11years

When Russ and I first got married we used to go for drives and dream about someday...

There was a particular neighborhood that we LOVED! and used to talk about how cool it would be to live there someday...

As we spend our 11th anniversary putting things together and working in the backyard of our new home in the neighborhood that we dreamed of someday living in I couldn't be happier!

I have such an amazing husband!

Master Bathroom

 Before

 After

Seriously, carpet in the bathroom... gross!

Taking down the wallpaper, painting the cabinets and getting rid of the carpet were top priority.  From there we got a little carried away and decided to build a whole new shower.  Thanks to our friend Evan who built our last shower we got it done quick as a wink.  Then it sat FOREVER because I couldn't decide what tile to do.  After some help from pinterest I finally decided on this and I love it!

Kitchen/Family Room

 Before

 After

Painting all the wood white made the biggest difference in this house. It opened it up so much and made it feel so much bigger.  We hired someone to do all the painting and then I went in and glazed all the cabinets.  After that my step-dad put on all the hardware for me and we had the tile guys add some glass tile to the backsplash and change out the tile on the fireplace.  I love how it all turned out and now I can't wait to get all my furniture in there and see how it looks then!

Pantry

Before

After

I have never had a pantry in my whole married life!  I knew that this silly wet bar would never get used by us church going Mormons so I saw it as a perfect spot for a new pantry.  We couldn't go all the way to the ceiling because the air vent still needed to be able cool and heat the house for us and there is no roof on it for the same reason, so the food inside is temperature controlled as well (the things you have to think about when you're remodeling).  I just love how it turned out and I'm so excited to have all my food right next to the kitchen!!!

Warrior Dash 2012

 This has got to be my favorite race ever.  This is the 2nd year we have done it.  We run the race with other friends and then go to Cafe Rio after and eat.  It's pretty much just an awesome date night with my husband!

The Secrets Out...

Ok so it wasn't really a secret but it certainly wasn't something that we were shouting from the roof tops either because we weren't sure when it would really happen but...

We're MOVING!!!

We bought a house back in October.  It seemed crazy because we hadn't sold our current home and Russ had just been called into the bishopric a few months before.  But the bottom line is IT JUST FELT RIGHT!  A lot of praying, fasting and temple attendance went into this decision and we are so happy about the decision that we made.  We know that this is the best decision for our family.  There are a lot of reasons why I could tell you that we are moving i.e. the lot is bigger, it's a mile from Russ's work, blah, blah but none of those things really matter because we know this is where the Lord wants us!  And we're excited about that!  Sometime in June or July we will be claiming this as our residence, officially.

Easter Outfits

Miss Mallory playing soccer

 Mallory asked Russ if they could have a "private meeting" in which she asked him when she will get to do soccer.  Because of the bad experience we had with Reeslyn playing soccer (she hated it) I, mostly have been trying to put it off as long as possible.

 Her cousin Carter had played on a team the previous season and we decided we would sign her up with him.  Boy was I wrong to dread this!  She loves it!  She had her first game and of course was pretty timid but you could tell she was enjoying herself which is all I was hoping for!

They asked her to do the rock, paper, scissors to start the game and she was like a deer in headlights but she did it!  She is #5 and Carter is #6

Chickens

 I have a gym student who brings me fresh eggs from their chickens each week to class and they are oh so good!  It's become kind of the new craze right now to get chickens and after eating all those yummy fresh ones the past couple months we decided we would jump on the band wagon as well.

 Reeslyn chose a White Leghorn and named it White Banana Split "Bananas"

Mallory chose a Pro Red and named it Red Strawberry Patches "Patches"

Mason chose a Barred Rock and named it Rock Tiger Zord
"Tiger"

We had an unfortunate accident when the chicks were about 2 weeks old.  The boys next door forgot to put Daisy away before getting the chicks out and Rock Tiger Zord is no longer with us.  It was quite traumatic for the kids and we had to have a graveside service and everything.  Needless to say we went back to the feed store and we now have Rock Tiger Zord Junior.

Right place at the right time

About 30 seconds after this picture was taken Mason threw up... A LOT! I just climbed into the backseat to take this picture and to adjust his neck so he wouldn't wake up with a kink. Luckily there was an empty cup in the cup holder next to him and when he woke up and said "I think I'm going to throw up" I had about a 1/2 second to grab it and catch all the nasty liquid that came out. It was awesome but yes I did catch every bit of it in that cup and even filled up a second one. I love it when I'm in the right place at the right time especially when it saves me from cleaning up throw up all over my car!

Easter Wreaths

While the men were at the NCAA games the women decided to get together and make Easter Wreaths. It was so much fun!

