We moved!

Goodness, I'm behind! We sold in a week and a half, moved in with in-laws, and now we're finally settled in our own home! It's been a crazy few months. Mix in Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, new schools, buses, RSV, bronchitis, unpacking, etc... And it's no wonder my blog is just an afterthought. I don't guarantee regularity, but I'll try to update occasionally!

Scrumdiddle-ee-umptious!

My sweet baby Miles is growing up too fast! I think this is the first time that I've ever enjoyed a newborn. With my first, I was just in shock. (the lack of sleep thing really threw me for a loop...) With my next, they came in twos. Twins were just a hard blur. So now, finally... I'm enjoying this sweet, little, yummy smelling bundle of joy. I was just going through these pictures of when he was two weeks old. Sheri, at Sweet Pea Photos, took these pictures for me. I'm so glad I have them, because he already looks so different. He's turned into the little Michelin Man...

First Day of School

My oldest child has reached a fabulous milestone. Public school! Yippee! I had no tears on his first day. He did great and is having a great time in Mrs. Butler's class. I'm so proud of the leaps and bounds that he's made in the last year or two, socially. He's still super shy, but he's willing to try new things and overcome his anxieties. He's a great kid!

St. George

We had a great time in St. George with Gma and Gpa B. They were so nice to accomodate us! I think this is the first time I've ever gone to St. George in the summer and NOT swam! The unheated pool was just too dang cold. Nevertheless... the boys had a great time and we kept them busy!

The boys had a blast at the Coral Pink sand dunes. AJ was literally swimming in the sand. Jackson clung to Grandpa for dear life, and Alex was the leader of the pack. They also loved to hear their echo.

Next came Zions National Park. The highlights were the bus, the sticks, and the water.
And finally, Tarzan. Wow, I've never seen three little boys more enraptured! The costumes and show were spectacular!

Lastly, we drove home with three VERY tired boys... It was a fun time!

Ch-Ch-Change!

Changes seem to abound here lately. We've been contemplating moving for some time now... but it never seemed right. Well, once again, we thought we should move, and this time we actually listed our house on the MLS. Our close friend listed for us (although we even put off that process for a couple of weeks...). She listed Tuesday afternoon, and got her first call that same day, before she even posted pictures.

We ended up showing the house 8 times in 10 days. Luckily for me, my mom was here to help me clean for the first showing, Mark was here for the second, and then we left town for the other 6.

While we were out of town (in St. George), we got our first offer! The house had only been listed for six days! woo woo! Because we had no access to a printer or fax machine, we didn't plan on replying to that offer until we got home.

Well, the night before we came home, we got a second offer! What? In this crazy economy? Wowsuhs... There are homes in our neighborhood that have been listed for several months, and some more than a year. I couldn't believe it. Needless to say, we were able to play the bidding war, and we ended up with slightly more than we wanted!

Wow... we definitely feel so blessed, and like the hand of providence was part of this. Mark and I both hate change, and we're slow to make changes in our life. But after this, we both feel like it was meant to be. We're not sure where we're going or what's next, but hopefully with a lot of prayer, we'll be guided in that too.

So... change is on the horizon. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for us next!

Kitchen Before and After

Well, our kitchen re-do is finally finished! We had a small tax return this year, that we decided to designate towards countertops. However, that's all it would cover, so everything else had to be DIY. Well, DIY at our house entails my parents as well! Thank heavens for them! Besides the counters, our project totalled less than $400! That includes new sink, faucet, hardware, paint, corbels, bead board, and bar stools! Not too shabby, eh?

Before:

After:

Look at the delicious faucet and sink! Retails for $1400... we got it all for $250. woo woo! Nice to have connections once-in-a-while!Barstools for a steal! $7 for ALL THREE. Yup... you read that right. Thanks for garage sale shopping for me, Annie!Next up... accessorizing and decorating... Someday!

So much to catch up on!

