Almost Done

Well, we are pretty much finished with our little remodel. We decided at the last minute to do recessed lighting in the living room and just finished it on Saturday night. We still have to paint the kitchen walls, patch one more hole in the ceiling, and do a little more decorating, but I feel like it's a real house again. Check it out! Kyle did an awesome job. I posted some before and after pics.

This is a before picture taken from the hallway into the living room and kitchen entry...Kyle got the girls some ear plugs. They used them for a few days and then, like I said before, they just got used to all the loud noises and power tools...

Here's some demo pictures...

We took out this little closet and decided to make an angled wall to help open it up. This also shows the old opening into the kitchen (3 foot)...
One of the messiest parts was removing the drop ceiling in the kitchen. It was awful. Kyle tried to explain how messy it would be and how dusty and dirty it was, but I had NO IDEA! I'm glad we did it 'cause it looks awesome now, but I would never do it again. We took two truck loads to the dump and we were dusting for weeks...This is Kyle's first ever framing job. He did great. Just don't look close! :)

This is that great plywood floor that Hallie got to crawl on for 3 months. Lets just say she's got tough knees now...

We moved the doorway into Brinlee and Raigen's new room. By now Kyle had gotten really good at framing...

HERE'S THE AFTER PICS.

This is a view from the kitchen to the front door...

This is Brinlee and Raigen's cute pink room. We haven't decorated yet, but it is still really cute...

Happy New Year

Like always our life is crazy. We've been in the middle of remodeling our house since the start of October and, lets just say, it's taken longer than we thought. Living in a house during demo, framing, sheet-rocking, mudding, sanding, painting, and flooring is so stressful. Our house is so little that we've all been right in the middle of it. The girls don't even flinch to the sound of a nail gun or air compressor anymore and Hallie was amazed when she felt how nice it is to crawl on hard wood and carpet instead of plywood.

Kyle laid the hardwood entry and hallway for me for Christmas. I had to work Christmas Eve so when I came home Christmas morning it was a good surprise. It looks awesome. We finally got carpet in this morning and the girls are loving it. We still have to paint Brinlee's room and lay her carpet and then we're DONE!! Yah! I love it and I guess all the stress and work was really worth it in the end. Thanks to everyone who has helped us. We couldn't have done it without you!!! We'll post some pictures when we're all done.

We did manage to find room for a little Christmas tree and a place for Santa to come. Christmas was fun. This was the first year Brinlee and Raigen really got into it and Hallie, like any baby, had fun with the wrapping paper and boxes.

Brinlee spent some time at Wal Mart with me trying to pick something out for daddy. When she saw this football she got so excited! She kept it a secret all the way until Christmas even when daddy tried to pry it out of her. So cute!!

Brinlee's #3 and Halloween

Well, Brinlee turned 3 on October 22nd. I attempted a monkey cake and thought it turned out pretty cute, but everyone thought it looked like a bear "Oh well." Her birthday lasted all week, but her official party was on Sunday with the fam. She got lots of cute stuff and loved being the center of attention.

Admiring her cute cake ;)...

Pretty good "fake" blow...Canova birthday tradition...
Taking Kens for a ride on her new bike... Halloween was fun this year. The girls are getting old enough to enjoy it. I had to dress them up three times, what a chore. We had our ward Halloween Carnival on Friday the 24th, Kyle's family Halloween Party on Saturday the 25th, and Halloween the next Friday. I actually had to work Halloween night, but the girl's came trick-or-treating to my work. It's nice cause they don't have to walk very far and it's warm. It's definitely Kyle's kind of trick-or-treating. Raigen went around the nursing home twice. They got lots of candy! Anyway, they were really cute. Brinlee was, of course, Hannah Montana. Raigen was a chicken, and Hallie was a cute little lady bug.
Brin, Rai Rai, Trevin, Hallie, and Aunt Cassidy...

All the cousins at Grandma Jean's House...

Annie and Dave's New Place

We went up to Idaho this weekend to help Annie and Dave move from their apartment to their new house. It was a long process, but we got a lot done. I don't want to spoil it for them, but I thought I would post a few pictures that I took. The guys worked hard ripping out old shag carpet and the vinyl floor in the kitchen so it would be ready for the new carpet and flooring to be laid on Tuesday. Annie's mom and sisters did a lot of cleaning around the new place, and I mostly just packed up the apartment for Annie (since she is 8 1/2 months pregnant). We had fun and I am so excited for them. Their place was built in the 1970's and hasn't been updated since. So, there is a lot of work to do, but it has so much potential! It's a huge house that needs some TLC :)

The yard has lots of trees (most of which will be ripped out to make room for a nice lawn). The kids had fun exploring outside.

