Excitment!

This month we are going here!

The countdown is on for our trip to Kauai, Hawaii!

On the Agenda is:

A boat tour of the Na Pali Coast line.

Deep Sea Fishing (because I'm a good wife)

A helicopter ride.

Kayaking

A luau.

And hopefully a lot of snorkeling and beaches.

AAHHHH CARPET!!

We have been in are house for almost two weeks now and I am lovin it (especially the carpet). For those of you who don't know the town home we were renting only had carpet on the stairs and laminate floors everywhere else. So carpet was greatly missed the past five months. I'm slowly getting things decorated and organized. I wish time could stand still for a few days so I could get it all done quickly, but life goes on and laundry piles up, bathrooms get dirty and dirty dishes pile up (the brand new dishwasher was broken so I have had to wash everything by hand for almost two weeks now. I HATE WASHING DISHES, but the good news is the the parts are in and it is getting fixed today).

It has been great being in our home, but the first week was so frustrating. After a few days of being in our home I went to do a load of laundry I put some rags in the washer and went to collect the towels to wash also. When I came back into the laundry room I noticed some water coming out on the floor from underneath the washer. When we moved I remember someone asking if I had drained the water out of the washer. I didn't, and I didn't know I needed to so we unhooked the lines and everything was fine no water was running out of the hoses. After remembering that conversation I just figured it was water that was left in the washer. I then noticed there was a drain cycle on my washer so I turned in on and let it do its thing for a few minutes. Then I threw the towels in and started it up. Then I made the mistake of leaving. We went to Ogden so 5 hours later when we got home there was a pool of water in the laundry room and back hall/mudroom. Now I figure something is wrong with my 5 month old washer. After we get all the water cleaned up Jeff pulls the washer out to inspect it. The hoses were dry and so was the area were we hook them up to so the water is coming from somewhere else. We turned on the washer and just washed it to see what would happen. About 15 minutes later all this water starts coming out of the drain on the floor. Even later when I was using the faucet in the kitchen sink water started coming up out of that same drain. The next day we had people here trying to figure out what was wrong. The problem: The plumbers had forgotten to take a stop out of one of the pipe lines. All because of that, workers have had to replace some of the insulation in the wall between the laundry room and the garage. Also water got down into two of the heater vents (which had separate lines) and were not discovered that water had been pooling up in there for over a week so those two lines had to be replaced also. At first they wanted to drill some little holes in the lines at the low spot and then let the water drain out. That idea didn't sit very well with Jeff. Anyway back to the drama. Two days after we discovered water coming out of the drain a worker was over and we were downstairs in the basement checking to see if the insulation in the basement was very wet, and all of a sudden a few feet behind us water starts dripping from the ceiling. The worker was like what the heck is that coming from. He asks me if I have something running upstairs, I said ya I just started the dishwasher (for the first time) about 15 minutes ago. Come to find out when he pulled out the dishwasher on the the side of it there was this jug looking part that had a big hole in it. So the next day a service man came out to look at it he ordered a part for it and several days later he came to install the part after he installed it the dishwasher wouldn't go out of the drain cycle and would not allow any water to come in. Now he had to order a new control panel. I'm thinking at this point that I want a new dishwasher that will work. Anyway it's all good now because while I have been typing this the service man has come and gone, and my dishwasher should be working (fingers crossed).

Hopefully soon I'll get everything in order and get some pictures of our house on here.

Update

Holy cow, this has been the busiest, craziest couple of weeks. Not only was it the holidays, but it was also time for us to get in our house and do the finish work, paint, tile and the kitchen floor. I'm and so glad to say it is almost done!!! And we should be moving in a couple weeks. Here is a wrap up of our holiday season:

Jeff got out of school on Friday December 18th and has been working 24/7 (or I guess it would be more accurate to say 24/6 since he did take Sunday's off). First off was the finish work. We hired a guy to help us because we were on a tight time schedule, but Jeff still did a lot of it, and I must say it looks awesome.


Next came the tedious work of filling in the nail holes with spackle and then sanding them all. This is were I came into the picture. I bet I spent close to two days of doing that fun job. While I was doing that Jeff was spending his time caulking. I bet he spent almost two days doing that. We had a lot of help from family, and even our nice neighbors came over to help.


These neighbors have been our saints the last few weeks. Everything from helping us to letting us use tools, their water, their bathroom and even having us over to eat dinner. I think we sure did luck out in the neighbor department.

Once all the caulking and sanding was done we had to have it perfectly clean so we could paint. We rented a sprayer and Jeff primed and painted all the trim and doors with it.
By now it was really close to Christmas so for a few days not very much got done due to the Christmas parties and stuff we had going on. It was good to have a break and spend some time with the kids.

First we had the Low Christmas party on the 23rd. We all had a lot of fun and we all got spoiled. The next day was the Barlow Christmas party. And the next day was Christmas. We didn't have anything on Christmas so we played with the kids in the morning with their new toys and games.





Around 2:00 the kids went to their cousins' house and Jeff and I went to the house and painted. With the help of family we were able to get the painting done in the next couple of days. Next comes the tile Jeff put down tile in the laundry room, mudroom, both bathrooms and around the tub in the master bathroom in just a couple of days. There was only one more big project for Jeff to complete. Jeff spent new years eve getting the wood floor started in the entry way and kitchen.

Jeff finished the floor the next day and it was a huge relief for him. We only have a few little things to do.

I think things will be all done within the next couple of weeks, and I'm getting really excited to move into our house. I'm just not excited to do the actual moving part.

