Never A Dull Moment

I have a weakness...I jump at any opportunity I can to go to Arizona and visit my family and this time wasn't any different. I was stoked when my sister decided to come visit me and needed a way home. I was more that willing to give her a ride back and stay for a week or two. I was anxious to see my parent's newly remodeled house and I thought it would be fun to get away from building my house for a while so I could then come back to a huge change.  Little did I really realize that my parents house would just be getting finished, everything in it would be covered in a foot of dust and the AC would go out in 114* heat. Not only that, but my house at home is receiving all the fun finish work such as paint that I have been nervous to see and stucco that I haven't been to sure about. 

Its been a  crazy week to say the least. My parent's house looks fabulous. All the changes are amazing. The house has received a complete overhaul including a new kitchen, new tile, new bathrooms, new carpet, a new wall, new paint and some new furniture.  The worst part is moving back in and getting everything organized again especially in a house with a thermostat reading of 94*.  Its been an adventure from moving out of my aunt and uncle's house getting is completely cleaned up only to turn around the next night and go back because we can't stand the heat.   

In between all the craziness we have had some fun. Kylie LOVES having a pool right in the backyard and gets away with minimal naps. Jase enjoys all the attention he receives from everyone and our biggest challenge is keeping him from spitting up on the new carpet.  We are having a great time and I love being here any chance I can get, just next time maybe I will think things through a  little more when crazy moving, cleaning and AC problems arise. 

P.S. I have some pictures on my camera, and when we get to the box that has the cord to hook it up to the computer I will post them. :-)

Major Haircut, Fun & Father's Day

My sister Amanda came to stay with us for a week. We had such a good time with her. I am not sure if she had a great time with us, but we loved having her here. We didn't do anything special just our usual St. George survival of swimming or playing at the park. I did however, cut 11 inches off her hair. It was so fun and it turned out so cute. I could tell she was little nervous and I think it may have taken a day or two to get used to, but she styles it so cute and it makes her look way older. I don't know if she appreciated this, but someone even asked us if we were twins. Too bad there is an 8 year age difference. I took it as a compliment, I'm not sure she did!

Playing at the park and check out Amanda's cute hair.

Kylie loves the water. Sometimes it takes her a minute to get her into, but once she does she is crazy. 

Amanda was so great to run around with her and play. It was a nice break for me. 

Jase loves her too.

I also have to mention some great men on Father's day. First my dad, I am so grateful for him and his example. I appreciate so much the way he leads our family in righteousness. He always made sure we had scripture study and family prayer everyday. He made sure we had family home evening every week. I may not always remember what he taught us during those time, but the best example was that he was faithful in doing it and that's the biggest impression left on me.  Kylie loves him and is sure that anytime she is trouble with us he will come and save her. She always wants to call him and tell him how mean we are. My dad is the best! I love him very much.

 I am also very grateful for Jeremy's dad. I am thankful for his example and for teaching Jeremy the right way to lead his family.  He is always more than willing to help us with anything and he loves to play with the grandkids. Kylie loves to visit and knows she can sucker him for a snack and drink before we leave. I am grateful for all he does us. 

And last, but not least, I am very thankful for Jeremy. He always goes way above and beyond the call of duty to take care of us. I appreciate so much all he does!  He provides for us and works so hard for us. He is the best father to our kids. He is patient with them, playful and a great example.  Kylie asks every morning when he will be home. She loves to be with him! Jeremy is wonderful and I am so grateful for him! We love him very much!!!

House Building Week 2

This week has been both exciting and a little stressful! The house is continuing to come right along and its so fun to go out and see it every night. Most days drastic changes have happened and it makes us more and more excited. We had one bad day when our financial guy called us up and told us the interest rates had just shot up unexpectedly and advised us to lock in, but its at a whole percent higher then we were anticipating. Also that day the Home Run Grant had officially ran out. We pretty much knew that would happen before we could close and had come to grips with it, but we were still disappointed. Crazy things always happen during this process and its amazing we survive. Thank goodness the end result makes up for it all. Here's the progress this week...

TUESDAY. They finish the roof and start on the electrical and plumbing.

WEDNESDAY. They put in the windows, finish the electrical and plumbing and air ducts.

THURSDAY. They put on the exterior doors and starts putting the tar paper (I think that is what it is called) on the roof for the tiles.

FRIDAY They started the insulation and finished building the back patio

SATURDAY. They finished the insulation and started the Sheetrock, started the prep for the stucco and put the tiles on the roof.

MONDAY They finished the Sheetrock and the outside prep for the stucco.

All in a Week's Work

After, what seemed like forever, really only three weeks, the builders finally got our permit back for our house and have continued to build. Its coming along marvelously! We get more and more excited every time we go out to see it, which quite frankly, is every single day! We thought it would be fun to take a picture of the progress every single day. This may only be interesting to us, but we wanted to document it.

We happened to be there when they made the first dig.

The first couple picture aren't too exciting. Most of it is just prep work, but this was last MONDAY, June 1st.

TUESDAY. They put up the footing

WEDNESDAY. They did all the plumbing.

THURSDAY The slab was poured.

FRIDAY We had a few walls going up and the garage floor poured.

By SUNDAY the whole first floor was framed and sheeted, the stairs were built and the floor of the second level was laid with markings for the rooms up there.

MONDAY again. We now have the outside walls upstairs sheeted and all the bedrooms framed...Tomorrow comes the roof!

Just a few random pictures of our time out there. Kylie and Taylor are standing in our front door. Jase is sitting under the arch that leads from our family room to our kitchen and in the other picture Kylie is standing in the wall of our mud room.

Jase's First Swim

Yesterday for playgroup we decided instead of the splash pad at the park we would head over to the pool and swim. I just bought Jase a swimsuit and wanted to see how he would do in the water. I didn't really expect him to like it because he does not take cold well at all. I have stuck his foot in before to see what he would do and he hated it every time, but still I wanted to try. Much to my surprise he seemed to really like it. It took a minute to get used to and he whimpered for a second, but after the initial shock he was as content as could be. I stuck him in the baby floaty and he just hung out sucking on his fingers, wishing I would pass him a Pina Colada, thinking life was great. I was so fun to see how much he enjoyed it . The only bad thing is I now have zero excuse not to get in the water anymore. Kylie loves the water and is getting more and more comfortable with it. I still have to talk her into getting her hair wet and she doesn't fully trust her arm floaties yet, but she is working on it and loves to swim. I will definitely miss having easy access to a pool when we move.