FRONT YARD VIEW...

BACK YARD VIEW...

The Kitchen...

Dave and Kyle working on removing tack strips...

Ellie liked to vaccuum. This is the front room...

Annie's mom scrubbing the toilet (Bless her heart)...

Their house has three family rooms (a formal sitting room, T.V. room, and play room) SWEET! This is the T.V. room that will be getting carpet this week.

Red Lobster Tradition

Our family has had this Red Lobster tradition for as long as I can remember. My mom, me, Kenna, Si, Janae, and Cass would all go and share this one meal everytime. The server would look at us funny like, are you serious, but we didn't care. It was a tradition! First of all, we always get water to drink. Then we order the batter-fried chicken finger lunch (any time of the day). It costs $7.50 and you get like 7 huge chicken fingers, a baked potato, salad, and "all you can eat" biscuits. We like to dip the biscuits in honey mustard. Their biscuits are the best and their baked potatoes are some of the yummiest you'll ever try. I promise that we always left with full tummies! So, for $10.00 (including tip) all six of us got a great lunch and some great memories. Me and Kyle go there now and share the same meal and always have left overs. Believe me, you gotta try it out!!!
Me and Kenna just took the kids last Tuesday. We get seated and don't even look at the menu. We just say, "We want water and the batter fried chicken finger lunch with a baked potato (butter and sour cream on the side), salad with Ranch dressing, and lots of biscuits and honey mustard." Everyone always laughs because we know exactly what we want. Kinda like we do it all the time. What they don't know is that we do! ;)

Girls Weekend Out

Every year over Labor Day weekend Kyle's mom and sisters go to East Canyon for a "Girls Weekend Out." Since I married into the fam I've been invited too. I've gone for the past 4 years. First by myself (8 months pregnant with Brin), Next with Brinlee, then with Brin and Raigen, and this year with Brin, Raigen, Hallie, and Cass (for a helper). Everytime I'm pregnant I hope for a boy just so I won't have to take ANOTHER girl up there, but no luck yet. HA HA!

Everyone heads up to East Canyon Thursday night. Then on Friday morning we go to Swiss Days and eat the traditional Navajo Tacos (yum). Me and the girls didn't get to do that this year because I had to work Thursday night, but we drove to Swiss Days Friday morning and took a quick walk around the booths and then headed to the Park City Outlets (my favorite part of the weekend). We get so many great deals up there. In fact, I usually get Brinlee's entire winter wardrobe while we're there (shh!). Anyway, Saturday usually consists of a lot of swimming, playing, and munching. We went home Sunday morning for a missionary farewell and then went back up (with Kyle) to spend the last night. We all headed home Monday afternoon. It's a really fun tradition and a great time for the girls to get to know their cousins since we don't get to see them very often. Brinlee loves playing with her cousins!

We went on a little walk around the resort every night...
(Cass, Amelia, Brinlee, and Maggie)


Brin, JaQuoy, and Karson...

Quoy and Hallie...
Bad picture, but this is the condo we stay in. Usually we all share one, but we realized last year that it was a little too crowded so we got two this year so there would be more room to spread out. And to tell you the truth, I kinda missed being crowded. It was weird not being with everyone all the time, but it was still fun.

Family Night

For family night on Labor Day, Kyle and I decided to take the girls bowling and out to dinner. We weren't sure how they would do, but it turned out to be lots a fun. After warming up Kyle bowled pretty well. He ended up winning at 116. I came in second at 108, and Brinlee at 98. We did have bumpers though :) The smallest ball we could find for Brin and Rai was 8 lbs. They liked to roll it by themselves, but after a couple of runs of the ball stopping in middle of the lane before it hit the pins and the people who worked there having to run down the lane and get it, Kyle decided to help a little. I bowled with Hallie and we ended up getting 2 strikes in a row YAH! After bowling we went to Red Robin for dinner. The girls were really good (for once). Lets just say they don't get to go to "sit down" restaurants much because of a few embarrasing experiences, but I think they are getting better now that they are a little older. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Brinlee loved her bowling shoes!

Raigen keeping score...

Daddy and Brinlee...