BRINLEE'S 3 1/2 BIRTHDAY

When we were growing up it was tradition that we went on a date with our dad on our half birthday. It was fun to get some 1 on 1 with dad and it pretty much felt like we got two birthdays every year. So, we decided it would be fun to carry out the "half birthday" tradition with our kids. Sugar started taking Brinlee out last year for a "half-birthday date" and Brinlee just loves it. This year they went to the Library to check out some books, Jason's Deli (where Janae works) to get a free ice cream cone, and the nursery to pick out some flowers for Sugar's flower bed. While they were gone Rai Rai and Kenna made Brinlee some cupcakes to celebrate (I had to work). She felt so special all day.

Also, on Saturday Kyle took Brinlee to see the new Hannah Montana movie. They went to the 9:40 pm showing and Brinlee thought it was so cool to be the only little kid there...and she loved the movie!! I sent the camera with them and they took some pretty cute pics together.

Raigen can't wait for her 1/2 birthday in June!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a great Easter! We had Stake Conference, which was exciting with three little girls. Lets just say we're glad that sacrament meeting is only an hour and not two. Their wiggles can't stay contained for two hours yet. Anyway, we meet at the Ogden Tabernacle for Stake Conference so we got to take some cute Easter pictures on the Temple grounds. The girls loved ALL the Easter Egg Hunts (4) they went on and did pretty good. We have a huge bag full of candy that will hopefully last until Halloween.

These are all of the Hamblin cousins after the Easter Egg hunt at Kyle's mom and dad's house.

This is Ashley and Jared's cute baby girl, Madison, born March 17th. Isn't she so cute!! That is one proud papa!

IT'S NOT A SECRET ANYMORE

I guess we have some news to share with everyone....Baby #4 is on HER way. Yep, that's right...another girl. Me and Kyle thought it would be fun to keep it a secret as long as we could and so far we've done great, but we finally decided last week to let Brinlee tell my family. Then she accidently told some of Kyle's fam so I guess we're spilling the beans now. My due date is the start of June (only 10 weeks left). All of our other girls have been born 3 weeks early so we're expecting her at the end of May. We didn't want to find out what we were having in fear of it being another girl, but we gave in, and, just as we thought, it is another girl. We couldn't believe it!!! Oh well, girls are so cute and I already have lots of clothes, so that means saving some money which is good in these hard economic times, right. That's how we're trying to look at it. Hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather! Talk to ya later....

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.