Sunday Doodlings

Today as I was sitting in Relief Society I was noticing that the girl next to me was doodling on her paper but it wasn't just stick figure doodles like I would have done, it was beautiful art!  As I continued to snoop at her paper because I was so intrigued I started to notice that her drawings were going along with the lesson.  It was beautiful and powerful to say the least.  The spirit touched me when I looked over again and saw a drawing of a woman praying next to her newborn baby.  What an amazing and powerful lesson I learned in that minute that we all learn and ponder in different ways.  I appreciated her beautiful artwork so much and told her so after the lesson was over.  She then told me that this is how she takes notes because she hates her handwriting.  I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who inspired me to ask this girl to sit by me today so I could be shown her wonderful talent! 

Being the mom

Mason has been sick all night. Seriously sick, like throwing up every 20 minutes sick. And it's been a while since any of my kids have been this sick. Mallory threw up last week but it was just one time and then she felt better. And as weird as it sounds I am actually enjoying taking care of my little boy's throw up. I haven't slept much and I probably won't get much sleep the rest of the night but I don't even care. I am glad that I am the one he is coming to for comfort. I am also glad that Russ is here too and that he doesn't have to work tomorrow so he's been able to help me. And it is awesome that Mason is old enough now to grab the throw up bowl on his own so we've only had to do the initial peeling of the sheets and clothes the first time when the bowl wasn't there for him to grab. And don't get me wrong if Mallory and Reeslyn end up with this same sickness I won't be enjoying it as much I'm sure but for now I'm living in the moment which isn't something I always do and I am loving being this little boys mom even if it means cleaning up his throw up!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Spinach Pancakes

Do you make GREEN pancakes for St. Patrick's Day?

Well this year put spinach in the pancakes instead of food coloring.

My kids loved it!

It's easy to do...

add spinach to the liquid portion of your pancake mix, put it in a blender and blend until smooth, then add to the dry ingredients and mix like normal.

I used the Krusteaz brand of pancake mix, put the water portion in a blender with the spinach, blended and added to the pancake mix
(I also add flaxseed).

The Mason Freeze

 Some people plank, some people teebow...

Mason FREEZES

 I'm not sure what got him started on this but I will find Mason randomly "frozen" in different positions.  He never says anything about it he just freezes and will stay frozen for as long as he feels is necessary and then will unfreeze and go about his business.  Nothing can make him unfreeze either.  It's quite hilarious!

Mallory's #6

 This year we were not doing friend parties for the kids but we told them they could pick somewhere to go with the family.  Mallory decided on Peter Piper Pizza but wanted to know if we could invite Amy and Leigh Anne because they were family.  Of course I said yes and she was counting down the days for weeks!

 Today we celebrated with the rest of the family and Mallory was so excited to decorate all the cupcakes!

Sedona Half Marathon

 My friend Jeni and I ran the Sedona Half Marathon today and it was so beautiful and so much fun!  I was a little nervous about this race because my long distances have not been as easy for me lately.  I was definitely prepared to not have a very good run time but the idea of having a fun girl's night over shadowed that.  We met up at Macaroni Grill to get some carbs in and then headed to Sedona to pick up our race packets.  From there we headed to my in-law's cabin.  It was getting late and we knew we should have gone to bed but Jeni wanted to try out my new curling iron so we did up our hair all fancy and then finally turned in around 11:00.  And of course I didn't sleep at all because I can never sleep the night before a race.  We woke up just before 6:00, ate some food and headed back to Sedona.  It was COLD!!!  And at this point I was starting to get really nervous becuase I really didn't think I was going to run very well.  We started the race and I totally surprised myself.  There were a lot of hills and I actually felt really good running up them.  Don't get me wrong it was HARD!  But I felt good about how I did and my time ended up being 1:54.  Jeni could have easily passed me up and run ahead but she stayed with me and that made it even more fun!  Thanks Jeni for an awesome time!

New Year's Resolution...

This year my goal is to create less garbage.  Yep you heard me!  I read an aritcle in People Magazine about a family that could fit an entire year's worth of garbage in a quart size mason jar.  Now I am not going to be this extreme because let's face it I'm just not the extreme type but I am going to do better.  For instance, I use a lot of styrofoam plates!  I hate doing dishes so I use fake plates for most meals.  This has changed in the past few weeks.  I have started using our real dishes and I can count on 1 hand how many plates I have thrown in the garbage.  Now again I want to say that I'm not going to be extreme here and start bringing my own silverware to fast food restaurants but I am going to be a little better than I was last year!

Reeslyn's Baptism

Reeslyn's big day was so exciting!  She got to be baptized by her Dad and it was right after her cousin Hunter got baptized by his Dad.  What a fun thing to share with a cousin!  I am so proud of her decision to be baptized!