Well, we've had two big events at our house. The first... Mark turned 40! How did my young husband get so old?

And more importantly, we've added on to our family! Little Baby Miles was born on July 15! Man, he's a sweety! He was 8 lbs and 21.5 inches long. He has huge feet, just like his mama. :) Alex is especially attached and in love with his new baby brother. That is probably one of the sweetest things that have touched Mark and I. Welcome to this world, Miles!

Kitchen re-do

What does this, this, and this

mean? It means that I'm finally redoing my 1980's kitchen. (on a budget, no less!) Can't wait to see the final product! Stay tuned.... we're about two weeks away from finished!

Cats!

Thanks to a cousin's love of the production, "Cats!" and a very talented Aunt Julie, Alex came home from Gma C's looking like Old Deuteronomy, singing Magical Mr. Mistoffelees and Macavity. Fun times!

Two very grown-up three-year olds!

Happy Birthday to AJ and Jax!

First thing on the morning of their birthday: presents!Mastering the tricky third finger. The long-awaited pink Maglight flashlight!

Bubbles!

These candles are kinda tricky to blow out! (at Gma C's)A little spit should do the job.

AJ: Precocious, unique, curly hair, pink cheeks, smaller of the two (those cheeks fool ya), L.O.V.E.S. vaccuums (obsessed), loves pink, loves anything silky in texture, loves his big, pink fleece blankie, loves firetrucks, little bit shy, serious nature, always says, "ohhhh-kay...," prefers adults over kids, loves his "best friend, Jaxie."

Jackson: A tease, silly faces, makes us laugh, good ball-handler, dribbler, wants to be "in" on the action, wants to be big like Alex, good trampoline jumper, tender-hearted, great sharer, "I just love you SOOO much," also loves his "best friend, AJ."

Happy Easter

Our good friend Becky took the boys a couple of nights before Easter and made these darling cakes. I'm so grateful for good friends! This is one of those things that I would never do, but I'm glad that I get to see.

Finally...snow!

Want a surefire way of guaranteeing NO snow all winter? Spend some good money on snowclothes for your kids! Works wonders!

We FINALLY got to pull out the duds... in March! The boys were in heaven!

Happy Birthday to my big boy, Alex!

How did my sweet, sweet boy turn 5 already! Time has whizzed by! Alex is such a sweet, thoughtful little guy. He's so concerned about others' feelings, and will go out of his way to make others happy. He's so easy-going, and has really come leaps and bounds with his anxiety over the last year. His interests can be summed up into two categories: friends, and Star Wars. Never saw a kid so obsessed with Star Wars... makes it easy to buy him presents! His highlight was his Darth Maul double-bladed light saber, and decorating sugar cookies with his buddies.

Crazy little AJ

This kid cracks me up. He definitely walks to the beat of his own drum... L.O.V.E. him!!

Merry Christmas

Here are the three greatest Christmas presents a mom could ask for. Christmas was magic for these little boys this year.

From left to right, Jax, Alex, and AJ, after presents, Christmas morning.

The newest cousin!

Here's the newest addition to the family. Congrats to Danny and Patrice and family! (Glad he came at 36 weeks instead of 32! Way to hang in there, mom!)

Chase Timothy

Cute little funny face that he's pulling, huh? Love it!

New Moon

Phew! We wanted to go with a big group... So we rented a theater. We worked our tails off. We spent HOURS. We gathered tons of cool prizes! We stressed, worked, collected money, and worked some more! We had NO time for pictures. We LOVED the movie, thank heavens! We went home and crashed.

Thanks, Elisha, for being a great partner in crime!

(Isn't she gorgeous!? our only picture from the whole night...)

Silly Boys

These boys of mine... They love dress-up as much as a girl! The next door neighbor girl came over to play with Alex one afternoon. AJ and Jax immediately had to try on her pink coat and pink shoes. Sillies.

Halloween

Happy Halloween, and Happy Birthday to Gma B!