Christmas 2014

I love how Santa wraps his presents for our house these days!

We had a really low key Christmas this year (wait do I say that every year?) which was really good because I was feeling really stressed out.  Christmas Eve the kids got their pajamas (probably my favorite tradition, I love pj's!)  As per usual Christmas morning started extremely early.  I think Chris, being the trickster he is, may have conspired with Santa this year.  The last present the kids opened was a Wii-U, something Dalin has been asking for almost everyday for over a year.  The excitement was short lived, because when the kids opened the Wii-U box it was full of lotion.  Santa was trying to be tricky, but he also showed some kindness because after some investigating the kids found that the Wii-U was already set up and ready to play.  Silly Santa!  We went to my parents house for breakfast and more presents.  My grandma Haynes was visiting and it was really nice to have her there.  We decided to have Christmas dinner by ourselves, but I didn't want to cook.  I figured we could find some Chinese restaurant that was open (you know like in the Christmas Story movie) but no.  We ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Not to fancy, but we have fun when we are together:)  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We're Crazy Like That

I found an organization called smiles change lives that works with local orthodontists to offer braces at a huge discount.  I sent in applications for Kaylee and Ashton, and part of the application asked for several up close pictures of their teeth.  Our dentist was kind enough to loan us a cheek retractor so we could get better pictures and it was so funny we all had to give it a try.  Do you remember Two Face from the batman cartoons?  It looked a lot like that.  Hilarious, and slightly crazy!  Don't worry, we thoroughly washed and disinfected it before it got passed to the next person.

I know, super creepy, but I can't stop laughing!

Shark Reef Field Trip

Dalin has had more field trips at this school than all of my did kids last year combined.  Lucky!  I got to be a chaperon and it was lots of fun.

Top: There is a diver in the tank behind Dalin.  Wearing a chain mail glove.  Ready to feed the sharks?
Bottom:  Petting the stingrays...or trying.  Dalin was afraid to look away to get his picture taken.  He didn't want those things to sneak up on him.

A Few Projects (or paint is my friend)

I'm terrible at taking real before pictures so we'll call this during

After.  I painted the bathroom at our last house this color and I LOVE it!  I extra love it because I had enough left from when I used it at the old house to paint the entire kids bathroom.  It's Behr's Coastal Mist from Home Depot (it's the bottom left picture).  Paired with white it feels like a spa to me.  My dad and I (ok mostly my dad) built the shelf for the towels.  I don't love the shelf over the toilet but it came with the house and will be replaced one day.   So did the bronze shower hooks.  I'm trying to decide if I want to paint them silver.

I found this stool on the curb (yes a fancy way to say somebody's trash).   I used Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze spray paint for the frame and reupholstered the seat. My kids are little worried that my next step is dumpster diving  If the results are this good, why not?  LOVE IT! 

 I was itching for a project but it needed to be cheap-o.  These chairs came with the house and spray paint is my friend.  This color is currently my favorite.  I have lots of projects I would love to make this color.  Chris isn't so sure.

What a difference a couple months makes

You know that dog we got?  Yeah, Ferb (I hate that name) that's the one.  I had myself convinced that he was only going to be like ten pounds.  I mean he was only 3.5 pounds when we got him at two months old so that was a completely reasonable thought right?  Well now he's closer to 15 and still growing.  I know, I know that is still small, just not as small as I was hoping.  He's figured out how to win Aiden over.  Any time Aiden comes close to him, Ferb will roll over on his back so Aiden will give him tummy rubs.  I'm thinking he's going to be closer to the 20 pound range.  He's still really well behaved and cute, I guess we can keep him.

Bittersweet reunion

I had an awesome time in college.  My grades might say I had a little too much fun, but whatever.  A few weeks ago I found out that one of my dear sweet roommate Jeni has cancer for the third time.  I believe she was only 28 the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had two children but after she finished her treatment they felt like their family wasn't complete and they wanted another child.  They decided to go the adoption route because with cancer treatments her body had been through they didn't think Jeni would be able to get pregnant.  Then they had their miracle baby.  She was beautiful and amazing.  Shortly after she was born Jeni was told she had cancer for a second time.  She made it through a double mastectomy, cancer treatments and breast reconstruction surgeries like a champion.  She really is amazing.  But the cancer is back and has spread to her liver.  They started a treatment plan but it wasn't working so Jeni and her family have decided to let this stupid disease take its course.  The roommates that were close enough decided to get together for a visit (we really missed you Sarah!).  I really have an awesome husband because when I found out the news he went into action to make the trip happen.  I couldn't really talk about it without sobbing so he took care phone calls and arranging everything.  He had taken Friday off for our anniversary, but he didn't even hesitate to give that up to drive to Utah with me.  I know, I got a good one.  We met up with Shauna and Natalie for lunch (who came from Idaho) to catch up and get some crying out of the way so we wouldn't be sobbing for the entirety of our visit with Jeni.  I thought we would spend most of our visit with Jeni lying down but she got up, gave us a tour of her home and visited at the kitchen table for a goo hour before she had to lie down.  She looked really good.  We visited for about four hours and I was really worried we were wearing her out and she was just to nice to kick us out but later she wrote on her blog ,
"My wonderful college roommates came and we talked forever. I started to fall asleep while they were talking. It reminded me of staying up late talking in college and the same thing would happen."
I haven't seen most of these ladies for 16 years and it was such a fantastic visit.  I am terrible at keeping in touch with people but it really did feel like we were college girls again.  While we were there Jeni's aunt and uncle were painting the front room and before they left they came to say goodbye and commented how nice it was to hear us laughing so much.  I agreed.  It was a really sad reason to finally get us together but it was so wonderful to be together again.

I sure love these girls!

Halloween 2013

Poor Dalin, when the other kids were his age I was totally gung-ho when it came to Halloween and making costumes.  I would spend up to a month getting everything made.  Now I can hardly be bothered and it makes me cranky.  I mean what happened to the days where you put on some dirty clothes and called yourself a hobo?  I love how my kids think that I can create what ever costume they can think up (or do I?) So less than a week before Halloween  I begrudgingly started these costumes. Lucky for my kids I really like how they turned out and a few years of experience have made costume making less frustrating so I may be willing to to it all again next year.  There is a neighborhood close by that goes all out for Halloween and Chris wanted to check it out.  It was like a street party!  The street was blocked off and there were cars parked up to a half mile down the road. The kids spent the bulk of their time waiting in line for snow cones, but they had a lot of fun.

*Aiden wanted to be a castle so he could connect his bucket to the drawbridge then dump the candy into a bag hidden inside the castle.  People would then see his empty bucket and feel bad for him and give him extra candy.  It was a good plan in theory, but I wasn't willing to figure out how to connect the bucket so the plan fell apart.

Kaylee: Waldo, Ashton: the Tardis from Dr. Who, Aiden: a Castle, Dalin: Knight

Happy Halloween!

Teeth

Dalin has been walking around with these Euro-teeth for about three weeks now and we finally got them out!  Hooray! Unfortunately I only got a picture of the first one that came out.  At least you can actually see the hole this time.  When he lost his first two teeth the big teeth had already completely grown in.