coaster. Yahooo!

My sister's threw Hannah a little Birthday party. They are the BEST aunts ever!

Hannah the little photog. She is so funny. Cute sibs.

Presents. Mmm, lots of clothes. Mommy likes that.

We went to Bear lake on Sat. and I didn't take a single picture. Worst conditions ever. Muddy swampy, sold, choppy water, windy. Yuck. Plus, my dad got a huge call that day just as we were leaving and couldn't come. When a mountain slides down the Fire Chief has to be there. My dad is the world's BEST FIRE CHIEF!

Drove home Sunday, long long drive. But it was a great trip and we're glad to get back to reality.

Um, yikes. that was really long.