Merry Christmas

This is a close as I got to a Christmas card this year.
From our family to yours...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lots of fun on Halloween

I told Colette I wasn't going to change my background until I got my Halloween post up. So, I thought I'd better do it now so I don't get too far behind. We started the week off with the big parade at Grandma Tess's. It was a crazy madhouse. But, the kids had fun and got a great start to their Halloween stash of candy.



Can't leave out the funny faces!

The next night was cookie decorating and pumpkin painting/decorating at Grandma & Grandpa Marchants.

I think Sean & I have lost our creative pumpkin decorating skills.

And finally, the long awaited Halloween finally came. The kids looked super cute in their new costumes. I think Collin's costume was the biggest hit - especially from the back! Each year our neighborhood has a little parade that goes around our block. I finally talked the kids into participating this year. It was such nice weather and an easy way to gets lots of candy!

Did I mention funny faces?

All in all it was a great Halloween. Now, on to the next holiday!

Fall Fun

I can't believe how fast time goes. It seems like not very long ago, we couldn't wait for winter to pass and spring to come. And now, it's already fall.

The kids love to jump in the leaves. They like to watch the wind blow them down and all around the yard. Luckily, Sean takes care of the outside, and he gets to rake them and rake them and rake them...

Aaron and Collin love to make silly faces in pictures. Alyssa is trying to copy them. So cute!

This year, Aaron played his first season of soccer. I think by the end of the season, he at least sort-of understood the game. At least most of the time, he was running in the right direction. It was fun and funny to watch him play. He had lots of fun too, but I think he enjoyed the treats at the end of each game the most!

A little behind

Obviously, I'm not doing a very good job at keeping up on my posts. Luckily, it hasn't been a busy month, so there really isn't much to catch up on. Our cute Collin turned three the end of last month. We are crossing our fingers he has finally passed the terrible twos. Sean was craving one of those chocolate cakes from Costco, so that's what Collin got. He was really excited for us to sing to him, but even more excited to blow out the candles. In fact, he didn't even wait for us to finish the song. He just decided it was time and blew them out.

Aaron and Collin also started Joy School this month. They love it and are constantly asking if they can go back. It is so strange to only have Alyssa at home with me. Luckily, she still takes a morning nap, so I have plenty of time to waste on my own.

I did have fun today creating a new background and header. Too bad it took me all day and I'm gonna have to redo it in another month. Oh well, it looks good for now. Thanks to Becca for making the super cute halloween kit. Best of all, it was a freebie!

1st, 3rd, 6th and more remodeling

Our cute Kylee started 1st grade the beginning of the month. I was a little worried because she loved her teacher last year and her good friend is going to a different school this year. But she seems to really like it. She has homework every night! That part, I don't like so much, but we're really good at doing it. It seems like she is gone a long time, but it's so much better than 2-3 hours of kindergarten. One morning, Aaron came up all dressed ready to go to school himself. It was really cute and really sad that I had to tell him he couldn't go until next year.

Kylee also celebrated her 6th birthday this month. She got some princess toys and lots of cute clothes. She also lost her 3rd tooth the day before her birthday. Hopefully her bottom teeth can start to straighten out a little bit. Though, we have already told her braces are in her future. It's amazing how fast 6 years have gone. We love her so much and glad she is a part of our family.

And more progress on our house! After moving all the bedrooms downstairs, we converted our bedroom into the front room and the kid's bedroom into the office. We had the carpet put in about 3 weeks ago. It is so nice to have a front room and office back. We don't have couches yet, but the kids love to play in a big empty room. It's just nice to have more room to spread out. It is also nice to have the office back! For the past 6 months, our office was packed away in our kitchen pantry. I was so excited to get a desk and set up my computer. Sean was excited to get all of his books out of the boxes.

Now we can use our pantry for the intended purpose and start working on our food storage. We also got the stairs carpeted and a new railing put up. I've wanted to have that done for 7 years (at least the carpet part)! But it wasn't so important when we weren't using the basement. I always used to say "can you imagine looking down the stairs and seeing it finished instead of the ugly steps and cement at the bottom". And we are finally there! Last, but not least, we had our basement toilet hooked up this week (thanks Cody). We don't use it yet because we still have to install the sinks. But it's progress and it's one step closer to the end. Hopefully another week and the sinks will be in. I'm still loving everything we've done so far and am so glad that we've made it this far.

Finally!

After many months of wishing, hoping, dreaming, and praying, we finally made major progress on our remodeling. We spent the last few weeks working like crazy to get things ready for carpet. The kids were so excited, they started moving down 10 minutes after the carpet installers left. I was just as excited as the kids...o.k. probably even more excited. By bedtime, we had moved all the beds down. The next day, we had everything cleared out of the bedrooms upstairs. There is still lots and lots to do, but at least we now have room to spread out a little (four kids, one bedroom...made bedtime a little difficult). Although it took way longer than I ever would have imagined, it was worth it. All the planning in my head and on 3D Home Architect paid off. I'm loving everything about it and can't wait for the rest to get finished. Now I just need to find the energy to get it done. Thanks dad for all your help, we couldn't have done it without you!

Here's Sean priming the walls. I seriously can't even tell you how I dreamed of this day!

Kylee in her pink room. I actually think she kind-of misses sleeping with the boys.

Alyssa's little room. We don't care about the size, we're just glad she can sleep without the boys climbing in her bed.

The boys room. It seems like so much space when there are just two beds instead of four. They still don't go to bed good.

One and Walking

Our cute Alyssa turned one this month.

She is such a cutie and we are so glad she came to our family.

She stayed surprisingly clean for demolishing her cake.

She also started walking last month and loves that she can somewhat keep up with the other kids.

Summer Time Fun

It's been a busy summer and I haven't been very good at keeping up. Here are some pictures of the fun things we've been doing.

The kids enjoying the SSL parade.


Fireworks at Granite High.




We went to Thanksgiving Point on the 4th of July with Sean's family. It was so hot. I even wet my head in the fountain.





We spent last week with my extended family up at Pineview. The water was cold, the weather was hot, but it was nice to get away...even if it was for only a few days.