I just wanted to thank our families for all the help they gave us. We could NOT of gotten it done without you guys.

Happy Birthday Lexi!

I can't believe my Lexi is four! Lexi had her birthday yesterday, but she had herself a little princess party over the weekend with a few of her cousins.

The girls had a great time!!! We started out having makeovers. The girls got a little up do with their hair, makeup done, and fingernails painted.

After all the girls were all glammed up we had a princess story telling time. Then we played musical chairs. Next the the girls worked glitter into playdough.


After they were done playing with their playdough we cleaned up and had pizza. After the girls were done with their pizza they had a little dance party. Then we had one more activity. The girls decorated princess crowns and wands.
These are some of the cutest princess's I've ever seen.

Now it was time for presents! Lexi loved everything she got. It was so cute to hear her squeal with excitement when she opened every present.

And then we ended the party with cake and ice cream.

I have learned over the years that I need to do a simple birthday cake or else it is just one big mess for me that day. I think this one turned out pretty cute and very simple.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXI! WE LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH!

Sleepy Sleepy

Awhile ago a friend of mine did the cutest post about her kids and some of the places they had fallen asleep in. I had a few funny pictures like that too, and thought to myself one day I would post those pictures. The other day Lexi fell asleep on the stairs, and so while I'm thinking about it I'll post some of our funny and cute sleeping pictures.

It's a good thing I came across her sleeping fairly quickly because as you can see one small move in the wrong direction could of really hurt.

This summer we took a trip to Yellowstone. If you have ever been to Yellowstone you know that there is a lot of driving and with little kids you better have some snacks. In this picture Lexi fell asleep with licorice in her mouth.

There is always the classic picture of the kids falling asleep in the chair.



Tanner LOVES to be with his dad, and sometimes when he can't go with him he can get a little upset. Last summer one day that exact thing happened, and Tanner was pretty sad. He wouldn't even let me hold him so I left him where he was for a little while so he could settle down. After a few minutes I couldn't hear him crying in the garage anymore so I went out there to check on him and there he was asleep on the garbage can.

Nixon was pretty cozy on the fun rhino ride in St. George.

This is Tanner several years ago. Being a kid must be tough work.




I remember when I went into Tanner's room it took me awhile to find him.

Taking naps with dad!!! I love these pictures, and I have quite a few of them too. The only problem is they only take naps with dad.

There is nothing more precious and peaceful than looking at your sweet little babies sleeping.

Fall is for pictures

I really do enjoy fall. The changing of the leaves, and the cooler weather make it perfect to get out and take some pictures. Every year I try to get pictures of my kids up in the canyon with the leaves. So this post is mainly going to be a bunch of pictures, but isn't that what we like to see anyway.

Earlier in the month we went to the American West Heritage Center. The kids had so much fun riding on the train, riding the ponies, playing in the hay, going through the corn maze, and most of all going down the super slide. This was also a great place to get some cute pictures.

I took so many pictures here, and I had a hard time deciding which ones to share.

Our next picture day was last week. I took the kids up Logan canyon. This didn't turn out as good as I would of hoped because I had a couple kids who were not cooperating very well. This is what Lexi was doing after about 10 minutes of trying to take pictures.

It seems like to often I will try to go or do something with my kids by myself, and I usually leave with two crying kids on my hips. Well that's how it was this day. After finally getting all the kids strapped down in their car seats (which is extremely hard to do when they don't want to be in them) I left very frustrated saying, "we are going straight home." As we were driving out of the canyon I decided we would give it a second try. I decided to let the kids play for a little while so they could cheer up, and hopefully be a little happier. So we went to the park and drove through Burger King and got some chicken nuggets and french fries. Then we went downtown in Logan behind the old Tony Roma's building, and had much better luck on the second try. Here are a few of my favorites from our day.

Happy Birthday Nixon

Two years ago we had him!

Last week my baby turned 2!!! I can't believe he is a little boy now. When I see him in pictures I can't believe my eyes at how grown up he looks. To celebrate Nixon's birthday we had a simple birthday party with grandparents.

At the party there were presents!

There was also cake and ice cream.


I am so glad Nixon is part of our family. He is such a sweet heart and is always making me smile and laugh. He loves to greet his daddy with a big squeal or a great big "HI DAD" as soon as he comes in the door. He loves to play with Tanner and Lexi, and his big brother and sister are very protective of him and love to kiss him and take care.

WE LOVE YOU NIXON!

A birthday party & back to school time.

I can't believe my Tanner boy is 5 years old! Time sure does fly by fast. Last week Tanner had a little water party with a few of his friends. I love to work on photoshop, so any chance I get I'll make something. Here is his invitation.

The party turned out okay. I think the kids had fun. For a while none of the kids were wanting to play in the water, and the one game I had planned back fired on me since all the balloons were popping as soon as they would land on the grass. Tanner was being a little stinker because all he was interested in was the presents, and after he opened his presents (which were mostly transformers) all he wanted to do was play with them. Towards the end of the party somebody put the hose in the corner of the sand pit and boy was that a hit with all the boys.
I absolutley love this picture of Nixon with his cotton candy beard.

Now turning to a totally different subject, both the kids started preschool this week. They were both pretty excited.

Tanner had a nice little shinner for his first day. On labor day we went on a 4-wheeler ride and I'm not sure what happened but that is where he got it from.
Lexi has been so excited to start preschool, and quite frankly I was excited too! I love my kids to death, but I look forward to those few hours with less kids running around making a mess. Now only a few more years and Nixon will go to preschool and I'll have a few hours with no kids running around. I don't know maybe I'll be sad then.