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.

Just Jase

I took Jase into the doctor for his 4 month check-up. We are obviously a little bit late considering he will be 6 months in a week, (which I can not believe) but his Synargist shot was due then and so we had to hold off on his other shots until now. Anyway, he is doing great! He is growing and developing just like he should. He weighs 12 lbs 14 oz and is 23 1/2 in. We are excited to say he is on offically on the charts with his weight and his head circumference, 10% with his head and 5% with his weight, his height hasn't quite made it, but the doctor says that is normal for babies who are trying to catch up. Usually their head is first, then their weight, then their height. He says everything else looks great and he is developing well.

Jase is one cute little boy! We still battle with acid-reflux and CONSTANT spitting up. My carpets will tell you it's been rough! He insists on being held all the time and we are still working on sleeping better at night. I sometimes have had a hard time knowing what he "should" be doing at his age and what he is actually capable of doing. I have to remind myself that he is going to act a little bit younger then he really is. He still hates his car seat and screams blood murder anytime he is in there without someone in the backseat with him (Kylie apparently doesn't count). We all hope he grows out of that soon! He can be challenging at times, but even after those long days when he hasn't napped very well, needed my full attention constantly and fought us going to bed I can't help but be so grateful he is healthy and thriving the way he is. I love his smile and the sounds he makes. He loves people, watching big crowds and sucking on his fingers. I can't believe he is already 6 months and in 6 more months he will be year!

Memorial Day Festivities

It's not very often that Jeremy has a long weekend off and we aren't running to AZ or somewhere else really quick, but this weekend we stayed home and decided to take advantage of the beauty around us. We live so close to some many amazing places around here, but seem to take it for granted most of the time. Yesterday we decided to take advantage of some of the neat places by going to Zion...well, almost. We made the decision got ready, packed up and drove out there enjoying the little town as we drove through it. We get up to the booth to pay to get into the park and lets be honest, people who come wearing flip-flops and have a baby in a stroller with a two year old they are probably going to have to carry and planning on only having a little picnic and walking a short trail, is not going to get their moneys worth. So we sheepishly asked if we could turn around and found a grassy, shady area at the Springdale Elementary. The weather was perfect. We had our picnic and ran around on the grass. It was so fun to get away and spend time together as a family.

This was my view on the way there and back thanks to Jase and his uncooperative attitude anytime we get in the car. Apparently just having either Jeremy or me sitting back by him makes all the difference on the world.

I told Kylie to go run around on the grass and I would take her picture. She opted for a photo shoot and provided all her own poses.

Enjoying themselves

Jase was absolutely perfectly content just laying on the grass under the big tree watching the leaves blow. He laid there forever as happy as can be.

On the way home we passed an ostrich farm. I tried to get Kylie to get out and take a picture by the fence, but she would have none of that, so we just sat in the car rolled down the window, Jeremy whistled to get the ostrich to look up while we took the picture. While we were there one of the ostriches went to the bathroom and Kylie couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. Today when she saw this picture she reminded me that, "The ostrich pooped and peed, but he didn't wipe."

Later on in the day we headed up to Cedar to visit my grandma and Jeremy's parents. We stopped by the cemetery on our way to dinner to see if the beautiful flowers at my grandpa's grave had survived the rain storm. They still looked great and it was nice to spend a few minutes out there. By the way, we watched the temperature drop 40 degrees as we drove up from St. George. Needless to say we were not dressed for the weather in Cedar. None the less we had a really good day and hope for more like these.

Our New House

Or as of right now, our very expensive pile of dirt!! We are so excited to finally get things rolling on our new house. I was hoping to post this picture with a slew of other ones showing the progress they are making as we have been waiting for awhile now, but it does seems like the builders are finally getting things going slowly, but surely! We have been looking even since we moved down here for a place to buy and feel like this is perfect for us. We'll get a nice sized house on a lot that actually allows for a yard, something that is hard to come by in St. George without a seriously high price! The builders are offering great deals and we couldn't pass it up. We have been told it takes 45 days from the time they start. We are crossing our fingers it will be done the end of June, but we may go into July a little bit. Either way it will be an exciting process and I can't wait until it's finished!

Welcome Summer

I do believe it is officially summer. The temperatures tell me it is. They have crept up slowly with a few windy days here and there, but for the most part I think we are full blaze ahead! We are making the most of it and spending our time in the water.

Our first location was at the park climbing around the playground equipment and running through the splash pad. The water was a little bit cold and it took some talking into, to get Kylie really into it, but she finally did.
After the park, lunch and naps the kids decided they weren't finished and wanted to swim some more. We found that the pool at our complex was closed for maintenance and the water spout outside our house just wasn't going to cut it...

So we took them over to the hotel that our friend Curtis works at and let them swim there. Kylie loved it and she's getting pretty brave. Last year she was pretty fearful and held on to someone for dear life, but I was surprised at how well she would get around the pool with just a tube or floaty. Jase just hung out on the side. Maybe next time I will get him in and see what he thinks. I am excited for the summer and all there is to do. I will tell you this won't be the last time we have a water day. We have to survive somehow.

Mother's Day & Kylie's First Prayer

I am so grateful to be a mother and for the wonderful examples of mothers I have in my life! I had a good Mother's Day. I had been hinting around to Jeremy about a temple painting that I have had my eye on for a little while now and being the great husband that he is picked up on it and took me to Deseret Book on Saturday to get it. I was so excited! I can't wait to hang it up in my new house.

This wasn't the exact one I was looking at, but when I saw this one I loved it! Kylie asked me, "Do you love this mommy?" I told her I did and she said, "It is so much cute!"


For dinner Jeremy asked Kylie if she wanted to say the prayer. She always does, but need some help. Tonight she wanted to do it all on her own. This is her first little prayer all by herself: "Dear Heavenly Father, thanks for the gospel, thank you for this lunch, thank you for my mommy, thank you for my daddy, thank you for my mommy, thank you for me, thank you for baby Jase, your welcome, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" I love the part when she says "your welcome" and she is thankful for me twice! She did an awesome job! What a funny little girl. It was so fun to hear her say it. I am so thankful for my kids and the chance I have to celebrate this day with them.

I am also so grateful for my mom. She is absolutely amazing and so inspiring. I don't know what I did to deserve her, but I am so thankful I was so blessed to be her daughter. She is so easy to talk to and makes everything better for me. I love her so much!!! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I am also thankful for my mother-in-lay. She is so wonderful and thoughtful and caring. I am grateful for the good example she is and raising a righteous son for me and my kids. Happy Mother's Day, Loralyn.

It's sad that sometimes it takes a special holiday to let the people you love the most know how much you care about them. I hope I show them often and they know how much they truly mean to me. Happy Mother's Day everyone!!